USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island privateers in King George's war, 1739-1748 > Part 8
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March 12 was ordered to impress 20 seamen in Massachusetts. She was at Boston on March 16, on which day she sailed in consort with the Massachusetts and the Molineux. She was off Louisbourg on the 20th, lay off and on, in the fleet blockading Louisbourg, and on April 19 took part in the attack upon the French frigate Renommée. The Caesar was the first vessel to attack the Frenchman and exchanged a broadside with him. Commodore Tyng wrote in regard to this battle: "The Rhode Island men behave extraordinary well, though their vessels sail very bad." On April 25, the Caesar sailed into Canso with news that the ice had gone from Louisbourg. She continued to cruise in the blockading force, and on June 3, a few miles east of the lighthouse, captured a large sloop from Canada, laden with flour and other provisions. This sloop ran ashore while trying to escape. From her crew it was learned that 1000 French and Indian re-enforcements were coming from the siege of Annapolis to the relief of Louisbourg. The Caesar sailed from Chapeaurouge Bay on June Io as convoy for returning transports, and arrived at Boston on the 19th. She remained at Boston until the Rhode Island de- tachment of sailors for the Vigilant arrived early in July. They embarked on the Caesar on the 3rd, and she sailed about the 9th, arriving at Louisbourg on the 16th, convoying several transports, among which were the brigantine Success and the schooner Beaver, Captain Cahoone, which had sailed from Newport on July 2 with three companies of Rhode Island troops. She sailed from Louisbourg about the last of July, carrying a number of French prisoners, and arrived at Newport on August II, thereupon being discharged from service.
She soon sailed again as a privateer, still under the com- mand of Captain Griffith, and sometime about January 1745-6 was cast away on the reefs at the west end of Bermuda, the captain and crew being saved. Captain Griffith obtained
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another vessel at Bermuda, and again went privateering. The Caesar's dimensions are given as 5572 ft. keel, 22 ft. beam and I0 ft. hold.
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CHAPTER VI
THE "CONCERT SLOOPS" AND THE PRINCE FREDERICK
THE SLOOPS Castor AND Pollux
According to Sheffield, Capt. John Brown and Philip Wilkinson fitted out two privateers, the Castor and the Pollux, in the summer of 1742, and the "Boston News-Letter" de- scribed these vessels as "two fine new sloops". The Castor was commanded by Capt. Hugh Wentworth of Bermuda, who had served as a private in 1737-8 in Capt. Cornelius Van Horne's company in the New York militia, and who two years later commanded a New York privateer. The Pollux was commanded by Capt. Richard Woolford, who in 174I commanded a St. Christopher privateer. These two vessels sailed in consort, or in concert with each other, and so were sometimes called "the concert sloops".
They went from Newport to the West Indies, and some- time about December 1742 captured a Spanish brigantine, which, however, had no cargo, sailing only in ballast. They sent her into St. Christopher, where she arrived about the first of January. After taking the brigantine, the Castor and the Pollux sailed along the coast of Porto Rico, off of which they fell in with and captured a Spanish privateer sloop and another sloop in company with her. This latter sloop had on board fifty thousand pieces-of-eight, 100 barrels of beef and 50 firkins of butter.
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Still cruising "in concert", the Castor and the Pollux sailed over to Vera Cruz, Mexico, in the spring, and on April 27, 1743, within sight of the town of Vera Cruz, captured two Spanish brigantines. Soon after this they took a small Spanish sloop which, after taking out all of the cargo, they gave to the Spanish prisoners. With prize crews on the two brigantines, the four vessels sailed northward and arrived at New York on Friday, June 17, 1743. The prize cargoes con- sisted of gun powder, cocoa, tanned leather, flour, soap and dry goods, together with from ten thousand to twenty thousand pieces-of-eight.
