Tarleton (1780 ship)

Tarleton was built in France under another name in 1778 (or simply captured then). The partnership of the Tarletons and Backhouse purchased her in 1779. She first traded between Liverpool and Jamaica, and then became a slaver. She was lost in November 1788.

For other ships with the same name, see List of ships named Tarleton.

History
France
Builder: France
Launched: 1778
Captured: 1778[1]
United Kingdom
Name: Tarleton
Owner: Tarleton & Backhouse, Liverpool
Acquired: 1779 by purchase of a prize
Fate: Wrecked 28 November 1788
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen: 342,[1] or 352​68⁄94,[2] or 400[3] (bm)
Length: 97 ft 3 in (29.6 m),
Beam: 28 ft 6 in (8.7 m) (above wales); 29 ft 0 in (8.8 m) (below wales)[2]
Depth of hold: 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)
Sail plan: Brigantine, later Full-rigged ship
Armament: 18 × 6-pounder guns
Notes: Two decks and three masts

Merchantman

The High Court of Admiralty condemned her on 4 November 1778 and she was made free on 5 February 1779 at Liverpool.[1]

She underwent a good repair in 1780. She then sailed and between Liverpool and Jamaica.[3]

She underwent a good repair again in 1782.

After Parliament passed the Registry Act (1786), the Tarletons and Backhouse twice registered her at Liverpool: on 13 November 1786 (Liverpool; №154/86), and then on 16 October 1788 (Liverpool; №79/88).

Slave trading voyages

Between 1785 and 1788 Tarleton made three voyages as a slaver, foundering at the outset of the fourth.[4] Captain Patrick Fairweather was an experienced captain of slave ships. He had made his first voyage to Calabar in 1755, probably as an apprentice on Dalrymple while still a teenager. His first command had been in 1768.[5]

First slaving voyage: Fairweather left Liverpool on 24 March 1784, bound for the Bight of Biafra and Gulf of Guinea islands to gather his slaves. He gathered the slaves at Calabar and then delivered them to Grenada, arriving on 3 February 1785. Fairweather had embarked 557 slaves and disembarked 510, for a loss rate of 8.4%. Her crew of 38 suffered three deaths. Tarleton left Grenada 7 March and arrived at Liverpool 21 April 1785.[4]

Second slaving voyage: Fairweather sailed from Liverpool on 23 June 1785 bound for the Bight of Biafra and Gulf of Guinea islands to gather his slaves.[4] She arrived at Calabar on 14 August.[6] She stayed there 180 days.[7] Tarleton left on 20 March 1786. Tarleton delivered the slaves to Dominica, where she arrived on 9 May. She had embarked 440 slaves and disembarked 360, for a loss rate of 18.2%. She also had 46 crew men, five of whom died on the voyage. At some point in the voyage Captain Thomas Smith replaced Fairweather. Tarleton left Dominica on 4 July, and arrived at Liverpool on 5 September.[4] When she arrived at Liverpool she brought with her 57 puncheons and one butt of palm oil, 50 barrels of pepper, 105 ivory tusks, eight tons of redwood, and cargo from the West Indies.[8]

A listing of cargoes taken up at Old Calabar between 1785 and 1788 states records that on one voyage Tarleton loaded 440 slaves, an estimated 1,512 lbs of ivory,[Note 1] 4,915 gals of palm oil, 9,800 lbs of pepper, and 17,920 lbs of redwood.[9]

While Fairweather and Tarleton were at Calabar, Banastre, another vessel under the ownership of the Tarleton-Backhouse partnership, arrived there. Fairweather sent Banastre, Thomas Smith, master, to the coast of Cameroon. When she arrived there some natives in a canoe approached to trade with her, but were warned off by a shot from another slave vessel, Othello,[Note 2] that killed one of the natives. Captain James McGauley, of Othello, had ordered the shot fired because the natives on that coast owed him a debt and he had declared that he would permit no trade until they had paid him. In 1793 the case of Tarleton and others vs. McGauley came to trial with the plaintiffs suing McGauley for loss of trade.[Note 3] The court found for the plaintiffs, establishing that it is a tort "to cause damage to a person by maliciously using any unlawful means, (e.g. fraud, or threats of assault), to induce anyone to abstain from entering into a contract with him."[11]

Third slaving voyage: Tarleton's master was J. Smith, and her trade was Liverpool-Africa.[12] Alternatively, her master may have been Thomas Smith, replaced by Patrick Fairweather. She left Liverpool on 26 August 1786 and left Calabar after 281 days.[7] (However, the same source states that Tarleton and Fairweather left Liverpool on 25 December 1786,[13] which is more consistent with having arrived in Liverpool in September, and is also consistent with the data in the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade Database.[4]) Tarleton left Africa on 19 February 1788 and arrived at Dominica on 11 May.[4] When she arrived she was carrying 308 slaves, 45 ivory tusks, 94 puncheons, 8 butts, and 15 tierces of palm oil, 50 tons of redwood, and 60 barrels of Guinea pepper. She had started with 371 slaves, and another three to five slaves died after arrival, for a loss rate o f18.6%. She left Dominica on 24 June and arrived at Liverpool on 24 June with 80 tons of redwood and cargo from the West Indies.[14][4] Another account describes her cargo from Africa as 377 slaves, an estimated 648 lbs. of ivory, 9,600 gallons of palm oil, 11,760 lbs. of pepper, and 112,000 lbs of redwood.[9]

Loss

Tarleton, Christian, master, was on her way to Africa on her fourth slaving voyage when she foundered on 28 November 1788 off St David's Head. Her crew was saved.[15] She had left Liverpool 10 November 1788.[4] The Liverpool Registry records her as having been lost off the coast of Wales, and gives a date of 26 May 1789,[2] but this date may represent a declaration rather than the date of the actual loss.

Notes, citations and references

Notes

  1. The records specify "elephants' teeth", which the authors of the book converted at 14.4lbs/"tooth".[9]
  2. Othello was a ship of 122 tons (bm), launched at Liverpool in 1786.[10]
  3. In the description of the case, Banastre is rendered as Banister.[11]

Citations

  1. Craig & Jarvis (1967), p. 43.
  2. Craig & Jarvis (1967), pp. 136-7.
  3. Lloyd's Register (1781), Seq. №T6.
  4. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Voyages: Tarleton (1785-88).
  5. Richardson et al (2007), p. 84.
  6. Behrendt et al.,, 2010 & Chap. 5, fn. 7.
  7. Behrendt et al., (2010), p. 71.
  8. Behrendt et al., (2010), p. 177, fn.157.
  9. Behrendt et al., (2010), p. 98, Table 3.4.
  10. Craig and Jarvis (1967), p. 44.
  11. Kenny (1908), pp. 524-6.
  12. Lloyd's Register (1787), Seq. №7.
  13. Behrendt et al., (2010), p. 198, fn.208.
  14. Behrendt et al., (2010), p. 216, fn.259.
  15. Lloyd's List №1788.

References

  • Behrendt, Stephen D., A.J.H. Latham, David Northrup, eds. (2010) The Diary of Antera Duke: An Eighteenth-Century African Slave Trader. (Oxford University Press). ISBN 978-0195376180
  • Craig, Robert, & Rupert Jarvis (1967) Liverpool Registry of Merchant Ships. (Manchester University Press for the Chetham Society), Series 3, vol. 15.
  • Kenny, Courtney Stanhope (1908) A Selection of Cases Illustrative of the English Law of Tort. (University Press).
  • Richardson, David, Anthony Tibbles, Suzanne Schwarz, eds. (2007) Liverpool and Transatlantic Slavery. (Liverpool University Press). ISBN 978-1846310669
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