Fate
Indian was caught up in the conflict between Spain and the local independence movement in South America. The Chilean squadron had detained Edward Ellice and Lord Suffield at Callao in December 1820; the Spanish authorities had seized Grant. The report listed a number of other vessels, British and American, such as Indian, that had also been detained by one side or the other. [2]
On 18 February 1821, 89 days after a whale sank Essex, Indian, Crozier, master, spotted and rescued three survivors. [3] [lower-alpha 1] Indian had encountered the three men at 33°45′S81°3′W / 33.750°S 81.050°W / -33.750; -81.050 . She arrived at Valparaiso on 25 February.
Edward Ellice, Lord Suffield, and Indian, which Lord Cochrane's squadron had detained, arrived at Valparaiso on 1 March 1821 for adjudication. [6] A later report was that the Prize Court at Valparaiso had condemned Indian and her cargo. Edward Ellice and Lord Suffield had not yet been adjudicated. However, Commodore Thomas Hardy, Commander-in-Chief on the South America Station, was present in HMS Superb and stated that he would not allow any of the property to be touched. [7] An advice dated 8 August at Santiago de Chili reported that Edward Ellice and Lord Suffield had been restored, with their cargoes. [8]
There is no record of Indian being restored, and she disappeared from online records.
Thomas Gibson Nickerson was an American sailor and author. In 1819, when he was fourteen years old, Nickerson served as cabin boy on the whaleship Essex. On this voyage, the ship was sunk by a whale it was pursuing, and the crew spent three months at sea before the survivors were rescued. In 1876 he wrote The Loss of the Ship "Essex", an account of the ordeal and of his subsequent experiences at sea. The manuscript was lost until 1960, and was first published in 1984.
Essex was an American whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts, which was launched in 1799. In 1820, while at sea in the southern Pacific Ocean under the command of Captain George Pollard Jr., the ship was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale. Thousands of miles from the coast of South America with little food and water, the 21-man crew was forced to make for land in the ship's surviving whaleboats.
Owen Chase was first mate of the whaler Essex, which a sperm whale rammed and sank on November 20, 1820. Chase wrote about the incident in Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. This book, published in 1821, would inspire Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick. Chase was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the son of Phebe (Meader) and Judah Chase.
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.
Two Brothers was a Nantucket whaleship that sank on the night of February 11, 1823, off the French Frigate Shoals. The ship's captain was George Pollard, Jr., former captain of the famous whaleship Essex. The wreck was discovered in 2008 by a team of marine archaeologists working on an expedition for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. She is thought to have been built in 1804 by Joseph Glidden in Hallowell, Maine.
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.
George Pollard Jr. (1791–1870) was the captain of the whalers Essex and Two Brothers, both of which sank. Pollard's life, including his encounter with the sperm whale that sank Essex, served as inspiration for Captain Ahab, the whale-obsessed character in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.
HMS Wanderer was a Cormorant-class ship-sloop launched in 1806 for the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy sold her in 1817. She made one voyage between 1817 and 1820 as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then sailed between Plymouth and North America until October 1827 when her crew had to abandon her at sea because she was waterlogged.
Perseverance was launched in Virginia in 1797 and was registered in Great Britain in 1799. A privateer captured her in 1800, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her within days. She traded with Baltimore, Brazil, and the Mediterranean. She made one voyage as a whaler that resulted in pirates taking her in 1821, killing her master and at least some of her crew, and burning her.
Lord Cathcart was launched at Shields in 1807. Between 1816 and 1919 she traded with the Cape of Good Hope. She experienced two notable events, her detention in Chile in 1822 and her wrecking in 1825.
Renown was launched in 1794 at New Bedford, Massachusetts. She made four voyages from Nantucket as a whaler. In 1813, while she was on her fifth American whaling voyage, she became the first American whaler that British whalers captured in the South Seas. She was sold in London and under the name Adam became first a London-based transport and then a British Southern Whale Fishery whaler. She made four whaling voyages and was wrecked in 1825 at the outset of her fifth British whaling voyage.
Policy was launched at Dartmouth in 1801. She was a whaler that made seven whaling voyages between 1803 and 1823. On her second whaling voyage, in 1804, she was able to capture two Dutch vessels. On her fourth voyage the United States Navy captured her, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She was lost at Tahiti in 1824 on her eighth whaling voyage.
Earl Fauconberg was launched at Whitby in 1765. From 1784 on she made numerous voyages as a Greenland whaler. She was lost there in 1821.
Sesostris was launched at Hull in 1818. She traded with India, the Baltic, and Russia, carried troops for a Chilean military expedition against Peru, and transported convicts to New South Wales. She was broken up in 1843.
Edward Ellice was launched in New Brunswick in 1813 and sailed to England where she was re-registered. She was sold in 1822 in South America.
Lord Suffield was launched in 1816 at Great Yarmouth. She made a voyage to Peru that proved unsuccessful after the insurgent forces detained and then released her, under pressure from the Royal Navy. Next, she made several voyages to Bengal under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). Finally, she grounded on 17 April 1832 in Pentland Firth and was wrecked.
Several ships have been named Indian:
Queen Charlotte was built in Emsworth in 1801. She was a regular packet ship for the Post Office Packet Service, sailing out of Falmouth. She made several voyages across the Atlantic between late 1802 and 16 May 1805 when she was captured. She came back into British hands around 1806. The Post Office took her into temporary service between 1812 and 1817. In 1815, she was involved in a friendly fire incident. She then became a whaler off Peru in 1818. She remained in the Pacific Coast of South America until she was condemned there in 1820 as unseaworthy; she was last listed that same year. She may have been repaired and have continued to trade on the coast until 1822.
HMS Woodlark was launched in 1808 and commissioned in 1809. The Royal Navy sold her in 1818. She then became a merchantman with her new owners retaining her name. From 1820/1821 she became a whaler, sailing out of Port Jackson. She was still sailing as late as the late 1850s.
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.
United States
United Kingdom