Rising States Commander James Thompson -of-War [] Brig/Sloop 18 October 1776-15 April 1777 Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine

Commissioned/First Date: 18 October 1776 Out of Service/Cause: 15 April 1777/captured by HMS Terrible

Owners: William Davis (of Boston, Massachusetts), Philip Moore (of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Edward Carnes (of Boston), Mercer [ R. R. Livingston] (of New York) and James Thompson of Boston.

Tonnage: 200, 210

Battery: Date Reported: 18 October 1776 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside []8 / Total: [] 8 cannon/ Broadside: [] 4 cannon/ Swivels: [] twelve

Date Reported: 23 July 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 8/ Total: 8 cannon/ Broadside: 4 cannon/ Swivels: twelve (four cohorns)

Date Reported: 25 March 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 16/6-pounders 96 pounds 48 pounds Total: 16 cannon/96 pounds Broadside: 8 cannon/48 pounds Swivels: twelve (six cohorns)

Date Reported: 28 April 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 16/6-pounders 96 pounds 48 pounds

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --1-- Total: 16 cannon/96 pounds Broadside: 8 cannon/48 pounds Swivels: ten (four cohorns)

Crew: (1) 18 October 1776: 104 [] total (2) 29 February 1777: 61 [] total (2) 15 April 1777: 38-39 [] total

Description: Built in Virginia about February 1776, “a very swift sailing Brig”

Officers: (1) First Lieutenant Bullfinch, 18 October 1776-15 April 1777; (2) Lieutenant Joseph Lunt, 18 October 1776-15 April 1777; (3) Captain of Marines Henry Fritze, 18 October 1776-15 April 1777; (4) Lieutenant of Marines Samuel Prichet []Prichard , 18 October 1776-15 April 1777; (5) [ Prize Master ] Arthur Dillaway, 18 October 1776-

Cruises: (1) Boston, Massachusetts to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 26 February 1777-28 February 1777

(2) Cape Cod, Massachusetts to , , 29 February 1777-28 April 1777

Prizes: (1) Snow Prince George (Ponsonby), 24/25 March 1777, at 46 E30 NN

(2) Brig Fleece (Fortune), 3 April 1777, in the Bay of Biscay

(3) Sloop Hollam (Foster), 11 April 1777

Actions: (1) Action with unknown ship, 1 April 1777

Comments:

Brigantine Rising States was the former British Transport Brig Annabella , captured 17 June 1776, and built in Virginia about February 1776. She was condemned and sold in Boston on 21 August 1776. The newspaper announcement for her auction claimed she measured above 200 tons and was “a very swift sailing Brig, and well calculated for a Privateer.”1 She was purchased by William Davis, Philip Moore, Edward Edward Carnes, one Mercer and James Thompson and renamed Rising States . Davis, Carnes, and Thompson resided in Boston, Moore in Philadelphia, and Mercer in New

1 NDAR, “Advertisement of Sale of Three Scotch Transports,” 6:153

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --2-- York. 2 The New York interest was apparently owned by John R. Livingston, who owned one twelfth of her (£ 1503 worth). 3 Joseph Lunt was employed by the owners to supervise her outfit as a privateer. She received new , yards and , eight carriage guns, twelve swivels and four cohorns, and two new boats. 4 She was commissioned as the 210-ton Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States on 18 October 1776 under Commander James Thompson (one of the co- owners) of Boston, Massachusetts. She is listed as being armed with twenty guns (by which is meant sixteen guns plus four cohorns) and as having a crew of 100 men. Her $10000 Continental bond was signed by Thompson and by William Davis and Samuel Allyne Otis, both of Boston. 5

Thompson was a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, born about 1750. From about 1763 he lived in Boston, where he married and had children. 6

Rising States was apparently nearly ready for sea by 28 December 1776. On that date Archibald Mercer, who had loaded three ships ( Mercer , Moore , Three Friends ) chartered by the Secret Committee of Congress, which were to from Boston to Virgina and take on cargoes of tobacco, and were now ready to sail, petitioned the Massachusetts Council for permission for the Rising States and the Massachusetts Privateer Brig Hancock (Commander Daniel McNeill) to escort them to sea, “it being unsafe for said Ships to proceed without them.” The Council referred this matter to a committee dealing with similar petitions. 7

