Venus	Commander George Thomas Nicolson
Armed Ship	3 July 1782-
Massachusetts Privateer Ship

Commissioned/First Date:	3 July 1782
Out of Service/Cause:

Owners:

William Gray et al of Salem, Massachusetts

Tonnage:

Battery:

Date Reported: 3 July 1782 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels:

Crew:

3 July 1782: 21 [total]

Description:

Officers:

Cruises:

(1) Martinique, French West Indies to New Bedford, Massachusetts, [6] January 1783-[20] January 1783

Prizes:

(1) Schooner Star (Thomas Brooks), [January] 1783

Actions:

Comments:

Massachusetts Privateer Ship Venus was commissioned on 3 July 1782 under Commander Thomas Nicolson¹ (or Nicholson)² of Salem, Massachusetts. She was listed as having ten guns and twenty men in her crew. Venus was bonded for $20,000 by Nicolson, William Gray, Jr. of Salem, and Benjamin West.³

Venus was in Martinique, in the French West Insies, in early January 1783. She sailed from there about 6 January and arrived at Bedford [New Bedford], Massachusetts, in fourteen days (about 20 January).⁴ On 27 January 1783 the newspapers reported that Venus had captured a schooner out of New York, which had arrived in Boston on 26 January.⁵ This was probably the 85-ton schooner Star, which was advertised for sale, along with her cargo of timber, on 15 February 1783, with the sale to be held on 21 February.⁶ The 60-ton schooner Star (Thomas Brooks) was libeled on 20 March 1783, with her trial set for 25 March.⁷

¹ NRAR, 486

² Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 222

³ NRAR, 486

⁴ The Pennsylvania Packet or the General Advertiser [Philadelphia], Saturday, February 8, 1783, datelined Boston, January 25, 1783

⁵ Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 316, from the Boston Gazette of 27 January 1782

⁶ The Boston Evening-Post and the General Advertiser, Saturday, February 15, 1783

⁷ The Independent Chronicle, and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, March 20, 1783

Posted 23 December 2009

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