Name of Vessel:

Runfast

Master of Vessel:

Nehemiah Somes [Soames]

Rig of Vessel:

Schooner

Date of Capture:

27 January 1777

Place of Capture:

Off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, Virginia

Captor:

HMS Preston

Home Port:

From What Port:

Boston, Massachusetts

To What Port:

Cargo:

Rum, sugar

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Into What Port:

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

[destroyed]

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: The schooner Runfast (Nehemiah Somes [Soames]) was bound from Boston, Massachusetts with a cargo of rum and sugar. She was off Chesapeake Bay on the morning of 27 January 1777 in company with a brig and three other schooners. At daylight these vessels were seen by HMS Preston (Captain Samuel Uppleby), anchored in the mouth of the bay. Preston dispatched her boats after the vessels, along with boats from HM Frigate Phoenix (Captain Hyde Parker, Jr.). The schooners Runfast (Nehemiah Somes) and Content (Samuel Gale) were captured by Preston’s boats. The brig Three Friends (Samuel Robins) and schooner Adventure were captured by boats from the Phoenix. Preston had cleared the Runfast by afternoon. She was probably dismantled and destroyed.

[NDAR, VII, 1047 and note; VIII, 1053-1063]