St. James (1) Commander Frigate 28 September 1781- Ship (2) Commander Alexander Cain 10 August 1782-198 April 1783

Commissioned/First Date: 28 September 1781 Out of Service/Cause: 19 April 1783/commission recalled at end of hostilities

Owners: Andrew and James Caldwell & Co. of , Pennsylvania

Tonnage: 200

Battery: Date Reported: 28 September 1781 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 20/ Total: 20 cannon/ Broadside: 10 cannon/ Swivels:

Date Reported: 10 August 1782 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 20/ Total: 20 cannon/ Broadside: 10 cannon/ Swivels:

Crew: (1) 28 September 1781: 102 [] total (2) 10 August 1782: 102 [] total

Description: Purpose built as an armed trader/letter of marque

Officers: (1) First Mate Richard Greenald, 28 September 1781-; (2) First Mate William Jones, 10 August 1782-; (3) Third []Mate Lieutenant William Jones, 28 September 1781-10 August 1782

Cruises: (1) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to , 9 October 1781-14

©awiatsea.com-posted January 2020 --1-- November 1781

(2) L’Orient, France to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, -17 March 1782

(3) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to L’Orient, France, 18 August 1782-19 September 1782, with Pennsylvania Privateer Ships Washington and Queen of France

(4) L’Orient, France to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 4 March 1783-11 April 1783, with Pennsylvania Privateer Ships Washington and Queen of France

Prizes: (1) Brig William (Cumberbarth), 9 February 1782

(2) Cutter Will (Abraham Buttermer [ But terman] ), 27 August 1782, with Pennsylvania Privateer Ships Washington and Queen of France

(3) Ship Luxford (William Payne), 10 September 1782, with Pennsylvania Privateer Ships Washington and Queen of France

(4) British Privateer Ship Lion (Mungo Wright), []5 September 1782, with Pennsylvania Privateer Ships Washington and Queen of France

Actions: (1) Action off Reedy Island, Delaware River, [] 5 October 1781 (2) Action off the Delaware Capes, 10 October 1781 (3) Action with the British Privateer Ship Lion , []5 September 1782

Comments:

The 200-ton 1 Pennsylvania Privateer Ship St. James was first commissioned on 28 September 1781 under Commander Thomas Truxtun of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Richard Greenald of Philadelphia served aboard as First Mate. St. James was listed as having a battery of twenty guns and a crew of 100 men. Her $20,000 bond was executed by Truxtun and James Caldwell. 2 St. James was a

1 Pennsylvania Archives , Series 5, volume 1: 642

2 NRAR, 463

©awiatsea.com-posted January 2020 --2-- brand new vessel, built as an armed trading vessel.3

The St. James took on her lading at Philadelphia, some 600 hogsheads of tobacco, 4 to be delivered in France. She also took aboard the newly appointed consul-general to France, Thomas Barclay, and his wife and two children. 5

A few days after the commission was received, the St. James dropped down the Delaware and anchored off Reedy Island. The night was foggy and the fog lingered. As it began to disperse in the morning, several “refugee galleys,” manned by refugee loyalists from New York. These infested the lower reaches of Delaware Bay late in the war, preying on American merchant vessels. St. James fired several shots at them, scattering the enemy. She lingered there several more days, training the crew, before putting out to sea. Three hours after sailing a sail was sighted on the southern horizon. 6

Portrait of Thomas Truxtun by Otis Barr, 1817. He is in the US Navy uniform. He is thirty-five years older The British at New York heard intelligence of the St. than the time of the St. James fight. James being readied for departure. One of the Goodrich owned was sent out to cruise off the Delaware Capes, possibly with the expectation of catching the ship. 7

On 9 October 1781 the British Privateer Ship Goodrich (Buchannan [ Buchan, Buchanan] ) sighted a ship and began chasing. She chased all night and came up with her chase on the morning of 10 October, off Cape Henlopen. The British commander identified the chase as the St. James , and later stated that she was armed with twenty-eight guns, 6-pounders and 12-pounders, with ten brass cohorns, bound to L’Orient, France. 8

