The U.S. ship CHANCELLOR, 1812 tons, was built at Newcastle, Maine, in 1855, and registered at New York on 23 December 1855 [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. 118]. She was in British hands by 1874 (possibly as early as the Civil War, when many U.S. sailing vessels formerly involved in the passenger trade were sold foreign). She appears in the annual volumes Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1874/75 through 1881/82 (the last volume to which I have access), where her measurements are given as 1971/1854 tons (net and gross/under deck), 226.7 x 43 x 28.6 feet (length x beam x depth of hold); 3 decks, break 15 tons; Official Number 45923, International Signal Code: VGJM.

Owner:
     1874/75-1875/76 - A. Cassels
     1876/77-1877/78 - W. H. Ross & Co
     1877/78-1881/82 - C. Hill

Port of Registry:
     1874/75-1877/78 - Liverpool
     1877/78-1881/82 - Bristol

The CHARITY was built by John Laird, Birkenhead (engines by Geo Forrester & Co, Liverpool), and was launched on 23 May 1853, for the African Steam Ship Co. 1,240 tons gross; 244.2 x 28.5 x 22.6 feet (length x beam x depth of hold); clipper bow, 1 funnel, 3 masts; iron construction, screw propulsion (120 horsepower), service speed 9 knots; accommodation for 100 passengers in 1st and 2nd classes, steerage accommodation.

The African Steam Ship Co never took delivery of the CHARITY: she was registered to the builder at Liverpool on 16 January 1854, and was later purchased by the Canadian Steam Navigation Co.

16 January 1854, maiden voyage, for the Canadian Steam Navigation Co, Liverpool-Clyde (departed 29 January)-Portland, Maine. 15 September 1854, last voyage, Liverpool-Quebec-Montreal (4 roundtrip voyages). 1854-1855, Crimean War transport.

On 26 March 1859, the CHARITY was purchased from the Canadian Steamship Co [registered owner: Cropper & Co], for £15,000, by the Hamburg shipowner Robert Miles Sloman and his associates (ownership: Sloman, 3/5; Carl August Heeren, of the firm Fr. Heeren & Co, 1/5, for which he paid 40 000 marks banco; and captain Ferdinand Gottfried Herting, 1/5). Almost immediately afterwards, Sloman and his associates sold the vessel to G. Gessler, of Santander, Spain, who renamed her LA CUBANA, and placed her in the service of the Hamburg-Havana Line.

On 23 March 1865, Sloman repurchased the LA CUBANA ex CHARITY, at auction, in Hamburg. Her engines were removed and she was converted into a 4-masted sailing bark, and renamed PALMERSTON. 556 Commerzlasten; 258' 5" x 30' 9" x 24' 2" (length x beam x depth of hold).

Masters:
     1866-1874 - P. Kolln
     1874-?    - E. H. Sutor
     1878-1884 - A. B. L. Bohmann
     [1888]    - A. Cordes

Voyages:
     1866      - New York
     1866/67   - New York/Hartlepool
     1867      - New York/Philadelphia
     1867/68   - New York/Antwerp
     1868      - New York
     1868/69   - New York/Bremen
     1869      - New York
     1870      - New York
     1870/71   - Philadelphia
     1871      - New York
     1871/72   - New York/Charleston
     1872-1874 - Otago, New Zealand/intermediate ports/Bremerhaven
     1874-1884 - Philadelphia/intermediate ports/London (1881)/intermediate ports/Valparaiso/Tocopillo, Chile
     1884-1888 - Drammen, Norway/intermediate ports/Pisagua

The Sloman firm's records of her later history, in particular after 1878, are incomplete; on 9 January 1894, she was sold to Pinceti, of Genoa, and renamed FREDERICO. Her ultimate fate is not known.

Sources: Return of Registered Steam Vessels of the U.K., January 1855, Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, 1854-55 (473) XLVI.293; January 1857, Ibid., 1857 Session 2 (87) XXXIX.61; January 1858, Ibid, 1857-58 (488) LII.83; January 1859, Ibid., 1859 Session 2 (26) XXVII.493; Hieke, op. cit, pp. 375 and 377; Kresse,op. cit., vol. 2, p. 214; Noel Reginald Pixell Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway; An Illustrated History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New (2nd ed.; Jersey, Channel Islands: Brookside Publications), vol. 1 (1975), pp 265-266.

