True Blue (1) Commander William Coles [] Cole Schooner 30 August 1776- Massachusetts Privateer Schooner (2) Commander Richard Stiles 28 April 1777-15 September 1777

Commissioned/First Date: 30 August 1776 Out of Service/Cause: 15 September 1777/sold out of service

Owners: (1) Jonathan Glover & Co. of Marblehead, Massachusetts; (2) Azor Orne et al of Marblehead, Massachusetts

Tonnage: 80

Battery: Date Reported: 30 August 1776 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels: twelve

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

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

Date Reported: 28 April 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 6/

©awiatsea.com-posted August 2019 --1-- Total: 6 cannon/ Broadside: 3 cannon/ Swivels:

Date Reported: 8 July 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels:

Date Reported: 15 September 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 10/ Total: 10 cannon/ Broadside: 5 cannon/ Swivels: thirteen

Crew: (1) 30 August 1776: 76 [] total (2) 18 October 1776: 70 [] total (3) 28 April 1777: 66 [] total

Description:

Officers: (1) First Lieutenant Ezra Stiles, 29 August 1776-; (2) Second Lieutenant John Hooper, 29 August 1776-; (3) Master Peter Faneuil Jones, 29 August 1776-; (4) Prizemaster Joseph Hibbers, 29 August 1776-; (5) First Lieutenant John Bray, 29 April 1777-September 1777; (6) Second Lieutenant Thomas Elkins, 29 April 1777-September 1777; (7) Master Peter Faneuil Jones, 29 April 1777-September 1777

Cruises: (1) Marblehead, Massachusetts to Marblehead, Massachusetts, 6 September 1776-28 November 1776

(2) Marblehead, Massachusetts to Boston, Massachusetts, 19 December 1776-

(3) Boston, Massachusetts to Boston, Massachusetts, 21 May 1777-[] August 1777, sailing with “Manley’s Fleet”

Prizes: (1) Ship Lord Stanley (Isaac Strutland), []1 October 1776, off the Portuguese coast

(2) Ship Anne of Burntisland (Andrew Ray), 5 October,

©awiatsea.com-posted August 2019 --2-- 1776, off the Portuguese coast, near Lisbon

(3) Brig Betsey (Matthew Ray), 5 October 1776, off the Portuguese coast

(4) Brigantine True Britton (Thomas Babb), 8 October 1776

(5) Brig Isabella (William Grimly), [] 10 October 1776

(6) Brig Carolina , 18 October 1776

(7) Brigantine Fanny (John Wood), 8 July 1777, at 45 EN, 33 EE

(8) Snow Mary , 28 July 1777, off Terceira, Azores Islands

Actions:

Comments:

The 80-ton 1 Massachusetts Privateer Schooner True Blue was commissioned on 30 August 1776, under Commander William Coles []Cole of Beverly, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with ten guns and twelve swivel guns, and as having a crew of seventy-five men. Her $5000 Continental bond was signed by Coles and by Jonathan Glover and Thomas Gerry, both of Marblehead, Massachusetts. 2 Her officers included First Lieutenant Ezra Stiles, 3 Second Lieutenant John Hooper, 4 and Master Peter Faneuil Jones. 5

True Blue sailed from Marblehead on 6 September 1776, bound on a four month cruise. 6

About 1 October 1776 True Blue was off the Portuguese coast. Here she captured a ship commanded by Isaac Strutland 7 (or Strickland), named the Lord Stanley , bound from the Mediterranean to

1 The Boston Gazette and Country Journal , Monday, September 15, 1777

2 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution , 307

3 MASSRW, 15: 18

4 MASSRW, 8: 228

5 MASSRW, 8:928

6 Journals of Ashley Bowen, 499. [ https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/738 ]

7 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Mr. Andrew Ray, Master of the Anne of Burntisland , to his owners, dated on shipboard at Dover, October 19.,” 7: 704 and note

©awiatsea.com-posted August 2019 --3-- Dublin, Ireland, 8 or more precisely, from Marseilles, France to Dublin. 9 . Strutland and twelve men were removed to the privateer. The ship was presumably sent off to America. 10 Joseph Hibbers was sent aboard as Prize master. 11 She did not get there for the vessel was re-captured by the British. Six members of her prize crew were in a cartel sent from Halifax on 28 June 1777. 12

