| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Liberty |
| Launched | 1775, Bristol [1] |
| Fate | Lost ca. late 1798 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 276, [2] or 300 [3] (bm) |
Liberty was of British origin, built in 1775, that first appeared as Liberty in 1787. She made six complete whale hunting voyages in the British Southern Whale Fishery before being lost in 1798 on her seventh voyage.
Liberty entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1787 with T.Clark, master, Lucas, owner, and trade London–Southern Fishery. [3] LR for 1789 amended her burthen downward and showed that she had undergone small repairs in 1789. [2]
Captain Tristram Clark sailed in 1787. Liberty was reported to have been in the Brazils in late 1787 and the Falkland Islands in January 1788, together with a number of other whalers. She returned to London on 5 June 1789 with four tuns of sperm oil, 222 tuns of whale oil, 160 cwt of whale bone, and 4500 seal skins. [4]
Captain Clark sailed for the South Seas on 27 August 1789. [4] Liberty was reported west of Cape Horn in 1790. [1]
Liberty, Clark, master, sailed from Dover on 28 September 1790, bound for the South Seas. [5] Liberty, Clark, master, sailed from Rio de Janeiro on 25 March 1792, bound for London in company with Venus, Coffin, master. [6] There was a report that Liberty, Clark, master, had been lost in the South Seas, [7] and she subsequently disappeared from LR. However, John Lucas & Co. continued to sail a Liberty.
Captain Benjamin Baxter sailed from London on 27 August 1792, bound for the South Seas. [4] She was reported on the coast of Peru on 1793. [1] On 24 March 1794 Liberty was at St Helena. She returned to Gravesend on 29 July 1794 with 200 tuns of sperm oil, 12 tuns of whale oil, 160 cwt of whale bone, and 4500 seal skins. [4]
Captain Baxter sailed from London in 1794. Liberty, Baxter, master, was reported to have been at Teneriffe in early 1795. In August and September 1796 Liberty was "all well" in the Pacific Ocean. She returned via St Helena, and arrived at Plymouth on 8 May 1797 and Gravesend on 30 May with 200 tuns of sperm oil, 12 tuns of whale oil, 10 cwt of whale bone, and 45 lbs of ambergris. [4]
Captain Baxter was reported to have been at Rio in November 1797 to replenish her water and supplies. [1]
Around 20 June 1798 Liberty, Smith, master, sailed for the South Seas. Liberty was reported to have been at the Galapagos Islands in August–September 1798. Liberty appears to have been lost around late 1798 off the west coast of Mexico. [4]
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.
Rockingham was launched in America in 1767 as Almsbury. By 1768 Samuel Enderby & Sons were her owners and her name was Rockingham. From 1775 Enderbys were using her as a whaler, and she made eight whaling voyages for them under that name. In 1782 Enderbys renamed her Swift, and as Swift she then performed ten whaling voyages on the Brazil Banks and off Africa until through 1793. She was still listed in Lloyd's Register as whaling until 1795.
Lord Hawkesbury was launched in the United States in 1781, probably under another name. She entered Lloyd's Register in 1787. She made six voyages as a whaler. On her second whaling voyage she "the first parcel of ambergris 'by any English whaler'". She was lost on the seventh after a squadron of French naval vessels had captured her. One of her original, British crew succeeded in regaining sufficient control from her prize crew to enable him to run her aground, wrecking her.
Hercules was launched at Georgia in 1771. She appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1778 and became a West Indiaman. Between 1792 and 1796 she made three voyages as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. In 1797 the French captured Hercules as she was on her fourth voyage.
Hope was built at Liverpool in 1770, though it is not clear under what name. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1786 as a Greenlandman, a whaler in the British northern whale fishery. From 1789 on she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then made five whaling voyages to Africa or the South Pacific. On the fifth she captured Haasje; this resulted in a court case over the distribution of prize money]]. Hope was last listed in 1798.
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.
Barbara was launched in Philadelphia in 1771 and came to England circa 1787. She initially sailed as a West Indiaman, but then between 1788 and 1800 made five complete voyages as a whaler. The Spanish captured her late in 1800 in the Pacific during her sixth whaling voyage.
Morse was launched in 1747 for the British Royal Navy, but under another name. After 1775 she was John and Alice (1775), Potomack (1776–1779), Betsy (1780-1781), and then in 1782 Resolution. In 1784 S. Mellish purchased her and she became the whaler Morse. She initially engaged in whale hunting in the British northern whale fishery. Then from 1787 she made numerous voyages as a whaler primarily in the southern whale fishery, but with some returns to the northern fishery. There is no further mention of her in Lloyd's List Ship arrival and departure (SAD) data after August 1802.
Resolution was launched at Liverpool in 1776 as the West Indiaman Thomas Hall; she was renamed in 1779. 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.
Queen Charlotte was built in Philadelphia in 1780 almost certainly under another name. She appears in British-origin online sources between 1789 and 1792. She arrived in Britain from the whale fishery. After she arrived in Britain she made two more voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1796 with stale data.
Spy was built in France in 1780, almost surely under another name, and taken in prize. The British East India Company (EIC) purchased her in 1781 and used her for almost two years as a fast packet vessel and cruiser based in St Helena. It then sold her and she became a London-based slave ship, making two voyages carrying slaves from West Africa to the West Indies. She then became a whaler, making seven whaling voyages between 1786 and 1795. She was probably wrecked in August 1795 on a voyage as a government transport.
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. 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 sold in 1804 at St Thomas after she had delivered her captives.
Olive Branch was launched in 1777 in America, possibly under a different name. In 1788–1789 she made one voyage as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. On her return she traded with Gibraltar and the Mediterranean. She was last listed in 1793.
Sappho was launched at Shields in 1785. She spent most of her career trading with the Baltic, though she made some voyages elsewhere, and in particular, between 1788 and 1799 she made a voyage to the Falkland Islands as a whaler. She was last listed in 1798, having perhaps been captured in late 1797.
Sparrow was built in Bombay in 1777, possibly under another name. Between 1789 and 1798 Sparrow made several voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. In 1803 she was captured and recaptured. The French Navy captured and burnt her in 1806.
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.
Bellisarius was built in South Carolina in 1762 or 1779, possibly under another name. Between 1789 and 1799 she made six complete voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Afterwards she sailed as a merchantman. She was last listed in 1809.
Chaser was built in the East Indies in 1778. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1781 and commissioned her as HMS Chaser. A French frigate captured her in 1782 but the Royal Navy recaptured her in 1783 and took her back into service. She was present at a major battle and then sailed to England where the Navy sold her in 1784. As the mercantile Chaser she made five or six voyages as a whaler in the British northern whale fishery and then two to the southern whale fishery. On her way home from the second a French privateer captured her, but some of her crew recaptured her. Next, she began trading with Honduras but was wrecked in late 1795 as she was returning from there to London.
Chaser first appeared under that name in British records in 1786. She had been launched in 1771 at Philadelphia under another name, probably Lord North. Lord North became Cotton Planter, and then Planter, before she became Chaser. Between 1786 and 1790 Chaser made four voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then became a merchantman. In 1794 a privateer captured her but the Spanish recaptured her. She became a Liverpool-based slaver. In 1796 she was condemned in West Africa on her first voyage in the triangular trade before she could embark any enslaved people.
Several ships have been named Lucy.