Liverpool Hero (1781 ship)

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History
Naval Flag of the Kingdom of France (Civil Ensign).svg  France France
NameJeune Emilia
Launched1777, France [1]
Captured1780
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svg Great Britain
NameLiverpool Hero
Acquired1781
FateLost 1794
General characteristics
Tons burthen120, or 200, [1] or 211, [2] or 226, [3] or 239 [4] (bm)
Length82 ft 3 in (25.1 m) [2]
Beam25 ft 1 in (7.6 m) [2]
Armament1781:14 × 9-pounder guns [1]

Liverpool Hero was built in France in 1777, probably as Jeune Emilia. She was taken in prize in 1780. In 1781 she entered into the triangular trade in enslaved people. From 1781 she made six complete voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship. On her fourth enslaving voyage she suffered an exceptionally high mortality rate among the captives she had embarked. Her third voyage had been marred by high mortality, but on the fourth 330 captives, 59% of the number she had embarked, died. She was lost in 1794 off the coast of Africa on her seventh voyage, probably with her crew and captives.

Contents

Career

Liverpool Hero was taken in prize in 1780 and condemned that same year. She was probably Jeune Emilia, which the Liverpool privateer Hawke captured while homeward bound from an enslaving voyage. Jeune Emilia was sold for £3,700, increasing the profitability of an already profitable voyage. [5]

In 1781 she was sold to buyers at Liverpool. [2] Liverpool Hero first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1781. [1]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1781I.CooperEarle & Co.Liverpool–AfricaLR

1st voyage transporting enslaved people (1781–1782): Captain John Cooper sailed from Liverpool on 24 May 1781. Liverpool Hero acquired captives at Calabar and sailed from Africa on 17 January 1782. She arrived at Antigua on 4 March with 418 captives. She sailed from Antigua on 15 June and arrived back at Liverpool on 14 August. She had left from Liverpool with 47 crew members and had suffered eight crew deaths on the voyage. [6]

2nd voyage transporting enslaved people (1783–1784): Captain Cooper sailed from Liverpool on 16 March 1783. Liverpool Hero acquired captives at Calabar and arrived at Dominica on 26 January 1784 with 400 captives. She sailed for Liverpool on 17 February and arrived there on 13 April. She had left Liverpool with 41 crew members and she had suffered four crew deaths on her voyage. [7] [lower-alpha 1]

3rd voyage transporting enslaved people (1784–1785): Captain John Savage sailed from Liverpool on 28 July 1784. Liverpool Hero started gathering captives at Calabar on 17 September and sailed from Africa on 30 April 1785, having embarked 513 captives. She arrived at Dominica on 26 June with 299 captives; the mortality rate among the slaves was 42%. She had left Liverpool with 43 crew members and she arrived with 29. Liverpool Hero arrived back at Liverpool on 5 September; she had suffered 16 crew deaths on her voyage. [9]

4th voyage transporting enslaved people (1786–1787): Captain John Cooper sailed from Liverpool on 19 February 1786. Liverpool Hero started acquiring captives at Calabar on 27 April, and sailed from Africa on 15 June, having embarked 560 captives. She arrived at Dominica on 3 September with 230 slaves, having lost 330 (59%) of her slaves on the way. [10]

This was a notably high mortality. The high mortality rate may have been due to Liverpool Hero's owners, the Earle brothers, instructing their captains to acquire slaves at Calabar. They did warn their captains that the place was "remarkable for great mortality in slaves". [11] Mortality in the enslaving trade tended to be higher than that in other trades. Mortality rates on vessels leaving Calabar were much higher than those on vessels leaving Bonny, 75 miles away. [12]

Liverpool Hero departed Dominica on 14 October and arrived back at Liverpool on 10 December. She had left Liverpool with 41 crew members and had suffered 14 crew deaths on her voyage. [10] The ship's return cargo included rum, Madeira wine, ivory tusks, palm oil, long pepper, black wood, and beeswax. [13]

The Slave Trade Act 1788 (Dolben's Act) limited the number of enslaved people that British slave ships could transport, based on the ships' tons burthen. It was the first British legislation passed to regulate the shipping of enslaved people. On her next two voyages Liverpool Hero carried fewer captives than she had on the previous two. Dolben's Act apparently resulted in some reduction in the numbers of slaves carried per vessel, and possibly in mortality. [14]

5th voyage transporting enslaved people (1790–1791): Captain Thomas Smith sailed from Liverpool on 3 March 1790. Liverpool Hero acquired captives at Calabar and arrived at Grenada with 286 on 4 March 1791. She left Grenada on 20 March and arrived back at Liverpool on 27 April. She had left Liverpool with 26 crew members and had suffered six crew deaths on her voyage. She had arrived at Grenada with Smith as master, but arrived back at Liverpool with William Lace as master. [15] [lower-alpha 2]

