Wasp (1809 ship)

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History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameWasp
NamesakeWasp
BuilderHull
Launched1809
General characteristics
Tonnage
  • Originally:267;[3] (bm)
  • Post-1812: 319,[1] or 31965⁄94[2] (bm)
PropulsionSails
Sail planBrig
Complement
Armament
  • 1809:12 × 12-pounder carronades
  • 1814:12 × 12-pounder guns of the new construction
  • 1817: 4 guns[2]

Wasp was launched at Hull in 1809. She traded as a West Indiaman and in 1812 she was lengthened, which increased her burthen to 319 tons. This does not appear in the issues of Lloyd's Register that are the basis for the table below, but does appear in a different volume of a Register of Shipping.[4] After the commencement of the War of 1812 she sailed under a letter of marque that too recorded her burthen as 319 tons.

  • Letter of marque: Edward Archer[1]
  • Letter of marque: John Crabtree[1]

Wasp and Crabtree arrived at St Thomas on 10 January 1814. Crabtree reported that the day before he had encountered an American privateer west of Saba but that it had sailed away when he gave chase, fearing that Wasp was a warship. On 11 January, the British merchantman Hibernia, of 22 men and six guns, Lennon, master, too encountered the privateer. The privateer was Comet, of 14 guns and 125 men, Boyle, master. After an intense 9-hour single-ship action that left one man killed on Hibernia, and 11 wounded, Hibernia succeeded in driving Comet off. Comet had three men killed and eight men wounded.[5]

On 12 October 1817 Wasp, John Ware, master, and Thomas Staniforth and Thomas Blunt, owners, received a license at Gibraltar from the British East India Company. The license authorized Wasp to trade with India. Then on 29 December 1818 they received a license again, but this time at Malta. Each license only cost £5.[2] Wasp left Calcutta on 5 April 1818, bound for Gibraltar and Malta.[6]

In 1820 Wasp changed owners and thereafter made one voyage as a whaler.[7] The outcome and duration are currently obscure. Wasp is no longer listed after 1827.

The data in the table below are from Lloyd's Register. The information is only as accurate as owners bothered to keep it updated.

Year Master Owner Trade Notes
1809 J.Shepherd Staniforth Hull-London 12 × 12-pounder carronades
1810 Grieson Staniforth London-Haiti 12 × 12-pounder carronades
1811 Grieson
E.Archer 		Staniforth London-Haiti
London Santo Domingo 		12 × 12-pounder carronades
1812 E. Archer Staniforth London-Santo Domingo
London-Malta 		12 × 12-pounder carronades
1813 E. Archer
Crabtree 		Staniforth London 12 × 12-pounder carronades
1814 Crabtree
Dalziel 		Staniforth London
London-Jamaica 		12 × 12-pounder guns of the new construction
1815 Dalzeil
J. Ware 		Staniforth London-Jamaica 12 × 12-pounder guns of the new construction
1816 J. Ware Staniforth Plymouth-West Indies
1818 J. Ware Staniforth London
1819 J. Ware Staniforth London
1820 J. Ware
Harris 		Staniforth
Birnie 		London-South Seas Fishery
1821 E. Harris Birnie (or Burnie) London-South Seas Fishery
1822 Harris Birnie London-South Seas Fishery
1823 Harris Birnie London-South Seas Fishery
1824 Harris Birnie London-South Seas Fishery
1825 Harris Birnie London-South Seas Fishery
1826 Harris Birnie London-South Seas Fishery
1827 Harris Birnie London-South Seas Fishery

Citations[]

  1. ^ a b c d – Letter of Marque against the United States. Accessed 20 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d House of Lords, Sessional Papers (1801-1833), First Report of the Select Committee (1825), Appendix C, p.374.
  3. ^ Lloyd's Register (1827), Seq.№361.
  4. ^ Register of Shipping (1820).
  5. ^ Naval Chronicle, Vol. 31, p.192.
  6. ^ Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India (November 1818), p.535.
  7. ^ [https://whalinghistory.org/bv/voyages/ British Southern Whale Fishery Database – voyages: Wasp.
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