On 5 October, True Blue captured the ship Anne of Burntisland (Andrew Ray []Wray ), which had sailed from Cork, Ireland on 27 September 1776. She was captured between six and nine miles off the Burlings (Arquipélago das Berlengas), near Lisbon, Portugal, at 1000. At 1800 the True Blue captured the brig Betsey 13 (Matthew Ray), owned in London, England and bound from there to Lisbon. She had already taken aboard the pilot when she was captured. The weather turned to a fresh gale, so Coles and his prizes ran right out to sea until 7 October, when the weather was much better. 14

The True Blue lay to, and the two prizes were ordered to send their boats to the privateer. Boarding parties went to each prize and “fell to plundering the prizes of provisions, and all the ships stores they could take out of them.” The Americans put Strutland and twelve of his crew, and Matthew Ray and six of his crew, as well as the Portuguese pilot, aboard the Anne of Burntisland . “The Captain of the privateer had previously given a letter to Capt. Strutland, making a present of my ship to the two captains and me, equally amongst us, a copy of which letter I have sent you, as they would not trust me with the original. I know this disaster will surprize you as much as it did me, having no notion that any American privateers were so far to the eastward.” The British later reported that the privateer had eight guns and twelve swivel guns. The Anne of Burntisland was off the Downs by 19 October, from where Andrew Ray reported to his owner. 15

Betsey was sent off to America, and safely arrived there. She was libeled on 28 November 1776, being noted as 120 tons, with her trial set for 17 December 1776. At the same time the 160-ton brig Isabella (William Grimly) was libeled by the True Blue . The Isabella was probably captured

8 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Mr. Andrew Ray, Master of the Anne of Burntisland , to his owners, dated on shipboard at Dover, October 19.,” 7: 704 and note

9 MASSRW, 14:845, 16:308; 2:761, 3:646, 7:813, 9:638

10 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Mr. Andrew Ray, Master of the Anne of Burntisland , to his owners, dated on shipboard at Dover, October 19.,” 7: 704 and note

11 MASSRW, 7: 813

12 MASSRW, 14:845, 16:308; 2:761, 3:646, 7:813, 9:638

13 She is also referred to as the Lively in the libel published on 13 December 1776, in the Independent Chronicle .

14 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Mr. Andrew Ray, Master of the Anne of Burntisland , to his owners, dated on shipboard at Dover, October 19.,” 7: 704 and note

15 NDAR, “Extract of a Letter from Mr. Andrew Ray, Master of the Anne of Burntisland , to his owners, dated on shipboard at Dover, October 19.,” 7: 704 and note

--4-- about 10 October, in the same area off the Portuguese coast. 16 One of the above two arrived at Marblehead on 20 November. By the 23 rd another had arrived. 17

Coles also captured the 70-ton brigantine True Britton (Thomas Babb). She was captured on 8 October 1776. 18 True Britton was libeled on 13 February 1777 and tried on 25 February. 19 According to the British Lloyd’s Register of Shipping she had been built in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1763 and measured 100 tons, and was owned by John Pitts.

On 18 October Coles captured the 180-ton 20 brig Carolina 21 (T. Rutherford), 22 bound from Verseles 23 or from the Straits of Gibralter, 24 or Marseilles, France, 25 to Hamburgh. 26 Carolina was Virginia built in 1764, and owned by Jonas Brown. 27 Carolina was manned and dispatched to America. She was captured off the Burlings (Arquipélago das Berlengas, Portugal). Rutherford reported that the True Blue was armed with eight guns, twelve swivel guns, and had a crew of seventy men. Rutherford was released, and got to Lisbon, where he got back to England in the Mercury (Frank). 28

The Carolina was sent off to America. On 23 November 1776 the prize was about 150 miles northeast of Cape Ann, Massachusetts. At 0800 she was sighted and chased by HM Frigate Milford . At 1500 Milford fired a few shots at the Carolina , which brought to at 1530. An officer and a prize crew went aboard to take possession. At 2000 Milford made sail with the Carolina in

16 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [] Boston , Thursday, November 28, 1776

17 Journal of Ashley Bowen, p. 503 https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/738 ]

18 Massachusetts Archives Content List, vol 59, Reel 11

19 NDAR, “Libels Filed in the Massachusetts Admiralty Court, Middle District,” 7: 1188-1189

20 Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 1776

21 NDAR, “Log of the British Schooner Tender George ,” 7: 618-619

22 The New= Lloyd’s List [] London , Tuesday, 19 November, 1776

23 NDAR, “Master’s Log of H.M.S. Milford ,” 7: 249 and note

24 NDAR, “Log of the British Schooner Tender George ,” 7: 618-619

25 The New= Lloyd’s List [] London , Tuesday, 19 November, 1776

26 The New= Lloyd’s List [] London , Tuesday, 19 November, 1776

27 Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 1776

28 The New= Lloyd’s List [] London , Tuesday, 19 November, 1776

©awiatsea.com-posted August 2019 --5-- tow. 29 According to the log of the British tender George , she captured the Carolina , and put an officer and four men aboard. The cargo of the prize was valued at £ 30,000. 30

