HMS Terror (1759)

Last updated

History
Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg Great Britain
NameHMS Terror
Ordered21 September 1758
BuilderJohn Barnard, Harwich
Laid down7 October 1758
Launched16 January 1759
FateSold 9 August 1774
NotesHackman conflates this Union with the Union that had been Squirrel [1]
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svg Great Britain
NameUnion
Owner
  • c.1775:Peter Mestaer
  • 1776:J.Montgomery
Acquired1774 by purchase
FateWrecked 20 May 1782
General characteristics [2]
Class and type Infernal-class bomb ketch
Tons burthen3018394 or 305, or 315 (bm)
Length
  • Overall:91 ft 6 in (27.9 m)
  • Keel:74 ft 1+34 in (22.6 m)
Beam27 ft 8 in (8.4 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 1 in (3.7 m)
Complement
  • RN bomb ketch:60
  • RN sloop:110
Armament
  • RN bomb ketch: 6 × 6-pounder guns + 1 × 10" & 1 × 13" mortars
  • RN sloop: 14 × 6-pounder guns + 14 swivel guns
  • 1782:16 × 6-pounder guns
Plan of the Terror TERROR 1759 RMG J1445.png
Plan of the Terror

HMS Terror was an 8-gun bomb ketch launched in 1759 for the British Royal Navy that it sold in 1774. New owners renamed her Union. She made two voyages as a Greenland whaler before becoming a London-based transport. She remained a transport until she was lost on 20 May 1782 off the Malabar coast of India.

Contents

Royal Navy

Commander William Bennet commissioned Terror in January 1759 and sailed for the Mediterranean on 14 April. Commander Michael Kearny replaced Bennett in August. In April 1861 Commander St John Chinnery replaced Kearny, with Terror still serving in the Mediterranean. She was converted to a sloop in 1761 and then back to a bomb in 1762. she was paid-off in March 1763. She then underwent repairs but apparently was not recommissioned. [2]

Disposal:Terror was sold on 9 August 1774 at Deptford for £665. [2]

Mercantile service

In the 1775 and 1776 whaling seasons, Union was engaged in the British northern whale fishery. On 12 June 1775 Union was at Greenland with two "fish".

On 2 August 1776 Union, Hudson, master, arrived at Gravesend from Greenland with four fish and 50 seals. [3]

Union first appeared in online issues of Lloyd's Register (LR) in the issue for 1776. [4]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1776John Dryden
John Hudson
Peter Mestaer London–Greenland
London transport
LR; thorough repair 1775
1778J.HudsonJ.Montgomery Cork transportLR; thorough repair 1775
1783CrawfordMontgomeryLondon transportLR; thorough repair 1775

Fate

Lloyd's List reported on 8 July 1783 that the transports Union and Prudence had been lost near Tellicherry. [5] The entry for Union in the volume for LR for 1783 bore the annotation "Lost". [6]

The wrecking occurred on 20 May 1782. Union and Prudence were serving as ordnance store ships when a storm drove them from Calicut roads. They were unable to clear Cotta Point and wrecked on the reefs there. [7]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. Hackman (2001), p. 245.
  2. 1 2 3 Winfield (2007), p. 343.
  3. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 769, Ship arrival and departure (SAD) data. 6 August 1776.
  4. LR (1776), Seq. №16.
  5. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1479. 8 July 1783.
  6. LR (1783), Seq.№U15.
  7. Horsburgh (1852), p. 481, fn.

References

Related Research Articles

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 Squirrel was a Royal Navy sixth rate post ship, built in 1755. She served during the French and Indian War, most notably at Louisbourg and Quebec, and the American Revolution, during which she captured two French privateers. The Royal Navy sold her in 1783. J. Montgomery purchased her and she became the Greenland whaler Union. Then in 1790–91 she became a slaver, making five slave-trading voyages. Between 1796 and 1802 she made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then traded between London and Liverpool. She was last listed in 1804.

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.

The British Royal Navy purchased HMS Shark on the stocks in 1775. She was launched in 1776, and in 1778 converted to a fireship and renamed HMS Salamander. The Navy sold her in 1783. She then became the mercantile Salamander. In the 1780s she was in the northern whale fishery. In 1791 she transported convicts to Australia. She then became a whaling ship in the southern whale fishery for a number of years, before becoming a general transport and then a slave ship. In 1804 the French captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. Although she is last listed in 1811, she does not appear in Lloyd's List (LL) ship arrival and departure (SAD) data after 1804.

Several vessels have borne the name Rockingham:

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.

Betsy was launched at Lancaster in 1793 as a West Indiaman. In 1801 she made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) to bring back rice at the behest of the British government. On her return she became a Baltic trader. She was lost in 1803.

HMS Terror was bomb vessel launched in 1741, converted to a sloop, and sold in 1754. She went into mercantile service, becoming the northern whale fishery whaler Duke of York. In 1784 her name changed to Elizabeth and Margaret, and she continued as a Greenland whaler, before becoming a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1794.

British Hero was launched at Jarrow in 1809. She initially was a government transport and so did not appear in Lloyd's Register (LR) or the Register of Shipping (RS) until she came into mercantile service c. 1813. She was lost in November 1816 on a voyage to India.

Glenmore was launched in 1806 at Elgin. She was initially a West Indiaman. She made one voyage to Bengal in 1813–14. She became a Greenland whaler in 1818 and made four full whaling voyages. She was lost in the White Sea in 1822.

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.

Harriet was launched at New York in 1810. She was captured and sold as a prize in 1813 to British owners. She was wrecked at Fanning's Island in late 1831 or early 1832.

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.

Spy was built in France in 1780, almost surely under another name, and taken in prize. The British East India Company (EIC) purchased her in 1781 and used her for almost two years as a fast packet vessel and cruiser based in St Helena. It then sold her and she became a London-based slave ship, making two voyages carrying slaves from West Africa to the West Indies. She then became a whaler, making seven whaling voyages between 1786 and 1795. She was probably wrecked in August 1795 on a voyage as a government transport.

Glatton was launched as an East Indiaman. She made four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before her owners sold her in 1772. Her new owner, James Mather, renamed her Lord Howe and first deployed her to bring timber from North America to England. Mather then hired her out as a transport. She was last listed in 1782 and probably was the "ordinance storeship Lord Howe" that foundered in that year.

HMS Spy was a Bonetta-class sloop launched at Rotherhithe in 1756 for the Royal Navy. The Navy sold her in 1773. From 1776, or perhaps earlier she was a transport. Then from 1780 to 1783, as Mars, she was first a privateer and then a slave ship, engaged in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. Between 1783 and 1787 her name was Tartar, and she traded with the Mediterranean. From 1787, as Southampton, on she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She made at least four complete whaling voyages and was last listed in 1792.

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.

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.

Trelandvean was a merchant vessel launched in 1767 at Swansea, possibly under another name. Between probably 1777 and 1783 she served the Royal Navy as a ship's tender. She then returned to mercantile service. She may have made on voyage as a whaler in the southern whale fishery, before she was wrecked in the Mediterranean in 1792.

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.