Argo (1806 Liverpool ship)

For other ships with the same name, see Argo (ship).

History
United Kingdom
Name	Argo
Builder	France[1]
Launched	1783[1]
Acquired	1806 by purchase of a prize
Fate	Lost 1806
General characteristics
Tons burthen	332[1] (bm)
Complement	38
Armament	16 × 6-pounder guns[1]

Argo was built in France in 1783, possibly under another name. She was taken in prize circa 1806 and sailed as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She first appeared in the Register of Shipping in 1806.[1]

Year	Master	Owner	Trade	Source
1806	Thomson	McDowell	Liverpool–Africa	RS; damages repaired 1806

Captain William Thompson sailed Argo from Liverpool on 10 April 1806, bound for Bonny.[2][3]

In September 1806 Lloyd's List reported that Argo, of Liverpool, Thompson, master, had been lost on the coast of Africa.[4][5] She had been lost on the Windward Coast; Her crew was saved.[3]

In 1806, 33 British ships in the triangular trade were lost. Twenty-three of these were lost on the coast of Africa.[6] During the period 1793 to 1807, war, rather than maritime hazards or resistance by the captives, was the greatest cause of vessel losses among British slave vessels.[7]

Citations

1. RS (1806), "A" supple. pages.
2. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Argo voyage #80345.
3. "SHIP NEWS". Lancaster Gazetter (Lancaster, England), 4 October 1806, Volume 6, Issue 277.
4. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4085. 26 September 1806. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735022.
5. Inikori (1996), p. 74.
6. Inikori (1996), p. 62.
7. Inikori (1996), p. 58.

References

• Inikori, Joseph (1996). "Measuring the unmeasured hazards of the Atlantic slave trade: Documents relating to the British trade". Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer. 83 (312): 53–92.