History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | Queen |
Launched | 1773 |
Fate | Foundered December 1796 |
General characteristics | |
Tons burthen | 385, [1] or 400 [2] (bm) |
Complement | 25 [1] |
Armament |
Queen was a three-decker sailing ship built in 1773 at Georgia in the United States.
In 1791 her ownership changed to Calvert & Co., a company that had several vessels carrying convicts, trading with the East Indies under contract to the British East India Company (EIC), and in the South Seas Whale Fisheries.
Queen transported convicts in 1791 from England to Australia as part of the third fleet. Under the command of Richard Owen, she sailed from Cork, Ireland, on 10 April 1791 and arrived in Port Jackson, New South Wales on 26 September 1791. [4] She embarked 133 male and 22 female convicts, of whom seven male convicts died during the voyage. [5] Queen transported the first contingent of Irish convicts to Australia. [4] The New South Wales Corps provided the guard.
After delivering her convicts, Queen sailed to Bengal, but her departure date from Port Jackson is currently unknown. [6] In Bengal she picked up a cargo of cotton for the EIC.
Queen finally returned to England on 6 February 1793, having been gone for two years and four months. The Times :
The Queen was in a leaky state and her crew were reported to all dead (except eight or nine) and those very ill from scurvy. She did not touch at the Cape of Good Hope nor at St. Helena, to which the violent disorder of the scurvy is attributed. Only six men could come up on deck when she came in. Had the wind been unfavourable, they may have all perished. [7]
On 3 July 1793 Richard Owen received a letter of marque for Queen. [1] By late 1793-early 1794 Queen was sailing between London and Antigua, and armed with ten 9-pounder guns.
In 1794 a French squadron of three frigates captured Queen, Owen, master, sailing from San Domingo to London, and Donna Maria, Smitheam, master, from New Orleans, but a British squadron under Captain John Borlase Warren, in HMS Flora, recaptured them both. [8] The recapture took place on 27 August. In mentioning the two vessels, Warren described Queen as coming from Jamaica, and the brig Mary, from New Orleans to London, as carrying a cargo of furs, indigo, and so forth. [9]
Queen is listed in Lloyd's Register in 1797 with R. Colley, master. [3] However, Lloyd's List reported that the "Queen (transport), from the West Indies, foundered the 30th December in a Gale.— People saved". [10] [lower-alpha 1]
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.
Surprize was a three-deck merchant vessel launched in 1780 that made five voyages as a packet ship under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). The fourth of which was subsequent to her participating in the notorious Second Fleet transporting convicts to Port Jackson (EIC). Her fifth voyage for the EIC was subsequent to her second voyage transporting convicts to Australia. In 1799 a French frigate captured her in the Bay of Bengal.
Active was a ship built in 1764. Active was almost rebuilt in 1785. The next year her trade was given as London-Jamaica. She transported convicts to Australia in 1791. She returned home via Bombay, carrying a cargo for the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her in May 1793 as she was returning to Britain.
The ship that became Mary Ann was built in 1772 in France and the British captured her c. 1778. Her name may have been Ariadne until 1786 when she started to engage in whaling. Next, as Mary Ann, she made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales from England. In 1794 the French captured her, but by 1797 she was back in her owners' hands. She then made a slave trading voyage. Next, she became a West Indiaman, trading between London or Liverpool to Demerara. It was on one of those voyages in November 1801 that a French privateer captured her.
Atlantic was launched in 1783. She made one voyage from England to Australia in 1791 carrying convicts. Later, she made one voyage for the East India Company (EIC). Subsequently she sailed to Smyrna, Surinam, and Gibraltar, before she disappeared from records in 1810.
The British Royal Navy purchased HMS Shark on the stocks in 1775. She was launched in 1776, and in 1778 converted to a fireship and renamed HMS Salamander. The Navy sold her in 1783. She then became the mercantile Salamander. In the 1780s she was in the northern whale fishery. In 1791 she transported convicts to Australia. She then became a whaling ship in the southern whale fishery for a number of years, before becoming a general transport and then a slave ship. In 1804 the French captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. Although she is last listed in 1811, she does not appear in Lloyd's List (LL) ship arrival and departure (SAD) data after 1804.
Royal Admiral was an East Indiaman, launched in 1777 on the River Thames. She made eight trips for the East India Company (EIC) before she was sold. She then continued to trade. She made two trips carrying convicts from England to Australia, one as an East Indiaman in 1791, and a second in 1800. On this second voyage as a convict transport she was present at a notable naval action.
