Name of Vessel:

Duncreath [Duntreath]

Master of Vessel:

James Crichton [Creighton]

Rig of Vessel:

Ship

Date of Capture:

27 November 1776

Place of Capture:

At 16°47'N, 46°31'W

Captor:

Massachusetts Navy Brig Tyrannicide

Home Port:

From What Port:

Pensacola, East Florida

To What Port:

Grenada, British West Indies

Cargo:

Lumber

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Into What Port:

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

Yes

Recaptured:

Yes

Comments: Massachusetts Navy Brig Tyrannicide (Captain John Fisk) was at sea in November 1776. On 27 November, at 0700 she sighted a sail to the west and chased. Shortly afterward another sail was seen to the north. At 1000 Tyrannicide came up with the two sail, which were laying to, awaiting the Tyrannicide. One of the strangers was the bark John, which fired a broadside into the Tyrannicide. Fisk fired a shot into the John, which immediately surrendered. Tyrannicide fired a shot into the other vessel, a ship, which also surrendered. Boarding parties were dispatched to both vessels. At 1200 Tyrannicide made her position as 16°47'N, 46°31'W.

At 1600 the boarding parties returned. The prizes proved to be the 140-ton bark or snow John (William Barass [Barrast]), outbound from London, England to Antigua, British West Indies, with a cargo of dry goods and “King’s Stores, English and India Goods . . . .” Barass had destroyed all his papers before he surrendered. The second prize was the ship Duncreath (or Duntreath;  James Crichton [Creighton]), bound from Pensacola, East Florida to Grenada, British West Indies. The bark was manned and sent off to Salem at 1800, under prize master Aaron Andrews. The ship was retained with the Tyrannicide, as Fisk thought her not worth sending in for condemnation.

When Duncreath parted from Tyrannicide is not clear. Duncreath was recaptured by HM Frigate Brune (Captain James Ferguson), probably off the southern American coast, on 6 January 1777.

[NDAR, VII, 311, 1242-1243; VIII, 1053-1063]

Posted 10 August 2011

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