| Back to R |
 |
South Carolina Privateer Sloop Rutledge |
| Rutledge | (1) Commander Jacob Milligan |
| Armed Sloop | 3 December 1776- |
| South Carolina Privateer Sloop | (2) Commander John Porter
|
| Commissioned/First Date: | 3 December 1776 |
| Out of Service/Cause: |
| Owners: |
| Tonnage: | 40 |
| Battery: | Date Reported: Number/Caliber Weight Broadside
Total: Broadside: Swivels: |
| Crew: | (1) 3 October 1777: 77 [total] |
| Description: |
| Officers: | (1) Second Lieutenant Matthew Smith, 3 October 1777-; (2) Prize Master Peter Norris, 3 October 1777- |
| Cruises: | (1) Charlestown, South Carolina to Martinique, French West Indies, [January] 1777-[March] 1777
|
| Prizes: | (1) Brig [Brigantine] Endeavour (Thomas Dwyer), 4 March 1777, off Carlisle Bay, Barbados
|
| Actions: | (1) Action off Sambrero, 30 April 1777 |
Comments:
The 40-ton1 South Carolina Privateer Sloop Rutledge was commissioned under Commander Jacob Milligan on 3 December 1776.2
She soon sailed for the West Indies. On 4 March 1777 she was off Barbados, in sight of Carlisle Bay,3 when she fell in with several vessels coming into Barbados.4 Rutledge quickly closed in and captured the brig5 or brigantine6 Endeavour (Thomas Dwyer),7 armed with ten guns.8 She was a slaver, bound to Barbados9 from Guinea, with forty-two10 slaves11 and ivory aboard.12 Endeavour was captured almost under the guns of the fort at Carlisle Bay and in sight of several vessels at anchor. One, possibly a warship, got under way and chased Rutledge, but Milligan got clean away.13 The prize was taken into Martinique.14
By 2 April 1777 Milligan was at sea again, taking the brig Diana (Heylin Mayberry) off Dominica. She was from Cork to Dominica with provisions. Diana was also taken into Martinique. On 30 April Rutledge was off Sambrero, where she fell in with two un-commissioned privateer vessels out of Antigua, the sloop Abraham15 (eight guns,16 Gilbert Grant)17 and the schooner Royal George (six swivels, Mathew Moffat). Abraham escaped but the Royal George was captured.18
On 3 May 1777 Rutledge was headed for Charleston, when she met and took sloop Nancy (George Baker Gibbs, Pensacola to Jamaica, with lumber). Nancy was ordered into Charleston.19 On 13 May a large vessel was sighted and Milligan began to run down to her, firing three shots to bring her to. She ignored Rutledge and Milligan soon got close enough to see why. The name on her stern was Greyhound, one of His Majesty’s Frigates. Milligan crowded on sail and hastily left the area, entering Charleston on 18 May.20 Prize Nancy approached the coast a few days later, got aground on Cape Romaine, and the crew abandoned ship. Later they returned, worked her loose, and she got into Charleston on 24 May.21
Another cruise took place in the summer of 1777. Following this cruise John Porter took command of the Rutledge and made a cruise in the fall of 1777, capturing several prizes.22
Rutledge sailed from Charlestown on 3 October 1777.23 At that time she was said to have had seventy-seven men in her crew,24 and was bound for a patrol in the West Indies.
