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Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally |
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| Charming Sally | Commander Francis Brown |
| Armed Sloop | 28 September 1776-16 January 1777 |
| Rhode Island Privateer Sloop |
| Commissioned/First Date: | 28 September 1776 |
| Out of Service/Cause: | 16 January 1777/captured by HMS Nonsuch |
| Owners: | Isaac Sears of New York, New York |
| Tonnage: | 116 |
| Battery: | Date Reported: October 1776 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 6/4-pounder 24 pounds 12 pounds Total: 6 cannon/24 pounds Broadside: 3 cannon/12 pounds Swivels: Date Reported: 16 January 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 24 January 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 22 April 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | (1) October 1776: 54 [total] |
| Description: |
| Officers: | (1) First Lieutenant Anthony Shoemaker, October 1776-16 January 1777; (2) Second Lieutenant William Keayes, October 1776-16 January 1777; (3) Master Phineas Smith, October 1776-16 January 1777 (4) Surgeon Jonathan Haskins, October 1776-16 January 1777 |
| Cruises: | (1) Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts to sea, 27 November 1776-16 January 1777 |
| Prizes: | (1) Schooner Betsey (William Clarke), 6 December 1776
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| Actions: | (1) Fight with a transport ship, 24 December 1776 |
Comments:
Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally was commissioned on 28 September 1776 and 8 October 17761 under Commander Francis Brown2 of New Haven, Connecticut.3 She was noted as 116 tons, with a crew of fifty men and as being armed with six 4-pounders. One Anthony Shoemaker,4 a refugee from Long Island, New York,5 acted as First Lieutenant, William Keayes,6 [Keys], also from Long Island,7 as Second Lieutenant, and Phineas Smith of Salem8 (or New York)9 as Master.10 Dr. Jonathan Haskins11 [Hotchkiss, Hodgcare, Hogeease]12 served as her Surgeon.13 Isaac Sears (of New York, New York) was listed as her owner.14 Although the ownership was Connecticut based, the commission was obtained in Rhode Island.
After fitting out, Brown moved Charming Sally to Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where eleven men were recruited, and then to Martha’s Vineyard, where twelve men were recruited.15 Charming Sally sailed on her cruise from Martha’s Vineyard on 27 November 1777.16 Brown had not told his crew until after he sailed that he intended to cruise in European waters. Some were eager and some were not.
On 6 December 177617 she captured the schooner18 or brigantine19 Betsey (William Clarke),20 bound from Gaspee to Jamaica with a cargo of fish.21 She was a 30 ton vessel,22 which was sent or taken into Beverly, Massachusetts on 16 March 1777.23 Betsey was libeled on 10 April 1777.24 [Perhaps in December 1776 the Charming Sally took a vessel from Gaspee to Jamaica with a cargo of fish. She was ordered into Connecticut, but proved to be leaky and bore away for Martinique, where she was sold on 19 February 1777.25
Charming Sally was at sea on 15 December 1776. At 0500 she sighted, chased and ran down a stranger which proved to be a privateer out from Piscataqua River under Joshua Moore (New Hampshire Privateer Schooner McClary). At 1500 the two cruisers sighted another sail, which was run down and captured by Moore. She was the snow Resolution (Francis Bernard26 [Burnett]),27 out of Newfoundland,28 with a cargo of fish,29 and bound for the West Indies. The skipper, five men and one boy were removed, and a prize crew put aboard.30 Charming Sally got alongside at 1900, only to find Moore in possession. The New Hampshire men declined to allow Brown’s crew any share in the prize.31 Resolution was captured at 34°12'N, 42°W (or 34°20'N, 42°W).32 Three days later the prize was sunk in a storm, but her crew escaped in her boat and was rescued by a passing vessel33 en route to Martinique. They had been in the boat seven days.34
On 24 December the Charming Sally met a transport ship of fourteen or sixteen guns35 “& full of soldiers”36 and engaged her before breaking off the action. The ship chased her but Charming Sally escaped. On New Year’s Day 1777 the privateer sighted a sail to the east and steered for it. A convoy was soon sighted.37
“As we were in a Poor Condition as to Sails we thot most Proper to give Chase to the Single Ship & Came up with her About 2P.M. & Engaged her for the space of 21/2 Glasses; But a Gale of Wind, w i t h Rain & Night coming On, She put About & Stood toward the fleet . But we knowing our Infirmity thot not Proper to Pursue her: But we afterwards found She was the Principle Convoy left Belonging to said fleet.”38
On 9 January 177739 the Charming Sally met and captured40 the 90-ton41 brig Hannah (Henry Bailey). She was bound from Newfoundland to Lisbon, Portugal with a cargo of fish.42 A prize crew of eleven men was put aboard43 under Meiska Dunham44 and she was sent off45 to Boston where she arrived on 12 April 1777.46 Hannah was libeled on 17 April.47
On 10 January Charming Sally met and spoke with another American vessel, the Massachusetts Privateer Ship Boston (Commander William Brown),48 which the British reported as being armed with fourteen guns.49