Rising States was not, however, ready for sea. Thompson was trying to raise a crew for her and got into various sorts of trouble going about. Captain Hector McNeill of the Continental Navy Ship Boston had become convinced that Thompson had enlisted men who had deserted, or had at least, been members of, Boston ’s crew. McNeill complained to Massachusetts, and requested authority to search the privateer. 8 On 27 January 1777 the Massachusetts Council ordered Benjamin Cudworth of Boston appointed as “Water Bailiff” for the special purpose of inspecting the Rising States , “now within or near the Harbor of Boston.” He was to take into custody any of the deserters found. 9

2 NDAR, “Depositions of Lieutenant Joseph Lunt and Christopher Clark, Carpenter, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 9:523-525. See also “Deposition of Captain James Thompson, Massachusetts Privateer Rising States ,” 8:822-825.

3 NDAR, “John R. Livingston to Robert Livingston,” 7:1086

4 NDAR, “Depositions of Lieutenant Joseph Lunt and Christopher Clark, Carpenter, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 9:523-525. See also “Deposition of Captain James Thompson, Massachusetts Privateer Rising States ,” 8:822-825.

5 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution , 265; NDAR, “Deposition of Captain James Thompson, Massachusetts Privateer Rising States ,” 8:822-825.

6 NDAR, “Deposition of Captain James Thompson, Massachusetts Privateer Rising States ,” 8:822-825

7 NDAR, “Journal of the Massachusetts Council,” 7:619

8 NDAR, “Captain Hector McNeill to the Massachusetts Council,” 7:1062-1063

9 NDAR, “Order of the Massachusetts Council,” 7:1042 and note

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --3-- Before Cudworth could find the Rising States and search it, the brig sailed for Plymouth, where she was supposed to pick up Thompson and other crew members. The Massachusetts Council ordered Cudworth down to that place. On his way to Plymouth, Cudworth met Brigadier General James Warren. When Cudworth told warren of his mission, Warren stated that no such vessel was, or had been, at Plymouth. The two men An old painting of the Rising States leaving the North Battery on her cruise. The frame headed for Boston, and met, has been trimmed. Note that her colors are incorrect for this period. She is also on the road, Captain of incorrectly shown with a dolphin striker. Probably painted around mid 19 th century. Original here . Marines Robert Palmes, of the Boston . Palmes had been sent by McNeill to “Assist” Cudworth. All three now went toward Boston and, night coming on, took lodgings in Hingham. Soon a coach arrived at the inn, and out got the sought for privateer commander, James Thompson, along with five recruits. Thompson “seem’d a little alarm’d” at seeing Cudworth and Palmes, but none of the recruits was known to Palmes, so Cudworth let them all pass. On the advice of Warren, Palmes rose early and proceeded to Plymouth, before Thompson and his men were about. 10

Meanwhile, having heard of recruits in Marblehead, McNeill sent two officers there. These men found the privateer’s Captain of Marines, Henry Fritze and the privateer’s carpenter, Josiah Martin, and nine men waiting to go aboard the Rising States . The brig was then, (28 January) laying off and on near Marblehead. The two officers from Boston applied to the local committee for help, and the committee interrogated Fritze and Martin, who only stated that they were bound on a cruise. No other help was forthcoming. 11

Rising States had indeed, sailed from Boston on 26 January. At her sailing she was said to be armed with eighteen 6-pounders and to have a crew of 180 men. 12 This certainly incorrect as

10 NDAR, “Captain Hector McNeill to the Massachusetts Council,” 7:1062-1063

11 NDAR, “Captain Hector McNeill to the Massachusetts Council,” 7:1062-1063

12 NDAR, “John R. Livingston to Robert Livingston,” 7:1086

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --4-- regards the crew. She evidently went up to Marblehead and picked up Fritze and Martin and the nine recruits. Later, Thompson stated he signed thirty men in Boston, and then went over to Cape Cod and enlisted an additional thirty- one there, making her crew up to sixty-one. 13 She sailed from Cape Cod on 29 February 1777. 14

