Transport Vessels for the Highland Battalions

Whitehall March 10, 1757.

Ldrs of the Admty. 

My Lords

I am commanded to signify to your Lordships His Majesty's Pleasure that you do forthwith cause a sufficient number of the Transport Vessels, (ordered by my Letters of the 22d past) to be fitted up, victualled, & provided with Bedding, for receiving on board, and conveying to North America, at the rate of two tons for each person, Two Highland Battalions of Foot, commanded by Lt. Col. Montgomery & Lt. Col. Fraser, Each Battalion consisting of 44 commission & Staff officers, 80 Non Commissioned officers, 20 Drummers, & 1000 private Men, together with the usual allowance of 6 Women, & 3 Servant to Each Company. And it's the Kings' further Pleasure that the said Transport Vessels so fitted up, be directed to repair to Cork in Ireland, under such convoy as your Lordships shall judge sufficient, where the Two Battalions above mentioned are to be embarked; and from whence such of the Transport Vessels, as shall have on board the Battalion, commanded by Lieut. Colonel Montgomery are to proceed to Charles Town in South Carolina, and the remainder, with the Battalion, commanded by Lieut. Colonel Fraser are to proceed to Halifax, in Nova Scotia, at which place they are to be respectively disembarked; And your Lordships will accordingly give the necessary Orders for this purpose to the Commanding Officer of the s Officer, commanding the said Convoy, & Transport Vessels.

Draft

Endorsed:
Draft to the Ldrs of the Admty

March 10th, 1757.

2 Tents, Baggage &c

Transports for Highlanders &c.

After arriving at Glasgow, Scotland, newspaper accounts depict the main body of Fraser's Highlanders, on or about 19 April 1757, proceeding southwest to Portpatrick en route to Donaghadee, Ireland, where they would continue their march some 400 miles south to Cork, Ireland, and depart for North America in transport vessels under the cover of HMS Enterprize, a 40-gun man of war. The merchant transport ships were contracted by the British Government for a period of about 13 months for service in North America. 

The makeup of ships in the Enterprize convoy to North America is revealed by Captain [John] Lewis, who accompanied the group from Cork Harbour, Ireland, on 30 June 1757, for the transatlantic voyage. While the captain's decision to depart from the convoy approximately 236 miles southwest of the Azores (or Western Islands) remains a mystery, he landed in New York in early September. A thorough ship count of the convoy is located in the following contemporary newspaper extract.

Annapolis Maryland Gazette  

15 September 1757

New York, September 5.

Friday last arrived here the Brig. Bell-Savage, Capt. Lewis, from Cork, and informs, That he sail'd from thence the 30th of June, in Company with eighteen Sail of Transports, having on board 2500 Highlanders, five Sail loaded with Powder and Ball, and seventeen Sail of Merchantmen for the West-Indies, Philadelphia, and Boston; all under Convoy of the Enterprize Man of War of 40 Guns, the Faulkland of 50 Guns, and the Stork Sloop of 10 Guns; and that on July 25, in Lat. 35 North, and Long. 30 West, he left the Convoy.

Captain Lewis' account of 18 transports assigned to the Highlanders reveals an even distribution of ships to both Colonels Fraser and Montgomery's battalions and is further confirmed in the official ship's logs of HMS Falkland, who accompanied nine of Montgomery's transports to South Carolina. And while the names of eight of Colonel Fraser's transports have been identified in the official ship's logs for HMS Enterprize, the ninth and unidentified final ship may have carried extra supplies, perhaps to include a small contingency of arms, ordnance, and camp necessaries such as tents, extra utensils, food, drinks, and clothing. It's also could have been used as a temporary hospital ship for any sick men in the battalion. The following list comprises all nine vessels which transported Colonel Fraser's men to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the summer months of 1757.

