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Union (1805 ship)

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History
United Kingdom
NameUnion
Launched1805, Liverpool
FateLast listed in the mid-1820s
General characteristics
Tons burthen216[1][2] (bm)
Complement
Armament
  • 1808: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 16 × 9-pounder carronades[2]
  • 1809: 14 × 9-pounder cannons[2]
  • 1810: 10 × 9-pounder carronades

Union was launched at Liverpool in 1805. She made three voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She transported at least 743 captives to the West Indies and South Carolina. After the end of British participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade she then became a West Indiaman. Union was last listed in the mid-1820s.

Career

[edit]

Union first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1805.[1]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1805 J.Tucker Thompson Liverpool–Africa LR

1st enslaving voyage (1805–1806): Captain Joseph Tucker sailed from Liverpool on 18 March 1805. Union acquired captives in the Congo River region and arrived with 243 captives at Suriname on 7 October 1805. She sailed from Suriname on 27 February 1806, and arrived back at Liverpool on 14 April. She had left Liverpool with 41 crew members and had suffered five crew deaths on her voyage.[3]

2nd enslaving voyage (1806–1807): Captain Tucker sailed from Liverpool on 9 June 1806. Union gathered captives in the Congo River region and arrived with 312 captives on 28 November 1806 at Charleston.[4][5]

In December 1803, the South Carolina General Assembly voted to reopen the African slave trade. Concern with the spread of yellow fever had caused the Assembly to suspend the slave trade. The Medical Society of South Carolina relaxed quarantine measures, prioritizing reopening the slave trade over public health.[6] The Medical Society argued that the fever was not imported (correct), and not contagious. Later it was discovered that the disease was not directly contagious, but was mosquito-borne, and so indirectly contagious, and that quarantine would help reduce the spread.

Union left Charleston on 26 January 1807 and arrived back at Liverpool on 19 March. She had left Liverpool with 36 crew members and had suffered two crew deaths on her voyage.[4]

The act for the abolition of the slave trade had passed Parliament and had received Royal Assent in March 1807. It took effect on 1 May 1807. However, vessels that had before 1 May received clearance to sail were still permitted to still sail.

3rd enslaving voyage (1807–1808): Captain Tucker sailed from Liverpool on 25 May 1807. Union acquired captives at Cape Coast Castle and Accra, and arrived on 16 February 1808 at Kingston with 228 captives. She sailed from Kingston on 7 July, and arrived back at Liverpool on 16 August. She had left Liverpool with 38 crew members and had suffered seven crew deaths on her voyage.[7]

Union then became a West Indiaman.

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1808 J.Tucker
J.Phillips
Thompson
H.Mulban
Liverpool–Africa
Liverpool–Hayti
LR

Captain James Phillips acquired a letter of marque on 10 October 1808.[2]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1809 J.Phillips
J.Brown
H.Mulban Liverpool–Hayti LR

Captain John Brown acquired a letter of marque on 19 October 1809.[2]

Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1810 J.Brown J.Leigh Liverpool–Barbados LR
1811 J.Brown
Smith
J.Leigh Liverpool–Barbados
London–Suriname
LR
1813 Smith
W.Kendall
Faith & Co. London–Suriname
London–Grenada
LR
1818 J.Fullarton Faith & Co. Cork–Dublin LR
1819 W.Stewart Sands & Co. Cork–Limerick LR; damages repaired 1818
1822 W.Steward Sands & Co. Cork–Limerick LR; damages repaired 1818

Lloyd's Register carried Union with unchanged data until 1826. The Register of Shipping (RS) had discrepant data.

Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1818 Fulvister G. Faith Plymouth–San Domingo RS
1819 Steward G.Faith Liverpool–Quebec RS

This data continued unchanged until the Register of Shipping last listed Union in 1824.

Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ a b LR (1805), Supple.pages "UV", Seq.No.UV25.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Letter of Marque, p.91 – Retrieved 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  3. ^ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Union voyage #83904.
  4. ^ a b Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Union voyage #83905.
  5. ^ Smith (2013), p.139.
  6. ^ Smith (2013), p. 1.
  7. ^ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Union voyage #83906.

References

[edit]
  • Smith, Benjamin Allen (2013). Impatient and pestilent: epidemic disease and the reopening of the slave trade in early republic South Carolina (MA). Univ. of Georgia.