USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 40
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The privateers at this time did not clearly distinguish between the. vessels of an enemy and those of a friendly or neutral power. Some- times, indeed, they attacked and captured merchantmen flying the flag- of their own country, thereby, even in the lax judgment of the time, being guilty of piracy. In order to prevent these illegal acts the Gen-
1 Arnold's Hist. of R. I., vol. 1, pp. 469, 478.
407
THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
eral Assembly, in 1696, "ordered that no new commissions should be granted without a bond of £1,000 not to exceed the powers therein conferred". Edward Randolph, the surveyor-general of customs, in a letter at this period to the Board of Trade, made the charge that the persons in authority in the colony were in league with pirates, and that privateer commissions had been issued irregularly. There seems to have been some foundation for these charges.
After the close of King William's war, in 1697, many of the priva- teers which had been preying on French commerce "had become open pirates". In response to the demand of the home government the Rhode Island Assembly, in May, 1698, passed a law dealing with this condition of affairs, which required the arrest of suspected pirates or of persons having foreign coin or merchandise in their possession for which they could not account satisfactorily. This action of the colony was communicated to the Board of Trade in a letter from Governor Cranston. Later, in the same year, the Board of Trade demanded that copies of all privateering commissions be sent to England, togeth- er with "an account of the trials of Munday and Cutler, who had been arrested for exceeding the powers granted in their commis- sions."
At this time occurred the celebrated affair of Captain Kidd, which is of interest in connection herewith, because of his relations with Rhode Island people, and also because of the fact that in his action as a privateersman turned pirate, he was the typical figure of that period. William Kidd was an Englishman who had been a privateer captain during King William's war. The government desired to sup- press the pirates, who then infested every sea, and Captain Kidd was selected as a suitable man to undertake the task. On the recommend- ation of the governor of Barbadoes, on December 11, 1695, he was given a commission against the pirates, and received the title of ad- miral. He sailed in a government vessel of thirty guns to New York, whence he went with a crew of between 150 and 200 men to Plymouth, England, and from that port started on his mission. Instead of directing his energies to the suppression of the pirates on the Amer- ican coast, he spent three years in the Indian Ocean, plundering the vessels of his own country, as well as those of other nations. His dep- redations were so great that many vessels were sent out to capture him, but he evaded his pursuers and returned to America.
The evidence would seem to prove that Captain Kidd was carrying out a previously arranged plan, and that his acts of piracy were simply the means of securing the wealth that the partners in the venture
408
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
expected to realize for their outlay and influence. The Earl of Bello- mont, then royal governor of New York and of all the New England colonies except Rhode Island and Connecticut, succeeded in inducing Captain Kidd to come to Boston, where he was arrested, sent to Eng- land, tried and executed in 1700. The documents collected by Bello- mont proved that Captain Kidd had many friends in Rhode Island, had business relations with them, and these papers also contained "the names of accomplices of Kidd who at various times resorted to this bay and of those who harbored them, many of whom were arrested."1
The accusations brought by Bellomont against Rhode Island were scathing. He denounced the government as "the most irregular and illegal in their administration that ever any English government was", and accused Governor Cranston of "conniving at pirates and making Rhode Island their sanctuary".2 In fact, on account of these charges, there was great danger that the Rhode Island charter would be abrogated, and the liberties of the colony imperiled. The death of Bellomont, in March, 1701, averted this possible disaster.
The people of Block Island had suffered so much from the French privateers during King William's war that, in 1700, most of the able- bodied men on the island had shipped on privateers, probably sailing from Newport.
The "War of the Spanish Succession," known in the colonies as "Queen Anne's War," in which England was pitted against France and Spain, from 1702 to 1714, afforded the Rhode Island people a great opportunity to engage in privateering and expand their com- merce. William Wanton was the leading privateer captain at this time. He was given a commission to sail in the brigantine Greyhound of 100 tons. After a two months' cruise in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. he returned with "three French ships, one of them a privateer of 260 tons, carrying 20 guns and 48 men ; another was a vessel of 300 tons with 16 guns, and the third was of 160 tons, mounting 8 guns. They were loaded with dried fish".3 Joseph Dudley, the royal governor of Massachusetts, attempted to interfere with the admiralty proceedings at Newport incidental to the condemnation of these prizes, but without success.
