Spy (1781 ship)

Last updated

History
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svgGreat Britain
NameSpy
BuilderFrance
Launched1780
Acquired1781 by purchase of a prize
FateWrecked August 1795
General characteristics
Tons burthen150, [1] or 190, [2] or 192, [3] or 200 [4] (bm)
Complement30 [3]
Armament10 guns [3]

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 in the triangular trade carrying enslaved people 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.

Contents

EIC packet

One source states that Spy was built in the Thames for the EIC, [1] but that appears to be a mistake. The EIC had her surveyed before purchasing her. The same source states that she sailed to Bombay and Bengal. Actually, she never sailed east of the Cape of Good Hope (the Cape). The EIC stationed her at St Helena and had her patrol in nearby waters.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1782SherwoodEast India Co.East IndiesLR
1783SherwoodEast India Co.East IndiesLR

Spy, John Sherwood, master, sailed from Gravesend on 13 December 1781, [1] and Portsmouth on 6 February 1782 and arrived at St Helena on 13 June. She sailed from there on 18 August and returned on 7 September. She sailed from St Helena on 23 September and returned on 11 October. She sailed from St Helena on 16 November and returned on 6 December. She sailed from St Helena on 10 March 1783 and returned on 1 April. She sailed on 17 May and returned on 1 June. On 8 September she was at the Cape and she returned on 7 October. She returned to the Downs on 8 December. [3] She was back at London by 16 December. [1]

One source states that in 1784 the EIC sent Spy out to St. Helena and stationed her there permanently as a guard ship. [1] It did not. Instead, it sold her to Camden and Calvert, who went on to employ Spy as a slave ship.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1784Sherwood
T.Wilson
East India Co.
Camden & Co.
East Indies
London–Africa
LR

Enslaving ship

The preeminent database on the trans-Atlantic slave trade confuses two vessels. It gives Spy the origins and dimensions of Stag, of 337 tons (bm). Stag was launched in 1774 in France and captured circa 1779. It then attributes to Stag the burthen (200 tons), of Spy. The probable source of the confusion is that in 1786 Captain Thomas Wilson transferred from Spy to Stag, which had been renamed Spy in 1784, with the change of name not making it into Lloyd's Register until 1787. [5]

1st enslave voyage (1784-1785): Captain Thomas Wilson sailed from London on 12 August 1784. Spy started acquiring captives on 1 December at Cape Coast Castle. She sailed from Africa on 1 March 1785 and arrived at Montego Bay, Jamaica on 4 May with 350 captives. She sailed from Jamaica on 24 June and arrived back at London on 23 August. [6]

2nd slave voyage (1785–1786): Captain Thomas Wilson sailed from London on 28 September 1785. Spy acquired captives at Cape Coast Castle and then at Anomabu. She embarked 450 in all and left Africa on 26 March 1786. She arrived at Grenada with on 20 May with 430 captives, having lost 20 on the voyage. She disembarked 424. She arrived back at London on 1 August. [7]

On her return her owners, Camden & Calvert, decided to try whaling instead of continuing with enslaving. Captain Wilson transferred to another Spy, the former Stag, and continued with enslaving.

Whaler

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1787T.Wilson
T.Wier
A.CalvertAfrica–London
London–Southern Fishery
LR

1st whaling voyage (1786–1787): Captain J. Brown sailed from London on 31 August 1786, bound for the Brazil Banks. [lower-alpha 1] Spy returned on 22 June 1787 with 10 tuns of sperm oil, 55 tuns of whale oil, and 38 cwt of whale bone. [9]

Calvert & Camden sold Spy to King & Co.

