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Official
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The Lancaster was a full-rigged, two-decked ship built at
Lancaster and
first registered there on the 22nd August 1796. The Lancaster was owned by Joseph
Sharp, of Lancaster, and appears to have been the first command of
Capt.Thomas Wilson, later to command the Mars, Neptune and
Thomas. She was sheathed and
coppered in 1797, and carried 16 x 9-pounder
cannon and 4 x 24-pounder carronades.
In 1798 the Lancaster fought
two actions against French ships, probably privateers, and her captain
was awarded a silver tamkard by the vessel's owners for his success in
defeating them. The inscription on the tankard reads (from Source 3):
"To Capt.Thomas Wilson, this piece is presented by the owners of the ship Lancaster, as an acknowledgement for his gallant defence of that vessel in November 1798, against a French ship of 20 and another of 32 guns."
Source 4 provides some further information on the meeting with the
20 gun vessel, stating that Capt.Wilson wrote to the owners of an
action in the Irish Sea on the 6th December 1798:
"We discovered a ship ahead, standing to the southward. At eight o'clock she tacked towards us, and although she had English colours on I made her plainly an enemy mounting twenty guns, many full of men. Our guns were well loaded with round and grape and the men at their quarters when she came alongside, hauled the English colours down and hoisted French ... After engaging us two hours he had enough of it and hauled his colours down but our vessel being in a shattered position without a brace or any rope to get the yards round, he took advantage of it and made off ... We had one man killed and four wounded and the sails awry, much torn and cut."
Lloyd's List (see Source 5) reported in early November 1798 that “the Lancaster, Wilson, from Lancaster to the West Indies, is put back dismasted”. Possibly this was due to weather, or perhaps an earlier meeting with the 32 gun vessel mentioned in the tankard inscription.
The Lancaster spent her whole career in the trade from Lancaster to the West Indies and then Savannah, Georgia, always under the command of Capt.Wilson. She was driven ashore and wrecked in a hurricane at Annotto Bay, north coast of Jamaica, in February 1802.“Yesterday we received the Jamaica papers for the 27th of February, by which we learn that great damage was sustained by the shipping in the different harbours of that island in a violent gale of wind on the 23rd and 24th of that month. Among the vessels lost and damaged are the following: The ships Thomas and Mary, of Glasgow . . . The ships Lancaster and Charleston, for London, with two American vessels, are on shore at Annotto Bay.”From Jackson's Oxford Journal, 1st May 1802:
“We are sorry to find by the following letter, that a severe gale had done some damage on the North side ports of Jamaica: - Extract of a letter dated Kingston, Jamaica, 27th February 1802, received per the Pomona, arrived in the Clyde this morning, in forty-one days from Port Antonio. “On the 23rd instant, one of the severest gales from the Northward, that has been felt in this island for some years, began, and continued till the following mornings; the shipping in the North side ports have suffered much. The only Glasgow vessels yet known to have been forced on shore are the ships Thomas and Mary, both in Montego Bay; but, as the post left that place before the gale abated, we may yet hear of more; indeed it is thought few vessels in that port could escape. The only damage stated to be done in Bucknor’s Bay is to the ship John and Thomas, and a drogher, named the Friendship, which are on shore. Two ships and two droghers are on shore at AnnottoBay.”
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