The Life and times of Captain Nathaniel Portlock

foreign [Music] s with the dominance of figures like cook and Bly in Pacific exploration is that it is easy to overlook some of those who accompanied them it was these followers or apprentices who filled in the gaps in the charts it was actually these men that enabled the British Empire to expand one of the most important of these was an American named Nathaniel portlock born between 1747 and 1749 in Norfolk Virginia and christened at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church he was the son of an American Loyalist who died of smallpox when Nathaniel was young in 1752 his father died at the age of just 25. his mother Rebecca quickly remarried to Richard Scott who became Guardian to her three surviving children for her from her first marriage Nathaniel started his Maritime life in the colonial Merchant Navy serving with his brother Paul and his younger stepbrother Steven Scott in the run-up to the start of the American war of independence around 1772 he was press ganged into the Royal Navy when holding the rank of second mate on a small coastal trading brig his stepbrother Stephen went aboard with him Nathaniel was signed aboard the ship of the lion HMS and Albans of 64 guns under Captain Charles Douglas due to his obvious experience and family background Douglas allowed porlock to muster as a volunteer Abel Seaman but he was soon given the rank of midshipmen HMS some tobins had been designed by Thomas Slade a victory in Agamemnon Fame and was built at the famous commercial yard of John Perry in 1764. this was the biggest private yard in the world at the time Captain Douglas transferred to HMS Isis in 1775 and we do not see portlock transfer with him at the end of the Saint Albans Commission however one account suggests that he may have next been appointed to a Guard ship HMS Ardent of 64 guns stationed in the Medway followed by time served on HMS romelis 74 on the same station given the way the American War of Independence was going at this time it is likely he embarked on another ship during this period before he signed on what was to be the most important Voyage of his career Nathaniel portlock joined the 70-man crew the 298-ton Whitby cat HMS Discovery formally named the diligence she had been built in 1774 of 91 feet 6 inches long and 27 feet 6 inches in the beam she was converted from a Brig into a fully rigged ship for the long Expedition that has become known as Cook's third voyage the discovery was placed under the command of Cook's voyages veteran Lieutenant Charles Clark Nathaniel signed on board on 12th of March 1776 as enable Seaman although more likely again as a young gentleman or midshipman in a common move for one with little patronage but good experience he was promoted to Masters mate from the 30th of March 1776. he must therefore have shown promise as a navigator watch keeper and Seaman befitting the sea time he had already served Cook's third voyage was intended to search for the Northwest Passage and explore the Northwest Pacific coast and Alaska one of the key European discoveries on the troubled Voyage was the islands around Hawaii which cook named The Sandwich Islands and it was to be these islands that helped support a number of the future voyages into this area it was here in Kila kakua Bay that cook himself was killed along with four Marines on the 14th of February 1779. the third voyage was long and hard with the crews of the two ships exposed to harsh winter weather and grueling navigational challenges amongst the northern ice flows strong tidal currents and foggy and stormy weather along what was a complex and Uncharted coastline The Voyage was also plagued with shipboard maintenance problems due to the poor preparation of the ships by Deptford dockyard who were rather busy fitting out the fleet for the escalating American War the third cook Voyage also introduced portlock to the Delights of Tahiti where cook returned to take home omai the minor Tahitian Chief who had returned to Britain on the second voyage on the 24th of August 1779 following the death of Commander Charles Clark it became necessary to reorganize the crew aboard resolution and discovery portlock was transferred from the discovery to act as Masters mate serving directly under William Bligh on board resolution three seasoned amongst the ice top had taken its toll on the health of the crew and the two ships still had a long way to get home without either of the experienced Expedition Commanders they Scout the coasts of Japan and Taiwan before returning to England via the Cape of Good Hope discharged on the 29th of April 1780 at Cape Town portlock was tasked to return to Britain on the frigate HMS siren this was to ensure the prompt delivery of the journals from The Voyage while resolution and Discovery underwent