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Hello,
I'm trying to find out more information regarding Charles Sheldon, Captain of the American ship "Abby & Sally", as part of my research into all the Sheldons who have been in South Africa - http://sites.google.com/site/sheldonza .
Although not directly related, as far I'm aware, to any South African Sheldons, he is of interest to me as the second recorded Sheldon to arrive in South Africa (the first being Thomas Sheldon of Cheshire, England, who died aged 22 during the sinking of the East Indiaman "Doddington", 1755, in Algoa Bay, South Africa).
According to records held in Cape Town of the National Archives of South Africa, Captain Charles Sheldon and the "Abby & Sally" arrived in 1807 to "land and dispose of cargo". Captain Sheldon also paid "import duty in local currency".
Then, in a record dated 1808, Captain Sheldon filed an application "to lay ship, Abby and Sally, on shore to be broken up and disposed of." The reason is unknown.
Now, this is where the dates get a little confused:
The site "Blaauwberg Tourism" - http://www.blaauwberg.net/tourisminfo/shipwrecks_listings.asp - lists the "Abby & Sally", as being wrecked on 6 December 1807 in Table Bay.
However, according to a transcription of the "1808 African Court Calendar Book" on Ancestry24.co.za, Captain C. Sheldon and the American Ship "Abby & Sally", having departed from Providence & Maldanoda, arrived at Table Bay on 6 December 1808, a full year after the ship was supposedly at the bottom of the sea.
I believe the 1808 date to be in error; the "Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Port of Cape Town" (PDF), from Vliz.be - http://tinyurl.com/ahtl7g - certainly supports the 1807 date. It describes the "Abby & Sally" as: American, wrecked in Table Bay, made of Mafter Wood, wrecked on 1807-12-6, from Providence, USA, and carrying a cargo of Provisions, Spirits, and Wine.
Whatever the true date, following the "Abby & Sally"'s demise Captain Charles Sheldon seems to vanish from South African history. Since I doubt Captain Sheldon died in South Africa, and certainly haven't found any evidence to suggest as such, I do wonder where he did die; more importantly, by what means did he leave South Africa once the "Abby & Sally" was "disposed" of?
I have found mention of both Captain Charles Sheldon and the "Abby & Sally" in James Blaine Hedges book "The Browns of Providence Plantations: The Nineteenth Century" - http://tinyurl.com/abzczv - but they are not mentioned together. In the book, Charles Sheldon is captain of the "Hope" in Amsterdam, while the "Abby & Sally" is apparently trading in Europe for "Brown and Ives". The book also mentions a Captain Pardon Sheldon.
With that information - Providence and Pardon Sheldon - I found this article on Captain Pardon Sheldon - http://www.gaspee.org/PardonSheldon.html . Towards the end of the article are listed Captain Pardon Sheldon's children; Captain Charles Sheldon (1769 - 1850) is the son of Pardon and Mercy Sheldon, and was married to Sally Earle. Charles' dates of birth and death certainly put him in the correct time frame for being in South Africa in 1807/1808, but is it the same man?
Can anyone confirm or deny that Charles Sheldon, son of Pardon and Mercy, is the same man to later Captain the "Abby & Sally"?
The only other information I have come across regarding the "Abby and Sally" is from the Rhode Island Historical Society, where William Fairchild Megee is described as the "sole owner" in 1803 - http://www.rihs.org/mssinv/Mss588-4.htm . Further down that same page, the "Abby & Sally" is described as:
Abby & Sally (ship)
Brown & Francis
China - Commerce - United States
Corlis, John
Francis, John
Jenckes, Amos T.
Jenckes, Ebenezer T.
Jenckes, Edwin T.
Lippitt, John
Magee, William F. : see Megee, William F.
Megee, William F. Jr.
Merchants - Rhode Island - Providence
Nightingale, Candace C.
Nightingale, Samuel II
Resource (sloop)
Slave-trade - South America
South America - Commerce - United States
Thank you for your time,
Craig
Sheldon Genealogy in South Africa - http://sites.google.com/site/sheldonza
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