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Connecticut Privateer Boat Viper |
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| Viper | (1) Commander Ebenezer Jones |
| Patrol Craft | 17 December 1781- |
| Massachusetts Privateer Boat | (2) Commander Isaac Jones
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| Commissioned/First Date: | 17 December 1781 |
| Out of Service/Cause: |
| Owners: | (1) Ebenezer Jones of Stamford, Connecticut; (2) Isaac Jones of Stamford, Connecticut |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 17 December 1781 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 1/ Total: 1 cannon/ Broadside: 1 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 30 May 1782 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 1/ Total: 1 cannon/ Broadside: 1 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | (1) 17 December 1781: 10 [total]
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| Description: |
| Officers: |
| Cruises: |
| Prizes: | (1) Boat [unknown], [December] 1782, with Connecticut Privateer Boat Hawk and Connecticut Privateer Boat Jay
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| Actions: |
Comments:
Connecticut Privateer Boat Viper was first commissioned on 17 May 1781 under Commander Ebenezer Jones of Stamford, Connecticut. She was listed as having one gun and a crew of ten men. Viper was one of three boats covered under the same commission, all having identical batteries and crew. The other two were Connecticut Privateer Boat Rattlesnake and Connecticut Privateer Boat Saratoga. All three were bonded for $20,000 by Jones, John Davenport, Jr. of Stamford, and James Cogswell of Stamford.1
Another commission was obtained on 30 May 1782, listing Isaac Jones as commander and owner. Three boats were again covered, including the Viper, but Rattlesnake and Saratoga were dropped, being replaced by Connecticut Privateer Boat Jay and Connecticut Privateer Boat Hawk. All three were bonded for $20,000 by Jones, John Davenport, Jr. of Stamford, and Samuel Lockwood, Jr. of Greenwich, Connecticut.2
In December 1782, one or the other of the Joneses captured several vessels in Long Island Sound. These were libeled in the Maritime Court of Fairfield County, Connecticut on 21 December 1782, with trial set for 8 January 1783. The vessels libeled by Ebenezer Jones were (1) a boat with a cargo of beef, proceeding to the British, captured in Long Island Sound; (2) another boat with a cargo of beef, proceeding to the British, captured in Long Island Sound; (3) the 45-ton sloop Good Luck (Anthony Selleck); (4) the 35-ton schooner Peggy (John Euvidite) with a cargo of dry goods; and (5) a small boat taken in the sound with salt. Isaac Jones libeled a 30-ton sloop with a cargo of wood.3
On 5 January 1783 he captured the sloop Sally and sloop Betsey. In March 1783 two British sloops and a schooner were captured.4
1 NRAR, 432, 487
2 NRAR, 358, 487
3 The Connecticut Journal [New Haven], Thursday, January 2, 1783
4 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 169. Claghorn assigns these captures to Ebenezer Jones, not Isaac Jones, but if Claghorn's dates are correct, they must be Isaac's.
| Posted 6 January 2010 |
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