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Massachusetts Privateer Brig Vengeance |
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| Vengeance | (1) Commander Wingate Newman |
| Sloop-of-War [Brig/Sloop] | 17 June 1778-May 1779 |
| Massachusetts Privateer Brig [Ship] | (2) Commander Thomas Thomas
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| Commissioned/First Date: | 17 June 1778 |
| Out of Service/Cause: | 14 August 1779/destroyed to prevent capture in the Penobscot River |
| Owners: | Nathaniel Tracy, John Tracy, Thomas Thomas, John Coffin Jones, all of Newburyport, Massachusetts |
| Tonnage: | 350-400 |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 17 June 1778 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 20/ Total: 20 cannon/ Broadside: 10 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: August 1778 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 18/ Total: 18 cannon/ Broadside: 9 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: August 1778 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 20/ Total: 20 cannon/ Broadside: 10 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 17 September 1778 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 20/6-pounder 120 pounds 60 pounds Total: 20 cannon/120 pounds Broadside: 10 cannon/60 pounds Swivels: |
| Crew: | (1) 17 June 1778: 121 [total]
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| Description: |
| Officers: | (1) First Lieutenant John Fletcher, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (2) Third Lieutenant William Wyer, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (3) Master John Beach, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (4) Master’s Mate William Coombs, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (5) Master’s Mate Dan Parsons, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (6) Midshipman Enoch Pike, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (7) Midshipman Aaron Potter, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (8) Midshipman James Thomas, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (9) Pilot Sam Fairfield, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (10) Pilot William Wilson, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (11) Lieutenant of Marines Joshua French, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (12) Surgeon Samuel Nye, August 1778-May 1779; (13) Surgeon Samuel Blanchard, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779; (14) Surgeon’s Mate Elias Davis, 27 June 1779-27 August 1779 |
| Cruises: | (1) Cape Ann, Massachusetts to La Coruña, Spain, 16 August 1778-[1] October 1778
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| Prizes: | (1) HM Packet Ship Harriot [Harriet] (Captain Samson Sprague), 17 September 1778, at 49°N, 20°W
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| Actions: | (1) Action with Harriot, 17 September 1778
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Comments:
The 350 to 400-ton1 Massachusetts Privateer Brig2 Vengeance (Commander Wingate Newman)3 was a twenty4 gun brig, manned by one hundred men.5 Her bond indicates she carried a crew of 120 men and is dated 17 June 1778.6 Another source indicates she was armed with twenty 6-pounders.7 Vengeance was owned and operated out of Newburyport, Massachusetts,8 by Nathaniel Tracy, John Tracy, Thomas Thomas, and John Coffin Jones.9 Newman was an experienced privateer commander, having been out in the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Hancock in September 1776.10 Aboard the Vengeance as Surgeon was Samuel Nye, who kept a journal of the cruise.11
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The performance bond for Massachusetts Privateer Brig Vengeance. Note the date, rig, battery and crew size given here. The original is for sale at Ten Pound Books.com. Reproduced by permission of Greg Gibson of Ten Pound Island Book Co. To see the item visit http://www.tenpound.com/159/76.html and go to item #88. For Ten Pound Island Book Co. go to http://www.tenpound.com |
Vengeance sailed from Cape Ann, Massachusetts on 16 August 1778, with the intention of intercepting a convoy bound from the West Indies to England, which had sailed about the same time. On 2 September 1778, at 41°13'N, 44°W the Vengeance encountered the fleet, but was driven away from it by two British frigates. These chased her for about four hours without coming up to her and then broke off and returned to the convoy. Four days later Vengeance encountered the same convoy, but, “. . . at the same time saw a ship standing to the Westward, I gave chase to her and lost sight of the fleet; but night coming on could not keep sight of her . . .”12
