Back
to
List
American Prizes
October 1776





Name of Vessel:

Britannia

Master of Vessel:

Benjamin Francis Hughes

Rig of Vessel:

Brig

Date of Capture:

21 October 1776

Place of Capture:

Captor:

Pennsylvania Privateer Sloops Chance and Congress

Home Port:

Liverpool, England

From What Port:

Jamaica, British West Indies

To What Port:

Liverpool, England

Cargo:

Ivory, ballast

Tonnage:

70

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

12 [total]

Ordered Into:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Into What Port:

New York, New York

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

Yes


Comments: Brig Britannia (Benjamin Francis Hughes) was captured on 21 October 1776 by Pennsylvania Privateer Sloops Congress (Commander William Greenway) and Chance (Commander James Robertson). The 70 ton brig was bound for Liverpool, England, from Jamaica (she had sailed 6 September 1776), in ballast but with one ton of ivory aboard. Her crew was removed and a prize crew of twelve men put aboard. Britannia was ordered in to Philadelphia, but, on 1 November 1776, she was recaptured by HM Frigate Orpheus (Captain Charles Hudson), some sixty-three miles southeast of Cape Henlopen. The prize crew was removed as prisoners, and a petty officer and two men sent to man the Britannia.


[NDAR, VII, 12 and note, 317-318 and 318 note, 375 and note, 943]


Posted 21 August 2011 web counterweb counter