Career
Albion first entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1821.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Notes and source |
|---|
| 1801 | W. Rey | O'Conner | Dublin–Jamaica | LR |
| 1802 | W.Key
Hayton | O'Conner | Dublin-Jamaica | LR |
| 1802 | T. Key | Conner & co. | Whitehaven-Jamaica | Register of Shipping |
| 1805 | Hayton | O'Conner | Cork | LR |
| 1810 | Homes | O'Conner | Dublin–Antigua | LR |
| 1815 | T. Holmes | Berkett & Co. | Cork | LR |
| 1820 | T. Holmes | T. Holmes | Dublin–Antigua | LR |
|
Lloyd's List reported on 11 June 1816 that a letter from Demerara dated 13 April stated that Albion, Holmes, master, had been surveyed and found seaworthy. She had been bound from Demerara to Dublin. About 92 hogsheads of sugar had been landed much damaged and had been sold. [1]
Lloyd's Register for 1824 showed Albion with B. Fisher, master and owner, and trade Workington–Honduras. She had undergone a good repair in 1823 and 1824. [2]
Gregor Macgregor chartered Albion, Thomas Fisher, master, in 1823 to carry a cargo to the settlement of Poyais, on the Mosquito Coast, that he was promoting. She arrived there only to find the settlement abandoned and in November sailed on to Belize where she discharged her cargo, said to be worth £10,000. Testimony in a subsequent hearing about the disposal of the cargo showed that it included small arms and six 18-pounder and six 6-pounder guns, mounted on carriages, as well ammunition, food, and numerous other stores. The cargo had been over-valued on the invoices, and was sold at auction. There is no evidence that Albion carried any passengers.
Fate
A letter dated 1 April 1824, at Havana, reported that Albion, Fisher, master, had wrecked during the night of 8 March at Cayo Blanco, on the leeward side of Cuba. The crew were saved, as were seven boxes of silver bars and dollars, 13 serons of indigo, and a barrel of tortoiseshell. [4]
General Gregor MacGregor was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, and confidence trickster who attempted from 1821 to 1837 to draw British and French investors and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory that he claimed to rule as "Cazique". Hundreds invested their savings in supposed Poyaisian government bonds and land certificates, while about 250 emigrated to MacGregor's invented country in 1822–23 to find only an untouched jungle; more than half of them died. MacGregor's Poyais scheme has been called one of the most brazen confidence tricks in history.
HMS Meleager was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1806 and wrecked on 30 July 1808 off Jamaica. During her brief career she captured two armed vessels and two merchantmen on the Jamaica station. She was named after Meleager, who could have been a Macedonian officer of distinction in the service of Alexander the Great, or a Meleager a character from Greek mythology.
HMS Charybdis was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Mark Richards and John Davidson at Hythe, and launched in 1809. She captured two American prizes during the War of 1812 before she was laid up in 1815 and sold in 1819. She apparently then became the whaler Greenwich which made three voyages for Samuel Enderby & Sons and one for Daniel Bennett & Son. She was wrecked in the Seychelles in 1833.
George Frederic Augustus I served from 1801–1824 as a mostly titular king of the mixed-race Miskito Sambu or Mosquitos Zambos, as the Spanish called them, an indigenous people of Honduras. Although the title and office were hereditary, the putative "kings" were mere puppets of the British Crown, managed by British agents and superintendents.
Perseverance was built in 1797 at Stettin or Sweden and came into British hands in 1799. She made one voyage under charter to the British East India Company (EIC), and was lost in July 1803.
Tuscan was built at Hull in 1793. She reportedly made one voyage for British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her in 1798, but she returned to British hands c.1805. She was wrecked at Memel in November 1823.
Kennersley Castle, was a merchantman launched in 1811. She made several voyages transporting British troops. She also twice transported emigrants from Britain, once to South Africa and then once, most notably because of the subsequent notoriety of her destination, to the at best misguided and at worst fraudulent colony of Poyais. She was wrecked in 1833 and her remains were burned in 1834.
Skene, was built at Leith in 1816. She made several voyages carrying emigrants from Scotland, twice to Canada and once for the Poyais scheme. She was wrecked immediately thereafter while sailing back to England from Saint Petersburg.
Honduras Packet was launched in Spain in 1798 under another name and was renamed when the British captured her in 1802. She was a merchantman that between 1804 and 1809 made one, two, or three voyages seal hunting or whaling in the Southern Fishery. She was also the first vessel to transport Scottish emigrants to Honduras in 1822-23 under Gregor MacGregor's ill-conceived and ill-fated "Poyais scheme". She was last listed in 1828-30.
Andersons was launched at Poole in 1798. She then made seven voyages as a slave ship. After the end of the British slave trade in 1807 her owners sold her to new owners who employed her as a West Indiaman. By 1810 she was registered in Whitby. She then served as a general merchant vessel until she was wrecked in 1823.
Mulgrave Castle was launched in 1813 at Scarborough and spent much of her career sailing between England and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). In 1816 she was the subject of a notable incident at Cape Verde. She was wrecked in 1825.
Horatio was launched in 1800 at Liverpool. She made four voyages as a slave ship, during two of which 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.
Spring Grove was a Spanish vessel, launched in 1801, that had been taken in prize in 1806 and that her new owners had renamed. She made six voyages as a Southern Whale Fishery whaler before she wrecked in 1824 on the outbound leg of what was to have been her seventh voyage.
Lord Wellington was launched in 1810 at Rochester, or equally, Chatham, as a West Indiaman. She made at least one voyage to India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then made a voyage to New South Wales transporting female convicts from England and Ireland. She was lost in December 1822 off Denmark while sailing from Saint Petersburg to London.
Lady Hamilton was a Danish vessel taken in prize. She first appeared under British ownership in 1808. She became a transport and then a whaler. She was wrecked in December 1831.
Brailsford was launched at Kingston upon Hull in 1811. She traded widely, including making several voyages to India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She suffered mishaps in 1823 and 1826 and was finally wrecked on 19 April 1831.
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