The Bremen ship REBECCA was built at Vegesack/Grohn by Johann Lange, for the Bremen firm of J. F. W. Iken & Co, and was launched on 10 or 11 September 1840. 187 Commerzlasten / 456 tons register; 31,8 x 8,6 x 5,4 meters (length x beam x depth of hold). She was employed primarily in the North American trade. In 1861, she was purchased by Gerhard Lange, Bremen, and Carl Lange, Bremerhaven. During her 25 years (1840-1865) under the Bremen flag, the REBECCA was commanded by nine masters: Daniel Hinrich Dewers, Hinrich Klockgeter, Daniel Beenken, Fr. Kükens, Bernhard Heinrich Cassebohm, Wilhelm Franke, Justin Hermann Klugkist, C. H. W. Schierenberg, and Hermann Heinrich Christoffers.

In 1865, the REBECCA was sold to Holm & Broch, in Drammen, Norway. In 1881, she was still sailing, under the command of Captain P. M. Dahm, for T. Broch, of Drammen.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), p. 201, no. 161.

The Hamburg ship REICHSTAG was built at Glasgow by Alexander Stephen & Sons in 1867, and owned by Robert Miles Sloman (from 1876, Robert M. Sloman & Co). 300 Commerzlasten / 722 tons register, 53,10 x 9,17 x 5,68 (length x beam x depth of hold) meters. She was a transient, employed originally in the New York trade; in 1870, however, she was moved to the Australia (Queensland) trade. On 11 August 1877, she sailed from Newcastle upon Tyne, England, bound for Singapore, but was never heard from again.

Sources: Walter Kresse, Seeschiffs-Verzeichnis der Hamburger Reedereien 1824-1888, Teil 2, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum f&uuuml;r Hamburgische Geschichte, N.F., Bd. 5 (Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1969), p. 215; Ernst Hieke, Rob. M. Sloman Jr., errichtet 1793, Veröffentlichungen der Wirtschaftsgeschichtlichen Forschungsstelle e.V., Hamburg, Bd. 30 [Hamburg: Verlag Hanseatischer Merkur, 1968), pp. 378, no. 71, and 381, no. 15.

The Hamburg brig REIHERSTIEG was built at Reiherstieg by the Hamburg firm of J. C. Godeffroy & Sohn, for its own account, in 1851/52 (Bielbrief [certificate of registry], Hamburg 2 April 1852). 100 Commerzlasten; 100.9 x 26.4 x 13.6 Hamburg Füße (1 Hamburg Fuß = .28657 meter), length x beam x depth of hold, zwischen den Steven.

Masters:
     1852-1854 - T. P. Sparbohm
     1854-1857 - J. Hamann
     1857-1861 - C. Stammerjohann
     1861      - C. P. Tönnissen
     1861-1865 - N. C. Oehlmann
     1865-1866 - J. W. Fruchtenicht
     1866-1868 - J. H. T. N. Wiencke

Voyages:
     1852-1854 - Sydney/intermediate ports/Melbourne/Manila
     1854/55   - Adelaide/Valparaiso/Huasco
     1855/56   - Valdivia/Valparaiso/Islay
     1856/57   - Sydney/Caldera/Valparaiso
     1857/58   - Valdivia/Valparaiso/Caldera
     1858-1860 - Cape of Good Hope/intermediate ports/London
     1860/61   - Liverpool/London
     1861-1863 - Liverpool/Mazatlan/Valparaiso/Coquimbo
     1863-1865 - Montevideo/intermediate ports/Coquimbo
     1865/66   - Cape of Good Hope/Adelaide/Valdivia/Valparaiso
     1866/67   - Apia

The REIHERSTIEG was sold in 1868 to Larsen, of Drobak, Norway, who renamed her HILDA. I have no information on her later history or ultimate fate.

Source: Walter Kresse, ed., Seeschiffs-Verzeichnis der Hamburger Reedereien, 1824-1888, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, N.F., Bd. 5 (Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1969), vol. 1, p. 168.

The Bremen ship REPUBLIK was built at Vegesack/Fähr by the shipwright Hermann Friedrich Ulrichs for Diedrich Albers, Hermann Friedrich Henschen, and Johann Friedrich Lehmkuhl, all of Bremen, and was launched on 9 April 1853. 246 Commerzlasten / 588 tons register; 42,7 x 9,9 x 5,3 meters (length x beam x depth of hold). She was commanded by Wilhelm Heinrich Wenke from 1853 to 1862, except for a brief period in 1858, when her commander was Johann Hinrich Brookmann.

In 1860, there was a mutiny aboard the REPUBLIK. The Wochenschrift für Vegesack und Umgegend for 23 May 1860, states:

Laut Nachrichten aus San Francisco vom 5. April kehrte das Bremer Schiff REPUBLIK nach Honolulu (Sandwich-Inseln) zurück wegen Meuterei der Mannschaft. Die Seeleute klagten über ungerechte Behandlung und Drohungen von Seiten der Offiziere, konnten ihre Aussage jedoch nicht weiter beweisen. Auf Veranlassung des Bremer Consuls Herrn Reiners wurden die widerspenstigen Seeleute an Bord des Schiffes in Arrest gehalten, ausgenommen die Rädelsführer, welche ans Land gebracht und ins Gefängniß gesetzt wurden, wo der Consul weiter über sie verfügen wird.