Model of the Rising States , constructed during the late 18 th or early 19 th century. “It is thought to Rising States had a have been in the Trask family and given to the Institute in 1860.” From The Marine Room miserable beginning of the Peabody Museum of Salem, Salem: Peabody Museum, 1921. Note the presence of the dolphin striker. to her cruise. The weather was very cold, and ice and snow “Clog’d” the brig. The log entry for 19 February states that the crew were “Numb’d with the Cold & Several much frost Bitten.” On that date she put about for Nantucket Island because of the cold weather. 15 The next day Cape Cod was sighted at 0700 and Nantucket Island at 1100. At 1300, trying to get into the harbor at Nantucket, Rising States ran aground and was “by the Violence of the wheather was Obligd to bare Away.” By afternoon an officers conference agreed it was best to bear away for Virginia “our men being Almost beat out,” the brig being encrusted with ice and most of the crew “badly Froze.”16

A warmer climate brought a rapid recovery and Rising States steered for European waters. On 16 March 1777 she met and spoke the French ship Londu (Curronat). 17 By 24 March she was at

13 NDAR, “Deposition of Captain James Thompson, Massachusetts Privateer Rising States ,” 8:822-825

14 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:680-681 and 681 note; “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

15 NDAR, “Journal of the Massachusetts Privateer Brig Rising States , Captain James Thompson,” 7:1234 and note

16 NDAR, “Journal of the Massachusetts Privateer Brig Rising States , Captain James Thompson,” 7:1243

17 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:680-681 and 681 note

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --5-- 46 E21 NN, wallowing along in heavy seas and gales. A brig, the Dolphin , was met. Thompson examined her papers, sent over in an empty keg, because of the heavy seas. He sent them back the same way, finding her a “friend to America.”18

The next day, 25 March, began with another chase. At 0100 a sail was seen in the darkness. A chase followed and at 0200 the Rising States had closed to the stranger, a ship. After firing two guns at the chase, she surrendered. First Lieutenant Bullfinch went aboard at 0400, and brought the skipper and all his crew aboard except a man and two boys. Three gentlemen passengers and one lady were left aboard. At 1000 the prize was manned and both vessels made sail and stood east in close, thick weather. At noon, Thompson made his position 46 E30 NN. At 2000 he went aboard the prize and removed several items for the use of the Rising States and the crew, including seventeen pair of shoes. 19 This vessel was the snow 20 Prince George (Ponsonby) sailing from Whitehaven for the West Indies 21 or Jamaica. 22 Prince George had been caught in a storm on 10 March, some 210 miles off Cape Clear, and was driven before it for fourteen days. There he fell in with Rising States and was captured. The Prince George and the Rising States sailed together for a week, between 40 E47 NN, 6E10 NW. Ponsonby reported that Rising States was armed with sixteen 6-pounders, twelve swivels and six cohorns.23

By 1 April 1777 Rising States was at 47 E18 NN in rainy weather with squalls. Two sails had been seen in the morning, but not chased. At 1730 a sail was seen standing to the west: this one was chased. At 1830 Rising States came up with her, a ship of sixteen guns. She was hailed and informed Thompson she was bound from to Quebec. She was ordered to “Strike to the United States of America . . .” but returned no answer. All being ready Thompson ordered one gun fired. Second Lieutenant Lunt

“clapt a match to gun, but being a heavy sea wet the powder so she would not go of. They gave us three cheers, we returned the same & gave her a gun then run up a long side within pistol shot to give her a broad Side, but our Guns being wet with a heavy sea made a Continual breach over us that we could not get but three guns of. She gave us a broad side of Six guns & then sheard of, we Laid her a long side a gain, but the sea making a Continual breach, we could not get but only one Gun of, that being the gun in the cabbin, the water faceing into the ports in the

18 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:707

19 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:708-709

20 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

21 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Whitehaven, May 5.,” 8:818-819

22 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

23 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Whitehaven, May 5.,” 8:818-819

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --6-- Cabbin it was impossible to keep them open, then she shear’d of.”24

The stranger put out her lights and was quickly lost in a squall of rain and hail. She was last seen steering south. About 2200 Rising States came around close hauled to the wind and steered south, hoping to meet her quarry in the morning. 25

On the morning of 3 April, at 0630, and still in the Bay of Biscay, the Rising States sighted another sail and chased. At 0800 she came up with the chase. Only one swivel gun was fired, but it was enough. The prize was the brig or brigantine Fleece (Fortune), bound from Lisbon to Cork 26 (or Dingle), 27 Ireland with a cargo of salt and wine. 28 She was being escorted by HM Frigate Arethusa , which was no where in sight. 29 Arthur Dillaway and four sailors were sent aboard. At 1000 the boat returned with Fortune and five of his crew. Dillaway was ordered to . 30 Fleece arrived in L’Orient on 24 April 1777. 31 Dillaway subsequently entered aboard Continental Navy Sloop Dolphin (Captain Samuel Nicholson) by 24 May 1777 as Sailing Master. 32