Transports for Colonel Fraser's Second Highland Battalion

Ann

Owner: William Dodsworth

Tonnage/Parts: 391/19

Commencing/Ending: 8 March 1757-8 April 1758

Months/Days: 13/1

Freight: £3314:0:3

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Brotherly Love

Owner: John Richardson

Master: Armstrong

Tonnage/Parts: 357/18

Hired: 24 February 1757

Commencing/Ending: 7 March 1757-18 April 1758

Months/Days: 13/12

Freight: £3108:17:3

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Cecilia

Owner: John Brathery

Tonnage/Parts: 214/86

Hired: 24 February 1757

Commencing/Ending: 17 March 1757-8 April 1758

Months/Days: 12/23

Freight: £1781:19:3

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Cumberland

Owner: Thomas Boulby

Hired: 24 February 1757

Commencing/Ending: 11 March 1757-8 April 1758

Months/Days: 12/29

Freight: £2105:12:11

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Dutchess of Hamilton

Owner: Anthony Bacon

Tonnage/Parts: 379/72

Hired: 24 February 1757

Commencing/Ending: 29 March 1757-8 April 1758

Months/Days: 12/11

Freight: £3015:8:10

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Kent

Owner: Thomas Brown

Master: Henry Lawson

Tonnage/Parts: 218/89

Hired: 24 February 1757

Commencing/Ending: 2 March 1757-8 April 1758

Months/Days: 13/7

Freight: £1882:17:0

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Matilda

Owner: Elidad Blackwell

Tonnage/Parts: 166/34

Hired: 24 February 1757

Commencing/Ending: 22 March 1757-8 April 1758

Months/Days: 12/18

Freight: £1361:12:3

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Mertilla

Owner: David Trinder

Tonnage/Parts: 241/42

Hired: 24 February 1757

Commencing/Ending: 10 March 1757-8 April 1758

Months/Days: 12/30

Freight: £2038:1:6

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America. 

Note: Other documents record her as Myrtilla.

Neptune

Owner: Robert Harrison

Master: John Williams

Tonnage/Parts: 192/58

Hired: 24 February 1757

Commencing/Ending: 9 March 1757-8 April 1758

Months/Days: 13/0

Freight: £1627:12:3

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America. Discharged at Deptford.

Total passengers include 32 serjeants, 19 drummers, 869 rank & file, 150 supernumeraries, 22 deserters, 33 invalids, 110 women & 29 children. [TNA, GD122/22/17, p. 18-20]. 

It's worth noting Matilda is recorded as having arrived from America to the Downs, London, on 11 April 1757, with Duchess of Hamilton, Myrtilla, Brotherly Love, Neptune, and Kent. [Lloyds List, No. 2219, 12 April 1757].

Note: Originally commissioned Norwich in May 1718, she was later renamed Enterprize on 23 May 1744.

Source: Lists of Transports, 1754-1773. TNA, ADM 49/126; the shipmasters of Kent and Neptune (Lawson and Williams) are located in Captain John Donkley's Journal (HMS Enterprize), while the shipmaster of the Brotherly Love (Armstrong) is located in Lloyd's List, 1757.

Colonel Simon Fraser

From aboard the Ann transport ship in Cove Harbour, Colonel Fraser wrote on June 28th, 1757:

My Dr Sir,

Tho I have been long hurryd I am not less so than ever & have but just time to tell you that we marched safe and sound thro Ireland without the loss of a man since we landed they hardly gave us time to cool our bloods when they embarked us & here we are all alive and merry.

I don’t know if I said anything in answer to yours about the meal but it must be sent for & distributed first to the widows, then to the wives & so on to the third and fourth generation of them that loved me well enough to follow me. As to the Deserters I woud have them be sent by the first troops to Glasgow & Mr Geo Buchanan Junr there will send them by some Capt transporting convicts to Halifax where we are destined to & this I would have done with the rest if any are taken. God bless you my Dr Sir, the Wyfie poor beoch, the bairns, Hopefull &c &c I shall find time to write you at sea.  

[signed]

Yrs S. Fraser

Sergeant James Thompson

The following is an excerpt from Sergeant James Thompson's diary on the sailing to North America.

