Mosquito Lieutenant Thomas Albertson Schooner []September 1776-7 July 1777 Continental Navy Schooner Commissioned/First Date: []September 1776 Out of Service/Cause: 7 July 1777/captured, burned by boats from HM Frigates Pearl and Camilla Owners: Tonnage: Battery: Date Reported: 7 July 1777 Number/Caliber Weight Broadside 6/3-pounder 18 pounds 9 pounds Total: 6 cannon/18 pounds Broadside: 3 cannon/9 pounds Swivels: four Crew: Description: Officers: (1) Master James Horton, -7 July 1777 Cruises: Prizes: Actions: Comments: The Continental Navy Schooner Mosquito was probably in service by September 1776, although the vessel’s origins are unclear. She was evidently fitted out at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and armed with four cannon. Her command was given to Continental Navy Lieutenant Thomas ©awiatsea.com-posted August 2019 --1-- A William Nolen Van Powell painting of the Fly and the Mosquito . These rwo vessels were together in the Delaware River on 31 December 1776. The sloop Fly is correctly shown with black tarred sides and mounting four guns. Mosquito is shown as a normal small schooner. Her flag is correct for the time. --2-- Albertson, as a Lieutenant, Commanding. 1 Other sources indicate she was armed with four 9- pounder cannons, 2 but this certainly wrong as to the weight of metal. Silverstone, neeser ] On 11 July 1776, a man by the name of Isaac Atwood was interrogated by the Committee of Safety. In the process Atwood claimed that many persons, whom he mentioned by name, had Loyalist sumpathies. Among them was a Thomas Albertson, who was a merchant captain. Atwood stated that “Capt. Albertson will, I believe, endeavour to bring up the Men-of-War if they appear in the River. I have heard him say he would go down to them.”3 There could have been many men named Thomas Albertson in Philadelphia, but in any case, as far as our Albertson was concerned, Atwood was a liar. On 1 October 1776 the Marine Committee issued orders to Lieutenant Thomas Albertson of the Mosquito . He was to sail to Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina and then to Edenton, North Carolina. He was to put his letters into the post office and discharge his cargo to Hewes and Smith, a mercantile company. Joseph Hewes was a Delegate to the Continental Congress. Albertson was to receive any goods or stores they wished to lade and accept any dispatches from the North Carolina Convention or other public body. He was then to sail for Philadelphia “proceeding with caution to avoid being taken by the enemy. Should you find our Bay shut up by the Men of war and that you cannot get in by the Cape May Channel, bear away for some of the Inlets and write to us when you get in.” Albertson was cautioned to take care of his schooner, and to destroy the dispatches if he was in danger of capture. 4 Albertson also took along a letter, written two days later, to Hewes and Smith, which further explained the purpose of the Mosquito . She was “now employed in the Continental service as an advice Boat, She carries but few Letters this voyage but what there are must be put in the post office, and the same price charged for carriage as if they had gone from hence by Land . Mr. Hewes having fitted this Schooner himself before he left this . .” The Marine Committee then furnished instructions for Smith: “You will take care to receive the Cargo which consists altogether of Continental Stores sent for the use of the Continental Troops in your State and deliver the same to the proper Officers granting Lieutenant Albertson a receipt for what he delivers and you l please also to supply him with what money may be absolutely necessary to defray the Charges and expences of his Vessel but no more, taking his accountable receipts for what you pay him one of which you l transmit by the Vessel. We desire you to Ship back by this Vessel One hundred Barrels Cool Tar, two tons tawlow in barrels, and twelve barrels Rosin, for the use of our Navy. If the Schooner will carry more put it on board, if not so much, you must leave out 1 Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution , I, 140 and II, 701; Paullin, Navy of the American Revolution , 516 2 Neeser, Statiscal History , 26 3 Pennsylvania Archives , Series 2, Volume 1: 611-615 4 Paullin, Out Letters of the Continental Marine Committee , 17-18 ©awiatsea.com-posted August 2019 --3-- a little of each. We beg you will despatch Mr. Albertson back immediately, don’t allow him to stay on any account. If he wants a few men pray assist him in getting them and your drafts on the Chairman of the Marine Committee for the Cost of the goods ordered & of the Schooners disbursements will be duely honored.”5 The next mention of Albertson and the Mosquito is on 10 October 1776, when the captains of the Continental Navy were ranked to give seniority. He appears as twenty-sixth on a list of twenty- six. He is listed as a Lieutenant, but appears on the Captain’s list, meaning he commanded a vessel. 