''Queen Charlotte'' was a British merchant ship launched in 1785 at Stockton for Etches & Co. Between September 1785 and 1788 she made a

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Mage ...

of the world in company with another ship that the company owned, the ''King George''. The two vessels were engaged in the Maritime Fur Trade in the Pacific northwest. They sold their furs in China and returned to England with cargoes that they were carrying back for the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

(EIC). In 1789 she was renamed ''Montreal''. She was at Bordeaux at the outbreak of war with France in 1793 and the French government seized her.

Voyage (1785–1788)

In 1785 Richard Cadman Etches and partners, including

Nathaniel Portlock Nathaniel Portlock (c. 1748 – 12 September 1817) was a British ship's captain, maritime fur trader, and author. He entered the Royal Navy in 1772 as an able seaman, serving in . In 1776 he joined as master's mate and served on the third Pac ...

and George Dixon, formed a partnership, commonly called the King George's Sound Company, to develop the fur trade. Portlock and Dixon had served in the Pacific on James Cook's third voyage. In September 1785 Portlock, in ''King George'', and Dixon, in the smaller ''Queen Charlotte'', sailed from England. They sailed together for most of their three-year voyage. They crossed the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, reaching the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

in January 1786, and transited

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

to enter the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. They reached the Hawaiian islands on 24 May and anchored in

Kealakekua Bay Kealakekua Bay is located on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii about south of Kailua-Kona. Settled over a thousand years ago, the surrounding area contains many archeological and historical sites such as religious temples (heiaus) and al ...

(where Cook had been killed in 1779), but did not go ashore. They took on fresh food at other Hawaiian islands and proceeded on to what is now

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

. Dixson reached the

Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; hai, X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / , literally "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Heca ...

islands and named them the "Queen Charlotte Islands" after his ship. After two years of plying the waters, Portlock and Dixon departed North America, reaching

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...

in November 1787. While ''King George'' and ''Queen Charlotte'' were in China, the EIC chartered them to take cargoes back to England. Captain Dixon crossed the Second Bar on 7 February 1788, and on 14 March reached North Island, the northmost of three islands in the bay that formed the principle anchorage of

Enggano Island Enggano Island is about 100 km (60 mi) southwest of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one of the 92 officially listed outlying islands of Indonesia, though it can also be considered a barrier island of Sumatra. Enggano is about long from ea ...

. ''Queen Charlotte'' then reached St Helena on 18 June and arrived at The Downs on 18 September.British Library: ''Queen Charlotte''.
/ref> Unfortunately, there is no online copy of ''

Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited (LR) is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and ...

'' (''LR'') for 1788. She next appeared in ''Lloyd's Register'' for 1789 with the notation that new owners had changed her name to ''Montreal''.

Fate

''Montreal'' was at Bordeaux ion 1 February 1793 when France declared war on England. The French seized her and some other British vessel there. ''Montreal'' was last listed in 1793.

Citations and references

Citations References *Clayton, Jane M. (2014) ''Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775–1815: An alphabetical list of ships''. (Berforts Group). * * * *

Voyage (1785–1788)

Fate

See also

Citations and references

Further reading