History
Great Britain
NameDiamond
Owner
  • 1800:Beatson & Co.[1]
  • 1801:Parry & Co.[2]
  • 1805:J. Hill & Co.[3]
BuilderPatrick Beatson, Quebec[4]
Launched1798
CapturedOctober 1805
NotesClayton has some discrepant information re Diamond's career as a whaler,[5] but the information in the other sources is more compelling and consistent across sources.
French Navy EnsignFrance
NameDiamant
AcquiredOctober 1805 By capture
DecommissionedJanuary 1809
FateDecommissioned 1809
General characteristics
TypeFull-rigged ship
Tons burthen
Length119 ft 0 in (36.3 m)[4]
PropulsionSail
Complement
Armament
  • 1801:16 × 9-pounder guns[6]
  • 1804:14 × 9-pounder guns[6]
  • 1808:18 × 9-pounder guns[7]
NotesTwo decks[4]

Diamond was launched in 1798 at Quebec. French privateers captured her three times, the third time retaining her. In between she sailed as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Her third capture occurred while she was on a whaling voyage. Her last voyage took her from Île de France to Bordeaux where she was decommissioned in January 1809.

British career

Diamond was the first 500-ton (bm) vessel built at Quebec since the British occupation.[lower-alpha 1]

Diamond entered Lloyd's Register in 1800 with Anderson, master, Beatson, owner, and trade London-Halifax.[1]

The French privateer Grand Décidé captured "The Diamond Transport, from Halifax to Portsmouth" around end-October 1800.[8][lower-alpha 2] On 1 November the Royal Navy Cutter Viper recaptured Diamond.[10] Viper sent Diamond into Falmouth,[8] where she arrived on 3 November.

In 1801 Diamond's ownership changed. The entry in the online copy of Lloyd's Register is illegible, but the entry in the 1802 issue shows her master as Clark, her owner as Parry & Co., and her trade as London-Africa.[2]

On 24 August 1801 Captain James Clark received a letter of marque.[6] Diamond then made two under Clark's command transporting enslaved people.

1st voyage transporting enslaved people (1801–1802): Diamond left London on 31 August 1801.[11] In 1801, 147 vessels sailed from English ports, bound for Africa to acquire and transport enslaved people; 23 of these vessels sailed from London.[12]

Diamond then delivered 391 captives to Trinidad, where she arrived on 1 March 1802. She returned to London on 13 June.[11]

2nd voyage transporting enslaved people (1802–1803): Diamond left London on 13 September 1802.[13] In 1802, 155 vessels sailed from English ports, bound for Africa to acquire and transport enslaved people; 30 of these vessels sailed from London.[12]

Diamond arrived at Havana, Cuba, on 1 April 1803. There she landed 389 captives.[13] As Diamond was returning from Havana on 9 August she encountered the French privateer Bellona,[14] which took her captive. However, HMS Goliath recaptured Diamond on the 12th and sent her into The Downs.[15] A few days later Diamond ran on shore a few miles below Gravesend and bilged.[16] Diamond arrived back in London on 31 August.[13]

Next, Diamond became a whaling ship for J. Hill & Co., with destination the South Seas.[3] Captain Mark Munro (or Monro) received a letter of marque on 31 August 1804,[6] and sailed her from Britain on 17 September 1804 with destination Isle of Desolation. She was at Desolation on 25 February 1805.[17] She was also reported to have been "all well" there on 5 May.[18]

On 10 November, the French privateer Napoléon[19] captured Diamond in the Mozambique Channel,[20] after a three-day chase.[21] Then on 10 December Napoléon captured Hercules.[20] The capture occurred off Cape Agulhas as Hercules was returning to England from Bombay, and Napoléon sent her into Port Louis. At her capture, Hercules was carrying a cargo of cotton.[22][lower-alpha 3] In November 1805, Napoléon brought the prisoners from Hercules and from Diamond into the Cape Colony, then in Dutch hands.[22] There Alex Tennant, resident in the Cape, arranged at his own expense for the prisoners to be sent to St Helena.[23] The Danish ship Beshriermerin arrived at St Helena on 6 January 1806 with the British crews.[20]

