| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Mary Ann |
| Launched | 1807, Liverpool [1] |
| Captured | April 1813 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 160, [1] or 170, [2] or 172, [3] or 180 [4] (bm) |
| Complement | 25 [3] |
| Armament | |
Mary Ann was launched in 1807 at Liverpool. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She then became a West Indiaman. From 1811 she became a Falmouth packet. In 1813 a United States privateer captured her.
Mary Ann first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1807. [1]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1807 | Answorth | Fisher & Co. | Liverpool–Africa | LR |
Captain John Ainsworth acquired a letter of marque on 5 May 1807. [3] He sailed from Liverpool on 29 May 1807. Mary Ann acquired captives at the Congo River. [5]
As Mary Ann was on her way to the West Indies she encountered the sloop HMS Rattler. Rattler detained Mary Ann and sent her into Barbados, where she was later released. [6] Mary Ann had sailed after 1 May, the day that the Slave Trade Act 1807, which banned British vessels from engaging in the slave trade, took effect. However, evidently she had cleared outbound prior to 1 May and so her voyage was among the last legal British enslaving voyages.
Mary Ann arrived at Barbados on 13 February 1808 with 207 captives. She landed 32 there and sailed on to Demerara. She arrived back at Liverpool on 21 June 1808. [5]
Lloyd's Register continued to carry Mary Ann until 1814, but with data unchanged since 1807. However, although the Register of Shipping (RS) is not available in online form between 1807 and 1808, she did appear in the volume for 1809 as a West Indiaman. [2]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1809 | Magreth (or M'Grath) | Campbell & Co. | London–Hayti | RS |
| 1810 | Birkett (or Birket) | Campbell & Co. | London–Hayti | RS |
| 1812 | Caddy | Geddies | London–Hayti | RS |
| 1814 | Caddy | Geddies | Falmouth packet | RS |
In 1811 Mary Ann became a Post Office packet, sailing out of Falmouth. She was commissioned in August 1811. Her master was James Caddy (half-pay, RN). [7]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1813 | Caddy | Angove & Co. | Falmouth packet [4] | LR |
The United States privateer General Tonkin captured Mary Ann in early April 1813 as Mary Ann was 50 leagues west of Cape St Vincent while on her way from Malta to Gibraltar (and Falmouth). [8] Governor Tompkins had a crew of 99 men and was armed with ten 9-pounder guns and one long 24-pounder on a traverse. By the time Captain Caddy struck, Mary Ann had been reduced to a mere wreck. [9] Mary Ann arrived at Boston on 21 May. [10] Mary Ann had one man killed and several wounded; General Tompkins had no casualties. [11] Mary Ann was carrying $60,000 in gold and bullion. [11] She had thrown her mails overboard before she was captured, but they were inadequately weighted, with the result that Governor Tompkins was able to retrieve them. [12]
In his written explanation for the failure of the mails to sink, Caddy gave the date of the encounter as 8 April 1813. The action had taken one-and-a-half hours, half of the time at a range of under 300–400 yards. Caddy had been issued two "Piggs" of iron when he had commissioned Mary Ann, and he had used one per portmanteau of mail. He was mortified to discover that the bags did not sink. The Committee of Captains examining his conduct and the action exonerated Caddy. [7] The Committee believed that the reason the mails had not sunk was that it had contained a number of boxes, which had increase the portmanteaus' buoyancy. [13] The Postal Service appointed him to command of Swiftsure on 17 July 1813. [7]
On 20 May 1813 Governor Tompkins encountered HMS Surinam off the coast of Surinam. After an engagement lasting three-quarters of an hour Governor Tompkins was able to escape. She made her way back to the United States. Governor Tompkins may have been captured on her next cruise.
HMS Surinam was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Obadiah Ayles at Topsham, Exeter and launched in 1805. She captured one privateer during her twenty-year career and took part in two campaigns before she was broken up in 1825.
Snake was probably launched in Spain in 1802 and was a prize that came into British hands in 1808. Her first owner employed her a privateer, but in 1810 sold her. Thereafter she sailed between London or Plymouth and the Cape of Good Hope (CGH), or between 1809 and 1816 in the Post Office Packet Service from Falmouth. Afterwards she sailed between London and South America. She was last listed in 1824.
Little Catherine was launched in 1801 at Bermuda, probably under another name. She was condemned in prize in May 1809 at Barbados and entered British registry that year. At that time she traded between Liverpool and Africa. In 1813 she became a temporary packet sailing for the Post Office Packet Service from Falmouth, Cornwall. In 1813 the French Navy captured her and abandoned her after taking off her crew. The Royal Navy recovered her three days later. In 1814 an American privateer captured her but the Royal Navy recaptured her within two weeks. Her owner refused to pay salvage and turned her over to the Post Office which returned her to use as a Falmouth packet but renamed her Blucher, in honour of Prince Blucher who had helped defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. The government sold Blucher in 1823. New owners returned her to the name Little Catherine and she continued to sail widely until she was last listed in 1845, having been sold to a Chinese owner. She was wrecked in October 1847.
Falmouth was launched in 1806 at Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. After the British slave trade ended in 1807, she became a West Indiaman until a privateer captured her in 1812.
Duke of Montrose was a Falmouth packet launched in 1804. She participated in six single-ship actions. During the Napoleonic Wars she captured a French naval schooner but a year or so later a French privateer captured her. She returned to British hands some nine months later. During the War of 1812 she was able to drive off American privateers twice. An American frigate captured her in 1813 but gave her up to her crew, also putting onboard the crews of other vessels the frigate had captured. Then a French frigate also captured her and gave her up after disarming her. She was wrecked at Barbados in 1815.
