Name of Vessel:

St. George

Master of Vessel:

Benjamin Bidgood [Bedgood]

Rig of Vessel:

Snow

Date of Capture:

1 October 1776

Place of Capture:

Off Boston Harbor, Massachusetts

Captor:

Massachusetts Privateer Schooner Speedwell

Home Port:

From What Port:

London, England

To What Port:

Boston, Massachusetts

Cargo:

Beef, pork, bread, peas, oatmeal, flour, rice, raisins, oil, vinegar, liquor, butter, candles

Tonnage:

120

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Marblehead, Massachusetts

Into What Port:

Marblehead, Massachusetts

Date Arrived:

4 October 1776

Date Tried:

19 November 1776

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: The Massachusetts Privateer Schooner Speedwell (Commander Jonathan Greely) sailed on her first cruise, from Boston, Massachusetts, on 30 September 1776. The next day she feel in with the 120-ton British Navy Victualler Transport Snow St. George (Benjamin Bidgood [Bedgood] and captured her. St. George was bound from London, England to Boston, Massachusetts with a cargo of beef, pork, bread, peas, oatmeal, flour, rice, raisins, oil, vinegar, liquor, butter and candles. She had sailed as part of a convoy of twenty-four vessels under escort of HM Frigate Perseus (Captain George Keith Elphinstone). Finding the town evacuated the convoy steered for Nantucket and waited there, pending further orders from New York, New York. The prize arrived in Marblehead, Massachusetts on 4 October 1776, and was moved around to Boston on 7 October. The owners of the privateer, learning of the situation of the British convoy, immediately sent the intelligence to the Massachusetts Council. The Royal Navy suspected the capture of the St. George by 23 October. The prize was libeled in the Maritime Court of the Middle District on 24 October, and was tried on 19 November 1776. By December 1776 her loss was reported in the London newspapers.

[NDAR, VI, 492-493, 493-496, 1133 and 1134 notes, 1145-1146 and 1146 note, 1147 and note, 1195-1196 and 1196 note, 1251-1252 and 1252 note, 1382-1383 and 1383 note; VII, 809-810; The Independent Chronicle [Boston], Thursday, October 24, 1776]

Posted 19 October 2011

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