Name of Vessel:

Lark

Master of Vessel:

Hugh Smith

Rig of Vessel:

Brig

Date of Capture:

[November] 1776

Place of Capture:

Captor:

Massachusetts Privateer Schooner Civil Usage

Home Port:

From What Port:

To What Port:

Cargo:

Tonnage:

80, 130

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

[Newburyport], Massachusetts

Into What Port:

Newburyport, Massachusetts

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

17 December 1776

Date Sold:

2 January 1777

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Civil Usage was commissioned on 18 September 1776 under Commander Andrew Giddings of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Civil Usage was at sea in the fall of 1776, when she captured the snow John, at some time before 31 December 1776. On that date John’s mate, Philip Wheaton, was listed as a prisoner in Newburyport, Massachusetts. John (Joseph Allison), noted as 150 tons, was libeled on 28 November 1776 in the Massachusetts Maritime Court of the Middle District, and tried on 17 December. About the same time that the John was captured, the 80-ton brig Lark (Hugh Smith) was probably captured. She was libeled at the same time as the John, and was tried the same day. Both these prizes were advertised for sale in the Boston newspapers on 23 December. The sale was to take place at Newburyport on 2 January 1777. John was stated to be about 180 tons in the advertisement, and Lark about 130 tons.

[Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 99; NDAR, VII, 567-568, 637; The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston], Thursday, November 28, 1776]

Posted 10 August 2011

web counter