Agreeable (1793 ship)

1st capture (1793): War with France had just broken out when on 5 April 1793 Harriet, Caithceon, master, became the first privateer from Liverpool to send in to Liverpool a French prize. The prize was Agreeable. P.M.Culler, master, which had been sailing from Port-au-Prince to Bordeaux. Harriet had captured Agreeable on 11 March at 48°30′N 12°30′W. Agreeable, of 150 tons burthen, was carrying a cargo of coffee, sugar, indigo, and cotton, and the report of her capture valued vessel and cargo at £6–9000. The report also gave the name of Harriet's owner as Barton.[3] The auctioneers Ewart & Ruston, of Exchange Alley, sold vessel and cargo.[4]

Thomas and William Barton acquired Agreeable. She entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1793.[1]

1st voyage transporting enslaved people (1793–1794): War with France had commenced a few months earlier leading Captain Thomas Johnson to acquire a letter of marque on 7 June 1793.[2] He sailed from Liverpool on 21 July. Agreeable began her trade on 1 October and acquired captives at Ambriz. She departed Africa on 9 January 1794 and arrived at Barbados on 22 February. She had embarked 263 captives and arrived with 259, for a 2% mortality rate. She left Barbados on 27 March and arrived back at Liverpool on 30 April. She had left Liverpool with 36 crew members and suffered six crew deaths on the voyage.[5]

After the passage of Dolben's Act in 1788, the first British legislation passed to regulate slave shipping, masters received a bonus of £100 for a mortality rate of under 2%; the ship's surgeon received £50. For a mortality rate between two and three per cent, the bonus was halved. There was no bonus if mortality exceeded 3%.[6][lower-alpha 1]

2nd voyage transporting enslaved people (1794–1795): Captain Johnston sailed from Liverpool on 31 July 1794. Agreeable arrived in West Africa on 28 October. She sailed for the West Indies on 3 February 1795 and arrived at Barbados on 1 April. She had embarked 261 captives and arrived with 256, for a 2% mortality rate. She arrived back at Liverpool on 13 July. She had left Liverpool with 28 crew members and she suffered no crew deaths on her voyage.[8]

2nd capture and 1st recapture (1796): In March 1796 Agreeable, M'Curran, master, was on her way to Barbados when a French privateer captured her. Sir John Borlase Warren's squadron recaptured Agreeable on 15 March and sent her into Falmouth, where she arrived on the 23rd.[9][10]

On 13 January 1797 Captain Archibald McCallum acquired a letter of marque.[2] In March Barton and Agreeable were sailing in company to Barbados when they parted. A Spanish privateer of 16 guns and 120 men came up and attacked Barton. After about 20 minutes the Spaniard veered off, but proceeded to follow Barton all night at a distance of half a mile. Next morning, when Agreeable appeared, the Spaniard came up and engaged the two British merchantmen. The engagement lasted one hour and forty minutes before the Spaniard disengaged, having suffered extensive damage to her sails and rigging. British casualties consisted of two men wounded on Agreeable.[11]

Barton and Agreeable arrived at Barbados together, and returned to Liverpool together.

In 1797, Agreeable was lengthened and rebuilt. Dolben's Act limited the number of enslaved people that British enslaving ships were permitted to transport without penalty, based on a ship's burthen. At a burthen of 150 tons, the cap would have been 250 captives; at a burthen of 223 tons the cap would have been 362 captives.

3rd voyage transporting enslaved people (1797–1798): Captain James Hird acquired a letter of marque on 28 October.[2] Captain Hird sailed from Liverpool on 22 December 1797.[12] In 1797, 104 vessels sailed from England, bound for Africa to acquire and transport enslaved people; 90 of these vessels sailed from Liverpool.[13]

On 30 December, Agreeable was in company with Lovely Lass, Luce, master, when two privateers, one of 22 guns and one of 18 guns, engaged them for four hours before giving up.[14] Agreeable and Lovely Lass were reported "all well" on 14 January 1798 at 44°50′N 9°15′W.[15] Agreeable started acquiring captives at Bonny on 23 February 1798. She left Africa on 18 March and arrived at St Vincent on 2 May, having stopped at Barbados on the way. She had embarked 357 captives and arrived with 342, for a mortality rate of 5%. She left St Vincent on 28 May and arrived at Liverpool on 3 July. She had left Liverpool with 40 crew members and suffered three crew deaths on her voyage.[12]

3rd capture and 2nd recapture (1798): On 18 September, three days after Agreeable, M'Callan, master, had left Barbados, a schooner privateer of 14 guns and 100 men captured her and took her into Guadeloupe. Agreeable had 13 people killed and 30 wounded.[16][17]

Agreeable then became a French privateer. Victor Hugues put 210 men onboard her, armed her with eighteen 12-pounder guns, and sent her to cruize off Barbados. The Royal Navy sent HMS Concorde and Amphitrite to try and find her.[17] A Royal Navy sloop-of-war captured Agreeable, "of Guadaloupe (late of Liverpool)", and carried her into Tortola.[18] She arrived at Ramsgate on 11 April 1799.

