| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Kitty |
| Owner | |
| Builder | Sunderland |
| Launched | 1787 |
| Fate | Last listed 1805 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 359, [4] or 363 (bm) |
| Armament | 6 × 3-pounder guns [3] |
Kitty was a merchantman built at Sunderland in 1787. In 1790 she carried slaves from the Gold Coast to Jamaica. Then in 1791 she transported convicts and goods from England to Australia. She was last listed in 1805.
In 1790 Kitty was under the command of Captain James Glynn. [1] Captain Glynn sailed from London on 15 November 1789 and arrived in Africa on 12 January 1790. Kitty acquired her slaves at Cape Coast Castle and sailed from Africa on 8 March. She arrived at Morant Bay, Jamaica in May 1790 with 113 slaves. [5]
Lloyd's Register for 1792 shows the ownership of Kitty changing to Christopher & Co., and her master from Glynn to G. Ramsey. [2]
Under the command of George Ramsay she sailed from England, on 31 March 1791, with 10 male and 30 female convicts and a cargo of stores. Kitty sprung a leak shortly after departure and returned to Spithead for repairs. There eight male convicts escaped. [6] She left Portsmouth on 6 April 1792. Further repairs were undertaken at Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town before she arrived at Port Jackson, New South Wales, on 18 November 1792. [7] Three female convicts died during the voyage. [8] Daniel Woodriff was Naval Agent for the voyage. [9] Kitty also brought out 282,567 lbs. of flour, 165,360 lbs. of pork, and 126,000 lbs. of beef for the colony. [10]
Kitty, Pitt, and Royal Admiral, the three convict transports that arrived in Australia in 1792, are often referred to as the Fourth Fleet.
Woodriff reported that homeward-bound, Kitty left Port Jackson on 4 June 1793, having taken a cargo to Norfolk Island in the interim. She sailed via Cape Horn, St Catherine's, and Rio de Janeiro, before arriving at the Cove of Cork on 5 February 1794. [11]
On her return from Port Jackson, Kitty became a merchantman. In 1795 Ramsey was still her master, and she was listed as being at Cork. [12]
In 1800 Kitty's trade was London transport, and her master was A. Sterling. [3] This entry continues to 1805, which is the last listing for her. The last listing for Kitty in the Register of Shipping is in 1800 and concurs with the listing in Lloyd's Register.
Citations
References
Prince of Wales was a transport ship in the First Fleet, assigned to transport convicts for the European colonisation of Australia. Accounts differ regarding her origins; she may have been built and launched in 1779 at Sidmouth, or in 1786 on the River Thames. Her First Fleet voyage commenced in 1787, with 47 female convicts aboard, and she arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788. On a difficult return voyage in 1788–1789 she became separated from her convoy and was found drifting helplessly off Rio de Janeiro with her crew incapacitated by scurvy.
Scarborough was a double-decked, three-masted, ship-rigged, copper-sheathed, barque that participated in the First Fleet, assigned to transport convicts for the European colonisation of Australia in 1788. Also, the British East India company (EIC) chartered Scarborough to take a cargo of tea back to Britain after her two voyages transporting convicts. She spent much of her career as a West Indiaman, trading between London and the West Indies, but did perform a third voyage in 1801–02 to Bengal for the EIC. In January 1805 she repelled a French privateer of superior force in a single-ship action, before foundering in April.
Surprize was a three-deck merchant vessel launched in 1780 that made five voyages as a packet ship under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). The fourth of which was subsequent to her participating in the notorious Second Fleet transporting convicts to Port Jackson (EIC). Her fifth voyage for the EIC was subsequent to her second voyage transporting convicts to Australia. In 1799 a French frigate captured her in the Bay of Bengal.
Phoenix was a three-decker merchant ship built on the Thames in 1798. On a voyage in 1824 on which she first transported convicts to Van Diemen's Land she was damaged on the Sow and Pigs Reef inside Port Jackson Heads, New South Wales, Australia. She was then condemned and turned into a prison hulk. She was broken up in 1837.
The ship that became Mary Ann was built in 1772 in France and the British captured her c. 1778. Her name may have been Ariadne until 1786 when she started to engage in whaling. Next, as Mary Ann, she made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales from England. In 1794 the French captured her, but by 1797 she was back in her owners' hands. She then made a slave trading voyage. Next, she became a West Indiaman, trading between London or Liverpool to Demerara. It was on one of those voyages in November 1801 that a French privateer captured her.
