Name of Vessel:

Betsey

Master of Vessel:

Benjamin Bidgwood [Bridgord]

Rig of Vessel:

Brig [Brigantine]

Date of Capture:

14 July 1777

Place of Capture:

21 miles west of the Scilly Isles, England

Captor:

Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Civil Usage

Home Port:

From What Port:

Tynemouth, England

To What Port:

Dublin, Ireland

Cargo:

Bark

Tonnage:

90

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Bilbao, Spain; Salem, Massachusetts

Into What Port:

Bilbao, Spain; Salem, Massachusetts

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

23 December 1777

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Civil Usage (Commander Andrew Giddings) was at sea in mid July 1777. About 14 July, twenty-one miles west of the Scilly Isles, England, she captured the 90-ton brigantine or brig Betsey (Benjamin Bidgwood [Bridgord], bound from Tynemouth, England to Dublin, Ireland with a cargo of bark. Betsey was one of three prizes taken that day. She was dispatched to Massachusetts. Betsey was libeled on 4 December 1777 and tried at Salem on 23 December. The captured masters were put aboard a Dutch ship and arrived at Dublin on 20 July. The captures were made within sight of a British warship, but it was a dead calm and she could do nothing. The Civil Usage used sixteen oars to close with the prizes. After these masters had been placed on the Dutch ship the privateer took a large vessel, which fired five guns at her.

[NDAR, IX, 519; X, 616-617 and 617 notes, 664-665 and 665 notes]

Revised 20 January 2009