HMS Inspector was launched at Wivenhoe in 1782 as the only vessel built to her design. She participated in one campaign and also captured a handful of small merchant vessels before the Navy sold her in 1802. Most notably, her crew participated in the mutiny at the Nore. After her sale, she became the whalerInspector. She made six complete voyages to the British southern whale fishery. A Chilean privateer captured her in May 1819. Eventually she was condemned as unseaworthy at Santander in 1821.
Commander William Heath commissioned Inspector in March 1783 for the Irish Sea. He recommissioned her in May. She was paid off in October 1787.
Commander Alexander Mackay recommissioned Inspector in January 1788 for Southwest Scotland. She was refitted for Channel service at Plymouth between June and September 1789.[1]
Inspector came under Commander James Lecky in October 1790, still for Southwest Scotland. She underwent fitting at Deptford between March and June 1793.[1]
Commander Wyndham Bryer recommissioned Inspector in May 1793. He sailed for the Leeward Islands on 26 December 1793.[1]
Commander Bryer died on 23 October 1794. Commander John Cooke replaced him in command of Inspector.[1]
On 7 April 1795 Inspector captured the sloop Harriet.[8]
Then in June 1795 Commander Robert Otway replaced Cooke. He paid off Inspector in December 1795.[1]
In September 1796 Commander Charles Lock commissioned Inspector for the North Sea.[1]
In May–June 1797 Inspector was caught up in the Spithead and Nore mutinies, with her crew taking Lock hostage. She was at Yarmouth as part of Admiral Duncan's North Sea squadron when her crew mutinied on 30 May. They sailed her to the Nore to join the mutineers there. The mutiny aboard Inspector followed the foiling of an earlier plot on the Humber on 25 May with the mutineers intending to sail her to France. Lock had the four ringleaders confined aboard HMSNonsuch. At the Nore Inspector's mutineers there stated that they were holding Lock hostage for the four arrested men. Between 3 and 11 June, Inspector was one of the four naval vessels that blockaded the Thames. Lock was escorted off Inspector on 13 June; the mutiny on Inspector ended the next day. Eventually, all the mutineers aboard Inspector were pardoned, but they and many others of the crew were transferred to other vessels.[9]
In the summer of 1799 the Admiralty ordered Inspector to convoy the merchant ships assembled at the Nore bound for Archangel to the 54 deg. latitude. She was to call at the Humber and some similar ports to gather the vessels there too.[10]
On 30 July, HMSAstraea, Inspector, and Apollo captured the Dutch Greenlandsmen (northern fisheries whalers) Frederick and Waachzamghheer. Then a week later they captured the Dutch Greenlandsman Liefde .[11] Another prize money notice reported that Inspector shared with Astria, and Apollo in the prize money of the capture in August 1798 of the Dutch Greenlands ships Delfte, Groenlandia, and Waachzamghheer.[12]
On 1 December 1799 Commander Lock and Inspector recaptured the ship Meanwell.[13] The new French privateer lugger Fantasie, of 14 guns and 60 men had captured Meanwell, Manners, master, in late November, as well as some other merchant vessels. HMS Jalouse captured Fantasie and took her into Harwich.[14][lower-alpha 3]
In August 1800 Inspector detained Indian Chief, Service, master, as she was sailing from Hamburg to Bengal.[17] The government seized seven bales of linen. Inspector shared the prize money with the hired armedcutterDiligent.[lower-alpha 4]
Commander Lock died on 14 February 1800 at Bath. Commander George Sayer replaced Lock in command of Inspector.[1]
On 15 December 1800, Admiral Archibald Dickson at Yarmouth Roads, sent Shannon, Bittern, the hired armed lugger Phoenix, and hired armed cutter Drake on a cruise to protect the homeward-bound Baltic fleet from French privateers, one having been reported off Scarborough. He stated in a letter that he intended to augment the patrol with Inspector and the cutters Hazardand Diligent when they arrived.[21][lower-alpha 6]
In February 1801 Commander Robert Howe Bromley took command of Inspector on the Leith Roads station.[1]
Disposal: "The Principal Offices and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered the "Inspector Sloop, 310 Tons, Copper-bottomed and Copper-fastened, lying at Sheerness" for sale on 24 February 1802.[22]Inspector was sold at that time,[1] at the commencement of the Peace of Amiens.