Charming Sally was at 44°59'N50 (or 49°59'N),51 135 miles north northwest of Cape Finisterre on 16 January 1777. The wind and sea were up. In the night the privateer’s lookouts sighted a large vessel, about 0300, and she was followed until daybreak. At dawn the vessel was seen to be a British battleship of 64 guns, HMS Nonsuch.52 The British sighted the American at 0600 in the northeast and immediately gave chase, even setting their topgallant sails.53 Charming Sally turned and fled, but the weather favored the larger vessel. The privateer was unable to use her oars.54 At 0700 Nonsuch fired a shot at the Charming Sally, and another at 0800. By 0900 Nonsuch was close enough to fire ten more shots. Brown knew the game was up and Charming Sally bore down and surrendered.55 The crew was removed, except Brown, Haskins, and one other man, and the British sent over thirty men as a prize crew under the Nonsuch’s First Mate.56 On 23 January the prize was taken into Plymouth, England.57 Charming Sally was noted as a ten gun vessel, in a report on 22 April 1777.58 Charming Sally was tried and condemned in the High Court of Admiralty in 1777.59 The captain of the Nonsuch, presumably acting for the crew, inserted advertisements for the sale of the prize in English newspapers on 3 February 1777.60
On arrival at Plymouth the crew of the Charming Sally was removed to HMS Queen. From there they were transferred to HMS Blenheim, aboard which they met other American prisoners from privateers recently captured. On 27 May 1777, Brown, the lieutenants, the master, Haskins, the gunner, and three other men were sent ashore to be examined.61
Brown was taken to the Fountain Tavern on 27 May 1777 from where he escaped. The remainder of the crew was sent to Old Mill Prison.62 It was decreed that these men not be allowed to enlist in the Royal Navy to get out of their confinement.63 Within a few days one member of the crew had died.64 Brown managed to get to London. There he met a Dr. Josiah Smith, an American taken in a merchant vessel who was trying to get to France. Smith and Brown wrote, on 4 June, to Franklin, seeking an assignment on an American vessel when they got to France.65 On 19 October 1777 Brown made out a sight draft on Isaac Sears. Silas Deane also advanced him funds.66 Both were put to work there on Continental vessels.
Another member of Charming Sally’s crew died in prison on 4 June. Other members of the crew had been removed to HMS Blenheim.67 On 21 June four of the crew were brought ashore and committed to Mill Prison.68 Almost immediately they fell in with a plan to tunnel out. The digging began on 18 July 1777, the tunnel running underground from the Long Prison. At 2300 on the night of 4 August thirty-two prisoners (including five from the Charming Sally) escaped. More would have gone but the passage was very small. At 1000 the next morning the men were missed. “We were Counted Out, then there was a Most Shocking herangue Some running One way some Another . . .” The British gradually caught most of the escapees over the next week, with the help of a £5 per head reward.69 At times undetermined, master Smith and lieutenant Shoemaker also escaped.70
A list of the crew shows that, of ninety-five men committed to prison on 16 May 1777, seventeen escaped and ten died. Of the remainder most were exchanged over time.71 A list made out by Charles Herbert, another prisoner, indicates fifty-two men were committed, of which six escaped, sixteen joined the British, and five died.72
1 Sheffield, An Address Delivered by William P. Sheffield before the Rhode Island Historical Society, 58, 59
2 NDAR, VI, “Application for Commission for the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” 1472-1473
3 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 36
4 NDAR, VI, “Application for Commission for the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” 1472-1473 gives his name as Shoemaker. In Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 279, one Anthony Shoemaker of Massachusetts is listed as a commander of a privateer captured in May 1777 and imprisoned on HMS Queen. This is most likely the lieutenant of the Charming Sally.
5 Herbert, Charles, A Relic of the Revolution: Containing a Full and Particular Account of the Sufferings and Privations of All the American Prisoners Captured on the High Seas, and Carried Into Plymouth, England, During the Revolution of 1776; with the Names of the Vessels Taken--the Names and Residence of the several Crews and time of their Commitment the Names of such as died in Prison and such as made their Escape or entered on board English Men of War until the exchange of prisoners March 15. 1779. Also, an Account of the Several Cruises of the Squadron Under the Command of Commodore John Paul Jones, Prizes Taken, Etc., Etc., Charles H. Peirce, Boston: 1847, 247-249
6 NDAR, VI, “Application for Commission for the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” 1472-1473 gives his name as Keayes. In Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 174, it is listed as Keys. He is also reported there as being on the Charming Polly.
7 Herbert, 247-249
8 NDAR, VI, “Application for Commission for the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” 1472-1473 lists only Smith. Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 287, says that one Phineas Smith of Salem commanded a privateer which was captured by the British in May 1777 and was imprisoned on HMS Queen. This is almost certainly the same man as our master.
