St. James (1) Commander Thomas Truxtun Frigate 28 September 1781- Pennsylvania Privateer 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 Philadelphia, 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 France, 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 privateers 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., Baltimore: 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 Royal Navy, 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 midshipman, 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.