Our Regiment rendezvou'd at Cork, there to embark for Service, somewhere or other in North America. We sail'd with seal'd orders, which were only to be open'd when we reach'd a certain latitude. The hir'd vessel I was embark'd in was call'd the Martello, a beautiful new ship, and it was her first voyage. The Captain did not know her trim, and the first few days after our sailing she would run away from the Commodore in no time, in spite of our short'ning sail, and for this high offense, which he couldn't help, the Captain had frequently a shot fired at him, to make him keep under the wing of the Commodore, the shot however, did no further injury than subject the Captain to a fine of six and eight pence for every shot. One day we had a fine stiff breeze and our ship actually outsailed the whole of the Fleet altho' only under bare poles. When the Commodore saw this he was satisfied it wasn't the Captain's fault, and he made him pay no more six-and-eight pence per shot. The ship was so tight that she didn't require pumping the whole of the voyage, which was a lucky circumstance indeed.

At last, we discover'd the Commodore's Signal for the whole of the Fleet to heave-to, and when we had done this as cleverly as we could, the Signal was made for all Commanding Officers of Corps to go on board the Commodore's ship. This was to make known our Destination, and to receive their Orders accordingly. We soon after found out that our place of destination was Halifax. As good luck would have it, the Fleet was safe, and soon after we cast our Anchor, our Captain was anxious to try the tightness of his ship and gave his orders to have her pump'd. The men had difficulty in getting the pumps to draw, and when, at last, water came, it was as black as my Bonnet, and it produced such a stench, that it would soon have poison'd all the men on board. It turn'd out that instead of pumping out, 'afaith they were obliged to pump in, to prevent the Troops getting sick.

When we landed at Halifax, we found our Commander-in-Chief General Wolfe there, drilling away the men, and making fight sham-battles at a place round the Town called Deptford, where the ground is level. We were not long at Halifax when we received Orders to set sail for the River Saint Lawrence, and in a few days we came to anchor opposite the harbour of Louisbourg which we knew it was our business to try and take.

Further research indicates the hired vessel Martello that Serjeant Thompson spoke of may have actually been named Myrtilla, as recorded on October 17, 1757 with the Second Highland Battalion in Halifax Harbour. Thompson describes her as "...a beautiful new ship," and early records confirm she was originally built in 1754. Because Thompson's diary was recorded some years later, it would not be uncommon, due to advanced age, to have erred in his recollections.

On 21 October 1757, it was reported a ship named Myrtilla [Capt. March] foundered in the Gulf of Florida on her way from Jamaica to London, "but the Crew are got to South Carolina." [Lloyds List, 21 October & 1 November 1757]. It has not been established if this was Serjeant Thompson's vessel or not.

Transports for Colonel Montgomery's First Highland Battalion

Britannia

Owner: William Coates

Tonnage/Parts: 371/75

Commencing/Ending: 11 March 1757-2 January 1759

Months/Days: 21/23

Freight: £5257:15:6

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Dolphin

Owner: Peter Tearon

Tonnage/Parts: 258/22

Commencing/Ending: 22 March 1757-10 November 1758

Months/Days: 19/20

Freight: £3299:11:1

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Duke William

Owner: Thomas Gibson

Tonnage/Parts: 404/75

Commencing/Ending: 58 March 1757-3 January 1759

Months/Days: 21/30

Freight: £5785:0:0

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Lyon

Owner: Adam Boulby

Tonnage/Parts: 293/81

Commencing/Ending: 10 March 1757-25 November 1758

Months/Days: 20/16

Freight: £3920:13:16

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Ruby

Owner: Robert Middleton

Tonnage/Parts: 381/67

Commencing/Ending: 8 March 1757-5 December 1758

Months/Days: 20/28

Freight: £5190:13:3

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Success

Owner: William Thompson

Tonnage/Parts: 231/53

Commencing/Ending: 11 March 1757-27 June 1758

Months/Days: 15/17

Freight: £2341:17:4

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

Tamerlane

Owner: Robert Rogers

Tonnage/Parts: 214/14

Commencing/Ending: 10 March 1757-21 February 1759

Months/Days: 23/12

Freight: £3256:8:9

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America

William and Ann

Nominal Guns: 20

Operator: Royal Navy

Acquired: 5.1757

First Commissioned: 23.5.1757

Category: Hired Vessel

Commander: Thomas Gordon

Note: William and Ann belonged to the British Royal Navy.