The U.S. ship CHARLEMAGNE was built at New York by Christian Bergh & Co, in 1828, and registered at New York 30 June 1828. 442 tons; 124 x 28 x 14 feet (length x beam x depth of hold). From 1828 to 1832, she sailed in the Boyd or Second Line of packets between Havre and New York; during this period, her westward passages averaged 41 days, her fastest passage being 23 days, her slowest 59 days. In 1832, she was transferred to the Havre Old (later Union) Line, in which she sailed until 1838; during this period, her westward passages averaged 34 days, her fastest passage being again 23 days, her slowest 47 days. By 1838, she was considered too small and "outdated" for the highly competitive packet services, and she became a general trader [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. 118; Robert Greenhalgh Albion, Square-riggers on Schedule; The New York Sailing Packets to England, France, and the Cotton Ports (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938), pp. 284-285]:

A ship CHARLEMAGNE, William J. Fales, master, sailed in the Packet Line of Boston-New York coastal packets in 1844, and in 1846 made a voyage from Liverpool to New York [Cutler, op. cit, p. 448 and 512; National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, roll 63, list #648 for 1846 (passenger manifest dated 23 July 1846)]. I am not certain, however, without checking the tonnage on the passenger manifests, whether these refer to the former packet ship of 1828, or to the ship CHARLEMAGNE, 741 tons, built at Thomaston, Maine, in 1843, which sailed in the emigrant trade between Havre / Antwerp and New Orleans / New York in the early 1850's, and which was registered at New York as late as 4 February 1863. Albion (p. 101) states that the CHARLEMAGNE of 1828 "was valued at $12,000 when wrecked at the age of twenty", but, uncharacteristically, he gives no particulars.

The U.S. bark CHARLES KEEN, 683 tons, was built at Perth Amboy, NJ, in 1853, and registered as an hermaphrodite brig in New York on 17 December 1853. Aside from the voyage from Antwerp to New York (see below), I have only the following information on her:

1856

- bark CHARLES KEEN, Jones, master, advertised in the Eagle Line of packets between New York and Mobile.

1858

- bark CHARLES KEEN, John T. Chattin, master, advertised in the Post Line of packets between New York and Mobile.

1859

- bark CHARLES KEEN, John T. Chattin, master, advertised in the Oakley & Keating Line of packets between New York and Mobile.

Sources: Forrest R. Holdcamper, List of American-flag Merchant Vessels that received Certificates of Enrollment or Registry at the Port of New York, 1789-1867, National Archives Publication No. 68-10, Special Lists No. 22 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service 1968), p. 121; Carl C. Cutler, Queens of the Western Ocean; The Story of America's Mail and Passenger Sailing Lines (Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, c1961), pp. 493, 497, 498.

The U.S. ship CHICORA, 497 tons, was built in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1837. I know very little of her career. She was most probably a "transient", sailing from port to port as the market dictated. She was transferred to New York registry on 28 November 1855, after which she appears to have been engaged in the "triangle trade" between New York, New Orleans, and Liverpool. In 1855, P. [or F.] W. Sawyer, master, she was advertised as sailing in the Orleans Line of coastal packets between New York and New Orleans, while in 1856, under the same master, she was advertised as sailing in the Crescent City Line of "packets" between New Orleans and Liverpool. I know nothing of her later career or ultimate fate.

Source: 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. 129; Carl C. Cutler, Queens of the Western Ocean; The Story of America's Mail and Passenger Sailing Lines (Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, c1961), pp. 411 and 522.

The U.S. ship CHIMBORAZO, of Thomaston, Maine, was built in 1851, most probably, in view of her port of registry, in Maine. She took her name from a province and volcano in Ecuador, inland from Guayaquil. Tonnage given variously as 937 (1854, 1858), 916 (1856), 957 (1859). In the 1850's, the CHIMBORAZO appears to have been a general trader on the "cotton triangle", carrying emigrants from European ports to New York, then proceeding to New Orleans to load a cargo of cotton, which she carried back to Europe.

The CHIMBORAZO was later sold British, and first appears in Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1876/77:

Official No.: 48,502
International Signal Code: VTCK
Rigging: bark
Tonnage: 851/949/795 (net/gross/under deck)
Measurements: 171.3 x 34.2 ft (length x beam); Poop 111 tons (cargo capacity)
Owner: Middle Dock Co., Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Port of Registry: Newcastle

She appears in Lloyd's Register for 1881/82 (the last volume to which I have immediate access), where her owner is given as G. E. Henderson, Newcastle. I have no knowledge of her later history or ultimate fate.

The Bremen ship CHRISTEL was built at Burg, near Bremen, by Gebrüder Bosse for the Bremen firm of E. C. Schramm & Co, and was launched on 20 February 1864. 410 Commerzlasten / 879 tons (923 tons in Lloyds Register of Shipping for 1876/77-1881/82); 49,8 x 10,3 x 6,5 meters / 158 x 33 x 21 feet (length x beam x depth of hold); International Signal Code: QBWN. The CHRISTEL was rerigged as a bark in the early 1870's. 19 April 1864, maiden voyage, Franz Friedrichs, master, to Baltimore. Captains of the CHRISTEL were, in turn: Franz Friedrichs (1864-1870, 1871-1873), C. Bockelmann (1870/71, 1873-1876, 1879), H. Zinke (1877-1879, 1879/80), J. Brunings (1881-1889), H. Bockelmann (1890/91), and Meyer (1892). In 1893, the CHRISTEL was sold to A. B. Nystrom, of Abo, Finland, and was transferred to Russian registry. On 17 November 1897, Tengstrom, master, the CHRISTEL was stranded on the island of Hogland (Suursaari), off the coast of Finland, and became a total loss.

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. 396, no. 104.