Wilmington & Liverpool Packet was built in Westport, MA, in 1815. It as registered on 23 May of that year at 384 tons, a length of 106' 4", a width of 28' 7" and a depth of 14' 3 1/2". It had 2 decks, 3 masts, a square stern, no galleries and no figurehead. No satisfying answer has been found for the odd name of the ship. The owners were John A. Parker and William H. Allen, both of New Bedford and Hanson Kelly of Wilmington, NC. It was used in trade between New Bedford and Europe from the start. If Wilmington and Liverpool were involved, it wasn't obvious. Kelly was president of the Wilmington branch of the State Bank of North Carolina. It doesn't appear to have been used for whaling until John Briggs took over the helm from Samuel Lumbard in 1821. WLP was then owned by William A. Parker and brothers William H. and Gideon Allen, all major New Bedford merchants. John sailed the ship through the 1820s before moving on to another. WLP was prominently mentioned in Richard Henry Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast," although after John had moved on. This is covered in John Briggs' biography.
John Briggs, master, voyage #1: (crew list) John Briggs took the ship out of New Bedford Harbor for the first time in April 1821, having been cleared for sailing by the 13th. He was reported at Bonavista, one of the Cape de Verdes islands, a typo leaving it ambiguous if he was arriving or leaving, "fm New Bedford for South Seas" on 31 May.(2) Whalers followed the Gulf Stream across the Atlantic Ocean, which took them to such traditional ports of call in the Azores and Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa. They sailed around Cape Horn and were sighted in the Pacific Ocean in December. Depending on which newspaper you read, they had 15 or 400 barrels of oil.(3) There is another cryptic reference to the ship being on the "Lea Coast," which surely referred to the west coast of South America, with no oil.(3.5) Although Capt. Briggs may have sent a load of oil home with another ship, this was more likely an error.
On 18 June 1822, the whaler Persia crossed paths with WLP northwest of Midway Island in the Pacific, which reported it had 300 barrels of oil.(4) WLP was very likely heading to the recently "discovered" whaling grounds off the coast of Japan. Another report says she was sighted in the Pacific before October 17th with 1300 barrels(4.25) and yet another that she was on the coast of California in December with 1200 barrels.(4.5) Clearly there is at least one mistake somewhere, probably the former reference. The ship probably returned to Hawaii after cruising the Sea of Japan over the summer, and then moved on to California. A shipping news report in July 1823 says that they had 1400 barrels, no date or place given(5.5), but surely over the winter. One of the sources was the ship Lima, which is known to have been on the coast of California in March.(5.525) The ship was at "Hanarorar" (an occasional spelling of Honolulu) in March 1823 with 2000 barrels.(4.75) The next report found places the ship in the South Pacific between New Zealand and Cook Island at the end of June, and WLP supposedly left the coast of Japan on 1 August.(5.75) So, she sailed into the South Pacific during the Summer of 1823, allowing time for the crew to gather the additional whales and then get the ship into the South Atlantic by the following November.(7.5) She encountered a privateered sloop off the north coast of Brazil in early December, from the Canary Islands heading for Venezuela, and gave them bread and water. WLP sailed into home port on 27 December. After heading for Japan with 300 barrels of oil, the voyage suddenly became very successful. 1700 barrels seem to have been made within less than a year while they were around Japan and in the South Pacific. The owners must have been very happy, as this clip would suggest:
The Newport Mercury and the Baltimore Patriot reported this, but not the New Bedford paper.(8) In his landmark book on whaling, Alexander Starbuck says that the captain of this voyage was "Richmond," which is clearly an error.(9)
voyage #2: (crew list) Capt. Briggs went back to sea on WLP in April. This would be his only known non-whaling trip. He sailed out of New Bedford on 18 April 1824, "for the south for a freight.(10) He was in City Point, Hampton Roads, VA, by 9 May, and was there for a month on business. He was set to leave for Bremen on 9 June,(11) and sailed the 12th.(10.25) They were sighted off Plymouth, England, on 11 July(11.1) and reached Bremen by the 24th.(11.2) It isn't noted in the Mercury what he brought back. He left on 6 August and was supposed to make a stop in Lisbon, but his arrival on the 22nd of September was "47 days from Bremen," suggesting he didn't.(12)
voyage #3: (crew list) W&LP resumed her whaling career at left home port again on 1 December 1824.(13) The crew arrived in Valparaiso, Chile, about the following 27 February.(14) Not much has been found regarding their locations in 1825 and 1826. They were at the port of Payta, Peru, in November 1825. It seems likely that they were cruising off the So. American coast through 1825 and early 1826. Just after they left on 5 November, three men conspired to kill Capt. Briggs. They told the 3rd mate, who told the captain, and they were back in Payta the next day. It was decided that the mutineers would be taken to the American Consul at Guayaquil, Ecuador.(14.5) The newspapers may have reports not yet seen, but the next found picks up the ship in Hawaii in March or April 1826 with 1850 barrels of oil.(15) They sailed from the Society Islands for home on 5 October and got home on 8 March 1827 with 2700 barrels of oil.(16) The presence in Hawaii and the jump in barrels indicates they spent the summer of 1826 in the Sea of Japan, but refreshed at Tahiti on the way home rather than Oahu. New Bedford Port Records say that John brought home a passenger, Leonard Sistare, a US citizen.
