The Royal American Gazette (New York), Tuesday, June 16, 1778

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NEW-YORK, June 16.

Last Friday arrived here, after a passage of 12 weeks, the Letter of Marque ship Richard, Captain Lyon, of 16 guns and 70 men, of and from Liverpool:—About the middle of May, he took a snow from France, bound to America, laden with salt, wine, brandy, cloathing, &c. there were found on board of her a number of letters directed to Congress.¹

About ten days since, Capt. Lyon spoke with the Letter of Marque ship Marlborough, from Liverpool for Philadelphia, with two prizes, one of them from Carolina, with rice and indigo, and the other from Chesapeak with tobacco.²

Last Saturday night, about 11 o'clock, a small party of rebels, from East-Jersey, landed at New Utrecht, on Long-Island, who, having procured a waggon and horses, proceeded to Flat-Bush, where several Gentlemen of this city, have country-houses: The rebels, being well informed of this circumstance, proceeded to the house of Major Moncrieff, whom they surprized in bed and, after allowing him time to dress, carried off. They were not so complaisant to Mr. Theophylacte Bache, of this city, who, upon the first alarm, went and opened his door without any other cloaths except his shirt, the skirt of which one of them tore off in the scuffle, and dragged him away in that condition. About the same time they surrounded the house of David Matthews, Esq; Mayor of this city, who ordered his doors to be secured in the best manner, resolving to defend himself to the last extremity, in the mean time he sent a negro to the top of the house, who by discharging a musket gave an alarm, which so intimidated the assailants, that they ran away after breaking two muskets in endeavouring to force into the house: His worship immediately sent an express to Brooklyn, for a party of the 35th regiment, but the rebels, being too expert in a retreat, had got to their boats with their prisoners and a Mr. Forrester, one of their Lieutenants, then on parole there.³

Yesterday was sent in here by the armed sloop Harriot, Capt. William Austin, of this port, the schooner Sally, Charles Henly, master, of North-Carolina, bound to St. Eustatia, with lumber, and the sloop Bacchus, Stilson Hinson master, laden with tobacco. &c. At sea they parted company with the schooner Betsey, —— Seldon master. with a cargo of tobacco. These vessels Capt. Austin cut out of Carratuck Inlet, North-Carolina, on the 9th inst. where he burned a sloop after taking four hogsheads of tobacco out of her: A sloop with dry goods, he was obliged to leave aground, not having hands to bring her off.

. . . . There are now at Cranberry inlet, in New-Jersey, three gallies, from New London of four guns each, that have taken several vessels, among them a schooner from Cork with provisions;⁴ and a vessel from the West-Indies with rum and sugar.⁵

1. Ship Richard, Capt. Andrew Lyon, burthen 300 tons, was built in 1773 and extensively rebuilt in 1777. It carried 16 6-pounders. It was owned by Benson & Co., of Liverpool. Lloyd's Register of Ships, 1777– 1778 (there, however, the captain's name is given as T. Lion).

2. British letter of marque ship Marlborough, Capt. George Dawson, 250 tons burthen, rebuilt in 1776, carrying 14 6-pounder and 2 9-pounder guns. Lloyd's Register of Ships, 1777–1778.

3. Maj. Thomas Moncrieff, an officer in the Royal Fencible American Regiment. He was the brother in-law of Theophylact Bache, a New York merchant and lukewarm Loyalist, who was also seized. The raiders took Bache and Moncrieff to Morristown, New Jersey, where they were held a short time before being exchanged. Maxine N. Lurie, “Bache, Theophylact," American National Biography, ed. by John A Garraty and Mark C. Cranes (New York and Oxford, Engand, Oxford University Press, 1999), vol. 1: 827-29. David Matthews was mayor of New York City from February 1776 to 1782 when he became Register of the Court of Admiralty. His property in America, including the estate at Flatbush, was confiscated by the Patriots. After the war he became President of the Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Island of Cape Breton. Lorenzo Sabine, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution with An Historical Essay. 2 vols. (Boston, Massachusetts, Little Brown and Company, 1864) 2: 51-52. The paroled American officer who escaped with the American raiders was Capt. Alexander Graydon. Lurie, “Bache," 828. The New Jersey Gazette reported on 17 June that the raiders, eleven in number, were led by William Marriner and that Matthews, their “principal object," escaped capture because he was "in the city."

4. Sloop Hazard with a cargo of beef and pork, captured and carried into Tom's River by Capt. Peter Anderson with 16 men in an armed boat. New Jersey Gazette, 27 May and 3 June 1778.

5. On 10 June, Maj. Gen. Philemon Dickinson of the New Jersey militia reported to Gen, George Washington: “Two valuable Prizes were sunk into Toms River, two days ago, by a small New England Privateer, part of the Cargoes, consists of one hundred & fifty hogsheads Rum—this small Privateer within five weeks past, has taken Prizes, to the amount of, One hundred & fifty thousand pounds." DLC, George Washington Papers. On 14 June, Brig. Gen. William Maxwell reported to Washington that “a Prize Snow & two sloops" had been captured and brought into Egg Harbor; "the first has 160 puncheons of Rum on Board the two latter is loaded with fruit & Turtle.” He added: “I think they all should be moved to Camp as they would conduce much to the Health of the Troops and will soon spoil where they are." Ibid.

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Date

1778 June 16

Volume

Volume 13

Series

American Theater, June 1 to August 15, 1778

Naval Documents of the American Revolution

The Royal American Gazette (New York), Tuesday, June 16, 1778

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