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Massachusetts Privateer Ship Rhodes |
| Rhodes | Commander Nehemiah Buffinton [Buffington] |
| Frigate/Sloop-of-War | 21 July 1780-15 February 1782 |
| Massachusetts Privateer Ship |
| Commissioned/First Date: | 21 July 1780 |
| Out of Service/Cause: | 15 February 1782/captured by HMS Protheè |
| Owners: | William Shillaber et al of Salem, Massachusetts |
| Tonnage: | 220, 270 |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 21 July 1780 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 20/ Total: 20 cannon/ Broadside: 10 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 13 September 1780 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 20/6-pounder 120 pounds 60 pounds Total: 20 cannon/120 pounds Broadside: 10 cannon/60 pounds Swivels: |
| Crew: | (1) 21 July 1780: 121 [total]
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| Description: | 97'7" length on the deck, 81'9" length on the keel, 25' in beam, 10'7" depth in the hold |
| Officers: | (1) First Lieutenant George Ervin, 21 July 1780-; (2) Second Lieutenant Daniel Needham, 21 July 1780-; First Mate Francis Bowden, 21 July 1780-; Second Mate William Harris, 21 July 1780-; Prize Master Isaac Walker, 21 July 1780-; Prize Master Edward Standly, 21 July 1780-; Prize Master James Pickman, 21 July 1780-; Prize Master Philip Le Cuier, 21 July 1780-; Prize Master Joseph Dolliver, 21 July 1780-; Surgeon Samuel Nutting, 21 July 1780-; Captain of Marines John Prat, 21 July 1780- |
| Cruises: |
| Prizes: | (1) Sloop [unknown], [September] 1780, near Charlestown, South Carolina
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| Actions: | (1) Action with the Mary and another transport, [August] 1781 |
Comments:
Massachusetts Privateer Ship Rhodes was built in the area around Salem [Essex County], Massachusetts in 1779-1780. Rhodes was apparently designed as a privateer from the keel up. Her deck measured 97'7" in length, her keel measured 81'9" in length, she had a 25' beam, a depth in the hold of 10'7" and measured 270 tons.1
Rhodes was commissioned on 21 July 1780 under Commander Nehemiah Buffington (or Buffinton) of Salem, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with twenty guns and having a crew of 120 men. Her $10000 Continental and £4000 Massachusetts bonds were signed by Nehemiah Buffington and by Aaron Wait and Benjamin Goodhue, all of Salem.2
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Model of the privateer Rhodes. She seems to be armed as she was in British service, for the Americans gave her twenty guns. From http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/2_2.html. |
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Other officers aboard the Rhodes were First Lieutenant George Ervin of Salem,3 Second Lieutenant Daniel Needham of Salem,4 First Mate Francis Bowden of Salem,5 Second Mate William Harris of Boston,6 and Prize Masters Isaac Walker of Boston,7 Edward Standly of Salem,8 James Pickman,9 Philip Le Cuier of Salem,10 and Joseph Dolliver of Marblehead.11 Samuel Nutting of Danvers served aboard as Surgeon12 and John Prat as Captain of Marines.13
On 29 July the owners (William Shillaber, Benjamin Goodhue, Jr., John Tucker, and Robert Goodhue) petitioned the Massachusetts Council for permission for the Rhodes to sail, notwithstanding the embargo on privateer sailings. The petition was granted, on the condition that Buffington was to search for the second division of the French fleet and, when he found it, to inform the French of the strength of the British fleet at Newport.14
The next mention of the Rhodes was in September 1780. The Charleston newspapers reported, on 13 September, that the Rhodes had captured the ship Lyon and had chased a sloop ashore, twelve leagues from the city. The sloop was believed to be lost. The newspaper reported that Rhodes was armed with twenty 6-pounders and had a crew of 130 men.15
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The lines of the Rhodes, as taken from the ship after her capture. From Millar, American Ships of the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods, 245. |
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Hull form of the Rhodes as drawn by Millar. Note the deadrise and pronounced knuckle. |
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On 31 October 1780 the Connecticut newspapers reported that Rhodes, sailing with Massachusetts Privateer Ship Junius Brutus (Commander John Leach), had taken five prizes, four of which were from Jamaica bound to England. The other prize was an ordnance brig, bound to New York. None of the prizes had arrived in port.16