voyage #4: (crew list) Left New Bedford about 31 August 1827.(17) Reported as "hauled off, nearly ready to sail" on the 14th and the 24th, and cleared by the 31st.(17.1) WLP was noted as being at Payta on 17 January 1828 with 70 barrels.(17.25) The ship "touched at Oahu" on 5 April 1828 with 100 bbls,(17.5) but it must have been there earlier. A diary notes that the ship "arrived yesterday [13 March], 6 1/2 months out. Today Capt. Briggs sold his lumber by her to Mr. Hunnewell for $100 per M.; conclude it is for the mission." (17.6) "The mission" refers to the settlement of Christian missionaries on Oahu, who had been there for about 7 years. John Avery Parker, primary owner of WLP, shipped more lumber and other goods on the ship the next trip (although with a different captain), described as "from 30 to 40 tons of lumber, provisions, etc., [Parker] is said to have exibited great liberality on the occasion." (17.7)The crew had 170 barrels of oil somewhere in the Pacific by 16 June 1828, surely in the Sea of Japan, since they were reported there on 10 July with 300 barrels.(18) The ship was at Maui in the Fall of 1828 with 1200 barrels.(19) They returned to the Sea of Japan in 1829, where they were reported with 2200 barrels on 30 August.(20) West of the Galapagos Islands on 15 January, they had 2600.(20.5) They sailed out of Talcahuano on 28 March 1830 and arrived in New Bedford on 24 June with 2800 barrels.(21)
1.
2. Baltimore Patriot (hereafter BP), 10 August 1822, p. 3.
3. The former from New Bedford Mercury (hereafter NBM), 19 April 1822, p. 3, the latter from The National Advocate, same date.
3.5. The National Advocate, 26 July 1822.
4. NBM, 21 February 1823, p. 3.
4.25. Ibid, 4 April 1823, p. 3.
4.5. Ibid, 22 August 1823, p. 3.
4.75. Ibid, 26 August 1823, p. 3.
5. Ibid, 2 January 1824, p. 3, WLP had arrived 27 December from the coast of Japan, and 9 January 1824, p. 3, with more logbook excerpts. An excerpt from the WLP logbook is included giving sightings of other ships and places her north of Midway Island in June 1823. The next sighting was in November 1823 in the South Atlantic.
5.5 Ibid, 11 July 1823, p. 3.
5.525. Ibid, 4 July 1823, p. 3, reported sighted on 20 March by Capt. Swain of the ship Constitution.
5.75. BP, 10 January 1824, p. 2.
6. NBM, 29 August 1823, p. 3. The ship making this report of sightings came home from the Society Islands in March 1823.
7. see note 5.
7.5. Ibid.
8. BP, 10 January 1824, p. 2, Newport Mercury, 3 January 1824, p. 2. (the image above). NBM reported the arrival of WLP in its 2 January issue, p. 3. The amount of oil was 2500, not the 2600 reported elsewhere.
9. Alexander Starbuck, The History of the American Whale Fishery... etc.
10. NBM, 23 April 1824, p. 3, bound for City Point (VA); Joseph R. Anthony, Life in New Bedford a Hundred Years Ago: A Chronicle of the Social, Religious and Commercial History of the Period as Recorded in a Diary Kept by Joseph R. Anthony, (Old Dartmouth Historical Society, New Bedford:1925), p. 97.
10.25. National Advocate, 18 June 1824.
11. BP, 11 May 1824, p. 2; 18 June 1824, p. 3.
11.1. , 3 September 1824, p. 3.
11.2. Ibid, 17 September 1824, p. 3.
12. NBM, issues 17 September (to leave abt. 5 August for Lisbon) and 24 September 1824, p. 3.
13. Ibid, 3 December 1824, p. 3.
14. Ibid, 30 September 1825, p. 3, reported by ship Fortune as having just arrived when it left port on that day.
14.5. BP, 19 May 1826, p. 3.
15. NBM, 3 November 1826, p. 3.
16. Ibid, 17 February and 9 March 1827, p. 3.
17. NBM, 24 and 31 August 1827, p. 3.
17.1. Ibid, 14, 24 and 31 August 1827, p. 3.
17.25. Aurora & Pennsylvania Gazette, 21 June 1828, p. 3.
17.5. NBM, 28 November 1828, p. 3.
17.6 All About Hawaii; The Recognized Book of Authentic Information on Hawaii, Combined with Thrum's Hawaiian Annual Travel Book, p. 82.
17.7. NBM, 17 September 1830, p. 2.
18. NBM, 13 February 1829, p. 3, report of 10 February by Capt. Wood of ship Comm. Decator; 13 March 1829, p. 3, report of ship Pacific, Capt. Baker. Ships usually made stop-overs at Hawaii in the Spring and Fall and their way to and from the Sea of Japan.
19. Ibid, 15 May 1829, p. 3, report of 11 May by Capt. Smith of ship Hope. He left Hawaii (surely Oahu) for Chile on 2 November, so likely had spoken to W&LP before reaching Oahu, perhaps in September.
20. Ibid, 19 March 1830, p. 3, report of 12 March by Capt. McKennie of ship Minerva Smythe.
20.5. The New York Speculator, issue of 11 June 1830.
21. NBM, 25 June 1830, p. 3.
