The Guide to the American Revolutionary War at Sea: Vol. 1 1775-1776

By Norman Desmarais

The Guide to the American Revolutionary War at Sea and Overseas chronicles more than 10,500 actions -- far more than other naval histories. Vol. 1 documents 1541 of them. It begins with the outbreak of hostilities in April 1775 and goes through the end of 1776. It includes the actions of the Continental and state navies, the French and

• Language: English
• Publisher: Revolutionary Imprints
• Release date: Nov 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9780692801086

Norman Desmarais

Norman Desmarais, professor emeritus at Providence College, lives in Lincoln, RI and is an active re-enactor. He is a member of Le Regiment Bourbonnais, the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment and the Brigade of the American Revolution. He is editor-in-chief of The Brigade Dispatch, the journal the Brigade of the American Revolution and the author of Battlegrounds of Freedom, the 6-volume The Guide to the American Revolutionary War, and The Guide to the American Revolutionary War at Sea and Overseas (in preparation) which covers more than 10,500 actions. He has also translated the Gazette Françoise, the French newspaper published in Newport, RI by the French fleet that brought the Count de Rochambeau and 5800 French troops to America in July 1780. It is the first known service newspaper published by an expeditionary force. Norman has also written a number of articles for the Journal of the American Revolution, the Online Journal of Rhode Island History, and The Brigade Dispatch

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The Guide to the American

Revolutionary War at Sea

Vol. 1

1775- 1776

Norman Desmarais

Revolutionary Imprints

Contents

Abbreviations …………………………………………

Newspapers ………………………………………

Introduction……………………………………..… .. .

1775 ………………………………………………… .. …

Notes…………………………………………………….

1776……………………………………………………..

Notes ………………………………………………….

Abbreviations

AAS:  American Antiquarian Society.

Allen: Allen, Gardner Weld.  A Naval History of the American Revolution. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press Cambridge,  1913.

Allen. Privateers:  Allen, Gardner Weld.  Massachusetts privateers of  the

Revolution. [Boston]: The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1927.

Almon :  The Remembrancer, or impartial repository of public events.  Almon, John,

Pownall, Thomas. London: J. Almon, 1775- 1784.

APS: American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.

AVCR: Dow, George Francis.  American Vessels Captured By the British During the Revolution and War of 1812: The Records of the Vice-Admiralty Court at  Halifax, Nova Scotia. Salem, Mass.: The Essex Institute, 1911.

Barneville:  Barneville, Brisout de, "Journal  de Guerre de Brisout de Barneville,

Mai 1780-0ctobre 1781,"  French-American Review. 3 (OctoberDecember 1950)

217-278.

BNA: British National Archives.

Boatner: Boatner, Mark M. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. 3d ed., New

York: McKay, 1980.

Claghorn: Claghorn, Charles Eugene.  Naval officers of the American Revolution: a concise biographical dictionary. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1988.

Clark: Clark, William Bell.  George Washington's Navy: being an account of His  Excellency's fleet in New England waters. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State  University Press, 1960.

Clinton: Clinton, Henry.  The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of  His Campaigns, 1775–1782, with an appendix of original documents. Edited by  William B. Willcox. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1954.

Clowes: Clowes, William Laird.  The Royal Navy: a history from the earliest times to 1900. London: Chatham, 1996. 7 vols.

Coker:  Coker, P. C.  Charleston's maritime heritage, 1670-1865: an illustrated

history. Charleston, S.C.: CokerCraft Press, 1987.

Commager: Commager, Henry Steele.  The spirit of 'seventy-six; the story of the  American Revolution as told by participants. edited by Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris. New York, Harper & Row [1967].

Davies: Davies, K.G. Documents of the American Revolution 1770- 1783. (Colonial

Office Series) Shannon: Irish University Press, 1972 .

Faibisy: Faibisy, John D. A Compilation of Nova Scotia Vessels Seized During the American Revolution and Libelled in the New England Prize Court. in NDAR,

X, 1201- 1210.

Force : Force, Peter.  American archives: consisting of a collection of authentick records, state papers, debates, and letters and other notices of publick affairs, the whole forming a documentary history of the origin and progress of the North  American colonies; of the causes and accomplishment of the American revolution; and of the Constitution of government for the United States, to the final ratification thereof. In six series. [Washington, 1837— 1853.

Fowler: Fowler, William M., Jr.  Rebels Under Sail: The American Navy during the

Revolution. New York: Scribner, 1976.

Fremont-Barnes:  The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: a political, social, and military history. Gregory  Fremont-Barnes, Richard Alan  Ryerson, editors. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2006.

Gardiner: Gardiner, Robert, ed.  Navies and the American Revolution, 1775–1783.

London: Chatham, 1996.

Gregory, Richard Alan Ryerson, eds.   The Encyclopedia of the American  Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara, CA:  ABC-CLIO, 2006.

Gibbes: Gibbes, Robert Wilson.  Documentary History of the American Revolution.  New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1855 (3 vols: 1764–1776, 1776– 1782, 1781–1782).

reprinted New York Times & Arno Press, 1971.

Griffiths: Griffiths, John William.  To Receive them Properly : Charlestown prepares for war, 1775- 1776. Thesis (M.A.) University of South Carolina, 1992.

Hattendorf: Hattendorf, John B. Newport, the French  Navy, and American

Independence. Newport: The Redwood Press, 2005.

HCA: Great Britain. High Court of Admiralty.

Hermione: Log of the Hermione. Captain Louis René Madeleine Le Vassor de

Latouche-Tréville. Archives Nationales de la Marine, Paris. B4 158. Published as  Journal de la frégate du Roi l'Hermione de 32 canons (extraits) Commandée par  M. de La Touche, Lieutenant de Vaisseau. La campagne, commencée le 23 janvier  1780, finie le 26 fevrier 1782. in Tott, François de; Latouche-Tréville, Louis René  Madeleine Le Vassor; Bois, Jean-Pierre.  Deux voyages au temps de Louis XVI,  1777-1780 la mission du baron de Tott en Égypte en 1777-1778 et le Journal de bord de l'Hermione en 1780. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2005

Howe’s prize list 1777: The following is a List of Vessels seized as Prizes, and of Recaptures made, by the American Squadron, between the 27th of May and  24th of October, 1777, according to the Returns received by Vice Admiral Lord  Viscount Howe, in  The  London Chronicle. , Tuesday, December 2, to Saturday,  December 6, 1777.

Johnson: Joseph Johnson. Traditions and Reminiscences of the American

Revolution in the South. Charleston, 1851, reprinted, Spartanburg, SC: 1972.

Kaminkow: Kaminkow, Marion and Jack,  Mariners of the American Revolution.

Baltimore: Magna Carta Book Company, 1967.

Kell: Kell, Jean Bruyere.  North Carolina’s Coastal Carteret County During the  American Revolution, 1765–1785, A Bicentennial Project of the Carteret County  Bicentennial Commission. Era Press, 1975.

Laurens Papers:   Laurens, Henry; Hamer, Philip M.; Rogers, George C. and others.  The papers of Henry Laurens. Columbia: Published for the South Carolina  Historical Society by the University of South Carolina Press, 1968-2003.

Latouche : Monaque, Rémi.  Latouche-Tréville, 1745- 1804: l'amiral qui défiait

Nelson. Paris: SPM, 2000.

LC: Library of Congress.

