Zephyr (1810 ship)

Last updated

History
US flag 15 stars.svgUnited States of America
NameZephyr
Launched1810, or 1811, United States
Captured29 November 1813
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameZephyr
Acquired1814 by purchase of a prize
FateWrecked 1 April 1840
General characteristics
Tons burthen280, [1] or 287, [2] [3] or 289, [4] or 290 [5] (bm)
Armament12 × 12-pounder carronades

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.

Contents

Career

Zephyr was the American vessel Zephyr, Jedediah Olcott, master, that HMS Pyramus had captured on 29 November 1813. [6] Zephyr was auctioned on 2 March 1814. [5] [lower-alpha 1]

Zephyr first appeared in the Register of Shipping in the volume for 1814, [2] and probably because of missing pages in the volume for 1814, in Lloyd's Register in the volume for 1815. [1]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1814W.PerryBridgesLondon–Southern FisheryRS
1815PerryBridgesLondon–South SeasLR

In 1813, the British East India Company had lost its monopoly on the trade between India and Britain. British ships were then free to sail to India or the Indian Ocean under a licence from the EIC. [7] Zephyr's owners applied on 16 September 1815, for a licence for Zephyr as a whaler, a licence they received on 19 September. [3]

1st whaling voyage (1814–1815):Zephyr, Perry, master, sailed from Deal on 18 April 1814, bound for the South Seas. She sailed from Portsmouth on 20 April. She returned to London on 13 August 1815, from the coast of Peru. [8]

2nd whaling voyage (1815–1818): Captain Morris sailed from London on 6 October 1815, bound for the waters off the West Coast of South America. Zephyr was reported to have been off the Galapagos Islands on 22 April 1816. [8] On 31 March 1817, she was off the coast of Peru when Captain Morris and three crew members drowned while going from the shore to the ship. [9] Zephyr, King, master, returned to London on 27 June 1818. [8]

3rd whaling voyage (1818–1821): Captain P. Stavers (or Sturges) sailed from London on 8 September 1818, bound for the Galapagos Islands. On 18 April 1820, Zephyr was at Valparaiso. She returned to Gravesend on 8 February 1821. [8]

4th whaling voyage (1821–1823): Captain P. Stavers sailed from London on 15 May 1821. He left in company with Tuscan and Earl Morley. On 30 May, Zephyr was at Madeira. She was later reported at Tahiti, the Northwest Coast, and Timor. She returned to London on 3 October 1823, with 1200 barrels of sperm oil.

Between her third and fourth whaling voyages Zephyr, changed hands several times and traded with South America. She may have been damaged in 1825. [8]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1826P.Stavers
J.Wilson		Osborn & Co.London–South AmericaLR; repair 1825
1826Wilson
Kell		Buson & Co.
T.Ward		London–South AmericaRegister of Shipping; thorough repair 1825

5th whaling voyage (1826–1829): Captain Kell sailed from London on 17 August 1826, bound for the Sandwich Islands. At Honolulu in May 1828, the crew became mutinous, refusing to take whales. Zephyr returned to London on 16 August 1829. [8]

6th whaling voyage (1826–1829): Captain Billinghurst (or Balinest, or Billinghouse), sailed from London on 22 October 1829, bound for Timor and the Japans. On 26 March 1830, Zephyr was at Coepang. In October she was at Guam. On 14 June 1831, she was on the Japan grounds. At some point Zephyr was in company with Ranger, also a whaler, at Hunter's Island in the Solomon Archipelago. Dr. John Lyell, of Ranger, kept a journal in which he recorded that the local inhabitants attempted to capture Zephyr whilst most of her crew were onshore. In the attack, the captain, cooper, carpenter, and two boatsteerers were attacked and wounded, but not killed. The crew managed to release two large dogs from below and succeeded in forcing the natives off the vessel, killing some. The crew then pursued their attackers to shore and killed around thirty of them and a woman. Zephyr returned to England on 8 August 1832. [8]

7th whaling voyage (1833–1837): Captain Thommpson sailed from England on 1 November 1833, bound for the Seychelles and Timor. At various points she was near Aldebra, at Mahe, and Sutranha, and at Timor. She stopped at the Cape of Good Hope on her way home. She arrived back in England on 13 April 1837. [8]

8th whaling voyage (1837–loss): Captain Abbott sailed from England on 3 July 1837, bound for Timor. In mid-September 1838, Zephyr put into Amboyna with her crew in a state of mutiny. Captain Abbott had been killed a month before, and the crew refused to obey the Chief Officer. The Chief Officer left Zephyr and sailed on a Dutch vessel to Batavia. Zephyr followed. On 14 January 1839, Zephyr, Richardson, master, arrived at Sydney. At some point thereafter, she was at Hummock Island. On 1 April 1840, Zephyr, Kitchen, master, was wrecked off Borneo. [8]

Loss: Her crew abandoned Zephyr on 3 April, and set fire to her. They reached Macassa Island from where a ship took them to Batavia. [10] [11]

Notes

  1. ↑ Zephyr, Jedediah Olcott, master, of 22 men and six guns, had received a letter of marque on 26 November 1812, but had returned it. [4]

Citations

  1. 1 2 LR (1815), Seq.No.Z54.
  2. 1 2 RS (1814), "Z" supple. pages.
  3. 1 2 House of Commons (1816).
  4. 1 2 Kert (2015), Appendix 2, #623.
  5. 1 2 Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser, 1 March 1814, p.4.
  6. ↑ "No. 16824". The London Gazette . 14 December 1813. p. 2516.
  7. ↑ Hackman (2001), p. 247.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 British southern whale fishery database – Voyages: Zephyr.
  9. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 5228. 11 November 1817. hdl:2027/hvd.32044105226351.
  10. ↑ "Shipping Intelligence". Commercial Journal and Advertiser. Sydney: 2. 18 July 1840 – via Trove.
  11. ↑ "Ship News". The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. 18 July 1840. p. 2 – via Trove.

