Minerva (1805 whaler)

Last updated

History
Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg France
NameMinerve [1]
BuilderBordeaux
Commissioned1800
Captured1805
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameMinerva
OwnerCharles, Samuel & George Enderby
Acquired1805 by purchase of a prize
FateCrew mutinied; taken 1805
General characteristics
Tons burthen322,(French; of load), or 324, [2] (bm)
Complement
  • French armed merchantman:85 [3]
  • At capture:111
  • Whaler:30 [2]
Armament
  • Privateer:18 × 18-pounder guns [3]
  • At capture:14 × 9-pounder guns
  • Whaler:10 × 9-pounder guns [2]

Minerva was the French letter of marque Minerve, a former privateer from Bordeaux, that the Royal Navy captured in September 1804. Samuel Enderby & Sons purchased her c.1805 for use as a whaler. She was taken off the coast of Peru circa August 1805 after a crewman had killed her captain and her crew had mutinied.

Contents

Origins and capture

Minerve appears to have been a privateer from Bordeaux. Her first cruise took place in 1800 under Captain Eugène Langlois.

On 31 March 1800, Minerve captured the United States letter of marque Minerva after a single ship action. Minerve was armed with eighteen 12 and 9-pounder guns, and had a crew of 155 men. Minerva, of 317 tons (bm), was armed with 14 guns,and had a crew of 30 men under Captain Wilkes Barber. Minerva had one man mortally wounded and one seriously wounded before Barber struck. Langlois put a prize crew of 21 men aboard Minerva, and took off most of her crew and two passengers; four crew and the other nine passengers (including four women and two children), remained on Minerva. Minerve and Minerva and sailed for Bordeaux. On 3 April a British frigate approached. She recaptured Minerva, but Minerve escaped by throwing gun, spare spars, and water casks overboard, and reached Bordeaux. The British figure turned out to be HMS Fisgard. [4]

In early July HMS Amazon recaptured Amelia, late Donaldson, master, which the French privateer Minerve had captured. Amelia had been on her way from Savannah to London when she was captured. Amazon sent Amelia into Plymouth. [5] HMS Glenmore recaptured William, LeQuesne, master, which had been sailing from the West Indies to Guernsey when Minerve captured her. William arrived at Cork. [5]

On 3 July HMS Sirius recaptured the brig Cultivator. [6] Indefatigable and Boadicea were in company at the time of the capture. [7] Cultivator, Smith, master, had been sailing from Demerara to London when Minerve, of Bordeaux, had captured her. [8]

In 1804 Minerve was serving as an armed merchantman with an 85-man crew. [3] On 25 September HMS Topaze encountered and captured the French letter of marque ship Minerve, of Bordeaux, which was sailing to Martinique. She was pierced for 18 guns, but carried only fourteen 9-pounders, and had a crew of 111 men. [9] Topaze captured Minerve at 49°30′N15°30′W / 49.500°N 15.500°W / 49.500; -15.500 after a chase of 12 hours and took her into Cork on 3 October. [10]

Whaler

Samuel Enderby & Sons acquired Minerve for use as a whaler.

Captain Obed (or Obediah) Cottle acquired a letter of marque on 3 May 1805. [2] He sailed Minerva from London on 25 May 1805, bound for Peru. [11]

Lloyd's List (LL) reported on 25 May 1806 that the crew of Minerva, Cottle, master, had killed Cottle and taken the vessel. [12] A second report, a month later, stated that Minerva had been taken near Lima. The crew had already put the first and second mates in a boat. Seven days later Maria, [David] Coffin, master, had rescued the two. [13] Maria took them to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where she arrived in April, [13] or on 9 May. [14]

The mutiny took place around the middle of August 1805. The mutineers also put into two boats ten of the crew who refused to join the mutiny. After 10 days at sea, one of the boats, with four men on board, reached land. Two weeks after the mutiny Port au Prince rescued the men in the other boat. [15]

It is not clear whether Minerva was wrecked or captured, and if captured, by whom.

The Register of Shipping (RS) for 1806 showed Minerva with O. Cotle, master, Enderby, owner, and trade London–Southern Fishery. The entry for her carried the annotation "LOST". [16]

Citations

  1. ↑ Clayton (2014), p. 175.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Letter of Marque, p.78 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Demerliac (2003), p. 284, №2262..
  4. ↑ Williams (2009), pp. 246–247.
  5. 1 2 Lloyd's List , №4067.
  6. ↑ "No. 15415". The London Gazette . 6 October 1801. p. 1231.
  7. ↑ "No. 15422". The London Gazette . 27 October 1801. p. 1307.
  8. ↑ Lloyd's List №4068.
  9. ↑ "No. 15743". The London Gazette . 6 October 1804. p. 1255.
  10. ↑ Lloyd's List, №4495.
  11. ↑ "British Southern Whale Fishery database – Voyages: Minerva".
  12. ↑ LL, №4055.
  13. 1 2 LL, №4060.
  14. ↑ American Offshore Whaling - Voyages: Maria (Voyage# AV08989).
  15. ↑ Ortiz Sotelo (2015), p. 266.
  16. ↑ RS (1806), Seq.№M855.

Related Research Articles

French frigate <i>Sémillante</i> (1791) French Navy ship

The Sémillante was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was involved in a number of multi-vessel actions against the Royal Navy, particularly in the Indian Ocean. She captured a number of East Indiamen before she became so damaged that the French disarmed her and turned her into a merchant vessel. The British captured her and broke her up in 1809.

HMS Moucheron was a French privateer, built in 1799, that the British captured in 1801. The British government purchased her in 1802 for the Royal Navy. She foundered in 1807 in the Mediterranean without leaving a trace.

