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Connecticut Privateer Schooner Black Snake |
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| Black Snake | Commander James Phillips |
| Schooner | 12 August 1779- |
| Connecticut Privateer Schooner |
| Commissioned/First Date: | 12 August 1779 |
| Out of Service/Cause: |
| Owners: | Abiel Smith & Co. |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 12 August 1779 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 8/ Total: 8 cannon/ Broadside: 4 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | 12 August 1779: 51 [total] |
| Description: | Long, low, and black. |
| Officers: |
| Cruises: |
| Prizes: | (1) Schooner Eleaner [Eleanor], [August] 1779, with Massachusetts Privateer Resolution
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| Actions: |
Comments:
Connecticut Privateer Schooner Black Snake was commissioned on 12 August 1779 under Commander James Phillips of Taunton, Massachusetts. She was listed as having a battery of eight guns and a crew of fifty men. Her $5000 bond was signed by Phillips, Isaac Freeborn of Taunton, Ebenezer Backus, Jr. of Norwich, Connecticut.1
Like many other privateers, Black Snake operated out of Bedford in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, following her commission. She was described as a “long, low, black schooner, owned in Connecticut, and mounting eight carriage-guns.”2 Black Snake operated successfully in the late summer of 1779, as is evidenced by the following libels. On 16 September 1779 the 80-ton schooner Eleaner [probably Eleanor] (Nathaniel Goodwin) and a 50-ton schooner were libeled, which were taken with the assistance of the Massachusetts Privateer Schooner Resolution (Commander Levi Doane). Trial was set for 6 October 1779 in the Massachusetts Maritime Court of the Middle District.3 On 1 November 1779 the 100-ton brigantine Richard (William Johnson) was libeled, also apparently captured with the Resolution. Trial was now set for 7 December 1779.4
On 18 November 1779, the Richard was libeled again, with an un-named schooner of 70 tons, and an un-named 50-ton sloop. Trial was set for 7 December 1779.5 Finally, on 25 November 1779 Phillips libeled a 50-ton sloop in the Massachusetts Maritime Court of the Middle District. She had been captured with the assistance of the Massachusetts Privateer Resolution (Commander Levi Doane). Doane joined Phillips in the libel. Trial was set for 8 December 1779.6
1 NRAR, 240
2 Hurd, Duane Hamilton, History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, J.W, Lewis & Co.: Philadelphia, 1883, p. 65
3 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, September 16, 1779 and Thursday, September 23, 1779. Through an error of the newspaper, or of the clerk who prepared the list for publication, Resolution is mistakenly listed as a prize of the Black Snake.
4 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, November 1, 1779. The mistake mentioned in the above note is repeated.
5 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, November 18, 1779
6 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, November 25, 1779
| Posted 5 February 2009 |
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