In 1706 a French privateer captured a sloop loaded with provisions near Block Island. The news reached Newport immediately and within two hours Capt. John Wanton, with two sloops manned by 120
1 Arnold's Hist. of R. I., vol. 1, pp. 543, 546-7.
2 Idem, vol. 1, pp. 551-2; R. I. Col. Rec. iii, pp. 385-93.
& Idem, vol. 2, pp. 6, 9.
1
409
THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
men, was in pursuit, captured the French vessel and her prize and brought them into Newport. Other similar stories are told of the prowess of the two Wantons, both of whom were enterprising mer- chants, and were also many years later successively governors of the Colony. Capt. William Wanton and Capt. John Cranston in 1708, in two sloops from Newport, chased French privateers that had cap- tured colonial merchantmen at Martha's Vineyard and pressed the French so closely that they were obliged to burn their prizes in order to escape. There is no record of the number of privateers that sailed from Rhode Island during the war, but old Fort Wolcott, commonly known as Fort Dumpling, on Conanicut Island, at the entrance to Newport Harbor, "was built from the queen's tenth of the prizes" which were then brought into port.
The Spanish War from 1739 to 1748, and the "War of the Austrian Succession" or "King George's War", 1744 to 1748, were utilized to the fullest extent by the Rhode Island merchants, and they did a great business in capturing French and Spanish ships. At the outbreak of the Spanish war Gov. John Wanton was instructed by the General Assembly to grant all the privateer commissions "that he should deem needful, pursuant to the King's Warrant". A ship was immediately sent out by Godfrey Malbone, John Brown and William Wanton, three of the principal merchants of Newport, and was fitted with an arma- ment from the public stores. The next year five privateers, manned by 400 men, were sent out by Newport merchants to cruise against the Spaniards. So many Spanish prisoners were brought in by the privateers during the next few years that the General Assembly, in 1744, passed an act providing for their maintenance, liberation and return to their homes. The prisoners were not always so well treated for, in 1746, twenty-two Spaniards, who had been captured by Capt. John Dennis, were sold into slavery. In retaliation, one of Dennis's prizes was recaptured, and the crew of twenty men were put on the chain gang at Havana. As a result of negotiations, both sets of cap- tives were liberated.
During the year 1744 French privateers did great damage along the New England coast and almost destroyed the fisheries, but the Rhode Island men did effective service against them. The Rhode Island privateers were also particularly successful in the West Indies.
The following list of privateers, which sailed from Newport during these two wars, shows the extent to which the colonial merchants were engaged in privateering. This list does not cover the first two years of the war, and probably does not include the vessels already men-
410
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
tioned. It, as well as other lists of Newport privateers and prizes in subsequent wars, is copied from William P. Sheffield's "Privateers- men of Newport", and they present in clear detail the names of the merchants and sea captains of the period-the men who managed and carried out these enterprises.
RHODE ISLAND PRIVATEERS IN SPANISH AND SPANISH-FRENCH WAR, FROM 1739 TO 1748.
1741.
NAME OF VESSEL. OWNERS. MASTER.
St. Andrews. John Godfrey,
Sueton Grant
Charles Davidson.
The Revenge.
John Brown,
John Bannister
. James Allen.
The Wentworth
.Godfrey Malbone,
Stephen Hopkins
Esek Hopkins.
The Triton . John Bannister,
John Brown.
Wm. J. Bonfield.
The Victory
John Brown,
John Bannister,
Wm. Mumford. Joseph Power.
The Tartar
The Colony. . Benjamin Wickam.
The Tartar . The Colony . Daniel Fry.
1742.
The Revenge John Potter,
William Read.
Charles Dyer.
The Castor John Brown,
Philip Wilkinson
Hugh Wentworth.
The Pollux
John Brown,
Philip Wilkinson Richard Woolford.
The Fame
Philip Wilkinson,
Daniel Ayrault, jr John Griffiths.
The Young Eagle. Sueton Grant.
1743.
The Prince Frederick. Peleg Brown,
Nath. Coddington, jr. William Hopkins.
William Wilkinson.
The Prince William John Brown,
John Bannister, William Mumford. . William Allen.
Michael Clarke.
The Prince Frederick. Sueton Grant, Peleg Brown, Nath. Coddington, jr John Dennis.
The Cæsar
John Griffiths.
The Young Godfrey. Godfrey Malbone,
Sueton Grant. Nicholas White.
The Mary.
William Wilkinson.
The Hunter Gideon Cornell,
William Read. Michael Clarke.
The Triton
John Bannister,
Joseph Harrison
Thomas McFarland.
The Mary
The Hunter
411
THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
MASTER.
