Kingston was launched at Bristol in 1780 as a West Indiaman. From 1798 she made ten voyages as a whaler. Somewhat unusually, on her first voyage she participated in the capture of a Spanish merchant ship. She then briefly sailed between England and Quebec, and was last listed in 1819.
Kingston first appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1780 with J. Fowler, master, J. Collard, owner, and trade Bristol–Jamaica.[4] For the next 18 or so years she continued to trade with the West Indies.
1st whaling voyage (1798-1799): Captain Charles Clark sailed from England on 11 March 1798, bound for the Pacific Ocean.[8] In May she was at Rio de Janeiro replenishing her water and food.[3]
Kingston was reported to have been on the west coast of America early 1799. At Cabo Blanco, Peru,[9] she and another whaler, Cornwall, assisted by Sally, captured Nostra Senora de Bethlehem, which had been sailing from Callao to Guayaquil.[10] A prize crew from Cornwall under the command of Meather, Cornwall's second mate, brought Nostra Senora de Bethlehem into Port Jackson on 24 April 1799.[11][9][lower-alpha 1]
Clark returned to England on 12 November 1799.[8] She was also mentioned in the Protection Lists.[3]
2nd whaling voyage (1800-1801): Captain Thomas Dennis acquired a letter of marque on 15 January 1800.[1]Kingston was to sail in company with Elligood, which too was a Bennett ship. They were to sail on a speculative voyage to New Holland for whales. They were then to examine King George Sound, proceed to Shark Bay and the north-west coast, and return via Madagascar and southern Africa. The voyage would require them to infringe on the British East India Company's (EIC) monopoly on navigation east of the Cape of Good Hope. They received permission from the EIC's Court of Directors on 16 February. Kingston sailed on 19 February.[8]
Kingston returned to England on 4 December 1801.[8] In 1802 Kingston was valued at £6,000.[3]
3rd whaling voyage (1802): Captain Tristam Bunker sailed from England on 9 February 1802. He returned on 16 December.[8]
In 1803 Danniel Bennett sold Kingston to Alexander and John Gibbon, and Matthew Swain.[8]
4th whaling voyage (1803–1804): Captain Matthew Swain sailed on 18 June 1803. Kingston was at Saint Helena in May 1804.[3] She returned on 13 July 1804.[8]
5th whaling voyage (1804–1806): Captain Matthew Swain sailed on 27 September 1804, bound for the Isle of Desolation. Kingston was there on 1 April 1805, "All Well".[3]Kingston returned to London on 15 June with 1600 barrels of "black oil".[8]
6th whaling voyage (1806–1808): Captain Thomas Richards sailed from England on 21 August 1806. Kingston was at Boa Vista in October.[3]Kingston returned on 25 May 1808.[8]
7th whaling voyage (1808–1809): Captain Thomas Richards sailed from England on 5 August 1808. He returned on 13 September 1809.[8]
8th whaling voyage (1809–1811): Captain Thomas Richards sailed from England on 20 November 1809. He returned on 16 April 1811.[8]Kingston underwent a "good repair" that year, presumably after her return.[7]
9th whaling voyage (1811–1813): Captain Granville (or William Glanville) sailed from England in 1811. He returned on 18 May 1813.[8] In 1813 Kingston underwent a "good repair".[7]
Transport: The Register of Shipping for 1815 shows Kingston with Richardson, master, and trade London transport.[7]
10th whaling voyage (1815-c.1817): Captain Joplin or John Jopling sailed from England on 21 December 1815. At some point her master changed to James Young.[8]
The Register of Shipping for 1818 showed Kingston's master changing from J. Topplen to Young, and her trade from London−Southern Fishery to London−Quebec.[5]
Fate
Kingston was last listed in 1819. Lloyd's Register and the Register of Shipping both showed her master as J.Young, her owner as Gibbon, and her trade as London–Quebec.
Active was the French ship Alsace that the Royal Navy captured in 1803. William Bennett purchased her and named her Active, in place of a previous Active that had been lost in January 1803. She then made one whaling voyage for him. Bennett sold her to Robins & Co., and she sailed between London and Buenos Aires. She then sailed on a second sealing voyage. She was lost in 1810.
Elligood was constructed in Nova Scotia in 1794 for Liddle & Co. She performed one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She was primarily a whaler, but also visited Australia. She is last listed in 1806.
The British Royal Navy purchased HMS Shark on the stocks in 1775. She was launched in 1776, and in 1778 converted to a fireship and renamed HMS Salamander. The Navy sold her in 1783. She then became the mercantile Salamander. In the 1780s she was in the northern whale fishery. In 1791 she transported convicts to Australia. She then became a whaling ship in the southern whale fishery for a number of years, before becoming a general transport and then a slave ship. In 1804 the French captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. Although she is last listed in 1811, she does not appear in Lloyd's List (LL) ship arrival and departure (SAD) data after 1804.
Hillsborough was a three-decker merchant ship launched in 1782. She made six voyages to India and China as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company. In 1798 she transported convicts from England to New South Wales. After delivering her convicts in 1799, she became a whaler in the South Seas fisheries for several years. She was broken up in 1804.
