American Revenue	Commander William Jigger [Jagger]
Armed Sloop	13 September 1779-4 July 1780
Massachusetts Privateer Sloop

Commissioned/First Date:	13 September 1779
Out of Service/Cause:	4 July 1780/driven ashore by HM Frigate Galatea

Owners:

Samuel Broome of Boston, Massachusetts [and Nathaniel Shaw, Jr. & Co.], of New London, Connecticut; Joseph Woolridge of New London, Connecticut

Tonnage:

Battery:

Date Reported: 13 September 1779 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 12/ Total: 12 cannon/ Broadside: 6 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 4 July 1780 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 12/ Total: 12 cannon/ Broadside: 6 cannon/ Swivels:

Crew:

(1) 13 September 1779: 61 [total] (2) 4 July 1780: 52 [total]

Description:

Officers:

Cruises:

Prizes:

(1) Sloop Katy (John Brown), June 1780, with Connecticut Privateer Sloop Experiment

Actions:

(1) Action at Hog Island, South Hempstead, Long Island, 4 July 1780

Comments:

Massachusetts Privateer Sloop American Revenue was commissioned on 13 September 1779 under Commander William Jigger (Jagger or Jaggar) of New London, Connecticut. She was listed as being armed with twelve guns and as having a crew of sixty men. Her $5000 Continental bond and £4000 Massachusetts bond were signed by Jigger (as Jaggar) and by Samuel Broome and Thomas Lamb of Boston, Massachusetts. Her owner was listed as Samuel Broome,¹ although there is reason to think that Nathaniel Shaw of New London, Connecticut was an owner, if not the owner.²

In June 1780 Jigger was sailing in company with the Connecticut Privateer Schooner Experiment (Commander Giles Hall) when the British sloop Katy (John Brown) was captured.³ This vessel, described as a schooner, arrived at New London on 24 June. Her cargo was said to be 500 bushels of salt.⁴

On Independence Day, 1780, the American Revenue was near Hog Island, Heampstead South, Long Island. She was sighted and chased by HM Frigate Galatea, who drove the sloop ashore and bilged on Hog Island. The American crew abandoned ship and some swam ashore with their arms. Others got ashore in the sloop’s boat. The local Loyalist militia gathered, all thirteen of them, and began a six hour skirmish with the escaping crew. The Loyalists captured ten Americans and the boat. Six prisoners captured by the Americans were liberated. One Loyalist was wounded. More Loyalist militia arrived, twenty-six in number, and the remaining forty men of American Revenue were rounded up. They were all sent to New York as prisoners on 6 July. According to the prisoners the sloop had twelve guns and fifty-two men aboard, was commanded by William Jaggar, and was fitted out by Joseph Woolridge.⁵

Jigger secured his release and made a voyage to the West Indies in another sloop. He was knocked overboard on the outbound voyage, about March 1781 and was lost, with another man. The sloop made port under the command of one Palmer.⁶

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¹ Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 73

² Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During The Revolution, II, 53

³ Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During The Revolution, II, 53

⁴ The New-York Gazette; and The Weekly Mercury, Monday, July 31, 1780, datelined New London, June 30, 1780

⁵ The New-York Gazette; and The Weekly Mercury, Monday, July 10, 1780

⁶ The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Wednesday, May 2, 1781, datelined New London, April 27, 1781; Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During The Revolution, II, 53. According to Middlebrook, this sloop was the American Revenue, but it was not.