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Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Lyon |
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| Lyon [Lion] | (1) Commander Ishmael Hardy |
| Sloop-of-War [Brig/Sloop] | 19 August 1777- |
| Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine | (2) Commander Benjamin Warren
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| Commissioned/First Date: | 19 August 1777 |
| Out of Service/Cause: |
| Owners: | (1) Jonathan Peele, Jr. of Salem, Massachusetts; (2) Jonathan Peele, Jr., John Fisk et al of Salem, Massachusetts; (3) Jonathan Peele et al of Salem, Massachusetts |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 19 August 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 18/ Total: 18 cannon/ Broadside: 9 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 29 September 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 16/4 to 6-pounders Total: 16 cannon/ Broadside: 8 cannon/ Swivels: twenty Date Reported: 28 November 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 16/ Total: 16 cannon/ Broadside: 8 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 31 March 1778 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 16/ Total: 16 cannon/ Broadside: 8 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 9 June 1778 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 16/ Total: 16 cannon/ Broadside: 8 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | (1) 19 August 1777: 131 [total]
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| Description: |
| Officers: |
| Cruises: | (1) Salem, Massachusetts to Salem, Massachusetts, [August] 1777-3 October 1777
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| Prizes: | (1) Ship Maesgwyn (William Room), 29 September 1777, at 39°N, 59°W |
| Actions: | (1) Action with Maesgwyn, 28/29 September 1777 |
Comments:
Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Lyon (Lion) was commissioned on 19 August 1777 under Commander Ishmael Hardy of Salem, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with eighteen guns and as having a crew of 130 men. Her $5000 Continental bond was signed by Hardy and by Thomas Gardner, Jr. and Jonathan Peele, Jr., both of Salem.1
Lyon was at sea soon after her commissioning. On 28 September 1777 she was at 39°N, 59°W2 where she fell in with the 200-ton3 ship Maesgwyn4 [Masegwyn]5 (William Room). Maesgwym was bound from Bristol, England to New York, New York with a cargo of rum, liquor, salt, cheese,6 clothing, and other items.7 Maesgwyn was armed with ten 4-pounders and four 6-pounders8 (or sixteen 6-pounders)9 and had a crew of thirty-nine10 or forty men aboard.11 The two vessels closed to within musket shot and began a hot engagement, which lasted five hours. At the end of that time both vessels were “greatly shattered,” with Maesgwyn’s rigging mostly shot away. The two commanders agreed to stay by one another while they refit, which took the rest of the afternoon and all night.
At dawn the fight was renewed, this time at pistol shot range. In a two hour fight, Maesgwyn fired over eighty broadsides. Lyon was firing just as hard: after two hours Room’s crew had ten12 (or thirteen)13 killed and wounded, had been hulled forty times, and there was four feet of water in the hold, well mixed with liquor from broken bottles and rum from shattered casks. The newly repaired rigging was again shot up. Room surrendered. Lyon was heavily damaged too: at the first good wind after the fight both her lower masts carried away. The prize was taken into Salem, Massachusetts,14 where she arrived on 3 October 1777.15 Maesgwyn was libeled on 30 October 1777, with trial set for 25 November 1777.16 Room later reported that Lyon was armed with sixteen 4-pounders and 6-pounders, over twenty swivel guns, and had 125 men aboard.17
Lyon was re-commissioned on 28 November 1777, under Commander Benjamin Warren of Salem. She was now listed with a battery of sixteen guns and a crew of 100 men. Her new $5000 Continental and £500 Massachusetts bonds were signed by Warren, Peele, and John Fisk of Salem.18
Lyon was at St. Pierre, Martinique on 31 March 1778, when she sortied the harbor to join Massachusetts Navy Brigantines Hazard (Captain Simeon Samson) and Tyrannicide (Captain Jonathan Haraden).19 She was reported as having sixteen guns at this time.20
Lyon was again commissioned on 9 June 1778, under Commander John Carnes of Salem. Her battery and crew were unchanged. Her new $10000 Continental and £4000 Massachusetts bonds were signed by Carnes, Peele and Thomas Mason of Salem.21
1 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 206
2 NDAR, “The New-York Gazette: and Weekly Mercury, Monday, December 8, 1777,” X, 686 and note
3 NDAR, “Libels Filed in the Massachusetts Maritime Court of the Middle District,” X, 354-355 and 355 note
4 NDAR, “The New-York Gazette: and Weekly Mercury, Monday, December 8, 1777,” X, 686 and note
5 NDAR, “Libels Filed in the Massachusetts Maritime Court of the Middle District,” X, 354-355 and 355 note
6 NDAR, “The New-York Gazette: and Weekly Mercury, Monday, December 8, 1777,” X, 686 and note
7 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, October 20, 1777, datelined Boston, October 6
8 NDAR, “The New-York Gazette: and Weekly Mercury, Monday, December 8, 1777,” X, 686 and note
9 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, October 20, 1777, datelined Boston, October 6
10 NDAR, “The New-York Gazette: and Weekly Mercury, Monday, December 8, 1777,” X, 686 and note
11 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, October 20, 1777, datelined Boston, October 6
12 NDAR, “The New-York Gazette: and Weekly Mercury, Monday, December 8, 1777,” X, 686 and note
13 The Royal Gazette [New York], December 13, 1777
14 NDAR, “The New-York Gazette: and Weekly Mercury, Monday, December 8, 1777,” X, 686 and note
15 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, October 20, 1777, datelined Boston, October 6
16 NDAR, “The New-York Gazette: and Weekly Mercury, Monday, December 8, 1777,” X, 686 and note; “Libels Filed in the Massachusetts Maritime Court of the Middle District,” X, 354-355 and 355 note
17 NDAR, “The New-York Gazette: and Weekly Mercury, Monday, December 8, 1777,” X, 686 and note
18 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 206
19 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Navy Brigantine Tyrannicide, Captain Jonathan Haraden,” XI, 854 and notes; “William and Godfrey Hutchinson to the President of the Massachusetts Board of War,” XI, 854-855 and 855 note
20 NDAR,“William and Godfrey Hutchinson to the President of the Massachusetts Board of War,” XI, 854-855 and 855 note
21 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 207
| Posted 22 July 2010 |
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