Marshal Bennett

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Marshal Bennett was a barque launched in Liverpool in 1820. [1] It was employed in voyages in different parts of the world for many years, up to c.1860. The ship took its name from the Belize merchant Marshall Bennett (no fixed spelling), who was not the owner, the naming being honorific; [1] and gave it to the Marshall Bennett Islands, now part of Papua New Guinea, when in 1836 the barque's whaler captain Robert L. Hunter adopted for the island group the name of his vessel. [2]

Contents

1820s

An editorial "Piracies in the West Indies" in the Liverpool Mercury for 20 September 1822 mentioned the Marshal Bennett, as "about to proceed for the Bay of Honduras, completely armed, manned, and equipped, as a letter of marque. [3] It was reported in March 1823 that the Marshal Bennett, captain D. M'Arthur, had arrived at Liverpool from Honduras with 288 logs of mahogany and other cargo. [4] As D. McArthur, he was still associated with the barque in the 1829 Honduras Almanack,. [5]

At the beginning of 1829 the Marshal Bennett arrived in Barbados, acting as a troop ship, with the William Harris for the 19th Regiment, 27th Regiment and 93rd Regiment. [6] On 19 May 1829, still as a transport, she arrived at Dominica. [7] She arrived at Portsmouth from Barbados in 31 days. [8]

1830s

In March 1835, the Marshal Bennett set sail from London to the South Seas as a whaler, captain Hunter, owner Soames. [9] She passed through the Banks Islands in December. [10]

The Marshal Bennett arrived in New Zealand at the Bay of Islands on 15 January 1836 with 250 barrels, departing again on 21 January. [11] She passed through Bougainville Strait at the end of July. [12] In September Hunter had the encounter with the Marshall Bennett Islands, in the Solomon Sea, that led to the islands bearing the name of the ship. [13]

In October 1836 the Marshal Bennett visited the Massim, anchoring off Kiriwina, and visiting Woodlark Island, also that year. [14] [15] [16] Hunter sent details of the journey for publication in the Nautical Magazine , his paper appearing in 1840. [17]

The return journey from the Maluku Islands started on 16 March 1838, reached St Helena on 17 June, and arrived at the Downs off the English coast on 20 August. [18]

Scrimshaw survives by George LeCluse, British armourer on the Marshal Bennett 1839–1843. [19]

1840s

An incident off Samboangan (Zamboanga City), Mindanao, on 14 June 1842 caused salvage litigation. The barque Ann was stranded on a coral reef. She was assisted by the Marshal Bennett, the Australia Packet, and two boats from the Cyrus whaler. Seeking repair, and not permitted it on the Philippines, the Ann went in convoy with the Marshal Bennett and Marshal Bennettto Surabaya. In court 5% of the value of her tea cargo was awarded by Stephen Lushington to the rescuers, most going to the masters of the Marshal Bennett. [20]

In March 1843 the Marshal Bennett was up for sale, at the East Country Dock, Rotherhithe, commander R. L. Hunter. [21]

While lying in the Brunswick Dock, Liverpool, with a cargo of cotton and cannel coal, the Marshal Bennett suffered fire damage on 16 May 1846. The owner was its master Captain Walters. Water from fire engines filled the barque to above the level of the deck. [22] On 20 July 1847, the Marshal Bennett sailed from Cowes for Riga. [23]

In January 1848 the Marshal Bennett was at Naples, captain M'Ausland, arrived from Alexandria. [24] Lloyd's List in October of that year had her at Constantinople, same captain, owner Rogers. [25] On the night of 3 December 1848 she was in The Downs in a storm, while bound for Constantinople, and suffered a collision in which she lost the bowsprit and a crew member, with the Christiana, for New York. [26] Litigation followed (Edmund Hammond and others v. John Rogers and John Rodd), with the decision of the High Court of Admiralty appealed to the Privy Council, which upheld it. [27]

1850s

On 2 October 1851 the Marshal Bennett was at Appledore in Devon. [28]

George Backhaus was a passenger from Adelaide to Melbourne in 11 days on the Marshal Bennett in March 1852. [29] On 23 December 1852 she sailed from Plymouth with an emigrant cargo of government passengers, and arrived after a difficult journey at Port Adelaide, South Australia on 28 April 1853—practically down to her gunwales. [30] [31] In 1854 the vessel was chartered through the agent J. H. Rogers for emigration to Victoria. [32] In April of that year it was at the West India Dock in London, advertised to depart shortly to take on passengers at Southampton, for a direct journey to Geelong, by Rogers brokers at 2 White Hart Court, Lombard Street. [33]

