Category Archives: piracy

X is for destruction of a piratical fleet near Xiānggǎng (Hong Kong)

27 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by in A to Z 2017, China, Hong Kong, Mainwaring, navy, piracy

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My fourth great uncle Karl Heinrich August Mainwaring  was the tenth of the seventeen children of Rowland Mainwaring (1783-1862), eldest of the eight children of Rowland’s third wife Laura Maria Julia Walburga Chevillard (1811-1891).

Karl Mainwaring was born 4 September 1837 at Mannheim in Germany. He died 21 August 1906 at Saint Helier, Jersey.

On 19 September 1856 Karl Mainwaring appointed as lieutenant in the Royal Navy.  From 1874 to 1893 Karl Mainwaring was harbour master in Kingston, Jamaica. He retired from the navy with the rank of captain.

In 1866 Lieutenant K.H.A Mainwaring was stationed in Hong Kong with the China Squadron on  HMS Princess Charlotte.

Xiānggǎng is the modern transcription of 香港 , Hong Kong, ‘fragrant harbour’.

HMS Princess Charlotte painted 1838 by James Kennett Willson from Wikimedia Commons

HMS Princess Charlotte was a 104-gun first-rate ship launched in 1825. Once the the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, from 1858 until she was sold in 1875 the Princess Charlotte was used as a receiving ship, a harbour-bound hulk used for stores and accommodation in lieu of a permanent shore base.

Kellett’s Island, looking west across Wanchai towards Central and the Peak, with HMS Princess Charlotte on the right (1869 – 71). Retrieved from Cheung, Tim. “Maritime Museum to Show Historical Pictures of HK.” Artinfo. BlouinArtinfo Corp., 15 Jan. 2014. W <http://hk.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/983316/maritime-museum-to-show-historical-pictures-of-hk>.
Hong Kong Harbour about 1868 from The China Magazine Midsummer Volume 1868, page 88,  digitised by Google books.  The view possibly shows Signal Hill.

In July 1866 Lieutenant Mainwaring was given charge of HMS Opossum.

In 1865 HMS Opossum had been engaged in attacks on Chinese pirates in co-operation with the fleet of the Manchu Qing government. The attacks were reported in The Illustrated London News of 23 October 1865.

‘Expedition against the Chinese Pirates’ from The Illustrated London News of 23 October 1865 page 409 with illustration: Fleet of Chinese junks, with HMS Opossum, preparing to attack pirates at How-Chow. Retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk

On 18 July 1866 HMS Opossum, commanded by Lieutenant Mainwaring, together with HMS Osprey attacked pirate vessels in Sama Bay, now known as Sanya Bay on Hainan Island, 250 miles south-west of Hong Kong. The British destroyed 22 Junks and 270 cannon and killed about 100 men.

HMS Opossum was a wooden screw gunboat of the Albacore class which carried about 38 crew and four guns. (In the 1866 Navy List, the Opossum is listed as a tender to the Princess Charlotte and Mainwaring is in charge of the Haughty, also an Albacore class wood screw gunboat.) HMS Osprey was a Vigilant class gunboat with about 80 crew and four guns.

H.M.S. Osprey and H.M.S Opossum destroying Chinese pirate junks in Sama Bay from The Illustrated London News of 29 September 1866, page 313, retrieved from the genealogist.co.uk

The attack on the pirates was reported in The Illustrated London News of 22 September 1866 and followed up with an illustration the following week.

 

“Piracy in the Chinese Seas” from The Illustrated London News 22 September 1866 page  291 retrieved from the genealogist.co.uk (click on image to enlarge)

The 1866 engagement with the pirates was widely reported. The following account is from the Melbourne Leader.

