An advert posted in The Gloucester Journal on 25th January, 1802 announces that an auction was to be held a few days later for a ship called the African Queen. The lot would contain the hull, masts, yards and spars of the copper-bottomed ship 'agreeably to such conditions as shall be then and there produced'. Curious to know more about the boat I dug deeper.
According to Wikipedia, which has an entry on the ship, it was launched in either 1789 or 1790 and one of the sources states that it was constructed in 1780 in Folkstone. The ship was 'taken as a prize' in 1796 and then started sailing out of Bristol in 1797.
In February 1797, the ship was one of two to embark from Bristol in the direction of Africa bound for the trade in enslaved people. It was captured on the Windward Coast but had been transporting wood, ivory, and palm oil back to Britain rather than slaves.
However, it didn't return to Bristol and the following year it travelled to Cape Coast Castle, Ghana to pick up slaves and it transported a total of 313 on a voyage to Demerara and then St Vincent. 342 had originally boarded.
According to SlaveVoyages.org, the ship was "captured before disembarking slaves; vessel recaptured or released subsequently" and the "slaves disembarked in Americas'. The ship was released as it had returned to Bristol by 18th September, 1798, after being at sea for 465 days.
According to the Wikipedia article it may have gone on another slave voyage and then switched to whaling making a journey in 1800 to the South Seas to the 'Brazil Banks'.
WhalingHistory.org gives a report of it's journey in 1800-1801.
- At Rio in April 1800 needing sailors and wood to replace a boat;
- wintering at South Georgia in May 1801;
- at St Helena 19 September 1801;
- reported 8 December 1801 on shore in the Bristol Channel and full of water returning from the south seas;
- reported 14 December 1801 vessel got off and put into Newport
On the voyage out the vessel lost two boats and 5 men in a storm near Trinidad Rocks.
The advert below published in The Gloucester Journal on 21st December, 1801 details the cargo that was brought back from the South Seas including 150 tons of Elephant and Whale Oil, 5,000 large Seal Skins and two tons of Whalebone.
By January 1802 the ship was then in Newport awaiting auction. According to Wikipedia, which quotes a book published in 2014, the African Queen had value of £6,500 in 1802. Not sure if that is an estimation or was the price it fetched at auction. The last reference of the ship appeared in the Lloyd's Register of Shipping in 1804 sailing between Bristol and Barbados.
Member discussion