Mercury (1793 ship)

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

History
Great Britain
Name	Mercury
Acquired	1793
Captured	1794
Fate	Recaptured, but leaves records in 1794
General characteristics
Tons burthen	126[1][2] (bm)

Mercury's origins are obscure. She may have been launched in New York in 1774, possibly under another name. In 1793 she made one voyage as a slave ship in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. A French privateer captured Mercury, but the Royal Navy recaptured her.

Career

A Mercury of 126 ton (bm) first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR), in 1793.[2]

Year	Master	Owner	Trade	Source
1793	Lockhart	J.Taylor	London–Antigua	LR

Capture (1793): Captain George Hauit sailed from Liverpool on 1 January 1793. Mercury gathered slaves at Bance Island. She sailed from Africa on 7 August.[1]

The French privateer Liberty, of Bordeaux, captured seven slave ships before July 1793: Mercury, Hewitt, master, Echo, Union, Little Joe, Prosperity, Hazard, and Swift, Roper, master. Mercury was captured off Cape Mount.[3][a]

The cutter HMS Seaflower recaptured Mercury.[5] In December 1793 Lloyd's List reported that Mercury, Hewitt, master, had arrived at Barbados.[6][b]

Captain Hewitt purchased the recaptured Mercury.[5]

Notes

1. There was a Liberté, privateer from Bordeaux, that was commissioned in February 1793 under Jacques Laventy with 16 to 20 guns. She was sold in Guadeloupe in June 1793 by a Mister Mehy, and operated under a Captain Le Bas until 1794.[4]
2. The Transatlantic Slave Trade database reports that after her capture: "Slaves embarked, transhipped or no further record". It does not note the arrival in Barbados.[1]

Citations

1. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Mercury voyage #82689.
2. LR (173), Seq.No.M594494.
3. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 5228. 26 July 1793. hdl:2027/hvd.32044050633098.
4. Demerliac (1999), p. 266, n°2341.
5. Williams (1897), p. 313.
6. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 2572. 27 December 1793. hdl:2027/hvd.32044050633098.

References

• Demerliac, Alain (1999). La Marine de la Révolution: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1792 à 1799 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 9782906381247. OCLC 492783890.
• Williams, Gomer (1897). History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade. W. Heinemann.