In 1856 the Marshall Bennett was taken on as a government transport, to Balaklava, captain Harris. [34] [35]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Bulmer-Thomas, Victor (August 2017). "El asentamiento británico en la bahía de Honduras" (PDF). icefi.org. ICEFI. p. 109.
  2. ↑ Wichmann, Arthur (1912). Nova Guinea (in German). Brill Archive. p. 40.
  3. ↑ "Piracies in the West Indies". Liverpool Mercury. 20 September 1822. p. 7.
  4. ↑ "Arrived at Liverpool: West Indies". Gore's Liverpool General Advertiser. 20 March 1823. p. 4.
  5. ↑ Honduras Almanack. Belize: By the authority of the Legislative Assembly. 1829. p. 197.
  6. ↑ "The Army". London Evening Standard. 30 January 1829. p. 2.
  7. ↑ "Marine Intelligence". Barbadian. 19 May 1829. p. 2.
  8. ↑ The United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine. H. Colburn. 1829. p. 251.
  9. ↑ "The Whale Fishery". Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. 26 July 1836. p. 3.
  10. ↑ Findlay, Alexander George (1863). A Directory for the Navigation of the South Pacific Ocean: With Descriptions of Its Coasts, Islands, Etc., from the Strait of Magalhaens to Panama, and Those of New Zealand, Australia, Etc. Its Winds, Currents, and Passages. Richard Holmes Laurie. p. 551.
  11. ↑ "New Zealand". Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. 17 March 1836. p. 2.
  12. ↑ Cheyne, Andrew (1855). Sailing Directions from New South Wales, to China, & Japan: Including the Whole Islands and Dangers in the Western Pacific Ocean, the Coasts of New Guinea and Safest Route Through Torres Strait. J. D. Potter. p. 75.
  13. ↑ Moore, Clive (31 July 2003). New Guinea: Crossing Boundaries and History. University of Hawaii Press. p. 118. ISBN   978-0-8248-4413-4.
  14. ↑ Ford, Anne; Shaw, Ben; Gaffney, Dylan (9 May 2024). Forty Years in the South Seas: Archaeological Perspectives on the Human History of Papua New Guinea and the Western Pacific Region. ANU Press. p. 212. ISBN   978-1-76046-644-2.
  15. ↑ Shellam, Tiffany; Nugent, Maria; Konishi, Shino; Cadzow, Allison (27 April 2016). Brokers and boundaries: Colonial exploration in indigenous territory. ANU Press. p. 165. ISBN   978-1-76046-012-9.
  16. ↑ Great Britain Hydrographic Dept (1890). Pacific Islands. Sailing Directions. p. 238.
  17. ↑ The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle... a Journal of Papers on Subjects Connected with Maritime Affairs. Simpkin, Marshall & Company. 1840. p. 465.
  18. ↑ "Maritime Extracts". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. 20 August 1838. p. 3.
  19. ↑ Frank, Stuart M. (2012). Ingenious Contrivances, Curiously Carved: Scrimshaw in the New Bedford Whaling Museum. David R. Godine Publisher. p. 74. ISBN   978-1-56792-452-7.
  20. ↑ The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review. 1844. p. 83.
  21. ↑ "Sales by Auction". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. 8 March 1843. p. 1.
  22. ↑ "Fires in Liverpool". Liverpool Albion. 18 May 1846. p. 3.
  23. ↑ "Outports". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. 21 July 1847.
  24. ↑ "Foreign". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. 17 January 1848. p. 2.
  25. ↑ Lloyd's List. 21 October 1848. p. 2 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000861/18481021/017/0002.{{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  26. ↑ "Maritime Extracts: Deal". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. 5 December 1848. p. 2.
  27. ↑ Committee, Great Britain Privy Council Judicial (1851). Reports of Cases Heard and Determined by the Judicial Committee and the Lords of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council. W.T. Clarke. p. 160.
  28. ↑ "Appledore". North Devon Journal. 2 October 1851. p. 8.
  29. ↑ Owens, A. E. "George Henry Backhaus (1811–1882)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  30. ↑ "Passenger List - Marshall Bennett, London & Plymouth to Adelaide, 1853". www.theshipslist.com.
  31. ↑ Cannon, Michael (1982). Who's Master? Who's Man?. Australia: Currey O'Neil. p. 133.
  32. ↑ House of Commons (1856). Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons. Ordered to be printed. p. 10.
  33. ↑ "For Geelong direct". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. 4 April 1854. p. 1.
  34. ↑ "Ships' Station List". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. 25 July 1856. p. 8.
  35. ↑ "Early Mersey built sailing vessels". www.liverpool.ac.uk.

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