 

DESTRUCTION OF A PIRATICAL FLEET BY H. M. SHIPS OPOSSUM AND OSPREY. (1866, September 29). Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 – 1918), p. 17. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196560667

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Further reading

A confusion of Sir Henry Mainwarings

12 Monday May 2014

Posted by in baronet, Mainwaring, piracy, portrait

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Sir Henry Mainwaring (1726-1797), by Allan Ramsay

There are two notable portraits of Sir Henry Mainwaring  (1726-1797), the fourth baronet of Over Peover. Unfortunately these portraits are sometimes thought, mistakenly, to be portraits of Sir Henry Mainwaring (1587-1653) the pirate. I wrote about the pirate in an earlier blog post.

The two men were related, as third cousins four times removed. Their common ancestor was John Mainwaring (1470-1515), of Over Peover, Cheshire, sheriff of Flintshire, knighted at at the taking of Thérouanne and Tournai. John Mainwaring is my thirteenth great grandfather.

There are no known portraits of the earlier Henry Mainwaring. In the introduction to The Life and Works of Sir Henry Mainwaring printed for the Navy Records Society in 1920, the editor, G. E. Manwaring, states

Before completing this volume I had hoped to discover a portrait of Sir Henry Mainwaring, but after a fruitless search in many quarters I am convinced that none exist. (page xvi at http://archive.org/stream/lifeworksofsirhe01mainuoft/lifeworksofsirhe01mainuoft_djvu.txt )

There is a cartoon image of Henry Mainwaring, the pirate, in Disneyland at Anaheim in California in the area where people wait for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Henry Mainwaring the fourth baronet was the nephew of the third baronet, Sir Thomas Mainwaring (1681-1726). Sir Thomas died leaving no children. His brother Henry (1686-1726) had married Diana Blackett (1703-1737) on 26 July 1725. They had one son, Henry, born on 7 November 1726, after his father’s death on 1 July 1726. This child inherited the baronetcy from his uncle who had died on 21 September 1726. The young Henry’s mother, Diana, married again to Thomas Wetenhall (1708-1776).

 
George E. Cokayne (1900), Complete baronetage, Exeter: W. Pollard v. 3. English, Irish and Scottish, 1649-1664 pages 129-130

 

Betham, William. The Baronetage of England, Or the History of the English Baronets, and Such Baronets of Scotland, as Are of English Families: With Genealogical Tables, and Engravings of Their Armorial Bearings. Vol. 5. London: E. Lloyd, 1805. Google. Web. 12 May 2014. <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=zKNBAAAAcAAJ>. pages 574-5.

Sir Henry Mainwaring was educated at Durham School and then at Oxford University.

Sir Henry Mainwaring’s portrait was done by Allan Ramsay, a noted portrait painter in 1748 when Mainwaring was about 22. When Mainwaring died leaving no children, this portrait probably passed to his friend George, Lord Grey, later Earl of Stamford. It was sold by the Earl of Stamford’s descendants in 1928. It was recently sold again, by Sothebys in 2007 for £18,000.

When Sir Henry Mainwaring was in Rome on the Grand Tour in 1760 he was painted with his companion Lord Grey, by Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland RA.

George Harry Grey, Lord Grey of Groby, later 5th Earl of Stamford (1737-1819) and his Travelling Companion, Sir Henry Mainwaring, 4th Bt (1726-1797)

The painting is in the collection of the National Trust and on display at Dunham Massey in Cheshire. Henry Mainwaring, standing, is showing Grey a cameo ring.  Grey and Mainwaring commissioned Dance to paint a subject from Virgil. He painted Aeneas and Venus for Mainwaring and The Meeting of Dido and Aeneas for Grey. The latter painting is now in the Tate. Venus appearing to Aeneas and Achates as a Huntress by Nathaniel Dance dated 1762 was sold by Christie’s in 1994 for £243,500.

Venus appearing to Aeneas and Achates as a Huntress by Nathaniel Dance dated 1762

Mainwaring bought other paintings on the tour for example The Bay of Naples from Posillipo by Pietro Fabris and Antiquaries at Pola by Thomas Patch.

