Black Joke	Commander Robert Polk
Armed Sloop	21 June 1777-[September] 1777
Maryland Privateer Sloop

Commissioned/First Date:	21 June 1777
Out of Service/Cause:

Owners:

Samuel Purviance, William Lux, [Mordecai Gist], et al of Baltimore, Maryland]

Tonnage:

Battery:

Date Reported: 21 June 1777 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels: two

Crew:

21 June 1777: 26 [total]

Description:

Officers:

Cruises:

1) Baltimore, Maryland to Martinique, French West Indies (2) Martinique, French West Indies to Sand Shoal Inlet, Maryland, -[25 October] 1777

Prizes:

Actions:

Comments:

Maryland Privateer Sloop Black Joke was commissioned on 21 June 1777 under Commander Robert Polk¹ of Baltimore, Maryland.² She was listed as having a battery of ten guns and two swivel guns, and a crew of twenty-five men. Her owners are given as Samuel Purviance, William Lux, and others of Baltimore County.³ Her $5000 bond was signed by Polk and John Davidson of Annapolis, Maryland.⁴

Black Joke was at sea on a passage to Martinique, French West Indies, in [July-August] 1777. She was spoken at sea by an unknown vessel.⁵ While in Martinique Polk died. The Black Joke returned to Sand Shoal Inlet on the Eastern Shore of Maryland between 18 October 1777 and 2 November 1777.⁶

__________

¹ Archives of Maryland: Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, January 1-March 20, 1777, 16:297

² NRAR, 239; see also NDAR, “List of Bonds given on issuing Commissions for Privateers in the State of Maryland, delivered into the Office,” X, 703-704

³ Archives of Maryland: Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, January 1-March 20, 1777, 16:297

⁴ NRAR, 239; see also NDAR, “List of Bonds given on issuing Commissions for Privateers in the State of Maryland, delivered into the Office,” X, 703-704

⁵ NDAR, “John McLure to Colonel Mordecai Gist,” X, 208

⁶ NDAR, “John McLure to Colonel Mordecai Gist,” X, 378-379 and 379 note