VESSEL.
OWNERS. 1744.
The Cæsar .Philip Wilkinson,
Daniel Ayrault, jr
The Success Sueton Grant,
Nath. Coddington, jr.
Peleg Brown.
John Ellis.
The Duke of Marlboro
Robert Morris.
King George. .. John Brown, Thos. Coggeshall. Benj. Cranston.
The Prince William John Brown,
Joseph Bannister,
William Mumford. . William Allen.
The Prince Frederick.
Sueton Grant,
Peleg Brown,
Nath. Coddington, jr. John Dennis.
The Revenge. John Freebody,
Benjamin Norton .. James Allen.
The Hector. Godfrey Malbone,
Joseph Wanton. James Thurston.
The Queen of Hungary . Solomon Townsend,
John Channing, Jos. Tillinghast,
Samuel Freebody . Nathaniel Potter.
The Phoenix Jonathan Thurston,
Thomas Wickam,
Evan Malbone. Wm. Bennetland.
The Duke of Marlboro . Godfrey Malbone, Jas. Honeyman, jr Robert Morris.
The Cæsar Philip Wilkinson,
Daniel Ayrault, jr .. John Griffiths.
The Prince Charles of Sueton Grant,
Lorraine
Peleg Brown, Nath. Coddington, jr.
Simeon Potter.
Simeon Potter.
1745.
The Molly William Vernon Thomas Fry.
The Prince of Wales. . Godfrey Malbone .Thomas Brewer.
The Ranger Job Almy,
William Ellery Christopher Bennett.
The Success
John Nichols,
William Read,
William Corey. . Peter Marshall.
The Defiance Joseph Tillinghast,
Daniel Coggeshall,
Solomon Townsend. John Dennis.
The Queen of Hungary Jona. Tillinghast, Solomon Townsend, John Channing,
Samuel Freebody. .Thomas Conklin.
The Britannia .
John Brown,
William Mumford,
Joseph Harrison
. William Allen.
412 STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
VESSEL.
OWNERS
MASTER.
The Fame.
Fhilip Wilkinson,
Daniel Ayrault, jr
Thomas Thompson.
The Queen Elizabeth
John Brown,
Peleg Brown.
Isaac Doubt.
The Hector
.Godfrey Malbone,
Joseph Wanton.
William Higgins.
The Reprisal
John Hopkins.
The Duke of Marlboro.
. Godfrey Malbone,
Joseph Wanton.
Benjamin Carr.
The Defiance
John Tillinghast,
Daniel Coggeshall,
Solomon Townsend.
John Townsend.
The Mary Godfrey Malbone,
John Brown.
. George Darricott.
The King George.
John Brown,
Thomas Coggeshall.
Nath'l Sweeting.
1746.
The Charming Betty.
Godfrey Malbone,
Joseph Wanton.
Thomas Fry.
The Duke of Cumberland. . Henry Collins,
Ebezener Flagg
Peter Marshall.
1747.
The Patience.
John Bannister,
James Brown.
Robert Brown.
The Prince Frederick.
. Ebenezer Trowbridge.
The Defiance. John Tillinghast, Daniel Coggeshall, Solomon Townsend. John Sweet.
The King George.
William Richards.
The Mary and Ann. John Channing, Walter Chaloner,
Moses Levy.
John Mawdsley.
The Reprisal.
Daniel Updike,
(180 tons)
Jeremiah Lippitt,
John Andrews.
William Dunbar.
The Reprisal.
Joseph Arnold.
(90 tons)
The Lee Frigott John Rathbone. Latham Stanton.
The Jonathan.
. Jonathan Nichols,
Robert Sherman John Dennis.
The Henry . Ebenezer Flagg,
George Phillips.
Orthaniel Tarr.
1748.
The King George
John Mawdsley.
The Rebecca .John Channing,
Walter Chaloner
Robert Gibbs.
The London
Robert Murdie.
"Two new brigs fitted out by Sueton Grant and others in 1745- one commanded by Captain Cranston and the other by Captain Brewer-were never heard of after sailing.
413
THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
"The Fame, Thompson, master, was at Louisburg; returned to Newport August 9, and sailed on a cruise Sept. 6, 1745."
The story of the two brigs which sailed in 1745 is thus told by Arnold :
"Two large privateers, chiefly owned by Colonel Malbone, each mounting 22 guns, and manned by over 200 men, sailed the day before Christmas, at the commencement of a violent northeast snow storm, bound for the Spanish main. The gale increased to a hurricane and lasted for two days. The ships were never heard from and both probably went down in the storm with all on board. By this fearful disaster more than 400 lives were lost, and nearly 200 women in New- port were made widows. The ships were just built and of great value."
