‘Born under an unlucky planet’: The voyages and travels of Owen Roberts, mariner, 1739–1831

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Notes

¹ British Library, BLL01010558924.

² Location untraced. Known from photocopy of front page, provided by the late Mike Stammers. It was this photocopy which first drew my attention to this pamphlet. In 1824 Roberts was living at 24 Chapel Street.

³ Kaleidoscope, 5 and 12 Jul. 1825, http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Kaleidoscope_or_Literary_and_scienti.html?id=1DAFAAAAQAAJ&redir_esc=y, accessed 30 Dec. 2012.

⁴ Transatlantic Slave Trade Database (hereafter TSTD), http://www.slavevoyages.org, accessed 30 Dec. 2012.

⁵ I am grateful to Hannah Cunliffe for examining records in The National Archives (TNA) on my behalf.

⁶ For a description of the experiences of a seafarer in a French prison see Crow, The Memoirs of Captain Hugh Crow, 41–6.

⁷ Life expectancy for the most fortunate in the period 1700–99 was 40.8 at birth and 60.9 at age 25 according to Wrigley et al., English Population History, 308. For crew mortality see Behrendt, ‘Crew Mortality’.

⁸ In the muster roll for HMS Achilles he is listed as aged 33 in 1772, TNA, ADM37/7292.

⁹ He bought tobacco on board HMS Grafton in 1781 and was treated for ‘venereals’ at a cost of 15s., TNA, ADM36/8071.

¹⁰ Photocopy, see note 2.

¹¹ Liverpool Mercury, 19 August 1825, http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, accessed 30 Dec. 2012.

¹² Liverpool Mercury, 18 November 1831, http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, accessed 30 Dec. 2012.

¹³ ‘Owen Roberts, Lumber Street, aged 90 years, ceremony performed by William Tyrer, Chaplain’, entry no. 2767, in Liverpool Burial Registers, 1813–1874, 348, Liverpool Record Office.

¹⁴ In the version published in Kaleidoscope, 12 Jul. 1825, he claims to have been born on 17 Mar. 1739.

¹⁵ Roberts's dates seem to be inaccurate. According to TSTD, Prince Henry departed from Liverpool on 30 May 1759, trading to Bonny and Barbados, returning to London on 24 Sep. 1760, TSTD 90802. George II, in fact, died on 25 Oct. 1760.

¹⁶ Prince Henry departed from Liverpool on 9 Jun. 1761, trading to the Loango Coast in West Central Africa and Guadeloupe, returning to Liverpool on 21 May 1763. The length of the voyage, at nearly two years, would seem to corroborate Roberts' account of a dispute, TSTD 90803; Guadeloupe was occupied by the British from 1759 to 1763 when it was returned to France.

¹⁷ Sugar draggers or droggers were small coastal craft used to transported sugar (and other commodities such as rum) from the wharves to ocean-going vessels. Gaspar, Bondmen and Rebels, 110.

¹⁸ In this context a shallop is a small shallow drafted sailing vessel, pointed at both ends, which was used for commerce and coastal trading. The larger versions could be up to 45 feet long with a single mast. See Bottinelli, ‘Boats’, 84.

¹⁹ Hannah, Styles/Stiles, arrived in Madeira from Philadelphia on 15 Jun. 1765, Lloyd's List, 27 Jul. 1765, and in Jan. 1766, Lloyd's List, 31 Jan. 1766.

²⁰ Sally, Taylor, arrived in Portsmouth on 18 May 1767, Lloyd's List, 19 May 1767. David Richardson has suggested that these bilateral voyages may have been supplying the forts seized from the French in 1758 and held until 1779. The sale of a ship on the African coast was unusual, though it is worth noting that Captain Hanley purchased the infamous Zong at Cape Coast in 1781, Walvin The Zong, 68–9.

²¹ There is no reference in TSTD to General Ward but Worge, Benjamin Duley, left London on 6 Dec. 1766 and traded at Saint-Louis, Senegal, and Dominica, arriving back in London on 21 Dec. 1767. Roberts presumably joined at Saint-Louis in mid-1767, TSTD 76330. I am grateful to David Richardson for this suggestion.

²² John, Nelson, arrived in Jamaica from Liverpool & Cork, Lloyd's List, 24 Jun. 1768. The vessel was back in Jamaica the following year, John, Nelson, arrived from Liverpool, Lloyd's List, 6 Jun. 1769.

²³ Susannah, Wetherspoon, arrived Virginia from North Carolina, Lloyd's List, 7 Jun. 1769. Did the voyage originate in Liverpool? Susanna, master A. Woth[e]rsp[oo]n, trading between Liverpool and Virginia for Crosbies & Co., Liverpool, is listed in Lloyd's Register (1768).