List of Vessels seized, 1778: List of Vessels seized or destroyed by His Majesty’s  Ships stationed in Chesapeake Bay, and on the Parts of the American Coast  Southward thereof, according to the Accounts transmitted to the Viscount Howe, since the Date of the General Return of Captures made by the American  Squadron of the 25th of October 1777." in the  London Gazette., Tuesday, June 2, to Saturday, June 6, 1778.

MacKenzie: MacKenzie, Frederick.  Diary of Frederick MacKenzie, Giving a Daily  Narrative of his Military Services as an Officer of the Regiment of Royal Welsh  Fusiliers during the years 1775- 1781 in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New  York. Cambridge,   Mass., 1930;(Eyewitness accounts of the American  Revolution). [New York]: New York Times, [1968, c1930].

Maclay: Maclay, Edgar Stanton.  History of American Privateers. New York: B.

Franklin, [1968].

Mackesy: Mackesy, Piers.  The War for America, 1775–1783. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.

Marines: Smith, Charles R.  Marines in the Revolution. Washington, DC:

Government Printing Office, 1975.

Mass. Arch: Massachusetts Archives, Boston.

Mays: Mays, Terry M.  Historical Dictionary of the American Revolution. Scarecrow

Press: Lanham, MD, 1999.

McCrady: McCrady, Edward.  History of South Carolina in the Revolution, 17751780. New York: Paladin Press, 1969 (reprint of 1901 ed.).

McManemin: McManemin, John A. Captains of the privateers during the revolutionary war. Spring Lake, NJ (91 Maple Dr., Spring Lake 07762): Ho-HoKus Pub. Co., 1985.

MHS: Massachusetts Historical Society.

Middlebrook:  Middlebrook,  Maritime Connecticut During the Revolution.

MM: Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia.

Montresor: Scull, G. D.  The Montresor Journals. ed. and annotated by G.D.

Scull: [New York, Printed for the Society, 1882]; July 1, 1777, to July 1, 1778.

Mooney: Mooney, James L.  Dictionary of American naval fighting ships.  Washington: Navy Dept., Office  of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History  Division: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S., 1959- 1981.

Morningstars:  Smith, Gordon Burns.  Morningstars of Liberty: the Revolutionary

War in Georgia, 1775–1783. Milledgeville, Ga. Boyd Publishing, 2006.

Moultrie: Moultrie, William.  Memoirs of the American Revolution so far as it related to the States of North and South Carolina and Georgia.  New York, 1802; (Eyewitness accounts of the American Revolution). [New York]: New York Times,  [1968] .

NBBAS: O’Kelley, Patrick.  Nothing but Blood and Slaughter. Booklocker.com,

2004.

NDAR: United States. Naval History Division.  Naval documents of the American  Revolution. William Bell Clark, editor; with a foreword by President John F.  Kennedy and an introd. by Ernest McNeill Eller. Washington: Naval History  Division, Dept. of the Navy: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1964-.

NJ Archives:  Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History, State of New

Jersey. Edited by William S. Stryker. Trenton: The John L. Murphy Publishing

Co., 1901. Also referred to as  Archives of the State of New Jersey.

Neeser: Neeser, Robert Wilden. Letters and papers relating to the cruises of  Gustavus Conyngham: a captain of the Continental Navy, 1777- 1779. Port  Washington, N.Y. Kennikat Press, [1970].

NRAR: Lincoln, Charles Henry (ed.).  Naval Records  of the American Revolution,

1775-1788. Washington: GPO, 1906.

N. S. Arch.: Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax.

Onderdonk: Onderdonk, Henry.  Documents and Letters Intended to Illustrate the  Revolutionary Incidents of Queens County: with Connecting Narratives,  Explanatory Notes, and Additions. New York: Leavitt, Trow, 1846;  Hempstead,  L.I., L. Van de Water, 1884.

Parker: Parker, John C.  Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South  Carolina: battles, skirmishes and murders. Patrick, S.C.: Hem Branch Publishing,  2009.

Paullin: Paullin, Charles Oscar,  The Navy of the American Revolution, Cleveland:

The Burrows Brothers Company, 1906.

Peckham: Peckham, Howard Henry.  The Toll of Independence: engagements & battle casualties of the American Revolution. edited by Howard H. Peckham.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974.

Prince:  The Autobiography of Yankee Mariner: Christopher Prince and the  American Revolution. Edited by Michael J Crawford. Washington, D.C.: Brasey's,

2002.

R.  I.  Arch.: Rhode Island  Archives, Providence.

RIHS: Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence.

Ripley: Ripley, Warren.  Battleground: South Carolina in the Revolution.

Charleston, SC: Evening Post, 1983 .

Searcy: Searcy, Martha Condray.  The Georgia-Florida contest in the American

Revolution, 1776-1778. University, Ala. University of Alabama Press, c1985.

Selesky: Selesky Harold E., editor in chief.  Encyclopedia of the American

Revolution, 2nd ed.   Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2007.

Simms: Simms, William Gilmore.  The Life of Francis Marion. New York:  H.G.

Langley, 1844.

Smith: Smith, Samuel Stelle.  Fight for the Delaware, 1777. Monmouth Beach,

NJ: Philip Freneau Press, 1970.

TJP: Julian p. Boyd, ed.  The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Princeton, NJ:

Princeton University Press, 1952.

UVL:  University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville.

Ward: Ward, Christopher.  The War of the Revolution. New York: Macmillan, 1952.

Newspapers.

AG:  The American Gazette or the Constitutional Journal.

AJ :  The American Journal and General Advertiser.

BEP:  The Boston Evening-Post and the General Advertiser.

BG:  The Boston-Gazette, and Country Journal.

BN:  Boston News-Letter, Published as  The Massachusetts Gazette: And the

Boston Weekly News-Letter.

BP: Boston Post.

CC:  The Connecticut Courant, and Hartford Weekly Intelligencer.

CG:  Connecticut Gazette.

CG&UI:  The Connecticut Gazette; And The Universal Intelligencer.

CJ:  The Connecticut Journal, and the New-Haven Post-Boy.

CJWA:  Continental Journal, Published as  The Continental Journal, and Weekly

Advertiser.

CSCHS:  Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society.

EJ :  The Essex Journal and New-Hampshire Packet.

ExJ:  Exeter Journal, published as  The Exeter Journal, or, New Hampshire

Gazette.

FJ:  Freeman's Journal, Published as  The Freeman's  Journal, or New-Hampshire

Gazette.

GG:  Georgia Gazette.

GSSC:  Gazette of the State of South-Carolina.

IC:  The Independent Chronicle.

IC&UA:  The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser. Also  The  NewEngland Chronicle, published as  The Independent Chronicle and the Universal  Advertiser.

IG:  The Independent Gazetteer.

IJ:  Independent Journal.

IL:  The Independent Ledger and the American Advertiser.

LCh:  London Chronicle.

LG:  The London Gazette.

MAG: The Massachusetts Gazette or the  Springfield and Northampton Weekly

Advertiser.

MAH :  The Magazine of American History.

MG:  Dunlap's Maryland Gazette.

MGGA:  The Massachusetts Gazette or the General Advertiser.

MJ:  Maryland Journal or the Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser.

MS :  Thomas's Massachusetts Spy or, American Oracle of Liberty. Later, published

as  Haswell's Massachusetts Spy or American Oracle of Liberty.

NCG:  North-Carolina Gazette.

NEC:  The New England Chronicle: or the Essex Gazette.