The newspaper was quick to point out,

Wir bemerken hierzu, daß die Mannschaft dieser nach diesen entlegenen Gegenden fahrenden Schiffe meistens aus Seeleuten alle Nationen rekrutirt wird, so daß anzunehmen steht, daß sich wenig oder gar keine Bremer Matrosen darauf befunden haben.

In 1864, the ownership of the REPUBLIK was divided between Albers & Claussen (2/3) and Johann Friedrich Lehmkuhl Witwe (1/3), Bremen. Wenke was succeeded as captain, in turn, by Johann Köpke, Heinrich Schmidt, and, from 1867, Hermann Fortmann. In 1875, the vessel passed to Schütte & Lehmkuhl, Bremen, and in 1882, to W. Maack, of Rostock. In 1888, the REPUBLIK was "sold Norwegian", to C. K. Wiese, of Bergen, and in 1895 was rerigged as a lighter. Her later history and ultimate fate are not known.

Source: Peter-Michael Pawlik, Von der Weser in die Welt; Die Geschichte der Segelschiffe von Weser und Lesum und ihrer Bauwerften 1770 bis 1893, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, Bd. 33 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1993), pp. 277-278, no. 33.

The U.S. ship RESOLUTE was built at New York by William H. Webb (hull #114), for Williams & Guion's Black Star Line of sailing packets between New York and Liverpool, and launched on 5 September 1857. Tonnage variously given as 1,645 (Fairburn and Matthews) / 1,513 (Cutler) / 1,412 (Dunbaugh and Thomas); 190 ft x 42 ft 6 in x 28 ft 3 in (length x beam x depth of hold); 3 decks. She was an exceptionally strong vessel, being diagonally iron-strapped, and was one of the few vessels to escape major damage in the tidal wave that swept the coast of Peru in May 1877.

Williams & Guion gave up their packet service in the late 1860's, and the RESOLUTE, became a general trader, carrying coal to ports of the Pacific and the East Coast of South America; barrel oil and cotton to Europe; case oil to the Far East; guano from the Peruvian deposits, etc. In 1871, she was purchased from Williams & Guion by Capt. Jonathan C. Nickels, of Searsport, Maine, to replace his ship WILD ROVER which had been wrecked. After a few voyages on the RESOLUTE, Nickels retired, being succeeded as captain by his brother, E. D. P. Nickels, then by Wilson C. Nichols, of Searsport, who on a voyage bound from Cardiff to Valparaiso, when a few days from Rio de Janeiro, disappeared from the vessel under mysterious circumstances. The mate turned the vessel back to New Orleans, the closest American port, where E. D. P. Nickels resumed command, and sailed for Europe with a cargo of cotton. Later the RESOLUTE took lumber from Quebec to Australia, proceeding to Hong Kong and New York.

In July 1884, the RESOLUTE was solt to S. J. Melchers, of Schiedam, the Netherlands, and transferred to Dutch registry, although she continued to sail under her original name. In March 1886, rigged as a bark and under the comnand of Capt. Hammes, bound from Philadelphia for Europe, she was abandoned in a sinking condition, the captain and crew being taken off by the British bark ANNIE BURRILL, and landed at Le Havre on 14 April 1886.

Sources: Frederick C. Matthews, American Merchant Ships, 1850-1900 [Series I], Marine Research Society Publication No. 21 (Salem: Marine Research Society, 1931), pp. 260-63; William Armstrong Fairburn, Merchant Sail (Center Lovell, Maine: Fairburn Marine Educational Foundation, [1945-55]), II.1255; III.1681; V.2801, 2803, 2806, 2809, 3488; Carl C. Cutler, Queens of the Western Ocean; The Story of America's Mail and Passenger Sailing Lines (Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, c1961), p. 389; Edwin L. Dunbaugh and William duBarry Thomas, William H. Webb: Shipbuilder (Glen Cove, New York: Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, 1989), p. 214.

The Times (London) for Friday, 17 November 1865, p. 9, prints a despatch from Brigadier General Abercrombie A. Nelson, dated Morant Bay, 24 October 1865, which includes the following (column d):

The following address has been presented to Captain Tracey:--

Port Antonio, Jamaica, Oct. 16.

To Captain Tracey, of the United States' bark Reunion.

Dear Sir,--We, the undersigned, cannot permit you to leave this island without expressing our unfeigned gratitude for the ready assistance you afforded us, and the kind, gentlemanly manner you received us on board your ship, under the most trying circumstances.

We are well aware that you had cleared your vessel for your port of destination, and that you were only detained here by a noble feeling to save your fellow creatures from the hands of the misguided rebel negroes, who were determined to put every white, coloured, and respectable black person to a most ignominious death.