On 17 September, at 49°N, 20°W, she fell in with HM Packet Ship Harriot13 (or Harriet,14 Captain Samson Sprague15 [Sparge]).16 Harriot was bound from Falmouth, England to New York, having sailed17 about 2 September18 or 7 September.19 She was armed with sixteen 3-pounders and had a crew of forty-five men.20 Surgeon Nye reports the beginning of the encounter: “Sept 17 Lat 49 Discovered a sail at 9 AM bearing ENE 4 leagues distance at 3 PM got within cannon shot of her gave her two or three bow chasers and received as many stern chasers from her soon after which she hauled up her courses and gave a broadside but her guns being light the shot did not reach she then endeavored to get away by making sail again but found it impracticable she again lay to till we got within pistol shot of her and then gave us another broadside which was returned on our part and to such purpose as to oblige her to strike at once after having one man killed and six wounded . . .”21
After fifteen minutes the Harriot struck,22 with one killed and five wounded aboard.23 Vengeance had one man killed.24 Newman called this a “small resistance.” The crew was removed and the prize was manned and dispatched to Newburyport.25 She arrived in Boston about 19 October 1778.26 Harriot was advertised for sale on 9 November 1778, with the sale to be held on 11 November.27
Four days later, on 21 September, at 51°26'N, 19°27'W,28 Vengeance encountered another packet, snow Eagle (Captain Edward Spence29 [S. Spencer]30 armed with twelve31 or fourteen32 3-pounder33carriage guns and with sixty men aboard including military passengers. She was bound from New York to Falmouth,34 and had sailed about 24 July 1778.35 After another long chase the Eagle was brought to action, Newman again holding his fire until very close to the British.36 After a twenty minute fight the Eagle surrendered37 with two killed and six wounded.38 Among the dead was a Colonel Howard of the 1st Guards Regiment, one of the passengers.39 Among the other passengers were four40 lieutenant colonels,41 three majors,42 and a dragoon officer. en route from America. The Americans had one man wounded, Commander Newman, hit in the thigh by a musket ball. After removing his prisoners, Newman sent the Eagle off to Newburyport with a prize crew.43
Surgeon Nye reported this fight as follows: “Sept 21st Lat about 49 Discovered ourselves within a league of a sail at 7 AM came up with and engaged her She fought bravely fifteen or twenty minutes and then struck after having two of her people killed and four or five wounded one of them so badly I was obliged to amputate his leg The prize proved to be the Eagle Packet a snow Spence commander from New York to Falmouth out twenty eight days mounting twelve three pounders and having forty three men beside the following passengers Col Howard of the 1st Regiment Guards killed in the engagement Col McDonald 71st Regiment Highlanders Col Anstruther Col Stevens of the Guards Maj Barcley Maj Forbes and the Hon Maj afterwards Lord Charles Cathcart Capt of the Athol Highlanders and 2d Major of Lord Cathcart’s legion and brother to Lord Cathcart Mr Sloper cornet of horse two sergeants three or four servants and Miss Jane Marsh On board were some dry goods besides plate and cash to a considerable amount Got the prisoners on board our brig and sent Mr Thomas Newman prize master and a gang of our people aboard to repair her rigging We had no person hurt except Captain Newman who received a musket ball in the thigh wound not dangerous . . .”44
Newman now had “more prisoners aboard than my own number consisted of, my vessel excessive crank, and not much provisions on board, I determined to go to Bilboa in order to get rid of my prisoners and to refit my vessel, but on making Cape Ortugal the wind came to the Eastward and blew very hard, which obliged me to put into this port [La Coruña, Spain] . . .”45
Upon arriving in La Coruña, at some point before 4 October 1778,46 Newman turned his prisoners, all eighty-eight of them, plus a woman passenger,47 over to the British consul residing there, who was obligated to give a receipt for the future exchange of American prisoners.48 The British consul, Herman Katenkamp, notified his superiors on 1 October and enclosed a list of the prisoners, as well as a certificate from Newman requesting the commanders of American and French vessels to allow the prisoners to pass unmolested to England.49 This affair produced some ill feeling among the British and protests to the Spanish court, which led to a brief period of apparent inhospitality to the Americans by the Spanish.50
Among the prisoners was one Jonathan Nutting, a passenger aboard the Harriot. He had been wounded in the fight with Vengeance. Nutting, and presumably the other prisoners, arrived in England about six weeks later.51
