Sage (comics) The Hellfire Club What was the Hellfire Club? Instead of being chosen for the first X-Men class, she is instead sent to spy on the Hellfire Club as Tessa,
Why was she sent to spy on them?
Why was Sage sent to spy on Hellfire Club?
Years later, Sage meets up again with Xavier, who at the time is recruiting the original X-Men. Instead of being chosen for the first X-Men class, she is instead sent to spy on the Hellfire Club as Tessa, and to keep watch on Sebastian Shaw, something which returns to haunt her in the following years.  While working at the Hellfire Club she encounters Psylocke, Jean Grey, and Emma Frost, who at this point is the White Queen. While she is able to successfully warn Psylocke away from the Hellfire Club, Tessa is later remorseful that she is unable to similarly prevent the corruption of Phoenix into the Black Queen. This transformation is a key factor in the creation of Dark Phoenix.  Sometime during Tessa's time with the Hellfire Club, Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost dare the man known as Elias Bogan to wager in a game of poker. Though he holds no official rank in the Inner Circle, the telepathic Bogan is one of the Club's most important and powerful members; his patronage guarantees success in the organization. By the terms of the wager, if Shaw lost, Frost would "belong" to Bogan, but if Bogan's agent lost, then his fortune would be turned over to Shaw. Thanks to Tessa's advice and analytical skills, Bogan loses the game and is forced to honor the wager. Having never lost before, Bogan harbors a grudge against Tessa.  During the X-Men's initial conflicts with the Hellfire Club, Tessa primarily maintains a background role and is seen as only Shaw's unusually intelligent assistant. Hints of her more complex role are indicated when she and Xavier are kidnapped by Donald Pierce, a renegade member of the club, with grudges against both organizations. Based on the interactions between Xavier and Tessa, it is unclear whether he is helping to maintain her cover or whether he feels as if he has lost his agent, since the interaction between the two is kept impersonal. The two are rescued by the nascent team of New Mutants, and Tessa takes Pierce into custody on behalf of the Hellfire Club.  Tessa's next notable interaction with Xavier's students happens months later when the X-Men and Hellfire Club are hunting down Rachel Summers after her attempted murder of Selene, the newly installed Black Queen. In the middle of their fight, both teams are taken by surprise by Nimrod, a mutant-hunting robot from the future. Recognizing the more immediate threat, the two groups join forces and are able to severely damage Nimrod. The X-Men and Hellfire Club each sustain heavy losses and are forced to flee the scene quickly. Tessa offers Storm and the X-Men temporary sanctuary with the Club, which later results in Magneto and Storm jointly accepting the role of White King in the Inner Circle. CANNOTANSWER
Years later, Sage meets up again with Xavier, who at the time is recruiting the original X-Men. Instead of being chosen for the first X-Men class,
HMS Spy was a Bonetta-class sloop launched at Rotherhithe in 1756 for the Royal Navy. The Navy sold her in 1773. From 1776, or perhaps earlier she was a transport. Then from 1780 to 1783, as Mars, she was first a privateer and then a slave ship, engaged in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. Between 1783 and 1787 her name was Tartar, and she traded with the Mediterranean. From 1787 on she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She made at least four complete whaling voyages and was last listed in 1792.

HMS Spy
Commander Richard Hughes commissioned Spy in February 1756, in the Downs.

In November Spy was under the command of Commander William Bayne. She sailed her for New York on 8 May 1757. She spent 1858 cruising. At some point in late 1758 or early 1759 Spy and Portmahon captured Guillaume. Bayne was also her commander when Spy captured the French privateer Banaba on 29 December 1758.

In March 1760 Spy was under the command of Commander William Phillips, and cruising in Home waters.

In November 1761 she was under the command of Commander Thomas Hayward. He paid her her off in late 1762 or early 1763. She then underwent a survey on 22 March 1763.

Commander William Phillips recommissioned Spy in March 1763. He then sailed for Newfoundland on 22 May 1764.
 
In 1765 Spy was under the command of Commander Thomas Allwright, at Newfoundland. She was paid off in December 1767.

Spy was surveyed on 23 June 1768. Between March 1769 and September 1770, she underwent a Small Repair at Deptford.

Commander James Worth recommissioned Spy in July 1770. He sailed her for the Leeward Islands on 5 October.

Spy was paid off in 1772.

Disposal: Spy was surveyed in July 1773 and sold at Sheerness on 3 September, for £240.

