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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: patval on Tuesday 24 July 12 17:32 BST (UK)
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Hello,
The family has a journal written by a grt grt uncle during his appointment as ships surgeon aboard the Harriet, the journey took one year... I would love some information regarding this ship if anyone can help..
Alexander Warden writes:
On Saturday the 6th of January 1816 I left London having been appointed surgeon to the Harriett bound for Batavia at that time lying at Spithead. I joined the ship on Sunday the 7th and as she was only waiting a fair wind to get off I went ashore at Portsmouth & got the medicine chest and everything else of my own in order upon Monday ready to start.
We were detained at Spithead by contrary winds until the 23 when a light breeze springing up from the E ward we dropt down to Cowes. On Wednesday the 24th we left Cowes & run down the channel with several sail in company. Crew consisting of 27 hands all healthy.
He has this to say about his return one year later:
Wednesday January 1st 1817. Entered the British Channel with a strong breeze of fair wind & very thick rainy weather – at 8 p. m. saw the lights on the shoal called the caskets in the middle channel & run away from Sty Albans Head.
Thursday January 2nd brought up in the Motherbank opposite to the town of Ryde. Cap’t Robertson immediately sett out for London. On the third in the afternoon I got my baggage ashore & on Saturday the 4th it was searched at the custom house. The same evening I set off by the coach & arrived in London next morning.
I can find an American ship named the Harriet but doubt this would be the same ship....
Help appreciated
Patricia
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I can find an American ship named the Harriet but doubt this would be the same ship....
... and not to be confused with yet another ship called Harriet. On 16 November 1816, she left London (under Captain Jones) bound for Australia carrying 45 passengers — 4 of them missionaries including a 3x gr-grandfather of mine. This Harriet arrived at Hobart on 21 March 1817 and five weeks later set off for Sydney, arriving 12 May. (The missionaries then sailed on to Tahiti.)
:)
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The locations Alexander Warden gave. Spithead. Portsmouth, Ryde would suggest she was a Royal Navy ship.
However I cannot find any RN vessels with that name which would fit the timescale. I assume therefor, that she was Merchant ship, possibly an East Indiaman. Problem is there are over 30 ships with that name or similar listed in Lloyds Register of shipping 1818 (the closest one available online) Pages H10 and 11
http://books.google.ie/books?id=Wk84AAAAMAAJ&lr&as_brr=1&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q&f=false
I suggest you search Lloyds List with the dates in question to see if you can narrow it down a little.
http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/ResLloydsLocations.html
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Hi Patricia
I really don't know alot about Ships - however I thought, particularly during this period in time that the newspapers recorded the comings & goings of most vessels. So I think I would search the newspapers. I also thought that TNA held information regarding many ships.
The only query I would have is why don't you think he would have sailed on an American (or other nations) vessel? Surely the ships at this time called at many places and may have needed to take on board a ship's surgeon?
PS - Have just seen someone far more knowledgeable about these things has posted. But I might still have a wee look in the newspapers. :)
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Hello Patval, my great grandmother`s brothers William, Thomas and Robert sailed on a ship named "The Harriet "to Australia" in 1853, leaving Southampton . She must have been a later ship because it is thought she was a three masted square rigger built in Quebec Canada in 1852.
Thomas kept diary of the journey, telling of the deaths.including his brother Robert`s baby girl and also the births including William`s child
Try the Australian Passenger lists, they are very informative. Best of luck. Viktoria.
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A couple of questions:
Would it be possible to narrow down the possibilities based on the size of the crew? ('seaweed' might know some helpful websites for this)
Does the diary give any indication of the purpose of the ship (naval, trading or carring passengers)? My guess would be that if the ship was bound for Batavia it would most likely have been trading.
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Oh my this is a great response, thanks…
I didn’t expect for one moment that there would be so many Harriets during that period of time…
Koromo, I’m envious that you have found your Harriet however Alexander says on: Saturday November 16th at 2 oclock a.m. passed the Island of Ascension situated in Latitude / S & Longitude ? W. So definitely not the same ship
Philipsearching: Alex said that there were 27 hands, all healthy, so I wonder how large the vessel would have been. There were also passengers on board as one Jno Packman was mentioned by name; oddly enough no cargo was talked of. On 27th May the ship arrived at Batavia Roads left there on 13th July bound for Indromayo Alex doesn’t give reasons why they are there but gives good accounts of the balls and party’s he attended:
On the 17th of June a grand ball was given by the British civil and military authorities at which I was present & was highly pleased with the nights entertainment – I ever (?) a European especially a Scotch Highlander would not suppose much fitted for dancing – but be that as it will the ball was kept until 3 o’clock the following morning. Upwards of 300 sat down to supper among whom were Lord Amherst & suite who were at Batavia on their way to china. All the British & Dutch military and naval officers were there & all the officers in the companies service were present.
We remained at Batavia until the 13 July during which time nothing particular occurred. Our people were not at all healthy generally 4 or 5 on the sick list - & indeed every ship in the roads was the same. We left Batavia for Indromayu upon the 13th of July not at all displeased at getting away from such a place.
14th August arrived back in Batavia Roads left there homeward bound on 3rd September…. Such a long duration, almost 4 months in and around Batavia?????
On the morning of Tuesday September 3rd 1816 we sailed from Batavia and on the evening of the 4th we brought up in Anjer Roads where we remained the following day for the purpose of filling water & getting stock for the voyage.
Seaweed: thanks for the links, I have had a look through the register but without luck, however, Alexander also says in his journal that on the:
Twenty fourth of March 1815 I left Peterhead Harbour in my good old ship the Active. Two days after which we bore up for regions very different from those I have been in the last 6 weeks.
