Name of Vessel:

Beggar’s Benison

Master of Vessel:

Commander Samuel Smallcorn

Rig of Vessel:

Schooner

Date of Capture:

18 June 1777

Place of Capture:

12 miles SE of the Isle of Shoals, New Hampshire

Captor:

HM Frigate Milford

Home Port:

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

From What Port:

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

To What Port:

St. Lucia, French West Indies

Cargo:

Lumber

Tonnage:

Battery:

4x

Crew:

18

Owners:

Erskine (William Erskine), Donaldson (John Donaldson) & Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Into What Port:

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Date Arrived:

[July] 1777

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Pennsylvania Privateer Schooner Beggar’s Benison ( Commander Samuel Smallcorn) listed a battery of four guns and a crew of seventeen men. She was owned by Erskine, Donaldson & Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On 18 June 1777 Beggar’s Benison was at sea, about twelve miles southeast of the Isle of Shoals. She had sailed from the Piscataqua River with a cargo of lumber, bound to St. Lucia in the French West Indies. Not long after she sailed she was sighted and chased by HM Frigate Ambuscade (Captain John Macartney). While Ambuscade was chasing Beggar’s Benison both vessels were sighted by HM Frigate Milford (Captain William C. Burnaby). Milford cleared for action and steered toward the schooner, running her down at 2030. She was sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

[NRAR, 233; NDAR, IX, 133 and 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]