Lady Shore (1794 ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Lady Shore |
| Namesake: | Lady Charlotte Shore, wife of Sir John Shore |
| Owner: | James Willcocks |
| Builder: | Calcutta |
| Launched: | 6 January 1794 |
| Notes: | This vessel is frequently conflated with Lady Shore (1793 ship) |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 482 |
| Sail plan: | Ship rigged |
| Complement: | 35 |
| Armament: |
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Lady Shore was a merchantman launched at Calcutta in 1794. In 1797, she commenced a voyage as a convict ship to Australia until a mutiny cut the voyage short.
Lady Shore was launched by James Willocks, Calcutta, in 1794 for his own account. He was also her master.Lady Shore was admitted to Registry in Britain on 19 January 1797.
Under the command of James Willcocks, Lady Shore sailed from Gravesend, England in May 1797, with cargo, 58 soldiers for the New South Wales Corps, and 119 prisoners. She sailed under a letter of marque dated 3 April that gave her crew as 35, her size as 482 tons (bm), and her armament as 10 guns. However, she had a crew of only 26 when she departed.
Amongst the prisoners were Sélis and Thierry, French prisoners of war from the capture of the corvette Bonne Citoyenne on 10 March 1796. Sélis had been chief helmsman of the corvette, and Thierry was a pilot. They had already made two escape attempts with fellow prisoners. On 28 March 1797, Sélis and Thierry and six other former escapees were embarked on Lady Shore, bound for Botany Bay.
Once aboard, the French decided that their only means of escape was to seize the ship. To this end, they recruited fellow prisoners, three Germans and one Spaniard. In addition to Sélis and Thierry, the mutineers were Laurèche, Delehay, Malleo, Mallicot, Le Garshe, Lockart, Crippong, Greville, Wolfe, and Jean Prevost (Prevôt). They planned carefully, with each man having a specific task during the takeover.
On 1 August 1797, at 2a.m., the prisoners crept into the sentries' station while the sentries slept and seized the sentries' weapons. At a signal, the shout of "Vive la République!" ("Long live the Republic!"), the mutineers ran to take their fighting positions: one controlled the hatch to the women's quarters; two, the hatch of the quarters where the soldiers slept, threatening to kill anyone trying to get out; two covered the deck and were to shoot any sailor or soldier present there and who would not surrender; two controlled the hatch of the officers' quarters; two were to arrest the captain; two were to seize the three officers on deck and prevent them from giving alarm; and the last one would open an ammunition box, distribute it to his fellow mutineers, and patrol to prevent anyone from flanking them.
Seeing two armed mutineers running about, the chief mate, Lambert, fired and mortally wounded Delehay, but was himself killed immediately. Captain Willcocks attempted to resist, but received three bayonet wounds, perhaps from Prevost. Willcocks died two days later. Soldiers attempted to climb on deck, but the men on the hatches repelled them. The French then proceeded to seal the hatches, disarm the crew, and put Sélis and Thierry in command of the ship. The British officers had to sign the certificate of seizure that was the custom when a prize was taken at war. The French recruited some of their prisoners to help sail the ship: seven Irishmen, Conden, Keaning, Lynch, M'Ginnis, Keating, Kelly and Sheridan; and four Englishmen: Church, New, Deviling and Pyott.
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