Wilkes	Commander William Cunningham
Armed Brig	23 March 1781-May 1782
Virginia Privateer Brigantine

Commissioned/First Date:	23 March 1781
Out of Service/Cause:	May 1782/captured by the British

Owners:

Samuel B. Cunningham & Co. of Virginia [and Hunter, Banks & Co.]

Tonnage:

Battery:

Date Reported: 15 March 1781 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 12/ Total: 12 cannon/ Broadside: 6 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 19 March 1781 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 12/4-pounder     48 pounds   24 pounds Total: 12 cannon/48 pounds Broadside: 6 cannon/24 pounds Swivels: Date Reported: 22 March 1781 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 12/3-pounder and 4-pounder Total: 12 cannon/ Broadside: 6 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 23 March 1781 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 14/ Total: 14 cannon/ Broadside: 7 cannon/ Swivels: Date Reported: 22 October 1781 Number/Caliber  Weight        Broadside 16/ Total: 16 cannon/ Broadside: 8 cannon/ Swivels:

Crew:

(1) 22 March 1781: 20 [total] (2) 23 March 1781: 51 [total] (3) 22 October 1781: 101 [total]

Description:

Officers:

Cruises:

(1) Virginia to sea, April 1782-May 1782

Prizes:

Actions:

(1) Battle of Osborne’s Landing, 27 April 1781

Comments:

Virginia Privateer Brigantine Wilkes was commissioned under Commander William Cunningham, of Virginia, on 23 March 1781. Wilkes was listed as armed with fourteen guns and having a crew of fifty men. Her bond for $20,000 was executed by Cunningham and Samuel B. Cunningham and Reuben Coutts, of Virginia.¹

Wilkes was impressed by the Virginia authorities in early March 1781, just as she was preparing for sea, with a cargo of tobacco aboard. The invasion of Virginia was the cause.² She was with the Virginia Navy fleet 15 March, when she was listed as having twelve guns. The impressed vessels needed to be valued, as “the Capt: will not gow any lower ‘till that is done.” There was a lack of provisions and the sailors were grumbling because there were no“Spirits.”³ On 16 March her owner received a report that the crew had left the brig. He hurried down to the Wilkes, but found too few men aboard to work the brig.⁴ Even so, Jefferson, in a letter to LaFayette, on 19 March, reported she was with the fleet at Hood’s, and listed her as being armed with twelve 4-pounders.⁵ On 22 March she was with the state fleet at Turkey Island. She was reported to have twelve 3-pounders and 4-pounders and twenty men aboard.⁶

Wilkes was at Osborne’s Landing with other vessels, both impressed and Virginia Navy vessels, in late March 1781. She was sunk and her cargo destroyed during the following battle on 27 April.⁷

But that is not the end of the story. Wilkes was seemingly, raised and refitted. On 22 October 1781 the Wilkes was re-commissioned, with a battery of sixteen guns and a crew of 100 men. Her commander remained Cunningham, and her new bond for $20,000 was signed by the two Cunninghams.⁸ In January 1782 Hunter Banks & Co. bought half the Wilkes from Cunningham.⁹

Wilkes was now loaded with another cargo of tobacco and sailed for the West Indies in April 1782. She was captured by the British in May 1782.¹⁰ She was sent in to New York, New York. She was tried and condemned there.¹¹

¹ NRAR, 494

¹ NRAR, 492; Emmons, 168

² Virginia Reports, Jefferson-33 Grattan, 1730-1880, Charlottesville: The Minchie Company, 1902, 744-746

³ Robert Mitchell to Thomas Jefferson, March 15, 1781, in Palmer, William P. [ed.], Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts, 1652-1781, Richmond: Superintendent of Public Printing, 1875. Vol. I, 573

⁴ Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts ... Preserved in the Capitol at Richmond: April 1-December 31, 1781, 101-102

⁵ Jefferson, Thomas, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Washington: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903, vo. IV, 392-394, Thomas Jefferson to Major General Marquis De Lafayette, March 19, 1781

⁶ David Ross to Thomas Jefferson, March 22, 1781, in Palmer, William P. [ed.], Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts, 1652-1781, Richmond: Superintendent of Public Printing, 1875. Vol. I, 588

⁷ Virginia Reports, Jefferson-33 Grattan, 1730-1880, Charlottesville: The Minchie Company, 1902, 744-746

⁸ NRAR, 492; Emmons, 168

⁹ The Papers of John Marshall, V: Selected Law Cases, 1784-1800, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, 175

¹⁰ The Papers of John Marshall, V: Selected Law Cases, 1784-1800, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, 175

¹¹ HCA 32/489/10/1-15

Posted 9 April 2011

web counter