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Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Yankee Ranger |
| Yankee Ranger | (1) Commander John Warner [Warren] |
| Armed Sloop | 19 July 1776- |
| Rhode Island Privateer Sloop | (2) Commander Samuel Tripp [Trip]
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| Commissioned/First Date: | 19 July 1776 |
| Out of Service/Cause: |
| Owners: | (1) William Wall [Wallace], Richard Salter and Joseph Tillinghast, all of Providence, Rhode Island, and possibly Nicholas Brown of Providence, Rhode Island; (2) William Wall and Nicholas Brown; (3) William Earle |
| Tonnage: | 25 |
| Battery: | Date Reported: 19 July 1776 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 4/2-pounder 8 pounds 4 pounds Total: 4 cannon/8 pounds Broadside: 2 cannon/4 pounds Swivels: six |
| Crew: | 19 July 1776: 29 [total] |
| Description: |
| Officers: | (1) First Lieutenant Holiman Warner, 19 July 1776-; (2) Second Lieutenant John Kilton, 19 July 1776-; (3) Master Daniel Simons, 19 July 1776- |
| Cruises: | (1) Providence, Rhode Island to sea and return, 3 August 1776-[10] September 1776
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| Prizes: | (1) Brigantine Bee (Thomas Davis), 21 August 1776, with Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Montgomery
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| Actions: |
Comments:
The owners of Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Yankee Ranger applied for her commission on 19 July 1776. They listed themselves as William Wall, Richard Salter and Joseph Tillinghast, all of Providence, Rhode Island. The Yankee Ranger was stated to be a twenty-five ton sloop, armed with four 2-pounders and six swivel guns, and manned with twenty-five men. Her commander was listed as John Warner1 [Warren]2 of Providence;3 other officers were Holiman Warner as First Lieutenant, John Kilton as Second Lieutenant and Daniel Simons as Master. Yankee Ranger’s $5000 bond was signed the same day.4
Warner and Yankee Ranger sailed on 3 August 1776. On 15 August, at 35°05´N, 60°25´W, the Massachusetts Navy Sloop Tyrannicide (Captain John Fisk) was spoken.5 The Yankee Ranger then met the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Montgomery (Commander William Rhodes) and the two cruised together. On 21 August 17766 the 140-ton brig7 or brigantine Bee (Thomas Davis) was captured. Bee had a cargo of coffee, cocoa, sugar, whale oil, and cotton, and was bound from Dominica to Lancaster, England. Bee was sent into Providence.8 Also captured by the two sloops was 130-ton brigantine Sally (Jacob Snowball), from Antigua bound to London with sugar, whalebone, and oil.9 The 150-ton brigantine John10 (John Ahier), St. Croix to Dunkerque11 or Guernsey,12 was also captured by the two privateer sloops.13 She also carried a cargo of cotton, coffee, and oil.14 The Yankee Ranger had returned to port some time before 13 September.15
By 23 September the Yankee Ranger was preparing for sea again, but with a different commander, Samuel Trip.16 Trip (or Tripp) was commissioned on 24 September, with Nicholas Brown and William Wall listed as owners.17 When she actually did sail however, it was under David Simons as commander. Simons (or Simmons) was commissioned on 4 October 1776. William Earle was listed as the owner of the sloop.18
Simons proceeded to the area of Nantucket where, instead of attacking British shipping, he aggravated the local inhabitants. On 26 November 1776, Simons captured the schooner Nightingale, wholly owned in Nantucket, but recently captured and condemned by the British in the West Indies. The owner’s agent had repurchased the schooner at her sale, then loaded her with molasses and proceeded from Hispaniola to Nantucket. Simons retained possession of the schooner despite pleas from the locals. Finally, William Rotch, one of the principals, appealed to Nicholas Brown, reputedly the main owner of the Yankee Ranger.19 Evidently this appeal worked to release the schooner, for, on 19 February 1777, Rotch was seeking permission from the Massachusetts Council for her to sail on a voyage.20
1 NDAR, “William Wall, Richard Salter and Joseph Tillinghast to Governor Nicholas Cooke,” V, 1142-1143 and 1143 note
2 Sheffield, An Address Delivered by William P. Sheffield before the Rhode Island Historical Society, 59
3 NDAR, “Libel in Rhode Island Maritime Court of the British Prize Brigantine Bee,” VI, 803-804
4 NDAR, “William Wall, Richard Salter and Joseph Tillinghast to Governor Nicholas Cooke,” V, 1142-1143 and 1143 note
5 NDAR, “Journal of the Massachusetts Sloop Tyrannicide, Captain John Fisk,” VI, 194
6 NDAR, “Libel in Rhode Island Maritime Court of the British Prize Brigantine Bee,” VI, 803-804; “Libels of Esek Hopkins and Captains Jabez Whipple, John Warner, and William Rhodes Against Various Prize Vessels,” VI, 820-821
7 NDAR, “List of All the Vessels Cargoes &c Brought into the Port of Providence and Libelled Tried and condemned in the Maritime Court AD 1776,” VII, 642-647
8 NDAR, “Libel in Rhode Island Maritime Court of the British Prize Brigantine Bee,” VI, 803-804; “Libels of Esek Hopkins and Captains Jabez Whipple, John Warner, and William Rhodes Against Various Prize Vessels,” VI, 820-821; “List of All the Vessels Cargoes &c Brought into the Port of Providence and Libelled Tried and condemned in the Maritime Court AD 1776,” VII, 642-647
9 NDAR, “Libels of Esek Hopkins and Captains Jabez Whipple, John Warner, and William Rhodes Against Various Prize Vessels,” VI, 820-821
10 NDAR, 7 “List of All the Vessels Cargoes &c Brought into the Port of Providence and Libelled Tried and condemned in the Maritime Court AD 1776,” VII, 642-647
11 NDAR, “Permission Granted to British Prisoners in Rhode Island to Depart for Great Britain,” VII, 165-168
12 NDAR, “Public Advertiser, Monday, October 21, 1776,” VII, 706
13 NDAR, “Permission Granted to British Prisoners in Rhode Island to Depart for Great Britain,” VII, 165-168
14 Maclay, History of American Privateers, 71
15 NDAR, “Libel in Rhode Island Maritime Court of the British Prize Brigantine Bee,” VI, 803-804
16 NDAR, “Assignment of One-Sixteenth of a Prize Share in the Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Yankee Ranger,” VI, 955
17 Sheffield, An Address Delivered by William P. Sheffield before the Rhode Island Historical Society, 58
18 Sheffield, An Address Delivered by William P. Sheffield before the Rhode Island Historical Society, 59
19 NDAR, “William Rotch to Nicholas Brown,” VII, 292-293 and 293 note
20 NDAR, “Petition of Edward Gray to the Massachusetts Council,” VII, 1218-1219
| Revised 7 August 2009 |
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