Renown (1794 ship)

Renown was launched in 1794 at New Bedford, Massachusetts. She made four voyages from Nantucket as a whaler. In 1813, while she was on her fifth American whaling voyage, she became the first American whaler that British whalers captured in the South Seas. She was sold in London and under the name Adam became first a London-based transport and then a British Southern Whale Fishery whaler. She made four whaling voyages and was wrecked in 1825 at the outset of her fifth British whaling voyage.

History
United States
Name:	Renown
Builder:	New Bedford, Massachusetts
Launched:	1794
Fate:	Captured c.1813
United Kingdom
Name:	Adam
Owner:	1814:Bridges & Co. 1815:Rains & Co. 1815:Coxshot 1825:Lyddeker & Co.
Acquired:	c.1813 by purchase of a prize
Fate:	Wrecked at Deal in 1825
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	241,[1][2] or 242,[3] or 280[4] (bm)
Propulsion:	Sail
Armament:	6 × 12-pounder carronades[1]

American whaler

Renown's service prior to 1997 is currently obscure.

1st whaling voyage (1797–1799)

Captain Alpheus Coffin sailed Renown in 1797 from Nantucket on her first whaling voyage. She was bound for Brazil and the Pacific. On 29 November 1797 she stopped at Desterro for provisions, refreshment, water, and wood. She received permission to stay for 10 days.[5] Coffin returned to Nantucket in 1799 with 1250 barrels of sperm oil and 150 barrels of whale oil.[6]

2nd whaling voyage (1801–1802)

Captain Thaddeus Coffin sailed from Nantucket in 1801, bound for Brazil and the Pacific.[6] In May Renown was at Valparaiso.[7] She returned on 26 November 1802 with 500 barrels of sperm oil.[6]

3rd whaling voyage (1803–1805)

Captain Alpheus Coffin sailed from Nantucket in 1803, bound for the Pacific. Renown returned on 3 November 1805 with 1250 barrels of sperm oil.[6]

4th whaling voyage (1810–1811)

A master, who is currently unknown, sailed Renown from Nantucket in 1810 and returned in March 1811.[6]

5th whaling voyage (1811–1813)

Captain Zaccheus Barnard sailed from Nantucket on 4 August 1811. A British letter of marque whaler captured Renown in 1813. At the time she had 1637 barrels of sperm oil.[6]

Capture

Renown was the first American whaler captured in the South Seas during the War of 1812. Her captors put her crew ashore at Massafuero (Más Afuera) Island. The Nantucket whalers Perseveranda and Sukey later rescued the crew.[8][Note 1]

British whaler

On 20 November 1813 the prize Renown arrived at Gravesend from the South Seas.[11]

New owners renamed Renown Adam. She first entered Lloyd's Register in 1814 with Hannibal master, Bridges & Co., owner, and trade London transport.[4] The Register of Shipping for 1815 showed her with Honeybel, master, Rains, owner, and trade London transport.[1]

On 20 March 1814 the transport Adam arrived at Gibraltar from Portsmouth.[12] On 1 December, Adam, Hannibal, master, was at Deal, bound for Bermuda.[13] On 30 May 1815 the transport Adam arrived at Portsmouth from Havana.[14]

1st whaling/sealing voyage (1815–1818)

Captain Simeon Coleman sailed from London on 14 December 1815, bound for the Pacific. Adam was at Portsmouth on 6 January 1816,[15] and St Jago on 5 February.[16] She returned to Rio de Janeiro on 18 April 1818 from Peru, and London from Rio and the South Seas on 31 July 1818 with 500 casks of oil and 2250 skins.[3]

2nd whaling voyage (1819–1820)

Captain Foster sailed from Gravesend on 7 April 1819, bound for the South Seas. Adam returned on 8 December 1820.[3]

3rd whaling voyage (1821–1822)

Captain Coffin sailed from Gravesend on 11 February 1821, bound for the South Seas.[17] On 26 March she was at 3°30′N 20°43′W.[18][Note 2] On 22 July she was at Woolwich Bay with 38 tons of oil.[19] By October or so she was at 26°N 30°W with 80 tons of oil.[20] On 26 December Adam was at St Helena.[21] She left on 3 January 1822, southward bound. Between 29 February and 8 March 1822 she was at Saint Helena. She then sailed for the Brazil Banks.[3] She left the Brazil Banks on 29 April.[22] Adam returned on 19 July 1822 with 400 casks of oil.[3]

4th whaling voyage (1822–1824)

Captain Coffin was at Deal on 26 August 1822, bound for the South Seas.[23] She sailed on 1 September from Deal and on 12 September from Portsmouth.[24] Adam returned on 17 June 1824 with 270 casks of oil, plus fins (baleen).[3]

Fate

The Register of Shipping for 1826 shows Adam with Rozier, master, Lyddeker, owner, and trade London–South Seas.[2] On 1 March 1825 a gale developed at Deal. Adam, Razier, master, returned from off Folkestone and attempted to anchor but the crew lost one cable and was unable to clear her chain. She was driven on shore and bilged. She had been sailing from London, bound for the South Seas.[25] She had set out on 20 February.

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

1. Sukey, John Macy, master, had sailed from Nantucket in October 1811.[9] The British captured Sukey, Masson, master,off the Virginia coast as she was returning from the South Seas.[10] Perseveranda (or Perseverance), Thomas Paddock, master, had sailed from Nantucket in July 1811. She returned to Nantucket in 1813.[9] The British captured her in 1814. She was sold in NY.
2. The coordinates reported in Lloyd's List put Adam in the middle of what is today Algeria. Swapping East for West, and increasing the degrees by an order of magnitude puts her in the Atlantic, well off the coast of West Africa.

Citations

1. Register of Shipping (1815), Seq.№131.
2. Register of Shipping (1826), Seq.№118.
3. British Southern Whale Fishery Voyages: Adam
4. Supple. pages, "M", Seq.№A27.
5. List of vessels (1946), p.615.
6. American Whaling Voyages: Renown.
7. Ortiz Sotelo (2015), p. 463.
8. Stackpole (1972), p. 342.
9. Ortiz Sotelo (2015), p. 475.
10. Lloyd's List №4846.
11. Lloyd's List №4824.
12. Lloyd's List 22 April 1814.
13. Lloyd's List №4927.
14. Lloyd's List №4976.
15. Lloyd's List №5037.
16. Lloyd's List №5075.
17. Lloyd's List №5568.
18. Lloyd's List №5590.
19. Lloyd's List №5631.
20. Lloyd's List №5665.
21. Lloyd's List №5674.
22. Lloyd's List №5717.
23. Lloyd's List №5728.
24. Lloyd's List №5733.
25. Lloyd's List №5991.

References

• "List of Vessels" (November 1946), Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp.602-617.
• Ortiz Sotelo, Jorge (2015). La Real Armada en el Pacífico Sur. El Apostadero Naval del Callao 1746-1824. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas/Bonilla Artigas Editores. ISBN 9786078348619.
• Stackpole, Edouard A (1972). Whales: the rivalry between America, France, and Britain for control of the southern whale fishery, 1785-1825. University of Massachusetts). ISBN 978-0870231049.
• Starbuck, Alexander (1878). History of the American Whale Fishery from its Earliest Inception to the Year 1876. Waltham, Mass.