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Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Venus |
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| Venus | Commander Samuel Dunn. Jr. |
| Sloop-of-War [Brig/Sloop] | 7 July 1777- |
| Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine |
| Commissioned/First Date: | 7 July 1777 |
| Out of Service/Cause: |
| Owners: | Samuel Dunn and James Swan of Boston, Massachusetts |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 7 July 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 12/ Total: 12 cannon/ Broadside: 6 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | 7 July 1777: 66 [total] |
| Description: |
| Officers: |
| Cruises: | (1) New London, Connecticut, to the West Indies, January 1778-
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| Prizes: |
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Comments:
Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Venus was commissioned on 7 July 1777 under Commander Samuel Dunn, Jr. of Boston, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with twelve guns and as having a crew of sixty-five men. Her $10000 Continental bond was executed by Dunn and by James Swan and William Corlis, both of Boston.1
In January 1779 Venus sailed from New London, Connecticut, bound for the West Indies.2 About April 1779 Venus was at Cap François, Saint Domingue. She sailed for Massachusetts with several passengers aboard. En route she was overhauled by a British privateer and captured. Dunn, thinking that the privateer would only send a few men aboard, instructed his passengers to go below and conceal themselves. The British did send only a few men aboard for the prize crew. Before the men could be exchanged the privateer sighted another sail and chased it. The men concealed below rushed the deck soon after, recaptured the brig, and brought her safe into Plymouth, Massachusetts about 15 May 1779.3
1 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 315
2 The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [New London], Thursday, May 27, 1779
3 The American Journal And General Advertiser Providence], Thursday, May 20, 1779, quoting a letter from Boston, Massachusetts of May 17, 1779
| Revised 14 December 2009 |
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