Name of Vessel:

Sachem

Master of Vessel:

Captain James Robinson

Rig of Vessel:

Sloop

Date of Capture:

5 April 1777

Place of Capture:

144 miles southeast of Cape Henlopen, Delaware

Captor:

HM Frigate Perseus

Home Port:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

From What Port:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

To What Port:

West Indies

Cargo:

Indigo

Tonnage:

70

Battery:

10x3

Crew:

Owners:

Continental Navy

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

New York, New York

Into What Port:

New York, New York

Date Arrived:

18 April 1777

Date Tried:

24 October 1777

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: The Continental Navy Sloop Sachem (Captain James Robinson)was bound from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the foreign West Indies on a mission for the Secret Committee of the Continental Congress. Sachem dropped down the Delaware River in early April 1777. Robinson took under convoy a schooner, Neptune (Daniel Van Vorhus [Voorhees]), which was outward bound from Philadelphia with a cargo of flour, hoops and staves. About 3 April 1777 Sachem and Neptune sailed, clearing the Delaware Capes. Two patrolling British frigates, the Roebuck (Captain Andrew Snape Hamond) and Perseus (Captain Charles Phipps) sighted the two sail at 0900 on 5 April, 144 miles southeast of Cape Henlopen, and chased. The weather was windy with strong gales and a few squalls, favoring the bigger ships. Around noon, Perseus fired a few shots at the Neptune, which hove to. Perseus put a prize crew aboard and continued the chase after Sachem. At 1700 Perseus closed up with Sachem. Several cannon and small arms were fired into her before she hove to. A prize crew was sent over and the prisoners removed. The prize arrived in New York on 18 April.

As a British prize, and before her formal trial, Sachem was used as a tender or transport. Her guns were reduced to four carriage guns and two swivels, and she was given a crew of six men under a Peter Bryson. Bryson was given a pass or license on 19 June 1777, by Vice Admiral Viscount Howe to proceed to Cadiz, Spain and return to New York with a cargo of fruit and wine for the British Army. Bryson’s pass was only good for two months after he left Cadiz. In this pass Sachem is noted as measuring 60 tons.

Bryson evidently made his trip in a timely manner. Sachem was at New York on 29 September 1777, when she was libeled in the New York Vice Admiralty court. In the libel the British reported that she was armed with ten guns and measured about 70 tons. She was condemned on 24 October 1777.

[NDAR, VIII, 277-28 and 278 note, 330-331 and 331 note, 366-367 and 367 note, 393-394 and 394 note, 1053-1063; IX, 148-149 and 149 note, 979-980 and 980 note; HCA 32/445/1/1-4]