| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Zephyr |
| Launched | 1796, Thorne, South Yorkshire [1] |
| Fate | Last listed in 1853 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 342 (bm) |
| Complement | 49 (1835) [2] |
| Armament |
|
Zephyr was a vessel built at Hull in 1796. She initially traded with the Baltic, though for a year or so she was a London-based transport. From 1810 she made 27 voyages as a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She returned to mercantile trade and was last listed in 1853.
Zephyr first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in the volume for 1796. [3]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1796 | Jn.Ward | T.Ward | Hull–Petersburg | LR |
| 1799 | J.Ward | T.Ward | Hull–Petersburg London transport | LR |
| 1801 | J.Ward W.Brown | T.Ward | London transport London–Petersburg | LR |
Zephyr was absent from the 1809 volume of Lloyd's Register. She reappeared in the 1810 volume with a new owner and new trade, that of a northern whaler.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1810 | J.Bell | Raines | Hull–Greenland | LR; good repair 1810 |
The data below is from Coltish, [4] augmented with press reports. On occasion, after the whaling season (April to September), Zephyr traded with the Baltic.
| Year | Master | Where | Whales | Tuns whale oil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| !810 | Bell | Greenland | 12 | 130 |
| 1811 | Bell | Greenland | 5 | 75 |
| 1812 | Bell | Greenland | 20 | 155 |
| 1813 | Bell | Greenland | 6 | 78 |
| 1814 | Bell | Greenland | 18 | 167 |
| 1815 | Bell | Greenland | 1 | 19 |
In 1815 Captain Unthank purchased Zephyr. [1]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1815 | J.Bell J.Unthank | Raines & Co. | Hull–Greenland | LR; good repair 1810, damages repaired 1814, & large repair 1815 |
| Year | Master | Where | Whales | Tuns whale oil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1816 | Bell | Davis Strait | 11 | 163 |
| 1817 | Unthank | Davis Strait | 6 | 72 |
| 1818 | Unthank | Davis Strait | 4 | 55 |
| 1819 | Unthank | Davis Strait | 3 | 34 |
| 1820 | Unthank | Davis Strait | 11 | 140 |
| 1821 | Unthank | Greenland | 19 | 214 |
| 1822 | Unthank | Greenland | 7 | 93 |
| 1823 | Unthank | Greenland | 26 | 195 |
| 1824 | Unthank | Davis Strait | 6 | 80 |
| 1825 | Unthank | Davis Strait | 4 | 55 |
| 1826 | Unthank | Davis Strait | 5 | 71 |
| 1827 | Ash | Davis Strait | 12 | 210 |
| 1828 | Ash | Davis Strait | 19 | 221 |
| 1829 | Ash | Davis Strait | 14 | 146 |
| 1830 | Ash | Davis Strait | 5 | 76 |
On 2 July 1830 the whaler William became trapped in ice at Davis Strait, leading her crew to abandon her and join other whaling vessels in the area. The crews of Zephyr and Traveller worked for 48 hours to clear her of ice. They then set fire to the upper part of William, lightening her and causing her to rise. When she rose to the point that the beams above the casks of blubber she had collected were exposed, they set fire to them too. When the casks appeared, the crews put out the fire. When William's master would not sign over her blubber and whale fins to the crews, Zephyr sailed away. Traveller took on 70 butts of blubber and one ton of whale fins. Captain Simpson took them back with him and sold them, keeping the proceeds for himself and his men. William's owners sued for the proceeds, but Simpson argued that it was a long-standing custom of the whaling trade that salvaged cargo belonged to the men who had salvaged it. The jury found for the plaintiffs, who had estimated the value of the lost whale products at £500, and awarded them £392. [5] Although all but one witness, all of whom were masters of whaling ships, testified for the defendant, the jury found for the plaintiff. [6]
| Year | Master | Where | Whales | Tuns whale oil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1831 | Ash | Davis Strait | 7 | 70 |
| 1832 | Ash | Davis Strait | 29 | 231 |
| 1833 | Ash | Davis Strait | 19 | 148 |
| 1834 | Ash | Davis Strait | 16 | 168 |
| 1835 | Ash | Davis Strait | 4 | 120 butts [lower-alpha 1] |
| 1836 | Ash | Davis Strait | 0 | 0 |
| 1837 | Ash | Greenland | 0 | 0 |
Zephyr was not listed in 1837, and the relevant page is missing from the volume for 1838. Zephyr reappeared in the volume for 1839. Lloyd's Register gave her owner as Stock & Co. John Unthank, Benjamin Stocks (merchant of Cottingham), and Thomas Shackles (oil merchant of Hull) were partners. [1]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1839 | T.Magens | Stock & Co. | Hull–America | LR; small repair 1838, damages repaired 1839; "wants repair" |
| 1844 | T.Magens Brumell | Stock & Co. Gibson | Hull–America London collier | LR; small repair 1838, damages repaired 1839 |
| 1845 | Brumell W.Sadler | Gibson | London collier | LR; small repair 1838, damages repaired 1839 & 1845 |
In 1845 her owners sold her to London owners and her homeport changed from Hull to London. [1] A few years later the London owners sold Zephyr to owners that sailed her between Stockton and Canada.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 | A.Watt | Faucus | Stockton–Quebec | LR; small repairs 1849 & large repairs 1850 |
Zephyr was last listed in the 1853 volume of Lloyd's Register, without a trade.
