Backhouse (1798 ship)

Backhouse was launched in 1798 at Dartmouth. In all, she made four voyages as a slave ship. Between the second and the third, and after the fourth, she was a West Indiaman. A French privateer captured her early in 1810 as she was returning to Britain from Brazil.

History
Great Britain
Name:	Backhouse
Namesake:	Daniel Backhouse (shipowner)
Owner:	1799: John Tarleton and Daniel Backhouse
Builder:	Dartmouth
Launched:	1798
Captured:	24 March 1810
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	Initial data:160, or 168[1] (bm) Later data: 258[2][3] (bm)
Complement:	1806:35[3] 1808:25[3] 1809:25[3]
Armament:	1806: 18 × 6-pounder guns[3] 1808: 14 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 12-pounder carronades[3] 1809: 12 × 6-pounder guns[3]

Career

Backhouse first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1799.[1]

Year	Master	Owner	Trade	Source
1799	J.Harvey	Tarleton & Co.	Dartmouth–Liverpool Liverpool–Africa	LR

1st slave trading voyage (1799–1800): Captain John Harvey sailed from Liverpool on 10 May 1799, bound for West Africa. Backhouse gathered her slaves at Anomabu and arrived at Saint Croix on 20 November with 257 slaves.[Note 1] At some point Captain Crocker replaced Harvey. Backhouse, Crocke, master, arrived back at Liverpool on 8 March 1800. She had left Liverpool with 32 crew members and she had suffered two crew deaths on the voyage.[4]

2nd slave trading voyage (1800–1802): Captain Henry Tyrer sailed from Liverpool on 22 October 1800. Backhouse gathered slaves at the Cameroons, and then Rio Dande (Northern Angola). She arrived at Grenada on 16 September 1801, and left on 7 November. She arrived back at Liverpool on 22 January 1802.[2]

Without original research it is currently impossible to determine Backhouse's employment between her return from her second slave trading voyage and 1805. The registers were only as accurate as owners chose to keep them. In 1805 Backhouse, Keen, master, sailed between Liverpool and Berbice.

Year	Master	Owner	Trade	Source
1805	J.Harvey T.Keen	Tarleton D.Backhouse	Liverpool–Africa
1806	T.Keene Roberts	Backhouse Livingston & Co.	Liverpool–Berbice	LR

3rd slave trading voyage (1806–1807): Captain Thomas Roberts acquired a letter of marque on 26 March 1806.[3] He sailed from Liverpool on 26 April 1806. Backhouse gathered her slaves at Bonny. She arrived at Kingston, Jamaica on 31 October with 312 slaves. She sailed from Kingston on 28 January 1807 and arrived back at Liverpool on 6 April. At some point after she arrived at Bonny, Captain William Foster may have replaced Roberts. She had left Liverpool with 37 crew members and she suffered seven crew deaths on the voyage.[5]

Year	Master	Owner	Trade	Source
1807	Roberts M'Key	Livingston	Liverpool–Africa	LR

4th slave trading voyage (1807–1808): Captain James Mackie sailed from Liverpool on 18 May 1807. The Slave Trade Act 1807 had abolished British participation in the transatlantic slave trade, effective 1 May 1807. However, vessels such as Backhouse, which had received a clearance to sail before the deadline, could still depart.[Note 2]

Backhouse gathered her slaves in New Calabar. She arrived at Kingston, Jamaica, on 28 November with 268 slaves. She sailed from Kingston on 27 April 1808 and arrived in Liverpool on 30 June. She had left Liverpool with 33 crew members and she suffered five crew deaths on the voyage.[7]

Year	Master	Owner	Trade	Source
1808	M'Key Keenan	Livingston	Liverpool–Africa	LR

Captain Archibald Keenan acquired a letter of marque on 10 October 1808.[3]

Year	Master	Owner	Trade	Source
1809	A.Keenan Scotland	M'Vickers	Liverpool–New Orleans	LR

Captain Alexander Scotland acquired a letter of marque on 25 September 1809.[3] LR for 1810 showed Backhouse's trade as Liverpool to the Braziles.

Fate

The French privateer brig Grand Napoleon captured Backhouse, Scotland, master, on 24 March 1810 in 51°30′N 18°00′W as Backhouse was returning to Liverpool from the Braziles. Grand Napoleon, of 16 guns and 120 men, was out thirteen days from Brest, France.[8][Note 3] Backhouse arrived at Morlaix.[11] LR for 1811 carried the annotation "captured" beneath Backhouse's name.[12]

Grand Napoléon put Captain Scotland, his passengers, and his crew on a brig that had been sailing from New Brunswick to Cork when the brig was captured. The privateer gave up the brig to the prisoners.[13]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

1. At the time Saint Croix was a Danish colony. The Danes had abolished the slave trade in the Danish colonies in 1792, although the prohibition did not go into effect until the end of 1802.
2. Kitty's Amelia had received clearance to sail on 27 April, before the deadline. Thus, when she sailed on 27 July, she did so legally. This was the last legal slave voyage for a British vessel.[6]
3. Grand Napoléon was almost certainly the Grand Napoleon of Nantes that HMS Helena captured on 19 April 1810. Grand Napoleon, of about 240 tons (bm), was armed with twelve 18-pounder carronades and four long guns. She had a crew of 124 men. She was three months old.[9] She had been commissioned at Nantes in 1810.[10]

Citations

1. LR (1799), Seq.No.B345.
2. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Backhouse voyage #80413.
3. "Letter of Marque, p.51 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
4. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Backhouse voyage #80412.
5. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Backhouse voyage #80414.
6. BBC: Abolition of Transatlantic Slave Trade
7. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Backhouse voyage #80415.
8. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List (4447). 6 April 1810. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
9. "No. 16365". The London Gazette. 28 April 1810. p. 631.
10. Demerliac (2003), p. 279, n°2201.
11. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List (4457). 11 May 1810. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
12. LR (1811), Seq.No.B9.
13. "LIVERPOOL, APRIL 5". (7 April 1810), Lancaster Gazetter (Lancaster, England) Volume 9, Issue 460.

References

• Demerliac, Alain (2003). La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 à 1815 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 9782903179304. OCLC 492784876.