6 Mosquito was in Philadelphia on 23 December 1776. In Philadelphia on 23 December 1776. Robert Morris, who was basically acting as the Marine Committee, wrote to John Hancock and reported on the situation in Philadelphia. Mosquito is mentioned as one of the vessels that he was trying to get to sea. 7 Mosquito was in Philadelphia on 15 February 1777. On that she was given orders for Captain Elisha Warner of the Continental Navy Schooner Fly .8 He was ordered to proceed down to Reedy Island on 18 February to deliver Warner’s instructions and return to the city. 9 On 22 April 1777 Albertson and the Mosquito were at Philadelphia, in the process of fitting out and replenishing. All that was needed to complete the operation was 2-pound shot. The Navy Board of the Middle Department requested the loan of seventy shot from the Pennsylvania Navy Board and promised to repay the shot later. Albertson was sent off with the letter. 10 The Pennsylvania Navy Board sent Albertson to the Pennsylvania Navy Floating Battery Putnam (Captain Brown), with an order for seventy 18-ounce shot. 11 Around 22 June 1777 the Mosquito was in Duck Creek, on the Delaware shore of Delaware Bay. Either because of some accident to the schooner, or because he was cut off by the British shipping in the bay, Albertson decided to evacuate the schooner. He hired one Richard Wells with his team and wagon to take “his men arms & baggage from Duck Creek to Sinnapuxan Point & part of a load Arms &c Back to D. Creek at £3 :0 :0. pr Day.” The total bill came to £24. 12 While he was gone tending to this move, Albertson left two men on the schooner to watch it, his Master and his Gunner. 5 Paullin, Out Letters of the Continental Marine Committee , 18-19 6 NDAR, “Journal of the Continental Congress,” 6: 1200-1201 7 NDAR, “Robert Morris to John Hancock,” 7: 574-576 8 Paullin, Out Letters of the Continental Marine Committee , 79-80 9 Paullin, Out Letters of the Continental Marine Committee , 82 10 NDAR, “Navy Board of the Middle Department to the Pennsylvania Navy Board, 8: 403 and note 11 Pennsylvania Archives , Series 2, Volume 1: 138 12 Public Archives Commission of Delaware, Delaware Archives Revolutionary War , Wilmington: Charles L. Story Company Press, 1919, vol. III, p. 884 --4-- On 6 July 1777, the British frigates anchored in the bay came to life with a beautiful early summer day; with moderate and fair weather all day. At 0500 the schooner Endeavour (probably one that had been captured the day before), along with the longboat, were detached from Pearl for an expedition. These were joined by a sloop and yawl from HM Frigate Camilla , with the whole force commanded by Mr. Lamb, mater of the Pearl . They were going up Duck Creek on the Delaware shore. 13 The expedition was formed because the British had received intelligence that an American armed vessel was up Duck Creek. This was the Mosquito . At 0300 in the morning of 7 July, Lamb’s force came up to the Mosquito . He advanced with two boats and boarded the schooner with no opposition. The only men aboard were the master and the gunner. The British reported that she was armed with six 3-pounder guns and four swivel guns. Mosquito was burned. 14 The area around Duck Creek, Delaware, from a French map about 1780. Library of Congress. Six months after the destruction of the Mosquito , one James Horton appeared before the Continental Navy Board of the Eastern Department. “Whereas James Horton has represented to this Board that he belonged to the Scooner Musketo a Continental Vessell and was taken prisoner and carried to New York from whence he has been redeemed that he is in want of money therefore Voted That he be paid the sum of Eighteen pounds on Accot. of his wages on board said Scooner–” 15 13 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Pearl , Captain John Linzee,” 9: 232-233 and 233n2 14 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Pearl , Captain John Linzee,” 9: 232-233 and 233n2 15 NDAR, “Votes and Resolutions of the [ Continental ] Navy Board of the Eastern Department,” 10: 828-829 and 829n1 ©awiatsea.com-posted August 2019 --5--.