Lady Shore (1793)

Career (United Kingdom)
Name: Lady Shore
Namesake: Lady Charlotte Shore, wife of Sir John Shore
Launched: Hull, England, 1793
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen:316 (bm; first letter of marque[2]) or 482 (secondletter of marque[2])
Length:98 ft 4 in (29.97 m) (overall); 77 ft 6 3⁄4 in (23.641 m) (keel)
Beam:27 ft 8 in (8.43 m)
Depth of hold:16 ft 9 in (5.11 m)
Sail plan:Barque or ship rigged
Complement:26 crewmen, 56 soldiers
Armament:First letter of marque: 10 x 3 & 4-pounder guns[2]

Second letter of marque: 10 x 4 & 6-pounder guns[2]

Other source: 22 guns[3]

Lady Shore was a 316 ton barque-rigged merchantman, launched in 1793. She made two voyages as an "extra ship" for the British East India Company, though capture by a French privateer cut short the second. In 1797 she commenced a voyage as a convict ship to Australia. A mutiny in 1797 cut that voyage short too.

Voyages to Bengal

Lady Shore was launched in 1793 at Hull, England.[4] Her first voyage was as an "extra ship" in the services of the East India Company.[1] Under Captain John Christopher she sailed under a letter of marque dated 3 June 1794.[2] She sailed from Plymouth on 22 June 1794, bound for Bengal. She reached the Cape of Good Hope on 25 September, and Calcutta on 17 January 1795. On her return leg she was at Diamond Harbour on 16 March, Saint Helena on 1 June, the River Shannon on 13 September, and The Downs on 13 October.[1]

Her second voyage was more eventful. Captain Christopher sailed for Bengal again in 1796,[1] but on 19 July the French corvette Moineau captured her off the Cape of Good Hope.[5] Moineau was armed with twenty-six 9-pounder guns and had a crew of 190 men under the command of Commander Tayeau.[Note 1] He was sailing from Mauritius to Bordeaux when he encountered Lady Shore. The French took only a few prisoners, looted her stores and cargo, and then allowed her to proceed to the Cape. Coordinates: 19°S 36°W / 19°S 36°W

The French released Lady Shore in Simon's Bay on 22 July. She left the Cape 2 September and St Helena on 20 September. She reached The Downs in November.[1]

Mutiny

Under the command of James Willcocks, Lady Shore sailed from Gravesend, England in May 1797, with cargo, 58 soldiers for the New South Wales Corps, and 119 prisoners.[3][Note 2] She sailed under a letter of marque dated 3 April that gave her crew as 35, her size as 482 tons (bm), and her armament as 10 guns.[2] However, she had a crew of only 26 when she departed.[9]

Amongst the prisoners were Sélis and Thierry, French prisoners of war from the capture of the corvette Bonne Citoyenne on 10 March 1796. Sélis had been chief helmsman of the corvette, and Thierry was a pilot. They had already made two escape attempts, along with fellow prisoners. On 28 March 1797, Sélis and Thierry and six other former escapees were embarked on Lady Shore, bound for Botany Bay.

Once aboard, the French decided that their only means of escape was to seize the ship. To this end, they recruited fellow prisoners, three Germans and one Spanish; in addition to Sélis and Thierry, the mutineers comprised Laurèche, Delehay, Malleo, Mallicot, Le Garshe, Lockart, Crippong, Greville, Wolfe, and Jean Prevost (Prevôt).[10] They planned carefully, with each man having a specific task during the takeover.

On 1 August 1797, at 2a.m., the prisoners crept into the sentries' station while the sentries slept and seized the sentries' weapons. At a signal, the shout of "Vive la République!" ("Long live the Republic!"), the mutineers ran to take their fighting positions: one controlled the hatch to the women's quarters; two, the hatch of the quarters where the soldiers slept, threatening to kill anyone trying to get out; two covered the deck and were to shoot any sailor or soldier present there and who would not surrender; two controlled the hatch of the officers' quarters; two were to arrest the captain; two were to seize the three officers on deck and prevent them from giving alarm; and the last one would open an ammunition box, distribute it to his fellow mutineers, and patrol to prevent anyone from flanking them.[11]

Seeing two armed mutineers running about, the chief mate, Lambert, fired and mortally wounded Delehay, but was himself killed immediately. Captain Willcocks attempted to resist, but received three bayonet wounds, perhaps from Prevost; Willcocks died two days later. Soldiers attempted to climb on deck, but the men on the hatches repelled them. The French then proceeded to seal the hatches, disarm the crew, and put Sélis and Thierry in command of the ship. The British officers had to sign the certificate of seizure that was the custom when a prize was taken at war. The French then recruited some of their prisoners to help sail the ship: seven Irishmen, Conden, Keaning, Lynch, M'Ginnis, Keating, Kelly and Sheridan; and four Englishmen: Church, New, Deviling and Pyott.[10]

