Name of Vessel:

Hope

Master of Vessel:

A. Jones

Rig of Vessel:

Ship

Date of Capture:

25 March 1778

Place of Capture:

WSW of Cadiz, Spain

Captor:

HM Frigate Enterprize or Levant

Home Port:

Bristol, England

From What Port:

Gibralter

To What Port:

Bristol, England

Cargo:

Raisins

Tonnage:

250

Battery:

12x4; 16x6; 16x6 and 4; 10x

Crew:

Owners:

Champion of Bristol, England

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Gibralter

Into What Port:

Gibralter

Date Arrived:

26 March 1778

Date Tried:

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Continental Navy Cutter Revenge (Captain Gustavus Conyngham) was sighted and chased on 23 March 1778 by HM Frigate Enterprize. The British frigate came down on the Revenge very quickly but soon the wind fell off. Conyngham got his men on the Revenge’s sweeps and she managed to gradually get to windward of the Enterprize. The night came on and Revenge got off into the gloom, temporarily eluding Enterprize. The next day Revenge was sighted, at a distance, by HM Frigate Levant (Captain George Murray). Revenge ran down and captured a large brig loaded with salt, and bound for Newfoundland, but Levant was coming up and was close enough to prevent securing the prize. Still, Levant was too far away to do more than watch as Revenge captured the ship Hope later in the day.

The 250-ton British Privateer Ship Hope (A. Jones) was bound from the Straits of Gibralter (and before that from Zant [Zakinthos Island, Ionian Islands, Turkey]) to Bristol, England with a cargo of raisins. She had been built in 1766 and was owned by one Champion of Bristol. The battery of the Hope is variously reported as twelve 4-pounders, sixteen 6-pounders, sixteen 6-pounders and 4-pounders, or ten guns.

Revenge had some of her guns stowed in the hold and only had ten mounted on deck when she met the Hope. Jones, sighting Revenge, took her for an American merchant vessel and chased. Hope fired a few guns at Revenge from two miles away as a signal to heave to, but Conyngham ignored the shots. Not until Hope was near enough for the Americans “to put our Hands upon the Muzzle of her Guns” did Conyngham open fire. Then “we gave it to her warmly . . .” said William Hodge, a passenger on the Revenge. Jones was wounded as was one other of Hope’s sailors. Revenge fired a second broadside into the Hope and then maneuvered to rake her fore and aft. Seeing this Jones surrendered his ship. According to another account the British crew “would not stand to their quarters” forcing the surrender. Although Conyngham told his friends at Cadiz that she was sent off for America, his instructions to the prize master, written on 29 March, indicate she was to proceed to Teneriffe. Revenge and Hope being to windward of the Levant, the latter was helpless to intervene. The light winds, interrupted by calms and the falling night, allowed Revenge to escape under oars, even thoughHM Frigate  Enterprize (Captain Sir Thomas Rich) managed to join Levant in the chase. Hope had a “Very happy escape” and went off in a different direction.

The two British frigates steered different courses in the night, one to windward, the other to leeward, hoping to find the Revenge and Hope between them in the morning. The Hope was sighted at dawn on 25 March and recaptured but the Revenge had vanished. The British searched all day with no luck. The Hope was sent into Gibralter, where she arrived on 26 March. HM Frigate Alarm joined the British patrol about the same time.

[NDAR, XI, 1127 and 1128 notes, 1128 and notes, 1128-1129 and 1129 notes, 1134 and note, 1142-1143]