Hancock	Commander Joseph Conkling
Armed Sloop	30 December 1782-
Connecticut Privateer Sloop

Commissioned/First Date:	30 December 1782
Out of Service/Cause:

Owners:

Giles Mumford of Norwich, Connecticut

Tonnage:

Battery:

Date Reported: 7 March 1783 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 14/ Total: 14 cannon/ Broadside: 7 cannon/ Swivels:

Crew:

Description:

Officers:

(1) First Lieutenant Jasper Griffing, 30 December 1782-; (2) Prize Master Francis Mitchell, 30 December 1782-

Cruises:

Prizes:

(1) British Privateer Galley [unknown], 20 March 1783, off Plum Island, New York, with Connecticut Privateer Sloop Hampton Packet (2) British Transport Brigantine Lyon (Henry Moore), 2 April 1783, at 40°N, 73°W

Actions:

(1) Action at Plum Island, New York, 20 March 1783 (2) Action off the Connecticut River, [25] March 1783

Comments:

On 30 December 1782 Hancock was commissioned under Commander Joseph Conkling. Conkling was described as age 43, five feet ten inches tall, with gray eyes and a brown complexion. Hancock’s First Lieutenant was Jasper Griffing. Griffing was age 36, five feet seven inches tall, with light eyes and a dark complexion. Her owner was listed as Giles Mumford.¹

Hancock made a voyage to the West Indies early in the new year. She was at Martinique, French West Indies in February 1783 and sailed for home about 16 February. Hancock arrived in New London on 4 March 1783.²

Hancock began preparing for sea again. A recruiting advertisement was placed for sailors on 7 March. Entitled “Now for a Fortune!” the advertisement noted that sloop Hancock mounted fourteen guns and would sail about 15 March.³

Hancock was at sea on 20 March, sailing with the Connecticut Privateer Sloop Hampton Packet (Commander Thomas Wickham). The two sloops were in the eastern mouth of Long Island Sound, where they encountered and engaged a galley from New York. She was driven ashore on Plum Island, New York, where she was beaten to pieces by the surf. Her crew of twenty or so was captured and brought in to New London.⁴ Two days later Conkling, still cruising in Long Island Sound, took up a drifting open boat with a cargo of lumber aboard. She was carried in to New London.  Owner Giles Mumford placed a “lost and found” advertisement on 31 March for the owner of the boat.⁵

Joined by Connecticut Privateer Sloop Fiery Trial (Commander Nathaniel Thomson), Hancock and Hampton Packet were cruising in the sound about 25 March. A British whaleboat came out from New York to the mouth of the Connecticut River [Old Saybrook]. There the whaleboat captured the schooner Peggy (John Bates) and two coasting vessels. Shortly after the three American sloops came up with the British. A galley had joined the whaleboat, but was no help as the whaleboat, galley and Peggy were captured. The galley was sent into Stonington. The Peggy was re-captured by the Hampton Packet and sent into New London on 26 March. She was libeled on 28 March with trial set for 9 April 1783.⁶

In late March Hancock was operating on the approaches to New York. At 40°N, 73°W⁷ she encountered the British Transport Brigantine⁸ Lyon (Henry Moore), originally out of Whitehaven, England,⁹ but bound from Tortola, British West Indies to New York to be used in the British evacuation. The 200-ton Lyon had no cargo but mounted six guns.¹⁰ Prize Master Francis Mitchell and six men were put aboard and she was sent into New London. Lyon was condemned there.¹¹

¹ Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During The Revolution, II, 108

² The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [New London], Friday, March 7, 1783

³ The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [New London], Friday, March 7, 1783

⁴ The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [New London], Friday, March 28, 1783

⁵ The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [New London], Friday, April 4, 1783

⁶ The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [New London], Friday, 28 March 1783

⁷ Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During The Revolution, II, 108

⁸ The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [New London], Friday, 11April 1783

⁹ Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During The Revolution, II, 108

¹⁰ The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [New London], Friday, 11April 1783

¹¹ Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During The Revolution, II, 108

Posted 21 July 2009

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