Name of Vessel:

Volante

Master of Vessel:

Rig of Vessel:

Schooner

Date of Capture:

[April] 1777

Place of Capture:

Captor:

HM Frigate Glasgow

Home Port:

From What Port:

Martinique, French West Indies

To What Port:

Beverly, Massachusetts

Cargo:

Molasses

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Jamaica, British West Indies

Into What Port:

Jamaica, British West Indies

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: HM Frigate Glasgow (Captain Thomas Pasley) was cruising about twenty miles southwest of San Germán, Puerto Rico on 5 April 1777 in light winds and rain showers. When three sail were sighted to the southeast Pasley began chasing. At 1400 Glasgow cleared for action and spoke the largest vessel, a French slaver ship from Martinique, bound to Cap François, Saint-Domingue. The other two vessels were Glasgow’s tender and a prize taken by the tender: schooner Volante, bound from Martinique, French West Indies to Beverly, Massachusetts with a cargo of molasses. After interrogating the American skipper, Pasley resumed chasing the French ship, which had changed her course to the north and was now far off to windward. She eluded the Glasgow. Volante was sent in to Jamaica, British West Indies, where she was tried and condemned.

[NDAR, VIII, 283 and note; XI, 448-453 and 454n18]