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American Prizes November 1776 |
Name of Vessel:
Nightingale
Master of Vessel:
Rig of Vessel:
Schooner
Date of Capture:
26 November 1776
Place of Capture:
Nantucket Harbor, Massachusetts
Captor:
Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Yankee Ranger
Home Port:
From What Port:
Môle Saint-Nicolas, Saint-Domingue
To What Port:
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Cargo:
Molasses
Tonnage:
Battery:
Crew:
Owners:
Prizemaster:
Prizecrew:
Ordered Into:
Into What Port:
Date Arrived:
Date Tried:
Released
Date Sold:
Action:
No
Recaptured:
No
Comments: Rhode Island Privateer Sloop Yankee Ranger (Commander David Simons) sailed from Providence about November 1776. Simons proceeded to the area of Nantucket where, instead of attacking British shipping, he aggravated the local inhabitants. On 26 November 1776, Simons captured the schooner Nightingale, wholly owned in Nantucket, but recently captured and condemned by the British in the West Indies. The owner’s agent had repurchased the schooner at her sale, then loaded her with molasses and proceeded from Môle Saint-Nicolas, Saint-Domingue to Nantucket. Simons retained possession of the schooner despite pleas from the locals. Finally, William Rotch, one of the principals, appealed to Nicholas Brown, reputedly the main owner of the Yankee Ranger. Evidently this appeal worked to release the schooner, for, on 19 February 1777, Rotch was seeking permission from the Massachusetts Council for her to sail on a voyage.
[NDAR, VII, 292-293 and 293 note, 1218-1219]
| Posted 10 August 2011 |
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