Woodlark (1832 ship)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameWoodlark
Namesake Woodlark
Builder Moulmain, Burma. or Amherst, Temasserim, Burma
Launched1832
FateLast mentioned 1890–1891
General characteristics
Tons burthen
  • Old Act:250 [1] (bm)
  • New Act (post 1836): 237 [2] (bm))
Length90 ft 5 in (27.6 m) [3]
Beam25 ft 4 in (7.7 m) [3]
Depth18 ft 0 in (5.5 m) [3]
Sail plan Barque [2]

Woodlark was launched at Moulmain in 1832. Circa 1835 she sailed to London and transferred to British registry. Between 1836 and 1844 she made two whaling voyages. In 1848 she transferred her ownership and registry to Sydney, from where she continued to sail for some time. She briefly appeared and was last listed as being in New Zealand in 1890–1891.

Contents

Career

In 1832 Woodlark, Tozer, master, was reported to have arrived from Moulmain. In 1834 Woodlark, Tozer, master, was reported to have arrived at Madras from Moulmain. In 1835 Tozer and Woodlark were reported to have arrived from China and Singapore.

By one account, Woodlark was lost in 1836 while sailing from Mauritius. [1]

However, Woodlark, apparently had changed her registry. Woodlark of 237 tons (bm) and built in India in 1832, entered Lloyd's Register in 1836 with Hardy, master, Crighton, owner, and trade London–South Seas. [2] Two whaling voyages followed.

1st whaling voyage (1836–1840): Captain William Hardie (or Hardy), sailed from England on 28 July 1836, bound for Timor. Woodlark sailed via Brava, Cape Verde, to the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. She then sailed north to Timor. She was at various times reported at Battogada, Goram, and in the Timor strait. She returned to London on 3 April 1840 with 1800 barrels of whale oil. [4]

2nd whaling voyage (1840–1844): Captain Hardy sailed from London on 24 June 1840, bound for Timor. Woodlark sailed via Santiago, Cape Verde, and was reported at Copang, Bali, and the waters around Timor. [4]

On 22 May 1843 Woodlark was in the waters near Copang and in company with two other whalers, Alert, Captain Martinson, and Pilot, Captain Blake. At the same time Sarah and Elizabeth, Captain H. Billinghurst, anchored at Coffins Bay, an uninhabited bay a few miles SSE of Copang, to gather water and firewood. Billinghurst sent a party ashore that quickly came under attack from pirate proas that suddenly appeared. When he saw several hundred locals coming towards Sarah and Elizabeth in large proas, he put his crew in the whaleboats. He was able to retrieve some of the shore party. He discovered that three had been killed and the rest had disappeared. The British then rowed away. Within a few miles they saw and reached Woodlark. Hardie took them onboard and passed on the news to Martinson and Blake. The whalers from all four ships formed a rescue party with as many men as they could safely muster and rowed towards Sarah and Elizabeth. As they approached they saw that she was on fire. The fire reached her magazine, which exploded before they reached her. Sarah and Elizabeth was a complete wreck. The rescue party then went to see if they could find any more survivors from the shore party but there was no one to be found. The whalers took Billinghurst and his crew to Copang where they found the survivors, who had walked there. [5]

Woodlark returned to London on 10 June 1844 with 121 tuns of oil. [4]

On her return her master changed to Clarkson. LR for 1845 showed her with Clarkson, master, Crighton, owner, and trade London-Mauritius, changing to London–Sydney. [6]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1849LR – Not listed
1850BroomfieldThacker & Co.London–SydneyLR; Port belonging to is listed as Sydney
1851BroomfieldThacker & Co.No listingLR; no homeport listed

In 1848-49 Woodlark changed her homeport and registry to Sydney. Thereafter reports exist of voyages, some including whaling, for "Woodlark, barque of Sydney, ...237 tons".

Fate

Woodlark appeared for one year only in LR for 1890/91. She was described as a wood brig of 259  NRT, built in India. Her origin was listed as "Volman Amhirston, E.I.". Her owner was the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, based in Dunedin. [3]

Citations

  1. 1 2 Phipps (1840), pp. 148 & 182.
  2. 1 2 3 LR (1836), Supple. pages "W".
  3. 1 2 3 4 LR (1890/91), Seq.№W521.
  4. 1 2 3 British Southern Whale Fishery Database – Voyages: Woodlark.
  5. ↑ "Shipping Intelligence", Illustrated London News, 23 December 1843, p.403.
  6. ↑ LR (1845), Seq.№413.