In the summer of 1744 the Pollux, Captain Woolford, in consort with the Castor, Capt. William Wilkinson of Bermuda, captured two French letter-of-marque ships, mounting 20 guns each, which hailed from Martinque, but as the capture took place in sight of one of H. M. ships, the latter took the prizes away from them. After this they drove ashore and captured a French privateer, which they later floated and carried into St. Kitts, together with three more prizes that they had the good fortune to take. One of the privateers then went to Barbadoes to bring suit against the men-of-war.
The Castor, Capt. John Burges, and the Pollux, Captain Easom or Eason, under their new commanders, sailed from St. Kitts early in March. When off the west end of Porto Rico they fell in with four Spanish men-of-war and two merchantmen, and it was with the utmost difficulty that the privateers escaped. On May 9, 1745, off the west end of Porto Rico, they retook from a Spanish privateer a prize Irish snow, late Capt. Isaiah Nichols, from Antigua for Virginia, which had been taken by the Spaniards on May 6. The Spanish privateer escaped by running in among the shoals, where the Castor and the Pollux dared not follow.
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On March 5, 1745-6, a little to windward of Hispaniola, the Castor and the Pollux, under the aforesaid commanders, in consort with the Diana of Bermuda, Captain Skinner, cap- tured the French ship St. Joseph d'Egypte, 200 tons, 12 guns, 35 men, Capt. Jacob Martiene, bound from Marseilles for Cape Francois. She was laden with wine, oil, soap, candles, beeswax and clothes, and was convoyed by the Pollux into New York, where they arrived on Tuesday, April 1, 1746. The Castor and Diana were left to cruise in search of the rest of the fleet, of which this St. Joseph "and the Tartan brought in last week and the ships carried into (New) Providence and Philadelphia all sailed in company".
Later in the year the Castor, Capt. John Burges, and the Pollux, Capt. Jeremiah Leacroft, attacked a French ship of 16 guns, but she beat them off, only to be taken the next day by the brigantine Success of Bermuda.
On Sept. 16, 1746, the Castor and the Pollux, in consort off Cape Francois, retook the Bermuda sloop or ship Endeavor, late Joseph Dickenson master, which, when bound from Bermuda for St. Kitts, had been captured on August 28 off Bermuda by the famous Spanish privateer captain, Don Pedro de Arocochia (Garaycoches). She was laden with salt, rum and sugar, and parted from the Castor and the Pollux on September 19, but reached New York in safety the last week in September. Later they cruised with the Triton of New York, and on November 4, 1746, off old Cape Francois, fought a large French storeship of 10 guns and over 70 men, with several thousand stands of arms for the army in Canada. After a rather lengthy fight, they finally drove her ashore and she surrendered. The privateers were unable to float her, so they transferred part of her cargo to themselves and carried it to Turks Island. They started back to the wreck to get
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the rest of her cargo, but on the way, on November 24, met two French ships of 20 guns each, which they took after a nine-hour battle. The Castor had 8 killed and 12 wounded, but the Triton suffered no casualties. These prizes were bound from Bordeaux for Cape Francois. The Pollux was so badly damaged in the engagement that she went to Bermuda to refit, where she arrived before February 19, 1746-7.
The following men served on the Pollux: First Lieutenant Hezekiah Bosworth, Second Lieutenant James Goelet, Master Lawrence Donaldson, Surgeon John Flinn, Boatswain John Watson, Chief Mate William Hesman, Gunner Andrew Beven, Carpenter Thomas McKinley, Cook Edward Griffin, Captain of the Hold James Johnson, George McGee, and Captain's Clerk James King.
The Triton arrived at New York on December 28, 1746, and one of the prizes, the St. Margaret alias Marguerite of Bordeaux, 250 tons, 18 guns, laden with wine, flour, iron and drygoods, arrived on March 4, 1746-7, having been at sea ever since her capture on November 24. The other prize was the ship Fort Louis, which reached New York in March. In 1747 the Castor cruised with the Trembleur.
The brigantine Castor of New York, (probably a different vessel), commanded by Captain Arnold, returned to New York on Wednesday, June 1, 1748, after a cruise of eleven months, "without any great success, which is chiefly owing to her being a heavy sailor".
