View source for Pelican (1793 ship)

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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
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|Ship country=Great Britain
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Kingdom of Great Britain|civil}}
| Ship name = ''Pelican
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| Ship owner = Nicholas Ashton, of [[Woolton Hall]]
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| Ship launched = 20 March 1793, Liverpool
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| Ship fate = Foundered 20 March 1793
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| Header caption = <ref name=LoM>{{cite web|url=http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/marque1793-1815.pdf|title=Letter of Marque, p.81 – Retrieved 25 July 2017.|access-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020052005/http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/marque1793-1815.pdf|archive-date=20 October 2016|url-status=dead }}</ref>
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| Ship tons burthen= 190<ref name=LoM/> ([[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]])
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| Ship complement = 70<ref name=LoM/>
| Ship armament = 18 × 9&12−pounder guns + 2 × 12-pounder [[coehorn]] mortars + 6 [[swivel gun]]s<ref name=LoM/>
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'''''Pelican''''' was a [[privateer|private man of war]] commissioned by a [[Liverpool]] [[merchant]] for offensive operations against [[France|French]] commerce following the outbreak of the [[French Revolutionary War]] in February 1793. ''Pelican'' sank in bad weather on 20 March 1793.

== Background ==
''Pelican'' was a small, armed [[brig]]. Her owners intended to have her sail as a [[privateer]] to capture French [[merchant ship]]ping for a profit under a [[letter of marque]] from the British government. Captain Samuel Higgins acquired a letter of marque on 1 March.<ref name=LoM/>

She was crewed and outfitted in the [[Mersey]], and on 20 March 1793 was taking her owners and their families and friends on a pleasure and working up cruise in the mouth of the river. On board were 94 sailors and approximately 40 civilians, including several women.{{sfnp|Grocott|2002|p=2}}

== Worsening weather ==
During the brief journey, the weather took a sudden turn for the worse and the ship began to rock violently, causing many of those aboard to go below decks, worsening the impending tragedy.

== Pitching and rolling ==
The brig turned near Seacombe, opposite Liverpool.{{sfnp|Howley|2008|p=188}} Suddenly and without warning, at about two in the afternoon, with the brig at the height of her pitch, several cannon, which had been improperly tied down, broke free. These became iron missiles that rolled across the deck and punched huge holes in the ship's opposite side, causing water to flood into the ''Pelican'', which rapidly filled and sank. The location of the wreck was so shallow that her mast tops remained above the water, visible after the [[storm]] had died down. Unfortunately, because all unnecessary personnel had been ushered below and because the hatches were battened down during the storm, no one was able to escape the lower decks.

Just 32 people survived the disaster, 102 [[drowning]] in the sunken ship. The survivors were mainly men who had remained on deck and were able to launch boats, or those who were rescued from the masts some time later by rescue craft from the nearby shoreline. The disaster was reported in ''[[The Times]]'' three days later. ''[[Lloyd's List]]'' reported that ''Pelican'' had overset in the river at Liverpool and that some 60 people had drowned.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Marine List |work=Lloyd's List |issue=2492 |date=22 March 1793 |hdl=2027/uc1.c3049067?urlappend=%3Bseq=55 }}</ref>

John Starkey, the excise surveyor, was able to rescue 25 people by taking his boat from the Pierhead. He later received a medal from the [[Royal Humane Society|Humane Society]]. One of the people saved was the pilot. He was tried for manslaughter at Lancaster Assizes under the theory that his negligence had caused the disaster; he was acquitted.{{sfnp|Williams|2011|p=2}}

==Citations==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last1= Grocott |first1= Terence |title= Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras |publisher= Caxton Editions |location= Great Britain |year= 2002 |isbn= 1-84067-164-5 }}
* {{cite book|last=Howley |first=Frank |title=Slavers, Traders and Privateers: Liverpool, the African Trade and Revolution, 1773-1808 |year=2008 |publisher=Countyvise |isbn=9781901231984}}
* {{cite book |first1= Gomer |last1= Williams |title= History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade |publisher= Cambridge University Press |location= United Kingdom |year= 2011 |isbn= 9781108026277 }}

{{coord missing|Atlantic Ocean}}

[[Category:River Mersey|Pelican]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Irish Sea|Pelican]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of England|Pelican]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1793]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1793]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1793]]
[[Category:1793 events of the French Revolution]]
[[Category:1790s ships]]