|
''Seringapatam'' was built in 1799, of teak, as a warship for Tippu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore. However, the British stormed his citadel at Seringapatam that year and he was killed in the action. The vessel was sailed to England in the hopes that the Admiralty would buy it. The Admiralty did not, and British merchants bought her to use as a whaler. She made several voyages to the Southern Atlantic and the Pacific until 1813, when during the War of 1812, a US frigate captured her. She served briefly as a tender to the frigate before mutineers and British prisoners recaptured her and sailed to Australia. After her return to her owners, she continued to trade until 1850, sailing between London and the South Seas and Australia. ==Whaler== Between 1800 and 1811 or so, ''Seringapatam'' sailed under a sequence of four letters of marque. She was registered on ''Lloyd's Register'' in 1801 with sequence number S215, and her age was noted as two years old.〔''Lloyd's Register of Shipping'' (1801).〕 ''Lloyd's List'' reported in January 1801 that she had been at Rio de Janeiro, having sailed in company with a several ships of the East India Company. She was one of the vessels in the convoy at the Action of 4 August 1800, when and the East Indiaman ''Exeter'' captured the French frigates ''Concorde'' and ''Médée''.〔''Lloyd's List'', 16 January 1801() - accessed 11 November 2013.〕 In 1804, under Captain John Bird, ''Seringapatam'' visited the Kerguelen Islands as part of a flotilla of eight vessels on a sealing voyage from London.〔Headland (1989), p.94.〕 At the time she was owned by the merchant William Mellish. Over the years, ''Seringapatam'' was reported to be well at the Galapagos Islands, off Peru, near Cape Horn, etc. In September 1810 she was off the coast of Peru with 420 barrels of whale oil.〔''Lloyd's List'' 22 January 1811() - accessed 11 November 2013.〕 In March 1812 ''Seringapatam'', still owned by William Melish and under the command of Captain William Stavers,〔''The register of shipping for 1813'', p.1812.〕 sailed for the South Atlantic. (Her crew included John Stavers as Mate and Francis Stavers as gunner.) She then sailed towards the Galapagos Islands via Cape Horn. At the time of her capture ''Seringapatam'' did not have a letter of marque in hand as she had left before the outbreak of war with the United States and as she did not expect to encounter any French vessels. She carried 14 guns on her spar deck; she was pierced to carry guns on her gun deck, but did not carry any there. Although she did not have a letter of marque in hand, she nevertheless, on her way, captured the ''Edward'' of Nantucket, which was carrying 1200 barrels of oil, and sent her in to London as a prize.〔''Literary Panorama'' (1815), clmns. 801-4.〕 ''Edward'' was an American South Seaman, Woodward, master, and she arrived in the Downs on 14 June 1813.〔''Lloyd's List'', 18 June 1813.() - accessed 11 November 2013.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Seringapatam (1799 ship)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|
