The name TRITON is very common as a ships name, but the whaling ship TRITON who is depict on the KIRIBATI stamp is the whaler from New Bedford, where part of the crew was massacred at Sydenham Island one of the Gilbert and Ellice group (now Kiribati), she was sailing in the Pacific around the year 1848 as given on the stamp.
All her whaling voyages were out from New Bedford.
1) Her first whaling voyage she was under command of Capt. Lot Clasby when she sailed on 02 Feb. 1802 out from New Bedford for Delago, brig rigged, not a owner or return date given. Where built not given.
2) In 1803 she did make an other voyage to Delago, not any details given.
3) In 1804 she made a whaling voyage to the West Indies, sailed out from New Bedford on 01 June, not more details given.
4) In 1806 she made a whaling voyage to Cape of Good Hope under Captain Clark, returned on 17 Oct. 1807, with a full cargo.
5) Her next voyage was under Capt. Swain, for the Cape of Good Hope in 1808, returned on 07 Jan. 1810 with on board 750brls. whale oil, she is given as a ship.
6) She was not used for a long time in whaling, her next voyage is in 1818, when she on 12 November sailed from New Bedford for the Pacific under command of Capt. Zephaniah Wood, she returned on 07 June 1821 with on board 1.980 brls. sperm-oil and 50 brls whale oil.
07) Sailed out on 05 August 1821 under Wood for the Pacific, during the voyage he died at sea, returned on 03 May 1824 with on board 1.000 brls. sperm-oil.
08) Sailed out under Capt. James Swain for the Brazilian whaling grounds in 1824, returned on 27 June 1825, with on board 222 brls. sperm-oil, 1.465 brls whale-oil and 5.418lbs. bone. Her owner is given as I.Howland jr. & Co.
09) Sailed out under Ivory C. Albert for the Pacific on 01 Sept. 1825, returned on 23 Aug. 1827 with on board 2.062brls. sperm-oil.
10) Sailed out under William Swain for the whaling grounds off Brazil on 15 August 1827, returned on 07 July 1830, with on board 1.871brls sperm-oil. Tonnage given as 300 tons.
11) Sailed out under Reuben Chase on 31 July 1828 for the Pacific, returned on 27 Feb. 1831, with on board 2.129brls. sperm-oil.
12) Again under Chase, she sailed out on 17 June 1831 for the South Pacific, returned on 11 August 1834, with on board 2.000 brls. sperm-oil.
13) Sailed out under Obed S Carr for the Pacific on 17 Nov. 1833, returned on 08 April 1838, with on board 1.447 brls. sperm-oil and 40brls. whale-oil.
14) Sailed out under Avery F.Parker for the Pacific on 03 Sept. 1838, returned on 03 Nov. 1841 with on board 1.459 brls. sperm-oil and 453brls. whale-oil.
15) Under command of Capt. Reuben Chase sailed out on 29 April 1842 for the Pacific, returned 26 April 1846 with on board 700brls. sperm-oil.
16) Sailed out under command of Capt. Spencer on 21 July 1846 for the whaling grounds of the Pacific. It was Capt. Spencer first command.
At this voyage she was attacked by natives at Sydenham’s Island (not a date given), 5 crew killed and 7 wounded. Capt Spencer rescued by the whalers UNITED STATES and ALBAHAMA from Nantucket.
After whaling off New Zealand the TRITON set course north for the Japanese whaling ground passing the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. When passing Sydenham Island and Capt Spencer not so experienced to deal with the natives on the islands, took some men in his own boat ashore, where they very friendly were welcomed, and anything they wanted was provided by the natives. After a full day loading fresh water and provision in his boat the captain ordered to return to the vessel, but at that moment the natives attacked the men, bound them and put them in a hut on the beach. Then a white man appeared and he took the whaleboat and a group of men and set out for the TRITON when dusk was falling and he came alongside the Triton when it was already dark, behind hem came some canoes with natives. It was a bloody night on board of the TRITON, before the first mate and the men realized what happened the natives got hold of the vessel. Some of the crew of the TRITON were blooding to dead on deck, some thrown overboard as food for the sharks.
Some of the crew of the TRITON managed to escape and hide in the holds behind the oil casks. The third mate had hidden himself in one of the whale boats, and with one of the lances of the boat slipped back on deck during the darkness, and stole up to the white leader, and he managed to lance him to the deck, when the leader of the mob was dying the terrified natives hide behind the tryworks. The other crew came out of hiding and finished them off. It took two men to pull the lance out of the deck which was holding the white man, then they chopped them up and fed them to the sharks.
The men on board the TRITON after taking the vessel back, didn’t dare to return for the shore, to look for Spencer and his boat crew. They thought that the natives had killed them all.
But contrary to what they thought, the natives treated the captives well and sold them a few weeks later for a few boxes of tobacco to passing whalers.
She returned home on 31 May 1850 with 185brls. sperm-oil and 1.746brls. whale-oil. Sent home 600brls. sperm-oil and 40.000lbs. bone (At that time there were 2 whalers under the name TRITON sailing from New Bedford, and the records on the catch are sometimes mixed up between the two ships.)
17) Sailed out under Capt. Fish on 22 Aug. 1859 for the North Pacific, she returned on 30 June 1853 with on board 1.600brls. sperm-oil and 50brls. whale-oil, sent already home during the voyage 650 brls. whale-oil and 9.918lbs. bone.
18) Sailed out under John B. Dornin on 29 Aug. 1853 for the Pacific, returned 23 Feb. 1857 with on board 836brls. sperm-oil, sent already home 541brls. sperm-oil.
19) Sailed out under command of Captain John B. Dornin 11 July 1857 for the Pacific, returned 27 June 1860, with on board 939brls. sperm-oil. Sent already home 240brls. sperm-oil, 43brls. whale-oil and 7.100lbs. bone. She was altered from ship to bark rig in 1857.
20) Sailed out under command of Capt. Roland T. Packard on 10 Oct. 1860 for the Pacific, returned home 23 April 1865, with on board 257brls. sperm-oil.
21) Bought by J & W. R. Wing , New Bedford in 1865, sailed out on 12 June 1865 for the Atlantic under command of Capt. John W. Cornell, returned on 31 May 1868 with on board 139 brls. sperm-oil, sent home during the voyage 984brls. sperm-oil.
22) Sailed out under command of Capt. Moses L. Snell on 21 July 1868 for the Atlantic, returned home 06 Nov. 1871 with on board 118brls. sperm-oil, 1.082brls. whale-oil and 690lbs. bone. Sent already during the voyage home 137brls. sperm-oil, 200 whale-oil and 1.100lbs. bone. (her tonnage now given as 264 ton.)
23 Sailed out under command of Capt. John Heppingstone on 08 Jan. 1872 for the North Pacific, returned home 06 June 1876, with on board 255brls. sperm-oil, 2.700brls. whale-oil and 43.000lbs. bone.
24) Sailed out under Capt. Charles F. Keith for the Atlantic on 26 August 1876, reported out 1877.
That is the last time she is mentioned in History of the American Whale Fishery, and till know I have not found her fate.
Kiribati 1990 75c sg 346, scott 560
Source: History of the American Whale Fishery by Starbuck. Yankee Whalers in the South Seas by A.B.C. Whipple.