1st whaling voyage (1802–1804): Captain Thomas Dennis sailed from England on 10 June 1802. On 1 March 1803 a whale strike caused Captain Dennis great injury and he died a few days later. Captain Harney took command. Inspector returned to England on 6 March 1804 with more than 700 barrels of whale oil.[23]
2nd whaling voyage (1804–1805): Captain Simon Smith acquired a letter of marque on 28 April 1804.[3] he sailed from England on 10 May 1804, bound for the Isle of Desolation. He returned on 11 July 1805.[23]
3rd whaling voyage (1806–1808): Captain Robert Poole acquired a letter of marque on 24 April 1806.[3] He sailed from England on 15 May 1806. She was reported to have been "all well" at Bay of Islands in March 1806 and again off New Zealand in September.[23] In 1808 Inspector, Poole, master, Grand Sachem , Whippey, master, and Commerce, Ceroni, master, in Bay of Islands. Grand Sachem and Inspector were full of oil and preparing to return to England.[24]Inspector arrived back in England on 23 August 1808.
4th whaling voyage (1808–1811): Captain John Walker sailed from England on 7 October 1808. On 10 July 1811, Inspector, Walker, master, left St Helena for London.[23]Lloyd's List reported in October 1811 that she had grounded on Margate Sand, but had been gotten off and put into Margate with the loss of her anchors, cables, and bowsprit, and other damage.[25] She arrived back at Gravesend, Kent on 9 October 1811.[23]
Year
Master
Owner
Trade
Source & notes
1812
T.Dennis
D.Bennet
London–South Seas
LR; new wales and good repair 1802, and some repairs 1805; annotation "on shore"
1813
Stratton
D.Bennet
London–South Seas
LR; good repair 1811
5th whaling voyage (1812–1813): Captain Andrew Sturton (or Stirton) sailed from England in 1812.[23] In February 1813 Inspector was well in the South Sea fishery, in this case at Timor, as were Albion, Baroness Longueville, Cumberland, Good Sachem, Ocean, Thames, and Venus .[26]Inspector sailed from St Helena as part of a convoy under escort by HMSCormorant, a naval storeship coming from the Cape. The convoy included other whalers such as Cumberland, Thames, Admiral Berkeley, and Warre, and some other vessels including Rambler. Cormorant parted from the convoy on 2 December about 280 miles west of Ushant, and arrived at Portsmouth on 18 December. On 6 December Thames and Cumberland spoke Inspector, Martin, master; she had lost her bowsprit, her fore and main masts, and her mizen topmast.[27]Inspector arrived at Gravesend on 21 December.[23]
In 1813 the British East India Company (EIC) had lost its monopoly on the trade between India and Britain. British ships were then free to sail to India or the Indian Ocean under a licence from the EIC.[28]Inspector's owners applied for a licence on 25 July 1814 to engage in whaling in the East Indies and received it on 8 August.[2] By then Inspector had already sailed.
6th whaling voyage (1814–1817): Captain Barnabas Gardner sailed from London on 10 May 1814. On 6 December 1816 Inspector was at Timor. She returned to England on 18 February 1817.[23]
Year
Master
Owner
Trade
Source
1818
A.Dunkin
Bennet
London–South Seas
LR; good repair 1811
7th whaling voyage (1817–loss): Captain John Duncan sailed from England on 4 September 1817, bound for Peru.[23]
The Chilean privateer Chileno captured Inspector in May 1818 and sent her into Valparaiso, where Inspector arrived on 26 June.[29]Lloyd's List reported in November 1818 that Inspector, Dunkin, master, had been captured and taken into Valparaiso.[30]
Fate
Lloyd's List continued to carry Inspector with unchanged info until 1825.
However, on 19 December 1819 Inspector, Bruce, master, arrived at Valparaiso from Callao. Then on 1 March 1821 Inspector, Pashers, master, arrived at Rio de Janeiro from Guayaquil. Inspector, Brun, master, was also reported to have arrived on 24 March at Rio. Then in June Lloyd's List reported that Inspector, Parkers, master, had arrived at St Andero. Reportedly, Inspector was condemned at Santander as unseaworthy and broken up there.[23]
Notes
↑ Lloyd's List gave the launch place as nearby Harwich.