Vengeance was back at sea in October 1778. She encountered the British Privateer Brig Defiance. Defiance was armed with fourteen guns and had a crew of seventy-two men aboard. An unusually tough fight followed before Vengeance forced the British to surrender. Newman lost eight men killed and wounded, the British lost fifteen killed and wounded.52
On 3 December 1778 Vengeance captured the brigantine Elizabeth, and, on 27 December, the brig Francis with a cargo of fish. These two prizes were apparently also sold in Spain.53
Vengeance sailed for America about mid April 1779. On 19 April she met the British letter-of-marque brigantine Mary, bound from Liverpool, England to Antigua in the British West Indies. Mary was armed with sixteen 4-pounders and had a crew of forty-eight men aboard. There seems to have been no fight involved in her capture. Vengeance returned to Newburyport from her cruise on 29 May 1779.54
Vengeance was overhauled at Newburyport and seems to have been converted into a ship during the overhaul. As she was nearing the end of her refit the British established a post at Penobscot, Maine. The Massachusetts authorities began raising an expedition to drive them out. Among the privateers recruited for this expedition was the Vengeance. Since the government was paying the crews for this expedition we have a reasonably full list of the officers aboard the Vengeance, dated from 27 June, the day she entered Massachusetts service: First Lieutenant John Fletcher,55 Third Lieutenant William Wyer,56 Master John Beach,57 Master’s Mate William Coombs,58 Master’s Mate Dan Parsons,59 Midshipman Enoch Pike,60 Midshipman Aaron Potter,61 Midshipman James Thomas,62 Pilot Sam Fairfield,63 Pilot William Wilson,64 Lieutenant of Marines Joshua French,65 and Surgeon’s Mate Elias Davis,66 Aboard as Surgeon was Samuel Blanchard of Boston, Massachusetts, from 27 June.67
Vengeance was re-commissioned on 30 June 1779 under Commander Thomas Thomas of Newburyport. She was noted as a “ship” measuring 350 tons and listed a battery of twenty guns and a crew of 120 men. The petition for her commission was signed by Samuel White for Nathaniel Tracy and others of Newburyport.68
Vengeance was a participant in the ill-fated Penobscot Expedition of 1779, and was destroyed in the Penobscot River to prevent her capture on 14 August 1779.69 One of the crew of the Vengeance has left a few comments concerning her participation in the expedition. Micajah Lunt of Newburyport reported, in a later statement, that “ . . . in the year 1779 1 shipped in Newburyport on board the armed ship Vengeance commanded by Thomas Thomas in the expedition to Penobscot which ship was driven up the river by the British fleet and with others in the expedition was burnt by order of the Commodore to prevent them falling into the hands of the British their crews took to the woods and on foot found their way back to the province of Massachusetts.”70 All the crew were discharged from Massachusetts service on 27 August 1779.
1 Blake, Euphemia Vale, History of Newburyport; from the Earliest Settlement of the Country to the Present Time with a Biographical Appendix, Press of Dambell and Moore, Newburyport: 1854, 116
2 Maclay, American Privateers, 117; Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359; Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 314; Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 308, refers to her as a ship; 219, as a brig; Howe, Beverly Privateers in the Revolution, 425, as a ship. Her commander, Wingate Newman, referred to her as a brig. The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778. See the illustration reproduced here for a more definitive classification.
3 Maclay, American Privateers, 117; Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779
4 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779
5 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 117
6 See the bond illustration.
7 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History or Biography, XIV, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: 1890, 93, from The London Chronicle, October 22-24, 1778
8 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359
9 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
10 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 219
11 Blake, History of Newburyport, 117, from Surgeon Samuel Nye’s Journal
12 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
13 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359, from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778. Here the packet is spelled Hariot. The British date the capture to 18 September, at 49°N, 22°W. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History or Biography, XIV, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: 1890, 93, from The London Chronicle, October 22-24, 1778.
