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Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Active |
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| Active | (1) Commander William Ross |
| Sloop-of-War | 21 May 1782- |
| Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine | (2) [Commander Johnson Briggs]
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| Commissioned/First Date: | 21 May 1782 |
| Out of Service/Cause: | 10 April 1782/sold out of service |
| Owners: | [Jonathan Lambert and Jacob Ashton of Salem, Massachusetts] |
| Tonnage: | 110 |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 21 May 1782 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 11/ Total: 11 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: December 1782 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 14/ Total: 14 cannon/ Broadside: 7 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | (1) 21 May 1782: 51 [total]
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| Description: |
| Officers: |
| Cruises: |
| Prizes: | (1) Ship Ocean (William Richardson), [December] 1782
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| Actions: |
Comments:
Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Active was commissioned on 21 May 1782, out of Salem, Massachusetts, with a $20000 bond. Her commander, William Ross, of Salem, was a bonder, along with Jonathan Lambert and Jacob Ashton of Salem, who may have been the owners. She was listed with a battery of eleven guns and a crew of fifty men.1 Ross was a veteran commander of privateers, this being his fourth command.2
In 1782 Commander Johnson Briggs of Salem commanded a Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Active, a brigantine of fourteen guns with a crew of sixty men, which is probably the same vessel as Ross’s command. This Active was mentioned in the Salem Gazette of 5 and 19 December 1782 and the Boston Gazette of 16 December 1782.3
Briggs libeled two vessels in the Massachusetts Maritime Court of the Middle District on 23 December 1782: the 140-ton ship Ocean (William Richardson) and the 100-ton brigantine Brotherson (Richard Robinson). Trial was set for 7 January 1783 in Boston.4 Brotherson was advertised for sale on 19 December 1782, with the sale to be held 26 December. She was said to be 180 tons and American built.5
Probably this brig is the one advertised for sale, set for 15 April 1783. Active is described as 110 tons, bay built, one year old. She was to be sold with all her equipment.6
1 NRAR, 219; Emmons, 127
2 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 265
3 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 66
4 The Boston Gazette and the Country Journal, Monday, December 23, 1782; repeated December 30, 1782
5 The Salem Gazette, Thursday, December 19, 1782
6 The Independent Chronicle, and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, April 10, 1783
| Revised 14 September 2008 |
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