Related Research Articles

Cyrus was a whaler launched at Salem in 1800. She performed one whaling voyage for French owners before a British letter of marque captured her in 1803. From 1804 on, she performed 17 whaling voyages for British owners in the almost half a century between 1804 and 1853. The first five were for Samuel Enderby & Sons. Between 1 August 1834 and 2 June 1848 her captain was Richard Spratly, namesake of Spratly Island and the group of islands and reefs known as the Spratly Islands. She apparently made one last voyage in 1854, but then no longer traded. She was last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1856.

The whaler Globe, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, was launched in 1815. She made three whaling voyages and then in 1824, on her fourth, her crew mutinied, killing their officers. Eventually most of the mutineers were killed or captured and the vessel herself was back in Nantucket in her owners' hands. She continued to whale until about 1828. She was broken up circa 1830.

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.

Perseverance was launched on the Thames in 1801. She then spent her entire career of 16 voyages as a whaler. Early in her career a French privateer captured her, but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. Perseverance would herself later capture a vessel too. She was broken up in 1841.

Camden was built at Whitby in 1813. She served as a general trader for much of her career, though in 1820-21 she made one voyage to Bombay for the British East India Company (EIC). Between 1824 and 1831, Camden sailed under charter to the Hudson's Bay Company. Between 1833 and 1837 she was a Greenland whaler out of the Whitby whale fishery, and was the last vessel from Whitby to engage in whaling. She was last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1850.

Cumberland was launched in 1800 and sailed as a West Indiaman until 1807 or 1808 when she was sold to Enderbys. She then made five voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Enderbys sold Cumberland and she proceeded to sail between England and Australia. In 1827 she sailed from Hobart and was never seen again. It later transpired that pirates had captured her off the Falkland Islands and killed her crew and passengers.

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.

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.

HMS Coquette was launched in 1807 and spent her naval career patrolling in the Channel and escorting convoys. In 1813 she engaged an American privateer in a notable but inconclusive single-ship action. The Navy put Coquette in ordinary in 1814 and sold her in 1817. She became a whaler and made five whaling voyages to the British southern whale fishery before she was lost in 1835 on her sixth.

Renown was launched in 1794 at New Bedford, Massachusetts. She made four voyages from Nantucket as a whaler. In 1813, while she was on her fifth American whaling voyage, she became the first American whaler that British whalers captured in the South Seas. She was sold in London and under the name Adam became first a London-based transport and then a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She made four whaling voyages and was wrecked in 1825 at the outset of her fifth British whaling voyage.

Sir Andrew Hammond was launched at Bermuda in 1800. She spent almost a dozen years as a West Indiaman. From 1812 on she was a whaler. On her first whaling voyage she sailed to the Pacific where the United States Navy captured her. She then served briefly in the United States Navy before the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She returned to whaling and made a further eight whaling voyages. She was lost in 1841 on her tenth whaling voyage.

Vansittart was launched at New York in 1807, under another name. She was captured c.1814 and new owners gave her the name Vansittart. She was initially a West Indiaman. Then between 1817 and 1837 she made seven voyages as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fisheries. Thereafter she was a merchantman sailing out of Shields. She foundered on 2 February 1855.

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.

Prince of Orange was launched in Sunderland in 1814. She originally sailed as a West Indiaman but then became an East Indiaman, sailing to India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia, the first in 1820–1821 to New South Wales, and the second in 1822 to Van Diemen's Land. Between 1830 and 1840 she made nine voyages as a whaler to Davis Strait. She was lengthened and rebuilt in 1846. In December 1852 she grounded and it took some months to get her off. She then need major repairs. She also suffered damages in 1854. She foundered in 1858.

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.

Thames was a Spanish vessel launched in 1804, almost certainly under a different name, and captured circa 1805. She became a whaler, making eight whaling voyages between 1805 and 1826 to the southern whale fishery. Although the registers carried Thames for some years after her return from her eighth voyage, there is no evidence that she ever sailed again.

HMS <i>Esk</i> (1813) Cyrus-class ship-sloop

HMS Esk was a Cyrus-class ship-sloop launched at Ipswich in 1813. During the War of 1812 she captured one United States privateer, and fought an inconclusive action with another. Between 1825 and 1827 Esk was part of the West Africa Squadron, engaged in suppressing the trans-Atlantic slave trade, during which period she captured a number of slave ships. A prize she had taken also engaged in a notable single ship action. The Royal Navy sold Esk in 1829. Green, Wigram, and Green purchased her and between 1829 and 1845 she made four voyages in the British southern whale fishery as the whaler Matilda.

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.

Traveller was launched at Peterhead in 1815. She made three voyages to India, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC), and then from 1821 to 1858 she was a whaler and sealer in the British northern whale fishery. She was wrecked on 2 May 1858.

Grand Sachem was launched at Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1801. She was registered at Bideford in 1803, but until 1815 sailed from Milford Haven. Between approximately 1803 and 1822, she made eight voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1822 and was broken up in 1826.

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.