Name of Vessel:

Warren

Master of Vessel:

Paul Reed

Rig of Vessel:

Brig [Brigantine]

Date of Capture:

11 March 1777

Place of Capture:

Five miles off Cap Français, Saint-Domingue, French West Indies

Captor:

HM Sloop Badger

Home Port:

From What Port:

Townsend, Massachusetts

To What Port:

Cap Français, Saint-Domingue

Cargo:

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Jamaica, British West Indies

Into What Port:

Jamaica, British West Indies

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Brig Warren (Paul Reed) was off the island of Saint-Domingue, French West Indies on 10 March 1777. In the afternoon, about 1500, she was sighted and chased by HM Sloop Badger (Lieutenant Charles Holmes Everitt). At 2000 Warren ran inshore  and Badger sent off her boat, while the warship brought to. The chase eluded the boat and Badger steered west. Everitt hoped to catch her in the morning. At dawn Badger was thirty miles off Monte Christi, Santo Domingo.  At 0200 11 March Warren  was sighted in the west by Badger and chased. The weather was very still, almost a dead calm. Badger set her steering sails and got out her sweeps to row with. Warren steered for Cap Français. Badger got out her boat and dispatched her after the chase. As Warren approached the mouth of the port, she picked up a pilot. Meanwhile the boat was gaining. In the afternoon the boat came up with the Warren and began firing. Although Warren was only five miles from the fort at the mouth of the port, and an armed snow of the French Navy was in sight, no assistance was offered to Reed. As the boat came up he abandoned ship with his crew and got ashore in his boat. Both prize and captor then stood out from the land. At 1730 she was sent off for Jamaica, British West Indies. As for Reed, he obtained funds ($140) from Isaac Caton, the South Carolina agent, for his and his crew’s passage home.

[NDAR, VIII, 89-90, 148 and note, 161-162, 298 and note; XI, 448-453]