Antiquaries at Pola: Sir Henry Mainwaring Bt (1726-1797), Jacob Houblon (b.1736), George Harry Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford (1737-1819) and the Reverend Jonan Lipyeatt by Thomas Patch 1760. The painting is at Dunham Massey, now owned by the National Trust following a bequest by the 10th Earl of Stamford. Mainwaring is seated on a Roman altar at the left; beside him Houblon stands, extravagantly dressed in check trousers and red-lined hooded black cloak, a pistol in his belt; and next to him Lord Stamford in a similar cloak; Lipyeatt in the foreground is bending over a marble fragment which he is deciphering. A fragmentary marble head caricatures the features of Patch and his spaniel, with water gushing from his mouth, appears to represent a life-like fountain; a lateen-rigged boat at the right, a servant carrying baggage and in the background the amphitheatre at Pola. Pola or Pula, is opposite Venice on the coast of Croatia.

Grey bought A Punch Party in Florence by Thomas Patch which is now owned by the National Trust at Dunham Massey.

A Punch Party by Thomas Patch with Sir H. Mainwaring; Earl Cowper; Viscount Torrington; Reverend J. Lipyeatt; Lord Grantham; Sir Brook Bridges, Bt; James Whyte; Jacob Houblon; the Earl of Moray; Mr Charles Hatfield, the landlord; Earl of Stamford; Charles S. Boothby; Sir John Rushout Bt, and Sir Charles Bunbury, Bt. The 5th Earl of Stamford is seen with his friends enjoying an evening at Mr Hadfield’s inn called Carlo’s near Saato Spirito in Florence. The artist has introduced a caricature bust of himself on the wall on the right, with the horns of a faun. Fourteen figures are depicted, engaged in various activities round a table, for example, Lord Grantham is carrying a pedlar’s tray filled with cameos from which Lord Stamford, because he wears it on his finger, has evidently acquired one; but principally they are engaged in drinking the punch provided by the patron Charles Hadfield. On the back wall are paintings of Bacchus and of Silenus in chariots pulled by leopards and tigers respectively; on the wall at the right is a caricature bust of the artist with the ears of a faun, perhaps echoing the replica of the Dancing Faun on the adjacent wall, the original of which is in the Uffizi. The socles on which the sculpture is placed are decorated with the Medici arms.
Sir Henry Mainwaring is sitting at the end of the table (in blue) opposite  Sir Charles Bunbury who is proposing the toast.

Sir Henry Mainwaring the fourth baronet died unmarried and the baronetcy became extinct.

Henry Mainwaring the fourth baronet is my seventh cousin seven times removed.

A pirate in the family tree

20 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by in author, crime, lawyer, Mainwaring, Oxford, Parliament, piracy

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Sir Henry Mainwaring (1587-1653) was an English seaman who spent some of his career as a pirate on the Barbary coast. He was afterwards pardoned and knighted by King James.

My son, who is studying history, came across the pirate Henry Mainwaring and asked if we were related to him.  I replied that I did not think so, but I decided to check for a relationship.  Henry Mainwaring, I discovered, is my third cousin eleven times removed, a relative indeed, though not a close one.

The common ancestor of me and the pirate is Sir John Mainwaring (1470-1515) my 13 times great grandfather.  Sir John had gone to the French wars in the train of the Earl of Shrewsbury. He was knighted at Tournai in 1513. ( Metcalfe, Walter Charles, ed., Book of Knights Banneret, Knights of the Bath et., IV Henry VI to 1660, London (1885) page 50 ) Sir John Mainwaring was Henry Mainwaring’s great great grandfather.

Henry Mainwaring was the second son of Sir George Mainwaring and Ann More.  Henry studied at Oxford University. In 1604, about seventeen years old, he was admitted to the Inner Temple as a lawyer.

