Name of Vessel:

Industry

Master of Vessel:

Jonathan Spooner

Rig of Vessel:

Schooner

Date of Capture:

[May] 1777

Place of Capture:

New Providence, Bahama Islands

Captor:

HM Schooner Tender Comet [Aeolus]

Home Port:

New Providence, Bahama Islands

From What Port:

To What Port:

Cargo:

Tonnage:

Battery:

Crew:

Owners:

Prize master:

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Into What Port:

Date Arrived:

Date Tried:

[Released]

Date Sold:

Action:

No

Recaptured:

No

Comments: Schooner Industry (Jonathan Spooner), was captured about May 1777. Industry was captured at New Providence, Bahama Islands by HM Schooner Tender Comet, which may have belonged to HM Frigate Æolus (Captain Christopher Atkins). Two other prizes were also detained by the Comet at New Providence. When intelligence of these captures reached the Americans, two South Carolina privateers, Vixen and Swift, attempted to capture the Comet and free the prizes in a raid on 1 June 1777. The Americans were driven off when Æolus appeared in the offing. The schooner was identified as the Industry (Jonathan Spooner), which was owned in the Bahamas, but thought by the British to be American property. On 17 June the tender sailed for Jamaica, British West Indies, with the prizes, including a schooner. Since Industry does not appear in Gayton’s prize list, she was evidently cleared and released.

[NDAR, IX, 146 and notes, 159-161, 193-195; XI, 448-453]