Beggar’s Benison	Commander Samuel Smallcorn
Schooner	7 June 1777-18 June 1777
Pennsylvania Privateer Schooner

Commissioned/First Date:	7 June 1777
Out of Service/Cause:	18 June 1777/captured by HM Frigate Milford

Owners:

Erskine, Donaldson & Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tonnage:

Battery:

Date Reported: 7 June 1777 Number/Caliber  Weight     Broadside 4/ Total: 4 cannon/ Broadside: 2 cannon/ Swivels:

Crew:

7 June 1777: 18 [total]

Description:

Officers:

Cruises:

(1) Piscataqua River, New Hampshire to sea, [17] June 1777-18 June 1777

Prizes:

Actions:

Comments:

Pennsylvania Privateer Schooner Beggar’s Benison was commissioned on 7 June 1777 under Commander Samuel Smallcorn of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She was listed as having a battery of four guns and a crew of seventeen men. Her $5000 bond was signed by Smallcorn, and George Gains and Jacob Sheafe, Jr., both of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.¹ On 18 June Beggar’s Benison was at sea, about twelve miles southeast of the Isle of Shoals. She had sailed from the Piscataqua River with a cargo of lumber, bound to St. Lucia in the West Indies. Not long after she sailed she was sighted and chased by HM Frigate Ambuscade. While Ambuscade was chasing Beggar’s Benison both vessels were sighted by HM Frigate Milford. Milford cleared for action and steered toward the schooner, running her down at 2030. She was sent to Halifax.²

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¹ NRAR, 233

² NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Milford, Captain William Burnaby,” IX, 133 and note