| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Vanguard |
| Builder | Liverpool |
| Launched | 1799 |
| Fate | Captured 17 May 1809 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 300, [1] or 353 [2] [3] (bm) |
| Complement | |
| Armament | |
Vanguard was launched in Liverpool in 1799. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. After the outlawing of the British slave trade she became a West Indiaman. A French privateer captured her in March 1809.
Captain John Whittle acquired a letter of marque on 1 November 1799. [2] He sailed from Liverpool on 7 December. [4] In 1799, 156 vessels sailed from English ports bond for Africa to acquire and transport enslaved people; 134 of these vessels sailed from Liverpool. [5]
Whittle purchased captives at Bonny Island. Vanguard arrived at Jamaica on 29 June 1800, with 273 captives. She left Jamaica on 2 September in company with Alexander and some other vessels sailing to Liverpool, and arrived back at Liverpool on 7 November. She had left Liverpool with 45 crew members and suffered 12 crew deaths on her voyage. [4]
Vanguard appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1801 with J.Whittle, master, changing to D. Findlay, Dickson, owner, and trade Liverpool–Africa, changing to Liverpool–Jamaica. [1] Captain David Findlay acquired a letter of marque on 8 December 1800.
Captain William Taylor sailed from Liverpool on 15 October 1802, during the Peace of Amiens. [6] In 1802, 155 vessels sailed from English ports bond for Africa to acquire and transport enslaved people; 122 of these vessels sailed from Liverpool. [5]
War with France broke out again in early 1803 and Taylor was issued a letter of marque in absentia on 22 July, shortly before Vanguard arrived in Grenada on 29 August. He had purchased captives first at Anomabu and then at Cape Coast Castle, and arrived with 304. Vanguard sailed 22 November 1803, and arrived back at Liverpool on 22 January 1804. She had left Liverpool with 40 crew members and she suffered eight crew deaths on the voyage. [6]
Taylor was no longer master of Vanguard when she was off Barbados before having delivered her captives, having been replaced by John Pince. However, by the time she arrived back at Liverpool Richard Burrows had replaced Pince. [6] The reason Pince replaced Taylor is that the two had entered into an illegal contract. Pince, knowing that his reputation as a cruel master would hamper his getting a crew, agreed with Taylor that Taylor would be the nominal master for a bonus of £50, and that Pince would become master once the voyage was under way, with Taylor reverting to chief mate. The illegality rested in that the regulations of the slave trade required the actual master to sign various documents and give various undertakings. Taylor left Vanguard on the African coast and made his own way back to England. He had brought the case against Vanguard's owners for lost wages and some other income and the court ruled that under the circumstances nothing was due either to Taylor or to the owners. [7] John Pince died aboard Vanguard after a short illness as she was sailing from Grenada to Tortola. [8] [9] The announcement in Lloyd's List's ship arrival and departure (SAD) data of Vanguard's return simply recorded "Vanguard, late Pine". [10]
Captain Richard Wilding acquired a letter of marque on 8 October 1804. [2] He sailed from Liverpool on 1 November 1804. [11] In 1804, 147 vessels sailed from English ports bond for Africa to acquire and transport enslaved people; 126 of these vessels sailed from Liverpool. [5]
Wilding purchased captives in the Congo River. Vanguard arrived at Barbados where she landed a few captives, and then sailed on to Tortola where she landed the rest. In all she landed 290 slaves. She sailed from Tortola on 16 October 1805, and arrived back at Liverpool on 13 December. She had sailed from Liverpool with 51 crew members and she suffered seven crew deaths on the voyage. [11]
Captain James Barr acquired a letter of marque on 18 April 1806. [2] He sailed from Liverpool on 15 May 1806. Barr purchased captives at Bonny Island and stopped at São Tomé before sailing on to the West Indies. [12]
LL reported on 6 February 1807, that Vanguard, of Liverpool, Barr, master, which had been reported to have been taken off Old Calabar by two French frigates and a brig, [13] had arrived at Jamaica on 8 December 1806, from Bonny. [14]
Vanguard arrived at Kingston, Jamaica, on 8 December 1806. There she landed 372 captives. She sailed from Kingston on 22 March 1807 and arrived back at Liverpool on 12 May. She had sailed from Liverpool with 47 crew members and she suffered three crew deaths on the voyage. [12]
The Slave Trade Act 1807 forbade British participation in the slave trade, forcing owners to deploy their vessels in other trades. Vanguard became a West Indiaman. LR for 1808 showed her master as Kitchen & Co., and her trade as Liverpool–Trinidad. [3] Robert Kitchen and Benjamin Cors had been Vanguard's owner on her fourth voyage transporting enslaved people. [12]
On 17 March 1809 Lloyd's List reported that the French privateer Embuscade had captured Vanguard after an action lasting an hour and a half. Vanguard had been sailing from Trinidad to London, and Embuscade took her into Dieppe. Earlier, Vanguard had been able to capture a French privateer and to repel attacks by two others. [15] Embuscade's captain was Antoine-Joseph Preira, a noted privateer captain.