About 17 October the Rutledge captured the armed sloop Pallas. She was retained by Porter and used as a tender, under the command of Matthew Smith,25 the Second Lieutenant of the Rutledge.26 After some time the Pallas parted from the Rutledge, which went in pursuit of a convoy.27 After two weeks,28 the Rutledge again fell in with the Pallas, which had captured a small schooner. Prize Master Peter Norris was sent aboard the prize to take command. A few days after a hard storm separated the Rutledge from her tender and prize.29
Two days after the storm the Pallas again fell in with the prize schooner. A few days later,30 on 17 January 1778,31 the tender sighted a sail and chased her. She returned to the schooner in two hours,32 with the 30-ton33 prize schooner Polly and Nancy (John Davis,34 master and co-owner),35 bound from Mobile, West Florida to Jamaica with staves and headings.36 William Williamson, the other owner, was aboard as a passenger. Polly and Nancy had a crew of five men.37 Smith removed Davis to the Pallas, and then transferred Norris from the prize he commanded to the Polly and Nancy, giving Norris orders to proceed to Charlestown. Four Americans went over as the prize crew. The three vessels then sailed on together.38
Within a day or two, Davis succeeded in winning over part of the crew of the Pallas. During the night the crew rose and re-captured the Pallas from Smith. The un-named schooner was quickly re-taken. Meanwhile, Norris had made his way off under full sail, having heard some shots in the night and having an “Apprehension in his own Mind of some mischief.” At noon the next day the Pallas came up with the Polly and Nancy. Davis then ordered Norris aboard the Pallas, “and on his Obeying and Coming up to her in a boat, he was threatened with the loss of his head if he should open his Mouth to Speak.” Norris told Davis that he intended to behave as a prisoner. Norris was then called down to the cabin. After some talking and some drinking Davis persuaded Norris to go back to the Polly and Nancy as master, in British service, and take her to Jamaica. Davis believed Norris, but put the English owner of the Polly and Nancy aboard her, as well as one man more.39
On 19 January 1778 all three vessels hauled their wind and stood for Jamaica. The next day, Davis ordered Norris to change course for Mobile, which Norris did. Davis had frequently threatened Norris’s life if he tried to run away. On the evening of the fifth day after the re-capture Norris took command from himself, aided by four of the prize crew. Williams and the other sailor were made prisoner. Norris brought the Polly and Nancy in to Georgetown about the middle of February 1778. On 18 February Norris and the four sailors libeled the Polly and Nancy.40
Two days later, 20 February 1778, Porter filed a counter claim to the Polly and Nancy. The trial was held on 27 February and the jury found for the claimants, according to the Articles of Agreement signed by the crew of the Rutledge. Meanwhile the South Carolina General Assembly established a Court of Admiralty and gave it jurisdiction. Norris’s attorney appealed to this court on 10 March 1778, based on the fact that the British had re-captured the Polly and Nancy and held the prize for over four days. On 14 August 1778 the Continental Congress’s Committee on Appeals reviewed the case and affirmed the verdict.41
As for the un-named schooner it was probably re-captured yet again by the British. This is possibly the 25-ton schooner bound from Port San Antionio, Cuba to Charlestown, in ballast, taken by HM Frigate Carysfort (Captain Robert Fanshawe) on 29 January 1778. At that time Carysfort was about forty-seven miles southeast of the Charlestown Lighthouse. She was captured at 0930 after a short chase. The schooner was formerly a prize of the Rutledge, and was destroyed.42
1 Viele, John, The Florida Keys Volume 2: True Stories of the Perilous Straits, Sarasota: Pineapple Press, 1999, 71
2 NDAR, “Privateer Commissions Granted by Governor John Rutledge of South Carolina,” VII, 467-468
3 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
4 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Jamaica . . . by the Grenville Packet, May 2,” VIII, 898-900
5 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
6 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Wednesday, April 9, 1777,” VIII, 308
7 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
8 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Wednesday, April 9, 1777,” VIII, 308
9 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
10 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Wednesday, April 9, 1777,” VIII, 308
11 NDAR, “South-Carolina and American General Gazette, Thursday, April 3, 1777,” VIII, 268; “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Wednesday, April 9, 1777,” VIII, 308
12 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Wednesday, April 9, 1777,” VIII, 308
13 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Wednesday, April 9, 1777,” VIII, 308
14 NDAR, “South-Carolina and American General Gazette, Thursday, April 3, 1777,” VIII, 268; “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
15 NDAR, “Vice Admiral James Young to Count d’Argout,” VII, 1138-1140; “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
16 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
17 NDAR, “Vice Admiral James Young to Count d’Argout,” VII, 1138-1140; “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
18 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
19 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
20 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South-Carolina, Monday, May 18, 1777,” VIII, 997-998
21 NDAR, “Gazette of the State of South Carolina, Monday, May 26, 1777,” VIII, 1033
22 Coker, Charleston’s Maritime Heritage, 91, 300
23 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
24 Viele, John, The Florida Keys Volume 2, 71
25 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
26 Viele, John, The Florida Keys Volume 2, 71
27 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
28 Viele, John, The Florida Keys Volume 2, 71
29 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
30 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
31 Viele, John, The Florida Keys Volume 2, 71
32 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
33 Viele, John, The Florida Keys Volume 2, 71
34 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
35 Viele, John, The Florida Keys Volume 2, 71
36 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
37 Viele, John, The Florida Keys Volume 2, 71
38 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
39 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
40 NDAR, “Deposition of Peter Norris,” XI, 370-372
41 NDAR, “Petition and Claim of Captain John Porter,” XI, 392-393 and 394 notes
42 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Carysfort, Captain Robert Fanshawe,” XI, 232-233 and 233 notes
| Posted 21 February 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|