The Navy of the American Revolution

by Charles Oscar Paullin

I have the pleasure of Informing your Honours by Capt. Fisk of the ‘Massachusetts’ That on the first Instant I arrived safe in this Port after taking twelve Sail of Englis Vessels Seven of which I despatched for Boston Burnt three gave one smal Brigg to our Prisners and one Retaken by the ‘Futereange’ which Chast us fore Glasses and finding she Could not Cume up with us she gave Chase to our Prize and toock her in our sight—I have Cleaned & Refited my Vessel and Taken in forty Tons of War like Stores and have bin waiting for a wind to go this fore days—Capt. Fisk being short of Provisions I have supplied him with foreteen Barels of Pork and Eleven of Beef and have Suffisantse for my Vessel left.”[404]

In January, 1777, a new sea establishment was effected. Wages were generally raised, no doubt chiefly to meet their decrease caused by the depreciation of the currency. A captain was now to receive a monthly wage of £14, 8s.; a lieutenant or a master, £7, 4s.; a seaman, £2, 8s.; and a boy, £1, 4s. The offices established in the Massachusetts navy, while not quite so many, were in general the same as those in the Continental navy. The Massachusetts navy, however, had the offices of prizemaster, pilot, and boy, which did not occur in the Continental list. Following the regulations of Congress, the General Court now gave captors one-half of their captures. The rations for seamen were modelled on the Continental bill of fare.[405] On March 21, 1777, the General Court adopted rules and regulations for its ships of war; and it ordered that they should be read by the commanding officer of a vessel at least once a week. These rules, while briefer than the Continental rules, naturally followed the same general lines. They show either the influence of the Continental rules or of the English rules upon which the Continental rules were based. The following curious rule in part parallels quotations made from the Continental rules in Chapter I:

“And if any Person belonging to either of such Vessels shall be convicted of Theft, Drunkenness, profane Cursing, or Swearing, disregarding the Sabbath, or using the Name of God lightly, or profanely, or shall be guilty of quarreling or fighting, or of any reproachful or provoking Language tending to make Quarrels, or of any turbulent or mutinous Behavior, or if any Person shall sleep upon his Watch, or forsake his Station, or shall in any wise neglect to perform the Duty enjoined him, he shall be punished for any of the said Offences at the Discretion of the commissioned Officers of such Vessel, or the Major Part of them, according to the Nature and Aggravation of the Offence, by sitting in the Stocks, or wearing a wooden Collar about his Neck, not exceeding 4 Hours, nor less than one, or by whipping, not exceeding 12 Lashes, or by being put in Irons for so long Time as the said Officers shall judge the Safety and well being of the Ship and Crew requires, or otherwise shall forfeit to the State not more than six, nor less than two Days Pay for each offence.”[406]

During every year of the Revolution attempts were made to increase the Massachusetts navy. In the fall of 1777 the brigantine “Hazard” was added. On August 6, 1777, the General Court resolved that, since the armed vessels at the lowest computation had netted the state £55,000, the Board of War should purchase or build two vessels mounting 28 and 32 guns, respectively. In January, 1778, it reduced the sizes of these vessels almost one-half; and finally it gave up building them.[407] In the spring of 1779 a prize of the “Hazard,” the brigantine “Active,” taken in April off the island of St. Thomas in the West Indies, was purchased.[408] In April, 1778, the General Court resolved to build a frigate of 28 guns, which would carry two hundred officers and men.[409] This vessel was built at Newburyport and was named the “Protector.” In the fall of 1779 it was nearing completion. The launching of the “Protector,” which was the largest ship in the Massachusetts navy, was a matter of more than usual local interest. Stephen Cross who was in charge of the construction of the frigate wrote a letter to the Board of War in July, 1779, which throws light upon the minor naval duties of the Board. Cross’s language is somewhat involved, but his meaning is clear; it is hardly necessary to say that the “souring” refers to lemons.

