Governor Dowdeswell (1800 ship)

Governor Dowdeswell (or Governor Dowdswell, or Governor Dodswell) was launched in 1798 in Spain or France under another name. The British captured her in 1800. New owners in Liverpool renamed her and employed her as a slave ship for five slave trading voyages. With the end of the British slave trade, new owners employed her as a whaler. She made one complete whaling voyage but was captured during her second whaling voyage.

History
Spain or France
Launched: 1798
Captured: c.1800
Great Britain
Name: Governor Dowdeswell
Namesake: Governor Dowdeswell of the Bahamas (1798–1802)
Acquired: 1800 (by purchase?)
Captured: May 1813
General characteristics
Tons burthen: 229, or 306,[1] or 322 (bm)
Complement:
Armament:
  • 1800:20 × 6-pounder guns[1]
  • 1803:20 × 6-pounder guns[1]
  • 1806:20 × 6-pounder guns[1]
  • 1808:14 × 6&9-pounder guns[1]
  • 1811:14 × 6&9-pounder guns[1]

Slave ship

Governor Dowdeswell first appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1800 with R. Kelsall, master, Ward, owner, and trade Liverpool–Africa. It describes her as a Spanish prize built 1798.[2] Later entries in the registers gave her origins as France. She proceeded to make five slave trading voyages.

1st slave trading voyage (1800–1802): Captain Richard Kelsall acquired a letter of marque on 30 October 1800.[1] General Dowdeswell sailed from Liverpool on 6 December 1800. She gathered her slaves at Bassa and on 26 September 1801 at Demerara. She landed around 300 slaves. At some point Captain William Brinton replaced Kelsall. She left on 12 January 1802,[3] but on her way ran ashore at Bootle Bay, in the Bahamas.[4] She arrived at Liverpool on 21 March. She had left Liverpool with 49 crew members and suffered seven crew deaths on her voyage.[3]

2nd slave trading voyage (1802–1803): Captain John Neal sailed from Liverpool on 21 May 1802. General Dowdeswell gathered her slaves at Malembo and arrived at the Bahamas on 19 December 1802. There she landed 335 slaves. She sailed on to Havana and may have landed slaves there too. She left for Liverpool on 24 March 1803, and arrived there on 2 May. She had left Liverpool with 37 crew members and suffered two crew deaths on her voyage.[5]

3rd slave trading voyage (1803–1804): Captain Edward Williams acquired a letter of marque on 26 July 1803.[1] He sailed from Liverpool on 15 August. General Dowdeswell gathered her slaves at New Calabar and Bonny. She arrived at Charleston on 10 February 1804 and landed 329 slaves there. She sailed from Charleston on 20 May and arrived at Liverpool on 19 June. She had left with 45 crew members and suffered two crew deaths on her voyage.[6]

4th slave trading voyage (1806): Captain John Young acquired a letter of marque on 19 February 1806.[1] He sailed from Liverpool on 23 April 1806. General Dowdeswell gathered her slaves at the Congo River. She arrived at Charleston on 19 September, where she landed 306 slaves. She sailed from Charleston on 18 October and arrived back at Liverpool on 22 November. She left Liverpool with 42 crew members and suffered two crew deaths on her voyage.[7]

5th slave trading voyage (1806): Captain Young sailed from Liverpool on 1 April 1807. General Dowdeswell gathered her slaves at Calabar and delivered them to Kingston, Jamaica. She arrived there on 3 October and landed 246 slaves. She sailed for Liverpool on 14 December and arrived back there on 31 January 1808. She had left with 41 crew members and suffered nine crew deaths on her voyage.[8]

The Slave Trade Act 1807 banned the slave trade by British subjects. General Dowdeswell's last voyage started while the slave trade was legal but the Act forbade any further slave trading voyages. No longer able to engage in slaving, her owners sold her.

Whaler

Lloyd's Register in 1808 gave the name of Governor Dodswell's master as W. Trotter. It gave the name of her owners simply as "London", and her voyage as Liverpool–London. Eleven lines lower, the same issue the name of her master as R. Cleveland, her owner as Crosbie & Co., and her trade as London–South Seas. It also reported that she had undergone a thorough repair in 1809.[9]

Captain Reuben Cleveland acquired a letter of marque on 8 October 1808.[1] He sailed from England on 16 October 1808, bound for Peru. Governor Dodswell returned to England on 15 February 1811 with more than 800 barrels of sperm oil.[10]

Fate

Captain Barnabus Gardner acquired a letter of marque on 3 June 1811.[1] Gardner sailed on 21 June 1811.

Lloyd's List reported on 25 May 1813 that an American privateer was reported to have captured Gov. Dodswell, a South Sea whaler, Gardner, master, near the Galapagos Islands.[11] Some weeks later Lloyd's List corrected the report, stating that it was the Spanish that had captured Governor Dowdeswell, and that the capture took place off Valparaiso.[12] This would have had to occur in late 1812 or early 1813 if reports were to reach London by May-June 1813.

Another report has the privateer Javiera (aka Nuestra Señora de Iciar), Captain José Gandaria, capturing her in May 1813. Javiera was patrolling for vessels bringing supplies to the Chilean rebels. Javiera captured Governor Dowdeswell in May off Valparaiso, and then on 24–25 May Javiera captured Sir Andrew Hammond, another British whaler. Javiera took Sir Andrew Hammond to Callao where a court released her as she was not carrying contraband.[13] It is not clear what happened to Governor Dowdeswell.

The entries in Lloyd's Register for Governor Dowdeswell from 1814 to 1816 note that she was captured. She is last listed in 1816.[14]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. "Letter of Marque, p.66 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  2. Lloyd's Register (1800), "G" Supple. pages.
  3. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade database – Voyages: General Dowdeswell #81640.
  4. Lloyd's List №4241.
  5. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade database – Voyages: General Dowdeswell #81641.
  6. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade database – Voyages: General Dowdeswell #81642.
  7. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade database – Voyages: General Dowdeswell #81643.
  8. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade database – Voyages: General Dowdeswell #81644.
  9. Lloyd's Register (1808), Supple. pages "G", Seq.№G60.
  10. British Southern Whale Fishery voyages: Governor Dowdswell.
  11. Lloyd's List №4772.
  12. Lloyd's List №4779.
  13. Sotelo (2015), p.319 & p.322.
  14. Lloyd's Register (1816), Seq.№G387

References

  • Clayton, Jane M. (2014) Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775-1815: An alphabetical list of ships. (Berforts Group). ISBN 9781908616524
  • Sotelo, Jorge Ortiz (2015) La Real Armada en el Pacífico Sur. El Apostadero Naval del Callao, 1746-1824, México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas/Bonilla Artigas Editores.
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