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Massachusetts Privateer Sloop Putnam |
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| Putnam | Commander John Harmon [Harman] |
| Armed Sloop | 26 August 1776-4 December 1776 |
| Massachusetts Privateer Sloop |
| Commissioned/First Date: | 26 August 1776 |
| Out of Service/Cause: | 4 December 1776/captured by HM Frigate Lizard |
| Owners: | Joseph Morrill, Thomas Donnell, Ebenezer Norwood, William Allen, and James Scamman, of Biddeford, Massachusetts |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 26 August 1776 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 4/ Total: 4 cannon/ Broadside: 2 cannon/ Swivels: ten |
| Crew: | 26 August 1776: 46 [total] |
| Description: |
| Officers: |
| Cruises: |
| Prizes: | (1) Schooner Sally (Benjamin Vaulpy), [October] 1776
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| Actions: | (1) Shore action with unknown frigate, [3] October 1776 |
Comments:
Massachusetts1 Privateer Sloop Putnam was commissioned on 26 August 1776 under Commander John Harmon2 (or Harman)3 of York, Massachusetts [Maine]. She was listed as being armed with four guns, ten swivel guns, and as having a crew of forty-five men. Her $5000 Continental bond was signed by Harmon and by Ebenezer Prout of Scarborough, Cumberland County, Massachusetts [Maine] and David Sewall of York.4 Other accounts make her a twelve gun brig.5 She captured a ship and four schooners.6
The following prizes may have been captured by Putnam, however they equally could belong to Massachusetts Privateer Sloop Putnam (Commander Joseph Bayley, Jr.):
(1) Schooner Charming Anne (Jones), 26 tons, bound to Nova Scotia with provisions. She was tried in the eastern Maritime Court on 11 December 1776.7 As the Charming Ann (Jones), she was reported as lost in the London papers on 27 December, and taken into Massachusetts.8 She was libeled on 21 November 1776, as the Charming Annis (Richard Jones).9
(2) At the same time as the Charming Ann was libeled, the 70-ton schooner Frederick (John Reynolds) and the 40-ton sloop Baltimore (Zechariah Gardner) were also libeled, with the trials set for 11 December.10 The Frederick (Reynolds) was reported as lost in the London papers on 27 December, and taken into Massachusetts; the Baltimore is listed as “the —, Gardner.”11 These two were probably captured by the same vessel as the one taking the Charming Ann.
(3) The 22-ton schooner Mary (John Matthews) was libeled on 7 November 1777, with her trial set for 11 December, in the Eastern District court.12 Mary’s loss was reported in the London papers on 27 December.13
Putnam was at sea in late September 1776 and early October 1776. The following newspaper report tells of her cruise:
On 6 October 1776 a small schooner was sent into Saco, prize to the Putnam. She had a cargo of salt and some oil. The next day a second schooner prize arrived, with fish and oil. The last prize reported another small vessel was captured, but not yet arrived in port. A fourth prize was driven ashore by a patrolling frigate, the “Vessel lost, but the people got onboard the privateer again; the frigate drove the Privateer into a harbour, and came to anchor with intention of keeping her in; but Capt. Harmon got one of his guns ashore on a point of land & fired on the frigate, when she returned whole broadsides into the woods at them, but did no damage - Capt. Harmon after a few shots was so lucky as to cut away her fore-stay, which obliged her to come to sail, and put to sea.”14
Two of these prizes were certainly the schooner Sally and the sloop White Oak. The 3015 or 50-ton16 schooner Sally (Benjamin Vaulpy17 [Vaulpey,18 Vaspy]19 was out bound from Nova Scotia, on a fishing voyage, with a cargo of fish aboard.20 She was captured, possibly in October 1776, by the Putnam. She was sent into Falmouth, Massachusetts [Maine].21 Sally was libeled on 21 October,22 and was tried in the Maritime Court of the Eastern District on 14 November.23
The 30-ton schooner White Oak (Samuel Osborne Deane24 [Dean,25 Doane]) was out bound from Nova Scotia.26 She was captured, possibly in October 1776, by the Putnam. She was also sent into Falmouth, Massachusetts [Maine].27 White Oak was libeled on 21 October 1776,28 and was tried in the Maritime Court of the Eastern District on 14 November.29
On 18 November Thomas Davis and Ephraim Spooner appealed to the Massachusetts General Court in a memorial. They owned two thirds of the White Oak. Before the war she was engaged in the fishery, operating out of Barrington, Nova Scotia. When the Continental Association was approved by the Continental Congress, and the Restraining Acts by Parliament, one of the owners proceeded to Nova Scotia and retrieved all their interests there, except for that in the White Oak. To cover that vessel she was re-registered with some friends in Barrington. The gentlemen would gladly have traveled to Pownalborough for the trial, had they had adequate notice. They asked the Massachusetts General Court to allow an appeal of the verdict. On 22 November the Massachusetts General Court acted favorably on the appeal, directing that the captors of the White Oak appear and that they be informed of the decision by presenting “Captain [John] Harman Commd of the Sloop Putnam” a copy of the petition and order at least fifteen days before the captors were required to appear.30
Harmon never showed up for any hearing we can be sure. Putnam was at sea on 4 December 1776, when she was captured by HM Frigate Lizard (Captain Thomas McKenzie).31 Harmon wound up as a prisoner at Halifax. Harmon, listed as John Harman, was sent from Halifax on 28 June 1777 in a cartel for exchange.32
1 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 245-246. Maclay, History of American Privateers, 77, says she was a New Hampshire vessel.
