May 1778 Friday 1
Do. Cape [Cape Ann, Mass.] 83 Wt, 11 Leags
AM at 6 set Foresail & Fore & Main topsls.—at 8 tack'd—at 11 saw a Sail to the Et.wd.—set Mizn. topsl. & Staysail.
Cape Cod So, 85 Wt. 20 Leags,
First pt. fresh Breezs. & cloudy—middle pt. fresh gales with Rain latter pt. light Breezs. & thick foggy Wr. PM at 5 retook a Brig call'd the Elizabeth1 from Bordeaux bod. to N York which had been taken by a Rebel Privateer call'd the Hazard2 at 7 in 2d & 3d Reefs topsls.—at 10 lost Sight of the Prize astern
D, UkLPR, Adm. 51/762, part 1, fols. 32–33.
1. Brig Elizabeth, a recapture, from London bound to New York, with brandy, wine, &c., taken off Georges Bank, sent into Halifax. Howe's Prize List, 30 Oct. 1778, UkLPR, Adm. 1/488, fols. 483–84. According to Vice Admiralty Court of Nova Scotia records, Thomas Howe, master of Elizabeth, had been granted a license at New York City by authority of Gen. Sir William Howe to sail to Bordeaux for brandy and wine and return. Capt. Sir George Collier libeled the brig on 20 May and John Alexander, mate of H.M. frigate Rainbow, deposed on 23 May that after a six-hour chase Rainbow captured Elizabeth, the crew of which was all Americans, On 1 June Richard Gibbons, H.M. Solicitor General, questioned the authenticity of the license and moved that the motion of the claimant, Thomas Howe, be overruled. It appears that the brig was ultimately declared a lawful capture of Rainbow. CaNSHP, Vol. 496, Vice Admiralty Register, vol. 6 (1777–1782), pp. 132–34.
2. Massachusetts Navy brigantine Hazard, Capt. Simeon Samson, commander