a refit after their arduous task on his return portlock passes his examination as a lieutenant and was promoted in 1780. it is interesting to note in comparison that his Superior on resolution William Bligh was overlooked and remained a ship's Master despite having already passed his Examination for lieutenant before the start of the voyage portlock seems to have been particularly well regarded by James King and his fellow Countryman John Gore who had assumed the role of commanders of Discovery and resolution for the completion of the voyage portlock's first post as a lieutenant was to join the fireship Firebrand and the commander George Robertson serving in the channel Fleet during this period he took part in the relief of Gibraltar on the 12th of April 1781. on the 18th of December 1781 despite the continuing and expanding American war portlock is seen living in London as we find that he marries Elizabeth Gilmore at the church of Saint Mary Oldham Mary together they were to have six children on April 1783 we know that portlock was appointed fourth Lieutenant on this 98 guns second-rate HMS Princess Royal under Captain John Faulkner she was only fitted out to serve as a Guard ship at Portsmouth and the American War of Independence was by now drawing to a close as a result his commission was to prove short-lived with the ship being paid off on the 6th of September 1784. with his Colonial antecedents and without interest or a patron to secure him a position finding employment in the Navy was likely to be hard and in 1785 portlock took the decision to seek employment in the merchant service utilizing the knowledge he had gained on Cook's third voyage and the interaction he'd had with the native North Americans and alaskans he and a fellow shipmate from the discovery George Dixon encouraged the formation of a fur trading expedition to the West Coast of Canada and Alaska a group of London Merchants formed the King George sound company backed by a wine and tea trader rich Richard Cadman etches and his brother John etches is himself a character worthy of discussion on his own he was originally from Ashbourne he had been working for Brooks and etch's Co he later became a spy for the British government while working for the court of Catherine the Great in in Russia where portlock's younger stepbrother was also to find a career in the Russian Navy however throughout this particular period etches is simply a keen entrepreneur who went through somewhat of a mixture of financial fortunes after securing the political support of Joseph Banks and the Royal Society a total of seven Partners including the two edges brothers and portlock and Dixon raised 25 000 pounds in share Capital to fund The Venture a license for a Pacific Expedition had to be obtained from the south sea company who held the Monopoly on any trading in the Pacific they also obtain the support of the East Indy company who could provide a return Freight of tea from Macau back to London The Voyage was principally aimed at purchasing first seal skins from Northwest Pacific Coast for sale in China and to improve the charts of the area a secondary aim was to establish local factories in Alaska and Northern Canada to speed up the process of gathering the skins for future voyages and also to prospect for copper this foothold would also help stake a claim to the lands for Britain two ships were purchased for the Expedition both brand new a ship rig merchantment named patriotically The King George and the Queen Charlotte a snow-rigged vessel in support we can see both ships listed in the Lloyd's Register for 1787. both ships have been surveyed in 1785 and are described as being A1 the King George was listed as 305 tons with a draft of 15 feet and registered as being built in the port of shields the Queen Charlotte was described as 220 tons with a 14-foot draft and was registered as built in Stockton Port Lock's pan for the Expedition Captain Dixon was born in kirkswald's Cumbria in July 1748. he had apprenticed as a silversmith but is detailed to have entered the Navy in July 1757 serving a ship's boy on HMS edgecot of 30 guns and transferring later that same year to HMS Achilles of 60 guns under Captain Samuel Barrington who would later be the president at bly's court martial for the loss of the bounty Dixon was rated as able Seaman suggesting he was a quick learner or considered a young gentleman at the start of the Seven Years War the ship took part in the attack on the French Fleet anchored at rochevor Dixon had first served with Paul Locker board Discovery signing on board as a ship's armorer on 16th of April 1776 quite how he achieves his appointment as a ship's Master between the end of the third voyage in 1780 and 1785 is unexplained however it is believed he was serving as a mate on the 700 tonne Merchant man