| Back to A |
 |
Massachusetts Privateer Ship Alexander |
|
| Alexander | (1) Thomas Simpson |
| Frigate/Sloop-of-War | 30 September 1780-[31 December] 1781 |
| Massachusetts Privateer Ship | (2) Commander John Foster Williams
|
| Commissioned/First Date: | 5 January 1781 |
| Out of Service/Cause: |
| Owners: | Henry Mitchell et al of Boston, Massachusetts |
| Tonnage: | 200 |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 30 September 1780 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 20/9-pounder 180 pounds 90 pounds Total: 20 cannon/180 pounds Broadside: 10 cannon/90 pounds Swivels: Date Reported: 5 January 1781 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 20/ Total: 20 cannon/ Broadside: 10 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 14 May 1781 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 20/9-pounder 180 pounds 90 pounds Total: 20 cannon/180 pounds Broadside: 10 cannon/90 pounds Swivels: Date Reported: 24 November 1781 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 14/9-pounder 126 pounds 63 pounds Total: 14 cannon/126 pounds Broadside: 7 cannon/63 pounds Swivels: Date Reported: 5 January 1782 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 14/ Total: 14 cannon/ Broadside: 7 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 4 January 1783 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 17/ Total: 17 cannon/ Broadside: 8 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: [15 February] 1783 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 26/9-pounder 234 pounds 117 pounds Total: 26 cannon/234 pounds Broadside: 13 cannon/117 pounds Swivels: |
| Crew: | (1) 30 September 1780: 150 [total]
|
| Description: | Copper bottomed, very fast, 89′ keel “streight rabbit,” 29′6′′ beam, with a 13′ depth in the hold |
| Officers: | (1) First Lieutenant Elijah Hall, November 1780-; (2) Third Lieutenant Benjamin Remick, November 1780-November 1781; (3) Surgeon Ezra Green, November 1780-November 1781 |
| Cruises: | (1) Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Boston, Massachusetts, [December] 1780-[December] 1780
|
| Prizes: | (1) Brigantine Catherine (Frances Trotter), [July] 1781
|
| Actions: | (1) Action with the Bellisarius, [15 February] 1782 |
Comments:
The 200-ton1 Massachusetts Privateer Ship Alexander was built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as a privateer craft, in a local patriotic effort to replace the Continental Navy Ship Ranger.2 It is possible that she was built by the Hacketts. Her dimensions survive, from a newspaper advertisement when she was sold later: “89 feet Keel streight rabbit, 29 and half feet Beam, and 13 feet Hold.” Alexander became famous as a fast vessel.3
A recruiting advertisement for the “new Ship ALEXANDER, Commanded by Thomas Simpson,” appeared on 30 September 1780. According to the advertisement, Alexander mounted twenty 9-pounder cannon and was to have a crew of 150 men. She was intended to be ready for sea by 1 November 1780.4
One Benjamin Remick of Kittery, Maine, enlisted on the Alexander in 1780 as a sailor. According to Remick she mounted fourteen 9-pounders, under a spar deck, and had a crew of 100 men. She sailed on a cruise in 1780 under a “Captain Mitchell,” from the Piscataqua River and returned to that river.5 Unfortunately Remick’s memory is a bit confused as to the sequence of events.
An early edition of the diary of Dr. Ezra Green, who served as the Surgeon aboard the Alexander, contains this biographical note: “In 1780 he sailed on another cruise in the Alexander, Captain Mitchell, 14 guns, but they accomplished nothing. In 1781, the vessel having been fitted up as a letter of marque, under Captain Simpson, he went in her to Fredericksburg, Virginia, and they took thence a load of tobacco to l’Orient in France. He returned in the Alexander to the United States in the autumn of that year, which concluded his revolutionary services.”6
Finally, there is the account by Andrew Sherburne, a young boy from New Hampshire, who served as a sailor on the Alexander on her maiden cruise:
“As the Ranger was built in Portsmouth and had fallen into the hands of the enemy, the patriotic merchants of Portsmouth were anxious to retrieve their loss; they built a beautiful ship, which mounted twenty guns and called her the Alexander, and gave Capt Simpson the command of her; Elijah Hall, Esq. who was first Lieut of the Ranger, was also second in command on board the Alexander; he was a worthy character and much beloved by the officers and crew. A considerable number of the Ranger’s officers and crew occupied the same station on board this ship, they had previously occupied on board the Ranger. Having been invited by Capt Simpson to try my fortune with him again I readily accepted the invitation.” Sherburne then states that she sailed in December 1780.7
As can be seen by the advertisement above, Simpson was Alexander’s commander from the near completion of the ship. The “Captain Mitchell” was likely to be Henry Mitchell of Boston, Massachusetts, the ship’s owner. Mitchell most likely went to Portsmouth to inspect his ship and assist in the completion and manning. The fourteen guns are correct, but for a later stage in her career. The ship did sail in December 1780, but for Boston, not on a cruse.