The afternoon of 11 April another sail was sighted and chased at 1700. An hour later Rising States was close enough to hail and found out she was a sloop bound from Lisbon to Southampton 33 and Guernsey 34 with a cargo of wine and fruit. Thompson ordered her to keep under Rising States ’s lee and make sail “the Weather being so bad that we Could not board her.”35 The next morning, at 0600, Bullfinch went aboard the prize. Another sail was sighted and chased, but she was a neutral Dutch ship. The prize re-joined the Rising States and her crew was transferred to the

24 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:731

25 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:731

26 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:737 and note

27 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

28 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:737 and note

29 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Whitehaven, May 5.,” 8:818-819

30 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:737 and note

31 NDAR, “Captain Lambert Wickes to the American Commissioners in France,” 8:791 and note

32 NDAR, “Muster Roll for the Continental Sloop Dolphin Samuel Nicholson Esq Commander on A Cruze from France M–a–y– 1777,” 9:407-408 and 408 note

33 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:760-761

34 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

35 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:760-761

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --7-- privateer. Prize and privateer steered for France, with a south wind. 36 This prize was the Hollam (Foster), which got safely into L’Orient, France. Foster, in a letter to a correspondent, reported that the sloop and cargo were to be sold there in a few days. 37

Three days later, on the morning of 15 April, HMS Terrible (Captain Sir Richard Bickerton), a 74-gun ship-of-the-line was patrolling sixty miles southwest of Belle-Île, France. At 0500 she sighted Rising States in the lee quarter, wore ship, raised sail and commenced to chase. 38 Rising States had seen her about the same time 39 and bore away, Thompson setting all possible sail. Bickerton replied, setting studding sails and even the . A French warship was sighted to windward and both French and British showed their colors. Terrible continued her pursuit. 40 Rising States began throwing overboard her guns, and “every thing else we came a cross . . .” 41 By 1100 Bickerton was close enough to raise his colors again and fire a ranging shot at Rising States . Thompson raised the American flag: provoking Bickerton to fire several more shots at her. 42

A sailor aboard the Rising States , Timothy Connor, commented that “ . . . they began firing at us their Nine pounders from their fore castle when some came over us and some along side we knew that we was taken and that we would not be behind hand in returning the compliment we got out two of our stern chases and began firing them at the Ship . . .” 43 Terrible noted the firing of two shots from the Rising States at 1200. 44 Connor continued “. . . the Capt of the Ship enraged at our small ship firing upon him, (a 74 gun ship) ordered the Guner to get out three Eighteen pounders forehead and sink us when we came along side but our having English prisoners aboard prevented its being put into execution.”45

36 NDAR, “Log of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:763 and note

37 “Extract of a letter from Portsmouth, dated May 9,” The Pennsylvania Evening Post []Philadelphia , August 5, 1777. The letter dates Hollam ’s capture to 19 April.

38 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

39 NDAR, “Journal of Timothy Connor, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:768-769

40 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

41 NDAR, “Journal of Timothy Connor, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:768-769

42 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

43 NDAR, “Journal of Timothy Connor, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:768-769

44 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768. Only two shots were fired: NDAR, “Deposition of Captain James Thompson, Massachusetts Privateer Rising States ,” 8:822-825

45 NDAR, “Journal of Timothy Connor, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:768-769

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --8-- The chase continued, with Terrible banging away. Finally, at 1300 46 or 1400 47 Rising States struck her flag and shortened sail. 48

Terrible came up and sent over a boat with a boarding officer. The brig, he found, was armed with sixteen 6-pounders, eight of which had been thrown overboard during the chase. Her crew of sixty-one had been depleted by the capture of three vessels 49 and now numbered only thirty- seven 50 or thirty-nine. 51 There were nineteen British prisoners aboard. 52 A prize crew of twenty- seven men under Lieutenant Calder was put aboard. At 1930 Terrible and her prize made sail. 53