Many of the privateers have classical names, showing their owner's acquaintance with and admiration of classical litera- ture, but no privateer of this period has been discovered with a name derived from the Arthurian legends of pre-Saxon England.
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THE Prince Frederick, CAPTAIN HOPKINS.
The sloop Prince Frederick, named after the then Prince of Wales, was a vessel of 99 tons, mounting 14 carriage and 21 swivel guns, and was owned by Peleg Brown, Nathaniel Cod- dington, Jr., and Sueton Grant. In April 1743 William Hop- kins was commissioned captain of the Prince Frederick, which on April 29 was reported as being ready to sail in about ten days on her first privateering cruise.
Capt. William Hopkins was son of William and Ruth (Wilkinson) Hopkins, and was born about 1705. He followed the sea, and when about 19 years of age, being at this time a common sailor, happened to be in London during the progress of a riot that threatened the safety of the Royal family. He promptly organized a force of sailors and loyal citizens, under the inspiring cry of "Fall in and protect the King", and rushing to the onset, quelled the disturbance, to the great gratification of the imperilled dignities. For this he was appointed colonel, and received many marks of royal favor, among which was the presentation of a court suit, pieces of which are still preserved in the musuem of the Rhode Island Historical Society. Cap- tain Hopkins was deputy in the General Assembly in 1736, commanded one of the Rhode Island companies in the expe- dition against Cartagena in 1740, and was sent north in August 1741 to raise additional troops, an enterprise in which he was very successful. William Hopkins died in 1755, leaving two brothers, Stephen Hopkins and Esek Hopkins, both of whom were destined to play great parts in the forma- tion of the United States.
On July 6, 1743, near Cumana, off the coast of Venezuela, the Prince Frederick captured the Dutch sloop Juffrou Sara, 70 tons, mounting 8 carriage and 8 swivel guns, commanded by Coenvaat Huijblings, and carrying on a contraband trade in
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ammunition with the Spaniards. The Prince Frederick drew alongside the Juffrou Sara and threatened to fire on her, where- upon Captain Huijblings struck his colors. The Prince Frederick sent the Juffrouw Sara to Newport, where she arrived in August. The Juffrouw Sara had sailed from Curacao on April 23, 1743, (N. S.) with a cargo of dry goods, brandy, Geneva, powder, shot, and muskets, and had gone first to Porto Rico, which she reached in five days. After trading for a while along the coast, she crossed over to Barcelona on the Spanish main, where she remained about three weeks. She then went to Margaretta Island, and was captured by Captain Hopkins two or three days after she left that island on the return voyage to Barcelona. She was said to have been largely owned by Don Pedro, a Spaniard, although Coutino & Company, Dutch merchants at Curacao claimed to own her. A great deal of litigation followed this capture, as the Dutch authorities at Curacao complained to the English Government in regard to the affair.
On this cruise Captain Hopkins took seven prizes, five of which he let go after collecting a ransom from them. He placed a prize crew on the other two and sent them to Newport. One was the Juffrou Sara and the other a Spanish sloop laden with rum and indigo. The Prince Frederick arrived at New- port on August 10, 1743, with about 10,000 pieces-of-eight taken from the various prizes.
Thomas Griffith was serving on the Juffrou Sara at the time of her capture, and was brought to Newport, where subse- quently in 1744 he enlisted as gunner on the Prince Charles of Lorraine, and served on her famous cruise.
Sheffield, in a newspaper account, says that the Prince Frederick captured a Spanish war vessel on May 2, 1743, but
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the item is doubtless an error for the Spanish sloop laden with rum and indigo, which was expected at Newport in August I743.
