William and Ann (1759)

She was lengthened and raised in 1767, becoming 370 tons; a new upper part and thorough repairs were undertaken in 1785. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) as William and Ann in 1786.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015065522628?urlappend=%3Bseq=355 LR (1786), Seq.No.W117.] Her immediate previous name was Ipswich. Missing volumes of LR and missing pages in extant volumes of LR have so far made it impossible to trace her back through name changes to her origins in the Royal Navy. Repairs to fix previous repair work were undertaken in 1789. Further repairs were undertaken in 1791, when she was sheathed and doubled.

Under the command of Master Eber Bunker, she departed Plymouth as part of the third fleet on 27 March 1791, and arrived on 28 August 1791 in Port Jackson, New South Wales.{{sfnp|Bateson|1959|pp=115-6}} She embarked 188 male convicts, of whom seven died during the voyage.{{sfnp|Bateson|1959|p=122}}

Captain Bunker then conducted the first recorded visit by a whaling ship to New Zealand, calling in at Doubtless Bay in 1791 while hunting sperm whales in the South Pacific.{{cite web |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64332538 |title=The Register (Adelaide), Tuesday 26 January 1926. p. 12. |publisher= |access-date=20 July 2011}} William and Anne was reported off the coast of Peru in 1792. She returned to Sydney and thence sailed to England. She was reported off the coast of Brazil in March 1793.{{sfnp|Clayton|2014|p=245}} She returned to England on 20 May 1793 with 68 tuns of sperm oil and 8468 seal skins.{{cite web|title=British Southern Whale Fishery database – Voyages: William and Anne|url=https://whalinghistory.org/bv/voyages/}}

In April 1802 William and Ann, Kelly, master, sailed from Leith for Davis Strait, but had to put back into Stromness, leaky.{{cite news|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c2735020?urlappend=%3Bseq=275 |title=The Marine List |work=Lloyd's List |issue=4247|date=16 April 1802 |hdl=2027/uc1.c2735020?urlappend=%3Bseq=275 |access-date=2 December 2020}}

The data below for the period between 1814 and 1839 comes primarily from Coltish,{{sfnp|Coltish|c. 1842}} though amended or corrected with reports in the contemporary press.

In 1836 the whaler {{HMS|Swan|1767|2}} became beset in ice and overwintered in Davis Strait, drifting with the ice.

William and Ann was the first whaler to sight Swan, on 14 May. Swan was then some 30 miles west of Disco and Captain Stairton's men refused to got to Swan{{'}}s assistance on the grounds that Swan was far off and they weren't paid to do so. She was only able to get free because the crews of five whalers came upon her and sawed 3000 feet of heavy ice to get her out. (One of the five may have been William and Ann."Arrival of the Swan Whaler". (7 July 1837) Hull Packet (Hull, England), issue: 2744, p.3.)

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |title =The Convict Ships | first =Charles | last =Bateson | author-link=Charles Bateson | year =1959 | publisher =Brown, Son & Ferguson | oclc =3778075 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Clayton |first1=Jane M |year=2014 |title=Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775–1815: An alphabetical list of ships |publisher=Berforts Group |isbn=9781908616524}}
• {{cite book|last=Coltish |first=William |year=c. 1842 |title= An account of the success of the ships at the Greenland and Davis Straits fisheries 1772-1842 inclusive|url=https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/assets/hull:7178/content}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=A.E.G. |year=1975 |title=Captain William Smith and the Discovery of New South Shetland |journal=Geographical Journal |volume=141 |issue=3 |pages=445–461|doi=10.2307/1796478 |jstor=1796478 }}
• [http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/shipNSW1.html William and Ann]

Category:1759 ships

Category:Ships of the Third Fleet

Category:Age of Sail merchant ships

Category:Merchant ships of the United Kingdom