| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Tom |
| Launched | 1798, Whitby [1] [lower-alpha 1] |
| Captured | April 1805 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 276, [3] or 278 [1] (bm) |
| Complement | 25 |
| Armament |
|
Tom was launched at Whitby in 1798 as a West Indiaman. New owners in 1802 resulted in Tom becoming a whaler in the southern whale fishery. The Spanish seized her in 1805 off Peru.
Tom first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1799. [1]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1802 | Woodhouse J.Moody | Moore & Co. Biddolph & Co. | Lancaster–Jamaica London–South Seas | LR |
Tom, Woodhourse, master, arrived at Gravesend on 28 July 1802. Tom, Moody, master, was next reported to have been at the Island of May on 25 November while on her way from London to the South Seas. In December Tom stopped in at Rio de Janeiro, needing repairs. [4] After not finding any whales off Brazil, Tom sailed via Cape Horn to Concepcion to repair damage. [5] Captain Moody sailed with his wife. [4]
War with France resumed in early 1803. Captain John Mudie acquired a letter of marque on 5 July 1803. [3] Near the Galapagos Islands Tom was able to take some sperm whale oil. She then sailed to California, taking more whales between Cabo San Lucas and the Three Marias. [5]
In October 1803, the Court of Directors of the British East India Company gave Mudie and three other whalers permission to sail east of the Cape of Good Hope to the Southern Fishery.
In March–April 1804 Tom was reported to be well in the Pacific. At Cedros Island Tom gathered elephant seal oil and some seal skins. In April 1805, Tom was at Talacahuanna, on her way back to Britain. [5]
In November 1805, Lloyd's List reported that "Tom, of London" was one of four British whalers detained in port on the Peruvian coast. [6] Two weeks later Lloyd's List reported that Tom, Moody (or Mudie), master, had been taken in April at Concepcion. She had had 1500 barrels of whale oil on board. [7]
A later report put the loss at 450 barrels of sperm oil and 1050 barrels of elephant [seal] oil, a number of seal skins, 12 prime otter skins, and one barrel of large whales' teeth of good ivory weighing from two to three hundredweight. [5]
Fort Galvis had fired on Tom, almost sinking her. Her crew was detained at Concepcion. [8]
Britannia was a 301 burthen ton full-rigged whaler built in 1783 in Bridport, England, and owned by the whaling firm Samuel Enderby & Sons. She also performed two voyages transporting convicts to Port Jackson. She was wrecked in 1806 off the coast of New South Wales.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Earl Spencer was built in Brazil. She entered Lloyd's Register in 1799 as foreign built, with later editions specifying "Brazil". She made two seal-hunting voyages to South Georgia between 1799 and 1802, being wrecked there on the second.
The British East India Company (EIC) had Whim built for use as a fast dispatch vessel. She was sold in 1802 and became a whaler that a French privateer captured and released, and then a merchant vessel. She is no longer listed after 1822.
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.
Minerva was launched in 1787 at Veere for the navy of the Dutch Republic. In 1799 the Royal Navy captured her. She became HMS Braak, but the Navy sold her with the arrival of the Peace of Amiens. Daniel Bennet purchased her and she became the whaler Africaine or African or Africa. She made two whaling voyages. After 1805 she was still listed in Lloyd's Register for some years but there is no record of further whaling or other voyages.
Juno was launched at Hull in 1793 as a West Indiaman. French privateers once detained her and once captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. She made one voyage as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery, and then participated as a transport in a naval expedition. She then disappears from readily accessible records. In 1809 she may have been captured off Africa, or condemned at the Cape of Good Hope and broken up.
Charlton, was built in America. She first appeared in British-origin online records in 1803. She made three complete voyages as a whaler. She was on her fourth voyage when the U.S. Navy captured her. After her captors released her she returned to England and then disappears from easily accessible online records.
Fonthill was a ship built in France in 1781 and was probably taken in prize in 1782. Fonthill sailed as a West Indiaman between 1783 and 1791, then became a whaler southern whale fishery and made four whaling voyages between 1791 and 1799. On her third voyage she took back from Cape Town a Dutch captain whose vessel had been captured bringing in arms and ammunition from Batavia to stir up unrest against the British at the Cape. After refitting, in 1800, Fonthill became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. Fonthill was last listed, with stale data, in 1810, but whose last reported whaling voyage took place in 1806.
Aurora was launched at Whitby in 1789. Between 1799 and 1806 she made four voyages as a whaler to the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1809 with stale data since her whaling voyages.
Earl Fauconberg was launched at Whitby in 1765. From 1784 on she made numerous voyages as a Greenland whaler. She was lost there in 1821.
Bellona was launched at Lancaster in 1799. She was a West Indiaman that made one voyage as a whaler. She disappeared in 1809 as she was returning to England from Jamaica.
Sappho was launched at Shields in 1785. She spent most of her career trading with the Baltic, though she made some voyages elsewhere, and in particular, between 1788 and 1799 she made a voyage to the Falkland Islands as a whaler. She was last listed in 1798, having perhaps been captured in late 1797.
Traveller was a French prize that entered British records in 1804. She initially traded between Plymouth and Italy and then from 1805 made two voyages as whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Although the registers continued to list her as whaling after 1806 until 1813, she does not appear during this period in Lloyd's List's ship arrival and departure data.
Atlantic was launched at Calcutta, under another name and returned to British ownership as a prize taken from the French in 1805. She made one complete voyage for Samuel Enderby & Sons as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was lost late in 1807 perhaps while setting out on a second whaling voyage.
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.
Several ships have been named Lucy.