The mutineers elected Sélis Captain and Thierry Lieutenant.[12] Sélis and Thierry wrote regulations threatening death to any Frenchman colluding with the British or talking of surrendering in case of an encounter at sea, and any British caught with weapons or fomenting another mutiny; and fifty lashes for anyone speaking ill of the Republic. These regulations were translated into English and posted all over the ship.[13]

On 14 August, around 1p.m., fearing that such a large quantity of prisoners would be difficult to control, the mutineers singled out some of the officers and soldiers (the second and third mates, the lieutenant commanding the army detachment, an ensign, two sergeants, two corporals and two privates); after having them pledge not to fight against France and her allies for one year and a day,[14] the French provided them with navigation instruments and food, and cast them adrift in a long boat off the coasts of Brazil,[3] with their wives and children, as well as four convicts, for a total of 29 people.[15] The long boat safely reached the shore the next day in the afternoon.[16]

Lady Shore then sailed to Montevideo; she arrived on 31 August, hoisted the French colours, and saluted the commanding ship with 11 cannon shots, and the harbour with 15.[3] Initially, the Spanish contested the validity of the capture. They came aboard, removed all the prisoners and arrested the three Germans and seven French.[17] After Sélis and Thierry protested to the Vice-Roy,[18] and sought support from the French ambassador, Laurent Jean François Truguet. The Spanish then released the French prisoners, but it was not until a French frigate squadron under Captain Landolphe, comprising Médée, Franchise and Concorde, sailed into the harbour,[19] that the Spanish acknowledged their authority over the ship and the prisoners.[3]

Post script

The men and women in the long boat eventually made their way to Rio de Janeiro and then to Britain, in some cases via Lisbon.

The Spanish retained the female convicts, distributing them as servants among the ladies of the city. Some of the convict women became prostitutes. Others married.[7] Some behaved well and ended up married and settled. Those who behaved in a "loose and disorderly manner" ended up in prison where they converted to Roman Catholicism and reformed their ways.[20]

HMS Tremendous may have recaptured Lady Shore in 1801.[21] Unfortunately, corroborating evidence is scarce.

In November 1799 a Bow Street Officer had arrived in London from Portsmouth with Jean Sanlard, alias Provost, and Jean Baptiste Escala. They had been captured aboard a French frigate in the West Indies.[20] Prevost was arrested for having assaulted and murdered "Wilcox". He was tried and hanged.[22]

In 1804 four Englishmen were captured on board several Spanish vessels. Three turned out to be members of the New South Wales Corps, who claimed not to have been part of the mutiny, and one was Lancelot Knowles. The Spanish authorities had held them as prisoners of war at Beunos Aires. They had recently been freed and were being sent to Spain for onward transfer to England when they were captured.[20]

See also

Footnotes

Notes
  1. ↑ Christopher apparently died on the way, as this information comes from a journal by James Wilson, who describes himself as the commander of the Lady Shore.[6] French sources give her armament as 16 guns.
  2. ↑ The number and sex of the prisoners is in some dispute. Some accounts suggest that Lady shore carried only 66 women convicts and one male. Others give the breakdown as 44 men and 75 prostitutes.[7] The Belfast Journal gave her complement as 110 men, women and children of the Corps, and 70 convicts, only two of whom were males, Major Semple, and Knowles, the Duke of Portland's late porter.[8]
Citations
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Archives.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Letter of Marque, - accessed 15 May 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Ladimir & Moreau (1856), Vol. 5, pp.44-46.
  4. ↑ "Sydney Heritage Fleet - Ships and Other Vessels L to R". Retrieved 2012-02-02.
  5. ↑ "Jacobinism Afloat - The Insurrection on the 'Lady Shore' in 1797". History Today. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
  6. ↑ Pascoe, Gavin (24 September 2008) South Sea Miscellany: Prior adventures of the Lady Shore. - Accessed 11 May 2013.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Graham-Yooll (2002), p.7.
  8. ↑ Free Settler or Felon - Convict ship Lady Shore 1797. - Accessed 21 May 2013.
  9. ↑ Gallois, vol.2, p.443
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Black (1798), p.52.
  11. ↑ Gallois, vol.2, p.444
  12. ↑ Lecomte, vol.2, p.223
  13. ↑ Lecomte, vol.2, p.223-224
  14. ↑ Black (1798), p.16.
  15. ↑ Black (1798), p.53.
  16. ↑ Black (1798), p.22.
  17. ↑ Gallois, vol.2, p.447
  18. ↑ Gallois, vol.2, p.448
  19. ↑ Gallois, vol.2, p.449
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Free Settler or Felon - Convict ship Lady Shore 1797. - Accessed 21 May 2013.
  21. ↑ Bladen (1896), V. 4, p.443.
  22. ↑ Taunton (1810), p. 32.

References

Further reading