by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 19, 2019 | 1777, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
?On 10 June the Admiralty wrote to Lieutenant Thomas Gaborian of the cutter Sherbourne 6, based at Dartmouth, ordering him to put to sea and cruise between the ?le de Batz and ?le de Br?hat on the northern coast of Brittany to seek out a small American schooner...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 20, 2015 | 1777
?Vice-Admiral Lord Howe, commanding the North American station, began the year by enforcing a strict blockade of the American coast, and then as the war progressed he set sail with his brother, General Sir William Howe, to hasten its end by capturing the jewel in the...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 20, 2015 | 1777
Having been captured without opposition in the previous month, the anchorage at Rhode Island should have been a safe haven for the British in January 1777. However, this was not withstanding the arrival on the station of the frigate Diamond 32, Captain Charles...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 22, 2015 | 1777
Captain Jervis and the Foudroyant on Cruise – April to August 1777 In September 1775 the highly regarded Captain John Jervis was appointed to what could only be considered a plum command that was worthy of him the twenty-five year-old French built Foudroyant 80,...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 26, 2015 | 1777, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Fox v Hancock & Boston – 7 June 1777 The British frigate Fox 28, Captain Patrick Fotheringham, was patrolling the Grand Banks off Newfoundland on the morning of Saturday 7 June when at 5 a.m. two unknown vessels were seen bearing down at great speed...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 7, 2016 | 1777, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Rainbow and Flora v Hancock, Boston and Fox – 6 to 8 July 1777 On 21 May the newly launched American frigate Hancock 34, Commodore John Manley, and her consort the Boston 24, Captain Henry McNeill, had put to sea from Boston with eight privateers to...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 11, 2016 | 1777, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The Philadelphia Campaign – August to November 1777 On 23 July a fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral Lord Howe, conveying an army of fifteen thousand men led by his brother, General Sir William Howe, set sail from Sandy Hook, New York. Their aim was...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 23, 2016 | 1777, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Alert v Lexington – 19 September 1777 On 27 June the Admiralty sent orders to 36 year-old Lieutenant John Bazely to report to Deptford and take command of the cutter Alert 10, which having been launched three days earlier was daily expected from Dover....