French career

The French renamed Diamond Diamant.[22] An ambiguous report has "The Napoleon, prize of the Diamant, consignees of the Lenouvelle brothers, three masted vessel, of about 400 tons, copper-lined, to be sold 5 April [1806] by notary Guérin."[24]

At Île de France the French commissioned Diamant in September 1808 under the command of Captain Joseph Potier "en guerre et en marchandises", that is an armed merchantman that was also authorised to take prizes should the opportunity arise. In mid-October, Diamant left Mauritius, bound for Lorient. She arrived in Quiberon Bay in the evening of 21 January 1809 and ran into the British blockade; a frigate gave chase, but Potier managed to escape by throwing his artillery overboard.[21] Diamant arrived off Bordeaux on the 23rd, where a storm forced Potier to cut down her masts to save the ship; he finally arrived in Bordeaux harbour on the 25th.[21] She was decommissioned after her arrival at Bordeaux in January 1809.[25]

Notes

  1. ↑ One source gives her launch year as 1799 rather than 1798.[4]
  2. ↑ Fisgard captured Grand Décidé around 20 October.[9]
  3. ↑ Napoléon was under the command of Captain Malo le Nouvel. She was armed with 30 guns and had a crew of 180 men.[22] HMS Narcissus captured Napoleon on 25 December.[20]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Lloyd's Register (1800), Seq. №276.
  2. 1 2 Lloyd's Register (1802), Seq. №98.
  3. 1 2 Lloyd's Register (1805), Seq. №113.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Wallace (1929), p. 78.
  5. ↑ Clayton (2014), pp. 97–98.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Letter of Marque, Archived 2015-07-09 at the Wayback Machine - accessed 14 May 2011.
  7. 1 2 Demerliac (2003), p. 329, no.2829.
  8. 1 2 Lloyd's List 7 November 1800, №4100.
  9. ↑ "No. 15304". The London Gazette. 21 October 1800. p. 1206.
  10. ↑ "No. 15526". The London Gazette. 23 October 1802. p. 1126.
  11. 1 2 Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Diamond voyage #80989.
  12. 1 2 Williams (1897), p. 680.
  13. 1 2 3 Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Diamond voyage #80990.
  14. ↑ Demerliac (2003), p. 282, np.2237.
  15. ↑ Lloyd's List 23 August 1800, №4378.
  16. ↑ Lloyd's List 30 August 1800, №4380.
  17. ↑ British Southern Whale Fishery Database – voyages: Diamond.
  18. ↑ Lloyd's List 8 October 1805, №4260.
  19. ↑ Demerliac (2003), p. 265, no.2031.
  20. 1 2 3 4 Lloyd's List 4 March 1806, №4302.
  21. 1 2 3 Cunat (1857), p. 418.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Austen (1935), pp. 99–100.
  23. ↑ Records of the Cape Colony from February 1793 (1901), Government of the Cape Colony; pp.404-12.
  24. ↑ Piat (2007), p. 138.
  25. ↑ Demerliac (2003).

References

  • Austen, Harold Chomley Mansfield (1935). Sea Fights and Corsairs of the Indian Ocean: Being the Naval History of Mauritius from 1715 to 1810. Port Louis, Mauritius: R.W. Brooks.
  • 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.
  • Demerliac, Alain (2003). La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 à 1815 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 9782903179304. OCLC 492784876.
  • Cunat, Charles (1857). Saint-Malo illustré par ses marins (in French). Imprimerie de F. Péalat.
  • Piat, Denis (2007). Pirates and Corsairs in Mauritius. Translated by North-Coombes, Mervyn. Christian le Comte. ISBN 978-99949-905-3-5.
  • Wallace, Frederick William (1929). Record of Canadian shipping: a list of square-rigged vessels, mainly 500 tons and over, built in the eastern provinces of British North America from the year 1786 to 1920.
  • Williams, Gomer (1897). History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade. W. Heinemann.
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