The Scottish adventurer and fabulist Gregor MacGregor promoted a settlement in Honduras that he called Poyais.
In 1823, he chartered vessels to take settlers to the settlement.
Four vessels actually carried settlers or supplies for the scheme: Reports also exist that five more vessels set out for Poyais but that when word reached Britain that Poyais had no foundation in reality, the British Royal Navy intercepted them and turned them back.
[1] Even so, it took some time for all to agree that the scheme was fraudulent.
There are five vessels for which sailing advertisements and movement reports exist with Poyais as a destination, but that do not appear among the vessels that arrived at Poyais.