Related Research Articles

Kitty was a sailing ship that began her career as a West Indiaman. She then served the Royal Navy from 17 May 1804 to 17 January 1805 as a hired armed ship. Next she became a privateer. As a privateer she captured a Spanish vessel in a notable single ship action that earned her captain an honour sword. On her return from privateering Kitty returned to mercantile service, particularly later trading with Russia. She underwent repairs in 1830 and a change in ownership to emerge as a whaler in the southern whale fishery. After four whaling voyages between 1830 and 1846, she returned to mercantile service and was last listed in 1852.

Seringapatam was built in 1799, of teak, as a warship for Tippu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore. However, the British stormed his citadel at Seringapatam that year and he was killed in the action. The vessel was sailed to England in the hopes that the Admiralty would buy it. The Admiralty did not, and British merchants bought her to use as a whaler. She made six voyages to the Southern Atlantic and the Pacific until 1813, on her sixth voyage, when during the War of 1812, a US frigate captured her. She served briefly as a tender to the frigate before mutineers and British prisoners recaptured her and sailed to Australia. After her return to her owners, she returned to whaling until 1846, making another nine voyages. She then sailed between London and New South Wales until 1850. In the 1850s and 1860s she sailed to Aden and Hamburg, ending her years trading between Shields and Quebec. She is no longer listed in 1870.

Henry Wellesley was a barque built in 1804 by Bacon, Harvey & Company at Calcutta, British India. In 1808 a French privateer captured her, but she returned to British ownership. Between 1820 and 1824 she was a whaler that made three voyages to the British southern whale fishery. Later, she twice transported women convicts from England to Port Jackson, New South Wales. She was wrecked near Calais in 1841.

Admiral Cockburn was a ship launched in New York in 1808 or Philadelphia in 1809, almost certainly under a different name. The British captured the American ship in 1814 and she was sold as a prize. Corney & Co. purchased and renamed her; originally she served as a London-based transport. In 1829 she became a whaler in the southern whale fishery. She was wrecked at Muizenberg Beach, False Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa in July 1839 while returning to London from her third whaling voyage.

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.

Bombay was launched in 1801 at Daman/Demaun. Her early career is obscure. From 1821 on she assumed Calcutta registry. Between 1832 and 1840 she made three voyages from London as a whaler. In 1842 she carried settlers for the New Zealand Company. She was last listed in 1853.

Several ships have been named Woodlark after the woodlark:

Venus was launched at Deptford in 1788 and made 15 voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Of 812 whalers in the British southern whale fishery database for which there was data, she had the fifth highest number of whaling voyages. She was last listed in 1823.

Reliance was launched at Coringa in 1815. She sailed east of the Cape of Good Hope until c.1827 when she sailed to England and assumed British registry. Once in Britain she sailed back and forth to Bengal under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She also twice transported military convicts to New South Wales from Bengal. In 1832 Bennett sent Reliance on a whaling voyage to the Pacific. After she returned she sailed on a second whaling voyage, but this time to the Indian Ocean where she wrecked at the end of 1836.

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.

Harriet was a former vessel of the British Royal Navy, probably the Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Harrier. The Navy sold her in 1829 and her new owners deployed her as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. She made three complete whaling voyages and was wrecked in July 1837 during her fourth.

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.

HMS Woodlark was launched in 1808 and commissioned in 1809. The Royal Navy sold her in 1818. She then became a merchantman with her new owners retaining her name. From 1820/1821 she became a whaler, sailing out of Port Jackson. She was still sailing as late as the late 1850s.

Caroline was launched at Nursapore in 1827. Her early career as a country ship, trading east of the Cape of Good Hope, is currently obscure. From 1834 on she proceeded to make six voyages as a whaler in the southern whale fishery. She disappears from records available online in November 2023 after her return to Great Britain in 1859.

Mediterranean was launched in 1810 in Lowestoft or Great Yarmouth. Initially she sailed to the Mediterranean. Between 1819 and 1823 she made two voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then traded with India, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). She may have shifted to India, before returning to British registry in 1835–1837 while performing a third whaling voyage. She then disappeared from online records.

Harriet was launched in Massachusetts in 1809. The British captured her and on 13 January 1813 a prize court condemned her. New owners retained her name. She became a West Indiaman, and made one voyage to New South Wales. Between 1818 and 1832 she made four complete voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was lost in October 1833 in the Seychelles on her fifth whaling voyage.

Marquis/Marquess of Lansdown/Lansdowne was launched at Calcutta in 1824. She was initially a "country ship", trading east of the Cape of Good Hope. She then sailed to Port Jackson, but plans to establish a packet service between Australia and Calcutta, including taking tea from India to Australia under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC), did not work out. She then sailed to England and became a whaler, making four voyages to the British southern whale fishery between 1829 and 1845. She was last listed in 1847.

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.

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.