Name of Vessel:

Oliver Cromwell

Master of Vessel:

Commander Harman Courter

Rig of Vessel:

Ship

Date of Capture:

19 May 1777

Place of Capture:

Northwest of St. Lucia, French West Indies

Captor:

HM Sloop Beaver

Home Port:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

From What Port:

St. Pierre, Martinique, French West Indies

To What Port:

Cargo:

Tonnage:

220, 264

Battery:

12x9, 6x6, 6x4

Crew:

125-135

Owners:

George Woolsey of Baltimore, Maryland; and John Pringle et al of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Prize master:

Lieutenant

Prize crew:

Ordered Into:

Grenada, British West Indies

Into What Port:

Grenada, British West Indies

Date Arrived:

[before 25 May 1777]

Date Tried:

18 June 1777

Date Sold:

Action:

Yes

Recaptured:

No

Comments:  Oliver Cromwell was a large ship-rigged privateer fitted out at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, probably in the winter of 1776-1777. Her owners are not exactly known, but two persons with some concern in her were George Woolsey of Baltimore, Maryland and John Pringle of Philadelphia. It was reported that her total outfit probably cost £20000. Harman (or Harmon) Courter was selected as her commander. He was a veteran of the New York Privateer Brig Enterprize, on which he had served as Second Mate. Oliver Cromwell probably sailed from Philadelphia in late February 1777.

On 19 May 1777 Oliver Cromwell was off St. Lucia, when she was sighted at 0600 by HM Sloop Beaver (Commander James Jones). The American was to windward, northwest of the island. When Beaver fired a shot to bring her to, Courter turned Oliver Cromwell and bore directly down toward Beaver. When within range Courter hoisted American colors and fired a broadside into the British. The two vessels then ranged side by side, running down toward St. Lucia, and waged a hot but short fight, using great guns and musketry. Jones had a narrow escape, taking a musket ball through his coat which grazed the skin. After forty-five minutes the Oliver Cromwell struck, only two miles off St. Lucia. Her marksmanship had been terrible, and that of the British had been superb: Beaver had three men wounded; Oliver Cromwell had thirteen or fifteen killed and twenty wounded, out of a crew of 125. Courter later stated he lost thirty-one killed and more than twenty wounded. By noon the British had sent over a prize crew, put a lieutenant and a mate aboard, received the American officers aboard the Beaver, repaired the damage to Oliver Cromwell’s rigging, and made sail. Courter’s sickly crew and the action of the men from the prizes was blamed for the loss. The men from the prizes had reportedly urged Courter to fight, then ran below when the Beaver got alongside.

Her captor described Oliver Cromwell as a very handsome ship, well found, with ports for all her guns and able to fight her crew under cover. Her battery was noted as twelve (or fourteen) 9-pounders, six 6-pounders, and six 4-pounders. She had sailed with 150 men aboard, but only had 125 aboard at the time of her capture. In a report to the Admiralty on 20 June 1778, Vice Admiral Young listed her as a 220-ton ship, armed with twenty-four guns and with a crew of 135 at her capture.

By 25 May the prize had been brought into Grenada, where the prisoners were landed. Jones was highly praised for capturing a vessel so much stronger than his own. On 12 June 1777 Vice Admiral James Young suggested to the Admiralty that the Oliver Cromwell be taken into the Royal Navy as a 6^th rate and giving the command to Jones. He also reported that the prisoners were being sent to England on HM Frigate Hind. On 14 June Oliver Cromwell was escorted into English Harbor, Antigua by HM Sloop Cygnet. Four days later she was tried and condemned, in the Vice Admiralty court at Grenada. On 23 July 1777 Young proposed to the Admiralty that she be made into a 16-gun sloop-of-war, noting that he would have to send her to England to be armed. On 19 August 1777 Young had her surveyed: she was valued at £2000 and was taken into the Royal Navy as HM Sloop Beaver’s Prize. Meanwhile the Admiralty had ordered, on 27 August, that she be bought as a 24-gun 6^th rate, to be named the Convert, and ordered Young to appoint Jones to command her, he being promoted to post captain. By 10 October 1777 the Admiralty had changed its mind: she was not to be a 6^th rate, but her purchase was approved.

Courter was sent to England and committed to Forton Prison on 13 October 1777. Courter was in prison on 1 December 1777, when he signed a petition seeking better conditions. A list of prisoners at Forton Prison on 29 Dcecember 1777 lists ten members of Oliver Cromwell’s crew. By 13 February 1778 Courter had escaped to France, with a companion, where he met Silas Deane. Deane referred to him as a man of “approved Fidelity & Courage” in giving him a mission as a courier to America.

[NDAR, VIII, 278, 999, 1029; V, 815-816 and 816 note; IX, 102-103, 121-122, 192-195, 322-324, 545, 604, 608-609, 768-770; XI, 612-613 and 612 note, 891-893 and 893 note, 888-891 and 891 note, 1001 and note; Jamieson, Alan G., “American Privateers in the Leeward Islands, 1776-1778,” in The American Neptune, [volume unknown], reprinting a list of Admiral Young’s in ADM 1/310; Kaminkow, 45]