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Connecticut Privateer Boat Rattlesnake |
| Rattlesnake | Commander Ebenezer Jones |
| Patrol Craft | 17 December 1781 [January 1781]-April 1783 |
| Connecticut Privateer Boat |
| Commissioned/First Date: | 17 December 1781 [January 1781] |
| Out of Service/Cause: | April 1783/decommissioned |
| Owners: | Ebenezer Jones of Stamford, Connecticut |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 17 December 1781 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 1/ Total: 1 cannon/ Broadside: 1 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | 17 December 1781: 10 [total] |
| Description: |
| Officers: |
| Cruises: |
| Prizes: | (1) Sloop Polly, January 1781, [with Connecticut Privateer Boat Viper and Connecticut Privateer Boat Saratoga]
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| Actions: |
Comments:
Connecticut Privateer Boat Rattlesnake was commissioned on 17 December 1781 under Commander Ebenezer Jones of Stamford, Connecticut. Jones' commission covered three boats, of which he was the owner and commander, the others being the Connecticut Privateer Boat Viper and Connecticut Privateer Boat Saratoga. Rattlesnake was listed as having a battery of one gun and a crew of ten men. The $20,000 bond covering all three boats was executed by Jones, John Davenport, Jr. of Stamford and James Cogswell of Stamford.1
It seems that Jones’s three boats were in service earlier than the commission, and were, in fact, part of Stamford’s defense force. There is evidence that Jones’s miniature fleet was raised by the state of Connecticut or by the town of Stamford as part of the coast defense scheme. In January 1781 his “division (naval)” of thirty men is listed with other units in service from Stamford.2 In January 1782 Jones was reported as having twenty-seven men, in a report listing other town guards from Stamford.3
Before he commanded the three boats mentioned above, Jones commanded the boats Greenwich and Spitfire, which are otherwise unknown. It’s not clear which boats were involved in which captures.4
On 9 August 1780 Jones was involved in the capture of the schooner Sally (Jared Bell). She was taken in company with several armed boats under Captain David Hawley. Sally was libeled and tried on 14 September 1780.5
The British sloop Tryon was captured in October 1780 and was tried and condemned on 21 November 1780. On 17 October the British schooner Anson was captured. October was a busy month for Jones, for the British sloop Fanny was also captured in October. She was tried and condemned on 7 November 1780.6
Again Jones teamed up with boats under Hawley to capture the British sloop Dorset in October, which was tried and condemned. Jones captured the schooner Fly in the same month.7
In January 1781 Jones captured the British sloop Polly. She was tried and condemned on 19 January 1781. On 4 February 1781 Jones captured the British sloop Jenny and an unknown sloop. Both were tried and condemned.8
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The general area of operations of Ebenezer Jones's privateers. |
On 31 August 1781 Jones libeled goods taken on Block Island and a schooner, captured with boats under Captain Jabez Fitch. Some horses seized on Long Island were also libeled. The trial was held on 26 September 1781.9
On 27 September 1781 Jones libeled goods and two sloops, captured with boats under Simeon Crosman and David Hawley. The trial was to be held on 16 October 1781.10
Jones libeled a 50-ton schooner with a cargo of wood on 17 October. Her trial was to be held on 19 November.11 A second libel on the same day was for another 20-ton schooner with a cargo of hay, which he had captured in the beginning of October. Her trial was also set for 19 November.12
On 6 December 1781 Jones libeled the British Privateer Sloop Shuldham (Ronoy), two 30-ton sloops, and a 30-ton schooner with a cargo of wood. All were to be tried on 26 December.13
Jones was evidently at sea or on the Connecticut coast in January 1782. On 9 January he libeled two prizes in the Connecticut Maritime Court for Fairfield County: the 25-ton sloop Betsey (Mulner) and the 30-ton sloop Sally (Michael Poor). Trial was to be held on 12 February 1782. These sloops were probably captured by all three of the privateer boats.14
On 20 April 1782 Jones libeled a 75-ton sloop and a 20-ton sloop. The trial of these prizes was to be held on 6 May 1782.15
There was some fighting in these operations, as is revealed by the pension application of Lydia Judson. Her husband, Joseph Judson was, presumably, a member of the crew of one of the three privateer boats. In her pension application she said her husband “continued in [the service] untill the 29th day of April 1782 when he was Killed, by a musket ball, while boarding a British vessel in Long Island Sound, under Capt Jones, according to her reccollection . . .” A letter written by her father-in-law, Joseph Judson, Sr., dated 30 April, begins “Loving dagter, I now Rite a feew Lines to you with Griff to let you Know your housban is a Cops now in The hurs and he was brought in yesterday and we are to atend his funrel this day . . .”16
Which British vessel was involved in this fight is not known. It might have been the sloop Betsey (George Hallock), which was libeled by Jones on 23 May 1782, with her trial set for 18 June 1782,17 although this seems a little too long after the action.
