Parr was launched in 1797 at Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was lost in 1798 in an explosion on her first voyage.
| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Parr |
| Owner | Thomas Parr[1] |
| Builder | John Wright, Liverpool[2] |
| Launched | 1797 |
| Fate | Burnt 1798 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ship |
| Tons burthen | 450,[3] or 566[4][1] (bm) |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Complement | 80,[4] or 97[1] |
| Armament | 32 × 18-pounder guns[4] |
Origins
Parr was built in Liverpool and named for owners Thomas and John Parr, members of an eminent local slave-trading family. She was built to accommodate seven hundred slaves.[5] Parr was not only the largest Liverpool slaver, but at 566 tons (bm), the largest vessel in the entire British trans-Atlantic slave trade.[2]
Voyage and loss
Lloyd's Register for 1797 had a Parr, 450 tons (bm), of Liverpool, Christian, master.[3]
Captain David Christian acquired a letter of marque on 5 December 1797,[4] and sailed for the Bight of Biafra and Gulf of Guinea Islands on 5 February 1798; he gathered his slaves at Bonny Island.[1]
Lloyd's List reported that Parr, Christian, master, caught fire and blew up in 1798, off the coast of Africa as she was sailing from there for the West Indies. Twenty-nine of her crew and some 200–300 slaves were saved.[6][7] Christian died in the explosion.[8] (Two or three years earlier he had been master of Othello when she too had caught fire while gathering slaves.) Other records indicate that Parr had a crew of 97 men and had embarked some 200 slaves.[1] The surviving slaves were shipped on other vessels.[1]
In 1798, 25 British slave ships were lost. Twelve of the losses occurred on the coast of Africa.[9]
Citations
References
- 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.
- Inikori, Joseph E. (1996). "Measuring the unmeasured hazards of the Atlantic slave trade: documents relating to the British trade". Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer. 83 (312): 53–92. doi:10.3406/outre.1996.3457.
- Rediker, Marcus (2007). The Slave Ship: A Human History. U.K.: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-01823-9.