2nd whaling voyage (1787–1788): Captain Thomas Wyer (or Wier) sailed from London on 4 December 1787, bound for the Brazil Banks. Spy returned on 19 August 1788 with 50 tuns of sperm oil. [9]

3rd whaling voyage (1788–1789): Captain William Fitch sailed from London in 1788, bound for the coast of Africa. [9] In January 1789 she and several other whalers, including Lord Hawkesbury, were "all well" off the coast of Guinea. [10] In June she had 240 barrels of spermaceti oil. Spy returned on 25 August 1789 with 56 tuns of sperm oil. In 1789 she underwent repairs. [9]

4th whaling voyage (1789-1791): Captain Fitch sailed from London on 12 November 1789. Spy returned on 10 January 1791. [9]

5th whaling voyage (1791-1792): Captain Fitch sailed in 1791. [9] On 3 February 1792, Spy, Fitch, master, was at the Cape of Good Hope, together with Lucy, Chaser, and several other whalers. [11] Spy returned to England on 25 June 1792. [9]

Apparently Calvert & Co. were once again owners of Spy. [9]

6th whaling voyage (1792-1793): Captain Fitch sailed in 1792, bound for Brazil. Spy returned on 5 April 1793 with 105 tuns of whale oil and 75 cwt of whale bone. [9]

7th whaling voyage (1793-1795): Captain Fitch sailed from London on 17 October 1793, bound for the coast of Peru. Spy returned on 26 July 1795. [9]

Fate

LR continued to carry Spy through 1797, but with stale data. However, a Spy, Howard, master, was lost in the last week of August near Dungeness. She was outbound as a government transport; her crew were rescued. [12] A second report had her running on shore at Dymchurch. She had been carrying men from the 3rd Regiment (The Old Buffs), who were safely landed. [13]

Notes

  1. The Brazil Banks are the edge of the continental shelf to the east and south of latitude 16°S of the coast of South America. [8]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Hackman (2001), p. 243.
  2. Hardy (1811), List of Packets, etc..
  3. 1 2 3 4 British Library: Spy (2).
  4. LR (1784), Seq.No.462.
  5. LR (1787), Seq.No.525.
  6. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Spy voyage #83595.
  7. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Spy voyage #83596.
  8. Clayton (2014).
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 British southern Whale Fishery Database – Voyages: spy.
  10. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 2095. 2 June 1789. hdl:2027/uc1.c3049065.
  11. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 2393. 17 April 1792. hdl:2027/mdp.39015008870928.
  12. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List (2746). 28 August 1795.
  13. "News". True Briton (1793) (London, England), 3 September 1795; Issue 838.

Related Research Articles

William was a merchant vessel built in France in 1770 or 1771. From 1791 she made numerous voyages as a whaler in the southern whale fishery. She also made one voyage in 1793 transporting supplies from England to Australia. She then resumed whaling, continuing until 1809.

HMS <i>Rattler</i> (1783) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Rattler was a 16-gun sloop of the Royal Navy. Launched in March 1783, she saw service in the Leeward Islands and Nova Scotia before being paid off in 1792 and sold to whaling company Samuel Enderby & Sons. She made two voyages as a whaler and two as a slave ship before she was condemned in the Americas as unseaworthy in 1802. She returned to service though, sailing as a whaler in the northern whale fishery, sailing out of Leith. She continued whaling until ice crushed her in June 1830.

Rockingham was launched in America in 1767 as Almsbury. By 1768 Samuel Enderby & Sons were her owners and her name was Rockingham. From 1775 Enderbys were using her as a whaler, and she made eight whaling voyages for them under that name. In 1782 Enderbys renamed her Swift, and as Swift she then performed ten whaling voyages on the Brazil Banks and off Africa until through 1793. She was still listed in Lloyd's Register as whaling until 1795.

King George was launched in 1784 and made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1785 and 1798. She also participated in the invasion of St Lucia. In 1798 her owners sold her and she became a West Indiaman. An accident in 1800 at Jamaica destroyed her.

Middlesex was launched in 1783 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made five voyages for the EIC. Towards the end of the second of these some of her officers unsuccessfully mutinied. In 1795 she participated as a transport in the British military expedition to the West Indies. She stranded and became a total loss in 1796 as she returned from the expedition.

