Barton (1801 ship)
Barton was launched in Bermuda, probably in 1799, and built of Bermuda cedar. She first appears in registers under the Barton name in 1801 as a slave ship. The French captured her in 1802 before she had delivered the slaves she had purchased for her second voyage.
 | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Barton |
| Owner: | Seller & Co.,[1][2] Robert Seller[3] |
| Builder: | Bermuda[1][2] |
| Launched: | 1799[1] |
| Fate: | Captured 1803[3][4] |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 165,[2] or 171[1] (bm) |
| Armament: | 2 × 4-pounder guns + 2 × 6-pounder carronades[2] |
Career
Barton entered Lloyd's Register in 1801 with J. Wilson, master, Seller & Co., owner, and trade Liverpool–Africa.[1] She entered the Register of Shipping in 1802 with the same master and owner, and origin.[2]
First slave voyage (1801-1802): Captain John Wilson sailed from Liverpool on 19 November 1801, bound for West Africa. Barton started acquiring slaves on 12 December 1812 in the area between Rio Nuñez and the Assini River. She arrived at St Thomas, Danish West Indies on 28 July 1802. She had embarked 185 slaves and landed 166, for a loss rate of 10.3%. She left St Thomas on 13 September and arrived back at Liverpool on 17 October.[3]
Second slave voyage (1802-capture): Captain Wilson sailed from Liverpool with 21 crew members, bound for West Africa. Barton embarked an estimated 310 slaves at Rio Nuñez. On her way to the West Indies the French captured her. Her captors took her into Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, where they landed 279 slaves.[3]
Lloyd's List reported on 6 December 1803 that Barton had been captured and taken into Guadeloupe.[4]
Post-script
A report from Charleston, South Carolina, stated that the master of the British vessel Barton had come from Guadeloupe and had reported to the Collector of the Customs at Charleston that a French privateer had captured an American ship and a brig, both of New York. The ship was Hopewell, Sisson, master, and the brig Rockland, Akins, master. The American lost 16 men killed and wounded, and the French several killed and wounded. When Rockland struck the "French people of colour" who were aboard her jumped overboard, drowning themselves.[5] The context was that the French had banned all trade with Haiti during the Haitian Revolution and were treating as pirates any armed vessels conducting such trade. Furthermore, in this particular case one of Rockland's passengers was said to have been a black general, and she was carrying mail to Haiti. The French authorities in Guadeloupe condemned Rockwell as a prize of war.[6]
Citations and references
Citations
- Lloyd's Register (1801), "B" Supple. pages, Seq.№B86.
- Register of Shipping (1802), Seq. №B54.
- Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database — Voyages:Barton, Wilson, master.]
- Lloyd's List №4408.
- Raleigh Register, and North-Carolina Weekly Advertiser (Raleigh, North Carolina) 20 Aug. 1804: n.p. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. Web. 4 Mar. 2018.
- Mayo-Bobee (2017), p. 32.
References
- Mayo-Bobee, Dinah (2017). New England Federalists: Widening the Sectional Divide in Jeffersonian America. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-61147-985-0.