Vernon (1779 ship)

Last updated

History
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svgGreat Britain
NameVernon
Launched1775, Bordeaux
Acquiredcirca 1779
FateWrecked December 1792
General characteristics
Tons burthen460, 470, or 500 (bm)
Armament8 × 9-pounder + 12 × 6-pounder guns (1783)

Vernon was launched at Bordeaux in 1775, almost certainly under another name. She first appeared in British records in 1779. Between 1781 and 1782, she was an armed transport and in 1781 took part in an action that cost her 13 crew members killed and wounded. After the war she traded widely. In 1787 she carried emigrants to Sierra Leone for the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor. She was wrecked in December 1792.

Contents

Career

Vernon first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1779. [1]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1779Francis HallRobertsonLondon transportLR
1781F.HallRobertsonLondon–New YorkLR
1782F.HallRobertsonPortsmouth transportLR

Between 1781 and 1782, Vernon served as an hired armed storeship. [2] [3]

On 10 September 1781, Captain Hall, of the transport Vernon was at Cork, from where he wrote a letter with a report of the action of 21 July 1781 in which she had been involved. She had sailed from Halifax in a convoy of 13 colliers and merchant vessels escorted by HMS Charlestown, the two sloops-of-war Allegiance and Vulture, and Jack, like Vernon an armed merchant ship, though much smaller. The convoy was off the harbor of Spanish River, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (present-day Sydney, Nova Scotia), or Île Royale, when on 21 July two French frigates Astrée, commanded by La Pérouse, and Hermione, commanded by Latouche Tréville, attacked. Vernon exchanged broadsides with the frigates, the broadsides causing casualties on Vernon and much damage. The action continued for three glasses and 20 minutes before the French frigates withdrew. British casualties included Captain Evans an eight people killed and 14 wounded on Charles-town. Vernon suffered six killed and seven wounded. Vulture had had one man killed and three wounded. The merchant vessels and their cargoes of coal had entered Spanish River safely before the action had started. [4] Charlestown and the escorts, including Vernon, sailed back to Halifax.

In the action of 16 March 1782, HMS Success fought, captured, and burned the 34-gun Spanish frigate Santa Catalina off Cape Spartel. Success was escorting the storeship Vernon to Gibraltar. [5] At the time, Vernon was under the command of Mr. John Falconer. She left her escort the day the engagement started and continued on to Gibraltar. [6]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1783F.Hall
J.Elliot		RobertsonPortsmouth transportLR
1784J.Ellison
John Shaw		RobertsonLondon–JamaicaLR

Vernon, Shaw, master, safely rode out a hurricane on 30 July 1784 at Jamaica. [7]

On 2 January 1785 as Vernon, Shaw, master, was on her way toEngland she encountered a gale that caused minor damage.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1786Gill John St Barbe London–JamaicaLR

In late 1786 in London the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor chartered Vernon and two other vessels, Atlantic, and Belisarius, to carry emigrants from London to what was to be a new settlement in Sierra Leone.

On 11 January 1787, Atlantic, Muirhead, master, and Belisarius, Sill, master sailed from Gravesend, bound for Sierra Leone. [8] Vernon delayed leaving London to take on some more migrants, but then sailed to join the other two vessels and their escort at Portsmouth.

Bad weather forced them to divert to Plymouth, during which time about 50 passengers died. Another 24 were discharged, and 23 ran away. Eventually, with some more recruitment, 411 passengers sailed to Sierra Leone in April 1787.

Atlantic, Bellisarius, and Vernon, Gill, master, sailed from Portsmouth on 23 February under escort by the sloop-of-war HMS Nautilous. [9]

The four vessels were reported to have been safe at Tenerife on 24 April and had been expected to sail to Sierra Leone that night. [10] Ninety-six passengers died on the voyage from Portsmouth to Sierra Leone.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1787StevensonSt. BarbeLondon–AfricaLR; repairs 1785
1789StevensonSt. BarbeLondon–New YorkLR; repairs 1785 & damages & good repair 1789
1790StevensonSt. BarbeBristol–LondonLR; repairs 1785 & damages & good repair 1789
1791W.BarrymanSt. BarbeBristol–London
London–Tobago		LR; repairs 1785, damages & good repair 1789, & thorough repair 1790
1792W.BarrymanDick & Co.London–DunkirkLR; damages & good repair 1789, & thorough repair 1790

Fate

In December Vernon, Barriman, master, was driven ashore east of Ostend and it was feared that she would be lost. She was on a voyage from Dunkerque to Tobago. [11] NLL281292

Vernon was last listed in 1793 with data unchanged since 1792.

