Name William Tons burthen 305 (bm) | Builder France Launched 1770 | |
William was a 305 burthen ton merchantman and convict ship that was dispatched in 1793 from England to Australia.
Launched in 1770 in France.
Under the command of William Folger (or Folgar), she sailed from England via Cork, Ireland, on 21 September 1793, with 2080 barrels of beef and pork, the Colony's new Assistant Chaplain, Rev. Samuel Marsden, and one female convict. William arrived at Port Jackson, New South Wales, on 10 March 1794. After unloading her goods, she purportedly left for China.
There is some confusion about her ownership and later role on this voyage. Lloyd's Register gives her owner as Samuel Enderby & Sons. A database of whaling voyages gives her owner as Mather & Co., but lists Enderbys as her owners in 1792 and 1794. Both sources agree that she was a whaler.
Apparently, William went whaling off Peru instead of going to China. She was reported off the coast of Peru, and then on the coast of Chile in November 1794. She returned to Britain on 29 November 1795 with 64 tuns of sperm oil, 57 tuns of whale oil, and 32 cwt of whale bone.