9 Herbert, 247-249
10 NDAR, VI, “Application for Commission for the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” 1472-1473
11 McManemin, Captains of the Privateers, 10
12 Cohen, Samuel Sheldon, Yankee Sailors in British Gaols: Prisoners of War at Forton and Mill, 1777-1783, University of Delaware Press, 1995, 49. In “Prison Ships, and the ‘Old Mill Prison.’ Plymouth, England, 1777,” Cutler, Rev. Samuel, in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, v. XXXII, David Clapp & Sons: Boston, 1878 [extracts of Samuel Cutler’s Journal] she sailed from Dartmouth on 28 November.
13 McManemin, Captains of the Privateers, 10
14 Sheffield, An Address Delivered by William P. Sheffield before the Rhode Island Historical Society, 58, 59
15 Herbert, 247-249
16 Cohen, Yankee Sailors in British Gaols, 49.
17 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 97. Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 36 gives 6 September 1776 as her date of capture.
18 NDAR, “Libels Filed Against Thirteen Prizes in Massachusetts Admiralty Court for the Middle District,” VIII, 309-310
19 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 36
20 NDAR, “Libels Filed Against Thirteen Prizes in Massachusetts Admiralty Court for the Middle District,” VIII, 309-310; “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528 and 528n4 from a letter of Vice Admiral John Amherst 24 January 1777.
21 “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528 and 528n4 from a letter of Vice Admiral John Amherst 24 January 1777.
22 NDAR, “Libels Filed Against Thirteen Prizes in Massachusetts Admiralty Court for the Middle District,” VIII, 309-310
23 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 97. Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 36, says she was sent into Boston.
24 NDAR, “Libels Filed Against Thirteen Prizes in Massachusetts Admiralty Court for the Middle District,” VIII, 309-310
25 NDAR, “Connecticut Journal, Wednesday, February 19, 1777,” VII, 1235 and note
26 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
27 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528 and 528n2 from The Public Advertiser, London, May 22, 1777.
28 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
29 McManemin, Privateers, 10, from Haskins’ Journal
30 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528 and 528n2 from The Public Advertiser, London, May 22, 1777.
31 McManemin, Privateers, 10, from Haskins’ Journal
32 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528 and 528n2 from The Public Advertiser, London, May 22, 1777.
33 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
34 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528 and 528n2 from The Public Advertiser, London, May 22, 1777.
35 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
36 McManemin, Privateers, 10, from Haskins’ Journal
37 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
38 McManemin, Privateers, 10-11, from Haskins’ Journal
39 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528. Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 36, gives the date as 7 February 1777 and refers to the Hannah as a brigantine. Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 97, also calls her a brigantine and dates the capture as 7 January 1777.
40 NDAR, VIII, 339-340 and 340 note, 360-361 and 361 note
41 McManemin, Privateers, 11, from The Independent Chronicle [Boston], April 17, 1777
42 NDAR, VIII, “Boston Gazette, Monday, April 14, 1777,” 339-340 and 340 note, “Continental Journal, Thursday, April 17, 1777,” 360-361 and 361 note
43 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
44 McManemin, Privateers, 11, from Haskins’ Journal
45 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
46 NDAR, VIII, “Boston Gazette, Monday, April 14, 1777,” 339-340 and 340 note, “Continental Journal, Thursday, April 17, 1777,” 360-361 and 361 note
47 McManemin, Privateers, 11, from The Independent Chronicle [Boston], April 17, 1777
48 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
49 “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528 and 528n4 from letter of Vice Admiral John Amherst, 24 January 1777
50 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
51 “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528 and 528n4 from letter of Vice Admiral John Amherst, 24 January 1777
52 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
53 McManemin, Privateers, 11, from the Captain’s Log of the Nonsuch
54 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
55 McManemin, Privateers, 11, from the Captain’s Log of the Nonsuch. See NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528 .
56 McManemin, Privateers, 11, from Haskins’ Journal
57 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins, Surgeon of the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Charming Sally,” VIII, 527-528
58 NDAR, “Maryland Journal, Tuesday, April 22, 1777,” VIII, 403-404
59 HCA 32/292/10/1-10
60 The Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury, February 3, 1777, at http://www.paulhyb.homecall.co.uk/news/SHER1777.HTM, accessed 3 January 2009
61 McManemin, Privateers, 12, from Haskins’ Journal
62 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins,” VIII, 871
63 NDAR, “Philip Stephens to Vice Admiral Molyneux Shuldham, Plymouth,” VIII, 879
64 NDAR, “Journal of Charles Herbert,” VIII, 880-881
65 NDAR, “Josiah Smith to Benjamin Franklin,” IX, 377-378 and 378 note
66 McManemin, Privateers, 12
67 NDAR, “Journal of Charles Herbert,” IX, 382-384 and 384 note
68 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins,” IX, 417
69 NDAR, “Journal of Dr. Jonathan Haskins,” IX, 547 and note
70 Herbert, 247-249
71 “A List of the Americans Committed to Old Mill Prison Since the American War,” in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. XIX, p. 74, Boston: The New England Historical-Genealogical Society, 1865. In this list the privateer is referred to as the Charming Polly, and her date of capture as 16 May 1777. Both are incorrect. Brown never seems to have gone to Mill Prison, but is on the list.
72 Herbert, 247-249
| Posted 5 January 2009 |
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