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Jane (middle vessel), Middleton, and Viewforth stuck fast in the ice. Thomas Binks (1799–1852). Maritime Museum, Hull
History
United Kingdom
Name	Jane
Builder	Hull
Launched	1813
Fate	Wrecked 1866
General characteristics
Tons burthen	357, or 359 (bm)
Length	106 ft 7 in (32.5 m)
Beam	28 ft 2 in (8.6 m)
Armament	1813:2 × 9-pounder guns + 8 × 18-pounder carronades 1816a:2 × 9-pounder guns + 8 × 18-pounder carronades 1816b:2 × 9-pounder guns + 8 × 12-pounder carronades

Jane was launched at Kingston upon Hull in 1813 as a West Indiaman. Between 1818 and 1836 she was a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She then became a merchantman and was wrecked in 1866.

West Indiaman

Jane entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1813 with John Mazon, master, Raines & Co., owners, and trade Hull–Saint Croix. As a West Indiaman she was armed with 10 cannons, though her owners reduced her armament after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. (Once she became a whaler she did not need any armament as she no longer had to fear privateers and pirates in the Caribbean.)

Northern Fisheries whaler

From 1818 on, Jane became a whaler in the Northern Whale Fisheries, first at Greenland and then at the Davis Strait. In 1818 her captain was Sadler; in 1817 he had been captain of Aurora, whaling at Greenland.

The following data is from Coltish:

On 8 April 1828 Lloyd's List reported that Jane, Maddison, master, had put into Stromness leaky. Three days later it reported that she had been surveyed and had resumed her voyage.

On 30 September 1835, Jane, Middleton, and Viewforth were beset by ice in Davis Strait while in close proximity. On 15 November, Middleton was crushed and sank. Jane and Viewforth split Middleton's crew. In January 1835, Jane, Tather, master, got free of the ice at 58°0′N 56°40′W / 58.000°N 56.667°W / 58.000; -56.667.

Merchantman

After having returned from the Davis Strait in 1836, without having killed a single whale (i.e., "Clean"), with whaling in the previous two years having been almost as poor, and after her overwintering in Davis Strait, her owners shifted her to the merchant trade.

In 1842 Captain W. Tather sailed Jane to Greenland again, but the voyage was not very successful. She killed one whale and 861 seals.

Fate

LR for 1867 had unchanged information from that for 1865, except that it carried the annotation "ecked".

Citations

1. ^ RS (1816), Seq.№J177.
2. ^ LR (1867), Seq.№J98.
3. ^ LR (1813), Supple.pages "J", Seq.№J158.
4. Coltish (c. 1842).
5. Anon. (1837), pp. 145–156.
6. Jones (1992), p. 234.

References

• Anon. (1837). "The Viewforth". The Pilot, or Sailors' Magazine (May). British and foreign sailors' society: 145–56.
• Coltish, William (c. 1842). An account of the success of the ships at the Greenland and Davis Straits fisheries 1772-1842 inclusive.
• Jones, A.E. (1992). Polar Portraits: Collected Papers. Caedmon of Whitby.

• 1813 ships
• Ships built in Kingston upon Hull
• Age of Sail merchant ships of England
• Whaling ships
• Maritime incidents in 1866