Name of Vessel:

Argus

Master of Vessel:

Archibald M'Donnell [Alexander Donaldson]

Rig of Vessel:

Ship

Date of Capture:

31 July 1777

Place of Capture:

Rye Beach, New Hampshire

Captor:

HM Frigate Amazon

Home Port:

From What Port:

Barbados, British West Indies

To What Port:

Quebec, Quebec

Cargo:

Sugar, rum

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Into What Port:

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

Yes

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Ship Argus (Archibald M'Donnell [McDonnell], or Alexander Donaldson), was bound from Barbados to Quebec with a cargo of sugar and rum. On 12 July 1777 the Argus encountered the Connecticut Privateer Sloop Trumbull (Commander Henry Billings). The British later reported that the Trumbull had twelve guns and seventy men aboard. The crews were exchanged and the prize master sailed for Boston, Massachusetts. Argus was off the coast of New Hampshire on 31 July 1777, when she was sighted and chased by HM Frigate Amazon (Captain Maximilian Jacobs). The chase began at 1000, when Amazon was five miles NE of Cape Ann. Several guns were fired at the Argus, and, at 1400, she was driven ashore by the prize crew. Amazon anchored off Rye Beach and fired on the Americans ashore, which were firing on the British boats that were hauling off the prize. At 1800 the prize and Amazon sailed, and, at 2100 Argus was sent off to Halifax.

[NDAR, IX, 355 and note; Middlebrook, Maritime Connecticut During the Revolution, II, 234; “The following is a List of Vessels seized as Prizes, and of Recaptures made, by the American Squadron, between the 27^th of May and 24^th of October, 1777, according to the Returns received by Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Howe,” in The London Chronicle, Tuesday, December 2, to Saturday, December 6, 1777]