Two of the prizes were recaptured by the British. The brig Mary (Galbrath), bound from Jamaica to Charleston,South Carolina, was captured off the bar by the Junius Brutus and the Rhodes. She was recaptured by HMS Prudent (Burnet) and sent in to New York, New York, arriving on 21 October 1780. The ship Neptune, also bound for Charleston, with a cargo of rum, was recaptured by HMS America, and arrived at New York on 26 October.17
On 13 November 1780 Buffington libeled the 60-ton brig General Leslie (Duncas Etill) at Boston. General Leslie was to be tried on 21 November in the Maritime Court of the Middle District. At the same time Buffington libeled three bales of merchandise, removed from the sloop Rodney (Ingraham) on 10 August 1780 and brought into Boston.18 Rodney evidently made port not too long after, for she was libeled on 14 December 1780, as the 50-ton sloop Rodney, in the Maritime Court for the Middle District. Her trial was set for 2 January 1781.19
In the winter of 1781, Buffington was again at sea. On 28 February 1781 a prize brigantine arrived at Salem, with a cargo of rice, indigo and deerskins. The prize was part of a convoy from Charleston to England. Rhodes had taken another brig from the same convoy, and was still in chase of it when the second prize left her. On 8 March 1781, the second prize arrived at Salem, along with a third prize brig taken by the Rhodes.20
One of these brigs, the 50 ton Alicia (Edward Mason), was libeled on 12 March, with her trial set for 27 March.21
An advertisement for the sale of three of Rhodes’s prizes appeared on 19 March, with the sale to be held on 27 March at Salem. Brigantine Alicia, 100 tons, was said to have been built in Georgia as a privateer and was pierced for fourteen guns. She was probably armed with the fourteen short 12-pounders, which appeared in the same advertisement. The brigantine General Leslie, listed at 90 tons, and brigantine Hawke, 130 tons, were also listed.22
On 8 September 1781 the Rhodes returned to Salem, bringing in an 18-gun British transport ship in ballast. She was bound home, with another transport of the same force, which the Rhodes also engaged. While Rhodes was manning the first prize the second escaped.23 The prize was the ship Mary, advertised for sale on 27 September, with the sale to be held at Salem on 3 October 1781. Mary was said to be a frigate-built ship of about 350 tons, and mounted twenty guns when taken. At the time of sale she mounted twelve 18-pounders,24 very heavy guns for a transport ship.
On 20 April 1782, the Massachusetts Privateer Mohawk (Smith) arrived at Beverly. Smith reported that the Rhodes had been captured some time ago and taken into Barbados.25 It was true. Rhodes was captured on 15 February 1782, by the 64-gun HMS Protheè. She was taken into the Royal Navy as HM Sloop Barbadoes, with fourteen guns. The British reported her as measuring 270 tons.26 Buffington was soon exchanged.27
1 Millar, American Ships of the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods, 244. Millar gives very slightly different measurements on p. 245.
2 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 264
3 MASSRW, 5:386
4 MASSRW, 11:304
5 MASSRW, 2:318
6 MASSRW, 7:361
7 MASSRW, 16:448
8 MASSRW, 14:816
9 MASSRW, 12:358
10 MASSRW, 9:624
11 MASSRW, 4:861
12 MASSRW, 11:580
13 MASSRW, 12:662
14 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 264
15 From the South Carolina and American General Gazette, September 13, 1780, quoted on http://gaz.jrshelby.com/off-sc-coast-12.htm. His source is E. Lee Spence, Shipwrecks of South Carolina and Georgia, "Spence's List 1520-1865", Sea Research Society, Sullivan's Island, SC, 1984, p.259
16 The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [New London], Tuesday, October 31, 1780
17 The New-York Gazette; and The Weekly Mercury, Friday, October 27, 1780
18 The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, November 6, 1780
19 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, December 14, 1780
20 The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, Monday, March 12, 1781
21 The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, Monday, March 12, 1781
22 The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, Monday, March 19, 1781
23 The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, Monday, September 10, 1781
24 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston]; Thursday, September 27, 1781
25 The Independent Ledger, and the American Advertiser [Boston], Monday, April 22, 1782
26 Colledge,
27 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 41
| Posted 22 February 2011 |
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