A LIST OF SOME OF THE CAPTURES BY THE RHODE ISLAND PRIVATEERS IN THE SPANISH AND SPANISH-FRENCH WARS.
DATE. VESSEL CAPTURED.
CAPTOR. CAPTAIN.
Sept. 9, 1740-The Societe.
. Tartar, Benjamin Wickam.
June 6, 1741-The Amiable Theresa
(6 guns, 8 swivels, 27 small arms) ; . St. Andrew, Charles Davidson.
July 27, 1741-The Triton and cargo. . Revenge, George Fox.
July 27, 1741-The Three Sisters . Revenge, James Allen.
July 27, 1741-Great Royal. Revenge, James Allen.
July 6, 1742-St. Joseph, privateer. . Revenge, James Allen.
July 19, 1742-The Dove.
Revenge, James Allen.
Aug. 11, 1742-Sea Flower.
William Dyer.
Sept. 17, 1742-The Alexander and
cargo ..
Robert Flowers.
Oct. 6, 1742-The Three Brothers.
,
Oct. 8, 1742-De la Clara.
Oct. 29-St. Francis.
C. Davidson.
Nov. 11, 1742-Brig Friendship
May 30, 1743-The Angolae.
James Allen. John Griffiths.
Aug. 5, 1743-The Caulker
1748-Sloop and cargo King George, John Mawdesly.
1745-The Dreadnaught. . Charming Betty, Thomas Fry.
1747-Young Johanna. Defiance, John Sweet.
Dec. 1745-Fortuna. Duke of Marlborough, B. Carr.
Sept. 1747-Vessel and cargo . Defiance, John Sweet.
1746-Pearl
. The Polly, Arthur Helmm.
1748-Vigilante
. Duke of Marlborough, B. Carr.
1748-Snow Willis. . Defiance,
1747-The Greyhound Prince Charles of Lorraine, Simeon Potter.
May, 1744-Fortune, after hard fight
(specie $13,000-gold and silver, merchandise and three slaves) .. 1747-Victory Success
Revenge, James Allen.
Samuel Thurston.
Oct. 23, 1747-De le Conceptive: . Defiance,
1744-Serena
Prince Frederick,
-
- -
414
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
DATE. VESSEL CAPTURED. CAPTOR. CAPTAIN.
Dec. 22, 1746-Delaware (recapture) .. Defiance, The Caesar. . .Revenge, James Allen.
The Snow Asboth. A Spanish Ship (350 tons) .
. Revenge, Peter Marshall. The Compt Toulousse (20 guns).Revenge, John Dunn.
July 6, 1743-Unfrow Sara.
Prince Frederick, W. Hopkins.
Sept. 13, 1744-The Britannia
Revenge, James Allen.
July 27, 1744-The Magdalena
. Phoenix, W. Bennetland.
Dec. 1744-Lady of Rosary.
.The Caesar, John Griffiths.
July 19, 1744-Vessel (Gonzales mate).King George, Benj. Cranston.
July 18, 1744-St. Pierre.
Oct. 30, 1742-Godat.
Prince Frederick, John Dennis. St. Andrew, C. Davidson.
Oct. 1743-Vessel. .
.Prince Frederick, John Dennis.
Aug. 1748-New Britain.
. Defiance,
July, 1744-The Senior, ship
Prince Frederick, John Dennis.
July, 1744-San Joseph and San Nich- olas Prince Frederick, John Dennis.
Oct. 1742-A sloop and a schooner. Bonita, Robert Flowers.
Nov. 1747-Young Benjamin. . The Reprisal, William Dunbar.
Jan. 1744-St. Clair.
. The Reprisal, John Hopkins.
Dec. 1745-The Hope.
. The Reprisal, John Hopkins.
1741-The Octavia.
. The Charming Betty, J. Collingwood.
Oct. 26, 1745-The Friendship.
. The Dolphin, Richard
June 2, 1746-The St. Jaques.
May 27, 1746-Ship (engagement hours
Prince Frederick, Peter Marshall.
May 7, 1748-Elizabeth.
. Defiance, John Sweet.
May 10, 1745-Ship Wm. Galley
. Revenge, James Allen.
Aug. 4, 1747-St. John Baptist
. St. George, Nathaniel Sweeting.