2 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 245-246
3 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 77
4 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 245-246
5 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 77
6 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 77
7 Faibisy, A Compilation of Nova Scotia Vessels . . ., in NDAR, X, 1201-1210
8 NDAR, “Whitehall Evening Post, Thursday, December 26 to Saturday, December 28, 1776,” VII, 809-810
9 The Continental Journal [Boston], Thursday, November 21, 1776
10 The Continental Journal [Boston], Thursday, November 21, 1776
11 NDAR, “Whitehall Evening Post, Thursday, December 26 to Saturday, December 28, 1776,” VII, 809-810
12 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, November 7, 1776
13 NDAR, “Whitehall Evening Post, Thursday, December 26 to Saturday, December 28, 1776,” VII, 809-810
14 NDAR, “The Freeman’s Journal, Saturday, October 12, 1776,” VI, 1230-1231; “New-Hampshire [State] Gazette, Tuesday, October 22, 1776,” VI, 1357-1358
15 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, November 4, 1776; NDAR, “Libels Filed in the Eastern District Admiralty Court of Massachusetts Against the Prize Brigantine Henry and Ann,” VII, 34 and note
16 The Continental Journal {Boston], Thursday, October 24, 1776
17 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, November 4, 1776; NDAR, “Libels Filed in the Eastern District Admiralty Court of Massachusetts Against the Prize Brigantine Henry and Ann,” VII, 34 and note
18 Faibisy, A Compilation of Nova Scotia Vessels . . ., in NDAR, X, 1201-1210
19 NDAR, “Whitehall Evening Post, Thursday, December 26 to Saturday, December 28, 1776,” VII, 809-810
20 Faibisy, A Compilation of Nova Scotia Vessels . . ., in NDAR, X, 1201-1210
21 NDAR, “Petition of Thomas Davis and Ephraim Spooner to the Massachusetts General Court,” VII, 196. This relates to the White Oak, but both vessels were libeled by the same privateer, proving that this is the Putnam that captured the Sally.
22 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, October 21, 1776
23 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, November 4, 1776; NDAR, “Libels Filed in the Eastern District Admiralty Court of Massachusetts Against the Prize Brigantine Henry and Ann,” VII, 34 and note
24 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, November 4, 1776; NDAR, “Libels Filed in the Eastern District Admiralty Court of Massachusetts Against the Prize Brigantine Henry and Ann,” VII, 34 and note
25 NDAR, “Whitehall Evening Post, Thursday, December 26 to Saturday, December 28, 1776,” VII, 809-810
26 Faibisy, A Compilation of Nova Scotia Vessels . . ., in NDAR, X, 1201-1210
27 NDAR, “Petition of Thomas Davis and Ephraim Spooner to the Massachusetts General Court,” VII, 196. This relates to the White Oak, but both vessels were libeled by the same privateer, proving that this is the Putnam that captured the Sally.
28 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, October 21, 1776
29 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, November 4, 1776; NDAR, “Libels Filed in the Eastern District Admiralty Court of Massachusetts Against the Prize Brigantine Henry and Ann,” VII, 34 and note
30 NDAR, “Petition of Thomas Davis and Ephraim Spooner to the Massachusetts General Court,” VII, 196
31 Winfield, British Warships In the Age of Sail 1714-1792, 227; “LIST of Vessels seized as Prizes, and of Recaptures made, by the American Squadron, between the 10th of March and the 31st of December, 1776, according to the Returns received by the Vice Admiral the Viscount Howe,” in The London Gazette, Saturday, May 10, to Tuesday, May 13, 1777
32 MASSRW, 7:298
| Posted 9 February 2011 |
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