Capt. John Dennis, called a "terrible man of war", was put in command of the Prince Frederick for her second cruise. Articles were publicly set up in Newport announcing the pro- posed voyage against the Spaniards by Captain Dennis in the sloop Prince Frederick, and many enlisted for the expedition. Captain Dennis filed his return with the Vice-Admiralty clerk on September 12, and, according to Sheffield, sailed on Sep- tember 13, although according to the deposition of one of the mariners who went on her, she sailed about October 7, which date is, however, too late unless he meant October 7, new style. Other dates in this deposition are also too late, even if new style. The armament of the Prince Frederick had been changed to 12 carriage and 16 swivel guns, and she carried a crew of 80 men and provisions for a six months' cruise. Her officers were Lieutenant Peter Marshall, Master William Boyd, Captain's Quartermaster John Calder, Surgeon Jonathan Fuller, Gunner William Edmonds, Boatswain Daniel Vaughn and Carpenter Angle Brit Lawrence. Robert Gardner served on board the Prince Frederick during this cruise.
The sloop Prince Frederick, Captain Dennis, and the brigan- tine Prince William, Capt. William Allen, cruised in consort in the autumn of 1743, and on October 16, in latitude 33° 40' N, the Prince Frederick brought to the small fast-sailing snow Catherine, Francis Graciat, master, bound from The Havana for Cadiz. She had 15,437 dollars in cash, and was sailing in ballast. Captain Dennis took all the money out of her except 1,000 dollars, which he gave to Captain Graciat in return for some information about a rich ship that was soon to sail from The Havana, and then dismissing Captain Graciat, he let the
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snow go on her way. The two privateers cruised to the east- ward of Antigua, and on October 26, in latitude 20° 40' N, sighted a sail and gave chase. They came up with and fired on a merchant vessel, which, however, turned out to be English. The prize money from the Catherine was divided among the crews and netted 58 dollars a share. They touched at St. Kitts and also at Nevis, where they made a longer stay, after which continuing westward, they chased a Spanish privateer, which ran ashore on the coast of Cuba in order to escape them. Later they chased another Spanish vessel, which ran ashore near St. Jago (Santiago de Cuba). Thence they sailed into the "Bay" (Gulf) of Mexico, where they cruised for six weeks without seeing a sail.
Meanwhile there had been trouble on board the Prince Frederick. Life on a privateer was not all prize-money and pleasant cruises on balmy tropical seas. One of the crew of the Prince Frederick, John Austin, claimed a "frock", which belonged to someone else, because one belonging to him had disappeared or been stolen. Austin had a dispute over this matter with the boatswain's mate, David Robinson, and as a result of this trouble Austin was whipped six times. On November 10 or II, William Gibbs, steward, or John Gibbs, master, of the Prince Frederick and Martin Scott, one of the mariners, exchanged some hard words in the evening. Gibbs went to his cabin, got a cane, and then went forward in the darkness, brandishing his cane and asking "Where is that rascal?" He struck several of the crew with his cane, and in the confusion drew some blood, particularly from Thomas Roe. Captain Dennis and Captain Allen were sitting on the round house and heard some of the disturbance. Henry Clark, who seems to have been company's quartermaster, accompanied by Austin Scott, Thomas Worgan, William Sweet, Matthew Boston, Patrick Rogers, John Frazier, William Edmonds,
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Thomas Roe and others of the crew, came to Captain Dennis and complained. Clark and Dennis conversed rather in- tensely, and Clark, according to his own statement, laid his hand on Captain Dennis' chest to emphasize his point. Dennis said that Clark struck him and immediately declared Clark guilty of mutiny. Lieutenant Peter Marshall went over to the Prince William for re-enforcements, and Captain Dennis had cutlasses brought out and given to those of the crew who stood by him. The incipient mutiny subsided, Clark's money was taken away from him, and he was put ashore together with Austin on Noman's Key and marooned there. Worgan spent some time in irons for threatening to desert. Captain Dennis ordered all who were discontented to go ashore with Clark and Austin, but the others deemed it preferable to stay on the Prince Frederick. Philemon Saunders seems to have been company's quartermaster at this time. (cf. Smith's "Civil and Military Lists of R. I".) John Gibbs had become master of the Prince Frederick in place of William Boyd. Richard Clarke was mate, and William Gibbs was steward.
