| History | |
|---|---|
 Spain | |
| Name | Santa Anna |
| Builder | Brazils [1] |
| Captured | 18 June 1806 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Owner |
|
| Acquired | 18 June 1806 by capture |
| Fate | Wrecked 11 August 1811 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 220 or 225 [1] (bm) |
Santa Anna was a Spanish brig that a British privateer captured in 1806. Her new owners then employed Santa Anna as a whaler. She wrecked in the Straits of Timor in 1811.
On 18 June 1806 the British privateer Port au Prince's boats entered San Blas Bay (possibly San Blas, Nayarit), and captured Santa Anna. Santa Anna was a "corbetta" under the command of Captain Francisco Puertas and carrying a cargo of pitch, tar, and cedar boards to Guayaquil. The next day Captain Isaac Duck of Port au Prince sent 20 of his Spanish prisoners ashore in his longboat. Two Spaniards and two negro slaves joined Port au Prince. The slaves belonged to Santa Anna's owner; legally Duck should have sent them ashore too, but they pleaded not to go have to go ashore and Duck yielded to their pleas. Duck then put Mr. Charles Maclaren in command of Santa Anna and gave him a crew of 12 men, plus a Spaniard, to navigate her to Port Jackson.
Santa Anna arrived at Port Jackson on 24 October 1806. [2] [3] There the Vice admiralty court condemned her and Maclaren sold her for £3200. A list of ship arrivals and departures gives the cargo of the "Santa Anna prize" as "sugar, etc." [4] The last of her cargo was sold on 8 December 1806 and it included a "bale of chillies". [5]
Lord, Kable, & Underwood purchased her for use as a whaler. She left Port Jackson on 14 July 1807, [3] under the command of Captain William Moody, and with a crew of 20 men. She was bound for the New Zealand seal fisheries and then London. [6] At the Bay of Islands Moody picked up Ruatara (or Duaterra), a Maori chief who wanted to travel to London to meet King George. Santa Anna then sailed to the Bounty Islands, where she left a "gang" for what would be 10 months. [7] The men left included Ruatara, another Maori, two Tahitians, and ten British sailors. [6] Santa Anna then sailed to Norfolk Island and Sydney.
Santa Anna reached Sydney from Norfolk Island on 6 June 1808, and left for the Bounty Islands on 15 October. There she picked up 8000 sealskins and the 11 survivors of the shore party that she had left. She had left the shore party with short rations, and despite reports that a resupply vessel had been sent, the shore party did not get resupplied until the whaler King George arrived a few weeks before Santa Anna returned. [8]
Santa Anna reached Deal on 13 July 1809. [lower-alpha 1] Ruatara did not get to see King George. Moody refused to pay him back wages and clothing, but offered to send him back via Ann, which the government had hired to take some 200 prisoners to New South Wales. Captain Charles Clarke, of Ann refused to take Ruatara on board without seaman's clothing, which the Reverend Samuel Marsden, who was returning to Australia on her, purchased for him. Ann left Portsmouth shortly after 25 August, with Marsden taking the opportunity of the voyage to learn Maori and to teach Ruatara more English. [7] Ann arrived in Sydney on 17 or 27 February 1810. After more misadventures Ruatara eventually reached home in 1812 or so. There he reciprocated Marsden's kindness and friendship by facilitating the Reverend's mission to the Maori. [8]
Santa Anna first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1810 with William Dagg, master and owner. Her trade was London–South Seas. [1]
In 1810 William Dagg acquired Santa Anna; between 1803 and 1806 he had been captain of the whaler Scorpion. Santa Anna was on the Protection List in 1810, and on 23 May 1810 Dagg sailed her for the South Sea Whale Fishery. [10] Santa Anna arrived at Sydney on 5 February 1811 and left for the seal fishery on 10 April. [4] At the time of sailing she was carrying 45 tons of sperm whale oil, but wished to complete her cargo. [6]
On the way back to England she was wrecked in the Straits of Timor. On 21 February 1812 Lloyd's List reported that Santa Anna, Dagg, master, had been lost on the coast of New Holland, but that all the crew had been saved. [11] Henderson, based on an account by a surviving crew member, gives the date of loss as 11 August, and the location as north of New Guinea. [6]
Some have hypothesized that Santa Anna is the Mahogany Ship of Warrnambool. [12] However, this is incorrect as Santa Anna was wrecked north of Australia in 1812. All the ship's crew were saved. [13]
There are still far fewer ships visiting New Zealand than before 1810. This is due to the economic depression which started in New South Wales in 1810 and continues until 1815. The concern that the Boyd massacre might be repeated abates somewhat as a number of reports that it was provoked reach Port Jackson. As more ships resume visits to the Bay of Islands they consistently report that they are well treated.
Foveaux Strait is the centre of attention for sealing ships. Sealing gangs are dropped along the coast from southern Fiordland to Otago Harbour and on Stewart Island/Rakiura. The Bay of Islands is sometimes on the journey to or from Port Jackson. The Chatham Islands are also visited. A few whalers also operate around New Zealand; some also collect timber from Bay of Islands.
