| Back to A |
Massachusetts Privateer Schooner America |
| America | (1) Commander Isaac Snow |
| Schooner/Armed Brig | 13 September 1776-16 April 1777 |
| Massachusetts Privateer Schooner | (2) Commander Daniel McNeill |
| Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine | 17 April 1777-
|
| Commissioned/First Date: | 13 September 1776 |
| Out of Service/Cause: |
| Owners: | (1) Aaron Hinckley, James McCobb, Pennington, et al (including John Snow, Joseph Linscott, Elidha Snow, Isaac Snow) most of Cumberland County, Massachusetts [Maine] (2) Thomas Harris & Co. of Boston, Massachusetts; (3) Thomas Harris and David Devens of Boston, Massachusetts; (4) John Thomas, Jonathan Harris, David Devens et al of Boston, Massachusetts; (5) John Larkin et al of Boston, Massachusetts; (6) Thomas Harris et al of Boston, Massachusetts |
| Tonnage: | 98 [120] |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 13 September 1776 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 8/4-pounders 32 pounds 16 pounds Total: 8 cannon/32 pounds Broadside: 4 cannon/16 pounds Swivels: Date Reported: 16 April 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 16/ Total: 16 cannon/ Broadside: 8 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 19 April 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 14/ Total: 14 cannon/ Broadside: 7 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 26 April 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 14/ Total: 14 cannon/ Broadside: 7 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 21 May 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 24 December 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 16/ Total: 16 cannon/ Broadside: 8 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 28 August 1778 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 16/ Total: 16 cannon/ Broadside: 8 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 22 August 1779 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 6/ Total: 6 cannon/ Broadside: 3 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 2 November 1779 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 8/ Total: 8 cannon/ Broadside: 4 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | (1) 13 September 1776: 82 [total]
|
| Description: |
| Officers: | (1) First Lieutenant Benjamin Lemmount, 13 September 1776-; (2) First Lieutenant Isaac Snow, 16 April 1777-; (3) Second Lieutenant John Smith, 16 April 1777-; (4) Master Wilfrid Fisher, 16 April 1777-; (5) Captain of Marines William Preston, 16 April 1777- |
| Cruises: | (1) Boston, Massachusetts to sea with the Continental squadron, 21 May 1777-
|
| Prizes: | (1) Ship [unknown], October 1777 |
| Actions: |
Comments:
Massachusetts Privateer Schooner America was fitting out at Boston as early as 9 September 1776, when the owners petitioned the Massachusetts Council for permission to buy gunpowder from the state.1 The owners of Massachusetts Privateer Schooner America applied for her commission on 13 September 1776 and it was approved the same day. Owners listed on the petition were Aaron Hinckley, James McCobb, and one Pennington; others inclued Isaac, Elisha, and John Snow and Joseph Linscott. Her commander, Isaac Snow,2 was from Harpswell,3 in Cumberland County, in Maine, and probably all the others were too. Benjamin Lemmount was shown as America's lieutenant.4 Her battery was listed as ten guns and her crew as eighty men. America’s $5000 Continental bond was signed by Snow and by James Leach of Cape Elizabeth and Ebenezer Prout of Scarborough.5 The commission was issued on 14 September following the posting of the bond.6
America was still in Boston on 16 April 1777 when a new commission was sought, naming Daniel McNeill as commander. Isaac Snow was now her lieutenant,7 from Hardswell,8 in Cumberland County, in Maine.9 The other officers were Second Lieutenant John Smith, Master Wilfred Fisher, and Captain of Marines William Preston. The petition was granted the same day.10 America was listed as having sixteen guns, sixteen swivel guns, and a crew of eighty men. Her $5000 Continental bond was signed the next day by McNeill and by Thomas Harris and Samuel Thompson of Boston, Massachusetts. Her owners were listed as Thomas Harris & Co. of Boston.11
On 19 April 1777 America's owners proposed that the schooner sail with the Continental frigates. According to the attached list she had fourteen guns.12 The Massachusetts General Court accepted the offer on 26 April 1777. According to the list attached there America had fourteen guns and 100 men.13 On 6 May 1777 her owners received some small arms and other supplies from the state.14 She sailed with the frigates and eight other privateers on 21 May 1777. According to the list attached there America had ten guns.15 America helped chase a vessel off Portsmouth, New Hampshire on 24 May, but she turned out to be an American.16
Sometime before 11 December 1777 a prize ship arrived at a port in Maine. She had been captured by a small privateer sailing out of Boston, Massachusetts. She was reported to be 600 tons, and proceeding from Jamaica, British West Indies to London, England with a cargo of rum, sugar, coffee, fustic, and allspice.17 This is likely to be the ship with rum, sugar, wine and logwood that was captured by the Massachusetts Privateer Schooner America (Commander Daniel McNeill) in October 1777.18
