Union (1805 ship)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameUnion
Launched1805, Liverpool
FateLast listed in the mid-1820s
General characteristics
Tons burthen216 [1] [2] (bm)
Complement
Armament
  • 1808: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 16 × 9-pounder carronades [2]
  • 1809: 14 × 9-pounder cannons [2]
  • 1810: 10 × 9-pounder carronades

Union was launched at Liverpool in 1805. She made three voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She transported at least 743 captives to the West Indies and South Carolina. After the end of British participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade she then became a West Indiaman. Union was last listed in the mid-1820s.

Contents

Career

Union first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1805. [1]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1805J.TuckerThompsonLiverpool–AfricaLR

1st slave voyage (1805–1806): Captain Joseph Tucker sailed from Liverpool on 18 March 1805. Union acquired slaves in the Congo River region and arrived with 243 slaves at Suriname on 7 October 1805. She sailed from Suriname on 27 February 1806, and arrived back at Liverpool on 14 April. She had left Liverpool with 41 crew members and had suffered five crew deaths on her voyage. [3]

2nd slave voyage (1806–1807): Captain Tucker sailed from Liverpool on 9 June 1806. Union gathered slaves in the Congo River region and arrived with 312 slaves on 28 November 1806 at Charleston. [4] [5]

In December 1803, the South Carolina General Assembly voted to reopen the African slave trade. Concern with the spread of yellow fever had caused the Assembly to suspend the slave trade. The Medical Society of South Carolina relaxed quarantine measures, prioritizing reopening the slave trade over public health. [6] The Medical Society argued that the fever was not imported (correct), and not contagious. Later it was discovered that the disease was not directly contagious, but was mosquito-borne, and so indirectly contagious, and that quarantine would help reduce the spread.

Union left Charleston on 26 January 1807 and arrived back at Liverpool on 19 March. She had left Liverpool with 36 crew members and had suffered two crew deaths on her voyage. [4]

The act for the abolition of the slave trade had passed Parliament and had received Royal Assent in March 1807. It took affect on 1 May 1807. However, vessels that had before 1 May received clearance to sail were still permitted to still sail.

3rd slave voyage (1807–1808): Captain Tucker sailed from Liverpool on 25 May 1807. Union acquired slaves at Cape Coast Castle and Accra, and arrived on 16 February 1808 at Kingston with 228 slaves. She sailed from Kingston on 7 July, and arrived back at Liverpool on 16 August. She had left Liverpool with 38 crew members and had suffered seven crew deaths on her voyage. [7]

Union then became a West Indiaman.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1808J.Tucker
J.Phillips
Thompson
H.Mulban
Liverpool–Africa
Liverpool–Hayti
LR

Captain James Phillips acquired a letter of marque on 10 October 1808. [2]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1809J.Phillips
J.Brown
H.MulbanLiverpool–HaytiLR

Captain John Brown acquired a letter of marque on 19 October 1809. [2]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1810J.BrownJ.LeighLiverpool–BarbadosLR
1811J.Brown
Smith
J.LeighLiverpool–Barbados
London–Suriname
LR
1813Smith
W.Kendall
Faith & Co.London–Suriname
London–Grenada
LR
1818J.FullartonFaith & Co.Cork–DublinLR
1819W.StewartSands & Co.Cork–LimerickLR; damages repaired 1818
1822W.StewardSands & Co.Cork–LimerickLR; damages repaired 1818

Lloyd's Register carried Union with unchanged data until 1826. The Register of Shipping (RS) had discrepant data.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1818FulvisterG. FaithPlymouth–San DomingoRS
1819StewardG.FaithLiverpool–QuebecRS

This data continued unchanged until the Register of Shipping last listed Union in 1824.

Citations

  1. 1 2 LR (1805), Supple.pages "UV", Seq.No.UV25.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Letter of Marque, p.91 – Retrieved 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  3. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Union voyage #83904.
  4. 1 2 Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Union voyage #83905.
  5. Smith (2013), p.139.
  6. Smith (2013), p.1.
  7. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Union voyage #83906.

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References