↑ Prize money was paid in late 1795. The amount for a captain present at the capture of all three islands was £203 11s4+1⁄2d; the amount for a seaman was £1 10s.[6] A second payment in 1800 amounted to £777 4s 6+1⁄4 for captains, and £3 13s 4+3⁄4 for seamen.[7]
↑ Meanwell, of 210 tons (bm),[15] had been launched in 1799 by John Summers, at Gateshead.[16]
↑ Prize money for some bales of linen on Indian Chief, net of costs for the detained neutral vessels, amounted to £4 11s 9d for a petty officer and £1 11s 6d for a seaman.[18]
↑ Johanna Eleanora, of 110 tons (bm), had been launched in Pomerania.[20]
↑ Dickson's letter referred to Diligence, but there is no record of a hired cutter Diligence.
HMS Eclipse was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King at Dover and launched in 1807. She served off Portugal and then in the Indian Ocean at the capture of the Île de France. Shortly thereafter she captured Tamatave. She was sold for mercantile service in 1815. She traded with India until 1823. Then between 1823 and 1845 she made seven voyages as a whaler.
HMS Lynx was a 16-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Gravesend. In 1795 she was the cause of an international incident when she fired on USRC Eagle. She was at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, and during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars took numerous prizes, mostly merchant vessels but also including some privateers. She was also at the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807. She was sold in April 1813. She then became the whaler Recovery. She made 12 whaling voyages in the southern whale fishery, the last one ending in 1843, at which time her owner had her broken up.
The whaler Globe, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, was launched in 1815. She made three whaling voyages and then in 1824, on her fourth, her crew mutinied, killing their officers. Eventually most of the mutineers were killed or captured and the vessel herself was back in Nantucket in her owners' hands. She continued to whale until about 1828. She was broken up circa 1830.
Albion was a full-rigged whaler built at Deptford, England, and launched in 1798. She made five whaling voyages to the seas around New South Wales and New Zealand. The government chartered her in 1803 to transport stores and cattle, to Risdon Cove on the River Derwent, Tasmania.
Seringapatam was built in 1799, of teak, as a warship for Tippu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore. However, the British stormed his citadel at Seringapatam that year and he was killed in the action. The vessel was sailed to England in the hopes that the Admiralty would buy it. The Admiralty did not, and British merchants bought her to use as a whaler. She made six voyages to the Southern Atlantic and the Pacific until 1813, on her sixth voyage, when during the War of 1812, a US frigate captured her. She served briefly as a tender to the frigate before mutineers and British prisoners recaptured her and sailed to Australia. After her return to her owners, she returned to whaling until 1846, making another nine voyages. She then sailed between London and New South Wales until 1850. In the 1850s and 1860s she sailed to Aden and Hamburg, ending her years trading between Shields and Quebec. She is no longer listed in 1870.
HMS Kangaroo was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy launched in 1805. The Navy sold her in 1815 and she became the whaler Countess of Morley. After three whaling voyages she became a merchantman. She may have been condemned c.1827; she was last listed in 1833.
Duckenfield Hall was launched on the Thames in 1783. She spent most of her career trading with the West Indies. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1797 and 1798. In 1819 she became a Greenland whaler. She was wrecked in the Orkney Islands in 1820 while returning from a whaling voyage.
Allison was launched in France in 1776, almost certainly under another name. The British captured her in 1795. Between 1796 and 1799 she made two whaling voyages to the British southern whale fishery. Then between 1799 and 1807 she made three voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Between the first and the second a French privateer captured her, but British letters of marque recaptured her. The British slave trade was abolished in 1807 and thereafter Allison traded primarily as a coaster. After about 1840 she began to trade to America and Africa. She was lost c.1846.
Norfolk was built in France in 1784 under a different name. The British captured her c. 1800 and she made some voyages as a West Indiaman. She also made a cruise as a privateer. Between 1803 and 1808 she served the Royal Navy as an armed defense and hired armed ship on the Leith Station. She spent her time escorting convoys in the North Sea and captured one French privateer. After her naval service, between 1808 and 1814 Norfolk was a London-based transport. From 1814 to 1820 she made four voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1823.
Sir Andrew Hammond was launched at Bermuda in 1800. She spent almost a dozen years as a West Indiaman. From 1812 on she was a whaler. On her first whaling voyage she sailed to the Pacific where the United States Navy captured her. She then served briefly in the United States Navy before the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She returned to whaling and made a further eight whaling voyages. She was lost in 1841 on her tenth whaling voyage.