LR for 1809 carried unchanged data for Vanguard from the 1808 volume, except that it had the annotation "captured". [16]
Elizabeth was launched at Bermuda in 1786 or 1790. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR), in 1802. She then made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During the second of these voyages a French privateer captured her. After the end of British participation in the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved people, she spent a little over a year as a hired armed tender under contract to the British Royal Navy. She returned to mercantile service trading with Madeira or Africa, until another French privateer captured her in early 1810.
Hannah was built in Liverpool in 1795. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade of enslaved people. She was lost in 1801 as she was returning home after having delivered her captives on her fourth voyage.
Hannah was built at Liverpool in 1797. She made three voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She then made one voyage as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Next, she became a West Indiaman and was lost in 1811.
Windsor Castle was launched at Whitby in 1783. Initially she was primarily a West Indiaman. Then from 1797 she made five voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She foundered off Bermuda in 1803 after having disembarked her captives.
Minerva was launched in 1795 at Lancaster as a West Indiaman. In 1801 she was captured but immediately recaptured. Between 1802 and 1808 she made five voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was last listed in 1816.
Ariadne was built in 1795 at Newbury, Massachusetts, probably under another name. She in 1801 became a Liverpool-based slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made two voyages transporting enslaved people before a French, and later a Dutch privateer, captured her in 1804 while she was acquiring captives on her third voyage. However, a Liverpool-based vessel recaptured her. Then in 1806, a French privateer captured her and took her into Guadeloupe while Ariadne was on her fourth voyage transporting captives.
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.
Aurora was launched at Chester in 1793 as a West Indiaman. During her career first the French (twice) and then the United States' privateer captured her, but she returned to British hands. Between 1801 and 1808 she made four voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Afterwards, she continued to trade widely until 1831.
Angola was launched in 1799 at Lancaster. She became a Liverpool-based slave ship that had made four voyages in the triangular trade, carrying captives from West Africa to the West Indies. The French captured her in 1804 on her fifth voyage. Her captors renamed her Tigre, but the Royal Navy recaptured her late in 1804.
Westmoreland was launched in Yarmouth in 1783. Between 1800 and 1804 she made two voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. A French privateer captured her during her second voyage but the Royal Navy recaptured her and she completed her voyage. The registers continued to carry her for a few years but with stale data.. She actually made a voyage in 1805 to Demerara. On her way a privateer captured her.
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 in the triangular trade in enslaved people. 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.
Backhouse was launched in 1785 at Chester. She initially sailed as a West Indiaman. In 1792–1793 she made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Once in 1796 and twice in 1797 she repelled attacks by French privateers in three single-ship actions. Backhouse made four more enslaving voyages and then returned to the West Indies trade. After about 1809 she became a London coaster and was last listed in 1813.
Nimble was built in Folkestone in 1781, possibly under another name. In 1786 Nimble was almost rebuilt and lengthened. Between 1786 and 1798 she made nine voyages as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. Between 1799 and 1804 she made four voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On her first voyage as to gather captives she detained a neutral vessel, an action that resulted in a court case. On her second voyage to gather captives, a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. She was wrecked in 1804 or so after she had delivered her captives to St Thomas.
Thetis was launched in 1801 at Lancaster as a West Indiaman. In 1804, in single ship action, she repelled an attack by a French privateer. Between 1806 and 1808 she made two complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On the second, in early 1808 as Thetis was coming to Barbados from Africa, she again drove off a French privateer in a single ship action. With the end of the slave trade, Thetis returned to trading, first with the West Indies and then with Bahia. She was wrecked in December 1815 near Sunderland.
Beaver was launched in 1796 at Liverpool. She made seven complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. She was captured and retaken once, in 1804, and captured a second time in 1807, during her eighth voyage.
Egyptian was launched in 1788 in France. She was taken in prize circa 1799 and became a Liverpool-based slave ship. She made two complete voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was condemned at Jamaica after having delivered her captives on her third voyage.
Ann was launched at Chester in 1792 as a West Indiaman. From 1796 she made eight complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She participated in several single ship actions. On her first voyage she repelled an attack by a French privateer. On her second a privateer captured her but she was recaptured. On her ninth voyage a French privateer again captured her, but this time her captor plundered and then released her. She sank on 24 May 1810 in the Old Dock at Liverpool, but was salvaged.
Elizabeth was launched at Liverpool in 1798. She made five complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Spanish privateers captured her in 1805 while she was on her sixth voyage after she had embarked enslave people and took her into Montevideo.
True Briton was launched at Liverpool in 1775. She made two voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During the second of these voyages there was an unsuccessful insurrection by the captives she was carrying. Then in 1777–1778 she made another enslaving voyage, this time under the name John. On her return to Liverpool, she became the privateer Bellona, and succeeded in taking several prizes. Bellona then made three enslaving voyages. In 1786 her ownership changed, and so did her name. She became Lord Stanley, and under that name proceeded to make 11 more enslaving voyages. In 1794, at Havana, a deadly fever spread through the vessel, apparently after she had landed her captives. On her last voyage the captain acted with such brutality towards a black crew member that the man, who providentially survived, sued the captain when the vessel arrived at Liverpool and won substantial damages.
Aeolus was built in Liverpool. Between 1787 and 1806 she made 13 voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On one voyage she repelled an attack by a French privateer in a single ship action. She was last listed in 1808.