Bellona was a three-decker merchantman launched in 1782 at Limehouse by Woolcombe for Boyd & Co. She then traded for a decade before, in 1792, commencing a series of four voyages for the British East India Company as an "extra ship", that is, on a charter contract. During the first of these voyages she transported convicts from Britain to New South Wales. French privateers captured her and the British Royal Navy recaptured her, the Royal Navy seized her once, and then finally a French privateer captured her in February 1810 and scuttled her.
Sugar Cane, was a three-decker merchantman and convict ship. In 1793 she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia. On her return trip she sailed from Bengal to Britain under contract to the British East India Company. During the French Revolutionary Wars she sailed under a letter of marque as a slave ship. She made two voyages carrying enslaved people from West Africa to the Americas. In 1796 or 1797, on her second slave trading voyage she captured a French ship, but shortly thereafter was herself captured. The British Royal Navy recaptured her and she apparently was returned to service. She is last listed in 1798.
William was a merchant vessel built in France in 1770 or 1771. From 1791 she made numerous voyages as a whaler in the southern whale fishery. She also made one voyage in 1793 transporting supplies from England to Australia. She then resumed whaling, continuing until 1809.
Ganges was a 700-ton (bm) merchantman launched in India in 1792. She made one voyage under contract to the East India Company (EIC), and one in 1797 transporting convicts from England to New South Wales. She disappears from the registers after 1802.
Barwell was a merchantman launched in 1782. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then left the EIC's service but continued to sail. She made one voyage transporting convicts in 1797 from England to Australia. She was last listed in 1807.
Friendship was a three-decker merchantman, launched in 1793. She made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). During her first voyage, in 1796, a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. On the second, in 1799, she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia. She made a second voyage transporting convicts in 1817-18. On her way back she was broken up in 1819 at Mauritius after having been found unseaworthy.
Coromandel was the French prize Modeste, captured in 1793 and refitted at Chittagong, British India. She made two voyages transporting convicts to Port Jackson, the first for the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her in 1805, but she had returned to British hands before 1809. An American privateer captured her in 1814, but this time the British Royal Navy recaptured her within days. She foundered in Indian waters on 6 February 1821.
Boyd was a brigantine built in 1783 at Limehouse on the river Thames, England. She originally traded as a West Indiaman, sailing between London and Saint Kitts. Then between 1795 and 1797 she performed a voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). The French captured her as she was homeward bound, but her owners repurchased her in 1803. In 1804 the French captured her again, but the Royal Navy recaptured her and returned her to her owners. In 1809 she transported convicts to New South Wales for the British government. After delivering the convicts she sailed to New Zealand where Maori warriors attacked her, killing, and eating, almost her entire crew and passengers. They then burnt her.
Indispensable was a sailing ship built in France and launched in 1791. She was captured in 1793 at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and thus came into British hands, keeping her name. She performed two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1793 and 1797. During this period and later she made two voyages transporting convicts to New South Wales. Amongst her notable events were the discovery of Indispensable Strait (1794), the capture of a Spanish vessel (1798), and the rescue of some castaways (1814). She later went on serve as a whaler in the South Seas until autumn 1827. She ceased trading after this last voyage and was broken up by April 1830.
Ann was built in Batavia in 1797. How she came into British hands is currently unclear. She first appeared in a register in 1802, and thereafter made a voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). In 1809 she made a voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales for the British government. On her return voyage she carried cargo for the EIC from Calcutta to London. She then became a West Indiaman, trading between London and Jamaica. Later she traded with Australia and India, and is last listed c.1865.
Shipley was launched in 1805 at Whitby. A privateer captured Shipley in 1806 on what was probably her maiden voyage, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. Between 1817 and 1823, she made four voyages transporting convicts to New South Wales. The ship was wrecked in 1826.
Peggy was built at Calcutta in 1793 and initially sailed in the Indian coastal and Far East trade. In 1801 she assumed British registry and her name was changed to Juliana. Her owners sold her to the Transport Board but in 1804 the government resold her and she was sailing as a West Indiaman between London and Antigua. She then made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), and one voyage to Hobart, Van Dieman's Land, transporting convicts. On her return from this voyage she wrecked in 1821 on the English coast.
Sovereign was launched at Shields in 1793 as a West Indiaman. She made one voyage between 1795 and 1797 for the British East India Company (EIC), to New South Wales and then Bengal. She then resumed trading with the West Indies and was last listed in 1822.