Name of Vessel:

Mary

Master of Vessel:

Robert Harrison

Rig of Vessel:

Sloop

Date of Capture:

8 June 1777

Place of Capture:

Off St. Augustine, East Florida

Captor:

HM Frigate Daphne

Home Port:

From What Port:

Antigua, British West Indies

To What Port:

St. Augustine, East Florida

Cargo:

Sugar, rum

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Michael and Doven

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

St. Augustine, East Florida

Into What Port:

St. Augustine, East Florida

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Sloop Mary (Robert Harrison) was owned by Michael and Doven. She was bound from Antigua in the British West Indies for St. Augustine, East Florida with a cargo of sugar, rum, beef, butter and candles.

On 8 June 1777, as Mary was approaching St. Augustine, South Carolina Privateer Ship Cotesworth-Pickney (Commander William Ranking) ran down to and captured the Mary, within a half mile of St. Augustine bar. Ranking put his lieutenant, Richard Bissel, aboard the Mary, with six men as prize crew, and the pair sailed a little way up the coast. On the morning of 9 June three sail were seen away to the north at anchor, between the St. Mary's and the St. John's Rivers. Ranking sent the prize close inshore and stood north cautiously. The strangers proved to be HM Frigate Daphne (Captain St. John Chinnery), British Army Transport Ship Union, and a prize, the Fanny. They were just returning from a coastal raid near Charleston. Ranking turned back and steered for the mouth of the St. Mary's River, where he sighted the Rebecca, a British privateer. Ranking now ran down to the Mary and ordered Bissel to stand straight out to sea, the only direction in which escape was possible. Daphne had sighted the Americans by now and was chasing the Mary. About 1200 the frigate caught up to the prize and recaptured her. Bissel was promptly loaded down with chains and Mary sent into St. Augustine. Daphne then turned to chase Cotesworth-Pickney, which eluded her and got into Charleston on 17 June 1777.

[NDAR, IX, 159-161, 192-195; “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]