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Pennsylvania Privateer Brigantine Active |
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| Active | Commander John Craig |
| Armed Brig | 12 December 1780-5 March 1781 |
| Pennsylvania Privateer Brigantine |
| Commissioned/First Date: | 12 December 1780 |
| Out of Service/Cause: | 5 March 1781/captured by HM Frigate Stag |
| Owners: | John Patton and James Craig, both of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 12 December 1780 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | 12 December 1780: 20 [total] |
| Description: |
| Officers: | (1) First Mate Nathan Solly, 12 December 1780-5 March 1781 |
| Cruises: | (1) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to sea, [January] 1781- |
| Prizes: |
| Actions: |
Comments:
Pennsylvania Privateer Brig Active was commissioned on 12 December 1780 under Commander John Craig of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Aboard as First Mate was Nathan Solly of Philadelphia. She was listed as being armed with ten guns and as having a crew of twenty men. Her $20000 bond was signed by Craig and John Patton of Philadelphia.1 It is possible that this Active was the former HM Brig (Lieutenant William Quarme; 14 guns)2 captured by Massachusetts Privateer Ship Pilgrim (Commander Joseph Robinson) off New York in 1780.3
Active presumably sailed soon after, bound from Philadelphia for L’Orient, France.4 Active was captured, probably by HM Frigate Stag (Captain Robert Palliser Cooper, 32 guns)5 before 5 March 1781. She was tried in the Admiralty Court on 5 March (or her crew was committed to prison on that date).6 The High Court of Admiralty records describe Active as an American merchant ship and note that she was a recapture.7
1 NRAR, 218; Emmons, 127, gives her crew as eighteen men.
2 R.C. Brooks e-mail 1/12/2004: “I have an Armed Brig Active purchased 24 Nov 1779 as the Rosebud to whom command was given to an oldtime Lieutenant, William Quarme (rank: 19 Mar 1761). I think this was the one taken off New York in 1780 but that is by memory.” Additional information from Mr. Brooks in e-mail of 22 May 2006.
3 Clowes, IV, 110, confimrs her capture in 1780.
4 HCA 30/277
5 Conclusion from information furnished by R.C. Brooks e-mail 1/12/2004. Stag was probably operating in European waters at that time.
6 Kaminkow, 219
7 HCA 32/261/5/1-11
| Revised 15 September 2008 |
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