As sealing at Bass Strait and the Antipodes Islands declines, Foveaux Strait becomes the focus for sealers from the middle of the year. The Bounty and Auckland Islands are also visited. Whaling is carried out on the east coast of New Zealand with the Bay of Islands being the usual port of call for provisioning. As many as nine ships whaling together for months at a time can occur. The behaviour of the whalers at the Bay of Islands is again commented on unfavourably, this time by a former missionary on one of the whaling ships. There are also a number of vessels collecting sandalwood from Tonga or Fiji; the majority call at the Bay of Islands en route.
There is a new sealing rush to the Bounty and Auckland Islands. Sealing also continues at Bass Strait and the Antipodes Islands. Foveaux Strait is a frequent stop for these sealing ships. Whaling continues off the east coast of the North Island. Ships are now visiting the Bay of Islands on a reasonably regular basis. The first reports about the poor behaviour of visiting ship's crew are sent to the Church Missionary Society in London.
Sealing continues at Bass Strait and the Antipodes Islands. At the end of the year there is a new sealing rush to the Bounty and Auckland Islands. Few sealers, if any, are known to have visited the Foveaux Strait area at this time, although this may be due in part to the secrecy of the captains and owners in reporting where they operate and/or the existence of the Strait not yet being widely known. Whaling continues off the east coast of the North Island. Ships are now visiting the Bay of Islands on a reasonably regular basis. The first reports about the poor behaviour of ships crews are sent to the Church Missionary Society in London.
Port au Prince was built in France in 1790. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1793 off Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Her original name is currently unknown, but her new owners named her for her place of capture. She became a letter of marque, slave ship, and privateer cum whaler. In 1806 she anchored at a Tongan island where the local inhabitants massacred most of her crew and then scuttled her.
Albion was a full-rigged whaler built at Deptford, England, and launched in 1798. She made five whaling voyages to the seas around New South Wales and New Zealand. The government chartered her in 1803 to transport stores and cattle, to Risdon Cove on the River Derwent, Tasmania.
Sydney Cove was built in 1803 at Rotterdam, Netherlands. She made two voyages to New South Wales, during the first of which she transported convicts, and during the second of which she went whale and seal hunting. Her crew's interaction with the Māori at New Zealand sparked the Sealers' War, a long-running violent feud between sealers and whalers on the one hand, and the Māori on the other. She was last listed in 1823.
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.
DuBuc was a vessel captured in 1797 and sold that year for mercantile use. She initially became a West Indiaman, but then the whaling company Mather & Co. purchased her. She made four voyages for them, being condemned at Hobart in October 1808.
Alexander was a 301-ton merchant vessel launched at Shields in 1801. She became a whaler and made a voyage to New Zealand and the South Seas whale fisheries for Hurry & Co. She was wrecked while outbound from Liverpool in October 1808.
Cumberland was launched in 1800 and sailed as a West Indiaman until 1807 or 1808 when she was sold to Enderbys. She then made five voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Enderbys sold Cumberland and she proceeded to sail between England and Australia. In 1827 she sailed from Hobart and was never seen again. It later transpired that pirates had captured her off the Falkland Islands and killed her crew and passengers.
New Zealander was a French or Spanish vessel taken in prize c.1807. Daniel Bennett, one of the leading owners of whalers plying the Southern Whale Fishery purchased her. She performed four voyages for him. During the second the United States Navy captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. She returned to England for the last time in August 1820 and is last listed in 1825.
Policy was launched at Dartmouth in 1801. She was a whaler that made seven whaling voyages between 1803 and 1823. On her second whaling voyage, in 1804, she was able to capture two Dutch vessels. On her fourth voyage the United States Navy captured her, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She was lost at Tahiti in 1824 on her eighth whaling voyage.
Concord was launched at Dartmouth in 1807. From then until 1809 she traded widely. Between 1809 and 1812 two different histories emerged. The registers carried her as trading with North America. Other sources, however, have her sailing to the British Southern Whale Fishery as a sealer or whaler. She made three voyages between 1809 and 1816 in this capacity and then returned to trading. She was wrecked at the Cape of Good Hope in November 1816.
Spring Grove was a Spanish vessel, launched in 1801, that had been taken in prize in 1806 and that her new owners had renamed. She made six voyages as a Southern Whale Fishery whaler before she wrecked in 1824 on the outbound leg of what was to have been her seventh voyage.
Greenwich was launched on the Thames in 1800. Between 1800 and 1813 Samuel Enderby & Sons employed her as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery, and she made four whaling voyages for them. In 1813 the United States Navy captured her in the Pacific and for about a year she served there as USS Greenwich. Her captors scuttled her in 1814.
Atalanta was launched in Holland in 1795, perhaps under another name. She was captured in 1798, and thereafter traded generally as a British merchantman. She was brig-rigged. Between 1801 and 1804 she made two voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, and may have been temporarily captured during the second. She then became a West Indiaman. Next, between 1808 and 1814, she made two voyages as a whaler in Australian and New Zealand waters. After the whaling voyages she traded more widely, especially to the Baltic. She was last listed in 1833.
Grand Sachem was launched at Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1801. She was registered at Bideford in 1803, but until 1815 sailed from Milford Haven. Between approximately 1803 and 1822, she made eight voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1822 and was broken up in 1826.