A Ship Called Camel

In 1783 with the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War, a ship called Camel was one of a host of British vessels busy ferrying Loyalists to places of refuge in Nova Scotia and Quebec. Many sailed from New York, the last Loyalist stronghold.

References to the ship come from quite a variety of sources and they provided a continuing discussion in several issues of Loyalist Trails.[1] Different consultants and sources, both original records and authored works, were gleaned for information about Camel in the year 1783.[2] Original sources note that Camel was a frigate, converted to an armed transport carrier in 1783.

Model of a heavy frigate

The ship's activities looked like this:

April: Capt. Tinker was the master; Camel sailed with the Spring Fleet of late April, her first landing in (what is now) New Brunswick on June 10th.

July-August: She departed New York July 10th, arriving Quebec City on August 12th; Capt. Tinker as master. A transcribed list of passengers is available on the UELAC website: http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Ships/Camel-1783-July-QC-passengers.pdf.

September: Camel sailed September 1st to Saint John and Passamoquoddy, first landing on the 18th; the captain's name was indecipherable in the Master's Log but the ship commander was Lt. Geo Burlton. A roll of passengers is in the Ward Chipman Papers (Archives New Brunswick).

November: One historian believes she sailed this month from New York to Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.[3] Part of the ongoing discussion involved whether the fourth trip even happened. The ship's log records only the first three. At the time of the discussion in Loyalist Trails, it was unclear whether the log book extended beyond October 1783.

Another point of debate: "Secondary sources" say Camel did not arrive in New York from Spithead in England until late May of 1783, therefore could hardly have taken part in the Spring Fleet evacuation. Hence the question: was there more than one Camel? How likely is it that two ships of the same name were commissioned at the same time?

According to Revolvy, six British naval ships have been called Camel.[4] Two were in the period being discussed; of the others, one was seventeenth century and three were nineteenth century. It seems only the 26-gun naval supply ship HMS Camel is the best "fit" for the times. The Revolvy website says it was "formerly the merchant [ship] Yorkshire," ... "purchased in 1776 and sold in 1784."

HMS Surprise (replica), Maritime Museum, San Diego

Images here of eighteenth century frigates can only approximate what the Camel may have looked like. I stand to be corrected if I have misinterpreted any of the serial discussion or naval terminology. My interest here is in a name, not in arguing fine historical points of which I have no knowledge.

But why on earth the unusual name for a ship? Of course! ... Ship of the Desert. The camel is an ancient and enduring symbol of transportation.

[1] Loyalist Trails, weekly online newsletter of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada (www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Trails/2015/), No. 2015-18 (3 May); No. 2015-20 (17 May); No. 22-2015 (31 May). Information from Editor Doug Grant, and Ed Garratt, Stephen Davidson.

[2] For example, Library and Archives Canada (LAC), Carlton Papers, Book of Negroes; LAC, Ward Chipman Papers; Archives of the New Brunswick Museum, Ganong Papers, The Book of Proceedings of the Society of Friends or Quakers who Settled at Pennfield, Charlotte County in 1783; The National Archives (TNA - UK), ADM52 Log Books, ADM36 Muster Books.

[3] As discussed by Davidson: Theodore C. Holmes, Loyalists To Canada, The 1783 Settlement of Quakers And Others At Passamaquoddy where "This book includes the line: After disembarking the passengers the Camel returned to New York to bring more loyalists to freedom. So this historian believed that there was [possibly] a fourth voyage. I have not been able to find any references to this outside of Holmes' book. Holmes says that the ship was 293 tons. Tinker is given as the captain of the ship."

[4] Revolvy, https://www.revolvy.com/page/HMS-Camel? ... which would have lifted the information from elsewhere.

© 2018 Brenda Dougall Merriman