Caledonia (1805 ship)

Caledonia was a Spanish vessel that the British captured in 1804 and that new owners renamed. She made two voyages as a slave ship and then in 1809 disappears from online records.

For other ships with the same name, see Caledonia (ship).

History
United Kingdom
Name: Caledonia
Namesake: Caledonia
Owner: George Geddes[1]
Acquired: 1805 by purchase of a Spanish prize captured in 1804[2]
Fate: Last mentioned 1809
General characteristics
Tons burthen: 327,[3] or 330[4] (bm)
Complement:
Armament:
  • 1805:20 × 12-pounder guns + 4 Swivel guns[3]
  • 1807:20 × 12-pounder guns,[3] or
  • 1807:4 × 12-pounder guns + 16 × 12-pounder guns "of the New Construction"[4]

Career

Caledonia entered Lloyd's Register for 1805 with Hamilton, master, Geddies (or Geddes), owner, and trade Liverpool–Africa.[5]

Captain Hance Hamilton acquired a letter of marque on 20 September 1805. At the time he acquired the letter of marque his intention may have been to sail her as a privateer. A complement of 110 men is consistent with a privateer, which needs extra men to man prizes, but not with a merchantman or slaver.

1st slave voyage (1805–1806): Captain Hamilton sailed from London on 16 October 1805, bound for West Central Africa and Saint Helena. Caledonia arrived at St Thomas, in the Danish West Indies, on 28 May 1806. There she discharged an estimated 280 slaves. She arrived back at London on 26 October 1806.[1]

2nd slave voyage (1807–1808): Captain William Miller acquired a letter of marque on 20 May 1807. He sailed from London 1 May 1807. Caledonia started gathering slaves at Bonny on 5 August 1807. She arrived at Kingston, Jamaica, on 5 January 1808 and landed 344 slaves there. She left Kingston on 22 April 1808.[1]

Fate

Caledonia, Miller, master, arrived at Portsmouth on 27 November 1808 from Lisbon, bound for Gothenburg.[6] Lloyd's List for 28 March 1809 reported that Caledonia, Miller, master, had arrived at Gothenburg.[7] There is no mention of a Caledonia leaving Gothenburg in 1809–1810. That would suggest that Miller may have sold her there to owners who renamed her. Lloyd's Register and the Register of Shipping carried stale data from 1807 to 1813, though it is possible she reappeared during that time under a new name.

Citations
  1. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade database: Voyages – Caledonia.
  2. Regisster of shipping (1806), Seq.№C21.
  3. "Letter of Marque, p.54 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  4. Lloyd's Register (1807), Seq.№C22.
  5. Lloyd's Register (1805), Supple. pages "C", Seq.№C97.
  6. Lloyd's List №.4305 Ship arrivals and departures (SAD)
  7. Lloyd's List №.4339 (SAD)
gollark: asfkasp jaso[kfn aspofn oasjknfg asfk asrper qwr
gollark: Sure. I'll type REALLY FAST.
gollark: Well, CSS is for hacking the *web*, COBOL is *mainframes*. Honestly.
gollark: You can't do that with Python, you need to know COBOL.
gollark: You can just backtrace him with a triple VPN antiproxy over Tor.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.