True Blue arrived at Marblehead from her cruise on 28 November 1776. 31 Sailed for Boston on 19 December 1776. 32

True Blue was re-commissioned on 28 April 1777 under Commander Richard Stiles of Marblehead, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with six guns and as having a crew of sixty-five men. Her $5000 Continental bond was signed by Stiles and by Azor Orne and Samuel Russell Gerry, both of Marblehead. 33 Aboard from 29 April as First Lieutenant was John Bray of Marblehead and Beverly. 34 Thomas Elkins served aboard as Second Lieutenant. 35 The Master was Peter Faneuil Jones. 36

The condition for the commission was that the True Blue participate in the expedition under Captain John Manley, that was preparing foe sea. 37 As she was preparing for sea, on 13 June 1777, Bray purchased nine items of medicines for the privateer, from John Bradford, the Continental Agent in Massachusetts. 38 She sailed for European waters soon after.

Brigantine Fanny (John Wood) was bound from Falmouth, England to Quebec, Quebec with a cargo of wine. About 8 July 1777, at 45 EN, 33 EE the Fanny met the True Blue . The Americans took out Fanny ’s crew, except for the mate and a boy, and put a prize master and seven men aboard. The British later reported she had ten guns. Fanny was ordered into Marblehead, Massachusetts. On 29 August 1777, near the Seal Islands, Fanny fell in with HM Frigate Mermaid (Captain James Hawker). Mermaid recaptured the brigantine after the Americans abandoned ship in the Fanny ’s boat, the boy going with them. She was sent into Halifax. 39

29 NDAR, “Master’s Log of H.M.S. Milford ,” 7: 249 and note

30 NDAR, “Log of the British Schooner Tender George ,” 7: 618-619

31 Journal of Ashley Bowen, p. 503. https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/738 ]

32 Journal of Ashley Bowen, p. 505 https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/738

33 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution , 307

34 Howe, Beverly Privateers in the Revolution , 425

35 MASSRW, 5: 277

36 MASSRW, 8: 948

37 MASSRW, 15: 22

38 Hearn, George Washington’s Schooners , 218, 264n8

39 NDAR, “New-Lloyd’s List (London), Friday, October 31, 1777,” 10: 966 and 967 note

©awiatsea.com-posted August 2019 --6-- Snow Mary (Mudel) of Biddeford, England, with a cargo of flour, was captured on 28 July 1777, off Terceira, Azores Islands, by the True Blue . Joseph Atkins was put aboard as prize master and she was ordered to America. 40 A prize crew of twelve men was sent aboard. 41 She was re-captured the next day by HMS Experiment (Captain Sir James Wallace) and ordered to New York. Mary arrived there on 3 October 1777, was libeled on 3 November 1777, and was condemned on 24 December 1777. Her cargo was ordered sold on 23 January 1778. 42

Two men from one of the prize crews were released and came by cartel to Bristol, Rhode Island from Halifax, Nova Scotia in March 1778. One of them died before 18 April, presumably from ill treatment and disease while imprisoned. 43

True Blue had returned from her cruise by the late summer of 1777. True Blue was advertised for sale on 15 September 1777. She was described as 80 tons, mounting ten guns and thirteen swivel guns, and as being a “prime” sailer. 44

40 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Experiment , Captain Sir James Wallace,” 10: 25 and note; “New-Lloyd’s List (London), Tuesday, December 2, 1777,” X, 1057

41 Rivington’s New-York Gazette: or The Connecticut, Hudson’s River, New-Jersey, and Quebec Weekly Advertiser , Saturday, October 4, 1777

42 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Experiment , Captain Sir James Wallace,” 10: 25 and note; “New-Lloyd’s List (London), Tuesday, December 2, 1777,” X, 1057

43 The Providence Gazette and Country Journal , Saturday, April 18, 1778

44 The Boston Gazette and Country Journal , Monday, September 15, 1777

©awiatsea.com-posted August 2019 --7--