Wye River

Owner: William Anderson

Tonnage/Parts: 246/41

Commencing/Ending: 10 March 1757-2 December 1757

Months/Days: 8/23

Freight: £1402:11:10

Employed: Carrying Forces to North America and Discharge at So. Carolina

Source: Lists of Transports, 1754-1773. TNA, ADM 49/126.

Transport Vessels Depart Louisbourg, 1759
In the early summer of 1759, the British Fleet set sail from Louisbourg for Quebec, in all approximately 9,000 soldiers strong. The regiments were divided into three divisions/brigades [white - 1st brigade, red - 2nd brigade, blue - 3rd brigade], and to further distinguish between regiments the ships were dressed with color-coded vanes. Colonel Fraser's transport vessels for this voyage were as follows:

White Division - 1st Brigade
Colonel Fraser, 78th Foot
Vanes: white, and two blue balls

Ship: Ann & Elizabeth
Shipmaster: Wm. Robinson
Tons: 215
Troops: 113
Taken up: London
With one cutter boat

Ship: Argyle
Shipmaster: Alexr. Morrison
Tons: 300
Troops: 193
Taken up: Boston
With three whale boats

Ship: Jane
Shipmaster: Jno. Garnett
Tons: 273
Troops: 97
Taken up: London
With one cutter boat

Ship: James & Henrietta
Shipmaster: Jno. Meeke
Tons: 357
Troops: 196
Taken up: London
With one flat boat

Ship: Resolution
Shipmaster: Zachy Marshall
Tons: 238
Troops: 122
Taken up: London
With one cutter boat

Ship: Thornton
Shipmaster: Jno. Ekshaw
Tons: 331
Troops: 221
Taken up: New York

Ship: Venus [2]
Shipmaster: Wm. Duffield
Tons: 317
Troops: 208
Taken up: London
With two cutter boats

Total troops: 1150

Note: Venus [2] was the second of two vessels by the same name operating for the British Fleet at this time. The first Venus transport vessel operating in the area was commanded by Shipmaster Johnson.

Sources:

“Transport Vessels for the Highland Battalions.” Letter received by Lords of Admiralty, 10 March 1757. America and West Indies, Original Correspondence, etc. Despatches to governors and others, 1756-1757, C.O. 5 ed., vol. 212, pp. 423-426. Public Archives Canada. Print.

"Transports in the White Division." Northcliffe Collection: Series 1: Robert Monckton Papers. LAC, Microfilm C-366.

Col. Simon Fraser, "Colonel Fraser in Cove Harbour, 28 June. 1757." Clan Fraser Society, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2001.

Earl John Chapman, “Troop Transport Martello.” Received by Rootsweb.com, Rootsweb, 10 Apr. 2010, newsarch.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/MARINERS/2010-04/1271681061. Accessed 2 July 2017.

"Halifax Harbour Transporte List." Elizabeth Rose Family papers. NAS, GD125-22-17, p. 18.

Lloyd's Register Group, “Lloyd's Register of Ships.” Lloyd's Register Group Limited, 2017, www.lrfoundation.org.uk/public_education/reference-library/register-of-ships-online/.

Andrew Welsh, "Enterprize departs Cork, Ireland, 30 June 1757." The Magazine of magazines, compiled from original pieces, with extracts from the most celebrated books and periodical compositions published in Europe, vol. 13, p. 575. London. Printed for W. Owen, 1757.

British Fourth Rate Ships of the Line, "Norwich Renamed Enterprize, 1744." Three Decks, Warships in the Age of Sail, 2017. https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=559#BWAS-1714. Accessed 2 July 2017. Web.

©  Jeffrey Campbell, Fraser's 78th Regiment of Foot, 2018.  All rights reserved.

Last updated 7 October 2023.