HMS Esperance (1795)
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HMS ''Esperance'' was launched in America in 1781, and is first listed in ''
Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited (LR) is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and ...
'' in 1784 under the name ''Clementina''. She then served as a
slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...
, sailing out of Liverpool on two slave trading voyages. In 1786 Brent and Co. purchased her, renamed her ''Ellis'', and sailed her for three more voyages as a slaver. In 1793 she became the privateer ''Ellis''. The French captured her, then the Spanish, and then the French recaptured her. After returning to French ownership, she became the
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
''Esperance''. The
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
captured her in 1795 and took her into service as HMS ''Esperance''. Thus, in her career, ''Esperance'' had changed hands six times. She was sold in 1798.


Early history

The vessel that became ''Esperance'' was built in America and launched in 1781, probably under the name ''Clementina''. She first appeared in ''Lloyd's Register'' in 1783. 1st slave trading voyage (1783–1784): Captain John Elworthy sailed from Liverpool on 19 September 1783. ''Clementina'' acquired her slaves in Congo North and arrived at Charleston on 29 March 1784 with 440 slaves. She sailed from Charleston on 2 July 1784 and arrived back at Liverpool on 5 August 1784. She had left Liverpool with 42 crew members and she suffered seven crew deaths on her voyage. 2nd slave trading voyage (1784–1785): Captain Elworthy sailed from Liverpool on 7 December 1784. ''Clementina'' acquired her slaves at Bonny and arrived at Kingston, Jamaica on 3 June 1785 with 422. She sailed from Kingston on 24 July and arrived back at Liverpool on 16 September. She had left Liverpool with 44 crew members and she suffered 19 crew deaths on the voyage. In 1786 Bent & Co. purchased ''Clementina'' and renamed her ''Ellis'', presumably after Ellis Bent, one of her owners. She remained in the slave trade. 3rd slave trading voyage (1786–1788): Captain John Ford sailed from Liverpool on 19 April 1786. ''Ellis'' acquired her slaves at Calabar and delivered then to Grenada. She arrived at Grenada on 4 April 1788 with 33 slaves. She left Grenada on 19 May and arrived back at Liverpool on 24 June. She had left Liverpool with 50 crew members and suffered 20 crew deaths over her journey of 716 days. Between her return and her next voyage, ''Ellis'' was almost completely rebuilt, and from the change in subsequent reports of her burthen, enlarged. 4th slave trading voyage (1789–1791): Captain Joseph Matthews sailed from Liverpool on 3 June 1789 and arrived in Africa on 8 October. ''Ellis'' gathered her slaves first at Cape Coast Castle and then at
Anomabu Anomabu, also spelled Anomabo and formerly as Annamaboe, is a town on the coast of the Mfantsiman Municipal District of the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of South Ghana. Anomabu has a Human settlements, settlement population of 14,389 pe ...
. She arrived at the island of St Vincent with 389 slaves, and landed 380. At some point Captain Thomas Given replaced Matthews as he was her master when she arrived at St Vincent. ''Ellis'' sailed from St Vincent on 17 February 1791 and arrived back at Liverpool on 30 March. She had left Liverpool with 42 crew members and she suffered five crew deaths on her voyage. 5th slave trading voyage (1791–1792): Captain Given sailed from Liverpool on 29 June 1791 and arrived in Africa on 24 August. She gathered her slaves at Bonny and sailed from Africa on 11 November. She arrived at Montego Bay on 5 January 1792. She had embarked 400 slaves and arrived with 346. She sailed from Montego Bay on 6 February and arrived back at Liverpool on 24 March. She had left Liverpool with 30 crew embers and suffered four crew deaths on her voyage. There is a parallel record, also for 1791–1792, that ''Ellis'' under the command of Thomas Heart, and with the same itinerary. It, however, records ''Ellis'' as embarking 464 slaves and arriving with 455. There is no evidence in ''
Lloyd's List ''Lloyd's List'' is one of the world's oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. It was published daily until 2013 (when the final print issue, number 60,850, was published), and is ...
''s ship arrival and departure data for the period of any vessel with Heart, master. The history of ''Clementina''/''Ellis'', as outlined in ''Lloyd's Register'' is at the end of the article in the section ''Lloyd's Register''. The entries in ''Lloyd's Register'' are broadly consistent with respect to masters' names and years with those from the database on slave voyages. In 1793, Bent & Co. decided to use ''Ellis'' as a privateer. ''Ellis'', with John Levingston as master, received a letter of marque on 3 June 1793.


Three times captured (1793)

The French
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
''Gracieuse'', under the command of Captain Chevillard, captured ''Ellis'' on 22 July 1793. The French took her into service as ''Elise''. Later that summer the Spanish captured her. In November ownership returned to the French who renamed her ''Esperance''. On 8 June 1794, ''Esperance'' arrived in Jacmel,
Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...
(present-day
Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
), from France with the official proclamation of the abolition of slavery,Bell (2007), p.108. which
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax Léger-Félicité Sonthonax (7 March 1763 – 23 July 1813) was a French abolitionist and Jacobin before joining the Girondist party, which emerged in 1791. During the French Revolution, he controlled 7,000 French troops in Saint-Domingue during pa ...
, as one of the Civil Commissioners of Saint-Domingue, had already unilaterally declared for the French colony the year before amid a slave rebellion and attacks from British and Spanish forces. Ironically, ''Esperance'' also brought the news to the Civil Commissioners that the
National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...
had impeached them on 16 July 1793 and ordered them to return promptly to France.


