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Massachusetts Privateer Sloop America |
| America | (1) Commander Thomas Nicholson |
| Armed Sloop | 6 September 1776- |
| Massachusetts Privateer Sloop | (2) Commander William Coit
|
| Commissioned/First Date: | 6 September 1776 |
| Out of Service/Cause: | [6 September 1781]/captured by unknown British forces |
| Owners: | Ephraim Spooner and William Watson of Plymouth, Massachusetts |
| Tonnage: | 70 |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 6 September 1776 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels: twelve Date Reported: 20 September 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 12/ Total: 12 cannon/ Broadside: 6 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | (1) 6 September 1776: 71 [total]
|
| Description: |
| Officers: | (1) First Lieutenant Consider Howland, 22 September 1777-; (2) Second Lieutenant Copley, 22 September 1777- |
| Cruises: | (1) Plymouth, Massachusetts to sea and return (?), 13 September 1776-[1 November] 1776
|
| Prizes: | (1) Ship Adventure (Richard Chapman), 22 September 1776
|
| Actions: | (1) Action with British, 6 September 1781 |
Comments:
Massachusetts Privateer Sloop America was commissioned on 6 September 1776 under Commander Thomas Nicolson1 [Nicholson]2 of Plymouth, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with ten guns and twelve swivel guns and as having a crew of seventy men. Her $5000 Continental bond was signed by Nicolson and by James Warren of Plymouth and John Avery, Jr. of Boston, Massachusetts. Her owners were listed as Ephraim Spooner and William Watson, both of Plymouth.3
America sailed from Plymouth,4 on 15 September 1776.5 She took the 225-ton6 ship Adventure (Richard Chapman) on 22 September.7 Adventure had a cargo of rum, sugar, wine, molasses,8 logwood and mahogany.9 She was ordered into New London, and made Stonington, Connecticut on 8 October 1776.10 The prize was condemned in New London on 11 November 1776 and sold for £8974.5.9.11 The prize master reported that America was in chase of another sail when he parted from her.12 This may have been the ship Betsey, captured with the assistance of Massachusetts Privateer Schooner General Putnam. The two privateers were disputing the capture in court by 4 November 1776.13
America was at sea again by 12 December 1776.14 Soon after she sailed the British Victualler Transport Brig15 Generous Friends (Hill) was captured, with provisions for the British Army at New York.16 Generous Friends was sent into Portsmouth, New Hampshire, arriving on 17 January 1777.17 Another prize, the 200-ton ship True Love (Moulton), was libeled on 3 April 1777, and was tried on 22 April.18
Ephraim Spooner and William Watson petitioned for a another commission for America on 20 September 1777 and it was granted on 22 September. America measured 70 tons and was armed with twelve guns and had a crew of sixty19 or sixty-seven20 men. Her officers were given as First Lieutenant Consider Howland and Second Lieutenant Copely.21 Her $5000 Continental bond and £500 Massachusetts bond were executed by Coit and by Richard Gridley and Gabriel Johonnot, both of Boston. Her owners were again listed as Spooner and Watson.22
The sloop perhaps looked like a re-visitation of Washington's Fleet: Watson was an ex-Agent, William Coit was an ex-Captain (and also an ex-Captain of the Connecticut Navy), and Consider Howland was an ex-Master (of Continental Army Brigantine Washington). Before Howland could go privateering he had to be exchanged: he was still on parole, having been released from prison in early 1777. The Commissary of Prisoners was asked to forward his exchange on 16 September.23
In early 1778 Coit was in the West Indies. A British intelligence report dated at St. Vincents, British West Indies, on 24 February 1778, notes that the America was at St. Pierre, Martinique, French West Indies, on 13 February. She is described here as a “large hermophrodite brig” and her skipper as “Coit or Moit.”24 America later captured a British brig, with a cargo of provisions and bound from Ireland; and a ship bound from Bristol, both being sent into Martinique.25 Coit was wounded and taken prisoner on 6 September 1781.26
__________1 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 70
2 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 222
3 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 70
4 NDAR, 6, 1215-1216 and 1216 note
5 NDAR, 6, 1217-1218
6 NDAR, 6, 1217-1218
7 NDAR, 6, 1100-1101
8 NDAR, 6, 1100-1101
9 NDAR, 6, 1217-1218
10 NDAR, 6, 1215-1216 and 1216 note
11 NDAR, 6, 1100-1101
12 NDAR, 6, 1217-1218
13 NDAR, 7, 33
14 NDAR, 7, 456 and note
15 NDAR, 7, 809
16 NDAR, “Letter from Portsmouth,” VIII, 520
17 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 222
18 NDAR, “Libels Filed Against Six Prizes in the Massachusetts Admiralty Court,” VIII, 262
19 NDAR, “Petition of William Coit for a Commission for Massachusetts Privateer Sloop America,” IX, 944 and note
20 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 70-71
21 NDAR, “Petition of William Coit for a Commission for Massachusetts Privateer Sloop America,” IX, 944 and note
22 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 70-71
23 NDAR, “Order of the Massachusetts Council,” IX, 933-934 and 934 note
24 NDAR, “Memorandum of American Privateers in Martinique & The Conduct of the French towards the Americans,” XI, 423-424 and 424 notes. In this volume this vessel is consistently identified as a Connecticut privateer.
25 Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During The Revolution, II, 49; The Providence Gazette; And Country Journal, Saturday, March 21, 1778
26 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 65