Kennersley Castle (or Kinnersley 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.
Kennersley Castle appears in Lloyd's Register in 1812 with J. Turner, master, changing to T. Sharp, Temple, owner, and trade London transport.[3]
Around 2 May 1816, Kennersley Castle sailed for Zante, with British troops.[4] At the time Zante was part of the British protectorate of the United States of the Ionian Islands.
On 7 February 1817 Kennersley Castle was sailing from Jamaica to Britain in company with and the transport Retrieve and Pomona when three large Carthaginian privateers chased them off San Domingo. Al three British ships arrived safely at Plymouth in late March.[5]
Kennersley Castle was one of the three transports that left Gibraltar on 10 May 1818 carrying the 5th Battalion of the 60th Regiment of Foot. She carried 270 officers and men, and 73 women and children. She arrived at Portsmouth on 4 June.[7]
South Africa
Captain Pinckney sailed Kennersley Castle from Bristol on 10 January 1820. She was bound for South Africa with 202 settlers under sailing under the auspices of the Government Settler Scheme. (Twenty eight vessels left that year with settlers for South Africa.) She reached Table Bay, Cape Town on 29 March, and arrived at Port Elizabeth, Algoa Bay, on 29 April.[8]
Kennersley Castle left Barbados on 2 May 1821 and arrived at Portsmouth in June. She brought part of the 2nd Regiment of Foot.[9]
On 1 July 1821 the transport Kennersley Castle, Day, master, was off Margate. She had lost an anchor on the Goodwin Sands while sailing from Portsmouth to Chatham.[10]
Poyais
The Register of Shipping for 1823 showed Kennersley Castle with Adams, master, changing to Crouch, Leaseley, owner, and with trade London–Virginia, changing to Leith–Poyais.[11]
The Scottish adventurer Gregor MacGregor attempted to found a colony in Honduras that he called Poyais. MacGregor chartered Kennersley Castle, Crouch, master, in October 1822 to carry emigrants from Scotland to the nascent colony. She was the second emigrant ship and left Leith on 22 January 1823 with about 180 emigrants. She arrived in March and landed her passengers before sailing off. The colony did not exist.
The emigrants were rescued and taken to Belize. Most of the settlers from Kennersley Castle and her predecessor Honduras Packet, died, either at the colony or at Belize. Not much later Skene brought a third group of settlers who did not land at "Poyais" when they found that it had been abandoned; instead they too arrived at Belize.[12]
The investment frenzy and subsequent debacle gave rise to a number of ballads.[13]
The Register of Shipping for 1824 showed Kennersley Castle, with Crouch, master, Leaseley, owner, and trade London–Virginia.
Lloyd's List reported on 4 November 1828 that Kennersley Castle, Crouch, master, had put into Plymouth after being on shore in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. She underwent a small repair in 1828.[14]
The Register of Shipping for 1830 shows her master as Crouch, changing to Grocock, her owner as Leasley, changing to Temperly, and her trade as Greenock–Quebec.[14]
Actually, she had left Pictou with a cargo of lumber when on 30 September 1830 she struck a rock near the entrance to the harbour and put back waterlogged. She was judged repairable, but that the work could not be completed in time to sail before the winter ice set in. She was put in dock with her cargo on board.[16]
At Pictou, Grewcock, her master, signed over to, or put Kennersley Castle under the care of a Mr. Smith, merchant there, and sailed to England in October. In England, Mr. Temperley, the owner, advised his insurers that she was a total loss. Mr. Loarey, the underwriters agent, gave instructions to Captain Henzell, master of one of Loarey's vessels bound to Nova Scotia, to take charge of Kennersley Castle. Henzell and Smith on 15 June 1831 engaged a shipwright to repair her and made themselves responsible for the coasts. The shipwright repaired her. On 7 October Captain Herring, the substitute master, gave the shipwright a bottomry bond for £2330 13s for the repairs. She then reclaimed her cargo and completed her voyage.[16] She arrived at Liverpool in 1831. Kennersley Castle was sold, as was her cargo, and the proceeds, net of the bond, was £541.[16]
The case was a dispute on the validity of the bond. Temperley himself declared bankruptcy. On 28 February 1833 the High Court of Admiralty upheld the bond and rejected a claim by the underwriters against Mr. Smith for costs.[16]
Fate
Kennersley Castle or Kinnersley Castle was driven ashore and wrecked at Mille Roches, Ontario.[17]Lloyd's List reported on 22 November 1833 that Kennersley Castle was on shore at Mille Vaches, Quebec, full of water.
In May 1834 the Montreal Herald and Daily Commercial Gazette reported that Kennersley Castle, which had stranded near the New Felix, Souligny in Fall 1833, had been burnt to recover her iron. She had been judged not worth refloating.[18]
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. Seen as a contributory factor to the "Panic of 1825", MacGregor's Poyais scheme has been called one of the most brazen confidence tricks in history.