Capture (1795)

On 8 January 1795, , under the command of Captain Alexander John Ball, captured ''Esperance'' on the North America station. ''Esperance'' was armed with 22 guns (4 and 6-pounders), and had a crew of 130 men. She was under the command of ''lieutenant de vaisseau'' De St. Laurent and had been out 56 days from
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, bound for the Chesapeake. ''Argonaut'' shared the prize money with , under Captain Robert Murray. The French ambassador to the United States registered a complaint with the President of the United States that ''Argonaut'', by entering
Lynnhaven Lynnhaven is one of the seven original boroughs created when the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia was formed in 1963. It is located in the North Central portion of the city. This area was originally located at the mouth of the Lynnhaven Bay inlet. ...
bay, either before she captured ''Esperance'' or shortly thereafter, had violated a treaty between France and the United States.President (1815), pp.38–9. The French also accused the British of having brought ''Esperance'' into Lynnhaven for refitting for a cruise. The President passed the complaint to the Secretary of State, who forwarded the complaint to the Governor of Virginia. The Governor inquired into the matter of the British Consul at
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. The British Consul replied that the capture had taken place some 10 leagues off shore. The weather had forced ''Argonaut'' and her prize to shelter within the Chesapeake for some days, but that they had left as soon as practicable. Furthermore, ''Argonaut'' had paroled her French prisoners when she came into Lynnhaven, and if she had entered American territorial waters solely to parole her French prisoners no one would have thought that objectionable. The authorities in Virginia took a number of depositions but ultimately nothing further came of the matter.


Royal Navy service

Because she was captured in good order and sailed well, Rear Admiral George Murray, the British commander in chief of the North American station, put a British crew aboard and sent ''Esperance'' out on patrol with , under the command of John Poo Beresford, on 31 January. On 1 March the two vessels captured the ''Cocarde Nationale'' (or ''National Cockade''), a privateer from
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
, of 14 guns, six swivels and 80 men. ''Esperance'' and ''Lynx'' recaptured the ship ''Norfolk'', of
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
, and the brig ''George'', of
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. On 20 July, ''Esperance'', in company with the frigates and , intercepted the American vessel ''Cincinnatus'', of Wilmington, sailing from Ireland to Wilmington. They pressed many men on board, narrowly exempting the Irish revolutionary
Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone ( ga, Bhulbh Teón; 20 June 176319 November 1798), was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members in Belfast and Dublin of the United Irishmen, a republican socie ...
, who was going to Philadelphia. ''Esperance'' was formally commissioned into the Royal Navy in August under Commander
Jonas Rose Captain Jonas Rose was a Royal Navy officer during the American Revolutionary, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He commanded at the Battles of Copenhagen in 1801 and 1807, and the operations in the Baltic that followed. On 16 June 180 ...
. On 4 May 1796 ''Esperance'' was sailing in company with and when they sighted a suspicious vessel. ''Spencer'' set off in chase while shortly thereafter ''Esperance'' saw two vessels, a schooner and a sloop, and she and ''Bonetta'' set off after them. ''Spencer'' sailed south-southeast and the other two British vessels sailed southwest by west, with the result that they lost sight of each other. ''Spencer'' captured the French gun-brig ''Volcan'', while ''Bonetta'' and ''Esperance'' captured the schooner ''Poisson Volant''. ''Poisson Volant'' was sailing from
Aux Cayes Les Cayes ( , ), often referred to as Aux Cayes (; ht, Okay), is a commune and seaport in the Les Cayes Arrondissement, in the Sud department of Haiti, with a population of 71,236. Due to its isolation from the political turmoil of the capital, ...
to New York and turned out to be the former that two French privateers had captured in June 1795 while she was on her way to Jamaica. At the time of her recapture she had some eight or ten days earlier met with the French ship ''Concorde''. She was under the command of a sub-lieutenant from ''Concorde'' and had a crew of 38 men. ''Poisson Volant''s crew had cut down her gunwales and thrown some of her guns overboard during the chase.


Fate

''Esperance'' arrived at Portsmouth on 3 November 1797 and was paid off. On 31 May 1798 the Admiralty listed for sale "the ''Esperance'' Sloop, Burthen 325 tons". She was sold on 7 June 1798 for £600.


''Lloyd's Register''


Notes


Citations


References

* * * * * * Léger, Jacques Nicolas (1907) ''Haiti, her history and her detractors''. (New York, Washington, The Neale Pub. Co.). *Palmer, William Pitt; Sherwin McRae; Raleigh Edward Colston; Henry W Flournoy; Virginia (1875–1893) "Calendar of Virginia State papers and other manuscripts : ... preserved in the Capitol at Richmond". (Richmond : R.F. Walker). * (1671-1870) *United States. President.; United States. Dept. of State (1815) "State papers and publick documents of the United States from the accession of George Washington to the presidency, exhibiting a complete view of our foreign relations since that time ... ". (Boston, Printed and published by T.B. Wait & Sons). * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esperance (1795) Corvettes of the Royal Navy 1781 ships Corvettes of the French Navy Privateer ships of Great Britain Captured ships Liverpool slave ships