Duckenfield Hall was launched on the Thames in 1783. She spent most of her career trading with the West Indies. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1797 and 1798. In 1819 she became a Greenland whaler. She was wrecked in the Orkney Islands in 1820 while returning from a whaling voyage.
Emma was a merchant vessel launched at Calcutta in 1809 that served as a government armed ship in the British invasion of Île de France in 1810. 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.
Brunswick was launched at Hull and initially was a Greenland whaler. Her owner withdrew her from the northern whale fishery in 1836 and then deployed her sailing to New York and Sierra Leone. She was apparently on a voyage to India when she was wrecked on 7 April 1842.
Earl Fauconberg was launched at Whitby in 1765. From 1784 on she made numerous voyages as a Greenland whaler. She was lost there in 1821.
Aurora was launched at Kingston upon Hull. She traded with the Baltic until 1803 when she became a Greenland whaler. She was lost in 1821 on her 18th voyage to the northern whale fishery.
Lord Wellington was launched in 1810 at Hull. She made 20 voyages to Davis Strait and Greenland as a northern whale fishery whaler. She was lost in June 1834 on her 21st voyage.
Majestic was launched at Sunderland in 1811. In 1812 she became a whaler in the British northern whale fishery, whaling at Davis Strait. She was lost there on 16 July 1819.
Regalia was launched at Sunderland in 1811. In 1819 she made a voyage to Calcutta, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She also sailed to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. From Sydney she engaged in several sealing hunting voyages to the waters around Macquarie Island. In 1826 she transported convicts from Dublin to New South Wales. From 1831 until 1852, when she was wrecked at Davis Strait, Regalia was a whaler in the northern whale fishery.
Gardiner and Joseph was launched at Hull in 1802. She made seven voyages as a whaler in the northern whale fishery until she was wrecked in November 1808.
Gardiner and Joseph was launched at Hull in 1810. She made 11 voyages to Greenland or Davis Strait as a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She then traded briefly between Hull and North America. She foundered on 9 October 1824.
Jane was launched at Kingston upon Hull in 1813 as a West Indiaman. Between 1818 and 1836 she was a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She then became a merchantman and was wrecked in 1866.
Royalist was launched in 1794 at Sunderland. She was a general trader until 1812 when she became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She was lost in April 1814 while whaling in the Davis Strait.
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.
Hebe was launched at Hull in 1809. She initially sailed as a West Indiaman, but then sailed to the Mediterranean. In 1813 a privateer captured her but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. Between 1816 and 1819 she made two voyages to India, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). On her return new owners sailed her as a whaler. She was wrecked on 10 March 1821 on her second whaling voyage to the British northern whale fishery.
Royal Bounty was launched in South Carolina in 1770, probably as George and Sarah. Her owners changed her name to Royal Bounty circa 1786. As Royal Bounty she sailed out of Leith, going on annual whale hunting voyages to the northern whale fishery. She was wrecked in 1819 on her 35th such voyage.
Cumbrian was launched at Shields in 1811. Initially, during the last years of the Napoleonic Wars, Cumbrian was a transport. After the end of the war she became a West Indiaman. In 1817 she made one voyage to Bengal, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). In 1819 she became a whaler, sailing from Kingston upon Hull to the northern whale fishery. From 1835 on she left whaling and started trading more widely, to North America, Bombay, and Africa. She was driven ashore in August 1844, refloated, and subsequently condemned.
Gibraltar was launched in 1776 in France, almost certainly under another name. Between 1787 and 1795, she was a whaler in the northern whale (Greenland) fishery. A French privateer captured her in February 1796 as she was on her way to the fishery, and burnt her. Her loss led the British government to increase the protection of the outward-bound whaling fleet.
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.
William was launched at Kingston upon Hull in 1811. She made 19 complete voyages to Davis Strait and Greenland in the British northern whale fishery, but was lost to ice on her 20th. Her loss gave rise to an interesting case in claims for salvage.
Dwina was launched at Kingston upon Hull in 1792. She primarily traded between Hull and Baltic ports, though she did make some voyages to the Mediterranean. In 1802 she became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She made two complete voyages; ice wrecked her in 1804 shortly after she arrived at Greenland on her third voyage.