[Boston, June 1778]1
Inventory of Ship General Hancock and Stores——————Viz— Hull about two years Old British bu[i]lt a Most Eligant Ship—2 Masts, Yards & Spars Standing and Running Riging of the best kind, but some damaged in an Engagement, About 40 Tons Iron Ballast, more or Less—
D, MSaE, Papers of John Cushing and Samuel White, Privateers, General Hancock. Docketed: “Inventory of Ship Hancock/and Stores——.”
1. This date is based upon the ship’s period of fitting out, and the date it was commissioned a Massachusetts privateer ship, 23 June 1778. M-Ar, Mass. Archives Collection, Revolutionary Rolls Collection, vol. 6, pp. 7, 10.
2. This ship was formerly H.M. packet ship Weymouth, Capt. Paul Flynn, commander, which was captured about 5 Sept. 1777 by the Connecticut Navy ship Oliver Cromwell, Capt. Seth Harding, commander. Weymouth was ship-rigged but is often referred to as a sloop because it resembled a “Sloop of War” in the Royal Navy. It was pierced for 18 carriage guns but only mounted 14 6-pounders when taken. For a further description of Weymouth, see NDAR 9: 879 and 947.
3. That is, awnings.
4. That is, hand grenades.
5. Ullage is the amount that a cask lacks of being full.
6. That is, hand spikes. A hand spike was a bar of wood used as a pry or lever in raising or moving weighty objects, heaving on a windlass, or tightening a heavy lashing.
7. A kid is a small tub or pan in which rations or food are carried.