NG:  The Newport Gazette.

NHG:  The New-Hampshire Gazette, and Historical Chronicle.

NJG:  The New-Jersey Gazette.

NJJ:  New Jersey Journal.

NM:  The Newport Mercury.

NME:  The Newport Mercury Extraordinary.

NP:  The Norwich Packet and the Connecticut, Massachusetts, New-Hampshire,

and  Rhode-Island Weekly Advertiser.

NYG:  The New York Gazette, And The Weekly Mercury, (Gaine's  New  York

Gazette).

NYGNA: The New-York Gazetteer or Northern Intelligencer.

NYJ:  The New-York Journal; or, The General Advertiser.

PA:  Public Advertiser (London).

PAG:  The Pennsylvania Gazette.

PEP:  The Pennsylvania Evening Post.

PG:  The Providence Gazette; and Country Journal.

PJ:  Pennsylvania Journal.

PL:  The Pennsylvania Ledger: Or The Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, & NewJersey Weekly Advertiser. Also  published as  The Pennsylvania Ledger: or the  Philadelphia Market-Day Advertiser.

PM :  Story & Humphreys's Pennsylvania Mercury, and Universal Advertiser.

PP:  Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet or, the General Advertiser.

Prensa:  Maryland Journal, published as  La Prensa.

RG:  The Royal Gazette.

RNYG:  Rivington's New-York Gazetteer; Or, The Connecticut, Hudson's River, NewJersey, and Quebec Weekly Advertiser.

RNYLG:  Rivington's New-York Loyal Gazette.

RAG:  The Royal American Gazette.

RGG:  The  Royal Georgia Gazette.

RPAG:  The Royal  Pennsylvania Gazette.

RRG:  Rivington's Royal Gazette.

SCAGG:  The South-Carolina and American General Gazette.

SCG:  South-Carolina Gazette and General Advertiser.

SCWA:  South-Carolina Weekly Advertiser.

SCWG:  The South-Carolina Weekly Gazette.

SG:  The Salem Gazette.

TCG:  The Constitutional Gazette.

VG:  The Virginia Gazette.

WG:  Worcester Gazette.

WI:  The Weekly Intelligencer.

Introduction

The colonial navies had no hope of winning a war against Great Britain in traditional combat. The Continental Navy wasn’t established until 1775 and even though Great Britain was still recovering from the Seven Years War  (French and Indian War, 1757  – 1763), she still had the world's largest, strongest and most powerful fleet. The colonial navies had a few small vessels that could not even approach the size and firepower of a frigate or a ship of the line.

However, these smaller vessels could travel faster and maneuver more quickly and easily than the large warships. In sufficient numbers and with great speed, they could successfully attack slower, lightly armed vessels.

The colonies used privateers and resorted to a sort of guerrilla war. Privateers  (also called letters of marque) were private vessels legally commissioned with a letter (letter of marque and retaliation) licensing or authorizing them to attack and seize vessels of a belligerent nation specifically mentioned in the terms of their commission.

Privateers and Pirates

Privateers were generally small vessels, such as schooners, sloops and brigs, that were lightly armed but fast. Their intended victims were enemy merchantmen which were completely unarmed or only lightly so. The capture of a merchantman at sea by force of arms was an act of war. The capture of an  American privateer by a British man-of-war was likewise an act of war. It was not unusual for the privateers to kill a few crewmen to convince the others to surrender.

Some people believe that privateers were not part of the navy and mitigate their contribution or ignore the thousands of fights at sea that occurred between colonial privateers and British merchantmen, privateers and naval vessels.  These privateers engaged in a sort of guerilla warfare, or  petite guerre, that weakened the enemies financially and militarily, eventually causing them to be unable to prosecute the war and to force them to withdraw. Even when privateers lost, a series of tactical losses could lead to strategic victories. This was a strategy General Nathanael Greene used effectively in his campaign in the South to weaken General Charles Cornwallis’s army, leading to his surrender at Yorktown, Virginia. In fact, Dr. Ezra Stiles noted in his diary "We have no Men  o' War, but half a dozen Privateers full of Desperadoes might

prove troublesome to a 20 Gun ship." 1  Some historians even credit privateers

with the eventual American victory at sea.

In essence, privateers and pirates operated much the same way, except  that the privateers had a legal commission to operate during wartime. When captured, the crew of a privateer were treated as prisoners of war while a pirate crew were given a summary trial and executed, usually by hanging. Captured privateersmen were usually sentenced to a prison ship until freed. They were the last to be exchanged and usually spent a long time in captivity because  American sailors always outnumbered British sailors in captivity and Congress refused to exchange British sailors for American  soldiers.

Another difference between privateers and pirates is in the partition of the booty. The owners of a vessel, officers and crew all had shares based on their rank or financial interest in the vessel. These terms were specified in the terms of sailing which the crew would agree to when signing on for a cruise. The portion that would go to the owner of a pirate vessel would go to the government issuing the letter of marque and might be divided between the government and the ship owner.2

Prizes

When a privateer captured a vessel  (the  prize ship), the captain of the privateer  replaced the crew  with a prize crew  which then sailed to a friendly port where the prize and her cargo would be libeled and tried in  an admiralty court. If the court condemned her as a legitimate prize, the vessel and her contents were sold at auction and the captain, crew and owners received a percentage of the total as agreed upon in the terms of sailing.

The more prizes a vessel captured, the more profitable the voyage. Privateers operating out of New England and the Middle Atlantic states were wreaking great havoc on Crown merchant vessels. A Committee on the State of the Nation in the House of Lords questioned a half dozen men, on February 6,  1778, to assess the damages England had suffered from American privateers.

The estimates were based on the facts given in the register of the society of merchants at Lloyd's Coffee House in London. That register kept a detailed account of all the ships that sailed outward or entered from the ports of Great  Britain and Ireland. It listed the names of the owners and captains, an account of the vessel’s last voyage, tonnage, state of repair, and quality.  Lloyd's register recorded that the Americans captured 733 vessels since the beginning of the war. Deducting 174 vessels which were retaken or restored leaves a total of 559 which were valued conservatively  with their cargoes at £1,800,633, 18s. 3

Insurance Costs, Freight Rates and the Prices of Commodities

If nothing else, the capture of vessels raised the cost of insurance, the freight rate and consequently, the prices of commodities.  Insurance rates rose from a peacetime level of 2 percent to a wartime high of 28 percent. By the end of  1776, American privateers were taking an increasingly heavy toll in their attacks on British commerce in the Western Atlantic and West Indies. John  Pinney, of Nevis, decided to take the risk of not insuring his freight. He divided his produce among six vessels but still lost £1,000 worth of goods that  year. It was almost impossible to insure a ship that was not part of a convoy because it was more vulnerable to attack. The rise in insurance rates alone was  precipitating things into a state of general bankruptcy.4

Freight rates doubled, or nearly doubled, the peacetime rates, reducing planters to great difficulties. Factors contributing to this rate increase include the loss of North American merchant ships, the captures by privateers, the high rate of insurance, the risks of the voyage, the increase in the wages of seamen and the demand for ships for army transports which caused a shortage of both ships and crew. The Society of West India Merchants took legal action against shipmasters after freight rates increased again in 1781. Sugar freight, for example, increased from three shillings, six pence per hundredweight to 8 shillings. 5

The activities of enemy privateers and fleets also aggravated the rise in prices  and the shortage of supplies. They caused the disruption in trade, increased  insurance charges, higher freight rates, shipping shortages convoy delays, and  several financial losses for many individuals. American privateers made two to  three captures a day off the Windward Islands in 1777. They intercepted  almost all the supplies from Britain to Tobago in 1777-78 and captured the  most valuable vessels in the Jamaica fleet in 1777. They twice captured the  outward-bound convoy from Britain to the Leeward Islands and most of an  outward-bound convoy to Jamaica in 1780. As early as 1777, it was estimated  that privateers had caused £1,800,000 sterling of damage to the trade of the  British West Indies.6

Privateers were so successful that some cities and states put an embargo on them. For example, St. Kitts stopped accepting privateers in March 1780  and  Connecticut established its embargo in June but raised it by September. Not only did the large number of prizes occupy much dock space, the long legal process for libeling, trying, condemning, and auctioning the vessels and their cargo meant that those vessels would remain in port for a considerable time, preventing arrivals and departures, loading and unloading of more lucrative merchant vessels.