cobenzel in 1781 and remained on board her in September 1783 on a commercial Voyage to the Malabar Coast in China he appears to have been a difficult and complex man who was to die in Bermuda where he had emigrated to resume his original trade as a jeweler in November 1795. the latter skill with metal working may explain his role on Cook's voyage Lloyd's registered for 1787 contains one further interesting detail a third ship is listed to be owned by etches and Co she is the rather elderly 250-ton ship called the Prince of Wales registered in London and built in 1752 she was commanded by another cook veteran from the second voyage James Cole net her destination is also listed as the South Seas and her Voyage was intended to mirror that of portlock and Dixon she was to be supported by the smaller Brig Princess Royal etches was expecting that the factories due to be established by portlock and Dixon would have been functioning by the time the Prince of Wales arrived this would mean that these vessels would not have to spend quite so long upon the American Coast but it's sadly not to be the King George and Queen Charlotte set sail on their new adventure in company from the Downs on the 31st of August 1785. the ship's mastheads flew the colors of the King George sound company they consisted of the figures of Hope leaning upon an anchor in an oval in the center of an enzyme on the first day of at Sea Charles Gilmore a midshipman fell from the main top Mast and somehow managed to survive Landing in the main channels amongst the dead eyes that tension the stays after calling it Guernsey funchal and San Diego we read about another Gilmore Charles's Brother David falling overboard he could not swim but was somehow safely plucked out of the Sea by a hastily launch boat sent to rescue him half a mile a stern of the ship he was brought aboard barely alive the hapless boys must have learned not to Skylark after this as we read no more of them during portlock's account portlock had also taken on board the son of Captain John Gore his fellow cook voyage's companion John Gore was in retirement as the captain at Greenwich Hospital his son was to go on to have a long career in the Navy and died a rare Admiral in 1853. the next call for the two ships was the Falkland Islands where they moored off the abandoned French colony which had been established briefly by Bougainville here the ships were refitted and they met up with some American Whalers who were competing their cargo completing their cargo they round Cape Horn and sail North failing to find the Los mojos islands where they had hoped to reprovision they then head up to Hawaii they're one of the first ships to visit since the death of Captain Cook desperately short of water with Crews plagued by scurvy and with a heavy surf on the islands they avoid Landing due to concerns over their reception from the Islanders but instead they barter with them to reprovision the ship whilst the danker they next head across to the crook River and up Queen Charlotte sound and find they are competing with the Russians for skins proceeding carefully up the coast they hunt in vain for a suitable safe Anchorage to overwinter it is interesting to note some of the comments about errors found in Cook surveys largely caused by the poor weather hampering accurate position fixes failing to find an accessible Harbor they decide to return to Hawaii to reprovision again the second season in Prince William sound and the surrounding Coast includes some interesting accounts of beaching the two ships to Karine the two ships have their bottoms breamed with lighted torches melting the tar to make it easier to scrape off the Marine growth both ships have had the sacrificial planking damage by shipworm with the Queen Charlotte being found to be in a worse State than the King George however both ships are repaired and paid with a well-boiled concoction of tar chalk and train oil portlock also talks about setting up a house on Shore to smoke salmon to preserve for sea store it sounds delicious compared to the continuous salt pork rations it is around this time that they fall in with another ship called the nutka and her Captain John Mears plagued with scurvy and with half her crew already dead Mears barters of for supplies and borrows the King George's Carpenter to recall the ship and repair the pumps to enable the ship to return to Sea Mears was something of a Buccaneer he was trading without a license and to circumvent this requirement he had re-registered the vessel under the Portuguese flag this is one of the first examples of the use of a flag of convenience in history Dixon and portlock were both rather annoyed mirza's presence especially as he when combined with the competition from the Russians obtaining large quantities of skins was proving far harder than expected they attempted to order mere's home in return for providing assistance however despite agreeing mayor simply sailed out and headed back down the coast to continue his own Trading with their own ships refitted portlock and Dixon then agreed to separate on the in May 1787. in the hope of boosting their luck 's remaining Voyage remains plagued with poor fortune in sourcing supplies of seal skins and as a result portlock felt there was no suitable location for establishing a factory despite this Dixon has better luck gathering around 2 000 skins bringing the total to the two ships to 2552 skins once again reprovisioning in Hawaii for a third time they continued The Voyage on to Canton and Macau where the Skins are sold unfortunately at the mercy of the local East India Company Merchants who charged an extortionate commission the profits on the voyage were far smaller than anticipated with each skin only realizing an average of 29 dollars they had been hoping for 60. however the two ships returned home with their cargos of tea setting sail from Macau on the 10th of February 1788. this Freight would help recoup some of the initial outlay portlock arrives home in August 1788 with Dixon following behind a month later at the end of The Voyage after three years at Sea The Venture was margin marginably profitable with 54 857 being the total revenue achieved from the sale of furs this equates to 13 714 pounds 25 in in pounds we don't have the figures for the freight from the T however I hope to expand on these accounts as portlock's account book for the voyage is preserved in the public record office both portlock and Dixon separately publish accounts of the voyage with Dixon's account being largely drawn from a long series of letters written by one of his Junior officers on void on board William Beresford after the voyage George Dixon becomes increasingly vocal about the voyage especially at the actions and account published separately by John Mears he also petitions Banks to send Captain Roberts yet another cook veteran out to the Northwest Pacific to try and assert the British claim on North America he cites the increased Russian and special Spanish activities in the area as well as the use of flags of convenience such as has been seen with John Mears as reason to be concerned meanwhile back on the west coast of America colnet finds he is facing similar problems and also runs into mirrors again after ending the charter with the Prince of Wales he joins forces with Mayors in China a charter another vessel and may Mayors becomes the expedition's local agent in Canton Cole net returns to nutka in command of the ship The Argonaut on arrival his ship is detained by the Spanish the nutcut incident has begun as a result of Dixon's petition and following the news of the Detention of James Cole net by the Spanish the Royal Navy sent George Vancouver out on his voyage to resolve the incident with the Spanish The portlock Voyage had been only marginably profitable however portlock finds that his business partners and particularly Richard edges are somewhat displeased with him due to the failure to set up a factory in either Queen Charlotte sound or in Nuka this was largely due to the need for establishing the British Crown's claim to the territory due to the pressures from the Russians and the Spanish had it been carried out it may well have helped prevent the nooka incident escalating on the back of blatant lies told by John Mears however modern day North American built borders are still largely drawn from this dispute with the Spanish and the Russians instead of continuing his Merchant career portlock seeks to rejoin the Navy he is appointed as a lieutenant aboard the 98 gun second rate HMS barfler under Captain Robert Calder later to become famous for his indecisive action at the start of the Trafalgar campaign in 1805. in late 1790 following the nutca incident and the the deteriorating relations with the Spanish we hear that portlock was offered the command of the naval Brig Chatham that was to be sent to support George Vancouver however he seems to have declined this role due to poor health instead the command goes to William Broughton who himself would go on to be the future commander of the ship that would accompany portlock on his next voyage HMS Providence in April 1791 portlock accepts the command of a small brick of 110 tons hmb assistant once again he is to take his friend John Gore's son this time as Masters mate John lapuntier later to command The Spooner pickle at Trafalgar also signs on as a midshipman on this mission portlock is to support his former ships shipmate from resolution William Bligh on what will become the second breadfruit voyage Bly takes command of HMS Providence a brand new 406-ton ship rig Sloop built again at John Perry's yard in blackwall the second breadfruit Voyage set out in August 1791. it was to be another long and hard Voyage with the ships taking the long way around past the Cape of Good Hope rather than attempting k-porn Bly was ill for much of the voyage suffering bouts of malaria caught in Batavia after his Open Boat Voyage following the bounty Mutiny with the captain in dispose portlock had to assume command of the Providence for a substantial period of the Outward Bound trip with command of assistant being handed to bly's first lieutenant and nephew Francis godolphin Bond also on board Providence was a promising midshipman Matthew Flinders the expedition was a success the stay in Tahiti was Far shorter than that of the bounty and the Torres Straits were safely traversed and properly charted for the first time indeed one island in the channel still Bears the name portlock Island to this day the Fiji islands were also put on the map and with the breadfruit plants safely delivered to the West Indies the ships are both put on Convoy escort Duty due to the commencement of the French Revolutionary War they even managed to capture a small prize the Spanish Schooner Esperanza in April 1793. given a glowing report of his conduct during the voyage by Bly portlock was promoted to the rank of commander on his return he was one of the few from the expedition to benefit with the remainder of bly's officers being passed over due to the growing campaign being undertaken by Fletcher Christian's eldest brother Edward and the Hayward family who were both seeking to discredit Bligh for his actions during the Bounty Voyage in the hope of saving their family's reputation in November 1793 Portland was briefly appointed to the command of the 16-gun Sloop of War HMS swallow this was just a transitional command for pay only as the ship had been laid up in ordinary lying at sheerness at the time in the following April he was appointed to the newly purchased 10-gun troop ship HMS reliance again this appointment was short-lived as he was superseded by Commander John Hunter in July 1794. in August 1796 portlock returned to active service and was appointed to the North Sea Fleet in command of the newly built experimental 28 gun Sloop HMS Arrow of 386 tons Burton this unusual vessel was armed with 24 heavy 32-pound hearing aids somewhat of an ugly tub she was fitted with sliding Keels and had a round Stern for those of you who follow the tales of Patrick O'Brien's Jack Aubry you will recognize her as his model for HMS polycrest built at Hobbs and helia's yard in Redbridge Hampshire to designs by Samuel Bentham she had been ordered in December 1795 and was completed less than eight months later shortly after commissioning portlock was to witness the spithead fleet mutiny in May 1798 his boats rescued five men from the wreck of a trading Brig the Renown after she had grounded on the kentish coast prize court records seen here detail that on the 21st of May 1799 portlock was to capture a Hamburg registered Merchant man the Rosalia under the command of John Peter Les off Gallup ascends she had carried ship stores out to Mauritius for the French and was returning with a cargo of coffee luckily for portlock he won his case and the ship and cargo was declared a lawful prize on the 12th of September 1799 off Harlingen arrows lucky streak continued as she captured the Dutch 24 gunship Drac under the command of Captain vanich this was a vicious 15-minute action Arrow lost one man with a further nine wounded unfortunately due to the damage sustained by the drag she had to be burned to prevent her recapture just four days later portlock takes another Dutch Corvette the 24 gun dolphin with the support of HMS Wolverine the dolphin was purchased into the service and converted into a troop ship in the stormy small hours of the 9th of October 1799 portlock next becomes embroiled in Us in the sad event that remains to this day one of the most important Marine insurance cases and one which made the names of Lloyds of London his crew site a ship in distress after Schilling one of the Friesian islands near the Dutch Coast this was the British 32-gun frigate HMS lutein under Captain Lancelot Skinner originally a 24 gun a 28 gun French built frigate built in Toulon in 1799 she was captured in 1795 and refit for service in the Raw Navy the plans show her to be a beautiful vessel the arrow had been in company with her as they were carrying around 1.2 million in bullion and coin to prop up the Hamburg banking system and the local Stock Exchange the lutein was a total loss only three officers bodies were recovered from the sea one being Captain Skinner portlock had all three buried on vile land the sole survivor from the wreck was an able Seaman called John Rogers he was transferred to HMS Isis and then onto the hospital ship Grana at sheerness he seems