Mercantile Spy
Missing volumes of Lloyd's Register (LR) have resulted in Spy first appearing in the register in 1776. From this volume on, throughout her history and name changes, the register gave her origins as the "King's ard, perhaps because she was completed at the Royal  dockyards at Deptford, and her launch year as 1758.

Mars
Mars, ex-Spy, appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1780.

Lloyd's List reported in January 1781 that the privateer Mars had sent into Dartmouth a Dutch vessel that had been sailing from Lisbon to Rouen with a cargo of cotton, rice, etc. Mars had sailed from Dartmouth on 28 December 1780.

Mars then switched from privateering to the slave trade.

Slave trading voyage (1782–1783): Captain Robert Patterson sailed from London on 14 January 1782, bound for the Gold Coast. Mars started acquiring slaves on 30 April, first at Cape Coast Castle, and then at Anomabu. She sailed from Africa on 29 September and arrived at Kingston, Jamaica on 3 December. She had embarked 300 slaves and arrived with 284. She landed 275, for about an 8% mortality rate on the voyage. She arrived back at London on 19 July 1793.

Tartar
Tartar, ex-Mars, appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1783.

Southampton
Southampton, ex-Tartar, appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1787. She then became a whaler.

1st whaling voyage (1787–1788): Captain William Aikin (or Aiken), sailed from London on 31 August 1787, bound for the Brazil Banks. Southampton returned on 20 June 1788 with 18 tuns of sperm oil, 64 tuns of whale oil, and 40 cwt of bone. She had killed 15 whales.

2nd whaling voyage (1788–1789): Captain Akin (or Atkinson) sailed from Southampton on 28 August 1788, for the southern fishery. In a letter dated 1 December 1788 Akin reported that Southampton was on the Brazil Coast in latitude 35°30'S. He further reported on the weather and with news of several other whalers. Southampton returned to Southampton on 12 May 1789 with 12 tun of whale oil.

3rd whaling voyage (1789–1790): Captain A. Muirhead from Southampton on 11 September 1789, bound for Walvis Bay. Southampton was reported in December to have been at Bonavista. She left Walwich Bay on 14 October and Saint Helena on 5 November, and on her return to England report on whales she had left either location. She arrived at Cowes on 30 December 1790.

4th whaling voyage (1791–1792): Captain Sam Marshall sailed from Southampton on 10 July 1791. On 20 August she was well at Porto Praya. Lloyd's List reported in October 1792 that Southampton, Marshall, master, had returned to Southampton from the South Seas.

5th whaling voyage (1793?): Although there is a record that Captain Hart sailed, or intended to sail Southampton to the Brazil Banks in 1793, there is no record in Lloyd's Lists ship arrival and departure data of her departure or return. Furthermore, she is last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1792.

Citations & references
Citations

References
 

1756 ships
Sloops of the Royal Navy
Age of Sail merchant ships of England
Privateer ships of Great Britain
London slave ships
Whaling ships Spy was built in France in 1780, almost surely under another name, and taken in prize. The British East India Company (EIC) purchased her in 1781 and used her for almost two years as a fast packet vessel and cruiser based in St Helena. It then sold her and she became a London-based slave ship, making two voyages carrying slaves from West Africa to the West Indies. She then became a whaler, making seven whaling voyages between 1786 and 1795. She was probably wrecked in August 1795 on a voyage as a government transport.

EIC packet
One source states that Spy was built in the Thames for the EIC, but that appears to be a mistake. The EIC had her surveyed before purchasing her. The same source states that she sailed to Bombay and Bengal. Actually, she never sailed east of the Cape of Good Hope (the Cape). The EIC stationed her at St Helena and had her patrol in nearby waters. 

Spy, John Sherwood, master, sailed from Gravesend on 13 December 1781, and Portsmouth on 6 February 1782 and arrived at St Helena on 13 June. She sailed from there on 18 August and returned on 7 September. She sailed from St Helena on 23 September and returned on 11 October. She sailed from St Helena on 16 November and returned on 6 December. She sailed from St Helena on 10 March 1783 and returned on 1 April. She sailed on 17 May and returned on 1 June. On 8 September she was at the Cape and she returned on 7 October. She returned to the Downs on 8 December. She was back at London by 16 December.

One source states that in 1784 the EIC sent Spy out to St. Helena and stationed her there permanently as a guard ship. It did not. Instead, it sold her to Camden and Calvert, who went on to employ Spy as a slave ship.

Slave ship
The preeminent database on the trans-Atlantic slave trade confuses two vessels. It gives Spy the origins and dimensions of , of 337 tons (bm). Stag was launched in 1774 in France and captured circa 1779. It then attributes to Stag the burthen (200 tons), of Spy. The probable source of the confusion is that in 1786 Captain Thomas Wilson transferred from Spy to Stag, which had been renamed Spy in 1784, with the change of name not making it into Lloyd's Register until 1787.