“Gentlemen.

it being customary for the owners of Vessels when they are Launched to give the Workmen something Better than New England Rum to drink & Likewise some thing to Eat and also all those Persons who Attend the Launching Expect to be asked to Drink and Eat something and Especially Publick Vessells it will be Expected that something be Provided and it is my opinion about sixty Galls of West India Rum & sugars for the same & souring if to be had and one Quarter Cask of Wine and A Hamper of ale or Beer together with a Tierce hams Neet Tongs or Corn Beef will be necessary to comply with the Customs in these Cases.”[410]

After August, 1779, when the disaster on the Penobscot occurred, the naval duties of the Board of War were slight. For a time the “Protector” was the only vessel in the navy. With the coming in of a new government under a Constitution on October 25, 1780, there was no longer much need for a Board of War. According to the provisions of the new Constitution, the Governor was commander-in-chief of the navy; and he was authorized to “train, instruct, exercise, and govern it,” and to call it into service in time of war. On February 8, 1781, the Board of War was discontinued, and Caleb Davis, who was appointed Agent of the Commonwealth, succeeded to its ministerial duties.[411] The Governor and the Agent now shared the naval duties. The Governor commissioned officers, issued orders to the naval commanders, and was responsible to the General Court; the Agent had direct oversight of the fitting out of vessels, the selling of prizes, and was responsible to the Governor. As the Revolution spent itself the simplification of the administrative machinery of the state continued. On January 1, 1783, the Agent was discontinued. His naval duties fell to the Commissary-General.[412]

During each year from 1780 to 1783 the General Court made one or more attempts to increase the naval force of the state. It was spurred to action by the ravages of the British cruisers on the Eastern Coast. On March 21, 1780, two armed vessels mounting not less than ten or more than fourteen 4’s or 6’s were ordered. The expense incurred was to be met by the sale of the “Rising Empire” and of the confiscated estates of Loyalists, and from the rents of the property of absentees. On March 6, 1781, the Agent was directed to obtain a small vessel of eight to twelve guns to serve as a tender for the “Mars;” and on April 23, he was ordered to procure by hire or purchase two small craft to be employed as “guarda coasta.” On November 12, 1782, a committee was appointed to purchase a vessel of twelve or sixteen guns to be used in protecting the coast. On March 26, 1783, the Commissary-General was ordered to obtain a small vessel and a whale boat to cruise against the enemy in Casco Bay and along the Eastern Shore.[413] As the result of these resolutions, four armed vessels were added to the navy: in the spring of 1780 the “Mars;” in the summer of 1781, the “Defence;” in the winter of 1781-1782, the “Tartar,” which was built by the state; and in the spring of 1782, the “Winthrop.”

Private naval enterprise throughout the Revolution was exceedingly active in Massachusetts. In 1775, some months before the General Court granted letters of marque, Massachusetts citizens, unauthorized, were capturing the vessels of the enemy. Scarcely a fortnight after the battles of Lexington and Concord men from New Bedford and Dartmouth fitted out a vessel and attacked and cut out from a harbor in Martha’s Vineyard a prize of the British sloop of war “Falcon,” 16. This act was called forth by the captures which the “Falcon” had made from the people of Buzzard’s Bay. On June 12, 1775, the inhabitants of Machias, Maine, had captured the King’s sloop “Margaretta,” Lieutenant Moore, after mortally wounding the commander and inflicting a loss of fourteen men. Still other British vessels were captured off the coast of Maine during the summer of 1775.[414]

With the act of November 1, 1775, granting to the Council the power to issue letters of marque and reprisal, all such private enterprises as the above, when done under the authority of a commission, were legal. It does not appear however that Massachusetts granted many commissions until the second half of 1776. In 1777 she granted 96 commissions. The best year was 1779 when she issued 222 commissions; the year 1781 with 216 commissions was not far behind. The total number of commissions issued by Massachusetts for the years 1777 to 1783 was 998.[415] In 1779 one hundred and eighty-four prizes captured by privateers were libelled in the Massachusetts prize courts.[416] The privateering industry for this year was very active. The following is an extract from a letter dated May 16, 1779, written from a Massachusetts seaport: