Jenny (1783 ship)

Jenny was built at Newfoundland in 1783. She sailed to Britain and traded between Britain and Newfoundland and then between Bristol and Africa until 1790 when Sydenham Teast (or Sidenham Teast) purchased her. Between 1791 and 1794 she made two voyages exploring the Pacific Northwest and gathering sea otter pelts. In 1796 she returned to trading with Africa but was lost in January 1797 as she was returning to Bristol from Africa.

History
Great Britain
Name: Jenny
Owner:
  • 1783:John Clements[1]
  • 1788:S.Teast & Son
Builder: Harbour Grace, Newfoundland[1]
Launched: 1783[2]
Fate: Wrecked 1797
General characteristics
Tons burthen:
Sail plan:

Career

Jenny entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1784 with J. Parsons, master, Clements, owner, and trade Bristol–Newfoundland.[2]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1784 J. Parsons Clements Newfoundland–Bristol LR
1786 J.Parsons
Wm.Fowlers		 J. Clements Bristol–Newfoundland LR
1787 Arch. Hill
W.Fowler		 Clements Bristol–Newfoundland LR
1790 D.Prosser
C.M'Carthy		 S. Teast & Son Bristol–Africa LR

Trading with Africa

Records exist for three voyages to Africa for Jenny, none of which involved slave trading. She carried no cannons on any of these voyages, and her crew numbered from eight to ten.

Voyage #1 (1788–1789): Captain William Byrne sailed from Bristol on 22 March 1788. He died on 5 October and it was Captain David Prosser who returned Jenny to Bristol on 5 June 1789.[4]

Voyage #2 (1789–1790): Captain Prosser sailed from Bristol on 3 July 1789. Jenny returned direct from Africa on 15 March 1790.[5]

Voyage #3 (1790): Captain Prosser sailed from Bristol on 26 March 1790. (He died at some point on the voyage before Jenny returned to Bristol.) In June Jenny took on ivory and wax from African Queen at Cape Lahou. Jenny sailed for Bristol on 7 July and returned to Bristol on 9 September.[6][7]

Trading with the Pacific Northwest

Clements went bankrupt in 1790 and was forced to sell Jenny, which Sydenham Teast then purchased. Some sources state that Teast employed Jenny as a slaver, carrying slaves between West Africa and Barbados. The most complete database of trans-Atlantic slave voyages does not support that assertion. There was a Jenny that carried slaves to Barbados, but that occurred some two decades before the launch of the Jenny of this article.[8]

Teast had Jenny lengthened and rebuilt in 1791, including the addition of a third mast.[1] Her master changed from M'Carthy to J. Baker.[9]

Voyage #1 (1791–1793): Captain Baker sailed Jenny for the Pacific in the first week of October 1791, bound for Cape Verde and the South Seas.[10]

During her voyage Jenny was at Tahiti. There she picked the captain, two men, and two boys, survivors from the wrecking of Matilda. Two young Tahitian women also came on Jenny. Jenny took them with her to Nootka sound.[11]

She arrived at the Columbia River a few days before 6 October. There she encountered Captain George Vancouver. Jenny had little success trading for sea otter pelts as she did not have the trade goods the locals sought. She had gathered only about 350. Because Baker did not have a pass that would permit him to go to Hong Kong to trade the skins that he had for trade goods and then come back to the Northwest. Baker therefore decided to sail back to England. He did not want to return to Tahiti and so was pleased that Vancouver, who was going back, would take the two Tahitian women.[11]

Jenny returned to Bristol on 25 June 1793.[10]

Teast prepared Jenny for her next voyage to the Pacific. He had her converted from a three-masted schooner to a square-rigged ship. He acquired trade goods that would appeal to the indigenous inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest. He arranged with the British East India Company (EIC) for a license that would permit her to bring back a cargo from China after selling her furs there. Third, he appointed a new captain, John William Adamson.[12]

Voyage #2 (1793–1795): Captain Adamson sailed from Bristol in October. She was at California in April 1794. Between May and September she gathered otter skins. She encountered Vancouver again at Nootka in September, who noted that she had gathered some 2000 skins.[13] Jenny then sailed to Canton, via Hawaii, and arrived at Canton on 25 December.[14] Captain Adamson and Jenny returned to Bristol on 22 July 1795,[15] or 25 July.[14]

Africa again

Jenny does not appear in Lloyd's Register for 1795, but she reappeared in 1796 with E. Buckle, master, Teast, owner, and trade Bristol–Africa.[3]

Captain Edmund Buckle sailed Jenny for Africa on 29 February 1796 on a voyage not intended for the slave trade.[16] She was reported to have passed Sierra Leone on 7 April.[17]

Loss

Lloyd's List reported on 27 January 1797 that Jenny, Buckle, master, had been lost on Lundy Island as she was returning to Bristol from Africa.[18] The only survivor was the first mate. Teast and the underwriters attempted to salvage what they could.{[sfnp|Cass|1996|p-332}}

The place where Jenny was lost is now known as Jenny's Cove (51°10.87′N 4°40.48′W).[19]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. Cass (1996), p. 325-335.
  2. LR (1789), Seq.№J789.
  3. LR (1796), Supple. pages "J".
  4. Richardson (1996), p. 140.
  5. Richardson (1996), p. 152.
  6. Richardson 1996, p. 169.
  7. Howay & Elliot 1929, p. 206.
  8. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Voyages: Jenny.
  9. LR (1792), Seq.№J183.
  10. "British Southern Whale Fishery database – Voyages: Jenny".
  11. Documents... (1915), pp. 56–58.
  12. Howay & Elliot (1929), p. 203.
  13. Howay (1915), p. 88.
  14. Ogden (1975), p. 156.
  15. Howay & Elliot (1929), p. 205.
  16. Richardson 1996, p. 249.
  17. Lloyd's List №2827.
  18. Lloyd's List №2893.
  19. Cass (1996), p. 333.

References

  • Cass, Alan D. (1996). "The Schooner Jenny". The Mariner's Mirror. 82 (3): 325–335.
  • "Documents:A New Vanouver Journal". Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 6 (2 (April)): 50–68. 1915.
  • Howay, F.W. (1915). "Some Remarks on the New Vancouver Journal". Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 6 (2 (April)): 83–89.
  • Howay, F.W.; Elliot, T.C. (1929). "Voyages of the 'Jenny' to Oregon, 1792-94". Oregon Historical Quarterly. 30 (3): 197–206.
  • Ogden, Adele (1975). The California Sea Otter Trade, 1784-1848. (University of California Pres. ISBN 9780520028067.
  • Richardson, David, ed. (1996). Bristol, Africa, and the Eighteenth-Century Slave Trade to America, Vo. 4 The Final Years, 1770-1807. Bristol Record Society, c/o Department of Historical Studies, Univ. of Bristol. ISBN 0 901538 17 5.
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