Wilkes	Commander John Foster Williams
Sloop-of-War [Brig/Sloop]	17 July 1777-4 August 1777
Massachusetts Privateer Brig [Brigantine]

Commissioned/First Date:	17 July 1777
Out of Service/Cause:	4 August 1777/driven ashore and blown up by HM Frigates Orpheus and Amazon

Owners:

Caleb Davis, Gustavus Fellows, John Tileston et al, of Boston, Massachusetts

Tonnage:

Battery:

Date Reported: 17 July 1777 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 14/ Total: 14 cannon/ Broadside: 7 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 4 August 1777 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 18 [16]/ Total: 18 [16] cannon/ Broadside: 9 [8] cannon/ Swivels:

Crew:

17 July 1777: 101 [total]

Description:

Officers:

Cruises:

(1) Boston, Massachusetts to Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, [2] August 1777-4 August 1777

Prizes:

Actions:

(1) Action off Chatham [with Orpheus and Amazon], 4 August 1777

Comments:

Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Wilkes was commissioned on 17 July 1777 under ex-Massachusetts Navy captain John Foster Williams of Boston, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with fourteen guns and as having a crew of 100 men. Her $10000 Continental bond was signed by Williams and by Caleb Davis, Gustavus Fellows and John Tileston, all of Boston.¹

Armed with either sixteen or eighteen guns, she sailed on her maiden cruise with 100 men about 2 August 1777, trying to elude the blockading British frigates. She was sighted by HM Frigate Orpheus, twenty-one miles NNE of Cape Cod, at 0400 on 4 August. Orpheus promptly gave chase. At 0730 Wilkes ran ashore near Cape Cod. The crew began cutting away her masts, but abandoned ship at 0800 when HM Frigate Amazon came up and took her under fire. Wilkes soon caught fire and blew up at 1030. Two of her crew were lost in the brief fight.²

¹ Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 326

² NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Orpheus, Captain Charles Hudson,” IX, 710-711 and 711 note

Posted 10 April 2011

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