''Rosamond'' was launched at New York in 1771, probably as ''Rose''. She was renamed ''Rosamond'' in 1776. Between 1795 and 1800 she made four voyages as a Liverpool-based

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting Slavery, slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea ( ...

, carrying enslaved people from West Africa to the West Indies (the

Middle Passage The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of Africans sold for enslavement were forcibly transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manu ...

in the

triangular trade Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset ...

). She then became a

West Indiaman West Indiaman was a general name for any merchantman sailing ship making runs from the Old World to the West Indies and the east coast of the Americas. These ships were generally strong ocean-going ships capable of handling storms in the Atlantic ...

until in 1804 a French privateer captured her.

Career

''Rosamond'' first appeared in ''

Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited, trading as Lloyd's Register (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 ...

'' (''LR'') in 1776, with the entry showing her name change.''LR'' (1776), Seq.№R184.
/ref>

1st slave trading voyage (1795–1796)

Captain William Lace sailed from Liverpool on 7 October 1795, bound for Abriz, Angola. ''Rosamond'' started acquiring her slaves on 24 January 1796 and sailed from Ambriz on 8 June. She arrived at Dominica on 20 July with 323 slaves. She sailed from Dominica on 11 August, and arrived back at Liverpool on 8 October. She had left Liverpool with 23 crew members and she suffered four crew deaths on the voyage.

2nd slave trading voyage (1797)

Captain John Foulkes acquired a

letter of marque A letter of marque and reprisal () was a Sovereign state, government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or French corsairs, corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with t ...

on 7 January 1797. ''Rosamond'' sailed from Liverpool on 24 January, bound for West Africa. She arrived at Barbados on 4 November with 316 slaves. She left Barbados on 20 November and arrived back at Liverpool on 24 December. She had left Liverpool with 23 crew members and suffered one crew death on her voyage.Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – ''Rosamond'' voyage #83390.
/ref>

3rd slave trading voyage (1798–1799)

By one report, Captain Foulkes sailed from Liverpool on 14 May 1798, bound for West Africa. By another report, she was bound for Angola. Under the strictures of Dolben's Act, her legal capacity was 323 slaves. ''Rosamond'' arrived at Martinique on 20 March 1799 with 283 slaves. She arrived back at Liverpool on 28 June. She had left Liverpool with 28 crew members and suffered no crew deaths on the voyage.Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – ''Rosamond'' voyage #83391.
/ref>

4th slave trading voyage (1799–1800)

Captain Foulkes sailed from Liverpool on 28 September 1799, bound for West Africa. ''Rosamond'' arrived at Kingston, Jamaica, on 7 September 1800 with 317 slaves. She sailed from Kingston on 13 October, and arrived back at Liverpool on 17 December. She had sailed from Liverpool with 30 crew members and she had suffered two crew deaths on the voyage.

Fate

In May 1804 the French privateer ''Africaine'' was sailing from Havana with 358 French troops that had escaped from St. Domingo that she was carrying back to France. On her way, and shortly before being herself captured, ''Africaine'' captured two British merchant vessels, ''Rosamond'', of Glasgow, and the brig ''Chance'', of Jamaica. The entry for ''Rosamond'' in the issue of ''LR'' for 1805 bears the annotation "captured".''LR'' (1805), Sq.№R330.
/ref>

Citations

References

* {{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 1771 ships Ships built in the United States Age of Sail merchant ships of England Liverpool slave ships Captured ships