Fonthill (1783 ship)
Fonthill was a ship built in France in 1781 and was probably taken in prize in 1782. Fonthill sailed as a West Indiaman between 1783 and 1791, then became a whaler southern whale fishery and made four whaling voyages between 1791 and 1799. On her third voyage she took back from Cape Town a Dutch captain whose vessel had been captured bringing in arms and ammunition from Batavia to stir up unrest against the British at the Cape. After refitting, in 1800, Fonthill became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. Fonthill was last listed, with stale data, in 1810, but whose last reported whaling voyage took place in 1806. West Indiaman Fonthill entered Lloyd's Register in 1783 with P. Seward, master, Wildman & Co., owner, and trade London–Jamaica. Southern whaler Lloyd's Register for 1791 showed Fonthill with P. Seward, master, changing to Pinkham, Wildman, owner, changing to Shodbread, and trade London–Jamaica, changing to London–South Seas. 1st southern whaling voyage (1791-1793): Captain Elisha Pinkham sailed from London on 4 December 1791, bound for the Pacific. In 1792 Fonthill sailed in company in the Pacific with the American whaler Rebecca, Seth Folger, master. Fonthill returned to London on 4 July 1793