Sappho was launched at Shields in 1785. She spent most of her career trading with the Baltic, though she made some voyages elsewhere, and in particular, between 1788 and 1799 she made a voyage to the Falkland Islands as a whaler. She was last listed in 1798, having perhaps been captured in late 1797.
Whaling voyage (1787–1789): Captain Thomas Middleton sailed from London on 5 December 1787, bound for the Falkland Islands.[3] In April 1789 Sappho and Elizabeth and Mary, James Hopper, master, were in Port Desire when a Spanish frigate arrived and confiscated thousands of seal skins they had gathered.[4]Sappho herself had to give up some 7,000 seal skins.[3] In April 1789 she put into Port Desire for water and repairs.[2]Sappho returned to London on 16 July 1789 with one tun of sperm oil, eight tuns of whale oil, four cwtwhale bone, and 19,000 seal skins.[3]
Year
Master
Owner
Trade
Source
1790
G.Middleton W.Moody
Horncastle
London–Petersburg
LR
1793
W.Moody Illegible J.French
Horncastle G.Kendal
London–Ostend London–Lisbon
LR
1794
J.French J.Greathead
G.Kedall
London–Lisbon
LR
1795
Greathed
Kendall
London–Pernambuco
LR
1796
Greethed
Kendall
London–Riga
LR
Fate
Sappho was last listed in 1798 with data unchanged from 1796.
A French privateer captured and took into Bordeaux in 1797 a Sappho, Elliot, master, as Sappho was sailing from Lisbon to Limerick.[5] Although at the time Sappho was a unique name in Lloyd's Register, it may require original research to determine whether the captured Sappho was the Sappho of this article.
Clayton, J.M. (2014). Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775-1815: An alphabetical list of ships. Jane M. Clayton. ISBN978-1-908616-52-4.
Stackpole, Edouard A. (1972). Whales & Destiny: The Rivalry Between America, France, and Britain for Control of the Southern Whale Fishery, 1785-1825. University of Massachusetts Press.