1st slave voyage (1784-1785): Captain Thomas Wilson sailed from London on 12 August 1784. Spy started acquiring her slaves on 1 December at Cape Coast Castle. She sailed from Africa on 1 March 1785 and arrived at Montego Bay, Jamaica on 4 May with 350 slaves. She sailed from Jamaica on 24 June and arrived back at London on 23 August.

2nd slave voyage (1785–1786): Captain Thomas Wilson sailed from London on 28 September 1785. Spy acquired her slaves at Cape Coast Castle and then at Anomabu. She embarked 450 in all and left Africa on 26 March 1786. She arrived at Grenada with on 20 May with 430 slaves, having lost 20 on the voyage. She disembarked 424. She arrived back at London on 1 August..

On her return her owners, Camden & Calvert, decided to try whaling instead of the slave trade. Captain Wilson transferred to another Spy, the former Stag, and continued in the slave trade.

Whaler

1st whaling voyage (1786–1787): Captain J. Brown sailed from London on 31 August 1786, bound for the Brazil Banks. Spy returned on 22 June 1787 with 10 tuns of sperm oil, 55 tuns of whale oil, and 38 cwt of whale bone.

Calvert & Camden sold Spy to King & Co. 

2nd whaling voyage (1787–1788): Captain Thomas Wyer (or Wier) sailed from London on 4 December 1787, bound for the Brazil Banks. Spy returned on 19 August 1788 with 50 tuns of sperm oil.

3rd whaling voyage (1788–1789): Captain William Fitch sailed from London in 1788, bound for the coast of Africa. In January 1789 she and several other whalers, including , were "all well" off the coast of Guinea. In June she had 240 barrels of spermaceti oil. Spy returned on 25 August 1789 with 56 tuns of sperm oil. In 1789 she underwent repairs.

4th whaling voyage (1789-1791): Captain Fitch sailed from London on 12 November 1789. Spy returned on 10 January 1791.

5th whaling voyage (1791-1792): Captain Fitch sailed in 1791. Spy returned on 25 June 1792.

Apparently Calvert & Co. were once again owners of Spy. 

6th whaling voyage (1792-1793): Captain Fitch sailed in 1792, bound for Brazil. Spy returned on 5 April 1793 with 105 tuns of whale oil and 75 cwt of whale bone.

7th whaling voyage (1793-1795): Captain Fitch sailed from London on 17 October 1793, bound for the coast of Peru. Spy returned on 26 July 1795.

Fate
LR continued to carry Spy through 1797, but with stale data. However, a Spy, Howard, master, was lost in the last week of August near Dungeness. She was outbound as a government transport; her crew were rescued. A second report had her running on shore at Dymchurch. She had been carrying men from the 3rd Regiment (The Old Buffs), who were safely landed.

Notes, citations, and references
Notes

Citations

References
 
 
 

1780 ships
Ships built in France
Captured ships
Age of Sail merchant ships of England
Ships of the British East India Company
London slave ships
Whaling ships Liu Ling (劉陵) (died 122 BC or earlier) was a Han dynasty princess during Emperor Wu's reign. She was the daughter of Liu An, the King of Huainan, as well as a second cousin of Emperor Wu. 

Liu An sent her to the national capital Chang'an to become a socialite, so as to spy on Emperor Wu and his ministers. After Liu An was accused of staging a rebellion, his entire clan was apprehended and executed, Liu Ling presumably among them (unless she died before that).

Biography
Liu Ling probably grew up in her father Liu An's territory of Huainan, a large area south of the Huai River. She was said to be intelligent and articulate. Her father was fond of her, and sent her to Chang'an with a lot of "gold and money" to "befriend" and "spy on" the Emperor and those to his "left and right". She bribed and had an illicit sexual relationship with at least one person: Zhang Cigong (張次公), the Marquess of Antou (岸頭侯), who lost his title and territory when the scandal was exposed in 122 BC, the year Liu An and Liu Ling were executed.

According to official history, Liu An plotted to rebel, while his wife Tu (荼), son Liu Qian (劉遷), and daughter Liu Ling were all profligate and oppressive: they robbed commoners of their farmland and houses, and sentenced people on wanton charges. In 122 BC, Emperor Wu discovered Liu An's plot and called for his arrest: Liu An committed suicide, while thousands of people including his entire clan were executed.

Notes and references

122 BC deaths