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Charges on 100 pounds of sugar shipped from Jamaica to Great Britain in time of peace and time of war.7

Prize Lists

The prize lists contain an arrangement of prizes by date and only represent a fraction of the more than 10,000 actions covered in this work. These lists will always remain incomplete because some vessels were never identified. Some

were sunk or lost. Others changed their names to conceal their true identities  or destroyed their papers before capture. For example,  Vice Admiral Samuel  Admiral Graves ordered  Midshipman Jacob Lobb to always keep your  Dispatches slung with a Weight, that in case you should unfortunately be  taken, they may be thrown overboard, and not fall into the hands of Rebels.  Many vessels kept two sets of papers: one to show to captors, another to  present to  friendly forces and to give a proper account of their cargo.8

This work  considers each capture or recapture a separate action because the process of securing a prize, removing its crew and replacing them with a prize crew can take two hours or more.  It  includes some actions where not a single shot was fired. Sometimes, the captains of vessels realized their inferior strength and struck their colors (surrendered) to a stronger force rather than risk loss of life and the destruction of their vessels and cargoes. It  does not contain raids, attacks on or defenses of landing parties, actions where only one side used vessels or used transports to get to a location or naval support for land actions.

Sources for naval actions are often quite vague about where an action occurred. They sometimes indicate a particular latitude. More often, they just indicate something like off the coast of  ---- . Consequently, the GPS coordinates listed herein seem more accurate than they really are. They are sometimes meant only to  indicate a general area to direct the reader’s attention. When more precise information is available, those coordinates are more accurate. In such cases, the narrative will indicate the location more precisely (e.g. 30 leagues east of Bermuda) and the coordinates will be more reliable.

The following indicators should guide the reader in interpreting the author’s confidence in the level of accuracy of the GPS coordinates:

Conf. 0: pure guesstimate

Conf. 1: an unknown location in a large known region (e.g. Atlantic

Ocean)

Conf. 2: a general location in a more narrowly known region (e.g.

Chesapeake Bay or off the NC coast)

Conf. 3: the location as described in the source (e.g. 20 leagues east of

Sandy Hook)

The distance a league represented differed at various times and in different countries. We use the equivalent of 3.45 miles for our calculations. The converter at  http://www.unitconversion.org/unit_converter/length.html shows

that 1 mile [mi(Int)] = 0.868421053 nautical mile (UK).

Nomenclature

The two sides in the American War of Independence are generally referred to as the British and the Americans. However, this is a gross oversimplification.  While it is a convenient way to refer to both sides, it is often inaccurate.  Moreover, the provincials were British citizens—at least until they declared their independence on July 4, 1776. Prior to that date, the provincials believed

their grievances were with Parliament and not the King. Most of the citizens did  not favor independence but rather hoped for redress of their grievances and the  re-establishment of relations with Parliament. However, when King George III  sided with Parliament and declared the colonies in rebellion on August 23,  1775, the provincials realized that their hopes were dashed. After the news  reached the colonies on October 31, 1775, the provincials began to see  independence as their only recourse.

The Declaration of Independence made a definite break between England and her American colonies; but it took a while for those ideas to become widely accepted. In fact, it took 18 months after the outbreak of the war to enunciate that objective; and it took eight years to win the war that secured the independence of the United States of America. Even though England officially recognized the new country with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, it often continued to act as though it still controlled the colonies. This was one of the factors that led to the War of 1812.

While the provincials called themselves Americans, to refer only to those who favored independence as Americans is too broad, as they were less than a majority of the population. Although the provincials were British citizens until the signing of the Declaration of Independence and their effective independence at the end  of the war, to refer to them as Americans confuses a political position with hegemony. That would be comparable to referring to Republicans or Democrats as Americans, implying that the other party is not American.  Similarly, to refer to them as Patriots implies that those who remained loyal to the king were less patriotic when they fought to maintain life as they knew it.

Consequently, we refer to the supporters of independence as Rebels, Whigs, or  Congressional forces. We also refer to Allied forces to designate joint efforts by  Congressional forces and their foreign allies, primarily French and Spanish.

Similarly, the British armies were more complex than just English troops.  They certainly consisted of Irish, Scot, and Welsh troops. They are also referred to generically as Regulars or Redcoats. (Some derogatory references call them lobsterbacks or bloodybacks because of the flesh wounds from whipping—a common form of punishment at the time.)

Loyalist troops also wore green uniforms but with white facings. They were sometimes referred to as Green Coats or simply as the Greens. Some authors refer to them as Tories, a term which has taken on derogatory significance. We use the terms Crown forces, King’s troops, Royal Navy to refer to these combined forces or the regiment name, commanding officer, or group designation (e.g. Hessians, Loyalists) to be more specific.

terminology of African Americans, even though not all of them came fPeople of color fought on both sides. We use the currently politically correct rom

Africa, and Native Americans as the generic terms. We also use the specific tribal name, if known: Iroquois, Mohawk, Oneida, Cherokee, etc. Mulattoes referred to people of mixed race. Quotations retain the terminology used by the original writer.

The Native American tribes tended to support the Crown because they realized that the settlers coveted their land and presented a greater threat than the  British Army.

Notes

New 1. Stiles, EzraYork: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1901. . The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles.[Newport] June. 17: [1775] pedited by Franklin B. Dexter.  NDAR 1: 705                              . 572;

2.  Braisted, Todd.  Grand Forage 1778: the Battleground Around New York City.

Yardley, Pennsylvania: Westholme Publishing, 2016 p. 58.

The pirate ship  Ranger’s articles  of sailing provide a good example of the terms a captain and his crew would agree to:

Here follow the  Articles of  Capt. Edward Low, the  Pirate, with his

Company.

1 . The  Captain is to have two full  Shares; the  Master is to have one  Share  and one  Half; the  Doctor, Mate, Gunner and Boatswain, one  Share and

one  Quarter.

2 . He that shall be found guilty of taking up any  Unlawful Weapon on  Board the Privateer  or any other prize by us taken so as to  Strike or  Abuse  one another in any regard, shall suffer what  Punishment the  Captain and  Majority of the company shall think fit.

3 . He that shall be found  Guilty of  Cowardice in the time of  Ingagement,  shall suffer what  Punishment the Captain and Majority of the company  shall think fit.

4. If any  Gold, Jewels, Silver, etc. be found on board of any  Prize or  Prizes  to the value of a  Piece of  eight, & the finder do not deliver it to the  Quarter  Master  in the space of 24 hours shall suffer  what punishment the Captain  and Majority of the company shall think fit.

