View source for Caroline (1794 ship)

{{other ships|Caroline (ship)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2020}}
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|Ship country=Great Britain
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag| Kingdom of Great Britain|civil}}
| Ship name = ''Caroline''
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| Ship builder = France
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| Ship launched = 1792<ref name=LR1794/>
| Ship acquired = 1794 by purchase of a prize
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| Ship fate = Foundered 2 February 1801 
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| Ship tons burthen=286,<ref name=LR1794/>{{sfnp|Clayton|2014|p=83}} or 290<ref name=LoM>{{cite web|url=http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/marque1793-1815.pdf|title=Letter of Marque, p.55 - accessed 25 July 2017.|access-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020052005/http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/marque1793-1815.pdf|archive-date=20 October 2016|url-status=dead }}</ref> ([[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]])
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| Ship complement =35<ref name=LoM/>
| Ship armament =2 × 6-pounder guns + 16 × 12-pounder [[carronades]]
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'''''Caroline''''' was a ship launched in France in 1792, possibly under another name. She was taken in prize in 1794 and sailed first as a [[West Indiaman]], then as a [[whaling ship|whaler]] in the British [[Whaling in the United Kingdom#The southern whale fishery|southern whale fishery]], and finally as a [[slave ship]] in the [[triangular trade]] in enslaved people. She was lost in 1801, after she had delivered her captives to Kingston, Jamaica on her second voyage from Africa.

==Career==
''Caroline'' first appeared in ''[[Lloyd's Register]]'' (''LR'') in 1794.<ref name=LR1794>[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015004281237?urlappend=%3Bseq=86 ''LR'' (1794), "C" supple. pages.]</ref>

{| class=" wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Master
! Owner
! Trade
! Source
|-
| 1794
| M'Clanahan
| F.Hall
| London-Guadeloupe
| ''LR''
|-
| 1797
| M'Clanahan<br />G.Quested
| F.Hall<br />[[Samuel Enderby|S.Enderby]]
| London-Marinique<br />London–South Seas
| ''LR''
|-
|}

'''Whaler:''' [[Samuel Enderby & Sons]] purchased ''Caroline'' in 1796 and sent her to whale in the British southern whale fishery. Captain George Quested sailed in 1796, bound for the Pacific. In mid-1797 ''Caroline'' was at the Galapagos Islands. She returned to London on 21 October 1798.<ref>[https://whalinghistory.org/bv/voyages/ British Southern Whale Fishery Database – Voyages: ''Caroline''.]</ref>

During the voyage ''Caroline''{{'}}s master changed from Quested to Bristow,{{sfnp|Clayton|2014|p=83}} and it was Bristow who brought her into Gravesend. In 1799, Quested had replaced Abraham Bristow as master of {{ship||Speedy|1779 ship|2}}. Bristow had been master of ''Speedy'' between 1797 and 1798. Both ''Speedy'' and ''Caroline'' were sailing for Enderby.

''Caroline''{{'}}s ownership changed. Her new owners sailed her from [[Liverpool slave trade|Liverpool]] to carry captives from West Africa to the West Indies.

{| class=" wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Master
! Owner
! Trade
! Source
|-
| 1800
| W.Finlay
| S.Clarke
| Liverpool–Africa
| ''Register of Shipping'' (''RS'')
|-
|}

'''1st voyage transporting enslaved people (1799–1800):''' Captain William Findlay (or Finlay) acquired a [[letter of marque]] on 17 April 1799.<ref name=LoM/> He sailed for West Africa on 14 May 1799.<ref name=TAST80740/> In 1799, 156 vessels sailed from English ports to acquire and transport enslaved people; 134 of these vessels sailed from Liverpool.{{sfnp|Williams|1897|p=680}} ''Caroline'' acquired captives at [[Kingdom of Bonny|Bonny]] and arrived at Kingston, Jamaica, 9 November with 426 captives. She sailed from Kingston on 10 December and arrived back at Liverpool 27 January 1800. She had left Liverpool with 41 crew members and suffered three crew deaths on the voyage.<ref name=TAST80740>[https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/80740/variables Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – ''Caroline'' voyage #80740.]</ref>

'''2nd voyage transporting enslaved people (1800–1801):''' Captain Findlay sailed from Liverpool on 6 May 1800, bound for West Africa.<ref name=TAST80741/> In 1800, 133 vessels sailed from English ports to acquire and transport enslaved people; 120 of these vessels sailed from Liverpool.{{sfnp|Williams|1897|p=680}} ''Caroline'' left with 43 crew members. ''Caroline'' arrived at Kingston with 302 captives and 35 crew members. She had suffered four crew deaths on her voyage.<ref name=TAST80741>[https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/80741/variables Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – ''Caroline'' voyage #80741.]</ref>

==Fate==
On 2 February 1801 ''Caroline'', Finlay, master, was lost at Jamaica. Her crew were saved, as were the mails. ''Caroline'' had developed a leak as she set out that immediately overwhelmed the pumps, forcing the crew to abandon her. The [[Post Office packet service|packet]] {{ship||Princess Amelia|1799 packet|2}} took the mails to Falmouth.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Marine List|work=Lloyd's List|issue=4137|date=27 March 1801|hdl=2027/uc1.c2735020?urlappend=%3Bseq=57}}</ref> ''Princess Amelia'', Captain Bryant, sailed from Jamaica on 8 February and arrived at Falmouth on 22 March.<ref>"Ship News". ''Morning Post and Gazetteer'' (London, England), 27 March 1801; Issue 10155.</ref>

A key source reports that in 1801, 23 British vessels in the triangular trade were lost, though it does not report any as having been lost on the last or homeward leg of their voyage.{{sfnp|Inikori|1996|p=62}} It would take detailed research into vessels' individual histories to identify vessels lost homeward bound from the West Indies as [[Guineamen]], or not. Although ''Caroline'' was lost to the perils of the sea, 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 vessels engaged in the transportation of enslaved people.{{sfnp|Inikori|1996|p=58}}

==Citations==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{cite book | last=Clayton | first=J.M. | title=Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775-1815: An alphabetical list of ships | publisher=Jane M. Clayton | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-908616-52-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzMzAwAAQBAJ }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Inikori |first1=Joseph|year= 1996 |title= Measuring the unmeasured hazards of the Atlantic slave trade: Documents relating to the British trade |journal= Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer |volume=83 |issue=312|pages=53–92}}
* {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Gomer |year=1897 |title=History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade |publisher=W. Heinemann}}

{{1801 shipwrecks}}

[[Category:1792 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in France]]
[[Category:Captured ships]]
[[Category:Age of Sail merchant ships of England]]
[[Category:Whaling ships]]
[[Category:Liverpool slave ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1801]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Caribbean Sea]]