History
United Kingdom
NameEllis
Acquired1797 by purchase of a prize
FateLost at sea 23 April 1806
General characteristics
Tons burthen303,[1] or 305,[2] or 308,[1] or 312 (bm)
Complement
Armament
  • 1797: 18 × 6-pounder guns,[2] or 16 × 6&9&12-pounder cannons[1]
  • 1806:18 × 12&9&6-pounder cannons[1]

Ellis was a French prize, captured in 1797, possibly built that year also. Liverpool merchants purchased her. She made five complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade carrying enslaved people from West Africa to the British West Indies. She was lost at sea on 23 April 1806 on her sixth voyage before she could take on any captives.

Career

Ellis first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1797.[2]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1797 Souther Hodgson Liverpool–Africa LR

1st voyage transporting enslaved people (1797–1798): Captain James Soutar acquired a letter of marque on 18 September 1797. He sailed from Liverpool on 26 October.[3]

Ellis shared by agreement with HMS Daedalus, HMS Hornet, and Saint Ann in the proceeds of the recapture between December 1797 and January 1798 of Ocean and Quaker.[4] The four vessels had been cruising jointly to find and destroy "Renaud's Squadron".[lower-alpha 1] Daedalus and Hornet destroyed Bell, which Renaud's squadron had captured, and did some damage to the town and fort at Gorée.[6]

Ellis acquired captives first at Îles de Los and then at Cape Mount.[3]

On 30 May 1798 Ellis, St Anne, and Pilgrim engaged the French frigate Convention, Captain Roscow, of 32 guns and 200 men. After an exchange of broadsides, the French sailed away.[5][lower-alpha 2]

Saint Ann and Ellis arrived at Barbados around 3 July. On their way they recaptured Hannah, which had been sailing from Mogadore to London when captured.[5][lower-alpha 3]

Ellis arrived at Demerera on 17 July 1798 with 406 captives. She sailed from Demerara on 29 August and arrived back at Liverpool on 15 October. She had sailed from Liverpool with 68 crew members and she suffered four crew deaths on her voyage.[3]

2nd voyage transporting enslaved people (1799): Captain Soutar sailed from Liverpool on 2 January 1799. Ellis gathered captives at Bassa and then Cape Mount. She arrived at Demerara on 18 May with 431 captives. She left Demerara on 1 July and arrived back at Liverpool on 21 August. She had left Liverpool with 44 crew members and had suffered no crew deaths on the voyage.[13]

3rd voyage transporting enslaved people (1800―1801): Captain Souter sailed from Liverpool in November 1799, bound for Africa, but quickly stranded in Bootle Bay.[14] Soutar and Ellis finally sailed on 15 February 1800. Ellis acquired captives in the Sierra Leone estuary and arrived at Suriname on 1 January 1801 with 220 captives. She arrived back at Liverpool on 16 April. She had left with 44 crew members and had suffered nine crew deaths on the voyage.[15]

In 1801 Ellis was raised. When she got a second letter of marque in 1806 it gave her burthen as 308 tons, or 312 tons, a size reflected in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade database, though not in Lloyd's Register.

4th voyage transporting enslaved people (1801–1803): Captain Soutar sailed from Liverpool on 9 August 1801. Ellis acquired captives at Bance Island and arrived at Suriname 10 April 1802 with 263 captives. She may also have delivered some captives to the Bahamas. From there she reportedly sailed t Antigua and Havana. She sailed for Liverpool on 17 April 1803 and arrived back there on 27 May, from Havana. She had left Liverpool with 38 crew members and she had suffered 14 crew deaths on her voyage.[16]

5th voyage transporting enslaved people (1804–1805): Captain John Roach sailed from Liverpool on 1 September 1804. Ellis acquired captives in West Africa and arrived at Suriname on 22 February 1805 with 303 captives. She sailed from Demerara on 19 June and arrived back at Liverpool on 23 July. She had left with 32 crew members and she had suffered seven crew deaths on her voyage.[17]

Fate

Ellis was sold to new owners c.1805. Captain William Browne acquired a letter of marque on 6 March 1806.[1] Captain Brown sailed from Liverpool on 24 March. On 23 April Ellis was lost while going from Gorée to Rio Pongos.[18][19]

In 1806, 33 British enslaving vessels were lost. Five were lost on the coast of Africa.[20] During the period 1793 to 1807, war, rather than maritime hazards or resistance by the captives, was the greatest cause of vessel losses among British enslaving vessels.[21]

Brown's next command was Ann , which caught fire and exploded in mid-December 1807 while acquiring captives in the Sierra Leone estuary.

Notes

  1. ↑ Renaud was probably Jean-Marie Renaud.[5]
  2. ↑ There was no French naval frigate named Convention at the time.[7] She may have been a privateer, but the primary source on privateers also does not carry a Convention.[8]
  3. ↑ Hannah, Lamb, master, had been captured in 1797 by the privateer Buonaparte,[9] which sent her to Bayonne.[10] Hannah, Lamb, master, of 87 tons (bm), had been launched at Sunderland in 1782.[11] Buonaparte may have been a 32-tonne cutter from Saint-Malo. She was armed with three guns and had a crew of 32 men under a Captain F. Rousse. HMS Ambuscade captured her in the Caribbean around June 1797.[12]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Letter of Marque, p.61 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 LR (1797), "E" sup. pages.
  3. 1 2 3 Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Ellis voyage #81262.
  4. ↑ "No. 5510". The London Gazette. 28 August 1802. p. 922.
  5. 1 2 3 Williams (1897), pp. 347–348.
  6. ↑ Williams (1897), p. 347.
  7. ↑ Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 451.
  8. ↑ Demerliac (1999).
  9. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 2971. 21 November 1797. hdl:2027/mdp.39015073721238.
  10. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 2973. 5 December 1797. hdl:2027/mdp.39015073721238.
  11. ↑ LR (1797), Seq.no.H45.
  12. ↑ Demerliac (1999), p. 245, no.2080.
  13. ↑ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Ellis voyage #81263.
  14. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4014. 15 November 1799.
  15. ↑ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Ellis voyage #81264.
  16. ↑ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Ellis voyage #81265.
  17. ↑ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Ellis voyage #81266.
  18. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4074. 19 August 1806. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735022.
  19. ↑ Inikori (1996), p. 74.
  20. ↑ Inikori (1996), p. 62.
  21. ↑ Inikori (1996), p. 58.

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.
  • Inikori, Joseph (1996). "Measuring the unmeasured hazards of the Atlantic slave trade: Documents relating to the British trade". Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer. 83 (312): 53–92.
  • Williams, Gomer (1897). History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade. W. Heinemann.
  • Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.
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