Name of Vessel:

[unknown]

Master of Vessel:

Rig of Vessel:

Sloop

Date of Capture:

22 August 1775

Place of Capture:

Warwick, Rhode Island

Captor:

Rhode Island Navy Sloop Katy; Rhode Island Navy Sloop Washington; Rhode Island militia

Home Port:

From What Port:

West Indies

To What Port:

Providence, Rhode Island

Cargo:

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Providence, Rhode Island

Into What Port:

Providence, Rhode Island

Date Arrived:

22 August 1775

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

Yes

Recaptured:

No

Comments: On 22 August 1775 HM Frigates Rose and Glasgow and HM Sloop Swan sailed from Newport, Rhode Island proceeding up the Providence River. Eight miles from the river two of them ran aground and the other anchored. Soon after a sloop and a brig were sighted, inward bound. The British sent a barge and three cutters to secure the two vessels, which drove ashore at Warwick. The boats' crews boarded the prizes, in sight of a large crowd which had gathered on the shore. Unknown to the British, a small convoy was being assembled in Warwick to be escorted down river by Rhode Island Navy Sloops Katy and Washington. These came out and took the British under fire. Militia had assembled ashore and began shooting too. Everytime the British approached the windlass to warp off the prizes they were driven away by musketry. Finally, after three and a half hours, the brig was gotten afloat, with the master still aboard: he refused to leave. The sloop was abandoned and recaptured by the Americans. As she passed upriver the British warships fired on her. No American casualties were reported.

[NDAR, I, 1277]

Revised 2 December 2008