Alice	Commander John Porter
Armed Sloop	1 March 1777-1 May 1777
South Carolina Privateer Sloop

Commissioned/First Date:	1 March 1777
Out of Service/Cause:	30 April 1777/captured by HMS Foudroyant

Owners:

Thomas Savage, Blake, Russell, Greenwood & Company of Charleston, South Carolina

Tonnage:

Battery:

Date Reported: Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside Total: Broadside: Swivels:

Crew:

Description:

Bermuda-built sloop, very fast

Officers:

Cruises:

(1) Charleston, South Carolina to sea, 1 March 1777-30 April 1777

Prizes:

Actions:

Comments:

South Carolina Privateer Sloop Alice (Commander John Porter)¹ was a Bermuda-built sloop, noted as a fast sailer.² She sailed from Charleston on 1 March 1777,³ bound for Nantes, France with a cargo of rice and indigo.⁴ On 28 April 1777, Alice sighted another privateer brig at 1200, but did not speak the other vessel.⁵ Two days later (30 April) she was twenty-four miles from the mouth of the Loire, off Belle-Île, France, when HMS Foudroyant (Captain John Jervis) was encountered.⁶ As Foudroyant closed in, Porter threw overboard his papers, commission, and his guns in an effort to escape. The British captured Alice, but treated Porter as a merchant skipper.⁷ The sloop was taken into Plymouth, arriving on 4 May 1777.⁸ Porter soon escaped and was at St. Malo on 6 June 1777.⁹ From there he worked himself back to Charleston, arriving there before 11 September 1777. Porter spoke well of his treatment by Jervis.¹⁰

The High Court of Admiralty records for this case describe Alice as an American merchant vessel.¹¹

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¹ Coker, Charleston’s Maritime Heritage, 300

² NDAR, "Captain John Jervis, R.N., to Philip Stephens," VIII, 807

³ NDAR, "John Porter to Benjamin Franklin," IX, 381-382; "Narrative of Captain John Porter, Late Master of the Sloop Alice," IX, 390-391

⁴ NDAR, "Captain John Jervis, R.N., to Philip Stephens," VIII, 807; "Extract of a Letter from Plymouth, May 4," VIII, 816

⁵ NDAR, "Captain John Jervis, R.N., to Philip Stephens," VIII, 807

⁶ NDAR, "Captain John Jervis, R.N., to Philip Stephens," VIII, 807

⁷ NDAR, "John Porter to Benjamin Franklin," IX, 381-382; "Narrative of Captain John Porter, Late Master of the Sloop Alice," IX, 390-391

⁸ NDAR, "Extract of a Letter from Plymouth, May 4," VIII, 816

⁹ NDAR, "John Porter to Benjamin Franklin," IX, 381-382; "Narrative of Captain John Porter, Late Master of the Sloop Alice," IX, 390-391

¹⁰ The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Wednesday, October 29, 1777, datelined Charlestown, September 11, 1777

¹¹ HCA 32/266/10/1-13