Simpson was the former Continental Navy Captain Thomas Simpson of Portsmouth, New Hampshire (the former skipper of the Ranger).8 Benjamin Remick was said to be Third Lieutenant.9 Presumably she sailed down to Boston to complete her crew, where a Massachusetts privateer commission was obtained on 5 January 1781.10 Alexander was armed with twenty guns and had a crew of 150 men, according to the petition.11 A bond of $20000 was given by Simpson, John Langdon and Jacob Treadwell, both of Portsmouth.12 Her owners were listed as Henry Mitchell and others of Boston, Massachusetts.13 It is likely that Mitchell sailed down to Boston aboard the Alexander.
Sherburne gives an account of the first cruise: “We sailed from Portsmouth in December 1780, and cruised upwards of three months, but took nothing; we never gave chase to any vessel without coming up with her, but we never met with an enemy. Our cruise was designed for three months, but, as we could get no prize, we prolonged it and our provision failed, so that we came to half allowance before we got in, and we really suffered for water.”14
Alexander was back in Boston in May 1781. A recruiting advertisement appeared in the Portsmouth newspaper on 14 May. According to the advertisement, Alexander was completely fitted out for a three month cruise, mounted twenty 9-pounders, and was to be manned with a crew of 140. She would soon come around to Portsmouth to complete her crew before sailing.15
Alexander now sailed for Fredericksburg, Virginia.16 A cargo of tobacco was taken aboard at Fredericksburg and the Alexander sailed to L’Orient, France.17 Alexander sailed from France bound for Boston.
On the ensuing voyage she captured the 70-ton brigantine Catharine (Frances Trotter) and the 80-ton brigantine Salley (Nicholas Baker). Both were sent into the Piscataqua River, where they arrived about 9 August1781. Both had cargoes of salt and fish aboard. Both brigs were libeled on 10 August and were to be tried on 3 September 1781.18 A few days later the brigantine Jane and Elizabeth (Samuel Geaves, Jr.) came into port. She was also a prize of the Alexander’s. Jane and Elizabeth was libeled on 20 August and was also tried on 3 September.19
Catherine was advertised for sale on 8 September, being listed as 100 tons and English built. Her cargo of salt and fish was to be sold at the same time, with the auction to take place on 13 September.20 Apparently the sale did not go as planned, for she was again advertised on 20 October 1781.21
Alexander returned to the Piscataqua River by 24 November 1781. She was to sail from there to Boston, then to Virginia, then to Amsterdam, and then return to Boston. Remick left the ship before this second voyage.22 A recruiting advertisement appeared in the newspaper on 24 November. Alexander was referred to as a “Remarkable, fast-sailing SHIP, ALEXANDER, Thomas Simpson, Commander, mounting fourteen Carriage Guns, Nine Pounders, Under Cover of a Spar Deck . . .” She was making up her crew to fifty men.23
On 22 December 1781 an advertisement in the Portsmouth papers called on the creditors of the Alexander and the prize Catherine to bring in their accounts for settlement.24
Alexander was at Boston on 2 January 1782, when her owners advertised for freight to be sent on board, as the ship was due to sail soon.25 She was re-commissioned on 5 January, with a reduced crew of sixty men and a battery of fourteen guns. The $20000 bond was guaranteed by Simpson, owner Mitchell, and Thomas Thompson of Boston, Massachusetts (but lately a Captain in the Continental Navy and a former resident of New Hampshire).26
Alexander was still at Boston on 21 January. An advertisement for the sale of some rock salt aboard the ship was placed on that date, with the notation that she was soon to sail for Virginia.27
About May 1782, Alexander was at sea, on her outward passage from Virginia. She met and captured a 200-ton British privateer brig of fourteen guns, with a cargo of salt and dry goods, bound from Liverpool, England to Newfoundland. The prize had safely arrived in port by 1 July 1782.28
Alexander was in L’Orient by June 1782. One of her owners, Henry Mitchell, had sailed with her. Mitchell wished to meet Benjamin Franklin, and persuaded James Moylan to write a letter of introduction for him, dated 8 June.29
On 18 July 1782 an intriguing advertisement appeared in the Philadelphia papers. It advertised the sale of an unfinished hull of a ship building in New Hampshire “by the same builders and the same moulds as the ship Alexander, which was formerly owned by Messrs, Mease & Caldwell and others.” According to the advertisement the hull was “Ninety feet by the keel, thirty feet beam, and thirteen feet hold.”30 The builders of the Alexander were well known enough, and the vessel well known enough, not to be named, it seems.
