Aurora (1782 ship)

Aurora was launched at Kingston upon Hull. She traded with the Baltic until 1803 when she became a Greenland whaler. She was lost in 1821 on her 18th voyage to the Northern Whale Fishery.

History
Great Britain
Name:	Aurora
Builder:	Hull
Launched:	1782
Fate:	Wrecked 27 August 1821
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	366,[1] or 370, or 470,[2] or 500[3] (bm)
Armament:	1782:4 × 3-pounder guns[3] 1795:6 × 6-pounder guns[2] 1800:8 × 6-pounder guns[1]

Merchantman

Aurora first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1782 with Robinson, master, Hall & Co., owners, and trade Hull–Riga, changing to London transport.[3]

Year	Master	Owner	Trade	Source & notes
1786	J.Robinson W. Proctor	F.Hall	Narva–Hull	LR
1790	S.Lazenby	Hall & Co.	Narva–Hull	LR
1795	J.Hall	F.Hall	Hull–Petersburg	LR[2]
1800	Campion	T.Hall & Co.	Hull–Petersburg	LR; damages repaired 1797[1]

Lloyd's List (LL) reported on 20 December 1799, apparently erroneously, that Aurora, Campion, master, had been lost near Cronstadt while sailing from Petersburg to London.[4]

Greenland whaler

LR for 1803 showed Aurora with Campion, master, Hall & Co., owners, changing to Gilder, and trade Hull–Petersburg, changing to Hull–Greenland. She had undergone a thorough repair in 1797.[5] She underwent repairs for damages in 1803, and Sadler became her master.

The following data is from Coltish:[6]

Year	Master	Where	Whales	Tuns whale oil
1803				182
1804				214
1805				244
1806				160
1807				230

LL reported in March 1808 that Aurora had had to put into Hull. She had been bound for Greenland but had gotten on shore.[7] Despite the delay this caused, in 1808 Aurora had the most successful voyage of her career in terms of the amount of whale oil she gathered. It was also the ninth-best haul in the history of the Hull whaling fleet.[8]

Year	Master	Where	Whales	Tuns whale oil
1808				263
1809	Sadler			180
1810	Sadler	Greenland	13	146
1811	Sadler	Greenland	39	240
1812	Sadler		22	156
1813	Sadler	Greenland	2	20
1814	Sadler	Greenland	24	189

LL reported that Aurora, Sadler, master, had had to put into Aberdeen on 20 April 1815 leaky. She had been bound for Greenland and had gotten as far as latitude 63°N before she had had to put back.[9]

Year	Master	Where	Whales	Tuns whale oil
1815	Sadler	Greenland	6	69
1816	Sadler	Greenland	12	76
1817	Sadler	Greenland	5	70
1818	Griswood	Greenland	7	95
1819	Griswood	Greenland	1	19
1820	Thomas	Greenland	9	80

In 1818 Sadler became master of Jane, sailing her to Greenland.

Fate

Aurora, of Hull, Thomas, master, was lost on 27 August 1821 at Davis Strait. At the time of her loss she had taken 10 fish.[10]

Citations and references

Citations

1. Seq.№A634.
2. Seq.№A611.
3. LR (1782), Seq.№A463.
4. LL №4018.
5. LR (1803), Seq.A1005.
6. Coltish (c. 1842).
7. LL №4240.
8. Munroe (1854), p. 39.
9. LL №4967.
10. Lloyd's List №5636.

References

• Coltish, William (c. 1842). An account of the success of the ships at the Greenland and Davis Straits fisheries 1772-1842 inclusive.
• Munroe, Henry (1854). "Statistics of the Northern Whale Fisheries, from the Year 1772 to 1752". Journal of the Statistical Society of London. 17: 34–42.