by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 22, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
On 20 January Britain, France and Spain ceased hostilities, although the war between Britain and the Netherlands continued , whilst that with the Americans only formally ended on 3 September. As a result of the ensuing peace treaty Britain retained Canada, all...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 25, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Magicienne v Sibylle – 2 January 1783 An escorted British convoy of thirty-eight vessels carrying troops, displaced loyalist families from the Carolinas, and over four thousand negroes belonging to the latter, was in passage to Jamaica when on the morning...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 25, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Leander v Mystery Ship of the Line – 19 January 1783 Captain John Willett Payne had been in command of the Leander 52 for but a few short weeks when at 1 p.m. on 18 January, whilst escorting a cartel in the Leeward Islands, a larger vessel was seen...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 4, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Hussar v Sibylle – 22 January 1783 The British sloop Hussar 20, Captain Thomas Macnamara Russell, was cruising off the mouth of the Chesapeake in a fresh gale when through the haze she spotted a jury-rigged frigate steering in a westerly direction on the...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 6, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Mutiny on the Janus and Disaffection at Portsmouth – March 1783 ? Following the ending in January of hostilities with all of Britain?s enemies bar the Netherlands, a significant number of ships returned to port with crews who were looking forward to being paid...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 22, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Following the change of government in April 1782 many of the admirals who had refused to serve under the previous administration had returned to duty, and amongst them was the 67 year-old hereditary baronet Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker. Sir Hyde was a crusty...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 20, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
In the early summer of 1783 the newspapers were gripped by the trial of a lieutenant of Marines, Charles Bourne, late of the Warrior 74, on the prosecution of her former captain, Sir James Wallace, the officer who had been so active in the American...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 11, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The failure to recover the port of Trincomale in Ceylon during September 1782 had resulted in Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes? fleet entering Madras in October before retiring to Bombay to refit, there being no port on the Coromandel Coast of eastern India which...
