Mentor (1778 ship)

Last updated

Oil painting of the meeting of The Mentor and The Carnatic (1778).png
Newspaper photograph copied into A Liverpool Family: Three Generations of Liverpool Shipbuilders (H.S. Phillips, 1953). The original oil painting was lost in the destruction of the Liverpool Museum authorities' Ship Models room during World War II.
History
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svgGreat Britain
NameMentor
Owner Peter Baker
Launched1778, Chester [1]
FateWrecked 1782
General characteristics
Tons burthen400, or 500 [1] (bm)
Complement
  • 1778: 102
  • 1782: 34
Armament
  • 1778: 20 × 6-pounder guns, [1] or 24 guns
  • 1779: 20 × 12-pounder + 8 × 4-pounder guns

Mentor was launched in 1778 at Chester as a West Indiaman. She captured three vessels, including a valuable East Indiaman belonging to the French East India Company. She had an inconclusive single ship action with a French warship in 1779. She was wrecked in 1782.

Contents

Career

Mentor first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in the volume for 1778. [1]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1778J.DawsonP.Baker & Co.Liverpool–JamaicaLR

The British Admiralty gave notice in April 1777, that they were ready to issue letters of marque for privateers against the Americans. In March 1778, Great Britain broke off relations with France. [2] War between Britain and France had broken out in April 1778. Captain John Dawson acquired a letter of marque on 1 September 1778.

Capture of The Carnatic

Along with owner Peter Baker and ship's carpenter John Baxter, Dawson sailed Mentor south in a privateering cruise to attempt to intercept French vessels coming from the Indian Ocean that were not aware of the outbreak of hostilities. On 28 October 1778 Mentor encountered the French East Indiaman Carnatic, which was sailing from India to France.

Dawson was initially hesitant to pursue the Carnatic, which on first impression vastly outgunned Mentor 74 to 28. Continuing to surveil, however, Dawson suspected that many gun ports were simply painted on. Passing his telescope to Baxter, after some scrutiny, Baxter confirmed the suspicion per his own judgement, and that many of the guns were wooden dummies meant to camouflage Carnatic. The crew of Mentor captured Carnatic with almost no resistance, to the surprise of the crew on Mentor. [3] [4]

When Carnatic came into Liverpool, she was said to be carrying a box of diamonds and pearls worth £135,000 and a total value worth £400,000 to £500,000 after additional bullion and jewels. This made Carnatic the richest prize ever taken and brought safe into port by a Liverpool privateer. [3] [4] [5] Baker, Mentor's owner, retained ownership of Carnatic afterward. Prize money was paid on 1 November 1779. [6] [lower-alpha 1]

Later missions and end

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1779J.Dawson
J.Whiteside		P.Baker & Co.Liverpool–JamaicaLR

On 26 October 1779 Mentor, John Whiteside, master, was in 44°N11°W / 44°N 11°W / 44; -11 when she sighted four vessels, and sailed towards them. There were two ships, one flying Dutch colours and the other English, a sloop, and a schooner. As Mentor came closer Whiteside saw that one of the ships was a frigate, and sailed away. The frigate raised French colours, fired some shots, and set off in chase. The chase continued, off-and-on until 29 October, when she caught up with Mentor. At one p.m., an engagement commenced. Then at 2:10 p.m. the frigate broke off the action and sailed away. The frigate was armed with 36 guns, twenty-eight of them 12-pounders on one deck. [7]

Late in the afternoon two privateers from Bristol, Lyon and Tyger, came up and together with Mentor they set off after the French vessel, but without consulting with Whiteside. Mentor, because of the damage to her masts, sails, and rigging, could not fully keep up. By mid-day the next day the three caught up with the frigate, and a brig. The frigate was disguised as a merchantman, as she had been when Mentor first saw her some days earlier. Lyon set off after the brig, and Tyger sailed towards the frigate, but when she got closer and realized the deception, broke off and joined Lyon. [7]

Mentor could not keep up and sailed for Ireland. She put into Cork to refit. [8]

A gale in the night between 1 and 2 August 1781 at Jamaica drove Mentor and a number of other vessels, including Carnatic, Gibbons, master, on shore. Although the initial expectation was that she and most of the other vessels that also were driven on shore would be gotten off, [9] the next report had Carnatic and numerous other vessels totally lost; it was hoped that some cargo could be saved. [10] Mentor, however, survived.

Loss

During the 1782 Central Atlantic hurricane in September 1782, Mentor foundered in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland with the loss of 31 of her 34 crew. Sarah rescued the three survivors: Captain Whiteside, his second mate, and a boy. Mentor had been sailing from Jamaica to Liverpool, Lancashire. [11]

Notes

  1. ↑ Baker and Dawkins purchased the Mossley Hill Estate. [5] In 1782 they launched a new slave ship that they named Mosley Hill.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 LR (1778), Seq. No.M494.
  2. ↑ Powell (1930), p. 246.
  3. 1 2 Phillips, Howard Stanley (1953). A Liverpool Family: Three Generations of Liverpool Shipbuilders. Merseyside Maritime Museum and International Slavery Museum. pp. 23, 50–51.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. 1 2 Liverpool Echo, Janet (25 July 1961). "Garston Privateer. Liverpool Central Library: archive 920 Bio 2/179". Liverpool Echo.
  5. 1 2 Williams (1897), p. 239–240.
  6. ↑ "No. 12021". The London Gazette . 9 October 1779. p. 5.
  7. 1 2 Williams (1897), p. 242–243.
  8. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1111. 16 November 1779. hdl:2027/uc1.c3049060.
  9. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1316. 2 November 1781. hdl:2027/hvd.32044105233001.
  10. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1317. 6 November 1781. hdl:2027/hvd.32044105233001.
  11. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1404. 11 October 1782. hdl:2027/mdp.39015004281559.

