Enterprize	(1) Commander Daniel Jackson
Schooner	27 January 1776-
New Hampshire Privateer Schooner	(2) Commander Thomas Palmer 23 February 1776-[April] 1776

Commissioned/First Date:	27 January 1776
Out of Service/Cause:

Owners:

Wyseman Clagett of [Portsmouth, New Hampshire]

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Date Reported: Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside   Total: Broadside: Swivels:

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New Hampshire Privateer Schooner Enterprize was fitted out at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.¹ Wyseman Clagett, probably of Portsmouth, New Hampshire was her owner, or one of them. Daniel Jackson of Portsmouth² requested a commission for the schooner on 23 January 1776. The same day, the New Hampshire House of Representatives “Upon the application of Daniel Jackson for liberty to sail as a Privateer against our enemies, Voted, That Ichabod Rawlins, and John McClary, Esqs., and Mr. Baker, be a Committee of this House, to join a Committee of the honourable Board, to consult on that matter, and commission him in such manner as they shall think best, and lay the same before this House for their approbation.”³

The next day the House of Representatives “Voted, That the draft for a Commission for Captain Daniel Jackson, as master and commander of the Privateer Enterprise, brought by Mr. Clagett into this House by order of Council, is acceptable to the House, and that the same be sealed up in a letter and sent to the Committee of Safety of Portsmouth, who are to take bond of said Jackson for his faithful discharge of his trust, in case the same measure is adopted by the General Court of the Massachusetts-Bay; the bond to be for one thousand Pounds.”⁴ This clearly made the Enterprize the first New Hampshire privateer of the war. The commission was issued on 27 January.⁵

Jackson resigned some time before 23 February 1776. On that date the New Hampshire Committee of Safety “At the request of the proprietors of the Schooner privateer, called the Enterprise, we have appointed Thomas Palmer Commander, in the room of Captain Daniel Jackson, who has resigned.”⁶ Thomas Palmer was also a resident of Portsmouth.⁷ However, by at least 22 April 1776, Palmer was in command of the brig Marquis of Kildare.⁸

¹ NDAR, "Journal of the New Hampshire House of Representatives," III, 950

² Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 163

³ Force, American Archives, Series 4, 5:16-17; NDAR, "Journal of the New Hampshire House of Representatives," III, 950

⁴ Force, American Archives, Series 4, 5:17

⁵ Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 163

⁶ Force, American Archives, Series 4, 4:1488; NDAR, "Minutes of the New Hampshire Committee of Safety," IV, 41

⁷ Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 231

⁸ NDAR, "John Langdon to Captain Thomas Palmer," IV, 1189-1190; "Minutes of the New Hampshire Committee of Safety," IV, 1230

Posted 12 June 2011

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