Name of Vessel:

McPherson [M’Pherson]

Master of Vessel:

Benjamin Cole

Rig of Vessel:

Brig

Date of Capture:

21 June 1777

Place of Capture:

Off the New England coast

Captor:

HM Frigate Scarborough

Home Port:

From What Port:

Newburyport, Massachusetts

To What Port:

Surinam, Netherlands South America

Cargo:

Lumber, fish

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Into What Port:

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: HM Frigate Scarborough (Captain Andrew Barkley) sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia with a small convoy bound for New York, New York on 12 June 1777. On 21 June Scarborough was off the New England coast, where she fell in with the brig McPherson [M’Pherson] Benjamin Cole). McPherson was bound from Newburyport, Massachusetts to Surinam, Netherlands South America, with a cargo of lumber and fish. Scarborough captured the brig and sent her into Halifax, Nova Scotia. Other accounts indicate that she was taken into New York, arriving with the convoy on 25 June. Prize money was being paid on this brig as late as 1779.

[NDAR, IX, 191; XI, 184-185; The London Gazette, Saturday, February 6, to Tuesday, February 9, 1779; “List of Vessels seized, destroyed or retaken by the American Squadron between the 25^th of October 1777, and the 28^th of September 1778, according to the Returns received by the Vice Admiral the Viscount Howe, exclusive of those seized or destroyed by His Majesty’s Ships in Chesapeake Bay, and on the Parts of the Coast of North America to the Southward thereof, of which a Return was made on the 23^rd of April 1778,” in The London Gazette, Saturday, November 21, to Tuesday, November 24, 1778]