5. He that is found guilty of  Gaming, or  Defrauding one another to the  Value of a Ryal of  Plate, shall suffer what  Punishment the Captain and  Majority of the company shall think fit.

6. He that shall have the  Misfortune to lose a  Limb in time of  Engagement  shall have the  Sum of  Six hundred pieces of  Eight, and remain aboard as  long as he shall think fit.

7. Good  Quarters to be given when  Craved.

8. He that sees a sail first, shall have the best  Pistol  Or Small Arm  aboard

of her.

9. He that shall be guilty of  Drunkenness in time of  Engagement shall

suffer what  Punishment the Captain and Majority of the company shall

think fit.

10. No snaping [snapping] of arms in the Hould [hold]:

The Boston News-Letter. From Thursday August 1, to Thursday August 8,

1723 p. [2]

3. Johnston, Ruth Y. American Privateers in French Ports. 1776- 1778.  The

Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 53; 4 (1929), p. 358.

4. NDAR 7:x, 1. O'Shaughnessy, Andrew Jackson.  An Empire Divided: the  American Revolution and the British Caribbean.  Philadelphia: University of

Pennsylvania Press, [2000] pp.163- 164; Ragatz, Lowell J.  The  Fall of the  Planter  Class in the British Caribbean, 1763-1833; a study in social and economic history.  New York, Octagon Books, 1963, ©1928 pp. 165- 166; Smith, Paul Hubert;  Gephart, Ronald M. Smith.  Letters of  Delegates to Congress, 1774- 1789.  Washington: Library of Congress: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O.,  1976-2000. 4:584 Richard Henry  Lee to Patrick Henry, April 15, 1777; Franklin,  Dean and Lee to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, February 6, 1777 in  Wharton, Francis; Moore, John Basset. The Revolutionary Diplomatic  Correspondence of the United States. Washington: G.P.O., 1889. 2: 262-263;  Franklin and Dean to Committee of Foreign Affairs, May 26, 1777 ibid. p. 325; hints for the management of the war March 2, 1778; Adams, Randolph  Greenfield.  The  Papers of Lord George Germain: a brief description of the StopfordSackville papers now in the William L. Clements Library. Ann Arbor: William L.  Clements Library, 1928. vol. 7.

5. Estwick, Samuel, Long, Edward.  Considerations on the  Present  Decline of the  Sugar-Trade; and on the means which are proposed, by the refiners of London, for  reinstating it  ...  [London] 1782.  https://books.google.com/books?id=PYdPAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq =%22Considerations+on+the+Present+Decline+of+the+sugar%22&source=bl&o ts=LUHUmffteh&sig=S2TGWybJ7Kddtdg1gUQ8Yeczdt0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ah UKEwiHx5D8n8nPAhWKVD4KHdeYCMIQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=%22Consid erations%20on%20the%20Present%20Decline%20of%20the%20sugar%22&f=fa

lse Table 7 p. 51. O’Shaughnessy op. cit.  pp.163 - 164.  Extract of a letter from  Jamaica. August 22-24, 1780.  Ragatz. op. cit . p. 146. Report of the Lords  of the  Committee of Council, part five, St. Kitts, C. Number seven; Crowhurst, Patrick.  The  Defense of British  Trade, 1689- 1815. London, 1977 p. 200.

6. O’Shaughnessy. op. cit. pp. 163 - 164.  Morning Chronicle and London  Advertiser. February 8, 1775; Sosin, Jack M.  Agents and  Merchants; British  colonial policy and the origins of the American Revolution, 1763-1775. Lincoln:  University of Nebraska Press, p. 220 claims that the West Indians went to Lord  Dartmouth to present the petition to the House of Lords .

7. Estwick Samuel. Loc. Cit.

8.  Vice Admiral Samuel Graves to  Midshipman Jacob Lobb. Charles Edward  Long; Samuel Graves; British Library. The  Conduc of Vice-Admiral  Samuel  Graves, Considered During The Period That He Held  the Command  of His  Majesty's Naval Force,  in  North America, 1774-1776, Taken for  the Most Part from  the  Admiral's  Own Dispatches,  Appendix, 94. British Museum. NDAR 2: 194 .

1775

1775

Stonington Connecticut,  Conf.: 2,  41.33235  -71.91444

The British capture Captain Arnold's vessel.

The British captured Captain Arnold's vessel from Pawtuxet,  Rhode Island at

Stonington,  Connecticut sometime in 1775. Captain Arnold was brought to

Boston by December 2, 1775 . 1

April 26, 1775

Piscataqua River, Conf.: 3,  43.43796  -70.36100

The  HM  Frigate  Scarborough stops a snow.

The  HM  Frigate  Scarborough stopped a snow on the Piscataqua River, New

Hampshire on Wednesday, April 26, 1775.  She was bound to the West Indies.

Four men were impressed from the crew and the vessel was released.2

April 20,  1775

Boston Harbor,  Conf.: 3 ,  42.35855  -71.04067

Admiral Graves seizes two wood sloops.

Admiral Graves seized two wood sloops in Boston Harbor on April 20,  1775 to use them as troop transports to evacuate exposed British troops from

Cambridge. He released the sloops the following day. 3

April 26,  1775

Newport Harbor,  Conf.: 3, 41.48545  -71.31881

The  HM  Frigate  Rose captures the sloops  Diana and  Abigail.

Captain Wallace ’s  HM  Frigate  Rose captured the sloops  Diana and  Abigail in  Newport Harbor,  Rhode Island on Wednesday,  April 26,  1775. The two sloops were bound  to Providence with 300 barrels of flour,  pork and beef for the  American army. John Brown,  a prominent Providence merchant, owner of the sloops, and the agent for purchasing the flour,  was aboard the  Diana. An officer and ten men were put aboard the  Diana. The cargoes of both vessels were put into the  Abigail and she was sent to Boston with John Brown aboard the following afternoon. She arrived in Boston on May 2 ,  1775. The crew was released at the time of the Diana's capture,  but Captain Wallace put a crew aboard the  Diana and retained her as an armed tender.4

May 2,  1775

Newport Harbor,  Conf.: 3, 41.48443  -71.31848

The  HM  Frigate  Rose captures  a  merchant sloop.

The  HM  Frigate  Rose captured and detained an unknown merchant sloop in

Newport Harbor,  Rhode  Island on  Tuesday afternoon,  May 2,  1775. 5

May 5,  1775

Buzzards Bay, Martha’s Vineyard,  Conf.: 3 , 41.44595  -70.95457

The  HM Sloop  Falcon captures two sloops.

The HM Sloop  of  War Falcon captured two sloops in Buzzards Bay,  on the neck to Cape Cod,  on  Friday,  May 5,  1775—just two weeks after the battle of  Lexington,  Massachusetts. The people of New Bedford and Dartmouth,  intent on recovering the boats,  outfitted a vessel and attacked the  Falcon  in a harbor at Martha’s Vineyard. They recaptured one of the crafts and took 15 prisoners. The account is probably based on a letter from Newport,  Rhode Island,  dated  May 10 ,  1775 that reads:

Last Friday the  Falcon,  Captain [John] Lindsey [Linzee] ,  took two sloops at Bedford,  with intention of sending them to the  Islands near the

Vineyard,  to carry from thence a parcel of sheep to Boston. The Bedford people resented this conduct in such a manner as to immediately fit out two sloops,  with thirty men on board,  and last Saturday retook them both,  with fifteen men on board. In the action there were three of the

men of war sailors badly wounded,  one of whom is since dead. The

thirteen they immediately sent to Taunton Jail.