Related Research Articles

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Jackal, after the predatory mammal, the jackal:

HMS <i>Seahorse</i> (1748) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Seahorse was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1748. She is perhaps most famous as the ship on which a young Horatio Nelson served as a midshipman. She also participated in four battles off the coast of India between 1781 and 1783. The Royal Navy sold her in 1784 and she then became the mercantile Ravensworth. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1786 and 1788. In 1789, she was sold to the French East India Company which had her refitted and renamed her Citoyen. In 1793 the French Navy purchased her and used her as a frigate. She was last listed in 1801.

HMS Leith, also known as HM hired armed ship Leith, was launched in 1744 or 1746 in the British "Plantations", more specifically, the colony of Maryland. From 1764 to 1777 she was a Greenlandman, that is a whaler, in the waters east of Greenland. Between 1777 and 1782 she served the Royal Navy as a transport and hired armed naval ship. She was last listed in 1783.

Resolution was launched at Liverpool in 1776 as the West Indiaman Thomas Hall; she was renamed in 1779. She sailed briefly as a privateer. 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.

Aggie, was launched in Liverpool in 1777. She traded locally until 1781 when her owners renamed her Spy. She briefly became a privateer, and then a slave ship, engaged in the triangular trade in enslaved people. The French Navy captured her in 1782 in the West Indies as she was arriving to deliver her cargo of slaves on her first slave-trading voyage.

Tartar was built in France in 1778, almost surely under another name. She was taken in prize and appears under British ownership in 1780. After a short career as a privateer, she made a voyage between 1781 and 1783 as an extra East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She then became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. After whaling she traded with the Baltic and then served as a London-based transport. She was probably lost in 1799, and was last listed in 1801. If Tartar is the vessel lost in 1799, in 1796 French warships captured her, but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her.

John Dawson was a Liverpool slave trader.

Chambers was a ship launched in Bristol in 1776. She spent most of her brief career as a West Indiaman. An American privateer captured her in October 1782 in a single ship action.

Quaker was built in America in 1774, possibly under another name, and was taken in prize in 1780. She appears in British records from 1781. Between 1781 and 1783 she sailed as a privateer and captured several ships, American, Spanish, and French. She then became a whaler, making four voyages to the British southern whale fishery. Thereafter she became a West Indiaman. The French captured her in 1795.

<i>Carnatic</i> (1770 ship) French and British merchantman trading with India 1770–1781

Carnatic, launched in 1770, was an East Indiaman belonging to the French East India Company. A British letter of marque captured her in 1778. She became a transport. She was wrecked in 1781.

Vernon was launched at Bordeaux in 1775, almost certainly under another name. She first appeared in British records in 1779. Between 1781 and 1782, she was an armed transport and in 1781 took part in an action that cost her 13 crew members killed and wounded. After the war she traded widely. In 1787 she carried emigrants to Sierra Leone for the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor. She was wrecked in December 1792.

Tartar was launched at Bristol in 1778. Initially she sailed, with some success, as a privateer. Then in 1781 she became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made one complete voyage as an enslaving ship; French naval vessels captured Tartar on her second enslaving voyage.

Biscayneer was a cutter launched in 1779. From at least 1781 on she was a privateer based in Dartmouth, Devon. She captured or recaptured several vessels before her owner-captain sold her in 1783 after the end of the American War of Independence. New owners renamed her Retreat. She was last listed in 1784.

Several vessels have been named Molly:

Molly was launched at Liverpool in 1770. Between 1777 and 1779 she made three voyages to the British northern whale fishery. Afterwards, she sailed as a West Indiaman. From 1779 she sailed under a letter of marque, and captured one prize. Around the end of 1781 she engaged in a single ship action in which her captain was killed. She was captured but her captor gave her up. She was last listed in 1783.

Badger was launched in Liverpool in 1775. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. New owners renamed her Molly in 1778 and sailed her as a West Indian. In 1779 she repelled an American privateer in a sanguinary single ship action. Her owners renamed her Lydia. While trading with Tortola she captured one or two prizes. Lydia was herself captured in 1782.

Molly was launched in 1769 at Liverpool. In 1776 she made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. After, and possibly before, she was a West Indiaman. While sailing under a letter of marque, she captured some notable prizes. Two French frigates captured her on 4 September 1782.

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.

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 Slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. In 1796 she was condemned in West Africa on her first voyage in the triangular trade before she could embark any enslaved people.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.