Name of Vessel:

Liberty

Master of Vessel:

Ez. Wellicutt [Hezekiah Vallucott].

Rig of Vessel:

Sloop

Date of Capture:

4 July 1777

Place of Capture:

Chincoteague, Inlet, Maryland

Captor:

HM Brig Tender Stanley and HM Schooner Tender Delaware

Home Port:

From What Port:

Martinique, French West Indies

To What Port:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Cargo:

Ballast

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

G. Moor & Co.

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

New York, New York

Into What Port:

New York, New York

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Sloop Liberty (Ez. Wellicutt) was owned by G. Moor & Co. She was en route from Martinique, French West Indies to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in ballast, but had put into Chincoteague Inlet, Maryland. On 4 July 1777 she was anchored in Chincoteague Inlet with schooner Polly (John Ellis), sloop Polly (Richard Wells), sloop Mary (William Le Frame), sloop Sally, brig Hero (William Paul), brig Sally (Anthony Hill) and sloop Jenny (Robert Tuille) and an unknown sloop (William Earles). HM Brig Tender Stanley (Lieutenant Richard Whitworth) and HM Schooner Tender Delaware (Midshipman Rogers), both tenders to HM Frigate Roebuck (Captain Andrew Snape Hamond), came too off the entrance to the inlet and hoisted French colors. Properly deceived, pilots went out to the British and were seized. The British got into the inlet and scuttled or burned four vessels (sloop Polly [Wells], sloop Mary, sloop Sally, and the unknown sloop) and brought out the other five as prizes. By 14 July all the prizes had been brought into New York, New York, along with forty prisoners. She was tried in the New York Vice Admiralty court, where the master’s name is given as “Hezekiah Vallucott.”

[NDAR, IX, 216, 285-286 and 286 notes, 295-296; “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; HCA 32/389/6/1-5]