Edward (Captain) David was born about 1788.
1 He and
Caroline Brittle were married on 19 August 1818 in St Giles, Cripplegate, LON, ENG.
1 He died on 28 December 1831, at age ~43, in at sea off coast of NZ.
1 Edward David joined the Royal navy as an apprentice seaman and was trained as a gunner, in which capacity he saw active service on one or more British warships during the Napoleonic Wars. When the conflict ended he was around twenty-seven years of age and like thousands of other former naval personnel was thrust into civilian life and forced to find employment as best he could. He probably spent the next six years in the merchant marine on vessels sailing out of London. He may have been a ship's officer by 19 August 1818 when he married twenty-year-old Caroline Brittle at St Giles Cripplegate in London. His first command came several years later when he was appointed master of Spring (149 tons), a small whaling vessel owned by Richard Mount of London.
The Spring departed the Thames on 13 January 1821 and sailed south and cruised off the western coast of Africa where she took around 40 tuns of whale oil and 150 sealskins. The crew became troublesome after the vessel ran low on provisions and the cruise had to be cut short. She was on the last leg of the voyage home, and approaching the English Channel, when she was caught in a storm and sought shelter in Ilfracomb Harbour on the coast of Devon. On 21 December 1821, and before she could leave harbour, another winter storm caused the anchor of a nearby vessel to puncture her hull and Spring quickly sank.
Captain David's next command was another whaler, the Mary (308 tons), also owned by Richard Mount. Mary departed London in April 1822 and returned more than three years later on 29 October 1825. During the cruise, Captain David again had crew troubles and the vessel sustained serious damage during a gale and she had go to Manila for repairs. Her cargo on return consisted of 430 casks of oil and one of ambergris.
His next command was the Sarah and Elizabeth (256 tons), a south sea whaler owned by Thomas Sturge of London. She departed 2 February 1826 and returned on 26 August 1828 with 403 casks of whale oil and 254 sealskins. During the cruise she cruised in the Pacific and off the western coast of North and South America. Captain David again had crew trouble and some of his men deserted, while he allowed others to leave the vessel at ports of call on the coast of South America.
The fourth and last vessel was the Nelson (264 tons), also owned by the Quaker shipowner, Thomas Sturge. She departed 10 October 1828 and cruised for whales in the Pacific Ocean. The Nelson had to call at Sydney in 4 March 1831 for of repairs. She was delayed four months in New South Wales and her cargo of 112 tuns of sperm whale oil was shipped from there to London on a trading vessel. Nelson sailed from Sydney on 13 July 1831, and Captain David died at sea off the coast of New Zealand of 28 December 1831 and was buried ashore. The Nelson never returned to Britain, becoming instead an Australian whaler based in Sydney. [MH]
Sources:
Captain Edward David, South Sea whaler - Mark Howard
https://www.britishwhaling.org/masters.html. Edward (Captain) David was a Captain of whaler Nelson, NZ waters in 1831.
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