Name of Vessel:

Aurora

Master of Vessel:

John Hutchinson

Rig of Vessel:

Ship

Date of Capture:

11 January 1777 (20 January 1777)

Place of Capture:

47° or 48°N and 20° or 21°E, (or 47°N, 16°W)

Captor:

Crew of the Aurora

Home Port:

Cumberland, Virginia

From What Port:

Cumberland, Virginia

To What Port:

Nantes, France

Cargo:

Tobacco, staves

Tonnage:

200

Battery:

Crew:

16 [total]

Owners:

John Richards, Hall and Horner, and Watson and Taylor of Virginia

Prize master:

William Turner

Prize crew:

5 [total]

Ordered Into:

Liverpool, England

Into What Port:

Liverpool, England

Date Arrived:

28 January 1777

Date Tried:

12 March 1777

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Ship Aurora was the former British Transport Ship Oxford, captured in 1776. She was chartered for the Secret Committee of the Continental Congress by 7 October 1776. She was nearly ready to sail by 12 November 1776, when John Hancock asked Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia to expedite her sailing. On 2 December 1776 she was given a sailing permit. Her owners were listed as John Richards, Hall and Horner, and Watson and Taylor. Aurora was noted as 200 tons. She was sailing from Cumberland (on the York River), Virginia to Nantes, France, with a cargo of tobacco and staves, under Master John Hutchinson.

There was an agreement among the British sailors in Virginia to attempt to rise and seize the various vessels they were shipped on. Members of this combine were among the eight Englishmen who shipped on the Aurora. Besides the skipper, a passenger, Mr. Richards or Richardson, and the supercargo, a Mr. Hall, there were six American sailors. The boatswain, William Turner, an Englishman, sounded out his fellow English sailors and found them willing. On 11 January 1777 (or 20 January), at 47° or 48°N and 20° or 21°E, (or 47°N, 16°W) Turner caught Hutchinson and Hall in the captain's cabin and secured them there. Three or four English sailors were on deck, the Americans being aloft, changing sail. The English picked up loaded muskets and ordered the Americans down, one by one. Turner took charge and steered for Liverpool, arriving there on the morning of 28 January 1777 (or 29 January). The secret dispatches aboard were seized and turned over to the British government. The eight Americans were thrown in jail as prisoners. The vessel was tried and condemned on 12 March 1777. The sale of the cargo brought between £28600 and £30000. The captors were said to have received two thirds of the value.

[NDAR, VI, 1153; VII, 120-121 and 121 note, 352; VIII, 547-548, 555, 559, 563, 570-571, 572-573, 681-682, 774 and note, 946; IX, 382; HCA 30/715]