Connor says, in his journal, “ . . . as soon as we had struck they sent their Cutter on board and ordered Capt Thompson into the boat and pushed him off of the Quarter Deck and used him very ill likewise carried all of our People, Prisoners and all, except Mr Martin and 3 boys, who was ordered to stay on board till they arrived at Spit-head.” The prisoners were placed on three quarters allowance of rations with Marine sentinels guarding them. 54

News of the capture was published in the Public Advertiser on 28 April. Rising States was noted as being armed with sixteen 6-pounders, ten swivels, four howitzers and as having a crew of sixty- one men when she sailed. The prize evidently made Spithead on 27 April, 55 but Terrible , having had a difficult passage, only arrived on 30 April. 56 Rising States was such a trim little vessel that the commanding admiral at Spithead recommended her purchase for the Navy. 57

Among the American prisoners captured on the Rising States was her boatswain, Thomas Cummings. This man had formerly been a member of the crew of HMS Worcester and had deserted the British ship. Caught, he was sentenced to be flogged through the fleet, a sentence

46 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

47 NDAR, “Deposition of Captain James Thompson, Massachusetts Privateer Rising States ,” 8:822-825

48 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

49 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

50 NDAR, “Journal of Timothy Connor, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:768-769

51 NDAR, “Deposition of Captain James Thompson, Massachusetts Privateer Rising States ,” 8:822-825

52 NDAR, “Journal of Timothy Connor, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:768-769

53 NDAR, “Journal of H. M. S. Terrible , Captain Sir Richard Bickerton,” 8:768

54 NDAR, “Journal of Timothy Connor, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:768-769

55 NDAR, “Public Advertiser , Wednesday, April 28, 1777,” 8:794

56 NDAR, “Journal of Timothy Connor, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 8:803-804

57 NDAR, “Philip Stephens to the British Navy Board,” 8:805

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --9-- carried out on 12 May 1777. 58

Rising States ’s crew of thirty-eight men were committed to Forton Prison on 14 June 1777, being the first Americans confined there. Within a few days Thompson, Fritze, Prichard, and fourteen more are recorded as “Run,” meaning escaped. One man is recorded as “Enterd,” meaning he enlisted in the . 59

Eleven prisoners escaped on the morning of 20 June by breaking through the wall 60 including Thompson and Fritze. By 23 June two escapees had been recaptured and brought back to Forton, where they were sent to the Black Hole. The two sailors reported they had left Thompson and Fritze the night before, both very tired. 61

By 2 July Thompson and Fritze had reached France. In reporting Thompson’s arrival Lord Stormont recorded he had cruised successfully; had arrived with no money but was given a “pretty large sum” by Franklin; and was going to Nantes to purchase a French vessel to cruise in the channel. Thompson “gives out, he hopes to take ample Revenge for the harsh Treatment he pretends to have received in Prison. 62

Lieutenant Joseph Lunt was still in prison on 31 May 1779, when he was pardoned for exchange. 63

By 10 July the Boston papers were reporting that the brigantine Rising States , out of Boston, Thompson, had been captured by a British frigate and taken in to Bristol. 64

Rising States was tried and condemned in the High Court of Admiralty. 65 She was ordered sold for salvage by the Admiralty on 14 August 1777. 66 She was sold on 9 September 1777 for £805 to Peter Packard. 67 By 20 October 1777 she was being fitted out at Portsmouth as a British letter-of-

58 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Portsmouth, May 12.,” 8:840

59 NDAR, “Forton Prison Roll of the Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 9:399-400

60 NDAR, “Philip Stephens to Commissioners for Sick and Hurt Seamen,” 9:426-427 and 427 note

61 NDAR, “Journal of Timothy Connor, Massachusetts Privateer Brigantine Rising States ,” 9:423 and note

62 NDAR, “Lord Stormont to Lord Weymouth,” 9:452-453 and 453 note

63 Kaminkow, Mariners of the American Revolution , 120

64 NDAR, “Continental Journal , Thursday, July 10, 1777,” 9:255

65 HCA 32/442/11/1-37

66 NDAR, “Minutes of the British Navy Board,” 9:572

67 NDAR, “Minutes of the British Navy Board,” 9:635

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --10-- marque vessel. 68

68 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Gosport, Oct. 20.,” 10:924-925

Comment on this or any page at our ©awiatsea.com-posted July 2020 --11--