Name of Vessel:

Delaware

Master of Vessel:

Thomas Coleman

Rig of Vessel:

Sloop

Date of Capture:

24 June 1777

Place of Capture:

Chesapeake Bay

Captor:

HM Frigate Emerald

Home Port:

From What Port:

Curaçao, Netherlands West Indies

To What Port:

Virginia

Cargo:

Salt

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Joseph Stores

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Into What Port:

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

[burned]

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: HM Frigate Emerald (Captain Benjamin Caldwell) was anchored in the tail of the Horse Shoe shoals, in the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, on the morning of 24 June 1777. At 0400 her lookouts saw a sail to the southwest and Emerald made sail and chased. After fourteen 6-pounder shots the chase hove to and surrendered at 0700. She was the sloop Delaware (Thomas Coleman), owned by Joseph Stores, and inward bound to Virginia from Curaçao, Netherlands West Indies with a cargo of salt. The prize was set on fire and burned at 1400.

[NDAR, IX, 165-166 and 166 note, 258-259; “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]