Truxtun, with a valuable cargo aboard and a handful of equally valuable passengers, did not want

3 McManemin, Captains of the Privateers , 352

4 The Royal Gazette [] New York , October 17, 1781

5 Letter, Sarah Bache to Benjamin Franklin, 19 October 1781 Online .

6 McManemin, Captains of the Privateers , 352; Ferguson, Eugene S., Truxtun of the Constellation : The Life of Commodore Thomas Truxtun, U.S.N., : Johns Hopkins Press, 1956, pp. 42-43

7 Cooper, History of the Navy , 205

8 The Royal Gazette [] New York , October 17, 1781

©awiatsea.com-posted January 2020 --3-- to engage. When the chasing sail was first sighted, he turned two points to the north (steering ENE). 9 The wind was out of the west, the day was warm, and the breezes were light. Truxtun crowded on all the sail he could. 10 Throughout the day the stranger closed the distance. The chase continued into the night. 11 At midnight, 0000, Truxtun imagined he was slightly gaining on the chase. 12 At 0400 the next day it was obvious the chase was gaining. In an effort to lighten his ship, Truxtun ordered the anchors cut away. After that, every man, including the passengers, was ordered to assemble and sit on the quarterdeck, thus shifting several tons aft. This failed to help. The small wind soon failed, and, when it came up again, was out of the southwest, propelling the chase first. 13 At dawn the Goodrich was only a mile astern. 14

Truxtun concluded that action could not be avoided. The crew of the St. James prepared for action by trimming the sails, raising the mains and hauling down the jibs and staysails, leaving just enough to maneuver, the “fighting sails.” Truxtun later said he “got every thing in as good order as was possible for a new Ship only out a few hours.”15 The St. James awaited the stranger to come up. Truxtun could by now see she was clearly enemy, and counted twenty-four or twenty six aboard her. 16

The privateer closed to within pistol shot, directly abreast of the St. James . As the Goodrich raisedher British ensign, St. James immediately fired a broadside into her, and the action began. 17 As Truxtun later said: “She immediately returned it. This brought on a severe action for three glasses . . ." 18 Early in the fight a shot carried away the tiller, ropes and blocks of the British privateer. The Americans were able to disable the British rigging. 19 Truxtun now maneuvered the St. James into a raking position on the bow, and was able to fire three broadsides into the helpless Goodrich before she was able to maneuver into a position to return fire. The return fire damaged the St. James in her rigging and hull. 20

9 McManemin, Captains of the Privateers , 352

10 Ferguson, Truxton , 42

11 McManemin, Captains of the Privateers , 352

12 Ferguson, Truxtun , 43

13 Ferguson, Truxtun , 43

14 McManemin, Captains of the Privateers , 352

15 Ferguson, Truxtun , 43, quoting Truxtun

16 McManemin, Captains of the Privateers , 352; Ferguson, Truxtun , 44

17 McManemin, Captains of the Privateers , 352; Ferguson, Truxtun , 44

18 " Ferguson, Truxtun , 44, quoting Truxtun

19 The Royal Gazette [] New York , October 17, 1781

20 McManemin, Captains of the Privateers , 352

--4-- “Captain Truxton in the St. James Beat Off an English Frigate,” watercolor drawing by John Erwin Bevan, 1850-1940, from the Mariner’s Museum. There are several errors here. The Goodrich was not a frigate of the , as is implied. “Truxton” for Truxtun. The hot firing is accurately depicted

--5-- A tale was told that as the return fire from the Goodrich came aboard, a sailor found a spent solid shot resting against the mainmast. He picked up the ball and carried it to a nearby gun, saying “Here, gunner, take this shot, write post paid upon it, and send it back to the rascals.” 21 The Goodrich now drifted into a raking position only twenty yards ahead of the St. James , while St. James was temporarily unable to maneuver, but no guns were fired. 22

