Name of Vessel:

Two Brothers

Master of Vessel:

John Salter

Rig of Vessel:

Schooner

Date of Capture:

27 December 1776

Place of Capture:

To windward of Barbados, British West Indies

Captor:

Connecticut Privateer Sloop American Revenue

Home Port:

From What Port:

Cork, Ireland

To What Port:

Jamaica, British West Indies

Cargo:

Beef, pork, butter, bread, flour, cheese, fish, oats, and salt

Tonnage:

150

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prizemaster:

[William Leeds]

Prize crew:

8 [total]

Ordered Into:

New Bedford, Massachusetts

Into What Port:

Westerly, Rhode Island

Date Arrived:

4 February 1777

Date Tried:

2 April 1777

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Connecticut Privateer Sloop American Revenue (Commander Samuel Champlin, Jr.) was patrolling in the southern West Indies in late December 1777. The schooner Two Brothers (John Salter) was captured on 27 December 1776 or 3 January 1777. The 150-ton Two Brothers was bound from Cork, Ireland to Jamaica, with a cargo of beef, pork, butter, bread, flour, cheese, fish, oats, and salt. A prize master and a prize crew of seven men were put aboard.

On 3 February 1777 the Two Brothers was approaching the coast when she was sighted and chased by a patrolling British warship, HM Frigate Niger. The prizemaster ran her ashore near Westerly, Rhode Island. The crew jumped out and put a warp from the schooner to the shore, pulled her up tight, and began unloading the cargo. Niger moved in closer, laying down a heavy fire on the schooner, and driving the prize crew to abandon her. A barge with twelve sailors rowed from the warship and got aboard the Two Brothers. Rhode Island troops under Colonel Stanton and militia under Colonel Noyes, stationed in Westerly to defend the town, hurried down to the beach with two field pieces, and returned fire to the warship. The boarding party, unable to get the schooner unstuck, set her on fire in the cabin and returned to the Niger. The prize crew re-boarded the Two Brothers, put out the fire, and watched the British sail away.

The schooner was now brought up to Westerly. Both troops and prize crew now claimed the prize. On 11 February the two colonels, Stanton and Noyes, filed a libel in the Rhode Island admiralty court against the Two Brothers. The next day the agents for American Revenue also filed a libel. The trial was held at South Kingston, Rhode Island on 2 April 1777. The court condemned the schooner and awarded her to the privateer. When the colonels decided to appeal the verdict, the owners were permitted to sell the prize on giving bond to return the monies if the verdict was overturned. Two Brothers was sold for £4038.16.4. After court costs the owners and crew divided £2698.12.4.

By 11 October 1777 the appellants notified the owners of the American Revenue that the appeal had been made to Congress and had been referred to the standing committee on appeals.

[NDAR, VII, 606 and note, 1103, 1198-1199; VIII, 67-68 and 68 notes, 250-254 and 254 note; X, 115 and note]

Posted 29 July 2011

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