Astrea	Commander John Derby
Armed Ship	19 December 1782-
Massachusetts Privateer Ship

Commissioned/First Date:	19 December 1782
Out of Service/Cause:

Owners:

Elias Hasket Derby of Salem, Massachusetts

Tonnage:

360 [modern estimate]

Battery:

Date Reported: 19 December 1782 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 20/ Total: 20 cannon/ Broadside: 10 cannon/ Swivels:

Crew:

19 December 1782: 51 [total]

Description:

[modern reconstruction: length on the deck 99', length on the keel 85', 29' beam, depth in the hold 12']

Officers:

Cruises:

(1) Salem, Massachusetts to Paimboeuf, France, [25] December 1782-[February] 1782 (2) Paimboeuf, France to Salem, Massachusetts, 12 March 1783-4 April 1783

Prizes:

(1) Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Speedwell (Commander John Ingersoll), January 1783, off Halifax, Nova Scotia

Actions:

Possible/Probable Flags:

Comments:

	A portrait of Elias Hasket Derby by John Frotheringham, dated between 1800 and 1825. Note the ship in full sail through the window. According to Millar, Early American Ships, this is either the Astrea or the Grand Turk.

Massachusetts Privateer Ship Astrea was commissioned on 19 December 1782 under Commander John Derby of Salem, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with twenty guns and as having a crew of fifty men. Her $20000 bond was executed by Derby, owner Elias Hasket Derby of Salem, and Williazm Colman, also of Salem.¹

A modern reconstruction of this ship gives her a length on the deck of 99', a length on the keel of 85', a beam of 29', with a depth in the hold of 12', and measuring 360 tons.²

On 5 December 1782 the Astrea’s owners advertised for freight and passengers on the brig. She was sailing for France in December, and was stated to have twenty guns and fifty men.³

Astrea was at sea very soon after her commission bound for France. About the first of January 1783 she was off Halifax, Nova Scotia. Astrea fell in with and recaptured⁴ the 80-ton⁵ Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Speedwell (Commander Jonathan Ingersoll). Speedwell had been captured while en route home from the West Indies and sent to Halifax. The prize arrived at  Salem on 26 January 1783.⁶ Speedwell was libeled on 20 March 1783 in the Massachusetts Maritime Court of the Middle District, with her trial set for 25 March.⁷  Not waiting on the court, the owners of the Astrea advertised the sale of the Speedwell, to take place at various dates in mid-February 1783.⁸

Reconstructed hull of the Astrea	Reconstructed lines of the Astrea, both from Millar, Early American Ships

Detail from the painting above.

Meanwhile, Astrea had arrived in France. Derby took lodgings in Nantes. As the time for returning home drew near the Loire River flooded, inundating Nantes. The streets were flooded and the people used boats to pass to and fro. Derby was picked up from the staircase of his lodgings to return to his ship at Paimboeuf.⁹

Astrea arrived at Salem, in 22 days from France, on 4 April 1783,¹⁰ having sailed from Paimboeuf on 12 March 1783.¹¹ Astrea brought with her a printed copy of the proclamation of the cessation of hostilities by the American Commissioners in France.

Following the war Astrea was involved in the China trade, making several trips to the Far East. She was sold at Calcutta about 1793.¹²

	It was the custom of the earlier traders to China to have sets of porcelain made, showing the vessels they sailed in, among other subjects. Captain James Magee had sets made on 1789 in Canton, China. A surviving set is in the Boston Marine Society. Millar, Early American Ships, prints this drawing made from the set. Note the flag with the light colored canton.

¹ NRAR, 230. Also listed in Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 76.

² Millar, John F., Early American Ships, 53

³ The Salem Gazette, Thursday, December 12, 1782; The Continental Journal [Boston], Thursday, December 5, 1783

⁴ The Salem Gazette, Thursday, January 30, 1783

⁵ The Independent Chronicle, and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, March 20, 1783

⁶ The Salem Gazette, Thursday, January 30, 1783

⁷ The Independent Chronicle, and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, March 20, 1783

⁸ The Boston Evening-Post and the General Advertiser, Saturday, February 1, 1783: 6 February; The Salem Gazette, Thursday, February 6, 1783: 12 February; The Independent Ledger and the American Advertiser [Boston], Monday, February 10, 1783: 13 February

⁹ The Independent Ledger and the American Advertiser [Boston], Monday, April 14, 1783

¹⁰ The Independent Chronicle, and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Monday, April 10, 1783

¹¹ The Independent Chronicle, and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Monday, April 17, 1783; The Independent Ledger and the American Advertiser [Boston], Monday, April 10, 1783, datelined Salem

¹² Millar, John F., Early American Ships, 53

Revised 7 May 2010