''Harriet'' was a former vessel of the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
, probably the . The Navy sold her in 1829 and her new owners deployed her as a
whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. She made three complete whaling voyages and was wrecked in July 1837 during her fourth.
Origins
''LR'' gave ''Harriet''s origin as "Kgs Yd",
[''LR'' (1829), Supple.pages "H", Seq.№H56.]
/ref> signalling that she had been built for the Navy. The ''Register of Shipping'' (''RS'') identified where she was built as Ipswich. Both registers gave her launch year as 1813. There were three vessels built for the Navy in Ipswich in 1813 that were sold in 1828 or 1829 and of a burthen similar to ''Harriet''s. All three were ''Cruizer''-class brig sloops of about 386 tons (bm): , , and . ''Fly'' was sold in Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the sec ...
in 1828, and ''Harlequin'' was sold in Jamaica in September 1829. ''Fly''s purchaser could have sailed her to Britain for resale, with the result that although ''Harriet'' is most probably the former ''Harrier'', the link cannot be verified definitively absent original research.
Whaler
''Harriet'' underwent a large repair in 1829.[
1st whaling voyage (1829–1831): Captain W. Young sailed from London on 19 September 1829, bound for the seas off Japan.][
2nd whaling voyage (1831–183_): Captain Thomas Tapsell sailed ''Harriet'' from Great Britain on 15 November 1831. It is not clear when she returned.][
3rd whaling voyage (1833–1836): ''Harriet'' was reported at ]Nukahiva
Nuku Hiva (sometimes spelled Nukahiva or Nukuhiva) is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of France in the Pacific Ocean. It was formerly also known as ''Île Marchand'' and ''Madison Island''.
Herman M ...
in the Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands (; french: Îles Marquises or ' or '; Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan
Marquesan is a collection of East-Central Polynesian dialects, of the Marquesic group, spoken in the Marquesas Islands of ...
by 17 April 1833. From 11 to 30 May she was at Honolulu. In June she was on
the Japan Grounds. In mid-1834 she was in the Santa Cruz Islands. From 26 October to 2 November she was at Wahoo (Oahu
Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...
). She returned to London on 8 December 1835 with 500 casks of whale oil.[
4th whaling voyage (1836–Loss): ''Harriet'', William Christie, master, sailed from London on 7 June 1836, bound for New Zealand. On 3 November she was at Bay of Islands, where Captain Christie died. She had not yet taken any whales. Captain Thomas Ridout replaced Christie. She was at Bay of Islands again on 11 May 1837, this time with 1800 barrels of whale oil. She was next reported at Rotumah on 6 June. On 16 July she struck on Providence Reef, in the Fiji Islands.][ The crew, with the exception of the carpenter, was saved.][ suggesting that she had already transshipped much, if not all, of her catch.
''Harriet'' was last listed in 1838 with Christie, master, G.H.Pace, owner, and trade London–South Seas.][''LR'' (1838), Seq.№H115.]
/ref>
Citations and references
Citations
References
* {{cite book , first=Rif, last=Winfield, title=British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates, publisher=Seaforth Publishing, year=2008, isbn=978-1-86176-246-7
1829 ships
Age of Sail merchant ships of England
Whaling ships