Name of Vessel:

George

Master of Vessel:

Rig of Vessel:

Brig

Date of Capture:

[25] November 1776

Place of Capture:

Captor:

Continental Navy Brig Reprisal

Home Port:

From What Port:

Bordeaux, France

To What Port:

Cork, Ireland

Cargo:

Staves, claret

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Quiberon Bay, France

Into What Port:

Quiberon Bay, France

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

[December] 1776

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: In the fall of 1776 Continental Navy Brig Reprisal (Captain Lambert Wickes) was sent to France, with American Commissioner Benjamin Franklin aboard as a passenger. En route, on 27 November 1776, about fifty miles southwest of Belle- *le, France, Reprisal encountered the brig LaVigne (James Pratchell), owned in Hull, England. LaVigne was en route to Hull from Rochefort, France with a cargo of flaxseed and brandy, owned by various French merchant firms, and had sailed on 22 November. The Reprisal sent over a boarding party, examined the brig’s papers, and then took Pratchell and returned to the Reprisal. The boarding party returned, removed the mate and four of the crew and put aboard a prize crew. La Vigne accompanied the Reprisal into the Palais de Belle-*le. Weather forced both vessels out to sea and Reprisal put into Quiberon Bay. Some of the brandy from LaVigne was removed to the Reprisal here, and the brig was soon missing. Both brig and cargo had been sold to private parties. On 3 December 1776 Reprisal was at the entrance to the Loire River, with one of the brigs in company, perhaps the George. She was captured about the same time as LaVigne, bound from Bordeaux, France to Cork, Ireland with a cargo of claret and staves. On 13 December Wickes, reporting to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, noted that the prizes were “both small Brigs,” one bound from Bordeaux, France to Cork, Ireland with a cargo of claret and staves; the other from Rochfort, France to Hull, England with a cargo of flaxseed and brandy. Although Wickes wasn’t sure he would be allowed to sell the prizes, he reported that no less than ten different French merchants had been aboard seeking to purchase the brigs. On 18 December 1776 Reprisal got up to Paimboeuf, France, where Pratchell was released.

[NDAR, VII, 777 and note, 780-781 and 781 note, 790-791, 804-805, 1308]

Posted 10 August 2011

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