²⁴ Africa departed Liverpool 30 Nov. 1770 trading to Iles de Los (off Conakry) and Grenada, returning to Liverpool 1 May 1772, TSTD 91495.

²⁵ A contract slave ship supplied other ships with slaves, usually because the captain was particularly experienced. However, the owner of Africa, Miles Barber, maintained a slave factory at Ile de Los. See Elder ‘The Liverpool Slave Trade’, 131. Two other Barber vessels, Etty (TSTD 91176) and Cavendish (TSTD 91486) were at Ile de Los at the same time as Africa and his Jenny (TSTD 91754) may have also traded there.

²⁶ Cape Clear Island lies south-west of County Cork in Ireland.

²⁷ Hillary, Bragg, sailed for Liverpool from Cork on her way back from Jamaica on 22 Mar. 1772, Lloyd's List, 3 Apr. 1772 and was back in Liverpool from Jamaica in Dec. 1772, Lloyd's List, 15 Dec. 1772.

²⁸ HMS Achilles, 60 gun, Fourth Rate, launched 1757, Lavery, The Ship of the Line, 100.

²⁹ Roberts is listed in the muster rolls for HMS Achilles, Captain Richard Collins, as an able seaman, born ‘Anglyshre Wales’ [Anglesey], aged 33 at Jamaica from Jul. to Dec. 1772, TNA ADM36/7292 and at sea from Jan. until its arrival at Spithead on 25 Apr. 1773 (when the roll ends), TNA ADM36/7293.

³⁰ Susanna, Hamstrom, left Gravesend for Ancona, 21 May 1773, and arrived Ancona, Lloyd's List, 21 May 1773, 25 May, 27 Jul. 1773. Susanna, Hamstrom, was also at Alexandria, Smyrna and Leghorn, Lloyd's List, 2 Dec. 1774 and 3 Mar. 1775.

³¹ This is Mount Chimaera, referred to by Pliny the Elder, which was a natural gas vent and is situated near modern Cirali, in south west Turkey.

³² The Colossus of Rhodes.

³³ This was a myth, it was actually erected by Diocletian to commemorate a victory over the Alexandrians in 297 AD.

³⁴ Probably Etherington which traded between Liverpool and Tortola, Lloyds Register (1780).

³⁵ This is St Peter (320 tons, 22 guns, 147 men, owned Holmes, Bowyer and Kennion, Captain Holland), which in 1778 captured the French East Indiaman Aquilone, with more than £200,000, but was itself taken by a French 74-gun man-of-war and a frigate and escorted to Port Orient (Lorient, Brittany). Williams, History of the Liverpool Privateers, 228–9.

³⁶ This was probably the result of a prison exchange.

³⁷ Nancy, Nelson, departed Liverpool on 17 Mar. 1780, arrived at Cape Coast Castle on 3 Jun., departed there on 3 Nov., arrived Jamaica on 24 Dec. and returned to Liverpool on 15 Jun. 1781, TSTD 82846.

³⁸ HMS Grafton, 74 guns, Third Rate, launched 1771, Lavery, The Ship of the Line, 180. Roberts is listed as an able seamen on HMS Grafton in Jamaica from January to April 1781, at sea in May and Jun. and was discharged on 8 Aug., TNA, ADM36/8071.

³⁹ It is very surprising that there is no other corroboration of this incident which would have been a significant event.

⁴⁰ HMS Prothee, 64 guns, Third Rate, built 1772, ex-French Protée, captured 1780, Lavery, The Ship of the Line, 182. Roberts was discharged from HMS Grafton on 8 Aug. and reassigned to HMS Prothee, TNA, ADM36/8071.

⁴¹ HMS Agamemnon, 64 guns, Third Rate, launched 10 Apr. 1781, Lavery, The Ship of the Line, 181.

⁴² Mermaid, Reynolds, departed Liverpool 18 Feb. 1782, traded Calabar and Antigua, left Antigua 14 Jan. 1783, TSTD 82720. She is recorded as having taken a brig laden with lumber in 1782, Williams, History of the Liverpool Privateers, 299.

⁴³ Jenny, Parke, arrived Liverpool from St Lucia, Lloyd's List, 17 Jun. 1783.

⁴⁴ Adventure, James McGauley, departed Liverpool on 8 Jul. 1783, traded at the Cameroons and St Lucia (not Dominica), arriving back in Liverpool, 16 Aug. 1784, TSTD 80059.

⁴⁵ Ant, Wilson, departed Liverpool 5 Aug. 1785, traded Biafra and arrived at Grenada, 16 May 1786, TSTD 80319.