On 29 June 1782 Jones libeled a 70-ton schooner and a 15-ton schooner, along with a small two masted boat and “several small boats, having on board goods, wares, and merchandize, and the produce of this State, taken on Long-Island-Sound.” Trial for these prizes was to be held on 23 July 1782.18
Again, on 2 August 1782 Jones libeled the 25-ton sloop Elizabeth (Rider) with a cargo of hay, a cedar two-masted boat with a cargo of onions, “two whaleboats, a skiff, five small boats, and a canoe and their cargoes, consisting of sheep and British goods, all taken in Long Island Sound.” The trial was set for 9 September 1782,19 but was later postponed until the next day.20 On 12 August Jones libeled some cloths and goods taken from a flag-of-truce vessel which he had stopped in Long Island Sound. The trial for these goods was to be held on 10 September.21
On 9 September 1782 Jones libeled the 25-ton sloop Betsey (Zerobabel Slater), her cargo of paint, chalk and grindstones; an unknown sloop (Schenk) and her cargo, and two boats taken in Long Island Sound, with their cargoes. These were to be tried on 8 October 1782.22
An exemplar of Jones’s style of warfare is given here, although no date is listed for this episode:
“One of the most stirring incidents of this kind of Warfare took place on Long Island Sound The Whale Boat Fleet of Stamford under command of Capt Ebenezer Jones came out of the fog and directly upon a War Ship of the enemy Capt Jones loudly protested against the fault of the English Officer in allowing a strange boat to get so near him unchallenged He claimed to be an inspector sent by the English Commander Then still denouncing the want of proper precautions he went aboard with his crew keeping up the loud words Meanwhile he gave the signal for the other boats They surrounded the enemy and the vessel was captured About the same time a smaller vessel of the enemy was boarded by men from one Whale Boat while men from another Whale Boat entered the cabin windows The crew surrendered and the vessel was brought to Stamford.”23
Jones was on a cruise with Captain Jabez Fitch on 22 September 1782, when the 30-ton sloop Peggy (John Stanton) and the 35-ton schooner Lively (John Corney) were captured. Peggy had a cargo of merchandise and Lively had fuel and forage. Both were tried and condemned.24
Jones captured two vessels and the sloop Good Luck on 14 November 1782.25
About December 1782 Jones captured the schooner Peggy.26
On 24 February 1783 Jones libeled a boat (Wright Craft), with her cargo of sewing goods, taken on Long Island Sound. Her trial was to be held on 11 March 1783.27
Jones is said to have captured two British sloops and a British schooner in March 1783.28
All told Middlebrook credits Jones with nineteen prizes. There would seem to be at least thirty-five, with ten “boats” of various kinds not included.
1 NRAR, 432; Middlebrook, II, 189
2 Huntington, Elijah Baldwin, History of Stamford, Connecticut From Its Settlement in 1641, to the Present Time, Including Darien, which was One of Its Parishes Until 1820, Stamford: 1868, 229
3 Huntington, Stamford, 230
4 Middlebrook, II, 190
5 Middlebrook, II, 190
6 Middlebrook, II, 190
7 Middlebrook, II, 190
8 Middlebrook, II, 190
9 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, September 6, 1781
10 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, September 27, 1781
11 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, October 25, 1781
12 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, November 1, 1781
13 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, December 6, 1781
14 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, January 17, 1782
15 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Wednesday, April 24, 1782
16 http://genforum.genealogy.com/americanrev/messages/15952.html. Further evidence is Judson’s grave marker in Hillside Cemetery, Cheshire, Connecticut: “In / Memory of / JOSEPH JUDSON / who died & was buryed in Stampford April 29 / 1782:AE37”
17 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, May 30, 1782
18 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, July 11, 1782
19 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, August 8, 1782
20 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, August 29, 1782
21 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, August 15, 1782
22 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, September 19, 1782
23 Mather, Frederic Gregory, The Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut, J.B. Lyon, Albany: 1913, 222. A more extensive, although certainly not more accurate account, is from Huntington, Stamford, 28: “A frigate and sloop of war belonging to the enemy were lying in Oyster Bay opposite this village and the whale boats from this place commanded by Captain Jones determined on taking the sloop On a foggy morning they rowed silently around her and coming nearer and nearer they were at length discovered and instantly hailed Who's there A friend A friend to whom I ll let you know said Jones the rebels have been rowing round the bay all night and you ve known nothing about it I ll report you to the Admiral for neglecting your watch By this time the men in the boats were climbing up the sides of the British vessel while Jones who was as rough as the ocean on which he had been brought up kept storming away at the captain for his negligence The British officer trembled from head to foot thinking that he had run foul of some violent old tory who would certainly report him to his commander He assured Jones that he had kept the strictest watch begged him to look at the order of his vessel the training of his guns and the priming of his muskets A number of these muskets were by this time in the hands of the assailing party when instantly Jones foot stamped heavily upon the deck and in the next moment the sloop was theirs She carried fifteen or twenty guns and was fully equipped for service Another vessel was about this time captured by these whaleboats as she lay in the narrows below They attacked her in open day one as they approached had its rudder carried away by a cannon shot and swinging under the stern of the English vessel the men entered her cabin windows just as the crew were driven below by the men in the other boats who had obtained possession of her deck After a short and desperate fight with broadswords and bayonets in the cabin the crew surrendered and the vessel was brought to Stamford.” Needless to say, no British sloop-of-war was captured, and no libel in 1782 can be made to match this affair.
24 Middlebrook, II, 264
25 Middlebrook, II, 190
26 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 169
27 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, March 6, 1783
28 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 169
| Posted 20 February 2009 |
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