May 1778 Thursday 28th
Do: [Cape Cod] West. 106 Miles} AM at 1 fresh Gales with Rainy Wr: at 3 Close Reefed the Topsails down Jibb & maintopmast Stay sail at 5 Handed the Topsails at 7 down Top Gallant Yards ½ pt: saw a sail Bearing WbSo. Gave Chace at 10 hove too and Spoke the Chace the Wexford Brig a Reble Privateer of 16 guns & 105 Men she hove her Guns over Board wile we ware in Chace of her.—1
Do: WbS: 125 Miles} Little Wind with much Swell. PM Empd: geting the prisoners onboard found 15 British Subjects onbd: that had been taken by the privateer sent a Midshipman and Men onbd: the prize. At 7 the prize parted Company Close Reefed the Topsails,
D, UkLPR, Adm. 51/331, fol. 128.
1. In a deposition sworn before the Vice Admiralty Court of New York, John Fletcher, captain of the Wexford, stated that the brigantine of “about” 180 tons and a crew of 88, “Officers included,” was taken “near Cape Sable” while on a “Cruize.” Wexford, which was built in and operated out of Newburyport, Mass., was owned by Nathaniel Tracy. Deposition of John Fletcher, 2 July 1778, UkLPR, H.C.A.32/489/2, no. 7. Wexford mounted 16 guns, was manned by a crew of 105 seamen and was captured in latitude 43o 10’ North, longitude 65o 00’ West, Gambier’s Prize List, 20Dec. 1778, The London Gazette, 2–6 Feb. 1779. It later became the New York privateer brig Loyal Subject. The New-York Gazette; or the Weekly Mercury, 14 Sept. 1778.
