Devol took his place. In 1782, the Franklin, Captain Devol, cruizing in the West Indies, joined with several Beverly and Salem vessels in an expedition against Tortola. The vessels associated with the Franklin were the Porus, Captain Carnes; the Junius Brutus, Captain Brooks; the Pilgrim, Captain Robinson; the Mohock, Captain Smith; and the Fair American. It was intended to surprise Tortola, but the inhabitants were forewarned and the expedition was a failure. The only prize was the former Salem privateer, Maccaroni, which had recently been captured by an English vessel. A little later the Franklin was taken by the English frigates, Amphitrite and Assurance.

Although large and heavily armed vessels were necessary to encounter and capture the equally heavily armed English letter of marque ships, there was also a profitable field for vessels of small tonnage and light armament. Probably more than half the prizes taken by our American privateers were recaptured by the English, a small prize crew put aboard and the vessel ordered to some English port. These vessels and the lighter armed British merchant vessels could be taken by a privateer of very slight force. Such a privateer was the little sloop Fly, owned by Benjamin Lovett1 and Andrew Cabot of Beverly. She was only 50 tons burthen, armed with 4 carriage and 8 swivel guns, and carrying a crew of 40 men. August 29th, 1778, John Marsh was commissioned commander with Ezra Ober as 1st lieutenant, both Beverly men.

Another vessel of this class at one time owned in Beverly, though no record of it appears in the State Archives, was the schooner Centipede. For three years at least, perhaps longer, she sent in prize after prize and, run as she was at small expense, must have been immensely profitable to her owners. She was 45 tons burthen, carrying 16 swivel guns and 35 men. Her first commission was issued December 23, 1777, when on petition of Elias H. Derby, Joseph White and Miles Greenwood, William Langdon of Salem was commissioned as captain and the vessel called Cent. Peid. In her bond, however, given some days before, she is called Santape. On May 14, 1778, she libelled the prize schooner Betty under the name of Centi Pea. She was commissioned again in 1778 and this

1 Benjamin Lovett (1756-1804), son of Benjamin and Hannah (Kilham) Lovett.

time she was called Cent. Pede, changed on her bond to Cent Pea, and on her libel against the schooner Bickford to Saint te Pee. August 12, 1779, Joseph Pratt was commissioned commander of the armed cruizer Centipie and August 12, 1779, Gideon Henfield libels several prizes sent in by schooner Centipede.1 In 1778 this vessel of many names was owned by Josiah Batchelder of Beverly, Livermore Whittredge being agent.

Some time in the autumn of 1777 a number of Beverly and Salem gentlemen gave an order to William Swett of Salisbury to build them a ship intended to be the largest, fastest, and most heavily armed privateer ever launched from our Massachusetts ship yards. The name given her was the Black Prince, a rather unusual choice at a time when most American privateers were named after famous republicans, local or Roman, and one that rabid patriots must have cavilled at. She was ship rigged, measured 220 tons, carried 18 guns and a crew of 130 men and was commissioned June 17, 1778, with Elias Smith of Beverly as commander. No other privateer sailed from Salem during the war in which so many Beverly men were interested. George Cabot, J. & A. Cabot, Moses Brown, Israel Thorndike, Larkin Thorndike,2 John Lovett, Josiah Batchelder, Jr., and Benjamin Lovett all held shares. Under Captain Smith she was fairly successful, sending in a number of prizes, but on October 19, 1778, Captain Smith was succeeded by Nathaniel West of Salem, and from that time, though not through any fault of her captain, her luck changed.

On June 30, 1779, the Black Prince, Captain West, had just returned from a long and unsuccessful voyage and was preparing in Salem harbor for a raid on the Quebec fleet, due the following month. The State, about to engage in the Penobscot expedition, sent George Williams and Jonathan Peele to Salem with a request, almost a command, that the Black Prince join the fleet they were forming. The owners, against their better judgment, yielded and June 19, 1778, the Black Prince, Captain West, joined the fleet at Boothbay

1 From December 25, 1777, to April 29, 1780, she bore the following names: Cent Pied, Santape, Cent. Pede, Cent. Pea, Cent. a Pede, Santipe, Sentipe, Cent. Peid, Centipede, Centi Pea, Saint te Pie, Centipie.

2 Larkin Thorndike (1730–1786) was captain of the minute-men who marched to Concord in 1775.

and took part in the unfortunate expedition. The Black Prince shared the fate of the other American privateers, but her crew escaped to shore. The Black Prince was insured by the State to the amount of £100,000 and after some years' delay her owners were paid, principal and interest. John Lovett received £272, George Cabot £224, Benjamin Lovett £464, the other Beverly owners received compensation in another way.