On March 5, 1744, N. S., within three leagues of The Havana the Prince Frederick and the Prince William took the Spanish schooner Serena, 6 guns and 19 men, commanded by Don Benito Araujo, lieutenant of the Admiral's ship, which lay at The Havana. The Serena was bound from Compeche for The Havana, and was laden with 1,000 bushels of salt, shoes, leather and 800 pieces-of-eight. Her gunner was Beneto Farinol. William Davis was probably serving on either the Prince Frederick or the Prince William on this cruise.
The sloop Prince Frederick, now registered as 100 tons instead of 99 tons, sailed from Newport on June 7, 1744, with provisions for a four months' cruise and a complement of 120 men. She was commanded, as on her previous cruise, by
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Captain Dennis, with First Lieutenant Daniel Beebe (who had served in that capacity on the colony sloop Tartar two years before), Second Lieutenant John Sweet, Master John Gibbs, Master's Mate Birt Clarke, Captain's Quartermaster John Calder (who held that office on the previous cruise), Surgeon Robert Gardner, Gunner Daniel Moorhead, Carpenter Zebulon Geers and Boatswain William Sweet as her officers.
The Prince Frederick cruised down the Atlantic coast, and on June 19 (June 29 N. S.)* 1744, in latitude 29º N, sighted three Spanish vessels. When they saw the Prince Frederick approach, they separated, and the Prince Frederick gave chase for a few hours to the largest of them. This Spanish vessel, which was a privateer, fired six shots at the Prince Frederick, and then considering that resistance was useless, surrendered. She proved to be the schooner Senior or Senora de San José y San Nicolás, formerly the Indian Queen Opess.
The schooner Indian Queen Opess, Captain Bay, sailed from Philadelphia, was captured by a Spanish privateer, taken into a Spanish port and fitted out as a privateer by the Spaniards. Sailing on a cruise against the English, she ran into the port of Bluefields, Jamaica, and cut out a sugar ship. The privateer Wilmington of Philadelphia, Captain Sibbald, attacked the Indian Queen Opess, while she was convoying the sugar ship to a Spanish port and captured the ship, but the schooner sheared off and escaped. She had, however, been almost torn to pieces, and had lost so many of her men killed, that the next morning she surrendered to the Jamaica Country sloop, and was taken in by her. She was repaired by the English, and sailed from Jamaica as a merchantman bound for Bristol, England, but on the voyage she was again taken by the Spaniards, and again refitted as a privateer. She mounted
* Accounts vary
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14 carriage guns (four and six pounders), and was manned by 23 men, commanded by Don Augustin de Escalera. She was renamed by the Spaniards the Senora de San José y San Nicolás, and was sailing under that name when captured by the Prince Frederick. She was sent home with a prize crew by Captain Dennis, and may have been the vessel that was spoken on Friday, July 6, off Marthas Vineyard by a vessel from North Carolina for Boston. She arrived safely at New- port on July 13 in the forenoon, having on board 48 barrels of tar, 50 boards and some copper kettles.
Sailing over to the French West Indies, Captain Dennis in the Prince Frederick, on July 14, 1744, N. S., in latitude 12º or 12º 30' N, fell in with a small French sloop of 40 tons. The Prince Frederick easily captured this vessel, which was the St. Pierre, Jean Bazil, master, which had sailed from Grenada for Martinique on the previous day with a cargo of 106 hogs- heads of Muscovado sugar, cocoa, coffee, rice and eleven negro slaves and a crew of seven Frenchmen. This vessel was sent into Newport for condemnation, where she arrived on Tuesday, July 24, 1744.