14 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 117
15 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
16 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History or Biography, XIV, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: 1890, 93, from The London Chronicle, October 22-24, 1778
17 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778; The Massachusetts Spy: Or, American Oracle of Liberty [Worcester], October 29, 1778, datelined Boston, October 22
18 Blake, History of Newburyport, 117, from Surgeon Samuel Nye’s Journal
19 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778; The Massachusetts Spy: Or, American Oracle of Liberty [Worcester], October 29, 1778, datelined Boston, October 22
20 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778; Blake, History of Newburyport, 117, from Surgeon Samuel Nye’s Journal
21 Blake, History of Newburyport, 117, from Surgeon Samuel Nye’s Journal
22 The Massachusetts Spy: Or, American Oracle of Liberty [Worcester], October 29, 1778, datelined Boston, October 22
23 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History or Biography, XIV, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: 1890, 93, from The London Chronicle, October 22-24, 1778
24 The Massachusetts Spy: Or, American Oracle of Liberty [Worcester], October 29, 1778, datelined Boston, October 22
25 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
26 The Massachusetts Spy: Or, American Oracle of Liberty [Worcester], October 29, 1778, datelined Boston, October 22
27 The Independent Ledger, and the American Advertiser [Boston], November 9, 1778
28 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History or Biography, XIV, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: 1890, 93, from The London Chronicle, October 22-24, 1778
29 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
30 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History or Biography, XIV, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: 1890, 93, from The London Chronicle, October 22-24, 1778
31 Blake, History of Newburyport, 117, from Surgeon Samuel Nye’s Journal
32 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
33 Blake, History of Newburyport, 117, from Surgeon Samuel Nye’s Journal
34 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
35Blake, History of Newburyport, 117, from Surgeon Samuel Nye’s Journal
36 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 117
37 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
38 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History or Biography, XIV, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: 1890, 93, from The London Chronicle, October 22-24, 1778
39 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
40 Maclay, Privateers, 117; Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779
41 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 118
42 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 118; Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779
43 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
44 Blake, History of Newburyport, 117, from Surgeon Samuel Nye’s Journal
45 The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
46 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 360; The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, Monday, January 11, 1779, in a letter from Newman dated 4 October 1778
47 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History or Biography, XIV, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: 1890, 93, from The London Chronicle, October 22-24, 1778
48 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 359 from a letter by Newman in the Boston Post, January 9, 1779. In 16 August 1779 the Marine Committee forwarded a list of Newman’s released prisoners to Colonel John Beatty at West Point to use in prisoner exchanges. NRAR, 113.
49 Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Mackie & Co., Ltd, London: 1904, I, 307-308
50 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, i, 360
51 Batchelder, Samuel Francis, The Life and Surprising Adventures of John Nutting Cambridge Loyalist, and His Strange Connection with the Penobscot Expedition of 1779, Cambridge Historical Society, Cambridge: 1912, 77
52 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History or Biography, XIV, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: 1890, 93, from The London Chronicle, October 22-24, 1778
53 Coffin, Joshua, A Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury, from 1635 to 1845, Samuel G. Drake: Boston, 1845, 408, extracted from Nye’s Journal
54 Coffin, A Sketch of the History of Newbury, 408, extracted from Nye’s Journal
55 MASSRW, 5:776
56 MASSRW, 17:972
57 MASSRW, 1:837
58 MASSRW, 3:972
59 MASSRW, 11:693
60 MASSRW, 12:397
61 MASSRW, 12:617
62 MASSRW, 15:640
63 MASSRW, 5:474
64 MASSRW, 17:583
65 MASSRW, 6:83
66 MASSRW, 4:485
67 Howe, Beverly Privateers in the Revolution, 425
68 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 324-315
69 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 118; Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 324-315
70 Blake, History of Newburyport, 118-119, from Micajah Lunt’s statement
| Revised 18 November 2009 |
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