4th voyage transporting enslaved people (1799–1800): Captain Walter Stott acquired a letter of marque on 2 July 1799. He sailed from Liverpool on 22 July.[19] In 1799, 156 vessels sailed from England, bound for Africa to acquire and transport enslaved people; 134 of these vessels sailed from Liverpool.[13]

Agreeable acquired captives at Bance Island and arrived at Barbados on 10 January 1800 with 349 captives. She arrived back in Liverpool on 24 March. She had left Liverpool with 46 crew members and she suffered nine crew deaths on her voyage.[19]

Stott then sailed to Barbados and back. Captain William Lewtas acquired a letter of marque on 20 December 1800.[2] He had returned to Liverpool from Barbados in November after a voyage of only 32 days.[20]

5th voyage transporting enslaved people (1802–1803): Although the change of masters did not appear in LR, on 6 July 1802 Captain George Hewitt sailed from Liverpool.[21] In 1802, 155 vessels sailed from England, bound for Africa to acquire and transport enslaved people; 122 of these vessels sailed from Liverpool.[13]

Agreeable acquired captives at Bance Island and arrived on 30 June 1803 at St Kitts with 242 captives. She sailed St Kitts on 17 August and arrived in Liverpool on 27 September with William Good as master. (When Agreeable stopped at Trinidad on her way to St Kitts, Hewitt was still her master.) She had left Liverpool with 28 crew members and she suffered two crew deaths on her voyage.[21]

6th voyage transporting enslaved people (1807–1808): Captain James Young sailed from Liverpool on 1 January 1807. Agreeable acquired captives at the Congo River. She arrived at Trinidad on 21 November with 164 captives, with the principal place of landing being Zion Hill.[22] On her way home Agreeable Younghusband, master, stopped at Tobago. As she was sailing to Liverpool she captured an American brig sailing from Guadeloupe to America. Agreeable took the sloop into St Kitts.[23] Agreeable arrived back at Liverpool on 29 May 1808.[22]

Captain Thomas Bridge acquired a letter of marque on 3 August 1808.[2] He sailed to Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo, returning via Cadiz.

In late 1809, four days after sailing from Liverpool, Agreeable encountered a French privateer. Agreeable repelled the privateer after a severe engagement and arrived at Antigua 83 days after leaving Liverpool.[24] She left Antigua on 22 February 1810.

There was a report, that proved false, that an American privateer had captured Agreeable off the coast of Africa. Agreeable had sailed to the River Plate. There she had run aground on the Chico Bank in the River Plate and vessels had to be sent out from Buenos Aires to take off her cargo.[25] Agreeable, Garnock, master, arrived in Buenos Aires in late December 1813 having suffered considerable damage from having run aground.[26]

Agreeable was condemned in Buenos Aires after having run aground in the River Plate. Her entry in the Register of Shipping for 1815 carried the annotation "Condemned".[27]

Agreeable was repaired and returned to service. She arrived in Liverpool on 28 March 1815 with Brown, master. She had left Buenos Aires on 21 January.[28]

She reappeared in LR with the information that she was of French origin.[29] She continued to trade with South America. On 16 March 1816 Agreeable arrived in Rio de Janeiro with the cargo from Tiger, Smith, master, of Leith, which had wrecked on Cape St Rock.[30][lower-alpha 2]

Although the registers continued to carry Agreeable with unchanged data for a number of years, the last mention of her in Lloyd's List's ship arrival and departure data occurred in 1819. Agreeable. Hutchison, master, arrived in Liverpool on 4 June 1819 after having left Paraíba on 13 April.[31]

• Behrendt, Stephen D. (1990). "The Captains in the British slave trade from 1785 to 1807" (PDF). Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 140.
• Howley, Frank (2008). Slavers, Traders and Privateers: Liverpool, the African Trade and Revolution, 1773-1808. Countyvise. ISBN 9781901231984.
• Williams, Gomer (1897). History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade. W. Heinemann.