| Back to W |
 |
Connecticut Privateer Brigantine Whim |
|
| Whim | Commander Joseph Conkling |
| Armed Brig | 16 June 1780- |
| Connecticut Privateer Brigantine |
| Commissioned/First Date: | 16 June 1780 |
| Out of Service/Cause: |
| Owners: | Joseph Packwood of New London, Connecticut |
| Tonnage: |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 16 June 1780 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 12/ Total: 12 cannon/ Broadside: 6 cannon/ Swivels: |
| Crew: | 16 June 1780: 41 [total] |
| Description: |
| Officers: | (1) First Lieutenant Pinkham, 16 June 1780-[May] 1781 |
| Cruises: | (1) New London, Connecticut to Pointe du Grouin de Cou, France, [June] 1780-23 July 1780
|
| Prizes: |
| Actions: |
Comments:
Connecticut Privateer Brigantine Whim was commissioned under Commander Joseph Conkling, of Groton, Connecticut, on 16 June 1780. Whim was listed as armed with twelve guns and having a crew of forty men. Her bond for $20,000 was executed by Conkling, Joseph Packwood and Dudley Wright of New London. Her owner was listed as Joseph Packwood of New London.1
Whim sailed for La Rochelle, France with a cargo of tobacco not too long after she was commissioned. On the night of 22/23 July 1780, Whim went onshore at Pointe du Grouin de Cou, near the village of La Tranche-sur-Mer, on the north side of the Pertuis Breton (the “Sluice of Breton”). With the assistance of one Et: Dechezeaux, of La Flotte on the Île de Rè the brig was refloated, and the cargo salved. Now the French Admiralty officials at Les Sables-d’Olonne got involved. Dechezeaux referred Conkling to Pierre Borde, located at La Rochelle. Borde said later that “The most unnecessary formality of the poor ignorant officers of the Admiralty at Sables D’Olonnes to have referred Captn. Conckling’s case to Le Conseil des Prises, before allowing him the Liberty of his Brigg & Cargoe (which no other officers in any Port of the Kingdom would have done) tho’ the papers were very regular, the long time Le Conseil des prises was about it, on which I advised Captn. Conckling to apply to Your Excellency.” The Excellency in question was Benjamin Franklin, one of the American Commissioners in France.2
 |
A mpdern map of the area of Conkling's commercial adventures. La Rochelle is the urban area at the lower right. From Geoportail. Larger view here. |
|
Conkling consequently appealed, on 10 August 1780,3 to Franklin for assistance in recovering his brig and cargo. Franklin, in turn, asked for help from the French Minister of Marine, Gabriel de Sartine, in a letter dated 16 August 1780.4 On 19 August Sartine passed along the documents relating to the brig to the Conseil des Prises, and notified Franklin that he expected a prompt resolution.5 On 21 August Franklin notified Conkling. Whim was then at the village of La Flotte, on the Île de Rè.6
Conkling had still not recovered his vessel or the cargo by 14 September 1780, when he again appealed to Franklin. The cargo was at La Tranche-sur-Mer, the brig was at La Flotte, and a decision by the Council of Prizes was needed to liberate them. If it came too late Conkling would have difficulty in reloading the tobacco. The stress of this whole affair had made him ill.7 Conkling tried again on 9 October 1780, this time sending the letter in person by one of his officers, Lieutenant Pinkham. He still had not recovered his brig, cargo or guns, and time was running out.8
Finally, in November the tobacco was recovered from La Tranche-sur-Mer and brought to La Rochelle.9 Conkling wrote to Franklin on 23 January 1781, announcing that the brig was repaired, and that he was negotiating with the Fermiers-Gener*l to buy his tobacco. Whim was now at La Rochelle.10 The tobacco was so damaged that the Fermiers-Gener*l offered a very low price indeed, so low that Conkling and Borde elected to wait a better offer. In January they sold the least undamaged of the tobacco. Conkling, faced with a disastrous voyage, wrote to Franklin on 23 January 1781, announcing that the brig was repaired, and that he was negotiating with the Fermers-Gener*l to buy his tobacco. Because of the long delay he requested a freight from France to the French fleet at Rhode Island, payment in advance. He also offered to take dispatches from the American Commissioners: “Your Excellency may assure Said Secretary of State of my making the most quick Dispatch there My Brigg being one the best sailing vessel that ever was built which can attest the Young Mr. Gurdon Mumford and if Your Excellency & the Court of France have Dispatches of the greatest consequence for the Congress and the French Fleet and Army to be sent there, no one vessel more proper than mine;”11 A letter to Franklin in almost the same exact words indicated that Whim was still at La Rochelle on 17 February 1781.12
The whole process had been debilitating for Conkling and exasperating for his crew. According to Borde “all this Misery poor Captn Conckling was Sick most all the time & His Crew troublesome now & then, for once the Boatswain at the Head, all went to the house where he Boarded, and insisted on Money or to be discharg’d on which I waited on the Commissioner of the Navy (Le Commissaire de la Marine) who had the Boatswain & two men confin’d ‘till Captn Conckling was pleased to have them out again” When no answer to the last requests came, Conkling loaded a small cargo of salt, liquors, and steel and sailed for home. He also carried a bill from Borde for an enormous sum of money.13
About 10 May 1781 the brig arrived in Boston, Massachusetts.14
1 NRAR, 492; Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During the Revolution, II, 243; Emmons, 168
2 Letter, Pierre Borde to Benjamin Franklin, 30 June 1781, at Franklin Papers.org
3 Letter, Pierre Borde to Benjamin Franklin, 30 June 1781, at Franklin Papers.org
4 Letter, Franklin to Sartine, 16 August 1780, at Franklin Papers.org
5 Sartine to Franklin, 19 August 1780, at Franklin Papers.org
6 Letter, Franklin to Conkling, 21 August 1780, at Franklin Papers.org
7 Letter, Franklin to Sartine, 16 August 1780; Conkling to Franklin, 14 September 1780, at Franklin Papers.org
8 Letter, Conkling to Franklin, 9 October 1780, at Franklin Papers.org
9 Letter, Pierre Borde to Benjamin Franklin, 30 June 1781, at Franklin Papers.org
10 Letter, Conkling to Franklin, 23 January 1781, at Franklin Papers.org
11 Letter, Conkling to Franklin, 23 January 1781, at Franklin Papers.org
12 Letter, Conkling to Franklin, 17 February 1781, at Franklin Papers.org
13 Letter, Pierre Borde to Benjamin Franklin, 30 June 1781, at Franklin Papers.org
14 The Norwich Packet and the Weekly Advertiser, May 17, 1781
| Posted 11 April 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|