Name of Vessel:

Boston Packet

Master of Vessel:

Elias Lay

Rig of Vessel:

Sloop

Date of Capture:

2 July 1777

Place of Capture:

48 miles southwest of Nantucket Shoals, Massachusetts

Captor:

HM Frigate Unicorn

Home Port:

From What Port:

St. Maarten’s, Netherlands West Indies

To What Port:

New London, Connecticut

Cargo:

Salt, rum, sugar

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Connecticut

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Rhode Island

Into What Port:

Rhode Island

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Connecticut owned the sloop Boston Packet (Elias Lay. On 2 July Boston Packet was returning from St. Maarten’s, Netherlands West Indies, bound for New London, Connecticut with a cargo of rum and sugar. Some fifteen miles SSE of Block Island, Rhode Island, she was sighted by HM Frigate Unicorn (Captain William Burnaby). At 1000 Unicorn ran down her quarry. An officer and six men went aboard as the prize crew. She was sent into Rhode Island.

[NDAR, IX, 202-203 and 203 note; “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]