Account of American Privateers, & Armed Vessels; Taken by the Kings Ships under the Command of Admiral James Young at Barbadoes & the Leeward Islands; between the 24th: November 1775, and the 20th: July 1778

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Vessels Name	Commanders Name	Sorts of Vessel	to what province or State belonging	Number of			Where taken	By what Ship Taken or Destroyed	Where Sent to be Condemned
				Tons	Men	Guns
Putnam¹	Chris^r: Whipple	Brig	Rhode Island	84.	70.	12.	Octo^r: 18^th: 1776	Portland	Antigua
La Seine²	E: H: Morain	Ship	France; going with Arms & Warlike stores to America	300.	37.	14.	April 5^th: 1777.	Seaford	Dominica
Oliver Cromwell³	Herm^n: Courter	Ship	Congress Ship of War	220.	135	24.	May 19^th: ----	Beaver	Grenada
Jenny⁴	Geo: Ralls	Schooner.	Virginia.	25.	15	4.	May 24^th: ----	Seaford	St: Kitts
Mosketo⁵	John Harris	Brig	Virginia	98.	74	16.	June 4^th: ----	Ariadne	Antigua
Marangoin⁶	John Welch	Sloop	Virginia	70.	50	10.	June 14^th: ----	Ariadne	S^t: Kitts
Little Mosketo tender to the Mosketo brig
Black Snake⁷	W^m. Le Craw	Schooner	Congess Vessel of War	65.	40	8.	Aug^t: 16^th: ----	Portland	Barbados
tender to the Rattle Snake⁸
Johnson⁹	Charles Stacbehen Tho^s: Williams	Schooner	Piratical Armed Vessel with An American French master	60.	30	8.	Nov^r: 29^th: ----	Ariadne	Barbados
Nancy¹⁰	John Brown	Schooner	Georgia	75.	40	12.	Decem^r: 28^th: ----	Antigua Brig^t:¹¹	Antigua
S^t. Peter.¹²	Sam^l: Chace,	Ship	Maryland	200.	119	18.	Janu^y: 13^th: 1778	Aurora	Antigua
General Washington	W^m: Rogers	Brig^t.	Boston	120.	84	18.	Janu^y. 18^th: ----	Seaford	Barbados
Hampden¹⁴	John Bartlett	Ship	Salem	120.	64	12.	Feb^y: 28^th: ----	Seaford	Dominica
Randolph¹⁵	Biddle,	Ship,	Congress Ship of War,	700.	305	36.	Mar^h: 7^th: ----	Yarmouth	Blown up whilst Engaged by the Yarmouth.
Alfred¹⁶	Elisha Hinman	Ship,	Ditto.	300.	180.	20.	Mar^h 9^th: ----	Ariadne & Ceres	Barbados
Eagle¹⁷	Elijah Luce,	Brig Sloop,¹⁸	Boston. American Privateer	80	29.	8.	May 16^th: ----	Portland Ariadne Ariadne	Antigua drove a shore at the Island Guadalupe

				2497:	1222:	220.

Jam Young

17 N^o. of Privateers & Armed Vessels taken or destroyed
205 Total N^o: of Merchant Vessels taken &c:
223 Total N^o: of American Vessels taken or destroyed¹⁹

D, UkLPR, Adm. 1/310. Docketed on separate page: “12 Sep^r 1778/Spithead/Adm^l. Young/R, 14^th..” Docketed on a second separate page: “(N^o: 43)/Account of America Privateers/& Armed Vessels taken by the/Kings Ships under the Command/of Admiral James Young at/Barbados & the Leeward Islands/between the 24^th:Novem^r: 1775 and/ the 20^th: July 1778.”

1. See Young to Philip Stephens, 2 Nov. 1776, NDAR 7: 24; and Survey of the Captured Privateer Putnam, 16 Jan. 1777, NDAR 7: 977–80.

2. See Journal of H.M.S. Seaford, 5 Apr. 1777, NDAR 8: 280; William Bingham to the American Commissioners in France, 6 Apr. 1777, NDAR 8: 283–84 and 284n2; Bingham to the American Commissioners, 26 Apr. 1777, NDAR 8: 451–52; and Extract of a Letter from Grenada, in the West Indies, NDAR 8: 489.

3. On the capture of the Pennsylvania privateer ship Oliver Cromwell, Harmon Courter, commander, see Journal of H.M. sloop Beaver, 17–19 May 1777, NDAR 8: 999; and Capt. James Jones to Young, 25 May 1777, NDAR 8: 1029.

