Lady Penrhyn

Specifications

2 October 1786 – Deptford Officers to Navy Board, reporting on the Lady Penrhyn. 33813/94. Age: New. 6’4” 6’2” 6’3”. (TNA ADM106/3321/92; TNA ADM106/3364/74-75)

29 November 1786 – Navigation Licence. No.3564. 322 tons. 8 guns. W.C. Sever. 19 British and 6 foreign crew. To Botany Bay. (TNA ADM7/104)

11 December 1789 – Registered. No.316 of 1789. 2 decks, 3 masts. 103’9” x 27’5” x 4’9”. 322 tons. Square sterned ship with roundhouse and quarter badges. No gallery. Figurehead of a woman. (TNA BT107/8)

Owner at First Fleet

William and Timothy Curtis were part owners, although William appears to have been the managing owner. Arthur Bowes Smyth wrote in his journal (NLA) that the master, William Cropton Sever was also a part owner. Timothy and William Curtis had started their business life as biscuit bakers, their grandfather having taken up that trade and settled in Wapping.

William had been elected as an alderman of the City of London in 1785, an office he would hold until his death, and he would serve as Lord Mayor in 1795-96. He made his first bid to enter parliament in 1784, and he would be elected to represent the City of London in 1790. He became a friend of the Prince Regent and was granted a baronetcy in 1802.

In Thorne’s biographies of the members of the House of Commons, he is described as: ‘A portly and bottlenosed bon vivant and unconscious buffoon. . .’ He was often lampooned as illiterate, ‘but his reported speeches showed no want of cogency’. Sir William was the leading spokesman for the City and mercantile interests in general. Although he portrayed himself as independent, but in general, he was a friend of government. He died at his home in Ramsgate in January 1829.

His brother Timothy managed their mercantile interests, and served as a useful front in contracts with government. The Curtis brothers held a share in several of the ships of the Third Fleet: the investment was in Timothy’s name, since legislation passed in 1782 prohibited members of parliament from holding contracts with the state (and William had entered parliament by that time).

History of the Ship

1786 – Built in the Thames.

2 October 1786 – Deptford Officers to Navy Board, reporting on the Lady Penrhyn. 33813/94. Age: New. 6’4” 6’2” 6’3”. (TNA ADM106/3321/92; TNA ADM106/3364/74-75) 29 November 1786 – Navigation Licence. No.3564. 322 tons. 8 guns. W.C. Sever. 19 British and 6 foreign crew. To Botany Bay. (TNA ADM7/104)

1788 – Lloyd’s Register. Built in the River in 1786. Sheathed. Surveyed in 1786. Owned by Curtis & Co. Master: W. Severs. (Lloyd’s Register, 1789)

1786 – Measured by EIC’s Master Attendant. 2 decks. 103’5” x 27’6½”. 3322/94 tons. Launched 1786. (India Office Records, British Library (hereafter IOR), L/MAR/C/529)

[William Curtis was not elected to parliament until 1790, so there would have been no difficulty under Clerk’s Act in him having a contract with government, even if a sub-contract of this kind were considered as caught by the legislation.]

13 May 1787 – Sailed from the Mother Bank with the First Fleet.

3 May 1788 – The Lady Penrhyn weighed anchor and fell down the harbour. (Paul G. Fidlon et al (eds.), The Journal of Arthur Bowes Smyth, Sydney: Australian Documents Library, 1979, p.80)

5 May 1788 – The Lady Penrhyn left for China.

11-15 April 1789 – Greenwich Hospital tax reported as having been paid 25 April 1788 for the Botany Bay voyage (but reported under this date). 338 tons, crew of 20. (TNA ADM68/206)

18 August 1789 – Moored at the Red House, Deptford, unloading tea. (Journal of the Lady Penrhyn, 8 December 1788 to 17 August 1789, IOR L/MAR/B/496A)

24 August 1789 – Customs officers came on board and cleared the ship. (Journal of the Lady Penrhyn)

23 September 1789 – The Greenwich Hospital tax for this China voyage was paid on this date. 338 tons, 30 men. (TNA ADM68/206)

11 December 1789 – Registered. No.316 of 1789. Owners: John Weddenburn of Leadenhall Street; David Lyon of Hammett St, Minories; John Mill of Walcott Place, Lambeth, merchants; sub’g owners with David Weddenburn of Leadenhall St., merchant; and George Curling of Wapping, mariner. Master: Thomas Webster. Built in the Thames, 1786. 2 decks, 3 masts. 103’9” x 27’5” x 4’9”. 322 tons. Square sterned ship with roundhouse and quarter badges. No gallery. Figurehead of a woman. (TNA BT107/8)

14 December 1789 – Navigation Licence. No.8585. 322 tons, 2 guns. Thomas Webster. 15/5 crew. To Jamaica. (TNA ADM7/108)

3 March 1790 – Robert Brown endorsed as Master at Montego Bay, Jamaica. (TNA BT107/8, 11.12.89)

6 November 1790 – Greenwich Hospital tax paid for the Lady Penrhyn, Robert Brown, from Jamaica. 300 tons, crew of 18. (TNA ADM68/206)

