Name of Vessel:

Rebecca

Master of Vessel:

George Catton

Rig of Vessel:

Ship

Date of Capture:

[July] 1777

Place of Capture:

Captor:

Connecticut Privateer Sloop American Revenue and Rhode Island Privateer Sloop United States

Home Port:

From What Port:

Jamaica, British West Indies

To What Port:

Cargo:

Sugar

Tonnage:

180

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

New London, Connecticut

Into What Port:

New London, Connecticut

Date Arrived:

[July] 1777

Date Tried:

24 September 1777

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Connecticut Privateer Sloop American Revenue (Commander Samuel Champlin, Jr.) and Rhode Island Privateer Sloop United States (Commander Benjamin Pearce [Pierce]) sailed on a cruise from Bedford, Massachusetts in June 1777. In July 1777, the 180-ton ship Rebecca (George Catton) was captured. Rebecca was reported as being laden with sugar and homeward bound from Jamaica. She was sent into, probably, Bedford, by the United States, arriving at some time before 17 July 1777.  Rebecca was libeled in the Massachusetts Maritime Court for the Southern District on 29 August 1777, with her trial set for 24 September 1777. She was a large ship loaded with sugar and was apparently moved to New London. There were sixty-three men aboard the American Revenue when she was captured. Prize shares were being paid on this cruise by 28 November 1777.

[NDAR, IX, 293-294; X, 539-540 and 540 notes, 622-623; XI, 46-47 and 47 note; Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During The Revolution, II, 51-53; The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Friday, August 29, 1777]

Revised 20 January 2009