Queen Charlotte was built in Emsworth in 1801. She was a regular packet ship for the Post Office Packet Service, sailing out of Falmouth. She made several voyages across the Atlantic between late 1802 and 16 May 1805 when she was captured. She came back into British hands around 1806. The Post Office took her into temporary service between 1812 and 1817. She then became a whaler off Peru in 1818. She remained in the Pacific Coast of South America until she was condemned there in 1820 as unseaworthy; she was last listed that same year. She may have been repaired and have continued to trade on the coast until 1822.
Townshend Packet was launched at Falmouth in 1800 as a packet for the Post Office Packet Service. She made numerous voyages between Falmouth and Lisbon and also sailed to the West Indies, Brazil, and the Mediterranean. She had two engagements with American privateers. In the first the Americans captured her, but then released her. In the second she repelled her attacker. A French frigate captured her in 1814 and then sank her.
Lady Mary Pelham was launched in 1811 as a packet based in Falmouth, Cornwall for the Post Office Packet Service. She repelled attack by privateers in 1812 and 1813, the latter being a notable and controversial engagement with an American privateer. Another American privateer captured her in February 1815 in the West Indies. New owners retained her name and between 1815 and at least 1824 she continued to sail to the Continent and South America.
Express Packet was built in France in 1807, probably under another name, and taken in prize circa 1808. From 1809 she sailed as a packet for the Post Office Packet Service out of Falmouth, Cornwall. In 1812 an American privateer captured here in a notable single ship action, but then returned her to her captain and crew after plundering her. Express stopped sailing as a packet in 1817 and then made one more voyage to Spain, after which she disappeared from online records.
Ann was launched in America in 1800, possibly under another name. She transferred to the United Kingdom in 1805. Between 1810 and 1813 she became a temporary packet operating out of Falmouth, Cornwall for the Post Office Packet Service. American privateers twice captured her in 1813 in single ship actions.
Alexander was launched in 1801 in the United States, possibly under another name. She became a slave ship, sailing from Liverpool. A French privateer captured her after she had landed her slaves at Berbice. Alexander returned to British ownership and became a West Indiaman, and then a transport. She was last listed in 1816 but may have been sold or broken up in 1815.
Several vessels have been named Tartar:
William Heathcote was launched in Liverpool in 1800. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Next, a French privateer captured her in a single-ship action, and the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She became a West Indiaman before she made an enslaving voyage, one of the last such legal voyages. zAfter British partiipation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade ended, she became a West Indiaman again; she sailed to Brazil and as a transport. She was wrecked in July 1816.
Harriot was launched in 1784 on the Thames as a West Indiaman. Her owners may have intended to send her to the South Seas as a whaler in 1786, but there is no evidence that she actually made such a voyage. A new owner renamed her Dominica Packet around 1787. She then spent her career primarily sailing between Britain and the West Indies. During her career she, together with two other Liverpool letters of marque, captured a valuable Spanish merchantman. Later, Harriot captured a Dutch East Indiaman. A Baltimore privateer captured Dominica Packet in 1813, but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She foundered circa January 1821.
Agreeable was launched at Bermuda in 1786, probably under a different name. French owners acquired her at some point and sailed her as Agréable. In 1793 the British captured her. Subsequently, between 1793 and 1808, she made six voyages as a slave ship, alternating between the triangular trade in enslaved people, and sailing as a regular West Indiaman. French privateers captured her between the second and third voyages, and the third and fourth voyages, but each time the British Royal Navy recaptured her. In the case of the second capture she was in French hands long enough for them to send her out as a privateer. She herself captured an American vessel in 1808 as she was returning to Liverpool from her last enslaving voyage. After the end of British participation in trans-Atlantic enslaving trade, Agreeable traded more widely, particularly to South America. She was condemned at Buenos Aires in 1814 after running aground in the River Plate. She was repaired and continue to sail to Brazil until she returned to Liverpool in June 1819.
Sappho was launched in France circa 1803, probably under another name, and captured in 1804. She became a West Indiaman and then privateer that the French Navy recaptured and destroyed in March 1808.
William was launched in Spain under another name and was taken in prize circa 1806. She made one voyage as a Liverpool-based slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Thereafter she traded between Liverpool and Madeira. In 1814 an American privateer captured William.
Commerce was a French vessel launched in 1798 and taken in prize in 1800. Initially she sailed as a West Indiaman. Then between 1801 and the end in 1807 of British participation in the triangular trade in enslaved people, Commerce made four voyages as a slave ship and also spent some time in 1803 cruising as a privateer. Afterwards, she continued to trade between Liverpool and West Africa. During one voyage in 1811 a French privateer captured her, but Commerce was recaptured. She was wrecked in November 1813 while returning to Liverpool from South America.
Several vessels have been named Mary Ann:
Prince Adolphus was launched in 1795 at Falmouth, Cornwall as a packet sailing for the Post Office Packet Service. She was involved in two notable incidents. In 1798 a French privateer captured her, but Prince Adolphus was ransomed in a transaction that required an amendment to a Bill before Parliament. In 1805 her crew mutinied in Falmouth before she set off on a cruise. The mutiny, subsequently joined by the crew of another packet, led the Post Office temporarily to move the packet service from Falmouth to Plymouth. An American privateer captured Prince Adolphus in 1812.