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Massachusetts Privateer Schooner Viper |
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| Viper | (1) Commander Benjamin Chapman |
| Schooner | 14 April 1778- |
| Massachusetts Privateer Schooner | (2) Commander Joseph Pitman [Pickman]
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| Commissioned/First Date: | 14 April 1778 |
| Out of Service/Cause: |
| Owners: | (1) Henry Rust and Israel Hutchinson of Salem, Massachusetts; (2) Henry Rust et al of Salem, Massachusetts |
| Tonnage: | 33 |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 14 April 1778 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside
Total: Broadside: Swivels: fourteen Date Reported: 30 September 1778 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside
Total: Broadside: Swivels: fourteen |
| Crew: | (1) 14 April 1778: 31 [total]
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| Description: |
| Officers: | (1) First Lieutenant Joseph Pickman [Pitman], 14 April 1778-30 September 1778; (2) First Lieutenant Joseph Gavit, 30 September 1778- |
| Cruises: | (1) Salem, Massachusetts to [Salem, Massachusetts], June 1778-July 1778 |
| Prizes: | (1) Brig Success (Francis Harriman), 22 June 1778, off the Magdalen Islands, Nova Scotia
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| Actions: |
Comments:
The 33-ton Massachusetts Privateer Schooner Viper was commissioned on 14 April 1778 under Commander Benjamin Chapman of Salem, Massachusetts. She was listed as having a battery of fourteen swivel and a crew of thirty men. Her $5000 Continental and £4000 Massachusetts bonds were signed by Chapman and by Henry Rust and Israel Hutchinson, both of Salem. Rust and Hutchinson were listed as owners.1 Joseph Pickman [Pitman] served aboard as First Lieutenant.2
The brig Success (Francis Harriman) was bound from London, England to Mirimichi, Nova Scotia with a cargo of salt, pork, beef, bread, flour and dry goods. About 22 June 1778, off the Magdalen Islands, she met the Massachusetts Privateer Schooner Viper (Commander Benjamin Chapman). Viper, according to the British, had fourteen swivel guns mounted on the comings of her hatches and a crew of thirty men aboard, and was sailing out of Salem, Massachusetts. The Viper chased the Success for nearly four hours. The wind fell off and it became calm, allowing the Americans to row up to the Success. The privateer fired at the brig and ordered her to come alongside the Viper. Harriman couldn’t manage his brig with no wind and couldn’t get a gun to bear on the Viper, so he surrendered. The American boarding party removed Harriman and two men and put a prize crew of eight men aboard, with orders to proceed to Salem with the Success. On 5 July 1778, near Monhagen Island, Massachusetts [Maine], the Success met HM Frigate Rainbow (Captain Sir George Collier) and her tender, schooner True Blue. The tender stopped the brig and Rainbow sent a prize crew aboard and sent her into Halifax, Nova Scotia.3
Chapman evidently captured one other vessel on this cruise, the 40-ton schooner Two Friends (Stephen Atwood), and got her into port. He libeled the Two Friends on 23 July 1778, and she was tried on 12 August 1778.4
Viper was re-commissioned on 30 September 1778 under Commander Joseph Pitman of Salem, promoted from First Lieutenant. She was listed with the same battery and crew as before. Her $5000 Continental and £4000 Massachusetts bonds were signed by Pitman and by Rust and Joseph Leach of Salem.5 First Lieutenant Joseph Gavit took Pitman’s place as second officer.6
1 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 317
2 MASSRW 12:358
3 “List of Vessels seized, destroyed or retaken by the American Squadron between the 25th of October 1777, and the 28th of September 1778, according to the Returns received by the Vice Admiral the Viscount Howe, exclusive of those seized or destroyed by His Majesty’s Ships in Chesapeake Bay, and on the Parts of the Coast of North America to the Southward thereof, of which a Return was made on the 23rd of April 1778,” in The London Gazette, Saturday, November 21, to Tuesday, November 24, 1778; see Hammond; AVCR. 78
4 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], July 23, 1778
5 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 317
6 MASSRW, 6:331
| Posted 6 January 2010 |
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