History
Great Britain
NameMercury
Acquired1793
Captured1794
FateRecaptured, but leaves records in 1794
General characteristics
Tons burthen126[1][2] (bm)

Mercury's origins are obscure. She may have been launched in New York in 1774, possibly under another name. In 1793 she made one voyage as a slave ship in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. A French privateer captured Mercury, but the Royal Navy recaptured her.

Career

A Mercury of 126 ton (bm) first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR), in 1793.[2]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1793 Lockhart J.Taylor London–Antigua LR

Capture (1793): Captain George Hauit sailed from Liverpool on 1 January 1793. Mercury gathered slaves at Bance Island. She sailed from Africa on 7 August.[1]

The French privateer Liberty, of Bordeaux, captured seven slave ships before July 1793: Mercury, Hewitt, master, Echo, Union, Little Joe, Prosperity, Hazard, and Swift, Roper, master. Mercury was captured off Cape Mount.[3][lower-alpha 1]

The cutter HMS Seaflower recaptured Mercury.[5] In December 1793 Lloyd's List reported that Mercury, Hewitt, master, had arrived at Barbados.[6][lower-alpha 2]

Captain Hewitt purchased the recaptured Mercury.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ There was a Liberté, privateer from Bordeaux, that was commissioned in February 1793 under Jacques Laventy with 16 to 20 guns. She was sold in Guadeloupe in June 1793 by a Mister Mehy, and operated under a Captain Le Bas until 1794.[4]
  2. ↑ The Transatlantic Slave Trade database reports that after her capture: "Slaves embarked, transhipped or no further record". It does not note the arrival in Barbados.[1]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Mercury voyage #82689.
  2. 1 2 LR (173), Seq.No.M594494.
  3. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 5228. 26 July 1793. hdl:2027/hvd.32044050633098.
  4. ↑ Demerliac (1999), p. 266, n°2341.
  5. 1 2 Williams (1897), p. 313.
  6. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 2572. 27 December 1793. hdl:2027/hvd.32044050633098.

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.
  • 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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