Traveller (1815 ship)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameTraveller
Launched1815, Peterhead
FateWrecked 2 May 1858
General characteristics
Tons burthen402 [1] (bm)

Traveller was launched at Peterhead in 1815. She made three voyages to India, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC), and then from 1821 to 1858 she was a whaler and sealer in the British northern whale fishery. She was wrecked on 2 May 1858.

Contents

Career

Traveller first appeared in the Register of Shipping (RS) in the volume for 1815. [2] [a]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1815DuthieHutchinsonLondonRS

On 25 June 1815, Traveller, Douchy, master, was at Archangel. Traveller, Dutcher, master, arrived at Gravesend on 31 August, from Archangel. On 23 May 1816, Traveller, Duthie, master, arrived at Petersburg from London. She returned to Gravesend on 19 August.

In 1813 the EIC had lost its monopoly on the trade between India and Britain. British ships were then free to sail to India or the Indian Ocean under a licence from the EIC. [3]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1818HutchinsonHutchinsonLondon–BombayRS

On 28 April 1817, Traveller, Hutchinson, master, sailed from Gravesend for Bombay, sailing under a licence from the EIC. [4] On 6 February 1818 she was at the Cape of Good Hope, having arrived there from Penang; on 10 March she was off Ascension. On 4 May she reached Dartmouth and on 7 May she arrived at Gravesend.

On 26 September 1818 Traveller, Hutchinson, master, sailed from Gravesend, bound for Bombay. She sailed from Bombay on 7 March 1819 and was off The Start on 7 August 1819.

On 12 November 1819 Traveller, Hutchinson, master, sailed from Gravesend, bound for Bombay.

On 19 September 1820 Traveller, Hutchinson, master, arrived at Gravesend, having left Bombay on 1 May.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1821HutchinsonHutchinsonLondon–Bombay
London–Greenland		RS

Traveller became a whaler, operating out of Peterhead. [5] Having left for Greenland from London she returned to Peterhead in autumn 1821.

Almost all the tabular data below is from the Scottish Arctic Whaling Database. [6] [b] The data for 1843 is from Sutherland. [5]

YearMasterWhereWhales Tuns whale oil
1821HutchinsonDavis Strait18218
1822HutchinsonDavis Strait221
1823HutchinsonDavis Strait26262
1824HutchinsonDavis Strait567
1825HutchinsonDavis Strait665
1826SimpsonDavis Strait13150
1827SimpsonDavis Strait27.5282
1828SimpsonDavis Strait19240
1829SimpsonDavis Strait17171
1830SimpsonDavis Strait7110

On 2 July 1830 the whaler William became trapped in ice at Davis Strait, leading her crew to abandon her and join other whaling vessels in the area. The crews of Traveller and Zephyr worked for 48 hours to clear her of ice. They then set fire to the upper part of William, lightening her and causing her to rise. When she rose to the point that the beams above the casks of blubber she had collected were exposed, they set fire to them too. When the casks appeared, the crews put out the fire. When William's master would not sign over her blubber and whale fins to the crews, Zephyr sailed away. Traveller took on 70 butts of blubber and one ton of whale fins. Captain Simpson took them back with him and sold them, keeping the proceeds for himself and his men. William's owners sued for the proceeds, but Simpson argued that it was a long-standing custom of the whaling trade that salvaged cargo belonged to the men who had salvaged it. The jury found for the plaintiffs, who had estimated the value of the lost whale products at £500, and awarded them £392. [7] Although all but one witness, all of whom were masters of whaling ships, testified for the defendant, the jury found for the plaintiff. [8]

YearMasterWhereWhales Tuns whale oilSeals
1831SimpsonDavis Strait454
1832SimpsonDavis Strait38273
1833SimpsonDavis Strait22115
1834SimpsonDavis Strait16230
1835SimpsonDavis Strait888
1836SimpsonDavis Strait00
1837SimpsonDavis Strait2
1838SimpsonDavis Strait14183
1839SimpsonEast Greenland439117
1840SimpsonDavis Strait00
1841SimpsonEast Greenland2502800
1842SimpsonEast Greenland2250
1843LeeGreenland00
1844SimpsonDavis Strait663
1845SimpsonDavis Strait27172
1846SimpsonDavis Strait346
1847SimpsonDavis Strait339
1848A.OgstonEast Greenland9912,678
1849A.OgstonEast Greenland151,320
1850A.HutchinsonEast Greenland463563
1851A.HutchinsonEast Greenland2121 (est.)10,133
1852A.HutchinsonEast Greenland762 + 23 (seal oil)1,078
1853A.HutchinsonEast Greenland550 + 70 (seal oil)5,944
1855–1856G.BrownEast Greenland [c] 0120 (seal oil)10,225
1857-1858G.BrownEast Greenland28 (seal oil)2754

Over her career Traveller gathered 3568–3858 tons of oil. The value was around £200,000. [5]

Fate

From 1854, Traveller joined Captain William Penny (Lady Franklin), in opening up over-wintering and land station-based whaling in Cumberland Gulf. [6]

Traveller was driven ashore by ice and wrecked on 2 May 1858 in Frobisher Bay. She fell on her side and a heavy piece of ice pressed down on her. Some provisions and other articles were recovered. [5]

Gem and Jackall rescued her crew. [9] [10]

Notes

  1. ↑ Lloyd's Register did not carry Traveller until 1818, wrongly giving her a launch year of 1817.
  2. ↑ When there is no data on the number of seals taken the reason is that on that voyage Traveller engaged only in whaling. The seal hunting took place in the East Greenland fishery, and not in Davis Strait.
  3. ↑ Traveller sailed on to Cumberland Gulf to overwinter there. [5]

Citations

  1. ↑ Hackman (2001), p. 318.
  2. ↑ RS (1815), "T" supple. pages.
  3. ↑ Hackman (2001), p. 247.
  4. ↑ LR (1818), "Licensed and Country Ships".
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Sutherland (1993), p. 56.
  6. 1 2 Scottish Arctic Whaling Database – Voyages: Traveller.
  7. ↑ "Whale Fishery", Nautical Magazine (1833), pp.89−92.
  8. ↑ Lubbock (1937), pp. 294–295.
  9. ↑ "Arctic Whaler Fishery". The Aberdeen Journal. No. 5772. Aberdeen. 25 August 1858.
  10. ↑ "Peterhead - The Whale and Seal Fishery". The Aberdeen Journal. No. 5773. Aberdeen. 1 September 1858.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.