| Career (America) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Otter |
| Owner: | Captain Ebenezer Dorr ("Dawes") was owner and captain[1] |
| In service: | 1795-1796 |
| Fate: | Unknown |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 168-ton |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | 26 men |
| Armament: | six cannon |
The Otter was a maritime fur trading vessel which was most famous for the rescue, under command of Capt. Ebenezer Dorr ("Dawes"), of Thomas Muir, a famous Scottish political exile.
Muir was convicted of sedition before the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh in 1793. He was sentenced and transported to the convict settlement at Sydney Cove for the space of fourteen years on 31 August 1793.[2]
The Otter, commanded by Capt. Ebenezer Dorr ("Dawes"), was fitted out at Boston, and despatched for Sydney. The Boston register of clearances, Treasury Dept. archives, dates her clearance 20 August 1795.[3] She anchored in Sydney Harbour on 25 January 1796.[2] On 11 February 1796, Muir escaped from the convict settlement on board the Otter.[4][5]
From this point accounts vary. Many state that after being at sea about four months the ship struck a chain of sunken rocks near the Nootka Sound, on the west coast of North America, and was wrecked. Every soul on board perished except Mr. Muir and two sailors.[1] This is however unlikely. Other reliable sources state that when Muir parted from the Otter at Nootka in June 1796, the Otter continued north to Bucareli Bay, on the west of Prince of Wales Island and then sailed into the harbor of Monterey on 29 October 1796, the first United States vessel to enter a Californian port.[3]
The voyage of the Otter across the Pacific was famously chronicled by Pierre François Péron.[6]
Contents |
Little is known of the Otter. Some accounts state that she was probably a 168-ton ship, the Master was Daniel Bennett and she was owned by Loring & Curtis. It is most probable that her homeport was Boston.[7]
Spanish accounts state that she carried six cannon and a crew of twenty-six men.[8]
The life of Ebenezer Dorr is well chronicled. In 1775 Ebenezer Dorr, like Paul Revere, rode from Boston to warn residents of Massachusetts about the advancing British army. After the American Revolution, Dorr became a merchant in the China trade.[10]
Thomas Muir, a famous Scottish political exile was sentenced to be transported for sedition for the space of fourteen years on August 31, 1793. In the middle of April, 1794, he left England on board the Surprise; and after a tedious voyage reached the Sydney on Sept. 25 of the same year.[2]
At this time Sydney was still a very small colony at Sydney Cove with about 1,500 people. Muir stated in letters that he purchased a "small hut and several acres of land". Accounts indicate that the land was located in the immediate vicinity of Jeffrey Street in the modern suburb of Kirribilli.[11]
After Muir had been in this penal settlement about two years, a project was formed in America of rescuing him from captivity.[2] Some sources credit the American President, George Washington with the rescue attempt.[12][13] Other sources discredit this idea.[3] An authoritative paper titled "The Odyssey of Thomas Muir" by Marjorie Masson and J. F. Jameson examines the escape of Muir from the convict settlement at Sydney.[3][14]
The Otter, commanded by Captain Dawes, was fitted out at Boston, and despatched for Sydney, where she anchored on 25 January 1796. Captain Dawes and a few of his crew landed at the very spot where Mr. Muir was located (the vicinity of Jeffrey Street in the modern suburb of Kirribilli), under the pretence that they were proceeding to China, and were in want of fresh water. The captain had an audience with Mr Muir, and not a moment was lost. On the morning of 11 February 1796, Muir was safely taken on board the Otter, which instantly set sail.[2][14][15][16]
Other accounts state that Muir rowed out of the harbour and met the Otter outside the heads. Muir's own account of his escape, as given in subsequent letters preserved in Spanish archives, is that Captain Dorr, coming into Port Jackson in January 1796 agreed to give him a passage to Boston provided he could effect his escape without danger to Dorr. On the evening of February 18, the day before Dorr was to sail, Muir put to sea in a small boat, with two servants, taking nothing with him but the shirt and coat on his back; and that about the middle of the next day they were taken into the Otter, at a considerable distance from the land.[3]
Accounts state that as many as 20 convicts escaped from the penal colony in Port Jackson aboard the Otter. Three of the convicts were left on Nomuka Island in Ha'apai Tonga on 15 March 1796.[17]
The Otter then landed at Pukapuka on 3 April 1796. The island was given the name "Isles de la Loutre" (Isles of the Otter) by Pierre François Péron, the first mate on board the American merchant ship, Otter and chronicler of the voyage. The following day, Péron and a small party landed and some trading took place near the ship as adzes, mats and other artifacts were exchanged for knives and European goods.[6]
After being at sea about four months many accounts state that the vessel was wrecked, and struck a chain of sunken rocks near Nootka Sound, on the west coast of North America, and went to pieces. Every soul on board perished except Mr. Muir and two sailors.[2][12][18][19]
Other reliable sources state that the Otter continued north to Bucareli Bay, on the west of Prince of Wales Island. Whether Muir went with her, or remained for a space at Nootka, or was transferred to some other ship. First hand accounts (by Péron) omits to say.[14] Péron makes no further mention of Muir until, on 31 October 1796, he reached Monterey going south, where he states that Muir had preceded him.[6][20] At the time the Spanish settlement at Nootka Sound, protected by Fort San Miguel had been abandoned for less than a year, by the terms of the third Nootka Convention. The buildings and gardens remained for years afterwards.
Spanish accounts note that the Otter is said to have been the first United States vessel to arrive at Monterey. The Otter was described as a United States man-of-war. She carried six cannon and a crew of twenty-six men.[21][22][23]
Entering the port of Monterey, her captain was supplied with wood and water. When ready to sail he asked permission of Governor Borica to land eleven English sailors who had secretly boarded his vessel at Botany Bay, Australia. The Governor refused his consent. It was a violation of Spanish law to land any foreigners. The shrewd Yankee captain, however, that night forced the sailors at the point of a pistol to go ashore. He then speedily put to sea. Borica was very angry. Making the best of the situation, however, he put the men to work as carpenters and blacksmiths.[8]
The Otter is recorded as having subsequently visited Hawaii in 1796. The record states that the ship was on the Boston registry and Ebenezer Dorr was the Master. It sighted Hawaii on 2 December 1796 and left Kauai on 1 January 1797. The versions that state that the ship was wrecked are unlikely to be true.[24]
The fate of the Otter is not known.
Captain Ebenezer Dorr is known to have returned to Boston. He died in 1809.[9][25]