Name of Vessel:

Rebecca and Mary

Master of Vessel:

Joseph Holt

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:

London, England

To What Port:

Limerick, Ireland

Cargo:

Tonnage:

100

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

[Boston], Massachusetts

Into What Port:

[Boston], Massachusetts

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

7 October 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 100-ton brigantine or brig Rebecca and Mary (Joseph Holt), bound from London, England to Limerick, Ireland. Rebecca and Mary was one of three prizes taken that day. She was dispatched to Massachusetts. Rebecca and Mary was libeled on 18 September 1777 and tried on 7 October 1777. 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, 15-16, 616-617 and 617 notes]

Revised 20 January 2009