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American Prizes December 1776 |
Name of Vessel:
Two Brothers
Master of Vessel:
Robert Burton
Rig of Vessel:
Schooner
Date of Capture:
[15] December 1776
Place of Capture:
Off the New Jersey coast
Captor:
Continental Navy Schooner Wasp
Home Port:
From What Port:
Delaware
To What Port:
New York, New York
Cargo:
Corn, oats
Tonnage:
40
Battery:
Crew:
7
Owners:
Prize master:
Prize crew:
Ordered Into:
Egg Harbor, New Jersey
Into What Port:
Egg Harbor, New Jersey
Date Arrived:
before 23 December 1776
Date Tried:
29 March 1777
Date Sold:
Action:
No
Recaptured:
No
Comments: Continental Navy Schooner Wasp (Lieutenant John Baldwin) was at sea harassing the British trade near New York in late 1776. At some time before 23 December 1776 the Wasp brought into Egg Harbor, New Jersey a schooner with a cargo of corn and oats, bound from Delaware to New York. The master and five or six other prisoners were sent to Philadelphia. These men had been aboard HM Sloop Falcon (Commander John Linzee) and taken loyalty oaths. The men were sent to jail. Since there was no admiralty court in New Jersey, Robert Morris suggested that the cargo be brought to Philadelphia by wagon and used to feed Army horses in Philadelphia. The vessel, he suggested, should be sold without trial, as she “lies in too much danger to wait patiently for the usual forms.” On 1 January 1777 Morris sent William Patterson to take care of the prizes at Egg Harbor, and assist the Wasp. The schooner was probably the 40-ton schooner Two Brothers (Richard [Robert] Burton). She was advertised for sale at Egg Harbor on 29 March 1777.
[NDAR, VII, 574-576, 833 and note; VIII, 147]
| Posted 29 July 2011 |
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