Name of Vessel:

Rainbow

Master of Vessel:

Samuel [Lemuel] Perkins

Rig of Vessel:

Sloop

Date of Capture:

17 February 1776

Place of Capture:

Salem, Massachusetts

Captor:

Continental Army Schooners Franklin and Lee

Home Port:

From What Port:

Boston, Massachusetts

To What Port:

Damariscotta, Massachusetts [Maine]

Cargo:

Ballast

Tonnage:

60

Battery:

Crew:

3

Owners:

Prizemaster:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Salem, Massachusetts

Into What Port:

Salem, Massachusetts

Date Arrived:

17 February 1776

Date Tried:

28 March 1776

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Sloop Rainbow (Samuel [Lemuel] Perkins), 60 tons, was en route from Damariscotta with a cargo of wood and provisions. She carried certificates from the local committees to the effect that she was bound to Salem, but she was captured on 29 January 1776 by Continental Army Schooners Lee (Captain Daniel Waters) and Franklin (Captain Samuel Tucker) more than half way across the bay toward Boston. She was ordered into Cape Ann, where the local Committee of Safety examined Perkins and inadvertently released her. On 2 February 1776, she sailed again and was captured by HM Frigate Fowey at 2200, a half mile offshore and supposedly en route to Salem. At 0600 on 3 February she was sent to Boston with a prize crew of six men. Her cargo was seized and sold, and the master was persuaded to make another voyage for the British. On 15 February Rainbow was given a passport to leave Boston by Rear Admiral Shuldham. On 17 February Perkins brought the sloop into Salem, having encountered bad weather off Cape Ann, and anchored under the guns of the fort, acting as innocent as possible. Soon after a boat from one of the Continental Army schooners (probably the Franklin) boarded her and took possession. The master was held and the crew interrogated. Perkins was sent to the Massachusetts Council for examination. The sloop was libeled on 11 March 1776 and tried on 28 March 1776.

[NDAR, III, 1107 and note, 1108-1109 and 1109 note, 1301; IV, 3, 3-5 and 5 note, 296-297 and 297 note; Clark, George Washington’s Navy, 231, 232]

Revised 10 August 2009