Name of Vessel:

Defence

Master of Vessel:

Captain Thomas Pickering

Rig of Vessel:

Schooner

Date of Capture:

2 April 1777

Place of Capture:

At 33°N, 69°W

Captor:

HM Frigates Roebuck and Perseus

Home Port:

Charleston, South Carolina

From What Port:

Charleston, South Carolina

To What Port:

Cargo:

Tonnage:

100

Battery:

6x6, 8x4

Crew:

87

Owners:

South Carolina Navy

Prize master:

Lieutenant John Orde of Roebuck

Prize crew:

28

Ordered Into:

New York, New York

Into What Port:

New York, New York

Date Arrived:

18 April 1777

Date Tried:

[September] 1777

Date Sold:

[May] 1777

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: The South Carolina Navy Schooner Defence (Captain Thomas Pickering) sailed from Charlestown, South Carolina on 31 March, dropping down into Rebellion Road and proceeding to sea.

On 2 April 1777 Pickering and Defence were about 270 miles southwest of Bermuda, at 33°N,69°W. Pickering sighted two sail in the distance, but what they were was not clear. One appeared vaguely like a three decked West India ship, and the smaller one looked rather like a cruiser. Pickering continued sailing along, under light sail, while he examined the two ships. When the ships continued to approach, Pickering hove to at 1200, to await a closer look.

The two ships were HM Frigate Roebuck (Captain Andrew Snape Hamond) and HM Frigate Perseus (Captain Charles Phipps). Perseus sighted the Defence first, at 1000, away to the north. Perseus immediately began to chase. Roebuck joined in the chase at 1100. The weather was breezy and fair with an occasional rain shower.  At 1200 Roebuck could see the chase was a brig lying to.

By now it was clear enough to Pickering that, whatever these ships were, they were not for him. Defence made sail, but it was too late. Around 1300 Roebuck got up alongside the Defence. Twice the Roebuck hailed the brig, “ask’d what Brig that was” and received no answer. The third hail elicited the response that she was “a Cruizer from St. Augustine.” Hamond knew that was not true and fired a volley of small arms into the brig. Perseus was also up close and fired “several Volleys of Small Arms and 9 pounders at the Chace . . .” Defence was now fairly caught. When Hamond ordered Defence to lower her topsails, Pickered complied. Roebuck’s boat was soon alongside and the task of shifting the prisoners, all eighty-seven of them, began. The British reported she was armed with six 6-pounders and eight 4-pounders. Lieutenant John Orde of the Roebuck went aboard as prize master, with twenty men from the Roebuck and seven or ten from the Perseus.

Defence was sent off to New York, New York. Hamond took the opportunity to send dispatches to Admiral Viscount Howe. She arrived there at 0700 on 18 April. Pickering was taken aboard the Perseus. She was off Cape Henlopen on 9 April. From there Pickering was allowed to write a letter to Congress, announcing his capture.

Defence was reported to be armed with fourteen 4-pounders by the British. She was valued at New York and taken into British service as HM Brig Hinchinbrook. HM Schooner Hinchinbrook was de-commissioned and her crew transferred to the brig under Lieutenant Ellis, with thirty-four men added to the crew. She was ready to sail for East Florida by 5 June 1777.

The South Carolina Navy Board knew of her capture by 14 May 1777. The Charlestown newspaper got out a supplement, with a full description of the Defence, on the well founded belief that she would return as a British raider.

Defence was libeled and tried in the Vice Admiralty court at New York on 25 September 1777, when Pickering made a deposition on the case.

Pickering was not well treated in prison at New York. Although South Carolina had asked Congress to obtain his exchange, and the South Carolina delegates in Congress had promised that they would attempt to do so, he had not been exchanged by 5 August 1777. Governor John Rutledge of South Carolina had “accounts of his having been very ill used” and ordered Captain Lofthouse, a British prisoner, into prison. Rutledge planned to keep him there until Pickering was exchanged, and so informed Governor Tonyn of East Florida.

On 28 August the South Carolina Navy Board began settling Defence’s accounts. Hezekiah Anthony was paid *996.2.6 for his account on the brig.

On 13 October 1777 the proposed exchange of Pickering for Captain Paul Flyn was discussed by the Connecticut authorities. Pickering was a native of New Hampshire and that state had requested the assistance of Connecticut. Pickering was said to have been captured in a “privateer of 16 guns belonging to the State of South Carolina.” The proposal was formally made on 16 October 1777.

An announcement appeared in the Charlestown newspaper on 2 December 1777. The prize proceeds for the ship Caesar, sloop Friendship, sloop Nancy and schooner Nancy, were ready to be paid to the crew. Since most of the crew were in prison in New York, the announcement was more of a formality than anything else.

On 6 January 1778 the South Carolina Navy Board ordered the payment of *242.13.4 to one Samuel Maverick, with the notation that the money was for “wages due him on board the Brigg Defence.” One wonders whether Maverick had escaped from New York and returned to claim his money. Another wage payment (*189), on 27 January, was made to George Bowing, for nine months service on the Defence. On 26 February 1778, William Wilkins was paid *75 for making sails and other items for the brig.

Pickering and his crew were still in prison in New York in March 1778. President Rawlins Lowndes of South Carolina, in a letter dated 30 March 1778, mentioned to the President of the Continental Congress that he had seen a letter written by one of Defence’s officers “complaining in very affecting terms of their treatment . . .” Lowndes hoped “some means could be devised to obtain the enlargement of Pickering and his Men who suffer rigorously at New York.”

[NDAR, VIII, 256 and note, 257 [Hamond’s Autobiography says: “on our return to my station in the Delaware, I took a Charles Town Privatier by the strategem of disguising the ship so as to be taken for a three decked West India Man . . .” He embellishes the chase: “The Privatier after taking some pains to reconoitre us, actually run up alongside, and was in the attempt to board, when the Marines rose up & pointed their Musquets into him, which made the captain call out lustily for Quarter . . .” In the “Autobiography” Hamond gives her twenty guns and a crew of 115 men, noting she sailed “remarkably well.” NDAR, VIII, 257 and notes], 366-367 and 367 note, 393-394, 967-968, 974, 1053-1063; IX, 24-29, 714-715, 844, 963-964; XI, 49, 138 and 139n9, 167 and note, 182 and 183n5, 216-217, 443-444, 657, 837-838 and 838 note]