Name of Vessel:

Sally

Master of Vessel:

Barry Hartwell

Rig of Vessel:

Brigantine [Brig]

Date of Capture:

22 January 1777

Place of Capture:

Near Tobago, British West Indies

Captor:

Connecticut Privateer Sloop American Revenue

Home Port:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

From What Port:

London, England

To What Port:

Tobago, British West Indies

Cargo:

Dry goods

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

William Powers

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

New Bern, North Carolina

Into What Port:

New Bern, North Carolina

Date Arrived:

21 February 1777

Date Tried:

[25] March 1777

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Connecticut Privateer Sloop American Revenue (Commander Samuel Champlin, Jr.) was sailing for her home port of New London from Surinam when she encountered and captured the brig or brigantine Sally (Barry Hartwell) on 22 January 1777.  Sally was a large two-decked vessel, bound from London, England to St. Augustine, East Florida, or Tobago, British West Indies with a cargo of dry goods and “English goods.” Sally had sailed from England as part of a convoy escorted by HM Frigate Glasgow (Captain Thomas Pasley) and HM Sloops Hornet, Beaver, and Fly. She had parted from the convoy about 15 December 1776.

Champlin was impressed with Sally, and called her “a fine Sailor with a good new Sute of Sailes . . .” After taking the Sally her master and pilot were removed to the American Revenue. Master William Powers was put aboard as prize master,  with a prize crew, and Champlin ordered Sally into New Bern, North Carolina, to the attention of John Wright Stanley. Hartwell was informed she was being ordered into Charleston, South Carolina. Sally arrived at New Bern on 21 February 1777.

By 13 March 1777 Nathaniel Shaw, owner of the American Revenue, knew of Powers’ arrival at New Bern, and wrote to John Wright Stanley to take care of the prize, not knowing of Champlin’s orders to Powers. Orders were given as to how to get the money and Powers back to Connecticut. Similar instructions went to Powers the same day. On 20 March Stanley reported the safe arrival of the brigantine. Following Champlin’s orders Powers had applied to Stanley. She would be tried in a few days, and sold in about twenty days. Stanley recommended Ocracoke Inlet for any future prizes captured by Shaw’s vessels.

Meanwhile, Hartwell had informed Champlin that Sally was actually American property, owned by Samuel Mifflin of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Champlin, despite what he had told Hartwell, was sailing for New London. He got as far north as Cape Hatteras in early February 1777, but was driven off by storms to 28°N. After beating off and on for some thirty days the American Revenue ran into Charleston, arriving on 8 March 1777. In a report to Shaw, on 9 March, Champlin stated that American Revenue had become very leaky and would be overhauled before Champlin proceeded north.

Hartwell, in a letter from Charleston, notified his owner of the capture, and that the prize was expected in Charleston. Taking no chances, Champlin kept him and the pilot with the American Revenue, giving the North Carolina court time to act without hearing a protest.

On 5 April 1777 Mifflin wrote to Alexander Gillon & Co. of Charleston. He explained that the Sally had sailed from Philadelphia in September 1775 with a cargo of flaxseed, consigned to James Mitchell of Londonderry, Ireland. Mitchell was to employ the Sally as he thought fit. Mitchell sent her to the West Indies, and, to cover the property, re-registered her as his vessel. Nevertheless, she was Mifflin’s. He had built her in 1768, and she was valuable for her size. Mifflin knew of many similar devices to cover American property, and was sure the court would acquit the Sally. He asked Gillon & Co. to defend the vessel, and suggested a salvage payment of £100-200 was better than a lawsuit. If she were condemned then an appeal could be lodged.

The court indeed did condemn the Sally, and the detention of Hartwell gave ample grounds for appeal. On 24 December 1777 a petition of Mifflin’s was presented to the Continental Congress, requesting an appeal from the verdict. The petition was postponed, as Congress understood the matter had been referred to the North Carolina legislature. The lawsuit was still pending in Congress on 12 February 1778.

[NDAR, VII, 1263-1264; VIII, 37-38 and 38 note, 67-68 and 68 notes, 100-101, 101, 159-160, 275-277; X, 796 and note; XI, 326 and note]