Albion (1798 whaler)

''Albion'' was a full-rigged whaler built at Deptford, England, and launched in 1798. She made five whaling voyages to the seas around New South Wales and New Zealand. The government chartered her in 1803 to transport stores and cattle, to Risdon Cove on the River Derwent, Tasmania.

Voyages

On her first voyage, ''Albion'', Eber Bunker, master, left Britain on 20 February 1799, bound for New South Wales. There is some ambiguity about whether she was carrying convicts or not. ''Albion'' arrived in Port Jackson (Sydney), on 29 June 1799, with a cargo of salted pork after a voyage of 3 months and 15 days.

''Albion'' left Port Jackson in September bound for the whale fisheries around New South Wales (NSW) and New Zealand (NZ). She then took 600 barrels of sperm oil off New South Wales and New Zealand between September 1799 and August 1800. At some point ''Albion'' sailed to Tahiti at the request of Governor Philip Gidley King. When she returned to Port Jackson she reported having seen "immense numbers of whales".

''Albion'' returned to Britain on 26 March 1802 with a cargo of 155 barrels of whale oil. Shortly before she arrived she reportedly rescued a ship on 19 March at , i.e., north of the Azores.British Southern Whale Fishery Database – Voyages: ''Albion''.
/ref>

In July 1802 ''Albion'' again sailed for Port Jackson. The next month the Honourable the Court of Directors of the East India Company announced that they had licensed 19 vessels, ''Albion'', ''Charming Kitty'', and among them, to sail east of the Cape of Good Hope to engage in whaling in the "Southern Whale Fishery". ''Albion'' was at Boa Vista, Cape Verde, on 5 October. In January 1803 she was "all well" at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

Returning to Port Jackson on 6 July 1803, ''Albion'', Captain Eber Bunker, went on a second whaling expedition along the Australian coast. Bunker discovered the Bunker Islands off the Queensland coast.

Next, the colonial government chartered ''Albion'' to carry convicts,Australian Dictionary of Biography - Bowen, John (1780-1827)
/ref> stores and cattle, and also the leader of the settlement party, 23-year-old Lieutenant John Bowen, as part of the establishment of the first European settlement at Risdon Cove, Tasmania. ''Albion'' arrived there on 12 September 1803. (The accompanying ship had arrived about 3 days earlier. Between them the two ships carried 49 passengers for the new settlement: 21 male convicts, three female convicts, members of the New South Wales Corps, and free settlers and their families.) ''Albion'', although chartered, had been given permission to take whales along the way.Dictionary of Sydney - Sydney's whaling fleet
/ref> In December 1803 she was at New Zealand. She captured three whales and returned to Sydney with 600 barrels of whale oil.

Then ''Albion'' sailed to New Zealand, leaving Port Jackson on 24 August 1804. She was reported "all well" off the coast of New Zealand in May 1804. She returned to London with 1,400 barrels of whale oil and 13,000 seal skins, arriving back at Britain on 3 March 1805.

On 30 March 1806 ''Albion'' left again for New Zealand. She arrived at Port Jackson on 19 August under the command of Captain Cuthbert Richardson after a voyage of 4 months and 17 days carrying a cargo of general merchandise for Robert Campbell (1769-1846).

On or about 12 October 1806 ''Albion'' sailed for the whale "fishery". She was reported "all well" of New Zealand in March 1807. On 13 May ''Albion'' is reported as having returned to Port Jackson from a "cruise" (whaling trip) with "75 tons of sperm oil" and then having sailed again for the whale "fishery" on 27 May "to touch at Part Dalrymple". In September she was again "all well" off New Zealand.

''Albion'' left for England on 12 November 1808 with a cargo of whale oil. She was at St Helena on 27 February 1809, and left for Rio de Janeiro on 10 March. She returned to England on 20 May.

''Albion'' again left Britain on 9 August 1809, under the command of Captain Philip Skelton. She arrived at Hobart Town, then part of the Colony of New South Wales, with a cargo of general merchandise on 21 December 1809 after a voyage of 3 months and 22 days.

''Albion''s destination after leaving Hobart Town was "the whale fishery", and she was reported as at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, in February 1810.

''Albion'' was next reported in the Straits of Timor in August 1811 sailing for England with a "full ship" (of whale oil). Other vessels there were , ''William Fennings'', Richardson, master, and , Bristow, master. ''Albion'' arrived back in Britain on 17 November. This marked the completion of what was to be ''Albion''s last voyage into Australasian waters.

In 1812 ''Albion'', still under Skelton's command, left on a whaling voyage to Timor. In February 1813 ''Albion'' was well in the South Sea fishery, as were , , , ''Good Sachem'', , , and . In August ''Albion'' was at Boro (or Bouru), in the Moluccas, with 190 tons of sperm oil. She then returned to Britain, arriving on 12 August 1814.

''Albion'' ceased whaling and instead started trading with the West Indies. ''Lloyd's Register'' for 1816 showed her master as P. Skelton, changing to C. Dodds, her owner as Wallace & Co., and her trade as London-Tobago. An item in ''Lloyd's List'' in May 1817 reported that ''Albion'' had put into New York in December 1816 while on her way from Tobago back to London, but was supposed to sail from New York in April. The same item referred to her master as "late Dodds".

By 1818 ''Albion'' was under the command of Brydon, with owner Somes, and trade London-Calcutta. Then in 1819 West replaced Brydon. He sailed her to Mauritius, before she returned to the London-Calcutta trade.

Fate

''Albion'' was last listed in ''Lloyd's Register'' in 1825,''Lloyd's Register'' (1825), Seq. №360.
/ref> and the ''Register of Shipping'' in 1826 with master W.W.West, owner Somes, and trade London-Mauritius.

See also

*Whaling in Australia

Notes, citations and references

Notes

Citations

References
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* {{cite book , last=Hackman , first=Rowan , date=2001 , title=Ships of the East India Company , location=Gravesend, Kent , publisher=World Ship Society , isbn=0-905617-96-7

Ships built in Deptford
History of Tasmania
1788–1850 ships of Australia
Maritime exploration of Australia
Full-rigged ships of Australia
Whaling in Australia
Individual sailing vessels
Age of Sail merchant ships
Merchant ships of the United Kingdom