The Prince Frederick then went towards the Bay of Honda in pursuit of a Spanish ship, which had a cargo of 60,000 dollars. Later the Prince Frederick, Captain Dennis, fell in with the Revenge, Capt. James Allen, and the two vessels sailed in consort. Off Cape Francois, on Sunday, July 23, 1744, the two Rhode Island privateers had a smart engagement with two large French privateer sloops fitted out especially to take them, "full of laced hats," that is with well-to-do volunteers. The Prince Frederick, being the smaller of the two, was mis- taken by the Frenchmen for the Revenge's prize. Both of the enemy vessels bore down on the Prince Frederick, and after the first broadside the larger sloop, which flew the French flag at
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A MODEL OF A XEBECK OR CHEBEQUE OF 1748, WITH SQUARE SAILS In the Musée de la Marine, Paris
From "Souvenir de Marine" by Admiral Paris
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her top mast head, laid herself aboard the Prince Frederick, while the other lay on her broadside within pistol shot and poured in a continual fire. Captain Dennis finally got clear of them both, but they boarded the Prince Frederick again in the same manner a second time, so that Captain Dennis began to fear capture. By a mistake of the helmsman, the Revenge was some two miles distant, and this gave the French fresh courage in their renewed attack. Captain Dennis, however, exerted all his strength and gave them such a warm reception that the smaller sloop thought proper to shear off, and some little time later was followed by the other Frenchman, the engagement having lasted for seven glasses. The Prince Frederick received a shot between wind and water, and had four feet of water in her hold. She lost one man killed, and several dangerously wounded. The contemporary newspaper comments: "All that Captain Dennis and Captain Allen got by the brush was the honour of fighting and chaceing two vessels far superior to theirs even within reach of the cannon at Port Francois." As privateering was for profit and not for glory or for crippling the enemy, such a fight as this was considered as a waste of time by the participants. The French privateers lost a great many men, and the blood was seen to run out of their scuppers for a long time.
The Prince Frederick and the Revenge sailed over to the Florida Keys, where, on August 25, 1744, the Prince Frederick captured a Spanish vessel that was at anchor there. She was the St. Fermin alias the Britannia, a snow of 140 or 148 tons, commanded by Don Francisco Antonio Sanchez Del Guada, bound from Vera Cruz for The Havana with a cargo of flour, soap, sweet meats, 200 sheets of copper and 2 chests, which contained 600 pounds of virgin silver. All of the crew, which consisted of twenty sailors, escaped, except the captain and
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one negro, a freeman but said to be a criminal. The two privateers and their prize sailed northward, and all three vessels arrived at Newport on Monday, September 9, 1744.
News reached Newport in January 1743-4 that Captain Allen and Captain White in consort had taken a prize "worth near a million of money and carried her into New Providence", but this rumor does not seem to have been confirmed. No other evidence has been discovered in regard to James Allen and Nicholas White taking a prize in consort. It is, of course, possible that William Allen, captain of the Prince William, was meant. However, Capt. William Allen and Capt. John Dennis in the Prince Frederick had been cruising in consort in the autumn, and the report may have been a garbled account of their exploits.
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CHAPTER VII
THE OPENING OF THE FRENCH WAR
THE King George,-CAPTAIN CRANSTON
One of the many privateers fitted out at Newport upon the declaration of war against France in the spring of 1744 was the sloop King George, named in honor of the reigning sovereign. She was owned by John Brown and Thomas Coggeshall, and was commanded by Capt. Benjamin Cranston, who was son of Col. John Cranston of the Tartar, and grandson of Governor John Cranston. He had married in 1742 Bathsheba Cogges- hall, daughter of Thomas Coggeshall, and so was son-in-law of one of the principal owners of the King George, and doubtless had an interest in her. She was a vessel of IIO tons, mounted 12 guns and carried a crew of 80 men. Her officers were First Lieutenant John Burke, formerly of the Victory, Second Lieutenant Latham Clarke, Captain's Quartermaster Thomas Vernon, Master Nathaniel Sweeting, Master's Mate William Jones, Gunner William Edmonds, Boatswain William Jones and Carpenter Stephen Tripp. The captain's return to the admiralty clerk was dated June 6, and the King George sailed from Newport on June 7, 1744. Thomas Arnold served as a mariner on this voyage.
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