Hello Listers I am trying to track down what heppened to the ship 'Nancy' and the Captain, crew and passengers en route from Sydney NSW to England. We know our ancestors survived the voyage but we'd like to know what happened and why the ship was deserted... any ideas where to go next for information gratefully accepted! Cheers Caroline These are the newspaper articles I have found so far:- Advertisements for the ship Nancy showed tickets became available in October 1830 and the ship left Sydney on Sunday 13 February 1831. Nancy was the first wool ship direct to London, a fine First-Class Ship of 400 Tons Burthen, Captain HENRY PRYCE, R. N. Commander with superior Accommodations for Passengers, and carrying an experienced Surgeon. Sydney Gazette 23 October 1830 Shipping Intelligence DEPARTURES. For London, on Sunday last, the ship Nancy, Captain Pryce, with a cargo of colonial produce. Passengers, Mr. and Mrs Melville and 5 children, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Mrs. Abel, Mrs. Balcombe, Mr. George Yates, Thomas Isaacson, Maurice Collins, Patrick Teefy, John Teefy, James Ryan, George Hughes, Edward Barrett, and Timothy Lingahan. Sydney Gazette Tuesday 15 February 1831 Reports have reached the Colony by the Asia, of the loss of the Nancy, Captain Pryce, seven degrees to the southward of the line. Our readers may remember that Mrs. Balcombe and family, Mr. and Mrs. Melville, went home by this vessel. It is said that a French vessel fell in with her found her deserted, and waterlogged. We cannot trace this to any authentic source, but the report is current. We trust, however, it will be found incorrect. Sydney Herald 5 December 1831 We regret to have to report that the ship Asia, announced elsewhere, on her outward passage, got information of the Nancy, Price; from this port, having been lost on the passage home — a French vessel, it is said, found her within 7. 25. S. lat. waterlogged and deserted. The report is by no means authenticated, and may yet, as we hope it will, prove fabulous. But admitting the Nancy to have been met as described, there is every likelihood that her passengers had managed to escape to some place of safety in the ship's boats— the Coast of Terra Firma or the African Coast, being adjacent on either side. Among the Nancy's passengers, were Mrs. Balcombe and Mrs. Abell, Mr and Mrs. Putter, and Mr. and Mrs. Melville. The Australian 9 December 1831