Alexander sailed from L’Orient on 1 October 178231 and arrived at Boston on 2 November 1782, a very fast passage of thirty-one days.32
On 18 November the Boston papers began running an advertisement for the sale of the Alexander, by auction, on 26 November. Alexander was described as “Copper bottomed . . . 89 feet Keel streight rabbit, 29 and half feet Beam, and 13 feet Hold . . . The fast sailing of the Alexander being so thoroughly ascertained and established, as well as her other good qualities, that it is thought needless to say more, than that she is generally allowed as complete and good a ship as has been built during the war.”33
On 4 January 1783, Alexander was re-commissioned under John Foster Williams, an ex-Massachusetts Navy Captain. Her $20000 bond was given by Williams, Mitchell, and John Coffin Jones of Boston. Alexander’s crew was now listed as fifty men and her battery as seventeen guns.34 It seems from this that Mitchell retained some interest in the ship.
About mid-February 1783, Alexander was sailing in company with Massachusetts Privateer Ship Tartar (Commander John Cathcart). The pair fell in with HM Frigate Bellisarius (Captain Richard Graves) and an action began. Alexander bore away and escaped soon after the fight began. Tartar was forced to surrender after a “severe conflict” of an hour. The British had three killed and four wounded. The loss of the Americans was not reported. According to the British, Tartar was armed with twenty 9-pounders, with her guns in “close quarters,” meaning under cover, and had a crew of fifty men. Alexander was armed with twenty-six 9-pounders.35
1 “Order of the Founders and Patriots of America,” http://www.founderspatriots.org/articles/contenental_navy.htm; accessed 1/1/2009; Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 339
2 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 120
3 The Independent Ledger and the American Advertiser [Boston], Monday, November 18, 1782
4 The New-Hampshire Gazette; or State Journal, and General Advertiser [Portsmouth], Saturday, September 30, 1780
5 Oliver P. Remick, A Record of the Services of the Commissioned Officers and Enlisted Men of Kittery and Eliot, Maine: Who Served their Country On Land and Sea In the American Revolution, from 1775 to 1783, (Boston: A. Mudge & Son, [1901]), 43
6 Prebble, George Henry and Green, Walter C., Diary of Ezra Green, MD: Surgeon on board the Continental Ship of War Ranger under John Paul Jones from November 1, 1777 to September 27, 1777. Born in 1746. Died in 1847, with Historical Notes and a Biography, Boston: 1875, p. 8 Online.
7 Sherburne, Andrew, Memoirs of Andrew Sherburne, A Pensioner of the Navy of the Revolution, Providence: H.M. Brown, 1831, p. 34 Online.
8 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 120
9 Remick, A Record of the Services of the Commissioned Officers . . . of Kittery, 43
10 NRAR, 223
11 NRAR, 223; Emmons, 127
12 NRAR, 223
13 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 69
14 Sherburne, Memoirs, 34
15 The New-Hampshire Gazette; or State Journal, and General Advertiser [Portsmouth], Monday, May 14, 1781
16 Remick, A Record of the Services of the Commissioned Officers . . . of Kittery, 43
17 Remick, A Record of the Services of the Commissioned Officers . . . of Kittery, 43
18 The New-Hampshire Gazette; or State Journal, and General Advertiser [Portsmouth], Monday, August 13, 1781
19 The New-Hampshire Gazette; or State Journal, and General Advertiser [Portsmouth], Monday, August 20, 1781
20 The New-Hampshire Gazette, and General Advertiser [Portsmouth], Saturday, September 8, 1781
21 The New-Hampshire Gazette, and General Advertiser [Portsmouth], Saturday, October 20, 1781
22 Remick, A Record of the Services of the Commissioned Officers . . . of Kittery, 43
23 The New-Hampshire Gazette, and General Advertiser [Portsmouth], Saturday, November 24, 1781
24 The New-Hampshire Gazette, and General Advertiser [Portsmouth], Saturday, December 22, 1781
25 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, January 3, 1782
26 NRAR, 223. Also listed in Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 69
27 The Independent Ledger, and the American Advertiser [Boston], Monday, January 21, 1782
28 The Independent Gazetteer [Philadelphia], Saturday, July 27, 1782
29 The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, online at http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp, accessed 14 April 2010
30 The Pennsylvania Packet or the General Advertiser [Philadelphia], Thursday, July 18, 1782
31 Letter, Samuel Osgood to John Lowell, 20 November 1782, in Smith, Paul H., et al., eds. Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789, 25 volumes, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976-2000), vol 19, 406. Online at http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hlaw:1:./temp/~ammem_uRzw::
32 The Salem Gazette, Thursday, November 7, 1782
33 The Independent Ledger and the American Advertiser [Boston], Monday, November 18, 1782
34 NRAR, 223. Also listed in Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 69
35 The Royal Gazette [New York], Saturday, March 1, 1783
| Revised 9 June 2011 |
|