Neptune (1797 ship)

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History
Great Britain
NameNeptune
BuilderPatrick Beatson, Quebec[1]
Launched1797
CapturedMay 1809
General characteristics [2]
Tons burthen363,[1] or 364[3] (bm)
Length117 ft (36 m), or 111 ft (34 m)[1]
Beam27 ft (8 m)[1]

Neptune, launched in 1797, was the first ship built in Quebec after the British occupation. She sailed to England where she became a West Indiaman. A French privateer captured her in 1809.

Career[edit]

Neptune was the first ship built in Quebec after the British occupation.[4][2] She sailed to England where she became a West Indiaman. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1798.[3]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1798 Patterson Davidson London–Quebec LR
1800 J.Mason Thelluson London–Martinique LR
1806 J.Mason
Brown
Thelluson
Brown & Co.
London–Martinique
London–Jamaica
LR
1807 Brown
A.J.Wilson
Brown
W.Forbes
London–Jamaica
Liverpool–St Thomas
LR
1809 A.Wilson W.Forbes Liverpool–St Thomas LR

Fate[edit]

Prior to 17 May 1809, the French corvette Mouche, of 16 guns and 150 men, was cruising some 100 miles from Scilly . Mouche captured:

  • the Spanish ship Neptune,
  • Neptune, Wilson, master, sailing from Liverpool to the West Indies,
  • Success, of and for Jersey, from St Michaels,
  • Betsey, of Bridport, from the Canaries,
  • a Swedish brig, and
  • a Portuguese brig.

Mouche put the captured crews aboard Betsey and let them leave.[5]

LR for 1809 carried the annotation "captured" by Neptune's name.[6] The Register of Shipping for 1809 carried Neptune, Wilson, master, built in Quebec; she was no longer listed in 1810.

Mouche appears to have captured two vessels named Neptune, both with Wilson, master. The second Neptune, of 300 tons, Thomas Wilson, master, was sailing from Lancaster to St Thomas when Mouche captured her on 22 April. The passengers who were left on board and some Spaniards of the prize crew recaptured her and took her into Madeira on 5 May. She continued to appear in subsequent issues of LR and the Register of Shipping.

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Marcil (1995), p. 367.
  2. ^ a b Wallace (1929), p. 198.
  3. ^ a b LR (2798), Seq.No.N256.
  4. ^ Gale (1920), p. 156.
  5. ^ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4355. 23 May 1809. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735024.
  6. ^ LR (1809), Seq.No.198.

References[edit]

  • Gale, George (1920). Historic Tales of Old Quebec. Telegraph Printing Company.
  • Marcil, Eileen Reed (1995). The Charley-Man: a history of wooden shipbuilding at Quebec 1763-1893. Kingston, Ontario: Quarry. ISBN 1-55082-093-1.
  • Wallace, Frederick William (1929). Record of Canadian shipping: a list of square-rigged vessels, mainly 500 tons and over, built in the eastern provinces of British North America from the year 1786 to 1920.

Historic Tales of Old Quebec Front Cover George Gale Telegraph printing Company, 1920