Two privateers in which Beverly gentlemen were largely interested, the Black Prince and the Defence, were in the unfortunate Penobscot expedition. The latter, a brig of 170 tons, armed with 16 six-pounders and carrying a crew of 100 men, was owned by Andrew Cabot and Moses Brown and commanded by Captain John Edmonds of Beverly. Both were run on shore and destroyed when the British fleet entered Penobscot harbor. Some of the Beverly merchants obtained or tried to obtain advances from the State prior to the general settlement, and on September 22, 1782, Larkin Thorndike of Beverly, "Part owner of the Black Prince and Defence, having met with misfortunes at sea which has reduced him of almost his whole trading stock exclusive of what he has loaned to the Government, having bought the forfeited estate of John Landell Borland, Esq. begs that you will loan him part of the money due from the State, which is 600 pounds, lawful money." The estate bought by Larkin Thorndike was a tract of land situated in Danvers, Topsfield and Middleton, and the State allowed him £400. Andrew Cabot tried much the same plan. The State owed for the Defence £105,000. Mr. Cabot bought from the State the forfeited real estate of Lieutenant-Governor Oliver at Lechmere's Point, Cambridge, and gave his note for the same. When the note came due he offered to give the State credit for the £94,000 he had paid for the property on the sum due him for the Defence, but the State refused. He finally received £4245 for his half of the Defence. September 20, 1779, Brown and Thorndike petitioned the Council:

To the Honorable, the Council of the State of Massachusetts Bay. Whereas your petitioners, part owners of the armed ship Black Prince and armed brigantine Defence, did agree to fit out said ship and brigantine for the expedition against Penobscot and had the misfortune to have them destroyed while in the service of the State, which misfortune has deprived them of by far the greatest part of their interest and

renders them unable to carry on their business in navigation unless their contract with the Board of War be carried out. Therefore, your petitioners pray that they be furnished with 32 six pound cannon belonging to the State to enable them to cruise against the enemies of the United States.

Of all the privateers sailing from Beverly during the war, the Pilgrim was the most famous and probably the most successful. She was very fortunate in her commanders and is said to have been built for her owner, Mr. Cabot,1 at Newburyport under supervision of her first captain, Hugh Hill. She was ship rigged, measured 200 tons and carried 16 nine-pounders and a crew of 140 men. On September 12, 1778, Hugh Hill of Beverly was commissioned commander. Hugh Hill, the man chosen to command the finest privateer sailing from Beverly, was the beau ideal of a privateer captain.2 Born at Carrickfergus, Ireland, in 1741 he had come to this country when a young man, settling in Marblehead. He was of good family, a cousin of Andrew Jackson, the future president of the United States, and an enthusiast in the cause of American liberty. Of immense size, muscular beyond the common, courageous almost to rashness, courteous to the fair sex and not burdened with scruples, he had all the characteristics which might have made him a famous captain in the days of Drake. The story is told of him that on one occasion while at L'Orient, France, a French gentleman in a cabaret felt himself insulted by some word or action of the reckless privateersman. "I will send my seconds to you in the morning," said the Frenchman. "What is the matter with here and now?" said Hugh Hill, drawing two pistols from his belt and offering one to the Frenchman. There was no duel.

Hugh Hill remained in command of the Pilgrim until March 24, 1780, and during that time sent into Beverly as prizes the ships Francesco di Paula of 250 tons, the Anna and Eliza of 120 tons, the bark Success of 120 tons, the brigantine Neustra Senora de Merced, of 120 tons, the Hopewell of 115 tons, the Three Brothers of 130 tons, the Pallas of 100 tons, the Gold Wire of 130 tons, the snow Diana

1 The Pilgrim was owned by John and Andrew Cabot, Joseph Lee, George Cabot, Moses Brown, Samuel Cabot, Francis Cabot, Jonathan Jackson, Joshua Wood, and Stephen Cleveland. Andrew Cabot owned a little less than onehalf in 1780. Salem gentlemen owned 16/96ths. (Nathan Dane Papers.)

2 A portrait of Hugh Hill faces p. 320, above.

of 160 tons, the Brandywine and Lord Sandwich. These were vessels which reached Beverly; more than double the number were sent into foreign ports, or retaken. One of these prizes, the Francesco di Paula, was the cause of long litigation and came near causing international complications with Spain. The case was one, common in war time, of an English-owned ship named Valenciano, rechristened Francesco di Paula and put under Spanish colors. Joachi di Luca was her nominal and Peter White her real captain. The Francesco was condemned in our State courts but the case was appealed to Congress, where the fear of offending Spain kept the case undecided for a long time. Finally the ship was condemned and the cargo returned to its owners.

While in command of the Pilgrim, Captain Hill had several sharp encounters with English vessels. March 14, 1779, the Pilgrim engaged the letter of marque brig Success, Captain Nixon, of 12 guns and 30 men. The Success was, of course, no match for the Pilgrim, but she put up a stiff fight and did not surrender until most of her officers were killed or wounded. After the battle, Captain Hill cruized on the Irish coast, taking several prizes, and then ran into Sligo Bay and set free all his prisoners. He had taken eight prizes in six weeks.

On March 24, 1780, Captain Hill resigned command of the Pilgrim and was succeeded by Joseph Robinson of Salem. Captain Robinson, like Hugh Hill, was a man of imposing presence, a good sailor and a good fighter. Under him the Pilgrim was as successful as under her first commander, and up to October 12, 1782, had sent into Beverly twelve prizes besides numerous others sent into France, Spain, and Martinique. One of the prizes sent in in 1782 was the frigate built, copper bottomed ship Mars carrying 8 eighteen and 16 nine-pound guns and a crew of 84 men. The Mars was taken after a sharp battle lasting three hours in which the English vessel lost her captain and seven others killed and eighteen wounded.

One of the best contested privateer engagements of the war was the encounter between the Pilgrim and the English ship Mary. On January 5, 1781, when cruizing in the West Indies, Captain Robinson sighted a large ship and gave chase. The Pilgrim gained on the stranger, which made no effort either to seek or avoid an encounter. Captain Robinson, uncertain as to her real force, set English colors