HMS Hazard was launched in 1749 For the Royal Navy as brig-rigged sloop. She had a 30-plus year career with the navy, during which she captured several small French privateers. At the end of the American War of Independence, the navy sold her and she became the merchantman Joseph. After almost a decade as a merchantman trading with Spain, a new owner made a whaler of her. She made seven whaling voyages and was no longer listed after 1804, two years after her return from her last whaling voyage.
Venus was launched at Deptford in 1788 and made 15 voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Of 812 whalers in the British southern whale fishery database for which there was data, she had the fifth highest number of whaling voyages. She was last listed in 1823.
Greenwich was launched on the Thames in 1800. Between 1800 and 1813 Samuel Enderby & Sons employed her as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery, and she made four whaling voyages for them. In 1813 the United States Navy captured her in the Pacific and for about a year she served there as USS Greenwich. Her captors scuttled her in 1814.
Resolution was launched at Liverpool in 1776 as the West Indiaman Thomas Hall; she was renamed in 1779. She sailed briefly as a privateer. Then between 1791 and 1804 Revolution made some six voyages as a whaler. On one voyage, in 1793, a French frigate captured her, but Resolution was re-captured. In 1804 a new owner returned her to the West Indies trade. She does not appear to have sailed after early 1805.
Fame was launched in India in 1786. She was sold to Portuguese owners. A French privateer captured but the Royal Navy recaptured her in 1794. She then became a West Indiaman, sailing from Liverpool. Between 1796 and 1804 she made three voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She then returned to the West Indies trade. From 1818 on she was a whaler in the Greenland whale fishery, sailing from Whitby and then Hull. She burnt in 1823 while outward bound on a whaling voyage.
HMS Parthian was launched at Deptford in 1808. During the Napoleonic Wars she captured one important French privateer, and several Danish, Dutch, and French merchantmen. After the war, Parthian captured a pirate schooner near Vera Cruz. Parthian was wrecked off Alexandria on 15 May 1828.
Nimble was built in Folkestone in 1781, possibly under another name. In 1786 Nimble was almost rebuilt and lengthened. Between 1786 and 1798 she made nine voyages as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. Between 1799 and 1804 she made four voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On her first voyage as to gather captives she detained a neutral vessel, an action that resulted in a court case. On her second voyage to gather captives, a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. She was wrecked in 1804 or so after she had delivered her captives to St Thomas.
Friendship was launched in France or Spain, possibly in 1780. The British captured her in 1797 and she became a West Indiaman, and from 1798 a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Friendship made two complete voyages carrying captives from West Africa to the West Indies. On her third voyage crew members mutinied, taking her before she had embarked any captives. They sailed for a French port in the Caribbean but the Royal Navy retook her in 1801 and brought her into Barbados. There the Government Agent sold her. The incident resulted in a legal dispute between the owners and the insurers that in 1813 was decided in favour of the owners. New owners in 1803 continued to sail Friendship as West Indiaman. She was last listed in 1810.
HMS Spy was a Bonetta-class sloop launched at Rotherhithe in 1756 for the Royal Navy. The Navy sold her in 1773. From 1776, or perhaps earlier she was a transport. Then from 1780 to 1783, as Mars, she was first a privateer and then a slave ship, engaged in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. Between 1783 and 1787 her name was Tartar, and she traded with the Mediterranean. From 1787, as Southampton, she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She made at least four complete whaling voyages and was last listed in 1792.
Grand Sachem was launched at Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1801. She was registered at Bideford in 1803, but until 1815 sailed from Milford Haven. Between approximately 1803 and 1822, she made eight voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1822 and was broken up in 1826.
References
Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN0-905617-96-7.
House of Commons, Parliament, Great Britain (1816). Parliamentary Papers. Vol.10.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
McNab, Robert (1914). From Tasman to Marsden: A History of Northern New Zealand from 1642 to 1818. J. Wilkie.
Ortiz Sotelo, Jorge (2015). La Real Armada en el Pacífico Sur. El Apostadero Naval del Callao 1746-1824. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas/Bonilla Artigas Editores. ISBN9786078348619.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates (2nded.). Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.
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