Name of Vessel:

Betsey

Master of Vessel:

John [Ribble; Rebb] Montgomery [M'Gomery; McGommery]

Rig of Vessel:

Ship [Brig]

Date of Capture:

19 June 1777

Place of Capture:

Captor:

Jean Baptiste Tonnays

Home Port:

From What Port:

Newry, Ireland

To What Port:

Cargo:

Ballast

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Seaman Jean Baptiste Tonnays (Dolphin)

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Liverpool, England

Into What Port:

Liverpool, England

Date Arrived:

22 June 1777

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: The large ship or brig Betsey (John [Ribble; Rebb] Montgomery [M'Gomery; McGommery]), in ballast, sailing out of Newry, Ireland, was captured, on 19 June 1777, two miles off. the Mull of Cantyre, Scotland, by the Continental Navy Ship Reprrisal (Captain Lambert Wickes), Continental Navy Brig Lexington (Captain Henry Johnson), and Continental Navy Cutter Dolphin (Captain Samuel Nicholson). Her crew was removed to the Reprisal, and a prize crew was put aboard under Seaman Jean Baptiste Tonnays, from the Dolphin. Betsey was ordered to France. Tonnays was a scoundrel and a turncoat. He steered directly for Liverpool, arriving there on 22 June. Tonnays entered her as the property of Samuel Nicholson, a merchant of Nantes. He applied o the firm of Marwade & Nissen, a local ship broker, for assistance in laying up the vessel. The prize crew fled, with the British searching for them. The brokers advanced £147 to Tonnays on drafts against Nicholson and Tom Morris. Tonnays decamped to London. The brokers found out their mistake when the bills were returned, protested.

[NDAR, IX, 407-408 and 408 note, 427-430, 432, 440-441, 441-442, 451-452, 461, 469-471, 474-475, 476-477, 481; Clark, Lambert Wickes, 225]