History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | Pelican |
Owner | Nicholas Ashton, of Woolton Hall |
Launched | 20 March 1793, Liverpool |
Fate | Foundered 20 March 1793 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Tons burthen | 190 [1] (bm) |
Complement | 70 [1] |
Armament | 18 × 9&12−pounder guns + 2 × 12-pounder coehorn mortars + 6 swivel guns [1] |
Pelican was a private man of war commissioned by a Liverpool merchant for offensive operations against French commerce following the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War in February 1793. Pelican sank in bad weather on 20 March 1793.
Pelican was a small, armed brig. Her owners intended to have her sail as a privateer to capture French merchant shipping for a profit under a letter of marque from the British government. Captain Samuel Higgins acquired a letter of marque on 1 March. [1]
She was crewed and outfitted in the Mersey, and on 20 March 1793 was taking her owners and their families and friends on a pleasure and working up cruise in the mouth of the river. On board were 94 sailors and approximately 40 civilians, including several women. [2]
During the brief journey, the weather took a sudden turn for the worse and the ship began to rock violently, causing many of those aboard to go below decks, worsening the impending tragedy.
The brig turned near Seacombe, opposite Liverpool. [3] Suddenly and without warning, at about two in the afternoon, with the brig at the height of her pitch, several cannon, which had been improperly tied down, broke free. These became iron missiles that rolled across the deck and punched huge holes in the ship's opposite side, causing water to flood into the Pelican, which rapidly filled and sank. The location of the wreck was so shallow that her mast tops remained above the water, visible after the storm had died down. Unfortunately, because all unnecessary personnel had been ushered below and because the hatches were battened down during the storm, no one was able to escape the lower decks.
Just 32 people survived the disaster, 102 drowning in the sunken ship. The survivors were mainly men who had remained on deck and were able to launch boats, or those who were rescued from the masts some time later by rescue craft from the nearby shoreline. The disaster was reported in The Times three days later. Lloyd's List reported that Pelican had overset in the river at Liverpool and that some 60 people had drowned. [4]
John Starkey, the excise surveyor, was able to rescue 25 people by taking his boat from the Pierhead. He later received a medal from the Humane Society. One of the people saved was the pilot. He was tried for manslaughter at Lancaster Assizes under the theory that his negligence had caused the disaster; he was acquitted. [5]
Prince of Wales was a transport ship in the First Fleet, assigned to transport convicts for the European colonisation of Australia. Accounts differ regarding her origins; she may have been built and launched in 1779 at Sidmouth, or in 1786 on the River Thames. Her First Fleet voyage commenced in 1787, with 47 female convicts aboard, and she arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788. On a difficult return voyage in 1788–1789 she became separated from her convoy and was found drifting helplessly off Rio de Janeiro with her crew incapacitated by scurvy.
Heureux was a 22-gun French privateer brig that the British captured in 1800. She served with the Royal Navy as the 22-gun post ship HMS Heureux. She captured numerous French and Spanish privateers and merchant vessels in the Caribbean Sea before she was lost at sea in 1806. Her fate remains a mystery to this day.
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.
Two Friends was a medium-sized wooden sailing ship that served the British government for transporting troops to garrisons across the British Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. On 22 October 1805 Two Friends was wrecked on the coast of Cape Breton Island with the loss of three lives.
HMS Magnet was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built at Robert Guillaume’s yard at Northam and launched in 1807. She served in the Baltic, where she took two prizes, one an armed privateer, before wrecking in 1809.
HMS Brazen was the French privateer Invincible General Bonaparte, which the British captured in 1798. She is best known for her wreck in January 1800 in which all but one of her crew drowned.
General Armstrong was an American brig built for privateering in the Atlantic Ocean theater of the War of 1812. She was named for Brigadier General John Armstrong, Sr., who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
HMS Raposa was the Spanish brig Raposa, launched in 1804. She was captured A cutting out expedition in 1806 by boats from HMS Franchise in the western Caribbean captured her. The Royal Navy subsequently took her into service under her existing name. Raposa served in the Caribbean, repeatedly recapturing merchant ships that had fallen victim to French privateers. Thirteen months after being captured she ran aground while pursuing enemy ships. When they were unable to refloat Raposa, her crew set fire to her to avoid her capture, destroying her.
Will was a ship launched at Liverpool in 1797 for Aspinal & Co., who were one of Liverpool's leading slave-trading companies. She made numerous voyages between West Africa and the Caribbean in the triangular trade in enslaved people, during which she several times successfully repelled attacks by French privateers. Will apparently foundered in a squall in July 1806, shortly before the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807 abolished the slave trade for British subjects.
Tarleton was launched in 1796 at Liverpool for Tarleton & Co., a Liverpool firm that had been in the slave trade for three generations. She made two full voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people before she was wrecked on a third voyage in late 1798. On her first voyage she repelled two attacks by French privateers in single-ship actions. Unusually, but not uniquely, slaves helped work her guns.
HMS Plumper was launched in 1807. She captured three small American privateers early in the War of 1812 but was wrecked in December 1812.
Admiral Gardner was launched in 1797 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made five voyages for the EIC, during the fourth of which she participated in an inconclusive single-ship action with a French privateer. Admiral Gardner was wrecked in January 1809. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. She was named after Admiral Alan Gardner.
Irlam was launched in 1800 at Liverpool as a West Indiaman, sailing between Liverpool and Barbados. Although a merchantman and not a privateer, she made an unusually aggressive use of her letter of marque, capturing or recapturing four vessels. She wrecked on Tuskar Rock in 1812.
Barton was launched in 1794 as a West Indiaman, sailing primarily to Barbados. She was of average size for vessels launched at Liverpool at that time. She sailed under letters of marque and several times repelled attacks by French and Spanish privateers in single ship actions. Still, the Americans captured and burnt her in 1814.
HMS Morne Fortunee was the French privateer Regulus that British Royal Navy captured in 1804. In 1806 the Royal Navy commissioned her. She captured some small privateers and took part in a number of other engagements. She foundered in 1809.
Hannah was built at Liverpool in 1795. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was lost in 1801 as she was returning home after having delivered her captives on her fourth voyage.
HMS Volador was an ex-Spanish prize that the Royal Navy acquired in 1807 in the West Indies. Commander Francis George Dickens commissioned her.
Bolton was launched at Liverpool in 1792. She then made 10 voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During her career she repelled one attack by a French privateer, was captured on a later voyage by another before being recaptured by the Royal Navy, and then was captured on her tenth voyage by yet another privateer after Bolton had gathered her captives but before she was able to deliver them to the West Indies. Bolton returned to British ownership, first sailing as West Indiaman, before embarking on an 11th enslaving voyage. She blew up on the African coast in 1806 after some of the captives aboard her succeeded in taking her over and setting fire to her.
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 slave voyage. After the end of British participation in the slave 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.
King Grey, first appeared in online British records in 1786. She made five enslaving voyages between 1786 and 1793. On her last enslaving voyage the French captured her but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She was sold at Kingston, Jamaica. She became a privateer but in December 1795 fire from French Republican shore artillery sank her at Tiburon where she was supporting French Royalist forces as an armed ship.