Both sides had had enough by now. The Goodrich couldn’t steer, and the St. James was shot up. They gradually parted. Buchannan of the Goodrich later claimed that she was too damaged to chase the departing Americans, stating that she had nearly silenced the St. James ’s guns, 23 but it would seems that Goodrich could only escape. 24 When it appeared that the Goodrich was trying to make sail the crew of the St. James rallied, and gave her thr ee cheers. “" which she did not return.”25 The Americans had to lay to for three days to repair the damages to their ship. 26

The Goodrich had her mainmast damaged in three places, and her standing and running rigging “much shattered.” She could not raise sail. Buchannan had a , his boatswain and one sailor killed, and seven more sailors slightly wounded. 27 Goodrich was shot up so badly that she had to be towed into New York by another vessel. 28 St. James was also heavily damaged. The British stated that she seemed “much shattered” when she bore away. 29 A Loyalist in New York later said that they were “" was glad to get off.”30 St. James lost a total of nine men and had to lay to for three days to repair her damages. 31

21 Ferguson, Truxtun , 44. Ferguson thinks this story is “apocryphal,” but it doesn’t sound that unlikely.

22 Ferguson, Truxtun , 44

23 The Royal Gazette [] New York , October 17, 1781

24 The Freeman’s Journal; or, the North-American Intelligencer [] Philadelphia , Wednesday, February 6, 1782

25 Ferguson, Truxtun , 45, quoting Truxtun

26 The Freeman’s Journal; or, the North-American Intelligencer [] Philadelphia , Wednesday, February 6, 1782

27 The Royal Gazette [] New York , October 17, 1781

28 Clark, Naval History of the , 133

29 The Royal Gazette [] New York , October 17, 1781

30 Ferguson, Truxtun , 45

31 The Freeman’s Journal; or, the North-American Intelligencer [] Philadelphia , Wednesday, February 6, 1782

©awiatsea.com-posted January 2020 --6-- William Jones of New York, acting as Third Lieutenant aboard the St. James , “conducted himself with so much bravery, and so much to the satisfaction of his captain, that he was shortly after by him promoted to the first lieutenancy of the ship.”32 Jones later became Secretary of the Navy.

Aboard the St. James as a passenger was a 28 year old merchant named Joseph Erwin, who had embarked at Newcastle, Delaware on 9 October 1781. Years later he recalled this voyage: “On the 10th of October, the 4th Day after I embarked we fell in with a Twenty-gun Ship and in a severe action which lasted two Hours and a Half, I was shot with a musquet Ball, through my right Shoulder, and lost the use of my right Arm.—The 15th November 1781 1 was car ried on Shore at L' Orient in France Portrait of William Jones, done after from on board the Ship St James, Capt. Truxton, scarcely 1812. From History and Heritage expected to recover of the wound I had received, by an ounce Ball Command NH#1437688341334. having entered my Right Shoulder and passed nearly thro’ was cut out of my Back. . . for in consideration of the Wound I had received in the Defence of Capt. Truxton’s Ship he not only refused to receive my passage-money, which was 20 Guineas, but offered me the privilege of shipping a private Advr of 100 Gs. freight free . . .” 33

St. James arrived at Port L' Orient on 14 November 1781. Barclay went ashore and took lodgings, as he was somewhat ill, before travelling to Paris.34

While Truxtun was in L' Orient, he took advantage of an offer by the “Commandant of the Mareen” to furnish caulkers and carpenters, then engaged in building a French battleship in the port, to sheathe the bottom of the St. James with copper. 9 This necessarily involved removing everything from the ship and heaving it down. When coppered her sea keeping ability would improve as would her speed. According to Truxtun, “Their is no better ship than the St. James. She has every good Quality, sails verry fast and when Coppered may justly be called a Non such.”35

The St. James then loaded a very valuable assorted cargo, which included a large amount of dry goods and an assortment of munitions. St. James sailed from L’Orient about mid-January 1782, bound for Philadelphia. The voyage home was largely quiet, interrupted only by the capture, on 9 February 1782, of the brig William (Cumberbarth). The prize was bound from ,

