Somersetshire (1810 ship)

Somersetshire, was launched in 1810 on the River Thames. She made two voyages to Australia transporting convicts. On the second voyage some convicts and guards planned a mutiny that was foiled. Somersetshire is last listed in 1844.

History
United Kingdom
Name: Somersetshire
Builder: Samuel & Daniel Brent, Rotherhithe
Launched: 7 August 1810
Fate: Last listed 1844
General characteristics
Tons burthen: 447,[1] or 449, or 449​15⁄94[2] (bm)
Length: 117 ft 8 in (35.9 m)
Beam: 29 ft 3 in (8.9 m)
Propulsion: Sail
Complement: 40[1]
Armament: 18 × 9-pounder guns[1]

Career

Captain Robert Haly (or Haley, or Hayley) received a letter of marque for Somersetshire on 9 March 1811.[1]

On Monday 7 October 1811 Somersetshire arrived in the Downs from Jamaica. The evening before she had warded off an attack near Dover by three French privateers.[3]

First convict voyage (1814)

Under the command of Alexander Scott, Somersetshire sailed from Spithead, England on 10 May 1814, and arrived at Port Jackson on 17 October.[4] She embarked 200 male convicts, one of whom died on the voyage.[5] Somersetshire left Port Jackson on 5 December bound for Bengal.[6]

Passenger transport

Somersetshire, Captain John Jackson, brought 234 passengers to Port Adelaide. She had left London on 18 April 1839 and she arrived there on 28 August. One of her passengers was Thomas Boutflower Bennett.[7]

Second convict voyage (1841-42)

Somersetshire sailed from Plymouth on 20 December 1841, under the command of Charles Motley (or Mottley), and arrived at Hobart Town on 30 May 1842.[8] She embarked 219 male convicts; one died on the voyage.[9] One officer and 30 rank-and-file being sent out to join the 51st King's Own Light Infantry provided the guard.[10]

What makes this voyage notable was the mutiny plot that some prisoners developed during the voyage. The mutineers' plan was to murder the officers, place in the ship's boats those who would not join the mutiny, and then sail to South America. The convicts succeeded in getting several of the guard to join their plot.[10]

It is not clear how the officers discovered the plot, but Captain Motley decided to put into Table Bay. There a two-week court martial tried the four soldiers who were part of the planned mutiny, with one of the four testifying against his companions. The court martial sentenced the ring leader to death by firing squad, and the other two to transportation. (Surry picked up six prisoners at the Cape when she stopped there later that year and the two mutinous soldiers may have been among them.) Somersetshire left the Cape on 12 April and encountered no further issues on her voyage.[10]

Somersetshire arrived in Sydney on 28 June, having sailed from Hobart in ballast.[11]

Fate

Somersetshire, with Mottley, master, is last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1844.

Citations and references

Citations

  1. "Register of Letters of Marque against France 1793-1815"; p.87 Archived July 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Hackman (2001), p. 313.
  3. Lloyd's List №4604.
  4. Bateson (1959), pp. 290-1.
  5. Bateson (1959), p. 327.
  6. "Arrival of Vessels at Port Jackson, and their Departure". Australian Town and Country Journal, Saturday 3 January 1891, p.17. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  7. "The Old Colonists Banquet Group : Thomas Boutflower Bennett [B 47769/13D] - Photograph". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  8. Bateson (1959), pp. 314-5.
  9. Bateson (1959), p. 337.
  10. Bateson (1959), pp. 267-8.
  11. The Australian (Sydney, NSW), 11 July 1842, p.2, "SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE".

References

  • Bateson, Charles (1959). The Convict Ships. Brown, Son & Ferguson. OCLC 3778075.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-96-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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