HMS <i>Clyde</i> (1796) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Clyde was a Royal Navy Artois-class frigate built at Chatham Dockyard of fir, and launched in 1796. In 1797, she was one of only two ships whose captains were able to maintain some control over their vessels during the Nore mutiny. In 1805, HMS Clyde was dismantled and rebuilt at Woolwich Dockyard; she was relaunched on 23 February 1806. She was ultimately sold in August 1814.

French frigate <i>Résistance</i> (1795)

Résistance was a 48-gun Vengeance-class frigate of the French Navy. HMS St Fiorenzo captured her in 1797 and the Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Fisgard. She was sold in 1814.

<i>Robert</i> (1793 ship)

Robert was a 16-gun French privateer corvette launched in 1793 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1793 and named her HMS Espion. The French recaptured her in 1794 and took her into service as Espion. The British recaptured her in 1795, but there being another Espion in service by then, the British renamed their capture HMS Spy. She served under that name until the Navy sold her in 1801. Spy then became a slave ship, a merchantman to South America, and privateer again. The French captured her in mid-1805 and sent her into Guadeloupe.

Vautour was a French privateer launched in 1797 at Nantes that made three privateering voyages. The Royal Navy captured her in 1800 during her fourth cruise. Private owners acquired her prior to late 1801 and employed her as the whaler Vulture in the South Seas whale fisheries between 1801 and 1809. A Spanish privateer captured her in 1809.

<i>Confiance</i> (1797 ship)

Confiance, launched in 1797, was a privateer corvette from Bordeaux, famous for being Robert Surcouf's ship during the capture of the British East India Company's East Indiaman Kent. The British Royal Navy captured Confiance in 1805, took her into service under her existing name, and sold her in 1810. Before she was sold, Confiance took part in two notable actions.

Wanstead was launched in 1802. In 1807 a French privateer captured her, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her the next day. Then in 1810 she was again captured by a French privateer, and was again recaptured a few days later. In 1819 she traded with India or China under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She was wrecked in 1820.

Sorcière was the name of several privateers that sailed during the Napoleonic Wars. Three were French vessels, but one was British, though the British Sorciere was probably the Sorcière launched in 1803 at Saint-Malo that the British Royal Navy captured in April 1806.

The vessel that would become Young William was built in 1791 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1794 and Daniel Bennett purchased her that year. She then went on to make 10 voyages for him. French privateers captured her twice, but on the first occasion the British Royal Navy recaptured her, and on the second her captor did not keep her. Still, the French Navy captured and burnt her in 1810 on her eleventh voyage.

Diamond was launched in 1798 at Quebec. French privateers captured her three times, the third time retaining her. In between she carried slaves. Her third capture occurred while she was on a whaling voyage. Her last voyage took her from Île de France to Bordeaux where she was decommissioned in January 1809.

Frederick was an American-built ship that the British captured from the French c.1805. Lumley & Co. purchased her in prize and employed her as a slave-ship for two voyages. After the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807 she briefly became a merchantman, and then in 1810 a whaler. She made several voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. On one of these voyages, in 1812, a French privateer captured Frederick but the British Royal Navy captured the privateer, and recaptured Frederick. She is last listed in 1822.

Crescent was launched at Rotherhithe in 1790. She initially traded with the Levant, particularly Smyrna. After the outbreak of war with France she may have tried her hand as a privateer. In 1796–1798 she made a voyage to the East Indies, almost surely on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. In 1802-1804 she made one voyage as a slave ship carrying slaves from West Africa to Jamaica. In 1805 she became a whaler. She was lost in 1807 off Patagonia while homeward bound from her first whaling voyage.

Wilding was launched at Liverpool in 1788 and spent much of her career as a West Indiaman, sailing between Liverpool and Jamaica. During this time, in November 1794, she participated in a single-ship action during which her opponent, a French privateer, blew up. In 1798 after a series of captures and recaptures she briefly became a transport for the French Navy, but a final recapture returned her to British hands. Later, she made one voyage to the South Pacific as a whaler, and one voyage to the Cape of Good Hope as a victualler for the 1795-1796 invasion of the Cape. She traded with the West Indies, Africa, the United States, and Russia. Her crew abandoned her in September 1824, dismasted and in a sinking state.

Sarah was launched at Hartlepool in 1800. Between 1807 and 1813 Sarah made two voyages as a whaler. On her first whaling voyage her captain claimed the Auckland Islands for Britain. As she was coming home a French privateer captured her, but a British privateer recaptured her. After her whaling voyages Sarah became a transport, a West Indiaman, and traded with North America. She was last listed in 1826.

Commerce was launched at Liverpool in 1791. She was initially a West Indiaman. New owners in 1795 sent Commerce to the southern whale fishery in 1796. The Spanish captured her in 1797, but by 1799 she had returned to British ownership. She then traded generally until a French privateer captured her in 1805.

Horatio was launched in 1800 at Liverpool. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During two of these voyages she was captured and recaptured. Shortly before the British slave trade ended she left the slave trade and sailed between Britain and South America and as a West Indiaman. She was wrecked in 1817.

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.

General Augereau was a ketch launched in 1801 and recommissioned in Bayonne in 1803 as a privateer. She made a small number of captures during her first cruise, but then the British Royal Navy captured her in February 1805 during her second cruise. She became a British merchantman, sailing between Cork and Liverpool, and was last listed in 1813.

HMS Inspector was launched at Wivenhoe in 1782 as the only vessel built to her design. She participated in one campaign and also captured a handful of small merchant vessels before the Navy sold her in 1802. Most notably, her crew participated in the mutiny at the Nore. After her sale, she became the whaler Inspector. She made six complete voyages to the British southern whale fishery. A Chilean privateer captured her in May 1819. Eventually she was condemned as unseaworthy at Santander in 1821.

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.