| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Traveller |
| Launched | 1815, Peterhead |
| Fate | Wrecked 2 May 1858 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 402 [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.
Traveller first appeared in the Register of Shipping (RS) in the volume for 1815. [2] [lower-alpha 1]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1815 | Duthie | Hutchinson | London | RS |
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]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1818 | Hutchinson | Hutchinson | London–Bombay | RS |
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.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1821 | Hutchinson | Hutchinson | London–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] [lower-alpha 2] The data for 1843 is from Sutherland. [5]
| Year | Master | Where | Whales | Tuns whale oil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1821 | Hutchinson | Davis Strait | 18 | 218 |
| 1822 | Hutchinson | Davis Strait | 2 | 21 |
| 1823 | Hutchinson | Davis Strait | 26 | 262 |
| 1824 | Hutchinson | Davis Strait | 5 | 67 |
| 1825 | Hutchinson | Davis Strait | 6 | 65 |
| 1826 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 13 | 150 |
| 1827 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 27.5 | 282 |
| 1828 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 19 | 240 |
| 1829 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 17 | 171 |
| 1830 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 7 | 110 |
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]
| Year | Master | Where | Whales | Tuns whale oil | Seals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1831 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 4 | 54 | |
| 1832 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 38 | 273 | |
| 1833 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 22 | 115 | |
| 1834 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 16 | 230 | |
| 1835 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 8 | 88 | |
| 1836 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 0 | 0 | |
| 1837 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 2 | ||
| 1838 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 14 | 183 | |
| 1839 | Simpson | East Greenland | 4 | 39 | 117 |
| 1840 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 0 | 0 | |
| 1841 | Simpson | East Greenland | 2 | 50 | 2800 |
| 1842 | Simpson | East Greenland | 2 | 250 | |
| 1843 | Lee | Greenland | 0 | 0 | |
| 1844 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 6 | 63 | |
| 1845 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 27 | 172 | |
| 1846 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 3 | 46 | |
| 1847 | Simpson | Davis Strait | 3 | 39 | |
| 1848 | A.Ogston | East Greenland | 99 | 12,678 | |
| 1849 | A.Ogston | East Greenland | 15 | 1,320 | |
| 1850 | A.Hutchinson | East Greenland | 4 | 63 | 563 |
| 1851 | A.Hutchinson | East Greenland | 2 | 121 (est.) | 10,133 |
| 1852 | A.Hutchinson | East Greenland | 7 | 62 + 23 (seal oil) | 1,078 |
| 1853 | A.Hutchinson | East Greenland | 5 | 50 + 70 (seal oil) | 5,944 |
| 1855–1856 | G.Brown | East Greenland [lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 120 (seal oil) | 10,225 |
| 1857-1858 | G.Brown | East Greenland | 28 (seal oil) | 2754 | |
Over her career Traveller gathered 3568–3858 tons of oil. The value was around £200,000. [5]
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]
Elligood was constructed in Nova Scotia in 1794 for Liddle & Co. She performed one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She was primarily a whaler, but also visited Australia. She is last listed in 1806.
Camden was built at Whitby in 1813. She served as a general trader for much of her career, though in 1820-21 she made one voyage to Bombay for the British East India Company (EIC). Between 1824 and 1831, Camden sailed under charter to the Hudson's Bay Company. Between 1833 and 1837 she was a Greenland whaler out of the Whitby whale fishery, and was the last vessel from Whitby to engage in whaling. She was last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1850.
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.
Emma was a merchant vessel launched at Calcutta in 1809 that in 1810 served as a government armed ship in the British invasion of Île de France. In 1811 she sailed to England where she was sold. She then became a transport and later a whaler. Between 1815 and 1853 she made 11 whaling voyages. She was then sold and became a merchantman on the England-Australia run. Between 1851 and 1853 she made one more whaling voyage to the South Seas fisheries. She then returned to the England-Australia trade. In 1857 her home port became Hull, and she became a Greenland whaler, though that role may have begun as early as 1855. She was converted in 1864 to a screw steamer but was lost in April while seal hunting.
Cadmus was launched in 1813 at Sunderland. She traded with the East Indies under license from the British East India Company (EIC) until 1827. Then between 1827 and 1834 she made two voyages as a whaler. She was lost in 1835.
Rambler was launched in America in 1812. The British captured her in 1813 as she was returning to America from Manila. She then briefly became a West Indiaman. In 1815 she became a whaler in the Southern Fishery. She made four complete whaling voyages and was wrecked on her fifth.
