Name of Vessel:

Jack-o’-Lantern [Jack-o’Lanthorn, Jack-of-the-Lantern]

Master of Vessel:

Rig of Vessel:

Schooner

Date of Capture:

[March] 1781

Place of Capture:

Captor:

Maryland Privateer Schooner Antelope and Maryland Privateer Schooner Felicity

Home Port:

New York, New York

From What Port:

New York, New York

To What Port:

Cargo:

Tonnage:

Battery:

6x

Crew:

36 [total]

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

[Baltimore, Maryland]

Into What Port:

[Baltimore, Maryland]

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Maryland Privateer Schooner Felicity (Commander Thomas Cole) and Maryland Privateer Schooner Antelope (Commander Frederick Folger) were returning to Baltimore, Maryland, from a cruise to the West Indies about April 1781. Coming up Chesapeake Bay they encountered the British Privateer Schooner Jack-o’Lantern [Jack-o’-Lanthorn], out of New York, New York, a vessel of six guns and either thirty-six or 136 men. Jack-o’-Lantern had taken several prizes, including a small boat from Head of Elk with some of LaFayette’s baggage. The American privateers captured the British privateer. Jack-o’-Lantern was taken into a Maryland port and libeled, tried and condemned in the Maryland Admiralty Court.

[The Pennsylvania Packet or the General Advertiser [Philadelphia], Tuesday, May 8, 1781; The Continental Journal [Boston], Thursday, May 24, 1781, datelined Philadelphia, May 8, 1781; MdHR 7871-1-38 SSU 116-38 1/32/1/50]