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''Antelope'' was a 
Captain Contemporary account of the event.
/ref> Captain Wilson sailed from Macao to Canton, where he sold his ship for $700. He returned to England with Prince Lee Boo on the East Indiaman , and they arrived on 14 July 1784. Prince Lee Boo died of smallpox five. months after arriving in England. The painter Arthur William Devis was a passenger on ''Antelope'' when she wrecked. ''Antelope''s compass, which Capt. Henry Wilson had given to one of the local chiefs, was later handed over to a crew member of ''Mentor''. A violent storm in 1832 had wrecked ''Mentor'' on Lord North's Island.
packet ship
Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed mainly for domestic mail and freight transport in European countries and in North American rivers and canals. Eventually including basic passenger accommodation, they were used extensively during t ...
built for the British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
(EIC) in 1781. She made one voyage for the company that ended when she was wrecked on 10 August 1783 off Ulong, near Koror Island
Koror is the state comprising the main commercial centre of the Republic of Palau. It consists of several islands, the most prominent being Koror Island (also ''Oreor Island''). It is Palau’s most populous state.
History
In the oral tradition of ...
in Palau
Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...
. This resulted in the first sustained European contact with those islands.
Captain Henry Wilson
Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was the 18th vice president of the United States, serving from 1873 until his death in 1875, and a United States Senate, senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...
left the Downs on 6 February 1781 to carry despatches to China via the Pacific route. However, ''Antelope'' did not leave Falmouth until 2 September. On 16 December she was off Cape San Diego, Argentina, and then on 2 January 1782 she was off Cape Horn
Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...
. She reached the Sulu Sea
The Sulu Sea (; Tausug: ''Dagat sin Sūg''; ; ) is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipela ...
on 23 April, Cageyan Sulu on 30 April, Balambangan
Balambangan Island () is an island in Kudat Division, Sabah, Malaysia. It is located off the northern tip of Borneo and is situated just about 3 kilometres west of Banggi Island. It is now part of the Tun Mustapha Marine Park.
History
Alexand ...
on 14 May, and arrived at Macao on 4 June. On 16 September 1782 ''Antelope'' left Calcutta.
She left Macao on 20 July 1783 and wrecked on 10 August on the reef near the Pelew Islands. They then spent some time on Oroolong Island (today Ulong Island
Ulong is a major island and channel of western Palau. It is sometimes called Aulong and originally written Oroolong in English. Ulong is regarded by many as one of the best drift dives in the world.
Geography
Ngerumekaol Pass, also known as Ulon ...
) before natives from other Palau islands found them (Oroolong being little used).
One contemporary report gave the location of the wreck at about . However, this is east of Palau, and Ulong is west of Palau at about . ''Antelope''s reckoning appears to have been off by some 26 miles.
With the assistance of the natives, Wilson and his crew used boards from ''Antelope'', and new materials, to build a boat, which they called the ''Oroolong''. Wilson brought with him Prince Lee Boo, and left behind Madan Blanchard, a seaman who chose not to leave. Blanchard died in an engagement with locals sometime before 1790.
They left the island on 12 November and arrived on 30 November back at Macao./ref> Captain Wilson sailed from Macao to Canton, where he sold his ship for $700. He returned to England with Prince Lee Boo on the East Indiaman , and they arrived on 14 July 1784. Prince Lee Boo died of smallpox five. months after arriving in England. The painter Arthur William Devis was a passenger on ''Antelope'' when she wrecked. ''Antelope''s compass, which Capt. Henry Wilson had given to one of the local chiefs, was later handed over to a crew member of ''Mentor''. A violent storm in 1832 had wrecked ''Mentor'' on Lord North's Island.
Notes
Citations
References
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Antelope (1781 EIC packet ship) 1780 ships Ships of the British East India Company Age of Sail ships of England History of Palau Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Maritime incidents in 1783 Age of Sail merchant ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom