My Ancestors

In my first post [https://myancestors.blog/2023/09/04/hello-world/] I mentioned that I’d inherited a small pen and ink sketch dated 1806, showing a British whaling ship being captured and burned by a French frigate.

The drawing

The drawing measures about 6 x 8 inches. It’s in good condition, apart from its missing top left corner. The words at the bottom are written on the same piece of paper, and so appear to be part of the original composition. Horizontal and vertical creases show that it was at once neatly folded into quarters. I had it professionally framed about thirty years ago, but as best I can recall there is nothing on the back.

The detail is striking. Comparing the rigging to technical drawings of ships of the time the artist was clearly very familiar with such matters. The naive treatment of the sea and a lack of perspective suggest an artist who’s not had any formal training. At the stern of the French frigate, in addition to the name La Sirene, there is also a whaleboat clearly inscribed MOLLY HULL, which suggests detailed knowledge of the events described below. Finally there is the mystery as to the identity of MWC.

Provenance

Before continuing with the tale I want to just spend a moment more on the provenance of this piece. After all, perhaps the family acquired it from a local bric a brac shop? Perhaps it just seemed like a nice piece of memorabilia associated with the whaling trade, and they knew that ancestors had been involved?

My nana and grandad CLARK had no pictures on the walls of their house. Not one. The only things in the attic of the house in which they lived their last 30 years was I have come to realise almost certainly one keepsake from each generation.

• a large oval framed photograph of my dad aged around 4 kitted out in full knitwear
• large studio portraits of themselves in their twenties
• an oil painting of my great grandad CLARK
• some wage slips from my 2 x great grandad’s later whaling voyages
• a wooden tobacco box which I suspect was from my 3 x great grandfather who I now know was a whaler and carpenter
• this sketch

Thomas CLARK

As part of my family search I managed to obtain a copy of the crew list for the 1806 voyage of the Blenheim from Hull to the Greenland Whale Fisheries. Sadly it is very light on detail. The page is headed ‘Blenheim – John Welburn taken by the French’. It tells us that the Blenheim left Hull on or around 17 March 1806 with thirty six men on board, and that another eight men joining the ship ten days later at Stromness in the Shetlands. The name Thomas Clark appears in the middle of the list of men from Hull indicating he was most likely a common seaman, rather than holding any position of authority such as mate or harpooner.

Independently of this I have the 1853 death certificate for my 4 x great grandmother Mary CLARK (nee TAYLOR). She died at the age of 79 at Dryden’s Entry, off Salthouse Lane in Hull, which was the CLARK’s family home for over half a century. The death was notified by my 3 x great grandmother, Ann CLARK and Mary is noted as being the widow of Thomas CLARK, sailor. Thomas CLARK and Mary TAYLOR married on 2 December 1793 at St Mary’s in central Hull. The name TAYLOR became a middle name for a handful of their descendants. Everything fits in with Thomas CLARK being my direct ancestor.

The Blenheim’s 1806 voyage

Some details can be pieced together from the contemporary press. We know that the journey to the whaling grounds was not straightforward that year. In early April it is reported that,

The Falconberg, Smith, from Grimsby, for Davis’ Straits, was on Monday se’nnight [i.e. 24 March] driven on shores upon a sandy beach, a few miles to the north of Aberdeen, in a heavy gale of wind at S.E. with a thick fog. The weather proving moderate she is expected to be got off with little damage, and it is hoped she may be able to proceed on her voyage. The Blenheim, Welburn, of this port, for the Davis’ Straits, was in company with the Falconberg, and was firing signals of distress; but, as she was out of sight the following morning, and the firing had ceased, it was expected she had cleared Buchanness Head.

In late July the Hull Advertiser reports enemy French frigates being active in the Greenland Seas, attacking and burning English vessels. The same article also records the progress of over twenty whale ships from Hull. The Blenheim has 3 fish, placing it about fifteenth in rank. However, a relatively poor year was about to get a good deal worse as July turned to August.

News travelled slowly in those days. At the end of August the Hull Advertiser was still reporting,

The two remaining ships, Blenheim and Holderness, are daily expected.

One month later and concerns were growing,

Great fears are experienced for the fate of the Holderness and Blenheim, two vessels belonging to this port, that were employed in the Davis’ Straits fishery, and have not yet returned. They are conjectured to have been taken by the French frigate that captured and destroyed the Molly.

In mid-October a letter received from Plymouth confirmed that men captured from another English ship had been transported in whaleboats belonging to the Blenheim. Another article, seemingly based on this same correspondence, states that La Syrene (sic) and her sister ship Revanche were still cruising the northern seas in mid-September and had on board upward of 300 prisoners.

It is not until early December that the Hull Advertiser is finally able to give a much more detailed account, reporting that,

Several letters have this week been received here from the Captain and crew of the Blenheim, of this port, captured with the Holderness, by two French frigates on their return from the Davis’ Straits fishery. The crew landed at L’Orient (sic), and marched from thence about 460 miles in 28 days to Arras, where they arrived the last week in October. The surgeon of the Blenheim was left with the sick at the hospital at landing. The harpooner, and Abraham Brittlebank, one of the crew of the Blenheim, were left sick at Alencon. There were about 1,500 prisoners at Arras, and their allowance was only small.

This late October arrival at Arras ties in perfectly with the published diary of Peter Bussell (1931) who on 27th October 1806 records,

Forty prisoners arrived here this day, being part of the crews of some Greenlandmen (English and Russian) captured in the Greenland seas by two French frigates, La Sirene and Guerrier.

To be continued …

Bibliography

1. Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser. 1806. Hull, April 4. 9 April, 1c
2. Hull Advertiser. 1806. Kingston upon Hull, Friday July 25th. 26 July, 3ab
3. Hull Advertiser. 1806. Kingston upon Hull, Friday August 29th. 30 August, 3a
4. Hull Advertiser. 1806. Kingston upon Hull, Friday September 26th. 27 September, 3a
5. Hull Advertiser. 1806. Kingston upon Hull, Friday October 17th. 18 October, 3b
6. Morning Advertiser. 1806. Naval recorder, Plymouth, Sept 30. 3 October 3c
7. Hull Advertiser. 1806. Kingston upon Hull, Friday December 5th. 6 December, 3c
8. Bussell, Peter. 1931. The Diary of Peter Bussell (1806-1814). Ed G.A. Turner. London: Peter Davies, page 41