Citations

  1. ↑ LR (1779), Seq.No.V112.
  2. ↑ Colledge & Warlow (2006), 20412.
  3. ↑ Winfield (2007), 20692.
  4. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1304. 21 September 1781. hdl:2027/uc1.c3049061 . Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  5. ↑ "No. 12283". The London Gazette. 30 March 1782. pp. 1–2.
  6. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1349. 2 April 1782. hdl:2027/hvd.32044105233001 . Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1611. 12 October 1784. hdl:2027/mdp.39015004281567 . Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  8. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1846. 12 January 1787. hdl:2027/uc1.c3049064 . Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  9. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1859. 27 February 1787. hdl:2027/uc1.c3049064.
  10. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1893. 26 June 1787. hdl:2027/uc1.c3049064.
  11. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 2466. 28 December 1792. hdl:2027/uc1.c3049066.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Arethusa</i> (1781) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Arethusa was a 38-gun Minerva-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy built at Bristol in 1781. She served in three wars and made a number of notable captures before she was broken up in 1815.

HMS Albemarle was a 28-gun sixth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had been built as the French merchantman Ménagère, which the French Navy purchased in 1779. A British squadron captured her in September and she was commissioned into service with the Royal Navy. Amongst her commanders in her short career was Captain Horatio Nelson, who would later win several famous victories over the French. The Navy sold her in 1784. She subsequently became a merchant vessel again. In 1791 she transported convicts to Port Jackson as part of the third fleet. She then sailed to India where she picked up a cargo on behalf of the British East India Company. As she was returning to England a French privateer captured her.

HMS Leith, also known as HM hired armed ship Leith, was launched in 1744 or 1746 in the British "Plantations", more specifically, the colony of Maryland. From 1764 to 1777 she was a Greenlandman, that is a whaler, in the waters east of Greenland. Between 1777 and 1782 she served the Royal Navy as a transport and hired armed naval ship. She was last listed in 1783.

<i>Fortitude</i> (1780 EIC ship)

Fortitude was a merchant vessel built in 1780 on the River Thames. A French frigate captured her in 1782 while she was on the return leg of her maiden voyage to India as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). However, the British recaptured her in October 1782. The EIC purchased her and sent her back to England. There, in 1785, George Macartney Macauley purchased her and renamed her Pitt. She then performed five voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1786 and 1798. In between, she made one journey transporting convicts from England to New South Wales. She was broken up in 1801.

HMS <i>Vulture</i> (1776) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Vulture was a 14 to 16-gun ship sloop of the Swan class, launched for the Royal Navy on 18 March 1776. She served during both the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary War, before the Navy sold her in 1802. Vulture is perhaps best known for being the warship to which Benedict Arnold fled on the Hudson River in 1780 after unsuccessfully trying to betray the Continental Army's fortress at West Point, New York to the British.

HMS Trimmer was the French privateer cutter Anti-Briton, which HMS Stag captured in January 1782 and which the Royal Navy took into service. Early in the French Revolutionary Wars Trimmer captured a privateer. Though she never sailed again after December 1793, the Navy converted her to a temporary fire ship in 1798. The Admiralty sold her in 1801.

<i>Mohawk</i> (1781 ship)

Mohawk was a ship launched at Beverly, Massachusetts in 1781. She became a privateer, making two voyages. In 1782 the Royal Navy captured her and briefly took her into service under her existing name before selling her in 1783. She then became a merchantman until some investors in Bristol bought her in 1796 and turned her into a privateer again. In 1799 she became a letter of marque, but the French Navy captured her in 1801. She then served in the French Navy, capturing a British privateer in 1805, and was sold in 1814.

Salisbury was built at Havana c.1761 under another name. She first appeared under British ownership in 1781 as a West Indiaman. In 1785 she became the northern whale fishery whaler Rebecca. In 1787 new owners renamed her Harpooner and she was briefly a northern whaler in the Davis Strait. She was wrecked in 1789.

