Help in finding a lost ancestor and his ship

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belle
Able Seaman
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Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2017 1:19 pm

Help in finding a lost ancestor and his ship

Post by belle »

Hi, I am a Danish woman trying to find a lost ancestor. We know that his ship capsized off the coast of North Denmark and that his name was Richard Frith. He died in Denmark i 1759 or 1760. He had a son born in Denmark in november 1747.
I found the text below on The National Archives' website. I don't know if this is my ancestor. I cannot find any information on the ship "The Port Factor". I found the French ship on this website. The last line "commission from......." I struggle to understand. As far as I understand it The Port Factor was taken by the French privateer Le Comte de Maurepas and then retaken from the French. Have I got this right?
Does anyone know where I can find further information on the ship "The Port Factor" and its master Richard Frith? I have tried several websites but so far no luck.

Captured ship: the Port Factor: master Richard Frith.

History: English ship retaken from France.

Documents: claims for goods, with decrees for restitution, subject to salvage; bill of lading; release; commission from Dec 1745 of the French privateer Le Comte de Maurepas (master Simon Bachelier), as found on the Port Factor.
Cy
Admiral of the Fleet
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Re: Help in finding a lost ancestor and his ship

Post by Cy »

Have not found anything on the Port Factor yet, but the Compte de Maurepas, see https://threedecks.org/index.php?displa ... p&id=12367, is a known French privateer of the period.

It would appear that the Compt de Maurepas had captured the Port Factor sometime in 1746/47 and the prize had then been retaken by a British vessel before it cound reach France.
OK, it was me, probably!
belle
Able Seaman
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Re: Help in finding a lost ancestor and his ship

Post by belle »

Thank you very much for your quick reply. We have spent years trying to find out more about Richard Frith. All we had was a name and that he was the only survivor from a capsize off the coast of Northern Denmark. He stayed in the town of Skagen, married a local girl and had 2 children. We did not have the name of the ship, but if this is "my guy" then I might be able to trace him through the ship "The Port Factor". I have tried The National Archives in Kew but all I have been able to find so far is the reference to the Port Factor being retaken from France. I will keep trying to look for The Port Factor.
AvM
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Re: Help in finding a lost ancestor and his ship

Post by AvM »

General Advertiser (London, England), Thursday, April 9, 1747

Listed a ship PORT FACTOR, gearing from London to Oporto
is taken and carried to Galicia
Last edited by AvM on Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
AvM
Rear-Admiral
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Re: Help in finding a lost ancestor and his ship

Post by AvM »

The sama infoo is the only appeared in the LLoyd's List of 10 Apr 1747

Not listed in LLoyd 1764 - the first available

There was a PORT FACTOR, master Bennet taken 1741 by Spanidars
from South Carolina to Lisbon

The Boston Gazette, issue 1033
8 Deac 1741 described that event
Navclio
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Re: Help in finding a lost ancestor and his ship

Post by Navclio »

Comte de Maurepas was the French minister for the navy and colonies, and a logical namesake for a French privateer. Unfortunately, Googling "Comte de Maurepas" will get you tons of hits on discussions of French naval history and policy over the period during which he was minister. Googling "Port Factor" 1747 brings up a mention in the London monthly Gentleman's Magazine of a list of ships taken by the French, April 1747:
"The Port Factor, Gearing, from London"—"Gearing" I probably the name of the master

In vol. XI of The Gentleman's Magazine, Supplement for the Year 1741, p. 695 of vol. XI, a list of ships taken by the Spaniards in 1741 through November assigns a date of November 16 to
337 Port-factor Bennet from South Carolina to Lisbon
Port-Factor was the last ship on a list of 337 (I think the editor of GM was making a political point about the ineffectiveness of the incumbent ministry). The date of November 16 might have been the date on which the loss was reported in England, some weeks at least after the capture, if it was made off South Carolina. The same information is in GM, vol. XVII, p. 196 (1747), under "Ships taken by the French and Spaniards, April 1747."

In January, 1742, it was reported in vol. 4, p. 46 of The Scotsman's Magazine (Google is your friend),
"The Port-Factor, Bennet from S. Carolina for Lisbon, having taken three Spaniards on board, being in want of hands, on the voyage they took the opportunity, in one of their watches, to murder the Captain and some of the crew; by which villany they made themselves masters of the vessel, and agreed to carry her into St Augustine’s; but they lost the ship in going over the bar of said place."
This should be taken with a great deal of salt: the British accused the Spaniards of all sorts of cowardly treachery, in addition to idolatry, superstition, ignorance, ineptness, and just about every vice known to other nationalities besides some uniquely inherent to being Spanish, during the war of 1739–48—a legacy of Elizabethan propaganda. However, if the vessel was wrecked on the sandbar at the entrance to San Agustín bay, then the Port Factor taken in 1747 was a different ship.
belle
Able Seaman
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Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2017 1:19 pm

Re: Help in finding a lost ancestor and his ship

Post by belle »

Thank you so very much to all who have tried to help me. If Richard Frith is my ancestor then it does not fit with the Port Factor from April 1747. We think that he came to Denmark in sometime in 1746. The story which has been handed down through the generations is that he was the only survivor from a ship wreck off the coast of Skagen in Northern Denmark. He had a son born in November 1747 and married a local girl and died in 1759 or 1760. We do not know where he came from or the name of ship wreck, so at the moment I am grasping at straws.
From what I can gather from the papers found at the National Archives in Kew The Port Factor was taken by the French in late 1745 or 1746 and retaken before it could reach France as another person on this Forum has helped me identify. I know from Danish ships from the 1700's that if a ship is lost at sea then the next ship built bears the same name as the previous one, which leads me to think that maybe there were at least 2 Port Factors. I will keep digging.
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