Oct. 27, 1747-The Position.
. Defiance, John Dunn.
1747-The Diana. .The King George, 1746-The Gertuda. . Young Eagle, Peter Marshall.
Oct. 28, 1744-Ship off Newfoundland. . Queen Hungary, Nathaniel Potter. April 15,1745-Spanish ship (350 tons) Revenge, John Hopkins. French Ship . Defiance, John Sweet.
The Catherina.
. Defiance, John Sweet.
Sloop and cargo
. The Polly, Arthur Helme.
The Victorine. .Prince Frederick, Trowbridge.
French Schooner .Charming Betty, Benjamin Fry.
Prince Frederick, Peter Marshall. 8
This list is undoubtedly incorrect and incomplete, as even a cursory. perusal will show, but it demonstrates the extent of the enterprise of the Newport merchants. The principal privateers seem to have been the Revenge, commanded at various times by James Allen, John Dunn and Peter Marshall; the Defiance, with John Sweet, John Dunn and John Dennis as commanders; the Prince Frederick with Peter Mar- shall and John Dennis successively as captains; the Polly, Arthur Helme; the Duke of Marlborough, Benjamin Carr; the Prince Charles of Lorraine, Simeon Potter. Many other details of these captures are given in Sheffield's pamphlet on "Privateersmen of Newport".
415
THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
The colony in 1740 built the sloop Tartar as a means of defense against Spain. In June of that year the Tartar captured a French contraband schooner and brought her into Newport. In 1744 the sloop, in company with a similar vessel from Connecticut, cruised between Martha's Vineyard and the Jersey coast on the lookout for French privateers. The next year, when these two sloops were con- veying transports on the expedition that resulted in the siege of Louisbourg, they were attacked by the French frigate Renom- mee of thirty-six guns, but escaped with slight damage. The Tartar, with two other war sloops, under command of Capt. Daniel Fouls, on June 15, 1745, dispersed a French and Indian fleet of two sloops, two schooners, a shallop and fifty canoes, that was com- ing to the relief of Louisbourg, and two days later that stronghold surrendered. One of the last exploits of the Tartar was the capture, on May 22, 1748, off Point Judith, of a Spanish schooner, laden with sugar.
The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, brought the wars with Spain and France to a close. The Rhode Island privateers thereby found their occupation gone, but they were refitted and sent on trading voy- ages to the West Indies, or after slaves to the coast of Guinea. The outbreak of the "Seven Years War", in 1756, between Great Britain and France, gave the privateers another opportunity, and many of the same vessels, as an examination of the lists will show, again engaged in the profitable enterprise of preying on French commerce. Among the most notable of these vessels were the Revenge, the Defiance, the Suc- cess and the Triton. "The practice was to capture a prize, have it condemned, and if adapted for the service, to have the prize fitted and commissioned as a privateer, and in this way the number of their cruisers was greatly augmented".1 While the Newport privateers harassed the French and captured many of their vessels, the French privateers did much damage to Newport's commerce. At that period the slave trade was at its height, and Newport was the chief American port. The French were eager to secure slaves, and their privateers captured many of the Rhode Island slavers.
The following lists, copied from Sheffield's "Privateersmen of New- port", while they are undoubtedly incomplete and have been careless- ly compiled, as the verbal inaccuracies plainly show, are yet so com- prehensive in their detail, that they throw a great light on the com- merce of the period by showing who the principal merchants were,
1 Privateersmen of Newport, pp. 27-28.
416
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
what ships they owned, who the captains were, and indicating in a measure what the nature of the trade or enterprise was :
PRIVATEERS FITTED AND SENT OUT FROM NEWPORT IN THE "SEVEN YEARS WAR," 1756 TO 1763. 1753.
VESSEL.
OWNERS. MASTER.
The Mermaid.
. Oliver Ring Warner.
The Prussian Hero
1756.
James Young.
The Triton
. Robert Jackson,
John Mawdsley, Benjamin Church,
William Pitt. George Crosswell. Joseph Gardner.
The Prussian Hero. The Foy William Read,
Jonathan Nichols. John Dennis.
Benjamin Almy.
The Charming Betty
The Defiance Joseph Wanton, jr
Thomas Taylor,
Matthew Cozzens,
Robert Stoddard, Walter Chaloner.
The King of Prussia.
Robert Crooke ..
John Roffe.
The Hawke.
. William Richards, John Coddington . Mark Valentine.
The Trumpeter
William Richards.