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.
Bellona was a three-decker merchantman launched in 1782 at Limehouse by Woolcombe for Boyd & Co. She then traded for a decade before, in 1792, commencing a series of four voyages for the British East India Company as an "extra ship", that is, on a charter contract. During the first of these voyages she transported convicts from Britain to New South Wales. French privateers captured her and the British Royal Navy recaptured her, the Royal Navy seized her once, and then finally a French privateer captured her in February 1810 and scuttled her.
Boddington, sometimes referred to as Boddingtons, was a merchant ship launched in 1781 on the River Thames. For the first decade of her career she sailed as a West Indiaman. She made one voyage in 1792 transporting convicts from Ireland to Australia. For her return trip she also made one voyage for the East India Company from Asia to Britain. She wrecked in 1805 on the Thames River.
Sugar Cane, was a three-decker merchantman and convict ship. In 1793 she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia. On her return trip she sailed from Bengal to Britain under contract to the British East India Company. During the French Revolutionary Wars she sailed under a letter of marque as a slave ship. She made two voyages taking slaves from West Africa to the Americas. In 1796 or 1797, on her second slave trading voyage she captured a French ship, but shortly thereafter was herself captured. The British Royal Navy recaptured her and she apparently was returned to service. She is last listed in 1798.
Ganges was a 700-ton (bm) merchantman launched in India in 1792. She made one voyage under contract to the East India Company (EIC), and one in 1797 transporting convicts from England to New South Wales. She disappears from the registers after 1802.
Barwell was a merchantman launched in 1782. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then left the EIC's service but continued to sail. She made one voyage transporting convicts in 1797 from England to Australia. She was last listed in 1807.
Minerva was a merchantman launched in 1773 in the East Indies. She traded there for more than 20 years before she made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). The first EIC voyage was from 1796 to 1798. In 1799 she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia while under charter to the EIC. From Australia she sailed to Bengal, and then back to Britain. She underwent repairs in 1802 and then traveled to St Helena and Bengal for the EIC. She was lost in 1805 or 1806 under circumstances that are currently unclear.
Speedy was a whaler launched on the Thames in 1779. She also made voyages to New South Wales, transporting female convicts in 1799. She made two voyages transporting slaves in 1805 and 1806, and was captured in January 1807 on her way into London after having delivered her slaves to Antigua in 1806.
Friendship was a three-decker merchantman, launched in 1793. She made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). During her first voyage, in 1796, a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. On the second, in 1799, she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia. She made a second voyage transporting convicts in 1817-18. On her way back she was broken up in 1819 at Mauritius after having been found unseaworthy.
Earl Cornwallis was a three-decker East Indiaman launched in 1783 on the River Thames. She made seven voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then made one voyage transporting convicts from England to New South Wales. By 1809, she was no longer listed.
Experiment was launched in 1798 at Stockton-on-Tees, England. Between late 1800 and 1802 she made a voyage to India for the British East India Company (EIC). In 1803 she transported convicts to Port Jackson. In 1805, on her way home the French captured her, but the British recaptured her. In 1808 she became a West Indiaman. Still, in 1818 or so she sailed out to India. Experiment was condemned at Batavia in 1818 and sold there in 1819 for breaking up.
Anne, also known as Ann, was an 18th-century Spanish sailing ship that the British had captured in 1799. The British Navy Board engaged her to transport convicts from Cork in Ireland to the penal colony of New South Wales in Australia for one voyage from 1800 to 1801. During this voyage she was possibly present, although she did not participate, in a notable action against a squadron of three French frigates. She then made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC).
Banastre, was built at Ringsend, Dublin, in 1759, though under what name is unclear. By 1787 she was in the hands of the partnership of the Tarletons and Backhouse of Liverpool, noted slavers. Under their ownership she made five complete voyages transporting slaves from West Africa to the Caribbean. A French warship captured her in 1793 as she was on her way from West Africa to Jamaica on her sixth voyage transporting slaves.
Lady Harewood, was launched in 1791 at Rotherhithe. She was initially a West Indiaman and in 1800 a French privateer captured her, but a Royal Navy frigate recaptured her two days later. She made three voyages transporting convicts to Australia, one in 1829 to Van Diemen's Land, and two, in 1831 and 1832, to New South Wales. In 1833 she became leaky on her way to Singapore from Australia and was condemned and sold at Singapore.
Several ships have been named John:
