Britannia was a merchant vessel captured from the Dutch. She made one complete whaling voyage to the South Seas. A Spanish vessel captured her at the Galapagos Islands in 1801 on her second whaling voyage.
Career Britannia was a Dutch prize, captured in 1797 that underwent repairs in 1798.Register of Shipping (1801), Seq. №379. She entered Lloyd's Register in 1798 with W. Shaw, master, W. Boyd, owner, and trade Portsmouth-Jamaica.Lloyd's Register (1798), Supplement, Seq. №B381. In 1799 Mortlock replaced Shaw as master, and her trade was listed as Portsmouth-Cape of Good Hope.Lloyd's Register (1799), Seq.№267.
Whaling voyage: Captain Mortlake left Britain on 13 March 1799. Britannia called in at Rio de Janeiro in July for sugarcane syrup. She returned to England on 30 May 1800.Southern Whale Fishery - Voyages: Britannia.
Loss: In May 1801 Lloyd's List reported that a Spanish ship of 24 guns had captured "Britannia, late Mortlock, of London", and , Anderson, master, in the Galapagos Islands. The Spaniards then took their prizes into Lima. Their captor was the privateer Atlante, under the command of Dominque de Orué.
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