History
Great Britain
NameAir Balloon
NamesakeMontgolfier Brothers' 1783 hot air balloon
Launched1784, Hull[1]
Captured9 September 1797
General characteristics
Tons burthen224,[2] or 400[1] (bm)

Air Balloon was launched in 1784 at Hull. She traded between Hull and Petersburg until a French privateer captured her in 1797.

Career

Air Balloon first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1784.[1][lower-alpha 1]

Year Master Owner Trade Source & note
1784 R.Metcalf
John Briggs
William Moony		 M.Metcalf Hull–Peterburg LR
1797 Farthing
R.Metcalf		 M.Metcalf Hull–Peterburg LR; damages repaired 1785, & repairs 1793 & 1797

Fate

On 9 September 1797, the French privateer lugger Hawk, of 10 guns and six swivel guns, captured Air Balloon, Metcalf, master, some 14 leagues off the Naze.[lower-alpha 2] Air Balloon was on her way back to Hull from Petersburg with a cargo of iron, deals, and flax. Hawk was two days out of Dordt, and had not taken anything prior to capturing Air Balloon. The French took Metcalf and his crew, all but his mate and a boy, aboard their lugger and sailed for Calais. However a gale came up and the French could not get into Calais. They threw seven of their guns overboard and with great difficulty made it into the Texel.[4] Her captor sent Air Balloon into Norway.[5][lower-alpha 3]

Notes

  1. ↑ She was one of at least two vessels launched that year, following the Montgolfier Brothers launching the first documented flight in a hot air balloon.
  2. ↑ Another source identified the privateer as Émouchet, Tourneux, master. (An émouchet is a small falcon, or goshawk.) Émouchet was a 10-gun lugger, built by Michel Colin-Olivier between 1795 and 1796, and commissioned in Dieppe in April 1796. Her first cruise took place between April 1796 and March 1797 under François Clémence. For her second cruise, in 1797, she was under the command of Captain Tourneux.[3]
  3. ↑ HMS Albatross captured Emouchet on 14 November 1797.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 LR (1784), Seq.No.A517.
  2. ↑ LR (1797), Seq.No.A166.
  3. ↑ Demerliac (1999), p. 210, no. 1902.
  4. ↑ London Chronicle (10–12 October 1797), Vol. 82, p.360.
  5. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 2962. 10 October 1797. Retrieved 17 February 2022.

References

  • Demerliac, Alain (1999). La Marine de la Révolution: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1792 à 1799 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 9782906381247. OCLC 492783890.
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