6th voyage transporting enslaved people (1790–1791): Captain Joseph Hodgson sailed from Liverpool on 3 July 1791. Liverpool Hero started acquiring captives on 28 August at Calabar. She then acquired more at New Calabar. She left Africa on 10 December, having embarked 360 captives. She arrive at Grenada on 20 January 1791 with 343 slaves, for a 5% mortality rate. She sailed from Grenada on 7 February 1792 and arrived back at Liverpool on 19 March. At some point in the voyage John Mount replaced Hodgson as master. [lower-alpha 3] Liverpool Hero had sailed from Liverpool with 25 crew members and had suffered three crew deaths on her voyage. [18]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1793ThornbroWebster & Co.Liverpool–AfricaLR; raised 1784, & repairs 1791 & 1792 [3]

7th voyage transporting enslaved people (1792–Loss): Captain John Thornborrow (or Thornborough) sailed from Liverpool on 6 October 1792. Liverpool Hero started acquiring captives on 16 April. She acquired captives at Cape Coast Castle, Little Popo, and Badagry or Appa. [4]

Loss

In July 1794, Lloyd's List reported that Liverpool Hero, Thornborough, master, had been lost off Papo, on the coast of Africa. She had been on her way from Africa for the West Indies. [19] [20] As of February 2023, it is not clear what happened to her crew and captives, but the presumption is that they perished with the ship. [4]

In 1794, 25 British slave ships were lost. Eighteen were lost on their way to Africa, and two were lost in the Middle Passage, while sailing from Africa to the West Indies. [21] During the period 1793 to 1807, war, rather than maritime hazards or resistance by the captives, was the greatest cause of vessel losses among British slave vessels. [22]

Notes

  1. ↑ Captain Cooper's articles of agreement are in the collection of the Maritime Museum, Liverpool. [8]
  2. ↑ Smith had not died. He would die on 19 June 1801 while master of Trelawney. [16]
  3. ↑ Hodgson died in 1794 while master of Union . [17] Mount died in that same year while master of Kitty. [17]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 LR (1781), Seq.No.298.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Craig & Jarvis (1967), p. 130–131.
  3. 1 2 LR (1793), Seq.No.L226.
  4. 1 2 3 Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Liverpool Hero voyage #82330.
  5. ↑ Hyde, Parkinson & Marriner (1953), p. 370.
  6. ↑ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Liverpool Hero voyage #82324.
  7. ↑ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Liverpool Hero voyage #82325.
  8. ↑ "Articles of agreement of John Cooper, Master of Liverpool ship Liverpool Hero".
  9. ↑ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Liverpool Hero voyage #82326.
  10. 1 2 Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Liverpool Hero voyage #82327.
  11. ↑ Earle (2015), p. 201.
  12. ↑ Klein et al. (2001), pp. 5–6.
  13. ↑ Behrendt, Latham & Northrup (2009), p. 204, fn.
  14. ↑ Klein et al. (2001), p. 8.
  15. ↑ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Liverpool Hero voyage #82328.
  16. ↑ Behrendt (1990), p. 137.
  17. 1 2 Behrendt (1990), p. 135.
  18. ↑ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Liverpool Hero voyage #82329.
  19. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 2630. 18 July 1794. hdl:2027/hvd.32044050633098.
  20. ↑ Inikori (1996), p. 72.
  21. ↑ Inikori (1996), p. 62.
  22. ↑ Inikori (1996), p. 58.

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Several vessels have been named Liverpool Hero for the port of Liverpool.

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Ranger was launched in Liverpool in 1789. She made four complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. A French privateer captured her in 1796 in a single ship action during her fifth voyage transporting enslaved people. She was recaptured, but thereafter disappears from online records.

Young Hero was launched at Liverpool in 1785. She made six complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On her first and second voyages she sailed under an asiento, that permitted her owners to bring and sell captives in Spanish territories. She was seized and condemned in 1794 after having landed the captives from her seventh voyage.

William was launched in Spain in 1788, almost certainly under another name. She was taken in prize in 1797. William sailed as a West Indiaman until 1800 when new owners started to sail her as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made four complete voyages as a slave ship. A report of her fourth voyage provides insight into the decision making over the planning of the voyage. Spanish privateers captured her in 1805 on her fifth slave voyage.

True Briton was launched at Liverpool in 1775. She made two voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During the second of these voyages there was an unsuccessful insurrection by the captives she was carrying. Then in 1777–1778 she made another enslaving voyage, this time under the name John. On her return to Liverpool, she became the privateer Bellona, and succeeded in taking several prizes. Bellona then made three enslaving voyages. In 1786 her ownership changed, and so did her name. She became Lord Stanley, and under that name proceeded to make 11 more enslaving voyages. In 1794, at Havana, a deadly fever spread through the vessel, apparently after she had landed her captives. On her last voyage the captain acted with such brutality towards a black crew member that the man, who providentially survived, sued the captain when the vessel arrived at Liverpool and won substantial damages.

Aeolus was built in Liverpool. Between 1787 and 1806 she made 13 voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On one voyage she repelled an attack by a French privateer in a single ship action. She was last listed in 1808.

Doe was built in 1780, in the Thirteen Colonies, possibly under another name. She was taken in prize. Between 1783 and 1786 Doe made three complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. New owners in 1787 renamed Doe to Ellen. Ellen was registered in Liverpool in 1787. Between 1789 and 1792, she made two complete enslaving voyages. A French privateer captured her in 1793 as she was on her way to the West Indies having embarked captives in Africa on her sixth slaving voyage.

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References

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