Hi Caroline I can only find one Naval Officer, Henry Pryce, promoted to Commander 19 Jul 1821, who was listed in the Navy List for July 1930, and is included in O'Byrne's Naval Biographical Dictionary, which listed RN executive officers included in the Navy List for early 1845. He initially entered the service at the age of nearly 10 in 1796, although the National Archives catalogue suggests 6 Sep 1804, might be a more accurate date (ADM 196/2/67). Following his promotion he appears to have been involved in recruiting merchant service seamen for the RN, before entering the Portuguese Navy as a Captain when that country's Queen was having internal problems in Portugal (early 1830s?), and was decorated. At other times he states that he commanded Indiamen out of the port of London, so it would appear that he commanded merchant vessels when not employed by the Admiralty, or the Portuguese, but he gives no details. With 10 children it is understandable that he needed to supplement the half-pay he received from the Admiralty, although he would have needed their approval before taking up posts outside the Service. So, IF (sic) he was the Master of the Nancy, it would appear that those onboard, or at least some of them, survived. He had 6 brothers, who also joined the Service, but whilst looking for Henry I didn't come across any of them. Paul On Fri, 05 Jul 2013 11:48:43 +1000, Caroline Gaden <[email protected]> wrote: >Hello Listers >I am trying to track down what heppened to the ship 'Nancy' and the >Captain, crew and passengers en route from Sydney NSW to England. >We know our ancestors survived the voyage but we'd like to know what >happened and why the ship was deserted... any ideas where to go next for >information gratefully accepted! >Cheers >Caroline > >These are the newspaper articles I have found so far:- > >Advertisements for the ship Nancy showed tickets became available in >October 1830 and the ship left Sydney on Sunday 13 February 1831. Nancy >was the first wool ship direct to London, a fine First-Class Ship of >400 Tons Burthen, Captain HENRY PRYCE, R. N. Commander with superior >Accommodations for Passengers, and carrying an experienced Surgeon. >Sydney Gazette 23 October 1830 > >Shipping Intelligence >DEPARTURES. >For London, on Sunday last, the ship Nancy, Captain Pryce, with a cargo >of colonial produce. Passengers, Mr. and Mrs Melville and 5 children, >Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Mrs. Abel, Mrs. Balcombe, Mr. George Yates, Thomas >Isaacson, Maurice Collins, Patrick Teefy, John Teefy, James Ryan, George >Hughes, Edward Barrett, and Timothy Lingahan. >Sydney Gazette Tuesday 15 February 1831 > >Reports have reached the Colony by the Asia, of the loss of the Nancy, >Captain Pryce, seven degrees to the southward of the line. Our readers >may remember that Mrs. Balcombe and family, Mr. and Mrs. Melville, went >home by this vessel. It is said that a French vessel fell in with her >found her deserted, and waterlogged. We cannot trace this to any >authentic source, but the report is current. We trust, however, it will >be found incorrect. Sydney Herald 5 December 1831 > >We regret to have to report that the ship Asia, announced elsewhere, on >her outward passage, got information of the Nancy, Price; from this >port, having been lost on the passage home — a French vessel, it is >said, found her within 7. 25. S. lat. waterlogged and deserted. The >report is by no means authenticated, and may yet, as we hope it will, >prove fabulous. But admitting the Nancy to have been met as described, >there is every likelihood that her passengers had managed to escape to >some place of safety in the ship's boats— the Coast of Terra Firma or >the African Coast, being adjacent on either side. Among the Nancy's >passengers, were Mrs. Balcombe and Mrs. Abell, Mr and Mrs. Putter, >and Mr. and Mrs. Melville. >The Australian 9 December 1831 > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message 50° 33' N, 2° 26' W http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html

Hello Paul Many thanks for your help with this, I'm now intrigued as to why the ship 'Nancy' was found empty or did the Frenchmen get the name wrong and if so, what was the name of the lost ship... so many questions and so few answers! Anyway you wonder about Capt Pryce's brothers... could the following thread help.... it is from the Aus-Immigration-Ships list which I am trying (without success) to join, this is an archive thread and a Capt Pryce does get a mention http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/aus-immigration-ships/2013-05/1369432178 All the best Caroline On 06-Jul-13 11:04 AM, Paul Benyon wrote: > Hi Caroline > > I can only find one Naval Officer, Henry Pryce, promoted to Commander > 19 Jul 1821, who was listed in the Navy List for July 1930, and is > included in O'Byrne's Naval Biographical Dictionary, which listed RN > executive officers included in the Navy List for early 1845. He > initially entered the service at the age of nearly 10 in 1796, > although the National Archives catalogue suggests 6 Sep 1804, might be > a more accurate date (ADM 196/2/67). > > So, IF (sic) he was the Master of the Nancy, it would appear that > those onboard, or at least some of them, survived. > > He had 6 brothers, who also joined the Service, but whilst looking for > Henry I didn't come across any of them. > > Paul

I have just found this in the newspaper archive. 'The Argyle' touched for refreshment at Rio, where she found the 'Nancy', Capt. Pryce, from Sydney, for London, which had encountered very severe gales at Cape Horn. (6 Aug 1831 Hobart Town Courier) Now if they had encountered such bad weather could they have gone ashore but left the ship floundering around off shore and then returned to it... how would they know where the ship would end up if it was drifting... OR would they have all been below decks but surely some crew would have been seen by the Frenchmen, you can't just abandon the deck to go below can you? or did the French just not see someone strapped to the wheel as it were!! There is a super film ‘Around Cape Horn’, which details the adventures of Captain Irving Johnson when he sailed as an ordinary seaman through storms around Cape Horn onboard the massive bark ‘Peking’. I know it gets shown to the Youth Crew on each trip of 'Young Endeavour'... makes you appreciate what the old-time mariners had to go through. Cheers Caroline