Chaser (1786 ship)

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History
Great Britain
Name	1776: Lord North 1782: Cotton Planter 1784: Planter 1786: Chaser
Owner	Various
Launched	1771, Philadelphia[1]
Captured	1794 (and recaptured)
Fate	Condemned 1796
General characteristics
Tons burthen	200,[2] 201,[1] or 202[3] (bm)
Armament	1778: 4 × 4-pounder + 10 × 3-pounder guns 1796: 10 × 6-pounder guns

Chaser (or Chacer) first appeared under that name in British records in 1786. She had been launched in 1771 at Philadelphia under another name, probably Lord North. Lord North became Cotton Planter, and then Planter, before she became Chaser. Between 1786 and 1790 Chaser made four voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then became a merchantman. In 1794 a privateer captured her but the Spanish recaptured her. She became a Liverpool-based Slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. In 1796 she was condemned in West Africa on her first voyage in the triangular trade before she could embark any enslaved people.

Lord North first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR), in 1776.^[2]

Lord North became Cotton Planter.^[4]

On 24 August 1782 a gale drove Cotton Planter, Young, master, onto safe ground at "Isle Varow Point", in the River Shannon.^[5]

Cotton Planter became Planter.^[6]

Planter became Chaser. Chaser first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR), in 1786.^[7]

1st whaling voyage (1786–1787): Captain Stephen Skiff sailed for the Brazil Banks in 1786. On 1 April 1787 Chaser, Skiff, master, was at Island Trinidada with four tuns of spermaceti and 40 tuns of whale oil.^[8] She returned to England on 2 July 1787 with five tuns of sperm oil, 70 tuns of whale oil, and 42 cwt of whale bone.^[1]

2nd whaling voyage (1787–1788): Captain C. Blandford sailed from England on 17 September 1787. Chaser returned on 27 June 1788 with 20 tuns of sperm oil, 80 tuns of whale oil, and 70 cwt of whale bone.^[1]

3rd whaling voyage (1788–1789): Captain C. Blanchford sailed from England on 6 September 1788. Chaser returned on 21 July 1789 with 25 tuns of sperm oil, 70 tuns of whale oil, and 58 cwt of whale bone.^[1]

4th whaling voyage (1789–1790): Captain Blanchford (or Blackford) sailed from England on 24 September 1789. Chaser returned on 8 December 1790.^[1]

Although Lloyd's Register showed Chaser as continuing in the southern fishery, and one source accepts this information,^[9] there is no evidence in Lloyds List's ship arrival and departure data to support it. On 4 March 1791 Lloyd's List showed Chacer, Funter, master, sailing from Deal to Africa. Within the month it reported that she had arrived at Dunkirk. There were no further mentions of Chacer until June 1794.

In June 1794 Chacer, King, master, sailed to Martinique. From there she sailed on to Jamaica. Lloyd's List reported in January 1795 that the French privateer Libertie had taken Chacer and Dorset, Edmonds, late master.^[a][b] However, a Spanish frigate had retaken the two British vessels and taken them into Havana.^[12]

Chaser, Galbraith, master, sailed from Havana on 13 May 1795, in company with Sarah, M'Gee, master, and Amacree, Hewan, master.^[c] Both Sarah and Amacree had delivered enslaved people to Havana and were on their way home. Sarah separated from Chaser on the 20th through the Gulf of Mexico, and from Amacree on the 29th, north of Bermuda.^[14] Lloyd's List reported in July 1795 that Chaser had returned to Liverpool.

Owner John Dawson next intended to sail Chaser in the trade in enslaved people. Captain Galbraith sailed from Liverpool on 20 November 1795.^[3] Lloyd's List reported in February 1796 that she had returned to Liverpool from westward of Newfoundland.^[15]

In 1796, 103 vessels sailed from British ports, bound for Africa in the slave trade; 94 of the vessels sailed from Liverpool.^[16]

From Liverpool Chacer sailed to Cork. Then on 15 April 1796 she was at Iles de Los. She had been on shore and sustained much damage; her cargo had been landed.^[17]

Chaser was condemned at Iles de Los before embarking any captives.^{[18] [3]}

In 1796, 22 vessels were lost while sailing in the slave trade. Five vessels were lost on the coast of Africa.^[19] Chaser is not listed among these.^[20] Still, 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 vessels in the slave trade.^[21]

After Chaser, Galbraith went on to be captain of Union, which the French also captured, and then Goodrich on the third of her seven voyages transporting enslaved people. The Liverpool merchant John Dawson was the or an owner of Brothers, Chaser, and Union.^[d]

• Behrendt, Stephen D. (1990). "The Captains in the British slave trade from 1785 to 1807" (PDF). Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 140.
• Clayton, J.M. (2014). Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775-1815: An alphabetical list of ships. Jane M. Clayton. ISBN 978-1-908616-52-4.
• 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.
• Williams, Gomer (1897). History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade. W. Heinemann.
• Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.