Busbridge was launched in 1782 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made seven voyages for the EIC before she was broken up. In June 1795, during her sixth voyage, she participated in the capture of eight vessels of the Dutch East India Company. She was laid up for several years on her return from her seventh voyage and sold for breaking up in 1805.

Lord Camden was launched in 1783 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company. She made five voyages for the EIC before her owner sold her.

Contractor was launched in 1779 as an East Indiaman. She made seven voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She made one voyage as a transport for a military expedition before her owners sold her in 1800 for use as a transport.

Europa was launched in 1781 as an East Indiaman. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She was probably broken up in 1798.

Lord Hawkesbury was launched in the United States in 1781, probably under another name. She entered Lloyd's Register in 1787. She made six voyages as a whaler. On her second whaling voyage she "the first parcel of ambergris 'by any English whaler'". She was lost on the seventh after a squadron of French naval vessels had captured her. One of her original, British crew succeeded in regaining sufficient control from her prize crew to enable him to run her aground, wrecking her.

Hope was built at Liverpool in 1770, though it is not clear under what name. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1786 as a Greenlandman, a whaler in the British northern whale fishery. From 1789 on she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then made five whaling voyages to Africa or the South Pacific. On the fifth she captured Haasje; this resulted in a court case over the distribution of prize money. Hope was last listed in 1798.

Barbara was launched in Philadelphia in 1771 and came to England circa 1787. She initially sailed as a West Indiaman, but then between 1788 and 1800 made five complete voyages as a whaler. The Spanish captured her late in 1800 in the Pacific during her sixth whaling voyage.

Morse was launched in 1747 for the British Royal Navy, but under another name. After 1775 she was John and Alice (1775), Potomack (1776–1779), Betsy (1780-1781), and then in 1782 Resolution. In 1784 S. Mellish purchased her and she became the whaler Morse. She initially engaged in whale hunting in the British northern whale fishery. Then from 1787 she made numerous voyages as a whaler primarily in the southern whale fishery, but with some returns to the northern fishery. There is no further mention of her in Lloyd's List Ship arrival and departure (SAD) data after August 1802.

Liberty was of British origin, built in 1775, that first appeared as Liberty in 1787. She made six complete whale hunting voyages in the British Southern Whale Fishery before being lost in 1798 on her seventh voyage.

Walpole was launched on the Thames in 1779. She made seven voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). On sixth voyage, on her way to China, her captain discovered an island that he named Walpole Island. She was sold for breaking up in 1799.

Nimble was built in Folkestone in 1781, possibly under another name. In 1786 Nimble was almost rebuilt and lengthened. Between 1786 and 1798 she made nine voyages as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. Between 1799 and 1804 she made four voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship. On her first voyage as to gather captives she detained a neutral vessel, an action that resulted in a court case. On her second voyage to gather captives, a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. She was sold in 1804 at St Thomas after she had delivered her captives.

Quaker was built in America in 1774, possibly under another name, and was taken in prize in 1780. She appears in British records from 1781. Between 1781 and 1783 she sailed as a privateer and captured several ships, American, Spanish, and French. She then became a whaler, making four voyages to the British southern whale fishery. Thereafter she became a West Indiaman. The French captured her in 1795.

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, she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She made at least four complete whaling voyages and was last listed in 1792.

Chaser first appeared under that name in British records in 1786. She had been launched in 1771 at Philadelphia under another name, probably Lord North. Lord North became Cotton Planter, and then Planter, before she became Chaser. Between 1786 and 1790 Chaser made four voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then became a merchantman. In 1794 a privateer captured her but the Spanish recaptured her. She became a Liverpool-based Slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. In 1796 she was condemned in West Africa on her first voyage in the triangular trade before she could embark any enslaved people.

Several ships have been named Lucy.

References