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South Carolina Privateer Sloop Active |
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| Active | Commander John Osborne |
| Armed Sloop | [March] 1777-2 May 1777 |
| South Carolina Privateer Sloop |
| Commissioned/First Date: | [March] 1777- |
| Out of Service/Cause: | 2 May 1777/mutiny by crew, defection to England |
| Owners: | John Lewis Gervais of Charlestown, South Carolina |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 27 May 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 2/6-pounder 12 pounds 6 pounds Total: 6 cannon/26 pounds Broadside: 3 cannon/13 pounds Swivels: |
| Crew: | 27 May 1777: 15 [total] |
| Description: | Bermuda built sloop |
| Officers: | (1) First Mate Joseph Price, -2 May 1777; (2) Second Mate Joseph Ring, -27 May 1777 |
| Cruises: | (1) Charlestown, South Carolina to Liverpool, England, 21 April 1777-27 May 1777 |
| Prizes: |
| Actions: |
Comments:
South Carolina Privateer Sloop Active (John Osborne)1 was in service by early 1777. She was described as a Bermuda-built vessel,2 armed with six guns and four swivel guns.3 She was owned by John Lewis Gervais of Charlestown, South Carolina.4
Active sailed from Charleston on 21 April 1777 with three brigs (Bell-Savage)5 and a ship, bound for France, carrying a cargo of rice, tobacco, and indigo. She was manned with a scratch crew of fifteen men (including two Dutch, five Spaniards, and three English). In addition, the Second Mate, Joseph Ring, was English. On 2 May 1777 Ring and the three English sailors, assisted by the two Dutchmen, rose and took control of the sloop. The mutineers headed for England, but stopped long enough to put Commander John Osborne and First Mate Joseph Price on a pilot boat at Kinsale, Ireland. On 27 May Active arrived in Liverpool. The seven prisoners were ordered sent to Old Mill Prison on 31 May.6 The sloop was condemned in Admiralty Court and the six mutineers were paid two thirds of the King's share as a reward and encouragement.7
This sloop is in the High Court of Admiralty records where she is described as a merchant vessel with a letter-of-marque, and dated 1777-1778.8
1 Coker, Charleston’s Maritime Heritage, 300. Coker spells the name of the commander as Osborn.
2 NDAR, "Captain James Rowley, R.N., to Philip Stephens," IX, 403-404
3 Chesnutt, David R. (Ed.), The Papers of Henry Laurens: Jan. 5, 1776-Nov. 1, 1777, vol. 11, Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press, 1988, 314n-315n
4 Chestnutt, Henry Laurens, Laurens to Sandilands, 22 March 1777, 314-315
5 NDAR, "Captain James Rowley, R.N., to Philip Stephens," IX, 403-404
6 NDAR, "Captain James Worth, R.N., to Philip Stephens," VIII, 869-870; "Philip Stephens to Vice Admiral Molyneux Shuldham, Plymouth," IX, 371-372
7 NDAR, "London Packet, or, New Lloyd's Evening Post, Friday, June 13, to Monday, June 16, 1777," IX, 403
8 HCA 32/260/14/1-131
| Revised 12 November 2008 |
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