32 Clark, Naval History of the United States , 133

33 Brown, Arthur Erwin, “A Philadelphia Merchant in 1768-1791,” in The Philadelphia Magazine of History and Biography , Philadelphia: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1895, Volume XIX, pp. 397-402

34 Letter, Thomas Barclay to Benjamin Franklin, 15 November 1781. Online .

35 Ferguson, Truxtun , 45-46, quoting Truxtun

©awiatsea.com-posted January 2020 --7-- , to Africa. Truxtun put a prize crew aboard, and sent her away to America. She never got there, being re-captured by HM Frigate Assurance on 6 March 1782. 36

As St. James anchored off Newcastle, Delaware, Truxtun learned that a dinner reception was being held for Washington in Philadelphia on 17 March 1782. By leaving his ship to come up the river later and travelling overland, he was able to attend the dinner and meet Washington. Truxtun later wrote “Washington . . . knew the early and seasonal supplies I brought into the United States at different times, of powder, arms, cloathing, &c, &c, from the dawn, quite to the close of the revolution — spoke of my conduct in the most honorary manner, and told me at a public dinner . . . that I had been as a regiment to the United States.”37

St. James pushed up the Delaware and anchored off Philadelphia, probably either the same day, or the next, 18 March. 38 According to Truxtun, it was “the most valuable single cargo brought into the United States during the Revolution.”39 For months after the Philadelphia newspapers advertised the sale of the items that arrived in the St. James .

As the ship prepared for her second voyage, in the spring of 1782, an advertisement appeared in the Philadelphia papers, for the sale of an eighth part of the privateer, with forty-five hogsheads of tobacco already aboard. 40

St. James was re-commissioned on 10 August 1782 under Commander Alexander Cain of Philadelphia. William Jones, of Baltimore, Maryland, replaced Greenald as First Mate. The ship' s battery and crew remained the same. James Caldwell and Cain executed the $20,000 bond. 41

St. James sailed for France with two other Philadelphia letters-of-marque. 42 These were the Pennsylvania Privateer Ship Washington (Commander James Josiah), armed with eighteen guns and with a crew of 100 men, 43 and the Pennsylvania Privateer Ship Queen of France (Commander

36 The Pennsylvania Packet or, the General Advertiser []Philadelphia , Saturday, April 13, 1782, datelined New York, April 3

37 Ferguson, Truxtun , 46, quoting Truxtun

38 The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser , Tuesday, March 19, 1782

39 Ferguson, Truxtun , 47

40 The Pennsylvania Gazette [] Philadelphia , Wednesday, May 22, 1782

41 NRAR, 464

42 Clark, William Bell, “James Josiah, Master Mariner,” in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct., 1955), pp. 452-484, p. 465

43 NRAR, 490; Emmons, 168, where Josiah appears as “J. Goriah.”

©awiatsea.com-posted January 2020 --8-- ), armed with twelve guns and with a crew of forty-five aboard. 44

On 18 August 1782 the three privateers sailed for France. 45 The passage was eventful. Nine days out, on 27 August, 46 the three met and captured the cutter 47 Will (Abraham Buttermer []Butterman ), 48 bound from Cork, Ireland to Charlestown, South Carolina. 49 Will had sailed from Cork on 23 July 1782. 50 She was either kept with the privateers or ordered away to L’Orient, France. According to British records the 70-ton Will was British built and owned by J. J. Bacon. She was armed with two 3-pounders. 51

Two weeks later, on 10 September, the three privateers met the ship Luxford (William Payne), bound from Bristol, England to Newfoundland. 52 She was captured and manned and kept with the little squadron. 53 According to the British registry, she was 150 tons, owned by Turner &c., and built in New England in 1780. Her skipper is listed as Coppleston, however. 54 Luxford , under Payne had sailed from Bristol on 2 September 1782. 55

