Name of Vessel:

Experiment

Master of Vessel:

Jacob Mills

Rig of Vessel:

Schooner

Date of Capture:

21 June 1777

Place of Capture:

70 miles southeast of Nantucket Shoals, Massachusetts

Captor:

HM Frigate Unicorn

Home Port:

From What Port:

Boston, Massachusetts

To What Port:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Cargo:

Sugar

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Charles Miller

Prize master:

Petty officer

Prize crew:

7 [total]

Ordered Into:

Rhode Island

Into What Port:

Rhode Island

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: On 21 June 1777 HM Frigate Unicorn (Captain John Ford) was patrolling about forty-five miles southeast of Nantucket Shoals, off Massachusetts. The weather was fair with light winds. At 0500 two sail were sighted to the northeast and an all day chase began. At 1800 Unicorn was close enough to begin shooting. It took twelve shots to bring the chase to stop. She proved to be the schooner Experiment (Jacob Mills; owned by Charles Miller), bound from Boston, Massachusetts to Egg Harbor, New Jersey [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] with a cargo of sugar. A petty officer and six men went aboard her as a prize crew. She was sent into Rhode Island.

[NDAR, IX, 153 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]