Kitty was a merchantman built at Sunderland in 1787. In 1790 she carried slaves from the Gold Coast to Jamaica. Then in 1791 she transported convicts and goods from England to Australia. She was last listed in 1805.
Amphitrite was built at Appledore, Torridge,, and launched in 1802. Under various owners and masters she traded across the North Atlantic and to the Baltic. She wrecked in 1833 with heavy loss of life while transporting female convicts to New South Wales.
Katherine Stewart Forbes was a full-rigged ship built by William & Henry Pitcher at Northfleet dockyard in Kent, England in 1818. She was classified as "A1", a first class vessel made from first quality materials. The ship was launched for A. Chapman and Company and named by Katherine Stewart, the daughter of Charles Forbes MP in 1818, on 31 October or 5 November. She was re-rigged as a barque about 1836.
Neptune was a merchant ship built at Calcutta, British India in 1815. The British East India Company (EIC) chartered Neptune for one voyage. Later, she made two voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia. She was sold as a hulk in 1860.
Norfolk was built at Littlehampton, England in 1814. She was originally a West Indiaman, and then sailed to India and Quebec. She made four voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia, one voyage from Ireland to Australia and one from Madras and Mauritius to Australia. She was wrecked on 7 July 1837.
Gilmore, was a merchant ship built at Sulkea, opposite Calcutta, British India, in 1824. In 1829-30 she made a voyage delivering settlers to the Swan River Colony in Western Australia. She then made two voyages transporting convicts from England to Tasmania.
Hooghly was a full-rigged merchant ship built on the Thames, England, and launched in 1819. She made two voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC), four voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia, as well as voyages transporting emigrants to South Australia between 1839 and 1856. Around 1858 she was re-rigged as a barque. She sank off Algiers in 1863.
Lotus was a ship launched at Whitby, England in 1826. She made several voyages to Australia carrying emigrants. She made one voyage transporting convicts to Van Diemen's Land. On that voyage, in 1833, she rescued 61 survivors from Hibernia, which a fire had destroyed in the South Atlantic as Hibenia was carrying immigrants to Van Diemen's Land. Lotus herself was lost in May 1844 while sailing between Bristol and Quebec.
Lord William Bentink was launched in 1828 at Yarmouth. She made one voyage transporting convicts to Tasmania, and three carrying settlers to New Zealand for the New Zealand Company. She was wrecked between 1858 and 1859.
Lady Nugent was built at Bombay in 1813. She made four voyages under contract to the British East India Company (EIC). She then made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia, one to New South Wales and one to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). She also made several voyages with emigrants to New Zealand under charter to the New Zealand Company. She foundered in May 1854 with the loss of some 400 persons, most of them soldiers that she was carrying from Madras to Rangoon.
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.
Albion was launched at Whitehaven and spent her entire career as a West Indiaman. She was the last vessel to sail under Gregor Macgregor's ill-conceived and ill-fated Poyais scheme. She delivered her cargo of stores for the colony to Belize in November 1823 and was wrecked, with no loss of life, off Cuba in March 1824 on her way home to England.
Mary was launched in 1811 at Ipswich. She immediately made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), to New South Wales (NSW), and Bengal. She continued to trade with Australia and then made five voyages transporting convicts there: two to New South Wales, two to Van Diemen's Land, and one in which she carried convicts to both. She was last listed in 1841.
Aurora was built at Chittagong in 1816. She made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales in 1833, and a second transporting convicts to Tasmania in 1835. In 1839 she carried immigrants to New Zealand for the New Zealand Company. She was wrecked in 1840.
Rockingham was launched at Sunderland in 1818 and immediately became an East Indiaman, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She made one voyage for the EIC. She was wrecked in 1830 while delivering immigrants to Western Australia.
Borodino was launched in 1813 at South Shields. She served as a government transport and was wrecked in 1830.
Stakesby was launched at Whitby in 1814. She carried immigrants to Quebec, traded with Batavia and Bombay, transported convicts to Van Diemen's Land, and made a voyage to Calcutta for the British East India Company (EIC). She disappeared in 1846 on a voyage from London to Quebec.
References
Codd, Edward (1824). Proceedings of an inquiry and investigation, instituted by Major General Codd, His Majesty's Superintendent and Commander-in-chief at Belize, Honduras, relative to Poyais. Lawler and Quick.
Correct List of Ships and Steam Vessels Registered in the Port of Newcastle Up to February 1830, Containing Ships' Names, Tonnage ... (1830).
Keppel, George Thomas, Earl of Albemarle (1876). Fifty Years of My Life, Volume 1. H. Holt.
Logan, W. H. (1869). "The Poyais Emigrant": A Pedlar's Pack of Ballads and Songs, with Illustrative Notes. Edinburgh: William Patterson.
Minot, George (1853), English Admiralty Reports: 1833–1842, Haggard, Little, Brown
Rigaud, Gibbes (1879), Celer et audax, a sketch of the Fifth battalion, Sixtieth regiment (Rifles) during the twenty years of their existence
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