''William'' was a merchant vessel built in France in 1770 or 1771. From 1791 she made numerous voyages as a

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...

in the southern whale fishery. She also made one voyage in 1793 transporting supplies from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. She then resumed whaling, continuing until 1809.

Career

''William'' first entered ''

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 ...

'' in 1786. The table below recapitulates information from ''Lloyd's Register'' for ''William'', built in France in 1770. Lieutenant John Ralph Moss RN became ''William's'' master in January 1791. Sailing from London on 25 February, she was driven ashore at Sheerness with many others by a sudden blizzard.She finally departed for the South Sea from the Downs on 3 April.''William'' proceeded first to Delagoa Bay in Southeast Africa, where she was reported on 28 August. By 18 January 1792 she was spoken with north of the Falkland Islands, so she had doubled both capes by the time she arrived in the Pacific, where she touched at the Juan Fernandez Islands later that month. She was reported on the coast of Peru in April and September, and called again at the Juan Fernandez Islands in November for firewood and fresh provisions to counter scurvy. She passed Gravesend inbound on 21 April 1793 with 141 tuns of

sperm oil Sperm oil (see also: Spermaceti) is a waxy liquid obtained from sperm whales. It is a clear, yellowish liquid with a very faint odor. Sperm oil has a different composition from common whale oil, obtained from rendered blubber. Although it is tr ...

, five tuns of whale oil, and 2347 seal skins. Under the command of William Folger, she sailed from England via

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

, Ireland, on 21 September 1793, with 2080 barrels of beef and pork, the Colony's new Assistant Chaplain, Rev.

Samuel Marsden Samuel Marsden (25 June 1765 – 12 May 1838) was an English-born priest of the Church of England in Australia and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society. He played a leading role in bringing Christianity to New Zealand. Marsden w ...

, and one female convict. ''William'' arrived at

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, on 10 March 1794. After unloading her goods, she purportedly left for China. There is some confusion about her ownership and later role on this voyage. ''Lloyd's Register'' gave her owner as

Samuel Enderby & Sons Samuel Enderby & Sons was a whaling and Seal hunting, sealing company based in London, England, founded circa 1775 by Samuel Enderby (1717–1797). The company was significant in the history of whaling in the United Kingdom, not least for encou ...

. A database of whaling voyages gives her owner as Mather & Co.,British Southern Whale Fishery Database – voyages: ''William''.
/ref> but also lists Enderbys as her owners from 1791 on. Both sources agree that she was a whaler. Apparently, ''William'' went whaling off Peru instead of going to China. She was reported off the coast of Peru, and then on the coast of Chile in November 1794. She returned to Britain on 29 November 1795 with 64 tuns of

, 57 tuns of whale oil, and 32 cwt of whale bone. On 12 April 1796, Captain George Fitch sailed ''William'' for the South Seas whaling grounds. She was reported to have been off Massafuero (Más Afuera) Island in August. Then at

Chatham Island Chatham Island ( ) ( Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) is the largest island of the Chatham Islands group, in the south Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is said to be "halfway between the equator and the pole, a ...

(Galapagos) on 6 November. She was in company with ''Greenwich'' between February and May 1797 at the Galapagos. On 8 July ''Williams'' was at Cape Corrientes (Mexico). She was off Chile on 21 November. Then she was off Bahia (possibly

Bahía de Banderas Bahía de Banderas (, Spanish language, Spanish for ''Bay of Flags'') is a bay on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, within the Mexican states of Jalisco and Nayarit, being the westernmost municipality in Nayarit. It is also the name of an administrati ...

), California, in January 1798 bound for the Galapagos and then

Easter Island Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

. She was reported at

St Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

shortly before she returned to England on 10 July 1798. Fitch made another whaling voyage in ''William'', sailing to Peru in 1798. ''William'', , and returned from Peru together. On 27 December 1800 they were 25 leagues west of Scilly when they encountered a 20-gun French privateer. In the ensuing engagement ''Cornwall'' took many shots to her hull. By the time the French privateer sailed off ''Cornwall'' had eleven feet of water in her hold and was quite water-logged. The engagement had lasted five hours and the whalers arrived at Falmouth on the 28th.''

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 i ...

'
2 January 1801, №4116.
/ref> ''William'' returned to Gravesend on 4 January 1801.''

'
(''LL'') 6 January 1801, №4117.
/ref> On 4 March 1801 Captain Robert Poole received 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 ...

for ''William''. Poole left Britain on 20 March. ''William'' was reported off the coast of Brazil in November. Later, she was reported at St Helena. She returned to Britain on 25 May 1802. The ''Register of Shipping'' for 1802 showed ''William''s master changing from Poole to J. Cottle. Her owner was still S. Enderby, and her trade was still the South Seas Fishery.''Register of Shipping'' (1802), №W182.
/ref> Obediah Cottle (or Catterell) sailed from Britain on 22 August, bound for the Pacific. ''William'' was reported to have been in the Pacific in November 1803 and March 1804, and at St Helena on 23 December. She returned to Britain on 21 March 1805.

Fate

''William'' was last listed in the ''Register of Shipping'' in 1809.

Citations

References

* * {{cite book , last1=Clayton , first1=Jane M , year=2014 , title=Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775–1815: An alphabetical list of ships , publisher=Berforts Group , isbn=9781908616524 1770 ships Ships built in France Age of Sail merchant ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Convict ships to New South Wales Whaling ships Sealing ships