Before sailing with the two Continental frigates in May 1777, the owners of the privateers agreed to share prize money during the twenty-five day term of the cruise. When this was not done, the owners and commanders of the Massachusetts Privateer Schooners Active and Speedwell, in September 1777, petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to enforce the terms of the contract signed when the privateers sailed with the Continental fleet of Captain John Manley. This stipulated that, for a period of twenty-five days, all prizes would be equally shared, even if the vessels had separated from the fleet. Some owners with prizes were not forthcoming with their shares. On 3 October 1777 the Massachusetts General Court referred the matter to a committee, which reported favorably, and the Massachusetts Council ordered the bonds of the offending owners prosecuted on 18 October.19 America was among the privateers whose bonds would thus be prosecuted.20
On 15 December Thomas Harris, an agent and owner of the brigantine America and NcNeill, her commander, requested the Massachusetts House of Representatives to appoint a committee to settle this matter, without going to the courts. The House of Representatives referred this to the committee that made the original agreement. On 13 January 1778 the House of Representatives asked the courts to suspend action in the case to allow the various parties to work out a settlement.21
Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine America was again commissioned on 24 December 1777 under Commander John Allen Hallet of Boston, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with sixteen guns and as having a crew of eighty men. Her $10000 Continental bond and £500 Massachusetts bond were signed by Hallet and by Thomas Harris and David Devens of Boston. Harris and Devens were listed as owners.22
America was at sea under Hallet in March 1778. On 30 March she was off the entrance to the harbor of St. Pierre, Martinique and spoke with the Massachusetts Navy Brigantine Tyrannicide (Captain Jonathan Haraden). Hallet reported he had not taken any prizes during the current cruise.23
America was re-commissioned on 28 August 1778 under Commander Nicholas Bartlett, Jr., of Boston, Massachusetts. She was listed as having a battery of sixteen guns and fourteen swivel guns and as having a crew of eighty men. America was noted as measuring 120 tons. Her $10000 Continental and £4000 Massachusetts bond were signed by Bartlett and by Thomas and Jonathan Harris of Boston. The owners were listed as John Thomas, Jonathan Harris, David Devens and others of Boston.24
On 22 August 1779 America was re-commissioned under Commander Daniel McNeill of Boston. Her battery was now listed as six guns and her crew as eighteen men. Her $5000 Continental bond and her £4000 Massachusetts bond were signed by McNeill and by John Larkin and Thomas Harris of Boston. Her owners were listed as John Larkin and others of Boston.25
America’s last commission was given on 2 November 1779, to Commander Isaiah Simmons of Boston. She was now listed as being armed with eight guns and as having a crew of twenty-five men. Her $5000 Continental bond and £4000 Massachusetts bond were signed by Simmons and by Thomas Harris and Jonathan Harris. Thomas Harris and others were listed as her owners.26
__________1 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 70
2 NDAR, 6, 799-800
3 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 70
4 NDAR, 6, 799-800
5 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 70
6 NDAR, 6, 817-818
7 NDAR, “Petition of Thomas Harris & Co. to the Massachusetts Council,” VIII, 350-351
8 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 70
9 NDAR, 6, 799-800
10 NDAR, “Petition of Thomas Harris & Co. to the Massachusetts Council,” VIII, 350-351
11 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 70
12 NDAR, “Owners of Massachusetts Privateers to the Massachusetts General Court,” VIII, 375-376
13 NDAR, “Acts and Resolves of the Massachusetts General Court,” VIII, 434-436
14 NDAR, “Journal of the Massachusetts Council,” VIII, 918-919
15 NDAR, “Journal of Captain Hector McNeill,” VIII, 1006-1007
16 NDAR, “Journal of Captain Hector McNeill,” VIII, 1023-1024
17 NDAR, “The Independent Chronicle (Boston), Thursday, December 11, 1777,” X, 706
18 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 71
19 NDAR, “Petition of Mungo Mackay and Others to the Massachusetts General Court,” X, 200-201 and 202 note
20 NDAR, “Petition of Mungo Mackay and Others to the Massachusetts General Court,” X, 200-201 and 202 note; “Journal of the Massachusetts House of Representatives,” X, 738 and note
21 NDAR, “Journal of the Massachusetts House of Representatives,” X, 738 and note. America is called a brigantine in the text, a schooner in the note.
22 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 71
23 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Navy Brigantine Tyranncide, Captain Jonathan Haraden,” XI, 838 and notes
24 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 71
25 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 71
26 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 72