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Connecticut Privateer Sloop Nancy |
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| Nancy | (1) Commander William Wattles [Watters] |
| Armed Sloop | 5 October 1776-[April] 1777 |
| Connecticut Privateer Sloop | (2) Commander Robert Palmer
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| Commissioned/First Date: | 5 October 1776 |
| Out of Service/Cause: | 30 June 1776/captured by HM Frigate Unicorn |
| Owners: | (1) Jabez Perkins and Andrew Huntington of Norwich, Connecticut; (2) Charles Miller |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 5 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: 5 November 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 4/ Total: 4 cannon/ Broadside: 2 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | 5 October 1776: 16 [total] |
| Description: |
| Officers: | (1) Master Jonathan Salsbury, [June] 1777-30 June 1777; (2) First Mate Nathan Robinson, [June] 1777-30 June 1777; (3) Second Mate Josiah Hewet, [June] 1777-30 June 1777 |
| Cruises: | (1) Norwich, Connecticut to Martinique, French West Indies, [January 1777-February 1777]
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| Prizes: | (1) Brig [unknown], [February] 1777 |
| Actions: |
Comments:
Connecticut Privateer Sloop Nancy was commissioned on 5 October 17761 under Commander William Wattles2 [Watters], of Norwich, Connecticut. She was listed as armed with six guns and as having a crew of fifteen men. Her $5000 bond was executed by Watters and by Jabez Perkins and Andrew Huntington, both of Norwich.3
Perkins had been fitting out the sloop prior to this: he sought permission to buy two 4-pounders from the state foundry and the request was approved on 26 September 1776.4 On 1 October he was given permission to buy forty or fifty 4-pound shot as well.5
During the winter of 1776-1777 or the spring of 1777 the Nancy made a trading voyage to Martinique, in the French West Indies.6 During her outward passage she captured a brigantine, bound from Ireland to the West Indies, laden with salt and provisions. The prize was sent into Charleston, South Carolina.7 Nancy returned to New Bedford, Massachusetts,8 then pushed on to Dartmouth, Massachusetts, arriving before 11 April 1777. She then sailed to New London, and had arrived there by 25 April.9
Apparently Wattles left the sloop and was replaced by Robert Palmer. Nancy sailed out of New London, Connecticut in late June 1777. On 30 June she was at 48°23'N, forty-eight miles southwest of the Nantucket Shoals. In the early morning she was sighted by HM Frigate Unicorn’s lookouts. An all day chase in breezy, cloudy weather followed before Nancy was captured, about 1700. Unicorn sent a petty officer and twelve men aboard the Nancy, and removed the prisoners. She remained in Unicorn’s company for the time being.10 Later she was sent into Newport, Rhode Island. The British noted her owner as Charles Miller.11 They later reported her battery as four guns.12
On 10 October 1777, in a letter to Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull, Thomas Shaw solicited the exchange of the officers of the Nancy. Shaw stated that they had been prisoners at Newport for a long time. He lists the men as Palmer, Master Jonathan Salsbury, First Mate Nathan Robinson, Second Mate Josiah Hewet, Boatswain John Palmer, and Carpenter Elisha Swan.13 Trumbull approved of the proposal to exchange for Palmer on 13 October.14 On 5 November 1777 Shaw reported to Trumbull that he had managed to get Palmer’s officers exchanged, but not Palmer himself.15 As more efforts to exchange Palmer were underway, he died in captivity, at some date before 9 December 1777.16
1 NRAR, 398
2 NDAR, “List of Bonds for Connecticut Letters of Marque,” X, 589-590
3 NRAR, 398. Also in Middlebrook, History of Maritime Connecticut, II, 165-166
4 NDAR, “Journal of the Connecticut Council of Safety,” VI, 1004-1005 and 1005 note
5 NDAR, “Journal of the Connecticut Council of Safety,” VI, 1080 and note
6 NDAR, “Connecticut Gazette, Friday, April 11, 1777,” VIII, 320
7 NDAR, “Maryland Journal, Tuesday, April 22, 1777,” VIII, 403; “Connecticut Gazette, Friday, April 25, 1777,” VIII, 426-427; “Boston Gazette, Monday, April 28, 1777,” VIII, 455 [the prize is referred to as a ship here]
8 NDAR,“Connecticut Gazette, Friday, April 25, 1777,” VIII, 426-427
9 NDAR, “Connecticut Gazette, Friday, April 11, 1777,” VIII, 320; “Connecticut Gazette, Friday, April 25, 1777,” VIII, 426-427
10 NDAR, “Master’s Log of H.M.S. Unicorn,” IX, 195-196 and 196 note
11 “The following is a List of Vessels seized as Prizes, and of Recaptures made, by the American Squadron, between the 27th of May and 24th of October, 1777, according to the Returns received by Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Howe,” in The London Chronicle, Tuesday, December 2, to Saturday, December 6, 1777
12 NDAR, “Thomas Shaw to Governor Jonathan Trumbull,” X, 403-404 and 404 note
13 NDAR, “Thomas Shaw to Governor Jonathan Trumbull,” X, 107-108 and 108 note
14 NDAR, “Governor Jonathan Trumbull to Thomas Shaw,” X, 138 and 139 note 10
15 NDAR, “Thomas Shaw to Governor Jonathan Trumbull,” X, 403-404 and 404 note
16 NDAR, “Nathaniel Shaw, Jr., to Governor Jonathan Trumbull,” X, 688 and note
| Posted 13 January 2011 |
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