History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | Defence |
Laid down | 1779 |
Out of service | August 13–15, 1779 |
Fate | Burned and sunk |
General characteristics | |
Sail plan | Brigantine |
Armament | 16 guns |
Defence was an American Revolutionary War privateer that was part of the 1779 Penobscot Expedition, during the American Revolutionary War. A brigantine, she was built that year in Beverly, Massachusetts, and was scuttled near Stockton Springs, Maine in the later stages of the expedition. The wreck site was excavated in the 1970s, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. [1]
Defence was a new ship, laid down in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1779. She was owned by Andrew Cabot and Moses Brown, Beverly merchants who operated a number of privateers. Massachusetts archives list her as a 170-ton brigantine with 16 six-pound cannon and a crew of 100. [2] Defence was recruited to join the Penobscot Expedition, organized by the state of Massachusetts in response to the seizure of Castine (in what is now Maine on Penobscot Bay) by British forces in June 1779. [3] She was commissioned on July 6, 1779, with John Edmonds of Beverly as captain. [4]
The expedition sailed in late July 1779. Due to differences among the commanders, the expedition was never able to mount a successful attack on the British at Castine, and the fleet was scattered after the arrival of British reinforcements on August 13. All of the ships of the expedition were lost, either sunk, scuttled, burned, or captured over the next two days. Defence was torched and abandoned in the harbor of Stockton Springs, where she then sank. [5] The ship's owners were eventually able to recover some compensation from the state for their loss. [6] They built another privateer, also named Defence , of 140 tons in late 1779. [7]
The location of the wreck was discovered in 1972 during a sonar survey conducted by the Maine Maritime Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was the first wreck associated with the expedition to be found. Divers that year recovered one of her cannons and other artifacts. Further dives in 1976 outlined the extent of the wreck (which was found to be in good condition) and recovered further artifacts. [5] [8] Between then and 1980 additional archaeological work completely excavated the wreck, recovering numerous artifacts. The remains of the hulk where then reburied under a layer of mud. [9]
Nearby Defence Point ( 44°26′45″N68°51′31″W / 44.4459092°N 68.8586427°W ; formerly known as Squaw Point) and Defence Head ( 44°26′37″N68°51′36″W / 44.4436500°N 68.8599400°W ) were named in honor of the nearby wreck site. [10] [11] The wreck site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. [1]
Brooksville is a town on Penobscot Bay in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 935. It contains the villages of North Brooksville, South Brooksville, West Brooksville, Brooksville Corner, and Harborside.
Castine is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine, United States. The population was 1,320 at the 2020 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduates officers and engineers for the United States Merchant Marine and marine related industries.
The Penobscot Expedition was a 44-ship American naval armada during the Revolutionary War assembled by the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The flotilla of 19 warships and 25 support vessels sailed from Boston on July 19, 1779, for the upper Penobscot Bay in the District of Maine carrying an expeditionary force of more than 1,000 American colonial marines and militiamen. Also included was a 100-man artillery detachment under the command of Lt. Colonel Paul Revere.
Daniel Waters was an officer in the Continental Navy and in the United States Navy.
Peleg Wadsworth was an American Patriot officer during the American Revolutionary War and a Congressman from Massachusetts representing the District of Maine. He was also grandfather of noted American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Penobscot Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine, a stretch known as Midcoast Maine, in a broader Atlantic region known as Down East. The bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, downriver from Belfast. Penobscot Bay has many working waterfronts including Rockland, Rockport, and Stonington, and Belfast. Penobscot Bay is between Muscongus Bay and Blue Hill Bay, just west of Acadia National Park.
Dudley Saltonstall (1738–1796) was an American naval commander during the American Revolutionary War. He is best known as the commander of the naval forces of the 1779 Penobscot Expedition, which ended in complete disaster, with all ships lost. Norton (2003) argues the Penobscot Expedition was a total failure due to poor planning, inadequate training, and timid leadership on the part of Saltonstall.
The Massachusetts Naval Militia, was a naval militia active during the American Revolutionary War. It was founded December 29, 1775, to defend the interests of Massachusetts during the war.
Fort George was a palisaded earthwork fort built in 1779 by Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War in Castine, Maine. Located at a high point on the Bagaduce Peninsula, the fort was built as part of an initiative by the British to establish a new colony called New Ireland.
The Battle of Machias was an amphibious assault on the Massachusetts town of Machias by British forces during the American Revolutionary War. Local militia aided by Indian allies successfully prevented British troops from landing. The raid, led by Commodore Sir George Collier, was executed in an attempt to head off a planned second assault on Fort Cumberland, which had been besieged in November 1776. The British forces landed below Machias, seized a ship, and raided a storehouse.
Nautilus Island is a privately owned island in Penobscot Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the Town of Brooksville, in Hancock County.
Tyrannicide was a 14-gun brigantine-rigged sloop of the Massachusetts State Navy. The ship was built for the American Revolutionary War and participated in commerce raiding until destroyed in the Penobscot expedition.
Henry Mowat (1734–1798) was an officer of the Royal Navy commanding ships in northern New England during the American Revolutionary War. He was the son of Captain Patrick Mowat of the post ship HMS Dolphin. He was born in Scotland and went to sea at the age of 18.
New Ireland was a Crown colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain twice established in modern-day Maine after British forces captured the area during the American Revolutionary War and again during the War of 1812. The colony lasted four years during the Revolution, and eight months during the War of 1812. At the end of each war the British ceded the land to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris and the Treaty of Ghent, respectively.
HMS Blonde was a 32-gun fifth-rate warship of the British Royal Navy captured from the French in 1760. The ship wrecked on Blonde Rock with American prisoners on board. An American privateer captain, Daniel Adams, rescued the American prisoners and let the British go free. The captain's decision created an international stir. Upon returning to Boston, the American privateer was banished for letting go the British crew and he and his family became Loyalist refugees in Nova Scotia.
The Castine Historic District encompasses the entire southern tip of the peninsula on which the town of Castine, Maine is located. Covering about 1,800 acres (730 ha), this area was a center of colonial conflicts dating to the early 17th century, and was the site of military action during the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Bypassed by the railroads, it has retained a village feel reminiscent of the early 19th century. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Defence as a ship name may refer to:
The Penobscot Expedition Site is a submerged historic archaeological area in the waters of the Penobscot River between Bangor and Brewer, Maine. The area is the site of the abandonment and loss of many vessels in the disastrous 1779 Penobscot Expedition, an American Revolutionary War expedition in which the rebellious Americans lost an entire fleet of ships. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973; it has been of interest to salvagers and later archaeologists since the early 19th century.
The Province of Nova Scotia was heavily involved in the American Revolutionary War (1776–1783). At that time, Nova Scotia also included present-day New Brunswick until that colony was created in 1784. The Revolution had a significant impact on shaping Nova Scotia, "almost the 14th American Colony". At the beginning, there was ambivalence in Nova Scotia over whether the colony should join the Americans in the war against Britain. Largely as a result of American privateer raids on Nova Scotia villages, as the war continued, the population of Nova Scotia solidified their support for the British. Thousands of Loyalist refugees fled to Nova Scotia during the war, and many were resettled in the region after the signing of the 1783 Treaty of Paris as "United Empire Loyalists".