We most sincerely trust that this detention which you have suffered on our account will not cause you any loss or inconvenience to the owners.

The sympathy you have exhibited towards us on this occasion will go forth to the world, bearing out the high opinion in which the sailors are held by the civilian,--that they will sacrifice every personal comfort and life itself to protect the defenceless.

We trust, Sir, to have the unfeigned pleasure of meeting you again on a more auspicious occasion.

In conclusion, permit us to offer you our sincerest wish for your safe and speedy arrival at your port of destination, and may He who holds the waters in the hollow of His hands guide and protect you and yours, and may the Stars and Stripes never float less worthily than on this deeply to be lamented occasion.

We are, dear Sir, yours very faithfully,

William Smith, rector
Henry Browne, rector of Metcalfe
Eliza S. Browne
Oluvra Ward
Olive O'Reilley
Catherine Gordon
Indiana Skelton
Elizabeth Page
Constance Page
Rhoda Hauna
Lydia Swire
Alice Swire
Marianne Browne
Fanny E. Browne
Arthur F. Smith
Alfred Wilson
M. E. Smith
Amy E. Smith
Ernest A. W. Smith
Elizabeth Wigham
Eliza Kingdon
H. A. Kingdon
L. E. Wigham
J. H. D. Swire, J.P.
Caroline Swire
Charles Barclay
A. W. Brice
Caroline Howson
Susan Brice and five children
Mary E. Orgill
Emily Orgill
Agnes Orgill
Kathleen Orgill
Frances Codrington
Margaret L. Hendersen
A. Thomson
Rose B. Thomson
Christian Rose Thomson
Simon Gregor Thomson
Alex. Escoffety [sic] and family
A. W. Escoffery [sic]
John Hinchelwood, J.P.
Anna Hinchelwood
Sarah Delaney
George Ward
Rosa Ward
George P. Gordon (sub-agent)
John J. Wigham
George W. S. Gordon
Alex. Foote (for self, family, and wife)
A. de Montagnac
Alex. de Montagnac
John Ashley Lord
A. Horatio Aguilar
M. A. J. Hoyes
R. Steel
Margaret Burke
Rosaline Hoyes
Martha Moodie
Maurice Lloyd Jones
Walter H. Jones
John Panton Jones
Eliza E. Jones
Ann M. Jones
Ellen Jones
Margaret M. Deans
Henry P. Deans
M. J. Clachar
S. R. Hinchelwood
Charlotte D. Armstrong
Emily J. Armstroug [sic]
Charles Armstrong
Alfred F. Armstrong
F. M. Campbell
A. L. Campbell
A. Campbell

General Nelson's despatch continues:

The Rev. Mr. Foote, Wesleyan Minister, who was said to have been murdered, was among those who had escaped and taken refuge on board the Reunion.

To the above address Captain Tracey returned a very appropriate reply (extempore) as his time was short, expressing his gladness at having been able to afford us protection under the painful and trying circumstances, and his willingness to render the like assistance, should any similar necessity unfortunately arise during any future visit to this island.

Precisely when these individuals were taken on board the REUNION, which had already cleared Port Antonio for New York (see below), is unclear, although it was sometime on Friday, 13 October 1865, when word first reached Port Antonio that the rebels intended to attack and burn the town the following day, or on Saturday, 14 October. Governor Eyre visited the REUNION, with the above individuals still on board, shortly after his arrival at Port Antonio, on board the WOLVERINE, on the morning of Sunday, 15 October [Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, 1866 [command 3683-I] xxxi.86; Gad Heuman, "The Killing Time"; the Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1994), pp. 27, 29-30 note 51]. There may be additional particulars among the evidence presented to the Royal Commission on Jamaica, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, 1866 [command 3682, 3683, and 3683-I] xxx and xxxi, or among the Papers Relating to Disturbances in Jamaica, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons 1866 [command 3594, 3594-I, 3594-II, and 3594-III] li.

Turning to the vessel itself, according to the New York Herald for Monday, 6 November 1865, the bark REUNION, Tracy, master, arrived at New York on Sunday, 5 November 1865, 19 days from Port Antonio, with bamboo to Snow & Burgess. The REUNION was a new vessel, having been launched at Waldoboro, Maine, earlier in 1865. I know nothing further about her other than that she was admeasured at 457 tons, and was registered at New York on 6 August 1867 [Forrest R. Holdcamper, comp., List of American-flag Merchant Vessels that received Certificates of Enrollment or Registry at the Port of New York, 1789-1867 (Record Groups 41 and 36), National Archives Publication 68-10, Special Lists 22 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1968), p. 592]. Prior to that time, the REUNION was most probably registered at Waldoboro. This vessel must be distinguished from the ship REUNION (1,142 tons; 177 ft 8 in x 36 ft 5 in x 23 ft 5 in, length x beam x depth of hold), built at Bath, Maine, in 1865.