Name of Vessel:

Fair Trader

Master of Vessel:

John Adamson

Rig of Vessel:

Brig

Date of Capture:

24 March 1778

Place of Capture:

thirty to forty-five miles off the southern tip of Barbados; near 12°48'N

Captor:

HM Frigate Ariadne and HM Sloop Ceres

Home Port:

Boston, Massachusetts

From What Port:

Surinam, Netherlands South America

To What Port:

Boston, Massachusetts

Cargo:

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Officer

Prize crew:

13 [total]

Ordered Into:

[Antigua, British West Indies]

Into What Port:

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: HM Frigate Ariadne (Captain Thomas Pringle) and HM Sloop Ceres (Commander James R. Dacres) were on patrol some thirty to forty-five miles off the southern tip of Barbados on 24 March 1778. At 1200 the two British vessels sighted a vessel in the southwest quarter and began a chase. Ceres made the noon reading as 12°48'N with the weather being described as moderate and hazy with light winds. At 1900 Ariadne lost sight of the chase. At 1930 she passed by a light that the chase had thrown overboard, probably to deceive the pursuers. Ceres had not lost sight of the chase and, at 2000, fired a gun and brought her to. Ariadne, hearing the gun, soon joined the Ceres. Ceres sent an officer and two men aboard, joined by two midshipmen and eight sailors from Ariadne. The prize was the brig Fair Trader (John Adamson), owned in Boston, Massachusetts and bound there from Surinam, Netherlands South America. Fair Trader’s crew was removed to the Ceres.

[NDAR, XI, 780, 780-781 and 781 note]