Name of Vessel:

Nancy

Master of Vessel:

Commander John Brown

Rig of Vessel:

Schooner

Date of Capture:

28 December 1777

Place of Capture:

Captor:

HM Brig Antigua

Home Port:

Savannah, Georgia

From What Port:

Savannah, Georgia

To What Port:

Cargo:

Tonnage:

75, 80

Battery:

12x

Crew:

40 [41]

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

English Harbor, Antigua, British West Indies

Into What Port:

English Harbor, Antigua, British West Indies

Date Arrived:

2 January 1778

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

Yes

Recaptured:

No

Comments: The 75 or 80-ton Georgia Privateer Schooner Nancy (Commander John Brown) sailed from Savannah, Georgia for the West Indies in late 1777. She was armed with twelve guns and had a crew of forty (or forty-one) men. On 28 December 1777 Nancy fell in with HM Brig Antigua (Lieutenant Billy Douglas). A “smart action” followed between the two vessels during which Brown’s thigh was broken by a shot from a British swivel gun. The Nancy was a “good deal Shattered” and surrendered with four killed and five or fifteen men  wounded.

When the British boarding party brought the American prisoners aboard, Lieutenant Douglas made an interesting discovery. The First Lieutenant of the Nancy was a man named Edgecumbe [Edgcumbe]. Douglas knew Edgecumbe. They had served together on a British guardship at Plymouth when Douglas was a Midshipman. Edgecumbe had been a Midshipman on HM Schooner Hinchinbrook, and had deserted with a boat’s crew and some arms.

The prize was taken into English Harbor, Antigua, when both vessels arrived on 2 January 1778. Here, Edgecumbe was sent aboard HM Sloop Vulture to be conveyed to Vice Admiral Viscount Howe for disposition. Enough other prisoners were put on the Vulture to prove that Edgecumbe acted as First Lieutenant on the American ship.

[NDAR, XI, 20 and note, 342-343 and 343 note, 634-636 and 636 note, 644-645; Jamieson, Alan G., “American Privateers in the Leeward Islands, 1776-1778,” in The American Neptune, [volume unknown], reprinting a list of Admiral Young’s in ADM 1/310.]