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Rhode Island Privateer Schooner Black Snake |
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| Black Snake | (1) Commander Isaac Carr |
| Schooner [Armed Brig] | 13 October 1779- |
| Rhode Island Privateer Schooner [Brig] | ] (2) Commander Job Pierce
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| Commissioned/First Date: | 13 October 1779 |
| Out of Service/Cause: | 15 April 1780/driven ashore and captured by HM Frigate Galatea |
| Owners: | (1) Jacob Greene; (2) Jacob Greene et al |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 15 April 1780 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 8/ Total: 8 cannon/ Broadside: 4 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | 15 April 1780: 52 [total] |
| Description: |
| Officers: |
| Cruises: |
| Prizes: | (1) Schooner [unknown], June 1779, with Rhode Island Privateer Boat General Gates |
| Actions: |
Comments:
Rhode Island Privateer Schooner [Brig] Black Snake was commissioned on 13 October 1779 under Commander Isaac Carr. Her owner was listed as Jacob Greene. A month later, on 13 November 1779, she was re-commissioned under Commander Job Pierce. Her owners were now listed as Jacob Greene et al.1
It is evident that Black Snake was at sea before the date of Carr’s commission. On 7 July 1779 it was reported that the schooner Black Snake had captured, with the Rhode Island Privateer Boat General Gates (Commander Elisha Warren), a schooner from Jamaica to New York with rum and brought her into a safe port.2
On 28 October 1779, schooner Black Snake was going up to Rhode Island. She was taken for an enemy by a privateer from Boston3 (or New Haven)4 and was boarded. Two men were wounded, one mortally, in this confusion.5
It is possible that this Black Snake is the same vessel as the one in the following incidents, but this is not certain.
The Rhode Island Privateer Brig Black Snake6 (Commander Cornelius French)7 sailed from Rhode Island with the Rhode Island Privateer Brig Rattlesnake and two sloops. They steered down toward the sea lanes off New York. Neither brig had good luck. On 15 April 1780 Black Snake, said to be armed with eight guns and manned with a crew of fifty-two, ran into HM Frigate Galatea (Captain James Reid). Galatea drove her ashore a half-mile from Sandy Hook lighthouse.8 The crew was captured and sent up to New York.9 It appeared the Black Snake could be refloated.10 Within a few days she was refloated and moved to Sandy Hook.
The second brig was driven ashore at Deal Beach, twelve miles south of Sandy Hook, by HM Sloop Vulture (Commander Sutherland).11 Other sources give credit for her being driven ashore to HM Sloop Delight (Commander John Inglis [2nd]), and note that she seemed likely to be lost.12 Another report on this incident indicates that the brig Rattlesnake was sailing out of Boston and was run ashore at Squan Beach by a British frigate from New York. When the Rattlesnake struck ground the crew threw her guns overboard. Thirty-three of her crew elected to try an escape by swimming ashore but were unfortunately all drowned. Meanwhile the tide rose, coupled with an on shore wind, which lifted the Rattlesnake, driving her inside the bar. The British boats were coming in but all the crew, except one man, got ashore before they arrived. The British boarding party plundered and burned the Rattlesnake.13
On 18 April Captain William Marriner left Amboy, New Jersey in a whaleboat with a crew of nine men. About 0400 on 20 April Marriner approached the captured Black Snake, which was anchored at Sandy Hook, within hailing distance of the British warship Volcano. Marriner and his men boarded and carried the privateer, discovering twenty prisoners aboard. Marriner quietly weighed anchor and stood out to sea. Around 0500 the Black Snake encountered the British privateer schooner Morning Star (Robert Campbell), out of New York. Morning Star was armed with four swivel guns and two cohorns and had a crew of thirty-three aboard. Marriner instantly ran aboard the British schooner and boarded her. An “obstinate” fight followed on Morning Star’s deck before she was carried. Three British sailors were killed, including Campbell, and five wounded. Both Black Snake and Morning Star were taken into Egg Harbor, New Jersey. Fifty-two prisoners were sent off to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.14 The British report merely noted that, on 20 April, several American privateers re-captured the Black Snake off Sandy Hook, along with a pilot boat.15
Marriner libeled both vessels on 28 April in the New Jersey courts. Trial was set for 8 June 1781.16
1 Sheffield, An Address Delivered by William P. Sheffield before the Rhode Island Historical Society, 61
2 The Independent Ledger, and the American Advertiser [Boston], July 7, 1779
3 The Providence Gazette; And Country Journal, Saturday, October 30, 1779
4 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Wednesday, November 10, 1779
5 The Providence Gazette; And Country Journal, Saturday, October 30, 1779
6 The Massachusetts Spy: Or, American Oracle of Liberty [Boston], Friday, May 5, 1780, datelined New York, April 18, 1780
7 The New-Jersey Gazette [Burlington], Wednesday, May 3, 1780, datelined Trenton, May 3
8 The Massachusetts Spy: Or, American Oracle of Liberty [Boston], Friday, May 5, 1780, datelined New York, April 18, 1780. Other sources indicate that HM Sloop Delight (Commander Inglis) drove her ashore. The American Journal And General Advertiser [Providence], Wednesday, May 10, 1780, datelined New York, April 25, 1780
9 The American Journal And General Advertiser [Providence], Wednesday, May 10, 1780, datelined New York, April 25, 1780
10 The Massachusetts Spy: Or, American Oracle of Liberty [Boston], Friday, May 5, 1780, datelined New York, April 18, 1780
11 The Massachusetts Spy: Or, American Oracle of Liberty [Boston], Friday, May 5, 1780, datelined New York, April 18, 1780
12 The American Journal And General Advertiser [Providence], Wednesday, May 10, 1780, datelined New York, April 25, 1780
13 The New-Jersey Gazette [Burlington], Wednesday, April 19, 1780
14 The New-Jersey Gazette [Burlington], Wednesday, May 3, 1780, datelined Trenton, May 3
15 The New-York Gazette; and The Weekly Mercury, Monday, April 24, 1780
16 The New-Jersey Gazette [Burlington], Wednesday, May 3, 1780, datelined Trenton, May 3
| Posted 5 February 2009 |
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