Kitty (1810 ship)

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History
Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg France
Launched1805
Capturedc.1810
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameKitty
Owner
  • 1810: "Crutchlw"
  • 1811:Roach & Co.
Acquired1810, by purchase of a prize
FateCaptured and burnt 1814
General characteristics
Type Brig
Tons burthen115, or 116 [1] (bm)
Complement18 [1]
Armament
  • 1811:6 × 6-pounder guns [2]
  • 1812:10 × 6-pounder guns [1]

Kitty was a French vessel taken in prize c. 1810. She became a West Indiaman and then, following a change of ownership, a privateer. She was one of only two British privateers to target slave traders. She captured three off Sierra Leone before one of her targets captured her in 1814, killing her master, enslaving some of her crew, and setting fire to her.

Contents

British career

Kitty enters Lloyd's Register in 1810.

YearMasterOwnerTrade
1810 [3] R. Banks"Crutchlw"London-Barbados
1811 [2] R.Banks
J. Gibbs
"Crutchlw"
Roach & Co.
London-Barbados
Liverpool-Africa
1812 [4] J.B.Gibbs
Roach
Roach & Co.Liverpool-Africa
1813 [5] J. RoachRoach & Co.Liverpool-Africa
1814 [6] J. RoachRoach & Co.Liverpool-Africa

John Roach acquired Kitty in 1811. He received a letter of marque for her on 2 October 1812. [1]

In early 1813 Kitty captured three slave ships off Sierra Leone, all of which she took into Freetown where the Vice admiralty court condemned them: [7]

DateNameNationalityTypeSlaves landed
1813Amelia85
4 June 1813San Jose TriumfoSpanishBrig96
4 June 1813PhoenixPortugueseBrig1

The need to put prize crews aboard San Jose Triumfo and Phoenix strained Roach's resources. Instead, at the cost of sharing the proceeds, he arranged for HMS Thais to take them into Freetown. [8]

Fate

Lloyd's List reported on 27 May 1814 that Kitty had been totally lost sometime in February off the coast of Africa while chasing a Spanish vessel. [9] An English slave trader called Crawford was working with a Spanish schooner carrying slaves that Crawford had gathered. The schooner captured Kitty and the schooner's master murdered Roach. The Spaniards plundered Kitty before scuttling her. [10] The schooner also enslaved the black crew on Kitty, including two freed Negroes from Sierra Leone, and sold them into slavery at Havana. [11] HMS Spitfire rescued the surviving crew members and captured Crawford's launch and trade goods, but was unable to capture either Crawford or the Spanish schooner. [10]

Citations

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Ocean was a sloop launched in 1790 at Plymouth. Circa 1792 the Sierra Leone Company purchased her and sailed her in support of their colony. In 1793 the Company sent her on a voyage along the coast to trade for African commodities that she brought back to Freetown for re-export. The Company judged the experiment a success and the next year it sent several more vessels to do the same. The French captured Ocean in August 1796 and the Royal Navy recaptured her in January 1798. Her subsequent fate is obscure.

References