Nelly (1798 ship)

Nelly was launched at Liverpool in 1798. She initially sailed as a West Indiaman. From 1803 she made two complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Spanish privateers captured her in 1805 while she was on her third slave voyage after she had embarked slaves.

History
Great Britain
NameElizabeth
Launched1798, Liverpool
Captured1805
General characteristics
Tons burthen285,[1] or 289, or 310[2] (bm)
Complement
Armament
  • 1799: 10 × 9-pounder guns[2]
  • 1800: 16 × 9-pounder guns[2]
  • 1805: 22 × 9&18-pounder cannons[2]

Career

Nelly first appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1799.[1] Captain Seacom Ellison acquired a letter of marque on 20 March 1799.[2]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1799 S.Ellison Harper & Co Liverpool–Martinique LR
1800 S.Ellison
C.Lawson		 Harper & Co Liverpool–Martinique LR

1st slave voyage (1800–1801): Captain Caesar Lawson acquired a letter of marque on 26 May 1800.[2] He sailed on 24 June. He acquired slaves at Bonny and arrived at Dominica on 24 November with 289. Nelly sailed from Dominica on 7 February 1801 and arrived back at Liverpool on 21 March. She had left Liverpool with 41 crew members and had suffered six crew deaths on her voyage.[3]

2nd slave voyage (1802–1803): Captain John Lawson sailed from Liverpool on 14 January 1802. When he sailed the Peace of Amiens was about to take effect and so he did not acquire a letter of marque. He acquired slaves at Badagry, stopped at São Tomé, and arrived at Demerara on 9 October with 283 slaves. Nelly sailed from Demerara on 3 December and arrived back at Liverpool on 12 February 1802. She had left Liverpool with 30 crew members and had suffered six crew deaths on her voyage.[4][lower-alpha 1]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1804 C.Dawson Harper & Co. Cork LR
1805 C.Dawson
J.Seldon		 Harper & Co.
Hinde & Co.		 Cork
Liverpool–Africa		 LR

3rd slave voyage (1805–loss): Captain James Seldon acquired a letter of marque on 14 March 1805.[2] He sailed on 28 April 1805 and gathered slaves at Ambriz.[6]

Fate

In December 1805, Lloyd's List reported that Elizabeth, Hensley, master, and Nelly, Selden, master, had been captured at Angola.[7] They were among the seven vessels off the Congo River that had fallen prey to a privateer.[lower-alpha 2] The privateer was described as being of 22 guns and 350 men. Nelly's captor sent her to the River Plate.[8]

A second report named the captors as L'Orient, of 14 guns, and Dromedario, of 22 guns. The captured vessels arrived in the River Plate before 12 November.[9] Nelly arrived at Montevideo with 19 enslaved people; she had only embarked 20 before the Spanish captured her. She had left Liverpool with 50 crew members and arrived at Montevideo with 51, although she had suffered 10 crew member deaths on her voyage.

Spanish records report that in June 1805, Viceroy Sobremonte, of Argentina, issued two letters of marque, one for Dolores (24 guns), Currand, master, and Berro y Errasquin, owner, and one for Dromedario (20 guns), Hippolito Mordel, master, and Canuerso y Masini, owner. The two sailed for the African coast, looking to capture enslaving ships. In three months of cruising Dolores captured three ships and one brig, carrying a total 600 enslaved people. Dromedario captured five ships, carrying a total of 500 enslaved people.[10]

In 1805, 30 British slave ships were lost. Thirteen were lost on the coast of Africa.[11] During the period 1793 to 1807, war, rather than maritime hazards or slave resistance, was the greatest cause of vessel losses among British slave vessels.[12]

Notes
  1. Captain John Lawson next sailed Horatio on a slave voyage. He died on 19 November 1804.[5]
  2. Among the other vessels were Active, Clarendon, Rebecca, and William.

Citations
  1. LR (1798), Seq.no.N226.
  2. "Letter of Marque, p.79 – Retrieved 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  3. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Nelly voyage #82896.
  4. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Nelly voyage #82897.
  5. Behrendt (1990), p. 138.
  6. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Nelly voyage #82898.
  7. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4278. 10 December 1805. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735022.
  8. "LIVERPOOL, DEC. 26". 28 December 1805, Lancaster Gazetter (Lancaster, England), Volume: 5, Issue: 237.
  9. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4294. 4 February 1806. hdl:2027/mdp.39015005721496.
  10. Anon. (1864), p. 19.
  11. Inikori (1996), p. 62.
  12. Inikori (1996), p. 58.

References
  • Anon. (1864). "History of the Argentine Republic: First English invasions, 1804–1806". River Plate Magazine. Buenos Aires Typographical Society. 2: 17–21.
  • Behrendt, Stephen D. (1990). "The Captains in the British slave trade from 1785 to 1807" (PDF). Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 140.
  • 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. doi:10.3406/outre.1996.3457.
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