William Bulkeley was a Liverpool merchant, son of Thomas Bulkeley of Anglesey,[1] who financed voyages for slave-trading, privateering, and the Greenland whale fishery.
[2] Bulkeley was part of a consortium of Liverpool merchants who in 1744 invested in Old Noll which they put to work as a privateer.during the War of the Austrian Succession.
[4] He also co-owned many other ventures, including from 1749 the ship Golden Lion, captured from the French on the last day of 1744, by HMS Port Mahon, (Hy.
[5] Bulkeley and his partner bought her in 1749, and fitted her out for a new career as a Greenland whaler, the first such ship from Liverpool.
[5] Bulkeley had other interests; he also bought and sold large amounts of tobacco.