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New York Privateer Sloop Harlequin |
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| Harlequin | Commander Daniel Shaw |
| Armed Sloop | 14 August 1776-September 1776 |
| New York Privateer Sloop |
| Commissioned/First Date: | 14 August 1776 |
| Out of Service/Cause: | September 1776/scuttled in East River, taken into British service |
| Owners: | Samuel Broome & Co., John Broome, John Woodward, John Livingston, Daniel Shaw, Thomas Crab, Abraham P. Lott, Stockholm & Dickson, and Abraham & E. Lott |
| Tonnage: | 70 |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 14 August 1776 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 14/4-pounder 56 pounds 28 pounds Total: 14 cannon/56 pounds Broadside: 7 cannon/28 pounds Swivels: |
| Crew: | 14 August 1776: 90 [total] |
| Description: |
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Comments:
New York Privateer Sloop Harlequin was commissioned when, on 14 August 1776, Samuel Broome & Co., John Broome, John Woodward, John Livingston, Daniel Shaw, Thomas Crab, Abraham P. Lott, Stockholm & Dickson, and Abraham & E. Lott, petitioned the New York Convention for a privateer commission. They stated that was commanded by Daniel Shaw, that the sloop was 70 tons, was armed with fourteen 4-pounders and had a crew of ninety men. A $6000 bond was signed the same day.1 Even before this, on 30 July 1776, Shaw had petitioned for permission to purchase gunpowder from the colony.2 This petition was granted and her owners were allowed to buy 1200 pounds of gunpowder for the sloop on 2 August 1776.3
In September 1776 the sloop was stationed in Haerlem River by order of General Washington. This implies that Harlequin was then part of Washington’s New York squadron. She was there to defend the river and prevent boat traffic going up river. When the Americans retreated she was scuttled in the river and was later recovered by the British and put into service as HM Sloop Haerlem.4
1 Force, American Archives, 5:I:954
2 Force, American Archives, 5:I:1471
3 NDAR, "Journal of the New York Provincial Convention," VI, 20
4 Hopkinson, Francis, The Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings of Francis Hopkinson, Esq., T. Dobson, Philadelphia: 1792, volume III, 9-10
| Posted 13 May 2009 |
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