4. See Young to Stephens, 12 June 1777, NDAR 9: 102; and Young to Gov. Johannes de Graaff, 15 June 1777, NDAR 9: 123.

5. On the capture of the Virginia Navy brig Musquetto, see Journal of H.M.S. Ariadne, 4 June 1777, NDAR 9: 19–20; Young to Stephens, 23 July 1777, NDAR 9: 322–24; and Survey and Valuation of Captured Virginia Navy Brig Musquetto, 2 Aug. 1777, NDAR 9: 696–97.

6. See Journal of H.M.S. Ariadne, 14 June 1777, NDAR 9: 114; and Young to Stephens, 15 June 1777, NDAR 9: 121–22.

7. See Young to Stephens, 24 Aug. 1777, NDAR 9: 800–03. As seen there, Blacksnake was captured by tenders of H.M.S. Portland.

8. Probably Pennsylvania privateer ship Rattlesnake, David McCulloch, commander. No con rmation has been found for Young’s assertion that Blacksnake was a tender of Rattlesnake.

9. On the capture of the American privateer schooner Johnston, see Journal of H.M.S. Ariadne, 29 Nov. 1777, NDAR 10: 632–33; and Gov. Edward Hay to Capt. Thomas Pringle, 3 Dec. 1777, NDAR 10: 661. As seen in the note on p. 633, Thomas Williams was an alias for Charles Stacbehen.

10. See Young to Vice Adm. Viscount Howe, 13 Feb. 1778, NDAR 11: 343.

11. H.M. brig Antigua, Lt. Billy Douglas, commander, was the former Rhode Island privateer Putnam, which is the first entry in Young’s Prize List. See Young to Stephens, 2 Nov. 1776, NDAR 7: 24–5; and Young to Stephens, 27 Jan. 1777, NDAR 7: 1049. In a note on the latter page, the vessel is misidentified as General Putnam.

12. See Journal of H.M.S. Aurora, 12–13 Jan. 1778, NDAR 11: 115; Capt. James Cumming to Stephens, 14 Jan. 1778, NDAR 11: 131; and Journal of H.M.S. Niger, 14 Jan. 1778, NDAR 11: 132.

13. See Journal of H.M.S. Seaford, 18 Jan. 1778, NDAR 11: 157; and Hay to Germain, 4 Feb. 1778, NDAR 11: 285.

14. See Journal of H.M.S. Seaford, 28 Feb. 1778, NDAR 11: 471; Capt. John Colpoys to Young, 7 Mar. 1778, NDAR 11: 543; and Capitaine de Vaisseau Charles Picot to Gabriel de Sartine, 9 Mar. 1778, NDAR 11: 571–73.

15. Continental Navy frigate Randolph, Capt. Nicholas Biddle, commander, blew up during its engagement with H.M.S. Yarmouth, Capt. Nicholas Vincent, commander. See Extract of a Letter from on board the State Brig Notre Dame, 9 Mar. 1778, NDAR 11: 576; Capt. Nicholas Vincent to Young, 17 Mar. 1778, NDAR 11: 683–84; Eyewitness Account of Engagement between Continental Navy Frigate Randolph and H.M.S. Yarmouth, NDAR 11: 1175; Engagement between Continental Navy Frigate Randolph and H.M.S. Yarmouth, NDAR 11: 1175–77; and Rear Adm. Sir Peter Parker to Stephens, 19 Apr. 1778, NDAR 12: 143–44.

16. See Journal of H.M.S. Ariadne, 9 Mar. 1778, NDAR 11: 575; John Bradford to the Continental Marine Committee, 8 Apr. 1778, NDAR 12: 59; John Bradford to Leonard Jarvis, 9 Apr. 1778, NDAR 12: 68–9; and James Warren to John Gill, 20 Apr. 1778, NDAR 12: 146–48.

17. Eagle was captured by sloop Tartar, a tender of Portland. See Journal of H.M.S. Portland, 22 May 1778, NDAR 12: 424.

18. For more on the destruction of these unnamed sloops, see Young to Stephens, 13 Mar. 1778, NDAR 11: 635.

19. The London Chronicle of 17–19 Sept. 1778 reported that Young had returned to England with “40,000l. it being the amount of his eighth of prizes taken by the cruisers under his command.”

Document Information

Date

1778 July 20

Volume

Volume 13

Series

American Theater, June 1 to August 15, 1778

Naval Documents of the American Revolution

Account of American Privateers, & Armed Vessels; Taken by the Kings Ships under the Command of Admiral James Young at Barbadoes & the Leeward Islands; between the 24th: November 1775, and the 20th: July 1778

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