The Defiance
Daniel Fones.
The Prince Frederick. Robert Crooke. Benjamin Nichols,
Isaac Steele, Metcalf Bowler.
James Potter.
The Success.
: Robert Elliot.
The Maggott.
. John Lane.
The Defiance
Michael Phillips.
The Prince Ferdinand.
. Roderick McCloud.
1758.
The New Concert. Metcalf Bowler,
Christopher Champlin Samuel Sweet.
The Jolly Bachelor
Samuel Angell.
The Scorpion Joseph Wanton, jr. Benjamin Nichols. John Warren.
The Ambercrombie.
. William Richards,
John Coddington Joseph Rivas.
The General Webb Isaac Hart. Israel Boardman.
The Lord Howe.
Isaac Hart. Roderick McCloud.
The Maggott .. John Malbone John Lane.
The Katharine. James Gould, 1
Augustus Johnston Robert Elliott.
1755.
Joseph Gardner.
The Skip Jack William Richards
The General Johnston
1757. Edward Church.
The Catharine
Jeremiah Cranston.
417
THE SEA TRADE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.
VESSEL. OWNERS. MASTER.
The Mars
John Brown.
The Duke of Marlboro. . . Isaac Stella.
John Miller
Estes Howe.
Othello
.Francis Malbone.
The Rabbit. . Francis Honeyman,
Isaac Hunt.
Peleg Easton.
The Dolphin
Napthali Hart,
Isaac Hunt,
Francis Honeyman .Oliver Ring Warner.
The Triton.
. Walter Buffum.
The Industry Aborn Page. Joseph Owens.
The Roby Martin Luther,
Sylvester Child.
Mark A. DeWolf.
1759.
The Defiance
Benjamin Wanton.
The Diana. Metcalf Bowler Samuel Sweet.
1760.
The Amazon John Franklin,
Thomas Hazard,
Henry Gardner.
.John James.
The Lydia
The Success.
Abel Mincheson.
The Three Brothers. Joshua Stoddard.
The Goldfinch.
. George Jackson, Joseph Turpin. William Metcalf.
.Simeon Potter Daniel Waldon.
The Success
.Daniel Fones.
The Molly
1761.
The Sarah.
Jonathan Burdick.
The Wolf. William Wanton. James Potter.
The Three Brothers Joshua Stoddard.
1762.
The Pompey Robert Crooks. Samuel Johnston.
The Dolphin. Napthali Hart, Gideon Sisson,
Francis Honeyman. Thomas Rodman.
The Diana
Thomas Hazard,
Gideon Sisson,
Coddington Job Easton.
The Britannia. James Redwood, Solomon Townsend,
William Redwood. Francis Coddington.
The Diamond. Joseph Wanton, jr. Napthali Hart. James Ramsey.
The Polly.
. Caleb Cranston.
The Rising Sun.
William Pinnegar.
The Polly and Sally
Lovett Thurston.
The Harlequin.
Thomas Richardson, John Lyon, Joseph Belcher Michael Ryan
The Dove.
Thomas Hazard,
Henry Wall.
. Edward Dyer.
27
. William Ladd.
The Phebe.
418
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
VESSEL. OWNERS MASTER.
The Bearer John Oldfield,
Nathaniel Clarke Walter Clarke.
The Charming Polly Godfrey Malbone, jr. John Malbone. Lovett Thurston.
The Harlequin.
Daniel Wilcox.
The Nancy.
. George Nichols.
The Defiance
Metcalf Bowler . James Duncan.
The Sarah.
John Thompson.
The Africa.
John Easton.
The Pompey
Samuel Johnston.
The Unity.
.Zebedee Grinnell.
The Conformator
.Benjamin Hicks
The Wolf
James Coddington.
The Industry Thomas Underwood.
The Foy, Capt. John Dennis, fitted out in 1756, 18 guns and 180 men, sailed for the Spanish Main, but was never heard of again. Captain Dennis had been a very successful privateersman, and had commanded 13 vessels.
The following Newport vessels engaged in the slave trade were cap- tured by the French privateers :1
"The Success, Seth Harvey, master, was captured with 96 slaves, May 30th, 1757, and carried into Martinico.
"The Marygold, William Taylor, master, having on board 80 slaves, was captured June 19, 1756, within twelve miles of Antigua. The captain wrote his owners that he left Captains James, Hammond (Palsgrave), Pinnegar, Rodman and Clarke on the coast of Africa ; Clarke, when he left, had 40 slaves.
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