Duke of Portland was a sailing ship built in 1790 at Bordeaux, France. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1794 after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. British owners named her Duke of Portland and employed her as a whaler. As such she made some eleven whaling voyages. On the outbound leg of her eighth voyage she transported convicts to Port Jackson, New South Wales. She was last listed in 1811.
Britannia was built in South Carolina in 1772. Prior to 1798, Britannia sailed between London and South Carolina, or simply served as a transport. In 1798 she changed ownership and began a sequence of whaling voyages. Between 1798 and 1807 she made a number of whaling voyages to the South Seas whale fishery, and the coast of South Africa. On one of those voyages a French privateer captured her, but Britannia was recaptured almost immediately. Between 1808 and 1816, the last year in which she is listed, she returned to operating as a London-based transport.
The vessel that would become Young William was built in 1791 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1794 and Daniel Bennett purchased her that year. She then went on to make 10 voyages for him. French privateers captured her twice, but on the first occasion the British Royal Navy recaptured her, and on the second her captor did not keep her. Still, the French Navy captured and burnt her in 1810 on her eleventh voyage.
Active was a French ship that came into British hands in 1800 as a prize. William Bennet purchased her and named her Active. He employed her as a whaler and she was lost in January 1803 at the start of her second whaling voyage.
Crescent was launched at Rotherhithe in 1790. She initially traded with the Levant, particularly Smyrna. After the outbreak of war with France she may have tried her hand as a privateer. In 1796–1798 she made a voyage to the East Indies, almost surely on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. In 1802-1804 she made one voyage as a slave ship carrying slaves from West Africa to Jamaica. In 1805 she became a whaler. She was lost in 1807 off Patagonia while homeward bound from her first whaling voyage.
Eliza was built in Spain in 1794 under another name and taken as a prize circa 1800. She then made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she made one voyage to Timor as a whaler. She next became a West Indiaman. In 1810 she apparently was sold to Portuguese interests and who continued to sail her under the name Courier de Londres. She is last listed in 1814.
Eliza was a French prize that made nine voyages as a whaler between 1802 and 1822. She is last listed in 1824.
Cornwall was launched in 1794 as a West Indiaman. In a little more than three years later she had left on the first of three whaling voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. On her first whaling voyage she captured a Spanish ship and fought off a French privateer. After her third whaling voyage Cornwall returned to the West Indies trade. Around 1817 new owners sent her to India where a Parsi merchant purchased her. She traded in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and also participated as a transport in a naval expedition to the Persian Gulf. She was last listed in 1824.
Adventure was a French privateer captured in 1803. She became a whaler that made two voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. She was wrecked in April 1808 as she set out on her third.
Fonthill was a ship built in France in 1781 and was probably taken in prize in 1782. Fonthill sailed as a West Indiaman between 1783 and 1791, then became a whaler southern whale fishery and made four whaling voyages between 1791 and 1799. On her third voyage she took back from Cape Town a Dutch captain whose vessel had been captured bringing in arms and ammunition from Batavia to stir up unrest against the British at the Cape. After refitting, in 1800, Fonthill became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. Fonthill was last listed, with stale data, in 1810, but whose last reported whaling voyage took place in 1806.
Aurora was launched at Whitby in 1789. Between 1799 and 1806 she made four voyages as a whaler to the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1809 with stale data since her whaling voyages.
Barbara was built in France in 1792. The Royal Navy captured her circa 1798, gave her a thorough repair in one of their yards, but then sold her. She sailed on one voyage as a West Indiaman. She then became a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fisheries. On her first whaling voyage she sailed to Walvis Bay. She was captured, either near there or on her way home, and taken into the Río de la Plata.
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. 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.
Caledonia was launched in 1780 in Spain. She apparently was taken in prize circa 1797. She made one voyage to the Caribbean and then under a subsequent owner made five voyages as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. She may then have become a transport, but though listed in the registries until 1813, does not clearly appear in ship arrival and departure data after 1805.
Several vessels have been named Venus for the planet Venus or the Roman goddess Venus:
References
Clayton, Jane M (2014). Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775–1815: An alphabetical list of ships. Berforts Group. ISBN9781908616524.
Collins, David (1804) On Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from Its First Settlement in January 1788, to August 1801 ... To which are Added, Some Particulars of New Zealand ... and an Account of a Voyage ... by which the Existence of a Strait Separating Van Diemen's Land from the Continent of New Holland was Ascertained. (Cadell)
Richards, Rhys (1991). "The cruise of the 'Kingston and the Elligood' in 1800 and the wreck found on King Island in 1802". The Great Circle. 13 (1): 35–53.
Stanbury, Myra; Henderson, Kandy-Jane; Derrien, Bernard; Bigourdan, Nicolas; Le Touze, Evelyne (2015). "Chapter 18: Epilogue". In Stanbury, Myra (ed.). The Mermaid Atoll Shipwreck: A Mysterious Early 19th-century Loss. Fremantle, WA: Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology and the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology. pp.235–290. ISBN9781876465094.
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