Elizabeth Bowdoin,  in a letter dated June 4,  1775,  records thatfor some time past,  the  Falkland [Falcon],  sloop of war,  commanded by

Capt. Linzey [Linzee] ,  has been cruising about the islands called

Elizabeth islands ,  near Martha’s Vineyard: that the said sloop’s boats

have,  divers times ,  landed armed men on the said islands,  who have

abused the  inhabitants ,  stove their boats,  and by force taken away a

considerable part of their property,  as may more fully appear by the said

deposition. It is humbly apprehended,  if about one hundred armed men  were properly posted on the said islands,  they would be a sufficient force  to defend the inhabitants,  and protect their stocks of cattle and sheep,  which are very considerable ,  and which have,  hitherto,  every year,  furnished divers parts of this colony with fat sheep and cattle for  provisions,  and particularly with a large quantity of wool for our home manufactures .6

May 11,  1775

Holmes Hole,  Massachusetts,  Conf.:  3,  41.44007  -70.59762

The  HM  Sloop  Falcon captures a schooner and a sloop.

Commander John Linzee’s HM Sloop  Falcon stopped a schooner from Boston at  Holmes Hole  [Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts]  at 11 AM on Thursday,  May 11 ,  1775. That afternoon,  Commander Linzee sent his barge out at 6 PM and captured Simeon Wing’s sloop from Sandwich,  Massachusetts. She was returning  from Nantucket in ballast, skippered Thomas Wing,  Simeon’s son.  The sloop had been used to take wood to Nantucket Island for years. Simeon

Wing would usually settle with the customs officers once a year,  paying 12 pence a trip,  as was the usual practice for craft engaged in this trade. When  Wing returned from Nantucket,  he went through Vineyard Sound when the  Falcon’s barge came out and captured his sloop for having no clearance.

Wing was taken to the  Falcon and told his vessel would be released if he would inform Commander Linzee of any vessels recently arrived from the West Indies.  Wing feigned ignorance and of any such news,  but an indian Fellow on board the sloop finally informed Commander Linzee that a vessel owned by Jesse  Barlow had recently brought in a cargo from the West Indies. She was anchored in Buzzards Bay with a cargo of provisions,  bound back to the West  Indies.

Instead of releasing the wood sloop,  Commander Linzee armed the sloop and ordered midshipman Richard Lucas aboard with  the  Falcon’s gunner’s mate, surgeon’s mate,  and 11 men to search for the West India sloop Monday morning,  May 12,  while the  Falcon was anchored in Holmes Hole. Sources say  14,  15 or 23 men were put on Wing’s sloop,  with Wing still aboard and that they headed up Buzzards Bay in search of Jesse Barlow’s vessel.

The British found the West India sloop and seized her and her master. The cargo had been landed by now and the British put a prize crew and some guns and ammunition on board. The master was apparently put on Wing’s sloop and both vessels sailed away with all the crew,  passengers and masters.

Jesse Barlow,  irked at losing his sloop,  now applied to his friends ashore in  Dartmouth for help.  There were two companies of Massachusetts troops (later taken into  the  Continental service) being raised in the area. They werecommanded by Captains Daniel Egery [Egry] and Nathaniel Pope. The officers agreed to furnish men for the expedition. An old 40-ton sloop,  the  Success,  was collected,  and Egery took command of her,  with Pope as his lieutenant. Barlow financed half the cost of the expedition. This sloop was armed with two swivel guns and manned with 30 men.

Meanwhile,  Lucas,  the prize and the tender (another prize) had sailed off to rendezvous with the  Falcon. The night was foggy and the wind was light,  and  Lucas didn’t get very far. Both sloops anchored about three miles apart during the night,  perhaps to the east of West Island in Buzzards Bay.

The Whigs sailed  from Fairhaven  in the evening in chase of the royal pirates.  Steering mostly by tide and with light winds, the Whigs spent the night in the fog. At sunrise,  one of the sloops was sighted and closed. The Whigs got close enough to surprise her and she surrendered  without firing a shot. Pope and two other men went aboard the sloop and sailed her into Fairhaven.

The second sloop was seen to the west,  raising sail.  Success set out after her.  As the Whigs closed in,  the pirates fired on them; the fire was immediatelyreturned,  by which three of the pirates were wounded,  among whom was the commanding officer . . . The Whigs boarded her at once. One man died of his wounds within a day.

Both sloops were taken  to  Dartmouth.  The  Falcon’s gunner,  surgeon’s mate,  a midshipman (Lucas) ,  eight sailors and three marines were captured. The prisoners were sent first to the Taunton jail,  then to Cambridge. Nine of the prisoners arrived at Worcester on May 23. When Wing and Barlow applied to the Dartmouth officials for their  vessels, would be released upon Wing paying $8 and Barlow $10. The two paid the they were told that the two sloops money but the Dartmouth officials continued to hold the vessels,  stating that they needed to seek the orders of Congress. Finally,  they offered to deliver up the vessels if Wing and Barlow paid an additional $45 and signed bonds to indemnify the Dartmouth officials. Fed up with this business,  Wing and Barlow requested the Committee of Correspondence of Sandwich to lay the affair before the Massachusetts Provincial Congress,  which was done on May 29.

The Massachusetts Provincial Congress,  on Friday,  June 2 1775 ,  ordered the  Dartmouth officials and Wing and Barlow to appear before the Congress for an investigation 7.

May 11,  1775

Whitehall,  New  York, Conf.: 3, 43.55366  -73.40195

Schooner  Katherine or Catherine  captured.

Captain Samuel Herrick’s company of soldiers arrived in Skenesborough [Whitehall],  New York  (then Vermont)  on Thursday morning,  May 11 ,  1775 and easily captured the place,  along  with Major Philip Skene’s property,  family,  and a 40-ton schooner (probably named the  Katherine or Catherine). Many of  Colonel Benedict Arnold’s men were with Herrick’s party and  Herrick  later enlisted in Arnold’s regiment,  receiving pay from May 3. The schooner was the most important of the fruits of the capture of Skenesborough. Captain Eleazer  Oswald,  a former merchant skipper and later Arnold’s military secretary,  took charge of the schooner. She was renamed the  Liberty,  and Oswald prepared to sail her  up to Fort Ticonderoga on May 11 ,  1775. The vessel was soon after referred to as a snow, or an armed vessel,  and of some consequence on the lake.8

May 12,  1775

Tarpaulin Cove Elizabeth Islands, Massachusetts,  Conf.: 3, 41.47484  70.75508

The  HM  Sloop  Falcon captures  the  schooners Doctor’s Box and  Hawke.

The fishing schooners  Doctor’s Box and  Hawke were returning from the fishery when Commander John Linzee’s HM  Sloop  Falcon intercepted them at

Tarpaulin Cove in the Elizabeth Islands at 9 PM on  Friday,  May 12,  1775.  They were headed to Marblehead,  Massachusetts with a cargo of fish. Commander  Linzee sent the schooners to Boston,  where they were condemned and sold.9 See also August 8, 9, 1775. The HMS  Falcon  captures two schooners .

