Tarleton (1796 ship)

Tarleton was launched in 1796 at Liverpool for Tarleton & Co., a Liverpool firm that had been in the slave trade for three generations. She made two full voyages as a slaver before she was wrecked on a third voyage in late 1798. On her first voyage she repelled attacks by two French privateers in single-ship actions.

For other ships with the same name, see List of ships named Tarleton.
History
Great Britain
Name: Tarleton
Owner: Tarleton & Co.[1]
Builder: Liverpool
Launched: 1796
Fate: Lost late 1798
General characteristics
Tons burthen: 260,[2] or 261[3] (bm)
Propulsion: Sail
Complement: 20[2]
Armament:
  • 1796:10 × 6-pounder guns[2]
  • 1797:16 × 4-pounder + 6 × 6-pounder guns

Career

Radcliffe Shimmins, Tarleton's master, received a letter of marque on 13 May 1796.[2][Note 1] She proceeded to make three cruises as a slaver between 1796 and 1798.

On her first slave trading voyage, Shimmins sailed Tarlton from Liverpool on 19 June 1796, and arrived at Loanga on 25 August. They left Africa on 26 October.[4]

On 28 November Tarleton drove off a French privateer of 12 guns with a single broadside, and later that day succeeded in repelling another after an engagement of three hours. This second privateer mounted twenty 9-pounder guns on her main deck, and eight guns on her quarterdeck. Shimmins and his men, including some slaves that helped man the guns, sustained no casualties.[5]

Tarleton arrived at Martinique on 13 December. She had embarked 394 slaves and disembarked 380, for a loss rate of 3.6%. On her voyage She had also lost four of her 37 crew. Tarleton left Martinique on 9 January 1797 and arrived back at Liverpool on 13 April.[4]

On his second slave trading voyage, in 1797, Shimmins gathered his slaves in the Bight of Biafra at Bonny Island and Gulf of Guinea island, and delivered them to St. Vincent. He had embarked 475 slaves and he disembarked 435,for a loss rate of 8.4%. He also had lost five of his crew of 43 men. Tarleton returned to Liverpool on 8 March 1798.[6]

Loss

Tarelton left Liverpool on 30 July 1798.[7] In January 1799 Tarleton was reported to have been lost at Cape Palmas.[8] She was lost before having embarked any slaves.[9][Note 2]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

  1. Radcliffe Shimmins had been captain of Prince of Wales in 1794 when a French privateer had captured them as they were carrying slaves to the West Indies.
  2. Radcliffe Shimmins went on to captain King George in April 1799 on a slave voyage.[10]

Citations

  1. Lloyd's Register (1796) Supplement, no sequence number.
  2. Letter of Marque, p.89 - accessed 25 July 2017.
  3. Lloyd's List, Seq.№7.
  4. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Tarleton voyage #83712.
  5. Williams (1997), pp. 349-350.
  6. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Tarleton voyage #83713.
  7. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Tarleton voyage #83714.
  8. Lloyd's List 15 January 1799, №3051.
  9. Wilkins (2000), p. 75.
  10. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – King George voyage #82142.

References

  • Wilkins, Frances (2000) 2,000 Manx Mariners: An Eighteenth Century Survey. (Wyre Forest Press). ISBN 978-1897725146
  • Williams, Gomer (2011) [1897]. History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-02627-7.
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