Marshal Bennett
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Marshal Bennett was a barque launched in Liverpool in 1820.[1] It was employed in voyages in different parts of the world for many years, up to c.1860. The ship took its name from the Belize merchant Marshall Bennett (no fixed spelling), who was not the owner, the naming being honorific;[1] and gave it to the Marshall Bennett Islands, now part of Papua New Guinea, when in 1836 the barque's whaler captain Robert L. Hunter adopted for the island group the name of his vessel.[2]
An editorial "Piracies in the West Indies" in the Liverpool Mercury for 20 September 1822 mentioned the Marshal Bennett, as "about to proceed for the Bay of Honduras, completely armed, manned, and equipped, as a letter of marque.[3] It was reported in March 1823 that the Marshal Bennett, captain D. M'Arthur, had arrived at Liverpool from Honduras with 288 logs of mahogany and other cargo.[4] As D. McArthur, he was still associated with the barque in the 1829 Honduras Almanack.[5]
At the beginning of 1829 the Marshal Bennett arrived in Barbados, acting as a troop ship, with the William Harris for the 19th Regiment, 27th Regiment and 93rd Regiment.[6] On 19 May 1829, still as a transport, she arrived at Dominica.[7] She arrived at Portsmouth from Barbados in 31 days.[8]
1830s
In March 1835, the Marshal Bennett set sail from London to the South Seas as a whaler, captain Hunter, owner Soames.[9] She passed through the Banks Islands in December.[10]
The Marshal Bennett arrived in New Zealand at the Bay of Islands on 15 January 1836 with 250 barrels, departing again on 21 January.[11] She passed through Bougainville Strait at the end of July.[12] In September Hunter had the encounter with the Marshall Bennett Islands, in the Solomon Sea, that led to the islands bearing the name of the ship.[13]
In October 1836 the Marshal Bennett visited the Massim, anchoring off Kiriwina, and visiting Woodlark Island, also that year.[14][15][16] Hunter sent details of the journey for publication in the Nautical Magazine, his paper appearing in 1840.[17]
The return journey from the Maluku Islands started on 16 March 1838, reached St Helena on 17 June, and arrived at the Downs off the English coast on 20 August.[18]
Scrimshaw survives by George LeCluse, British armourer on the Marshal Bennett 1839–1843.[19]