May 13,  1775

Off Marblehead Massachusetts,  Conf.:  2 , 42.50082  -70.80611

The  HM  Frigate  Lively detains  an unknown vessel.

The  HM  Frigate  Lively detained an unknown vessel off Marblehead,

Massachusetts on Saturday May 13,  1775. She was heading home from the

West Indies with a cargo of molasses. Some Marbleheaders boarded her the following night,  slipped her cables and ran her into the wharf where some armed men received her and guarded her while the cargo was unloaded. She was presumably released. 10

Mid-May 1775

Massachusetts coast,  Conf.: 2, 42.39023  -70.88871

The HM Sloop  Nautilus captures the sloop Polly.

Samuel Smith’s  80-ton  sloop  Polly was returning to Arundel,  Massachusetts from a coasting trip to Plymouth,  Massachusetts when one of Admiral Graves’s  cutters  (the HM  Sloop  Nautilus)  from Boston captured her about mid-May  1775 and took her to Boston where her cargo was bought for the garrison. The  British persuaded Smith to enter their service. Letters and agents were sent aboard the  Polly. She was ordered to sail to Annapolis [probably Annapolis  Royal,  Nova Scotia]. 11

See also June 1 ,  1775 . The  Sloop Polly  is  captured and recaptured.

May 17,  1775

Tarpaulin Cove,  Massachusetts,  Conf.: 3 , 41.47285  -70.75823

The HM  Sloop  Falcon captures the sloop  Three Friends.

Commander John Linzee’s  HM  Sloop  Falcon sighted Peter Guillard’s sloop  Three Friends off Tarpaulin Cove,  Massachusetts and chased her at 3 PM on  Wednesday,  May 17,  1775. The  Falcon fired three 6-pounders at the  Three  Friends an hour later,  which brought her to. The  Three Friends was coming from  St. Domingue [Haiti] with a cargo of wine and fruit and was sent  to  Boston in July. The cargo was purchased for the garrison and the vessel was released,  but was in too poor condition to proceed. 12

May 21,  1775

Portsmouth,  New Hampshire,  Conf.: 3, 43.05119  -70.68771

The  HM  Frigate  Scarborough and HM Armed Ship  Canceaux capture  the sloop  Elizabeth and a provision sloop.

Cornelius Conkling’s sloop  Elizabeth sailed from Long Island,  New York for  Portsmouth,  New Hampshire with a cargo of  provisions on Thursday,  May 18,  1775. She arrived at Portsmouth three days later where she was promptly

captured by  the  HM  Frigate  Scarborough and  the  HM Armed Ship  Canceaux.  She and another provision sloop were sent to Boston,  under escort of the HMS  Sphynx. The cargo was purchased by the British and the vessel released. 13

May 30,  1775

Jerry’s Point,  Piscataqua River,  Portsmouth,  Conf.: 3 ,  43.05439  70.71080

The  HMS  Scarborough seizes two provision vessels.

Tensions were very high between New Hampshire  residents and the King’s troops in the spring of 1775. On Monday,  May 29,  Captain Andrew Barkley,  of the man-of-war HMS  Scarborough,  ordered his men to seize two provision vessels loaded with corn,  pork,  flour and rye. As the vessels came from Long

Island, New York with much-needed provisions for the town,  the people viewed this as a threat to starve out Portsmouth. Tensions escalated. Prominent

citizens of the town petitioned Captain Barkley to release the vessels and their

cargo,  but the captain refused.  Moreover,  Captain Henry Mowat’s  Canceaux  and the  Scarborough  fired 15 guns that day to honor the restoration of King  Charles II. Between 500 and 600 men from Portsmouth and neighboring towns  assembled the next morning (May 30) and went down to the artillery battery at  Jerry’s Point (in New Castle,  about a mile south of Fort William and Mary).  They seized eight 24- and 32-pounders (about 3,400 and 4,800 pounds each)  and brought them to Portsmouth. The next day,  mobs started ransacking  Loyalist homes in  Portsmouth and the town was full of men in arms 14.

June 1,  1775

Boston Bay,  Massachusetts,  Conf.: 2 ,  42.35086  -70.97948

The sloop  Polly is  captured and recaptured.

Samuel Smith’s sloop  Polly sailed on a coasting trip from Arundel,

Massachusetts to  Plymouth,  Massachusetts in May 1775. She was captured on her return to Arundel by one of Admiral Graves’s cutters (actually the HM

Sloop  Nautilus) from Boston,  Massachusetts and was taken  to  Boston. The

British persuaded Smith to enter their service. He  accepted on May 30 to get his sloop out of confinement. Josiah Jones and another Loyalist were put aboard and the  Polly was ordered to Annapolis Royal,  Nova Scotia to pick up supplies.

The original crew seized the sloop on Thursday,  June 1 ,  1775,  almost immediately after sailing,  and took her to Arundel,  where they arrived the next day. The agents and letters were turned over to the local Committee of Safety on June 3. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress had been informed by June  8 and the prisoners were in Middletown by June 9. The next day,  they were examined and held. The sloop was released. 15

See also mid-May 1775.

June 4,  1775

Marblehead,  Massachusetts,  Conf.: 3,  42.48519  -70.76730

The schooner  Pelican is  seized.

The schooner  Pelican arrived at Marblehead,  Massachusetts with dispatches for

General Gage and Admiral Graves on Sunday,  June 4 ,  1775. The Marblehead militia seized the schooner,  removed the dispatches and then released the vessel. 16

June 6,  1775

Dartmouth (Buzzards Bay),  Massachusetts,  Conf.: 3,  41.58053  -70.90164 The sloop  Nancy (or  Nance) is seized.

The sloop  Nancy (or  Nance) was carrying a large cargo of corn,  flour and pork for Nantucket Island when she put into Buzzards Bay on Sunday,  June 4,  1775. Colonel Joshua  Davis,  of the Massachusetts militia,  was returning from a mission to secure excess provisions from Nantucket when he heard of the arrival. He set out to secure the vessel and ordered Walter Hatch,  her master, to bring the sloop to Dartmouth on June 6 ,  where she was secured.

Presumably the sloop was later released. 17

June 12,  1775

Machias River,  Conf.: 3,  44.71761  -67.44415

The schooner  Falmouth Packet is seized.

Benjamin Foster and 20 men seized Thomas Flinn’s schooner  Falmouth Packetin the Machias River on Monday,  June 12,  1775. The schooner was used during the pursuit and capture of  the  HM Schooner Tender  Margaretta (see next paragraph) and  was returned to her master on  June  13. 18

June 12,  1775

Off Maine,  Conf.: 3,  44.59648  -67.34184

Margaretta  Incident,  sloops  Polly and  Unity  captured.

Vice Admiral Samuel Graves was appointed commander of the Royal Navy forces in America in March 1774. When he arrived in Boston harbor on July 1 to enforce the blockade,  he had 25 to 30 warships ranging from  men-of-war to sloops and cutters. Most of the vessels were in Boston harbor,  but some of the larger ships were stationed at various places on the East coast. The 64-gun HMS Asia was stationed in New York; the 20-gun  Rose was based in Newport,  Rhode Island; and the 20-gun  Scarborough operated out of Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire. Another warship was based at Halifax,  Nova Scotia; and some of the smaller vessels  patrolled the coast of New England to enforce the  Navigation Laws and to prevent smuggling. After the  battles of Lexington and  Concord,  they also began to harass the colonial trade and shipping lanes andforced vessels to transport goods for the King’s troops.

