LYRA whaler

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LYRA whaler

Post by shipstamps » Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:55 pm


She is the Cherokee class built HMS LYRA of 1808 built for the Royal Navy and sold in 1818 for breaking up. Many times ships sold by the Royal Navy for breaking up were repaired and special the smaller ones used for whaling.

The whaler depict on this stamp is a Enderby owned whaler and she appears in Lloyds Register in 1819 with the notation that she was built on the Thames in 1808 and rebuilt in 1818, that we can be sure she is the same vessel.

31 December 1807 ordered.
May 1808 keel laid down on the yard of John Dudman & Co., Deptford.
22 August 1808 launched under the name HMS LYRA.
Tonnage 239 ton (bm), dim. 90.6 x 24.8 x 11ft.
Armament 8 – 18pdr. carronades and 2 – 6pdr in the bow.
Crew 75 men.
03 September completed, and fitting out in Deptford till 05 October 1808.
September 1808 commissioned under command of Cmdr. William Bevians.

After completing a unit of Lord Gambier’s squadron, she was the pilot vessel for the fire ship attack on the French fleet on the Basque Road on 11 April 1809.
12 April one of her boats under command of Lieut. Thomas Smith and employed in burning ships of the French fleet was captured, and the Lieut. and the boat crew spent the rest of the war in a French prison.

January 1810 under Cmdr. Robert Bloye, she operated as a unit of Sir Home Popham’s squadron on the north coast of Spain from 1812 till 1813.
In 1813 under command of Cmdr. John Campbell she took together with HMS SURVEILLANTE the American privateer TOM (6-guns) on 27 April 1813.

September 1813 under command of Cmdr. Dowell O’Reilly, when General Wellington advancing from Spain had reached the River Adour, the LYRA with some other ships of the Royal Navy was stationed off the river to assist them to cross the river. When trying to cross the bar O’Reilly’s boat was wrecked, and the crew of the boat were lucky to reach the shore.
An other boat under master mate Henry Bloye of the LYRA made an other attempt, which failed, Mr Bloye and 5 men drowned.

October 1815 under command of Cmdr. Basil Hall, the LYRA was fitted out at Deptford for foreign service from November till December 1815.

09 February 1816 sailed out together with Lord Amherst’s mission on board the HMS ALCESTA to China.
October 1817 returned home.
11 July 1818 sold for £920 to Thomas Pittman at Portsmouth for breaking up.

1819 A ship under the name LYRA appears in the Lloyd List, as owner given the well-known whaling owner Enderby. Tonnage 231 ton, and built on the River Thames in 1808, rebuilt in 1818, so we can be sure she is the same vessel as HMS LYRA.
15 January 1819 sailed from Gravesend under command of Capt. Winslow for the South Seas Fisheries, returned Deal, Kent under the same Capt. on 17 September 1821.
07 June 1822 under command of Capt. Smith sailed from Gravesend for the South Seas Fisheries, returned Deal on 03 September 1824 still under command of Capt. Smith, arrived Gravesend on 10 September.
05 November 1824 sailed from Gravesend under command of Capt. Renwick for the South Seas Fisheries.
27 February 1826 the British whaling barque LYRA from Sydney? under Capt. Renneck ( must be Renwick) sighted Puluwat, which was called Enderby Island.
Natives came out in canoes bringing fish and coconuts.
16 March 1827 at Mauritius, not given when she returned in the U.K.






15 May 1827 sailed from Gravesend under command of Capt. M’Lean for the South Seas Fisheries, and returned on 20 October 1829 at Deal.
Around 1830 her owner is given as Bennett
08 April 1830 sailed from the River Thames under Capt. Sullivan for the South Seas Fisheries, 13 March 1832 at the Mollucas with on board 600 barrels whale oil. Arrived Gravesend 14 June 1833.
The last time I find her is at St Helena on 28 August 1836, thereafter she disappears.

Micronesia 1990 45c sg 179, scott 110.

Source: British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817 by Winfield. http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/L.HTM Foreign Ships in Micronesia. Ships Employed in the South Seas Trade 1775-1861 by Jones. Log Book.

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