May 1778 Thursday 28th
Cape Codd So83West Dist 38 Leagues [AM] set fore sail at 1 the Diamond1 NEBN ½ a mile at 2 In 1st 2d & 3d reef Tsails the Diamond NE ½ a mile hauld up the fore sail at 3 the Diamond NE½E ½ a mile at 4 Do Wr [fresh gales and thick rainy weather] [at] ½ Past 5 wore as did the Diamond [at] ½ Past 6 down TG Yards [at] 7 handed Mizen Tsail Close reefd fore & Mn Tsail [at] 8 Strong gales & thick Squally Wr with rain [at] 10 the Diamond SW ½ a mile Soundd 85 fms no Ground opened a Cask of Pork No 4 Content 308 Short 18 Pieces [at] 11 no ground 95 fms the Diamond SSW ½ a mile [at] 12 Cleard up Saw 2 Sail in the SW Quar Do Wore as Did the Diamond Made Sail & gave Chace Fresh gales & fair Wr.
Cape Codd So 71 West Dist 47 Leagues [PM] Fresh gales & Cloudy Still in Chace Up TG Yards Sett TG Sails & Handed Do. unbent the Fore TG Sail & brought another too [at] ½ Past 2 Saw another sail to the Eastwd bore away out reefs gave her Chace at 3 Sprung the Jibb boom about 3 Feet without the Cap Do rigged the Boom in 3 feet & a half & reefd It found the sail to be a Brig lying too Mn Tsail to the mast Supposed her to be our Prize2 we had lost sight of in Chace Yesterday Do hauld on the Starboard tack at 4 the Diamond SW [at] ¾ past 5 the Diamond & Chace hove too. Do In TG sails hauld down middle & TG Staysails at 6 Fresh gales & ½ Past Came up with the Diamond Do Shortned sail & In 2d & 3d reefs Do brought too Mn Tsail to the mast the Chace Proved to be the Jonathan3 a Ship from boston bound to Charlestown South Carolina. Do Recd on board 11 Prisoners sent a Mid & 4 men on board the Prize at 8 Sounded 48 fm fine Sand Modrt & Cloudy Wr at 9 the Prize Parted Company at 10 made sail Do Set the Courses & fore & Mn Tmast Staysails 52 fms brown sand at 11 the Diamond SSW ½ a mile
D, UkLPR, Adm. 52/1938, fol. 153.
1. H.M. frigate Diamond, Capt. Charles Feilding, commander.
2. Brig Sally.
3. Letter of marque ship General McDougall, [formerly Jonathan], a recapture, from Boston bound to South Carolina with 5 hogsheads of sugar and 2 boxes of wool cards, taken at sea, sent into Halifax as a joint prize of Raisonable and Diamond. Howe’s Prize List, 30 Oct. 1778, UkLPR, Adm.1/488, fols. 487–88. This privateer was 300 tons burthen, mounted 10 guns and carried a crew of 21 seamen. Gambier’s Prize List, 20 Dec. 1778, The London Gazette, 2–6 Feb. 1779. Jonathan had been captured in November 1777 by the Connecticut privateer brigantine General Washington, Capt. William Rogers, commander, and taken into Boston. See NDAR 10: 739. It was renamed General McDougall by its new owners, Paschal Nelson Smith and Isaac Sears, of Boston, Benedict Arnold and Christopher Leffingwell, of Norwich, Conn., and Samuel Broome, John Broome and Jeremiah Platt, of Hartford, Conn. On 6 Apr. 1778 General McDougall was commissioned a Connecticut privateer ship, Joseph Jauncey, commander. DNA, PCC, item 196, vol. 6, p. 28 (M247, roll 203). There is more on its capture in Trial and Verdict in Vice Admiralty Court of Nova Scotia of Connecticut Privateer Ship General McDougall, 13 July 1778, CaNSHP, Vol. 496, Vice Admiralty Register, vol. 6 (1777—1782), p. 45.