to have been kept well away from the Mur Insurance investigators and little is known of what happened to him afterwards John Julius angostine was the leading underwriter at Lloyds who wrote the insurance policy that covered a third of the funds lost this claim was very quickly settled the famous lutein Bell still hangs in Lloyd's underwriting room today as a reminder of the loss just prior to this incident portlock had received his long overdue promotion to post-captain this was gazetted on the 28th of September 1799. he followed this with the capture of the 40-gun Dutch frigate Freya built in 1793 she was purchased into the service and served out the remainder of the Napoleonic War seeing action in the West Indies life on the North Sea station resumed its usual boring blockade Duty after this however in April 1801 portlock was to join the fleet of Sir Hyde Parker and Nelson for the Copenhagen campaign in the Baltic Portland witnessed the battle but does not seem to have taken part in the action after portlock remains in command of arrow for another year he finally hands over command in May 1802 to Richard Budd Vincent on the 3rd of June 1802 portlock is appointed to his last active command this is to oversee the refit Chatham of HMS glattan in which Bly had fought at Copenhagen the previous year HMS Glutton was like Arrow fitted with an entire Armament of Karen AIDS she was originally built as a merchantment by Wells and Co in blackwall in 1792 however after just one Voyage to the East Indies she was purchased by the Navy in 1795 and converted into an experimental warship very badly damaged at Copenhagen she was initially sent to act as a Guard ship at sheerness before beginning the refit at Chatham in 1802 the task for which she was preparing was a long Voyage to take stores and convicts out to Port Jackson or Sydney in New South Wales however due to Growing ill health as a result of his long service in the North Sea and the earlier Voyages of exploration portlock had to resign his Commission on the 28th of June he was relieved by his old colleague from his fur trading days James colned portlock it seems personally recommended Cole net for the task glatton sailed on the 23rd of September 1802 and arrived back in the UK with a full cargo of Timber for the naval dockyards on the 22nd of September 1803 a fast passage for the time portlock retired to shore life and took a post in 1803 commanding the sea fencables at Paul in Dorset he later moved down to Dartmouth and Salcombe retaining hit a similar role there on the 20th of January 1805 his team of coast guards at Dartmouth managed to save the Danish ship denly Katarina from being wrecked in big Brie Bay the owners presented him with an inscribed silver goblet in testimony for his efforts in Saving the ship portlock remained with the dartmouth's principles until 1807 but his health continued to deteriorate possibly not helped by the loss of his eldest son Henry in August 1806 he died at the age of just 17 while serving as a midshipman on the ship of the line HMS Fame of 74 guns he apparently had fallen overboard from the main Topsail yard off the coast of Newfoundland in late 1816 portlock took a retirement post as a captain at Greenwich Hospital sadly his time at Greenwich was to be short-lived as he passed away in Greenwich on the 12th of September 1817. just three months before his former shipmate and Commander William Bligh portlock is buried in the officer's vault in the hospital grounds it is interesting to note that as you have seen here portlock's Will will have been first drafted in Plymouth just before he departed on the voyage with Bly when he was in command of HMS assistant portlock had six children with his wife Elizabeth two had already died at the time of his last alteration of his will which was undertaken in 1801 of his two daughters little is known however his sole remaining son was to become Major General Joseph Ellison portlock of the royal engineers he like his father was to prove a fine surveyor and what of portlock today his name remains attached to an abandoned town that was associated with a fish Cannery station in Alaska Southwest of Anchorage but the names he gave to locations during his exploration of the Northwest Pacific Coast do remain as to his memorial tablet in Greenwich this was sadly destroyed by a stray bomb during World War II but we are lucky enough to be left with this wonderful portrait of him painted upon his return from his trading Voyage in 1788. thank you for listening as with all of these topics they require multiple sources to put together no one to date has written a detailed biography of him however the following core references may be of interest to those 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Length: 37min 33sec (2253 seconds)

Published: Sun May 14 2023