History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | Union |
Owner | John Ratcliffe, George Hauit, & William Thompson [1] |
Builder | Liverpool [1] |
Launched | 1791 [1] |
Captured | 1793 |
General characteristics | |
Tons burthen | 113 [2] (bm) |
Complement | 24 [2] |
Armament | 10 × 4-pounder guns [2] |
Union was launched in 1791 in Liverpool, England. She became a slave ship that the French captured on her first slave voyage. Captain R. Farrington sailed for West Africa on 15 August 1792. [1]
Captain George Hauit acquired a letter of marque for Union on 1 March 1793, [2] just after the outbreak of war with France.
The French privateer Liberty, of Bordeaux, captured seven slave ships before July 1793: Union, Farrington, Little Joe, Echo, Mercury, Hazard, Prosperity, and Swift, Roper, master. The capture of Union took place off Bassa. [3] [4] [lower-alpha 1]
Robust recaptured Little Joe and Echo. HMS Andromeda recaptured Prosperity; the cutter HMS Seaflower recaptured Mercury. Liberty ransomed Swift after plundering her.
HMS Actif was supposedly the British privateer Active that the French captured in 1793 and that became the French privateer Actif. Iphigenia recaptured Actif on 16 March 1794. The Royal Navy took her into service but she foundered on 26 November. All her crew were saved.
Chardon was a whaler that Aget, Kenny, and Coffyn purchased in 1787 and commissioned at Dunkirk that same year. Benjamin Hussey purchased her in 1789 and renamed her Judith. Judith made four whaling voyages as a French ship. The British captured her but her crew recaptured her. She then sailed to New Bedford.
Otway was a French or Spanish vessel built in 1799 that became a Liverpool-based slave ship in 1800. She made four voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people, delivering captives from West Africa to the West Indies before the French Navy captured her in 1806. She became the Guadeloupe-based privateer Alerte and captured a number of British merchantmen before the Royal Navy captured her i October 1807.
Robust was built in France in 1779. The British captured her in 1781 and she was registered at Liverpool in 1783. She first entered Lloyd's Register in 1789 as whaler in the northern whale fishery. Then in December 1788 she left on the first of three voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On her third voyage as a slave ship Robust captured a French slave ship and recaptured two British slave ships that a French privateer had captured earlier. After her third voyage as a slaver owners shifted her registry to Bristol and she then made two voyages to the southern whale fishery. She returned from the second voyage in 1797 and is last listed in 1798.
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.
Old Dick was launched at Bermuda in 1789. She sailed to England and was lengthened in 1792. From 1792 on she made two full voyages as a Liverpool-based slave ship. On her second she recaptured two British merchant ships. She was lost in 1796 at Jamaica after having landed her third cargo of slaves.
Bolton was launched at Liverpool in 1792. She then made 10 voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During her career she repelled one attack by a French privateer, was captured on a later voyage by another before being recaptured by the Royal Navy, and then was captured on her tenth voyage by yet another privateer after Bolton had gathered her captives but before she was able to deliver them to the West Indies. Bolton returned to British ownership, first sailing as West Indiaman, before embarking on an 11th enslaving voyage. She blew up on the African coast in 1806 after some of the captives aboard her succeeded in taking her over and setting fire to her.
Union was a ship that first appeared in records in 1799. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people but foundered on her way home.
William Heathcote was launched in Liverpool in 1800. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Next, a French privateer captured her in a single-ship action, and the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She became a West Indiaman before she made an enslaving voyage, one of the last such legal voyages. zAfter British partiipation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade ended, she became a West Indiaman again; she sailed to Brazil and as a transport. She was wrecked in July 1816.
Harriot was launched in Liverpool in 1786. For many years she was a West Indiaman, sailing between Liverpool and Barbados. In 1796 a French frigate captured her, but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She became a slave ship. At the beginning of her of her first slave trading voyage a French privateer captured her, and again the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She made five slave trading voyages in all. Thereafter she traded with South America. She was last listed in 1814 with stale data.
Agreeable was launched at Bermuda in 1786, probably under a different name. French owners acquired her at some point and sailed her as Agréable. In 1793 the British captured her. Subsequently, between 1793 and 1808, she made six voyages as a slave ship, alternating between the triangular trade in enslaved people, and sailing as a regular West Indiaman. French privateers captured her between the second and third voyages, and the third and fourth voyages, but each time the British Royal Navy recaptured her. In the case of the second capture she was in French hands long enough for them to send her out as a privateer. She herself captured an American vessel in 1808 as she was returning to Liverpool from her last enslaving voyage. After the end of British participation in trans-Atlantic enslaving trade, Agreeable traded more widely, particularly to South America. She was condemned at Buenos Aires in 1814 after running aground in the River Plate. She was repaired and continue to sail to Brazil until she returned to Liverpool in June 1819.
Fortune was a French privateer launched at Bordeaux in 1800 and taken that same year. She immediately made one voyage as a whaler and privateer. She then made two voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. After the end of the British enslaving trade Fortune continued to trade with Africa and with South America. She was last listed in 1816.
Ellis was a French prize, captured in 1797, possibly built 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.
Little Joe was launched in 1784 in Liverpool as a slave ship. She made six complete voyages from Liverpool in the Atlantic triangular slave trade in enslaved people. On her seventh voyage a French privateer captured her, but a British letter of marque recaptured her. She did not return to the slave trade and was last listed in 1795.
Echo was launched in 1791 in Liverpool as a slave ship. She made two complete voyages from Liverpool in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. On her third voyage a French privateer captured her, but a British letter of marque recaptured her. She did not return to enslaving and was last listed in 1796.
Hazard was launched in 1779 in Bermuda. In 1787 she sailed to Liverpool and commenced trading from there, particularly to West Africa. In 1791 she became a slave ship, making one complete voyage in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. On her second voyage a French privateer captured her in 1793.
Prosperity was launched in Strangford in 1788. She traded in the area and then to Dominica. From 1792 she made two voyages as a slave ship in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. On both voyages French privateers captured her. In the first case the Royal Navy recaptured her and she completed her voyage. In the second case her captor sent her into France.
Mercury's origins are obscure. She may have been launched in New York in 1774, possibly under another name. In 1793 she made one voyage as a slave ship in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. A French privateer captured Mercury, but the Royal Navy recaptured her.
Saint Ann was launched at Liverpool in 1797. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She foundered or was shipwrecked or destroyed in 1798 after she had delivered her captives but before she could return to Liverpool.
Bud was launched at Liverpool in 1783. Between 1783 and 1800 she made 12 complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. In 1796 she repelled an attack by a faster, better armed, and more heavily crewed French privateer in a single ship action. Then in 1798, a French privateer captured her in another single ship action after Bud's short but sanguinary resistance. The Royal Navy quickly captured her, and her captor. On her 13th enslaving voyage she was condemned at Kingston, Jamaica after she had arrived with her captives.