Name of Vessel:

White Oak

Master of Vessel:

Samuel Osborne Deane [Dean, Doane]

Rig of Vessel:

Schooner

Date of Capture:

[October 1776]

Place of Capture:

Captor:

Massachusetts Privateer Sloop Putnam

Home Port:

From What Port:

Nova Scotia

To What Port:

Cargo:

Tonnage:

30

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

[Falmouth], Massachusetts [Maine]

Into What Port:

[Falmouth], Massachusetts [Maine]

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

14 November 1776

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: The 30-ton schooner White Oak (Samuel Osborne Deane [Dean, Doane]) was out bound from Nova Scotia. She was captured, possibly in October 1776, by Massachusetts Privateer Sloop Putnam (Commander John Harmon)She was sent into Falmouth, Massachusetts [Maine]. White Oak was libeled on 21 Ocrober 1776, and was tried in the Maritime Court of the Eastern District on 14 November.

On 18 November Thomas Davis and Ephraim Spooner appealed to the Massachusetts General Court in a memorial. They owned two thirds of the White Oak. Before the war she was engaged in the fishery, operating out of Barrington, Nova Scotia. When the Continental Association was approved by the Continental Congress, and the Restraining Acts by Parliament, one of the owners proceeded to Nova Scotia and retrieved all their interests there, except for that in the White Oak. To cover that vessel she was re-registered with some friends in Barrington. The gentlemen would gladly have traveled to Pownalborough for the trial, had they had adequate notice. They asked the Massachusetts General Court to allow an appeal of the verdict. On 22 November the Massachusetts General Court acted favorably on the appeal, directing that the captors of the White Oak appear and that they be informed of the decision by presenting “Captain [John] Harman Commd of the Sloop Putnam” a copy of the petition and order at least fifteen days before the captors were required to appear.

[NDAR, VI, 34 and note; 196, 809-810; Faibisy, A Compilation of Nova Scotia Vessels . . ., in NDAR, X, 1201-1210; The Boston Gazette and Country Journal, Monday, October 21, 1776]

Posted 19 October 2011

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