August 1777
Cape Cod SSWl/2 Wt 7 or 8 Leagues
Monday 4th
at 4 A M saw a sail in the SE, gave Chace First par Modt and fair, Middle and latter fresh Gales and Cloudy with Fog Cape Cod No 81°. .00Wt Distant 11 Leagues at ½ past 7 the Chace ran on Shore near Cape Cod, and the People after cutting away her Masts, quitted her, at 8 the Amazon brought up, and fired several Shot at the Brig and soon after set on Fire, at ½ past 10 the Brig blew up, sounded from 12 to 18 fm
Tuesday 5th
between 12 and 4 AM sounded from 25 to 40 fathm Brown Sand, at 4 Amazon made the Sigl for all Cruizers, at 6 Bore away and ran down to her, at 7 She made the sigl for the Captain: Standing off and on Shore within 3 miles, at 9 the Amazon sent on Shore a Flag of Truce, and found the Brig to be the Wilkes Privateer John [Foster] Williams Master of 18 Guns, from Boston bound on a Cruize, 2 Close reefed the Top Sails the Extremes of the Land from NNW to SWbS off Shore 4 or 5 Miles.
1. PRO, Admiralty 51/650.
2. Continental Journal, Boston, August 14, 1777 reported: "We are sorry to acquaint our readers with the Loss of the Privateer Brig [Wilkes], of 16 Guns, Capt. John Foster Williams, of this Port, who was chas'd ashore on the Back of Chatham, last Monday Night, by the Milford [sic] and two other Frigates, when the Enemy blew her up. We hear all the Hands but two got safe ashore." The Wilkes had been commissioned July 17, 1777 and was upon her first cruise. She had a crew of one hundred men, and was owned by Caleb Davis, Gustavus Fellows, John Tileston and others, all of Boston. Mass.Arch., Revolutionary Rolls, VII, 317.