Cornwall was launched in 1794 as a West Indiaman. In a little more than three years later she had left on the first of three whaling voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. On her first whaling voyage she captured a Spanish ship and fought off a French privateer. After her third whaling voyage Cornwall returned to the West Indies trade. Around 1817 new owners sent her to India where a Parsi merchant purchased her. She traded in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and also participated as a transport in a naval expedition to the Persian Gulf. She was last listed in 1824.
Brunswick was launched at Hull and initially was a Greenland whaler. Her owner withdrew her from the northern whale fishery in 1836 and then deployed her sailing to New York and Sierra Leone. She was apparently on a voyage to India when she was wrecked on 7 April 1842.
Glenmore was launched as a West Indiaman in 1806 at Elgin. She made one voyage to Bengal in 1813–14, then became a Greenland whaler in 1818, and made four full whaling voyages. She was lost in the White Sea in 1822.
Partridge was built at Antwerp in 1813, under another name, and was taken in prize. From 1814 she was under British ownership. Between 1814 and 1822 she traded with India, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then became a whaler, making three voyages to the British southern whale fishery before she was broken up in 1834.
Comet was launched in 1791 at Rotherhithe. At the outbreak of war with France, she briefly became a privateer before the British East India Company (EIC) chartered her for one voyage to bring back sugar, saltpeter, and other goods from Bengal. Between 1812 and 1821 she made three voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Then between 1823 and 1840 she became a whaler based in Hull, whaling in the northern whale fishery. She returned to trade in 1841 and was lost on 1 December 1843 homeward bound from Quebec.
Hebe was launched at Hull in 1809. She initially sailed as a West Indiaman, but then sailed to the Mediterranean. In 1813 a privateer captured her but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. Between 1816 and 1819 she made two voyages to India, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). On her return new owners sailed her as a whaler. She was wrecked on 10 March 1821 on her second whaling voyage to the British northern whale fishery.
Princess Charlotte was launched in 1814 at South Shields. She initially sailed as West Indiaman. Then between 1818 and 1819 she made a voyage to India and one to Ceylon, both under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). On her return in 1819, Princess Charlotte became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She continued whale hunting until ice crushed her on 14 June 1856.
Prince of Orange was launched in Sunderland in 1814. She originally sailed as a West Indiaman but then became an East Indiaman, sailing to India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia, the first in 1820–1821 to New South Wales, and the second in 1822 to Van Diemen's Land. Between 1830 and 1840 she made nine voyages as a whaler to Davis Strait. She was lengthened and rebuilt in 1846. In December 1852 she grounded and it took some months to get her off. She then need major repairs. She also suffered damages in 1854. She foundered in 1858.
Harriet was launched at Calcutta, between 1793 and 1795. Between 1795 and 1801 she made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), and was chartered for use as a transport for a naval campaign that was cancelled. She became a transport and then in 1817 made another voyage to India, this time under a license from the EIC. She then became a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery, making seven complete whaling voyages and being lost c.1841 on her eighth.
Cumbrian was launched at Shields in 1811. Initially, during the last years of the Napoleonic Wars, Cumbrian was a transport. After the end of the war she became a West Indiaman. In 1817 she made one voyage to Bengal, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). In 1819 she became a whaler, sailing from Kingston upon Hull to the northern whale fishery. From 1835 on she left whaling and started trading more widely, to North America, Bombay, and Africa. She was driven ashore in August 1844, refloated, and subsequently condemned.
Harmony was launched in 1798 in Lancaster as a West Indiaman. Between 1805 and 1807 she sailed to the Pacific on a privateering voyage. Early in the voyage she was engaged in a single ship action in which her target repelled the attack, killing Harmony's master and inflicting severe casualties on her crew. Although Harmony returned to trading with the West Indies, in 1817 she made one voyage to India under a licence from the British East India Company. On her return she traded between Hull and Petersburg, and Quebec. New owners in 1821 decided to use her as a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She was lost there on her first whaling voyage.
Hope was launched at Peterhead in 1802. She was a whaler in the British northern whale fishery for her entire career. She was lost on 3 July 1830 in the Davis Strait. Her crew were rescued.
Zephyr was a vessel built in the United States that the Royal Navy captured in late 1813. Between 1814 and 1840, when she was lost, she made eight voyages as a whaler in the southern whale fishery.
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.