15 March 1791 – Registration. No.96/91. Owners: Alexander Longlands of Greenwich and John Mill of Walcott Place, Lambeth, merchants, and George Curling of Wapping, mariner, sub’g owners with David Lyon of London St., Crutched Friars, merchant. Master: George Curling. Built in the Thames, 1786. 2 decks, 3 masts. 103’9” x 27’5” x 4’9”. 322 tons. Square sterned ship with roundhouse and quarter badges. No gallery. Figurehead of a woman. (TNA BT107/9)

16 March 1791 – Navigation Licence. No.414. 322 tons. George Curling. 14/4 crew. To Jamaica. (TNA ADM7/110)

14 April 1791 – The Lady Penrhyn, Curling, arrived at Gravesend from Jamaica. (Lloyd's List, 15.4.91)

15 October 1792 – Registration. No.223/1792. Owners: Isaac Aguilar of Devonshire Square, Bishopgate Street, merchant; Thomas Hayman of the Minories, mariner. Master: Thomas Hayman. Built in the Thames, 1786. 2 decks, 3 masts. 103’9” x 27’5” x 4’9”. 322 tons. Square sterned ship with roundhouse and quarter badges. No gallery. Figurehead of a woman. (TNA BT107/9)

16 October 1792 – Navigation Licence. No.3059. 322 tons. Thomas Hayman. 15/5 crew. To Jamaica. (TNA ADM7/110)

19 October 1793 – Giles Dunning endorsed as Master at London. (TNA BT107/9, 15.10.92)

17 December 1793 – The Lady Penrhyn, Danning, sailed from Gravesend for Jamaica. (Lloyd's LIst, 20.12.93)

31 December 1793 – The Lady Penrhyn, Hayman, for Jamaica, had put in at Cowes with loss of the main mast and much damage having been run afoul of by the Lord Sheffield. (Lloyd's List, 31.12.93)

18 May 1794 – Thomas Hayman endorsed as Master at Kingston, Jamaica. (TNA BT107/9, 15.10.92)

3 December 1794 – Giles Dunning endorsed as Master at London. (TNA BT107/9, 15.10.92)

19 February 1795 – Michael Kendall endorsed as Master at London. (TNA BT107/9, 15.10.92)

16 March 1795 – The Lady Penrhyn, 330 tons, ‘W.W. Wilks’, was one of a number of West India ships in a list of those in the River, engaged to carry troops to the island of St Domingo. She had 16 men and 4 boys. (TA ADM1/3730/168)

29 May 1795 – William Worthington Wilkes endorsed as Master at Kingston, Jamaica. (TNA BT107/9, 15.10.92)

8 January 1796 – The Lady Penrhyn, William Findlay(?), cleared outwards at Kingston. 322 tons, 6 guns, 25 crew. Built in the Thames in 1786. Registered in London, 15 October 1792. Owner: Isaac Aguilar & Co. Loaded with sugar, rum, etc. (TNA Jamaica NOSL, Reel 5, pp.137-8)

9 January 1796 – William Dudley endorsed as Master at Kingston, Jamaica. (TNA BT107/9, 15.10.92)

16 July 1796 – William Worthington Wilkes endorsed as Master at London. (TNA BT107/9, 15.10.92)

11 March 1797 – The Lady Penrhyn, Wilkes, entered inwards to Kingston. 322 tons. 20 crew. Built in the Thames in 1786. Registered at London, 15 October 1792. Owner: Isaac Aguilar & Co. From Port au Prince with dry goods. (TNA Jamaica NOSL, Reel 5, pp.210-211)

8 November 1797 – Registered. No.284/1797. Owners: Thomas Hayman of Newington Place, Kennington, merchant; and John Spence of Wapping, mariner; with Alexander Cuthbert of Mark Lane, merchant. Master: John Spence. Other details as above. (TNA BT107/11)

26 July 1797 – John Hayman endorsed as Master. (TNA BT107/11, 8.11.97)

21 June 1799 – William Sleigh endorsed as Master. (TNA BT107/11, 8.11.97)

14 January 1800 – Registered. No.10/1800. Owners: John Goodson of Tokenhouse Yard and Henry Lyndon Bradish of Pentonville, merchants; Henry Mason of Austen Friars, mariner; with James Law of Portland Place; Patrick Crawford Bruce of Fitzroy Square; and John De Ponthieu of Seymour St., merchants. Master: Henry Mason. Other details as above. (TNA BT107/13)

5 October 1804 – Registered. No.339 of 1804. Owners: Goodson and Bradish, with James Law, Patrick Craufurd Bruce and John De Porthieu. Master: Thomas Burghes. (TNA BT107/17/232-3)

27 January 1808 – Registered. No.23 of 1808. Owner: John Goodson. Master: Thomas Burghes. (TNA BT107/21/25)

3 September 1811 – Lloyd’s List records her as captured in the West Indies. (Mentioned in TNA BT107/21/25)