Name of Vessel:

Polly

Master of Vessel:

Josiah Jones

Rig of Vessel:

Sloop

Date of Capture:

1 June 1775

Place of Capture:

Boston Bay, Massachusetts

Captor:

Crew of the Polly

Home Port:

Boston, Massachusetts

From What Port:

Boston, Massachusetts

To What Port:

Annapolis Royal/Windsor, Nova Scotia

Cargo:

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

5

Owners:

Prizemaster:

Samuel Smith

Prizecrew:

3 [total]

Ordered Into:

Arundel, Massachusetts

Into What Port:

Arundel, Massachusetts

Date Arrived:

2 June 1775

Date Tried:

Released to crew

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Sloop Polly (Samuel Smith) was on the return part of a coasting trip from Arundel, Massachusetts to Plymouth, Massachusetts and back to Arundel when she was captured by one of Admiral Graves’ “cutters” (actually HM Sloop Nautilus) from Boston, Massachusetts. She was taken into that port. Polly had sailed from Plymouth about 15 May 1775. At Boston her cargo was bought for the garrison. The British persuaded Smith to enter their service, which he accepted (30 May 1775) to get her out of confinement. A supercargo, Josiah Jones, and another Loyalist, were put aboard and she was ordered to Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia to pick up supplies. Immediately after sailing, on 1 June 1775, the original crew seized the sloop and took her into Arundel, arriving the next day. The agents and letters were turned over to the local Committee of Safety on 3 June. By 8 June the Massachusetts Provincial Congress had been informed, and by 9 June the prisoners were in Middletown. The next day they were examined and held. The sloop was released.

[NDAR, I, 599, 630 and note, 640, 640, 644-645]

Posted 3 June 2008