Career
Three Williams first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1797. [1]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|
| 1797 | Compleman | Walker & Co. | Hull–Petersburg | LR; repairs 1797 |
| 1798 | Compleman
S.Conner | Walker & Co.
Tethernton | Hull–Baltic
Liverpool–Demerara | LR; good repair 1797 |
| 1799 | S.Conner
Coppinger | Tetherington | Liverpool–Demerara | LR; good repair 1797 |
| 1801 | J.Williams | Tetherington | Liverpool–Demerara | LR; good repair 1797 |
| 1802 | J.Williams
J.Murray | Fotherington | Demerara–Cork
Liverpool–Demerara | LR; good repair 1797 |
|
There was a report in early 1802 that Three Brothers had run down and sunk Three Williams on 6 March near Rathlin Island while Three Williams was on her way to Demerara from London. However, Three Williams put into Campbeltown having sustained slight damage, and that more from weather than any collision. [3] [4]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|
| 1803 | J.Murray | Fotherington | Liverpool–Demerara
London–Liverpool | LR; good repair 1797 |
| 1804 | J.Murray
J.Smith | Fotherington
Atherton | London–Liverpool
Liverpool–Africa | LR; good repair 1797 & large repair 1803 |
|
1st voyage transporting enslaved people (1804–1805): Captain John Smith, Jr., acquired a letter of marque on 16 April 1804. [2] He sailed from Liverpool on 5 May. Three Williams stopped at Demerara and then sailed for Jamaica on 25 January 1805. She arrived at Kingston on 10 February 1805, with 261 captives. She arrived back at Liverpool on 14 October. [5] She had brought back a cargo of sugar, coffee, rum, hides, cotton, ginger, tortoise shell, wine, and 74 logs of barwood.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|
| 1807 | J.Smith
J.M.M'Clune | Atherton | Liverpool–Africa | LR; good repair 1797, large repair 1803, and new deck and repairs 1807 |
|
2nd voyage transporting enslaved people (1807): Captain McClune sailed from Liverpool on 23 March 1807. He started acquiring captives on 12 June, first at Anomabu, and then at Cape Coast Castle. On 12 July, Three Williams was at Cape Coast, on her way to "Langos". On 8 December, she arrived at Kingston with 185 captives. [6]
Otter was launched at Liverpool in 1797, initially as a West Indiaman. She made seven voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During her career she captured one merchantman and recaptured another. She was lost in 1807 on her way back to Britain from her seventh enslaving voyage.
Sarah was launched at Liverpool in 1797. She then made six voyages as a Liverpool-based slave ship in the triangular trade carrying enslaved people from West Africa to the West Indies. A French privateer captured Sarah in 1804 in a single-ship action on her seventh voyage after Sarah had gathered her slaves but before she could deliver them to the West Indies.
Minerva was launched in 1795 at Lancaster as a West Indiaman. In 1801 she was captured but immediately recaptured. Between 1802 and 1808 she made five voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was last listed in 1816.
Minerva was built in the Americas in 1791 and taken in prize from the Spanish. She made six voyages from London as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She is last listed in 1813 but with data stale since her last voyage transporting enslaved people in 1807.
Ariadne was built in 1795 at Newbury, Massachusetts, probably under another name. She in 1801 became a Liverpool-based slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made two voyages transporting enslaved people before a French, and later a Dutch privateer, captured her in 1804 while she was acquiring captives on her third voyage. However, a Liverpool-based vessel recaptured her. Then in 1806, a French privateer captured her and took her into Guadeloupe while Ariadne was on her fourth voyage transporting captives.
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.
Aurora was launched at Philadelphia in 1779. She did not appear in British registers until 1800. She then made five voyages from London as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was damaged and condemned at Jamaica in 1807 after having landed the captives from her fifth voyage.
Roe was launched in France in 1792, almost certainly under another name. The British captured her and between 1801 and 1808 she became a Liverpool based slave ship, making four voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people. After the end of the British slave trade Roe traded with Brazil. The Americans captured her in 1812 but she was quickly recaptured. She was wrecked in November 1814.
Alexander was launched in France or Spain in 1797, probably under another name, and taken in prize circa 1799, when she was lengthened and raised. She was registered at Liverpool in 1801 and proceeded to make six voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She then sailed to Brazil and the West Indies and was last listed in 1809.
Backhouse was launched in 1785 at Chester. She initially sailed as a West Indiaman. In 1792–1793 she made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Once in 1796 and twice in 1797 she repelled attacks by French privateers in three single-ship actions. Backhouse made four more voyages transporting enslaved people and then returned to the West Indies trade. After about 1809 she became a London coaster and was last listed in 1813.
Ellis was a French prize, captured in 1797, and possibly built in that year also. Liverpool merchants purchased her. She made five complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade carrying enslaved people from West Africa to the British West Indies. She was lost at sea on 23 April 1806, on her sixth voyage before she could take on any captives.
Expedition was launched in 1763, almost certainly under another name. She entered the registers as Expedition in 1795. Between 1799 and 1807 she made seven voyages as a Liverpool-based slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was condemned as unseaworthy at Antigua in early 1808, after having earlier disembarked at Jamaica the captives from her seventh voyage.
Beaver was launched in 1796 at Liverpool. She made seven complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. She was captured and retaken once, in 1804, and captured a second time in 1807, during her eighth voyage.
Princess Amelia was launched in 1798 at Liverpool. She made eight complete voyages as a Liverpool-based slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. After the end of British participation in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, she became a merchantman. She was probably the Princess Amelia, from Liverpool, that was lost in 1810.
Ann was launched at Chester in 1792 as a West Indiaman. From 1796 she made nine complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She participated in several single ship actions. On her first voyage she repelled an attack by a French privateer. On her second a privateer captured her but she was recaptured. On her ninth voyage a French privateer again captured her, but this time her captor plundered and then released her. She sank on 24 May 1810 in the Old Dock at Liverpool, but was salvaged.
Dart was launched at Plymouth in 1787. Dart initially traded with Newfoundland and then the Mediterranean. From 1797 she made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was condemned at Barbados in 1802 as she was returning to London after having delivered captives to Demerara.
Nicholson was launched at Liverpool in 1802 as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made four complete voyages transporting captives. Then when the Slave Trade Act 1807 ended British participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade she started trading with Brazil. She was wrecked in 1810 returning to Liverpool from Pernambuco.
Elizabeth was launched at Liverpool in 1798. She made five complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Spanish privateers captured her in 1805 while she was on her sixth voyage after she had embarked enslaved people and took her into Montevideo.
Aeolus was built in Liverpool. Between 1787 and 1806 she made 13 voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On one voyage she repelled an attack by a French privateer in a single ship action. She was last listed in 1808.
Laurel's origins are ambiguous. She first appeared in online British sources in 1802. She made three voyages from Liverpool to Africa. On the first she apparently was on a trading voyage. The second was a complete voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During this voyage she was involved in two sanguinary engagements with French vessels, the second of which resulted in the death of her master. She set out in 1805 on a second voyage to transport enslaved people, but a French squadron captured her before she had embarked any captives.
Great Britain