I was able to find ‘the Active’ in the register.
Thanks for your input.. much appreciated
Patricia
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Would not Capt Robertson linked to Harriet be another clue to follow?
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The London Morning Chronicle of January 4 1817 Notes the arrival at Portsmouth of the vessel HARRIET, Captain Moore from Batavia. The same newspaper reported that she sailed for London on the 6 January.
Now, go to Lloyds Register of Shipping 1818. You will note ship 210 is captained by Moore and her previous voyage was to India. This would tell me that Moore was a mariner with experience of the Indian Ocean.
Reading the entry from left to right she was a Snow of 387 tons, built in London, carried a crew of 26 and possibly 7 troops, owned by Browns, 16 years old, which meant she was built in 1802, her previous voyage was London to India. she was class E1 which means she was a second class ship, of the first quality.
I am fairly confident that this is the vessel you are looking for.
If I am correct about the seven troops maybe the Captain Robertson refered to was a soldier?
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Hi,
Thank you, I have been reading the journal again and yes, Captain Moore is mentioned....
Saturday November the 2nd. Had a disturbance aboard approaching to a mutiny in consequence of which it was determined to go to St Helena & dispose of the ringleaders the principle of whom was put under arrest.
November 9th Called at St Helena at 7 a.m. Cap’t Moore went aboard the Phaeton frigate concerning the mutineers. The Captain of the frigate would not take any notice of it & as the admiral was absent we proceeded on our voyage without delay. No person except the Capt was allowed to go ashore & upwards of 2000 soldiers are upon the Island. Bonaparte never sees any visitors & confines himself almost entirely to the house. A lieutenant of the admiral’s ship mentioned that he had been watching for three days near his house & only saw him once.
I believe that Capt Robertson may have been military there is a paragraph that says:
Mr Colville is a very excellent young man & had it been known that he was alive when we left England I should not at this time have seen Java. He came out Purser of the Surat Castle with Capt Robertson who left him here to look after their conjunct private trade in the year 1813. He has continued ever since on Java in the same business. This is (the Harriet) the third cargo he has shipped on their joint account during their stay & he is now intending to come home to England in the next china fleet. In the month of September 1815 he had a very severe attack of the Java Fever & some person wrote prematurely to Cap’t Robertson mentioning that he was dead which letter he received in the Month of December 1815. This letter was the cause of Cap’t Robertson’s coming out to Java at this time. On our arrival here he found Colville at Samasary in good health & I hope he (Colville) will long disappoint him in the same way...
So it seems as if Capt Robertson was a passenger along with his cargo whatever that may have been,
Thanks again for all the help, I have now got some more information and a little further forwards...
Patricia
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There was at least one - maybe more - revenue cutter, HMS Harriet in the 19th century. But revenue cutters don't usually sail as far as Batavia, but restrict themselves to stopping any nefarious activities within the coastal waters of the British Isles.
This site is very useful for RN vessels history, even if it is only a small amount of info.
http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/Index.html
Nell
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I have had a look at the Lloyds register for 1818 and I believe 'seaweed' has come up trumps (again!). The details in Lloyds fit your "Harriet" too well for it to be a coincidence.
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Hi Philipsearching,
I agree, I don't know how you all do it :o you make researching seem so easy, I'm just a mere beginner by comparison..... thanks to you all
Patricia
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Patricia,
May I ask where you obtained the journal of Alexander Warden?
rgds SW
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Of course you may....
The Journal along with 34 letters written by Alexander are at present in the possession of Fred Mann in Scotland, Fred's wife was Euphemia Valentine, my husband Ians cousin... Fay as she was known had been left the correspondence in her fathers will. Alexander Warden was the brother of Fay and Ians grt gr grandfather Robert Warden, most of the letters were sent to Robert and their father John.... The journal is dedicated to John.. he wrote at the end :
Since my arrival in London my adventures already are not strange to you and I shall only add that as this is rather a lame specimen of composition I request that as soon as my more intimate friends have seen it you will commit it to the flames and pronounce its funeral ovation.
I am
Alex’r Warden
London, January 31st 1817.
Ian and I spent a week in Scotland making copies of the letters and journal as Fred was considering giving them to a museum, they would then be lost to the family....sadly...
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There is a book called Nathaniels Nutmeg which though very long winded might give you some insight into the relationship between England and Batavia and maybe the reasons for the visit of the Harriet. Do not have the book to hand so not sure if the Harriet is mentioned....
So glad you took the time to copy the letters and journal.
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Hi,
Thanks for that, I managed to locate a copy on Abe books, its in the USA but have ordered it .
They are lovely letters... the first is dated Oct 22 1819 , Alexander died in 1836 , he drowned... but his wife Britannia continues the correspondance until 1847, hers are mainly letters asking for assistance in getting her sons to Scotland, and her struggles to cope as she was denied a pension upon Alex's death - although a Doctor I can't quite make out who Alex was employed by......... The children never got to Scotland. A daughter married and moved to London but was widowed early and had no children, One son married in Barbados had numerous children and I am in touch with some descendants who live in America.... Still trying to locate other family.....
Its a great hobby..
Patricia
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Ian and I spent a week in Scotland making copies of the letters and journal as Fred was considering giving them to a museum, they would then be lost to the family....sadly...
Well done you!
I think this document would be of interest to maritime historians. I would urge you or Fred to contact the National Maritime Museum to se if they are interested in acquiring it for their collections.
As far as I am aware they are not dealing with enquiries until after the Olympics. It may also pay you to see what information they hold on HARRIET.
Good luck with your research.
regards
SW
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Is there a "Queen of the South" in relation to a British ship named 'Harriet'?