Despite the overwhelming size of  Admiral  Graves’s fleet compared to the small provincial  vessels,  the Rebels raided the harbor islands almost at will and  Graves could not prevent them. The Rebels gathered a fleet of 300 whaleboats, hid them by day,  and went out burning lighthouses,  foraging,  or smuggling by night. Graves did nothing to prevent this,  fearing the loss of one of his warships. Graves was much criticized for his inaction and eventually decided to attack the Rebels in the ports and harbors where they moored.

On Wednesday,  June 7,  1775,  the  Massachusetts  Provincial Congress appointed a committee "to consider the expediency of establishing a number of small armed vessels,  to cruise on our sea coasts,  for the protection of our

trade,  and the annoyance of our enemies: and that the members be enjoined,  by order of Congress,  to observe secrecy in the matter." The Continental  Congress was apprised of the matter on June 11. The Provincial Congress  considered the matter on the 13th; but,  after a long debate,  further postponed  it until the following Friday.

Ichabod Jones,  a staunch  Boston Loyalist who had commercial interests in

Machias,  Massachusetts (now Maine)  proposed procuring scarce firewood for  Boston from there. The British  armed schooner Margaretta escorted two  sloops, the  Polly and the  Unity,  to Machias in June 1775 to trade provisions for firewood and lumber.  When they arrived  at Machias ,  Midshipman James

Moore,  commanding the  Margaretta,  would not allow the sale of goods from the two sloops to the townspeople who were hard pressed by the blockade and enforcement of the Navigation Acts.  The town was also divided over trading lumber for provisions,  particularly  Jeremiah O'Brien,  a prominent citizen.  When Moore ordered taking down the town liberty pole ,  O’Brien and others became more upset. O’Brien assembled a group of 40 men to take the  Margaretta by force.  Moore and his second-in-command,  Midshipman Richard  Stillingfleet,  were ashore at the meetinghouse on Sunday,  June 11 ,  when they heard some commotion. Moore looked out the window and saw a number of

armed people heading toward the  meetinghouse. He and  Mr. Stillingfleet  jumped out the window and escaped in a boat sent from the schooner to get  them.

A Rebel boarding party plundered the  Polly  at anchor near the falls. A party of about 100 men then assembled near the schooner and demanded that she strike her colors and surrender  Mr. Jones. When Moore refused a second

request to strike the  Margaretta’s colors,  the Rebels on shore fired a volley of  small arms. The  Margaretta  returned fire with swivels and small arms. The  firing continued for about an hour and a half before  Mr. Moore cut the cable

about 8:30 PM and moved half a mile downriver where he anchored near the

sloop  Unity  laden with boards.

O’Brien and his followers,  armed with pitchforks,  axes,  and three muskets ,

approached the  Margaretta  in a number of boats and canoes during the night  in an attempt to board her. They were beaten off by a brisk fire from the  swivels. Four of the Rebel boats were found full of holes the following morning.  The  Margaretta’s crew had only one man wounded. They brought the sloop  Unity  alongside and took some planks to build a barricade fore and aft to  defend themselves from the small arms fire. Troops on shore fired at the  Margaretta  continuously as she proceeded downriver at daybreak. The

gunfire carried away the  Margaretta’s boom and gaff.  Mr. Moore anchored near  a sloop and sent his boat to board her and bring her alongside. He took her  boom and gaff and fixed them  to  the  Margaretta.

When  the  sloop  Unity  and  the  schooner  Falmouth Packet  appeared in pursuit,

Mr.  Moore weighed anchor and headed out to sea. As the vessels approached very fast,  Mr. Moore had his stern swivels and small arms fire at them as soon as they came within range.

Unable to escape,  he turned his vessel and fired a broadside with swivels  and small arms and threw some hand grenades at the vessels which got on either side of the  Margaretta. Mr. Moore was shot twice. One ball struck his right

breast,  the other his belly. Captain Robert Avery,  of the  Unity,  was slightly

wounded in the side. One marine was killed and two marines and two seamen

were wounded. The Rebels captured the schooner and took her to Machias. The

Rebels had two killed and four wounded,  one of whom died soon afterward.

Mr. Moore was taken to his cabin and asked why he didn’t strike his colors. Heresponded that he preferred Death before yielding to such a sett of Villains.  He was taken to  Mr. Jones’s house where he died the following afternoon.

O’Brien brought his prisoners to Pownalborough (now Wiscasset,  Alna,

Dresden  and Perkins,  Maine)  jail,  then to Watertown,  Massachusetts. He also

captured 40 or 50 muskets,  an equal number of cutlasses,  and several pistols.

O’Brien outfitted the sloop  Unity  with four guns from the  Margaretta’s hold.  (The guns were salvaged from the wreck of the HM Armed Schooner  Halifax, lost on Sheep Island,  now Halifax Island,  on February 5,  1775.) The  Unity  was renamed the  Machias Liberty and  became part of the Massachusetts navy,  the

first state navy,  which eventually numbered 32 vessels. Under  O’Brien’s

command,  she served for the remainder of the war,  harassing and sinking

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several vessels of the Royal Navy off the New England coast. She was also used

to capture two navy vessels and was scrapped after the war. The Battle

of Machias,  or the  Margaretta  incident,  is credited with being the first naval

engagement of the American War for Independence . 19

June 14,  1775

Newport harbor,  Rhode Island,  Conf.: 3,  41.48534  -71.32278

The  HM  Frigate  Rose captures the sloop  Drummond and four other vessels which are recaptured.

Captain James Wallace’s HM  Frigate  Rose captured Samuel Sowle’s sloop  Drummond on Wednesday,  June 14 ,  1775. She was bound from Tobago,  British  West Indies to Newport,  Rhode Island with a cargo of rum and sugar. The  Roseand the HM  Sloop  Swan detained the  Drummond and four unknown vessels with provisions in Newport Harbor on Friday,  June 16,  1775.  After withdrawing their prize crews,  the  Rose and the  Swan sailed on the morning of June 17.

The townspeople of Newport boarded the five vessels and brought them to the wharves,  where they were unloaded and dismantled. Captain Wallace of the  Rose claimed the owners had agreed to ship provisions to the British.20

June 27,  1775

St. Catherine's Sound,  Georgia,  Conf.: 3,  31.70358  -81.16924

The schooner  Lively is  captured and released.

Royal customs officials seized the schooner  Lively in St. Catherine's Sound on

Tuesday,  June 27,  1775. She was sent to Sunbury,  Georgia where the townspeople captured and released her.21

July 9,  1775

Saybrook Bar,  Lyme,  Connecticut,  Conf.: 3,  41.29949  -72.34296

The  HM Sloop  Kingfisher chases a schooner aground.

Captain Alexander Graeme of the HM Sloop  Kingfisher,  in the sound off the mouth of the  Connecticut River,  sent a barge with two swivels and a number of small arms to chase a schooner on Sunday,  July 9,  1775. The schooner, belonging to Rocky Hill,  Connecticut,  was bound into the Connecticut River with a cargo of sailcloth  when she ran aground on Saybrook Bar.  Her crew threw her cargo overboard and abandoned ship.  The barge’s crew boarded her and attempted to get her afloat. They left her when they could not re-float her.

Seeing the barge,  militiamen gathered at the points on each side of the river.

Both sides exchanged a number of shots. The barge was rowed away from shore in great haste.22

July 9,  1775

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