Sally and Becky Commander Moses Grinnell Armed Ship 25 June 1779-17 September 1779 Massachusetts Privateer Ship Commissioned/First Date: 25 June 1779 Out of Service/Cause: 17 September 1779/captured by a British tender Owners: Isaac Sears of Boston, Massachusetts Tonnage: Battery: Date Reported: 25 June 1779 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 8/ Total: 8 cannon/ Broadside: 4 cannon/ Swivels: Crew: 25 June 1779: 26 []total Description: Officers: Cruises: (1) Boston, Massachusetts to The Netherlands and return []Spring 1779 (2) Boston, Massachusetts to []Rotterdam The Netherlands, []Summer 1779 (3) Rotterdam, The Netherlands to sea, -17 September 1779 Prizes: Actions: Comments: ©awiatsea.com-posted February 2020 --1-- Massachusetts Privateer Ship Sally and Becky was commissioned on 25 June 1779 under Commander Moses Grinnell of Boston, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with eight guns and as having a crew of twenty-five men. Her $10000 Continental and £4000 Massachusetts bonds were signed by Grinnell and by Isaac Sears and Paschal Nelson Smith, both of Boston. 1 Sally and Becky was making a voyage to Amsterdam 2 and was in Europe in February 1779. She was in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands on 25 February 1779, preparing to sail for Boston. 3 She evidently returned to Boston safely, and there received her commission in June. Sally sailed for The Netherlands again, in the summer of 1779. She was at Rotterdam and then sailed for home. However, Sally and Becky was captured on 17 September 1779. Grinnell reported to his agent that “On the 17 Sept: I was drove on shore at shetland in a violent gaill of wind, and fell into the hands of a tender laying there, with all my Letters and bills of Exchange . All them is in Capn. Hunters hands with the Letters, and I think he will try to gett them pay’d to him, so you will guard against it.”4 Grinnell either escaped or was released, for he was at Amsterdam in The Netherlands in November 1779. His agent wrote a letter of introduction to Benjamin Franklin, requesting that Grinnell be assisted in finding a passage home. 5 Grinnell was at Nantes, France by January 1780, from where he requested money from Franklin. In reply Franklin spoke plainly: “I am distress’d by the vast Number of Calls upon me for money, by American Prisoners and others, and it is impossible for me to furnish every one with what they desire. If six Louis will be of any service to you this Line will authorize Mr. Scheweighauser to furnish you with them, on your Note for Repayment to The Treasurer of Congress . .” 6 Two of the Sally and Becky ’s crew were committed to Forton Prison on 30 December 1779. 7 1 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution , 273 2 MASSRW, 6: 900 3 Letter, Henru Dubois to Benjamin Franklin, 25 February 1779, at Founders Online 4 Letter, Jean de Neufville & fils to Benjamin Franklin, 21 October 1779. Online . 5 Letter, Jean de Neufville & fils to Benjamin Franklin, 23 November 1779. Online . 6 Letter, Benjamin Franklin to Moses Grinnell, 27 January 1780. Online 7 Kaminkow, Mariners of the American Revolution , 186, 201 ©awiatsea.com-posted February 2020 --2--.