Lloyds Register of 1820 gives:
TRANSIT, wooden ship built in 1817 at Whitby.
Sheathed with copper, single deck with beams.
Tonnage 250 tons.
Owner Fisher at Bristol.
Port of registry, Bristol.
Captain Hodgson.
Her maiden voyage was under Capt. Hodgson from Whitby to Riga, where she arrived on 5th April 1817. Her return voyage was to Bristol, where she arrived on 31 May 1817.
25 August 1817, she arrived at Malta from Bristol and Palermo and on 16 November 1817 she arrived back in Bristol.
Her next voyage was also to the Mediterranean, as on 12 July 1818 she arrived at Bristol from Smyrna.
Then she sailed from Bristol for St. Petersburg, where she arrived on 7 September 1818. Her return voyage was also to Bristol on 25 November 1818.
Still under command of Capt. Hodgson she arrived at Malta on 4 March 1819.
Then the following entry is that she arrived at Bristol on 21 December 1819 from Malta.
Around 1820 the TRANSIT was sold to Kidd & Co., and a Captain Davis became her master.
On 8 May 1820 the TRANSIT of Bristol was spoken with in Lat. 33N Long. 28E.
Ever since 1726 the Coffin’s and Maceys had been sending their whalers from the North America into the Atlantic.
When the Enderby ship AMELIA rounded the Horn and was the first vessel ever to harpoon whales in the Pacific she was setting the pattern for future British and American whalers. It was this company who in 1819 sent the SYREN to Japanese waters and was the first to make known whaling in that area.
The master was an American, from Nantucket, Captain Coffin, who went on to command other British whalers. (From Whalers and Whaling by E.Keble Chatterton)
From a report on the China trade prepared by the East India Company Ref: FO17/2 PRO, Kew
12th September 1824. Hahajima Island. Captain Coffin an American commanding the British whaler TRANSIT discovered the southern islands of the Bonin Group.
The two largest he named Fisher Island and Kidd Island after his employers Fisher, Kidd & Fisher of Bristol, England, although in time the group became better know as the Coffin Islands.
The first time I did find anything on the ship TRANSIT is in 1821, when she was in St Helena on 12 August 1821, with on board 140 tons whale-oil and bound for Bristol under command of Capt. Davis.
09 Oct. 1821 arrived at Bristol from the South Sea via St Helena.
10 Oct. 1823 is reported that she arrived at Batavia on 31 May 1823 under acting command of Dickson of Bristol.
Military General (English?) from Amboyna has to settle disputes after death of master Alexander killed by a whale at Christmas Island.
Capt. James J. Coffin appointed as master, the TRANSIT would sail at once for Bristol. (James Coffin was from Nantucket)
I am not so sure that she sailed straight for Bristol, Capt. Coffin on board the whaler TRANSIT landed in 1823 on Bonin South Island, a bay on the island was named after him the Coffin Bay. Bonin Island is Japanese, and in a position of about 500 miles south of Japan.
The same year he discovered the Enderbury islands a small island in the Pacific and part of the Phoenix Group. The name is a misspelling from the owner of the vessel the well know London whale ship owner, Enderby.
Dec. 1823 the TRANSIT was reported at Guam.
10 Feb. 1825, was she reported at Manila with 800 brls of oil on board still under command of Capt. Coffin.
26 June 1825, after refitting in Manila and ready for sea.
The last time she is reported, is in 1826.
02 June 1826 TRANSIT of Bristol, condemned at Manila.
Kiribati 2002 75c sg?, scott 807
Ships employed in the South Seas Trade 1775-1861. Some web-sites. Information from Log Book May 2003 and written by Edward Hogan. Info received from Mr. John Stevenson.