⁴⁶ Grape, Tomlinson, was reported arriving in Grenada, Lloyd's List, 26 May 1786, and sailed from Liverpool for Lisbon on 11 Oct. 1786, Lloyd's List, 17 Oct. 1786.

⁴⁷ Richard, Boothby, made several voyages to the Baltic in 1787–8 but Pillau is not specifically mentioned, Lloyd's List, 31 Jul. 1787, 14 Dec. 1787, 24 Jun. 1788 and 19 Dec. 1788. Pillau is now Baltiysk, near Kaliningrad, Russian Federation.

⁴⁸ This is the only voyage where the names of the vessel and master are not mentioned. There are no voyages to Surinam from Liverpool recorded in TSTD prior to 1799. The only British registered ship that is recorded in TSTD as trading to Surinam before 1799 is Speedwell in 1792 but no other details are known, TSTD 23007.

⁴⁹ HMS Vengeance, 74 guns, Third Rate, launched in 1774, Lavery, The Ship of the Line, 179. Roberts is not listed in the surviving muster rolls for the period 1 Sep. 1791 to 31 Mar. 1794 or in the pay books for 8 Sep. 1791 to 23 Oct. 1794, TNA, ADM36/11231–2, ADM35/1961–2.

⁵⁰ Martinique.

⁵¹ Presumably Martha Brae, river near Falmouth, Jamaica.

⁵² Cyclops, Grice, left Liverpool on 7 January 1795 and traded at Ambriz, Angola, TSTD 80945. Along with two other vessels she was ‘captured by a Privateer, off the West End of Hispaniola, about 15th December’. Lloyd's List, 23 Feb. 1796.

⁵³ There is a letter from Sir Andrew Snape Hamond noting that ‘the Board had a small transport (Thetis) of 127 tons’, 13 Nov. 1793, H0 42/27/52, f.124–125.

⁵⁴ Josiah Perrin was granted a letter of marque for Earl of Derby, 272 tons, on 6 Apr. 1793, ADM7/328, Register of Letters of Marque, http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/marque1793-1815.htm, accessed 30 Dec. 2012.

⁵⁵ Lord Duncan, King, left Liverpool on 7 Mar. 1799 and traded on the Congo River, arriving in Jamaica 2 Feb. 1800, TSTD 82340.

⁵⁶ Backhouse, Roberts, arrived in Liverpool from Jamaica, Lloyd's List, 3 Oct. 1800.

⁵⁷ Thomas, Atkins (not Atkinson), left Liverpool on 8 Nov. 1801, and after trading on the Gold Coast and Demerara, arrived in Liverpool on 2 Aug. 1802, TSTD 83792. The same vessel, a 270-ton ship, belonging to Twemlow and McDowal of Liverpool, made two further voyages. Under Captain John Pitts, left Liverpool 14 Jan. 1803, traded in Africa and Danish West Indies, arrived in Liverpool, 22 Sep. 1803, TSTD 83793. Under Captain Samuel van Raust, departed Liverpool 5 Mar. 1804 but was captured by the French before slaves embarked, TSTD 83794.

⁵⁸ This would appear to be an error; the same date in 1804 would fit with the chronology of voyage TSTD 83794. Cape Mountferrada is probably Cape Mesurado, present-day Monrovia, Liberia.

⁵⁹ Sir Gabriel Wood (1767–1845), British vice-consul for the state of Maryland, who left a bequest to found a home for retired seafarers in Glasgow, http://www.sirgabrielwoodsmarinershome.org/da/119663, accessed 30 Dec. 2012.

⁶⁰ Phineas Bond (1749–1815), British Consul at Philadelphia, see Neel, Phineas Bond.

⁶¹ Although Charles Watt was part-owner of Adventure and had captained her for two voyages in 1803, they were both to the Danish West Indies and it is unlikely Roberts would have been back in Liverpool in time to join the second voyage, departing on 9 Dec. It seems more likely he made his voyage under Captain Tyack, departing Liverpool 27 Nov. 1804, arrived Surinam 30 May 1805 and returning to Liverpool on 13 Feb. 1806, TSTD 80055.

⁶² This would seem to be confirmed by Lloyd's List. ‘The Adventure, Tyack, from Surinam to Liverpool, was in tow of the Mary & Hannah (arrived at Liverpool 13th) about 16 days before, just broke from her, and has not since been heard of.’ Lloyd's List, 22 Nov. 1805.

⁶³ Eagle, Mills, departed Liverpool 8 Aug. 1806, traded Cameroons and Jamaica, where she arrived 7 Mar. 1807, TSTD 81106.

⁶⁴ John Bull, Lea, arrived Liverpool from Jamaica, Lloyd's List, 25 Sep. 1807.