Ranger	Commander Elisha Lathrop
Armed Brig	5 October 1776-23 April 1778
Connecticut Privateer Brig

Commissioned/First Date:	5 October 1776
Out of Service/Cause:	23 April 1778/captured by HM Frigate Maidstone

Owners:

Andrew Huntington & Co., of Norwich, Connecticut

Tonnage:

Battery:

Date Reported: 5 October 1776 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 2/4-pounder        8 pounds    4 pounds Total: 2 cannon/8 pounds Broadside: 1 cannon/4 pounds Swivels: six

Crew:

5 October 1776: 11 [total]

Description:

Officers:

Cruises:

(1) New London, Connecticut, to the West Indies and return, -[8] April 1777 (2) New London, Connecticut to Cap François, Saint-Domingue (3) Cap François, Saint-Domingue to sea, -23 April 1778

Prizes:

Actions:

Comments:

Connecticut Privateer Brig Ranger was commissioned on 5 October 1776 under Commander Elisha Lathrop of Norwich, Connecticut. She was listed as having a battery of two guns and a crew of ten men. Ranger’s $5,000 bond was executed by Lathrop, owner Andrew Huntington, and Jabez Perkins of Norwich.¹ She was owned by various members of the Huntington family of Norwich, including Joshua, Jabez, and Andrew. On her application for a commission her battery is stated as two 4-pounders and six swivels.²

She evidently sailed for the West Indies in early 1777. She had arrived back at New London, Connecticut by 11 April 1777.³

A year later, the Ranger was at sea, bound from Cap François, Saint-Domingue to New London with a cargo of salt and dry goods. On 23 April 1778, she was at 40°12'N, 68°05'W, where she was captured by HM Frigate Maidstone (Captain Alan Gardner). Ranger was sent into Newport, Rhode Island.⁴ Lathrop was exchanged a few months later, arriving in a cartel at New London on 2 August 1778.⁵

¹ NRAR, 428; NDAR, “List of Bonds for Connecticut Letters of Marque,” X, 589-590

² NDAR, “Captain Joshua Huntington to Jabez Huntington,” VI, 910; “Journal of the Connecticut Council of Safety,” VI, 1080 and note. See also Middlebrook, History of Maritime Connecticut, II, 186.

³ NDAR, “Connecticut Gazette, Friday, April 11, 1777,” VIII, 320

⁴ “List of Vessels seized, destroyed or retaken by the American Squadron between the 25^th of October 1777, and the 28^th of September 1778, according to the Returns received by the Vice Admiral the Viscount Howe, exclusive of those seized or destroyed by His Majesty’s Ships in Chesapeake Bay, and on the Parts of the Coast of North America to the Southward thereof, of which a Return was made on the 23^rd of April 1778,” in The London Gazette, Saturday, November 21, to Tuesday, November 24, 1778

⁵ The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [New London], Friday, August 7, 1778

Posted 18 February 2011

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