HMS Swan (1767)

HMS Swan was launched on 21 November 1767 at Plymouth as the lead ship of the 24 ships in the 14-gun Swan-class of ship-sloops built in the 1760s and 1770s. She served during the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary War. She bore the name HMS Explosion between 1779 and 1783; at the time she was classed as a fireship. She was laid up in 1801 and finally sold in 1814. Swan then became a whaler in the Northern Whale Fishery, sailing out of Kingston-on-Hull. She also made one voyage to the Southern Whale Fishery (1819–1821) and one merchant voyage to Brazil and Hamburg, before returning to the Northern Whale Fishery. She was broken up circa. 1841.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Swan.
Swan
History
Great Britain
Name: HMS Swan
Ordered: 18 January 1766
Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down: June 1766
Launched: 21 November 1767
Commissioned: February 1768
Fate: Sold September 1814
United Kingdom
Name: Swan
Acquired: 1814 by purchase
Fate: Broken up c.1841
General characteristics
Class and type: Swan-class
Tons burthen: 300​4⁄94 bm
Length:
  • 96 ft 5 in (29.4 m) (gundeck)
  • 78 ft 10 in (24.0 m) (keel)
Beam: 26 ft 9 in (8.2 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Complement: 125
Armament:
  • 14 × 6-pounder guns;
  • 2 more added ca. 1780

Royal Navy

Swan took Europe and sent her to Cowes around 17 July 1793.

Whaler

In 1814 Swan became a whaler sailing to the Northern Whale Fishery. She made annual voyages to Greenland or Davis Strait from 1815 to 1819.

Northern Whale Fishery

Swan, Taylor, master, made five annual voyages between 1815 and 1819. The data below is from Coltish.[1]

Year Grounds "Fish"
(Whales)		 Tuns whale oil
1815 Greenland 6 91
1816 Davis Strait 10 154
1817 Davis Strait 11 165
1818 Davis Strait 4 58
1819 Davis Strait 5 48

South Seas Whale Fishery

In 1819–1821 Swan made one voyage to the South Seas Whale Fishery. Captain Dring sailed on 2 November 1819, bound for Walvis Bay. Swan returned to Hull on 28 September 1821 with 170 tons of whale oil. The cargo bounty was £500, and the cargo's value was £3420.[2]

Swan then sailed as a merchantman to Brazil. On 4 March 1822 she was at Falmouth, having come from Hull and on her way to Rio de Janeiro. She arrived at Rio on 30 April. On 23 June she was at Bahia. By 12 September she had returned to Deal and on the 17th she sailed for Hambro. She arrived at Cuxhaven on 25 September, and Hambro the next day. She returned to Hull on 22 November.

Northern Whale Fishery
The Swan, and stern view of the Isabella in the Davis Strait, painting by John Ward

Swan, Dring, master, returned to the Northern Whale Fishery in 1823. In 1823 and 1824 she did her whale hunting off Greenland. From 1825 to 1840 she was at Davis Strait. The data below is primarily from Coltish.[1]

Year Master "Fish"
(Whales)		 Tuns whale oil
1823 Dring 12 111
1824 Dring 3 55
1825 Dring 8 120
1826 Dring 11 190
1827 Dring 160
1828 Dring 19 204
1829 Dring 13 195
1830 Dring 0 "Clean"
1831 Dring 6 90
1832 Dring 25 214
1833 Dring 24 196
1834 Dring 19 151
1835 Dring 2 90 butts blubber containing 25 tons of train oil, plus one ton of fins
1836/1837 Dring 3 c.30
Swan centre

In 1836 Swan, Robert Dring, master, was the last of the Northern Fishery whalers to sail for the fisheries. In October she became ice-bound (beset) and did not get free until spring of 1837. In 1837 she was at Peterhead on 29 June, having gotten free of the ice on 24 May. The first whaler to sight Swan, on 14 May, was William and Ann. Swan was then some 30 miles west of Disco and Captain Stairton's men refused to got to Swan's assistance on the grounds that Swan was far off and they weren't paid to do so. She was only able to get free because the crews of five whalers came upon her and sawed 3000 feet of heavy ice to get her out. The vessels also provided provisions, with one, Charlotte, Adamson, master, being particularly helpful. Then Dunscombe, owned by the same company as Swan, left off her fishing, provided 20 men to fill out Swan's crew, and accompanied her home. Of Swan's crew of 48 men, 20 had died, 14 of them in an attempt to reach a Danish colony in her boats. In addition to the men of her crew who died, five more men also died. Swan had taken on a boat of six men from the wrecked Jane and Mary, of London; of the six, only the mate survived.[3]

On 18 August Swan, Dring, master, sailed from Hull to Petersburg. She returned on 14 November. Such off-season voyages may have been more common than this one instance would suggest.

Year Master "Fish"
(Whales)		 Tuns whale oil
1838 Dring 14 165
1839 Dring 3 Note: Swan also returned with a polar bear she had lassoed in the water
1840 Dring 1

Fate
Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1840 R.Dring Cooper & Co. Hull–Davis Strait
Hull		 LR; small repairs 1837 & 1838; "wants repair"

Her entry in LR for 1841 and 1842 carried no trade data. Her entry in the 1842 volume bore the annotation "broken up" beneath her name.[4]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. Coltish & c.1842.
  2. "British Southern Whale Fishery database – Voyages: Swan".
  3. "Arrival of the Swan Whaler". (7 July 1837) Hull Packet (Hull, England), issue: 2744, p.3.
  4. LR (1842), Seq.No.S869.

References

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