HMS Harpy was launched at Liverpool in 1777, the British Royal Navy having purchased her on the stocks. The Navy sold her in 1783. As Harpy she made voyages to the northern whale fishery, and one voyage as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. The Sierra Leone Company then purchased her. A French naval squadron captured her in September 1794. The French Navy briefly took her into service as Harcourt, and then Harpie. She was struck in 1796.

HMS Fortune was a British 14-gun sloop launched in 1778 that the French captured in April 1780. She then served with the French navy under the same name.

Tartar was built in France in 1778, almost surely under another name. She was taken in prize and appears under British ownership in 1780. After a short career as a privateer, she made a voyage between 1781 and 1783 as an extra East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She then became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. After whaling she traded with the Baltic and then served as a London-based transport. She was probably lost in 1799, and was last listed in 1801. If Tartar is the vessel lost in 1799, in 1796 French warships captured her, but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her.

HMS Pluto was a 14-gun fire ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1782. Pluto was converted to a sloop in 1793. She spent the period of the French Revolutionary Wars on the Newfoundland station where she captured a French naval vessel. During the Napoleonic Wars Pluto was stationed in the Channel. There she detained numerous merchant vessels trading with France or elsewhere. Pluto was laid up in 1809 and sold in 1817 into mercantile service. The mercantile Pluto ran aground near Margate on 31 August 1817 and filled with water.

Mentor was launched in 1778 at Chester as a West Indiaman. She captured three vessels, including a valuable East Indiaman belonging to the French East India Company. She had an inconclusive single ship action with a French warship in 1779. She was wrecked in 1782.

Ranger was launched in 1776 in France, possibly as an East Indiaman for the French East India Company, and almost certainly under another name. From 1780 to 1786 she was a British vessel that was a transport and traded generally. In 1786–1787 she made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). From 1788 she traded between London and Ostend, and was last listed in 1793 with unchanged data. In 1788 she had sailed to the East Indies, perhaps with new owners from Ostend, and may have remained in the East Indies.

Belisarius was launched in Massachusetts in 1781. The British Royal Navy captured later that year and took her into service as HMS Bellisarius. She captured several American privateers, including one in a single ship action, before the Navy sold her in 1784. Her new owners sailed her as a merchantman between London and British Honduras. In 1787 she carried emigrants to Sierra Leone for the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor, before returning to trading with Honduras. She was wrecked in September 1787.

York was launched in 1783 at Archangel. She traded with Northern Russia until 1792 when the Sierra Leone Company purchased her for use as a storeship. She was burnt at Sierra Leone on 30 November 1793.

HMS <i>Granado</i> (1742)

HMS Granado was launched at Harwich in 1742, during the War of the Austrian Succession as a sloop-of-war. During this war she captured a French privateer. During the Seven Years' War she served both as a sloop and as a bomb vessel, and participated in naval operations off the coast of France and in the West Indies. When the Navy sold her in 1763 she became the mercantile Prince Frederick. Around 1775 she became the whaler Prudence, sailing in the British northern whale fishery. Around 1781 she became a government transport and was wrecked on 20 May 1782 on the coast of India.

Molly was launched at Liverpool in 1770. Between 1777 and 1779 she made three voyages to the British northern whale fishery. Afterwards, she sailed as a West Indiaman. From 1779 she sailed under a letter of marque, and captured one prize. Around the end of 1781 she engaged in a single ship action in which her captain was killed. She was captured but her captor gave her up. She was last listed in 1783.

Badger was launched in Liverpool in 1775. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. New owners renamed her Molly in 1778 and sailed her as a West Indian. In 1779 she repelled an American privateer in a sanguinary single ship action. Her owners renamed her Lydia. While trading with Tortola she captured one or two prizes. Lydia was herself captured in 1782.

Chaser was built in the East Indies in 1778. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1781 and commissioned her as HMS Chaser. A French frigate captured her in 1782 but the Royal Navy recaptured her in 1783 and took her back into service. She was present at a major battle and then sailed to England where the Navy sold her in 1784. As the mercantile Chaser she made five or six voyages as a whaler in the British northern whale fishery and then two to the southern whale fishery. On her way home from the second a French privateer captured her, but some of her crew recaptured her. Next, she began trading with Honduras but was wrecked in late 1795 as she was returning from there to London.

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.