It is not clear how Henry became a seaman, but in 1610, at the age of about twenty-three, he was commissioned by the Lord High Admiral, Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, to capture the pirate Peter Easton, who had been raiding Newfoundland.  Mainwaring was unsuccessful.  He was then given a letter of marque, becoming a privateer against Spanish shipping in the West Indies.  En route there he decided instead to attack Spanish shipping from the coast of Morocco.

Mainwaring was based at La Marmora, present day Mehdya, on the Morocco coast near Rabat, for four years from 1612. He had a fleet of thirty captured Spanish ships.  He claimed that he never attacked English ships.  The French and Spanish governments complained about Mainwaring to the English government and King James I sent an envoy with an offer of a free pardon if he promised to give up piracy. He was pardoned in 1616 and all those who served under him were granted an amnesty.

Later, Mainwaring became a hunter of pirates. He wrote a book on piracy, Discourse of Pirates, which he dedicated to the King.  He was knighted on 20 March 1618 and became one of King James’s courtiers and a friend of the King.

In 1620 he was appointed Lieutenant of Dover Castle and Deputy Warden of the Cinque Ports. In 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for Dover. Around this time Mainwaring wrote the Seaman’s Dictionary. It was not published until 1644 but manuscript copies were distributed before then. It is considered the first authoritative treatise in seamanship.

Mainwaring offended Lord Zouche, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and was dismissed from his post at Dover Castle. Mainwaring sought the patronage of the Duke of Buckingham. At that time Buckingham was Lord High Admiral and it has been asserted that Buckingham and his masters made a serious attempt to reform the naval administration, and that in this Mainwaring played a considerable part. However Buckingham was assassinated in 1628 and Mainwaring lost his patron.

Mainwaring was not wealthy, and after Buckingham’s death, he attempted to improve his fortunes by marrying a rich widow.  She rejected him and in 1630 he eloped with a twenty-three year old heiress.  His father-in-law refused to provide a dowry until Mainwaring had made a settlement. Mainwaring’s wife died in 1633 and their only daughter died about 1640. Mainwaring was outlawed for debt in 1641. In 1651 an assessment of his worth in considering his debt stated that his entire property consisted of ‘a horse and wearing apparel to the value of £8’.

Mainwaring had joined the navy as a captain in 1636.  He was a Vice-Admiral by 1639.

During the English Civil War (1642-1651), Mainwaring joined the King at Oxford. Later he served with Royalist fleet.  He was with the sixteen-year-old Prince Charles, later King Charles II, at Jersey in 1646.

Mainwaring died in 1653, leaving no will.  He was buried at St Giles, Camberwell.  No gravestone, if there was one, has survived.

References and further reading

E. Hunt, “MAINWARING, SIR HENRY,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 20, 2014, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mainwaring_henry_1E.html.

Mainwaring, G. E. (ed.). 1920. The Life and Works of Sir Henry Mainwaring. London: The Council of the Navy Records Society. https://archive.org/details/henrymainwaring02manwuoft

Pringle, Patrick Jolly Roger : the story of the great age of piracy. Dover Publications, 2012. pages 43-45 retrieved from Google Books http://books.google.com.au/books?id=WqXDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT43

Thrush Andrew “MAINWARING, Sir Henry (1586/7-1653), of Dover Castle, Kent; later of Camberwell, Surr.” The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. Member Biographies from The History of Parliament Online. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/mainwaring-sir-henry-15867-1653>

“SIR HENRY MAINWARING.*.” The Spectator Archive. The Spectator, 19 Feb. 1921. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-february-1921/19/sir-henry-mainwaring>.

(Library Assistant), Nabila. “The Seaman’s Dictionary: ‘This Book Shall Make a Man Understand'” Royal Museums Greenwich. National Maritime Museum, 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/collections/by-type/archive-and-library/item-of-the-month/previous/the-seaman%27s-dictionary>

PEN PICTURES OF THE PAST. IN PIRATE DAYS. (1914, July 9). Cobram Courier (Vic. : 1914 – 1918), p. 6. Retrieved March 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129536151