The next vessel encountered was the large double-decked ship Lyon , pierced for forty guns, but mounting thirty-six guns. Her lower deck guns were formidable 18-pounders. She was bound from Bristol to the “windward coast of Africa,” with a cargo later valued at £8000. 56 So stated the Americans. According to British records, she was the 260-ton ship Lion (Mungo Wright), also her

44 NRAR, 424

45 Clark, William Bell, “James Josiah, Master Mariner,” in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct., 1955), pp. 452-484, p. 465

46 Letter, Benjamin Franklin to the Judges of the Admiralty of Vannes, 12 October 1782, online at franklinpapers.org.

47 The Pennsylvania Packet or the General Advertiser , November 19, 1782

48 New-Lloyd’s List [] , 2 August 1782

49 Letter, Benjamin Franklin to the Judges of the Admiralty of Vannes, 12 October 1782, online at franklinpapers.org.

50 New-Lloyd’s List [] London , 2 August 1782

51 Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 1782

52 Letter, Benjamin Franklin to the Judges of the Admiralty of Vannes, 12 October 1782, online at franklinpapers.org.

53 The Massachusetts Gazette, or the General Advertiser , Tuesday, December 3, 1782

54 Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 1782

55 New-Lloyd’s List [] London , Friday, 6 September 1782

56 The Pennsylvania Packet or the General Advertiser , November 19, 1782

©awiatsea.com-posted January 2020 --9-- owner, 57 built in Bristol, England in 1771. She was armed with twenty 6-pounders, two 4- pounders, and four 18-pounder carronade guns. 58 She had sailed from Bristol on 2 September 1782. 59

The prisoners from Bristol aboard the American ships informed their captors that she mounted forty-two guns and had a crew of 200 men. 60 Lion was a formidable adversary. Cain took the St. James in pursuit and got alongside the big ship. St. James delivered a broadside, 61 which killed seventeen of the British crew 62 and led to an immediate surrender. The American boarding party found that the British crew numbered only seventy-seven men. 63 British sources indicate ten men were killed in the fight, but perhaps the American statement includes those who died later. 64

The three American ships arrived at L’Orient on 19 September, bringing in all three prizes 65 and ninety prisoners. 66 The Will and the Luxford were condemned by Benjamin Franklin, acting under the treaty with France as a judge of Admiralty, on 12 October 1782. 67

The three privateers arrived in France with peace literally in the air. They delayed their departure a few days to receive safety passports from the British, 68 and sailed for Philadelphia on 4 March 1783. They had all arrived by 11 April 1783. 69

57 Richardson, David, Bristol, Africa, and the Eighteenth-Century Slave Trade to America , Volume 4: The Final Years , Bristol: Bristol Record Society, 1996, p. 81

58 Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 1782

59 New-Lloyd’s List [] London , Friday, 6 September 1782

60 The Pennsylvania Packet or the General Advertiser , November 19, 1782

61 The Independent Gazetteer; or, the Chronicle of Freedom [] Philadelphia , November 19, 1782

62 The Independent Gazetteer; or, the Chronicle of Freedom [] Philadelphia , November 12, 1782

63 The Pennsylvania Packet or the General Advertiser , November 19, 1782

64 Richardson, David, Bristol, Africa, and the Eighteenth-Century Slave Trade to America , Volume 4: The Final Years , Bristol: Bristol Record Society, 1996, p. 81

65 Letter, Jonathan Nesbitt to Benjamin Franklin, 23 September 1782, online at franklinpapers.org.

66 Clark, William Bell, “James Josiah, Master Mariner,” in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct., 1955), pp. 452-484, p. 465

67 Letter, Benjamin Franklin to the Judges of the Admiralty of Vannes, 12 October 1782, online at franklinpapers.org . There are two separate letters, one for each prize.

68 Clark, William Bell, “James Josiah, Master Mariner,” in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct., 1955), pp. 452-484, p. 465-466

69 The Pennsylvania Evening Post [] Philadelphia , Friday, April 11, 1783

©awiatsea.com-posted January 2020 --10--