Kangaroo
| |
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Kangaroo |
Builder | Joseph Brindley, Lynn |
Laid down | August 1803 |
Launched | 19 September 1805 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | Countess of Morley |
Namesake | Frances Talbot, Countess of Morley |
Acquired | 1815 by purchase |
Fate | Possibly condemned c.1827; last listed 1833 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | Sloop |
Tons burthen | 36940⁄94, or 381[2] bm |
Length |
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Beam | 28 ft 2 in (8.6 m) |
Depth of hold | 13 ft 9.5 in (4.20 m) |
Complement | 121 |
Armament |
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HMS Kangaroo was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy launched in 1805. The Navy sold her in 1815 and she became the whaler Countess of Morley. After three whaling voyages she became a merchantman. She may have been condemned c.1827; she was last listed in 1833.
New owners renamed Kangaroo the Countess of Morley and sailed her as whaler to the Southern Whale Fishery. She entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1816 with H. Best, master, Rowe & Co., owners, and trade Plymouth–South Seas.[19]
1st whaling voyage (1816-1818): Captain H. Best sailed from Plymouth on 15 May 1816, bound for the Pacific. Countess of Morley returned on 19 June 1818 with 1900 barrels of whale oil. The voyage was a singularly safe one in that the crew suffered no deaths, illness, or casualties.[2]
2nd whaling voyage (1818–1821): Captain Luck (or Luce, or Lewis), sailed from Plymouth on 24 October 1818, bound for the Galapagos Islands. On her voyage Countess of Morley was variously reported at Valparaiso, Coquimbo, and the Azores. In late 1819 an Andes Chilean armed ship detained her, "seduced eight of her best seamen from her", and gave her eight "worthless men" in return.[20] Between 25 March 1821 and 2 May she was at Valparaiso with 1800 barrels of oil; she then returned to the fisheries.[21] Countess of Morley returned to Plymouth on 25 December 1821 with 2400 barrel of whale oil, much of it sperm oil.
3rd whaling voyage (1822-1825): Captain H. Best sailed from Plymouth on 13 September 1822. Countess of Morley returned to Plymouth on 5 August 1825. Later that month she was offered for sale at Devonport.[2]
Countess of Morley underwent repairs in 1825 for damages. The Register of Shipping (RS) for 1826 showed her master changing from H. Best to Warren. Her new owner was Billings, and her trade changed from Plymouth–South Seas to Plymouth–Buenos Aires.[22] Lloyd's List reported on 11 May 1827 that as she was sailing for Quebec, in coming down from Stonehouse Pool she ran aground. She was gotten off and proceeded on her voyage.
Lloyd's List of 22 April 1828 reported that Countess of Morley was leaky at Sierra Leone and had been obliged to discharge. Although she was last listed in LR and the RS in 1833, the data was stale, consistent with her having been condemned at Sierra Leone.