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George Wait Babcock (b. Exeter, Rhode Island. January 25, 1751- d. Hopewell, Ontario, New York, United States 18 Mar 1816) was one of the most successful American privateers of the American Revolution, capturing 28 British vessels while in command of the Marlborough. [1] [2] He also led the land forces in the Raid on Lunenburg (1782) during the American Revolution. [3] [4] [5] [6]
Babcock was commissioned to the Rhode Island privateer Marlborough on 11 December 1777. Babcock made an extended cruise on the African coast, capturing or destroying twenty-eight vessels and destroying the British trading station on the Îles de Los. Upon returning to Boston, Babcock fell in with the British vessel Hope, under the command of Joseph Browne. The fight lasted for two hours and Babcock destroyed the mast, rigging and sails of the Hope. Despite the damage, the Hope was able to escape to Halifax and arrived on 26 September 1778.
On 18 January 1779, Babcock ransacked the brigantine Lord Clare and the brig Nautilus under the command of Hawson.
In March 1779, Babcock was commissioned to the Massachusetts privateer General Mifflin (20 guns, 100 men). Babcock fell in with the Tartar (26 guns, 160 men). The attack killed the captain of the Tartar and twenty-two others, while Babcock only lost two men. The Mifflin had taken two other prizes a store ship named Elephant and the brig Betsey. [7] He had captured about 200 prisoners, which he traded for Americans taken prisoner by the British.
On 7 September 1779 Babcock fell in with a sloop of war and fought her for 1.5 hours. The Americans had three killed and seven wounded and were much shot up in the masts and rigging and so bore away. [8]
In 1780 Babcock took command of the Mifflin with an uncle of Oliver Hazard Perry as a member of his crew. [9] [10] [11]
On 11 June 1781, Babcock took command of the Venus (16 guns, 83 men) [12] Babcock and crew were captured on 16 July 1781 by frigate HMS Danae (Captain Thomas Lloyd) and Surprize (Captain Samuel Reeve) off of Cape Race, Newfoundland. [13] Babcock and the Venus were taken into Halifax where Venus was condemned. Babcock was exchanged, arriving in Boston in a prisoner cartel on 13 August 1781, with most of his crew. Babcock and the other prisoners on the cartel reported that they were
Babcock’s final command was of the schooner Hero (9 guns, 25 men), commissioned 28 May 1781. [15] While on the Hero, Babcock was involved in gathering intelligence at Chester, Nova Scotia, and the following day, he led the land forces in the Raid on Lunenburg. [4]
The second USS Boston was a 24-gun frigate, launched 3 June 1776 by Stephen and Ralph Cross, Newburyport, Massachusetts, and completed the following year. In American service she captured a number of British vessels. The British captured Boston at the fall of Charleston, South Carolina, renamed her HMS Charlestown, and took her into service. She was engaged in one major fight with two French frigates, which she survived and which saved the convoy she was protecting. The British sold Charlestown in 1783, immediately after the end of the war.
The second Hancock was one of the first thirteen frigates of the Continental Navy. A resolution of the Continental Congress dated 13 December 1775 authorized her construction; she was named for the patriot and Continental congressman John Hancock. In her career, she served under the American, British and French flags.
The Raid on Lunenburg occurred during the American Revolution when the US privateer, Captain Noah Stoddard of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and four other privateer vessels attacked the British settlement at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on July 1, 1782. The raid was the last major privateer attack on a Nova Scotia community during the war.
The Battle off Halifax took place on 28 May 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. It involved the American privateer Jack and the 14-gun Royal Naval brig HMS Observer off Halifax, Nova Scotia. Captain David Ropes commanded Jack, and Lieutenant John Crymes commanded Observer. The battle was "a long and severe engagement" in which Captain David Ropes was killed.
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.
HMS Surprise was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, which served throughout the American Revolutionary War and was broken up in 1783.
Captain Noah Stoddard (1755–1850) of Fairhaven, Massachusetts was an American privateer who distinguished himself during the American Revolution by leading the Raid on Lunenburg (1782). In the raid, Stoddard led four other privateer vessels and attacked the British settlement at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on July 1, 1782. In Nova Scotia, the assault on Lunenburg was the most spectacular raid of the war.
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.
HMS Allegiance was the American vessel King George, which the British captured in 1779 and brought into the Royal Navy as a sloop armed with fourteen 6-pounder guns. The French captured her in 1782, and the British recaptured her in 1783, but did not take her back into service.
Herbert Woodberry (1745–1809) was an American privateer from Beverly, Massachusetts who was in command of the Brigantine Hope in the Raid on Lunenburg (1782). Woodberry and his crew also have the rare distinction of being captured by the British only to escape and then recapture their own ship and seize their captors.
The Battle of Blomidon took place on 21 May 1781 during the American Revolutionary War. The naval battle involved three armed U.S. privateer vessels against three Nova Scotian vessels off Cape Split, Nova Scotia. American Privateers caught two Nova Scotia Vessels. The first Nova Scotia vessel was re-captured by Lieut Benjamin Belcher. The second Nova Scotia vessel was overtaken by the captured crew under the command of Captain Bishop. The privateers were taken to Cornwallis and put on trial.
The Raid on Annapolis Royal took place on 29 August 1781 during the American Revolutionary War. The raid involved two American privateers - the Resolution and the Reprisal - attacking and pillaging Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia in revenge of the defeat of the Penobscot Expedition. The privateers took captive the commander of the militia John Ritchie, described as the "Governor of Annapolis." One historian described it as "one of the most daring and dramatic raids upon Nova Scotia."
The Battle of Liverpool took place on 24 April 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. The raid involved the British vessel HMS Blonde and the French 24-gun frigate Duc de Choiseul.
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".
The Battle off Halifax took place on 10 July 1780 during the American Revolutionary War. The British privateer Resolution fought the American privateer Viper and heavy casualties were suffered by both sides. The battle was "one of the bloodiest battles in the history of privateering.... a loss of 51 lives in a single battle was virtually unheard of."
The American frigate USS Hancock was captured by the British Royal Navy in a 1777 naval battle during the American Revolutionary War. The two highest ranking naval officers of the war battled each other off the coast of Nova Scotia. HMS Rainbow, under the command of British Admiral George Collier, captured USS Hancock, under the command of Captain John Manley.
The Raid on Chester occurred during the American Revolution when the US privateer, Captain Noah Stoddard of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and four other privateer vessels attacked the British settlement at Chester, Nova Scotia on 30 June 1782. The town was defended by Captain Jonathan Prescott and Captain Jacob Millett.
Captain David Ropes was a notable American privateer from Salem, Massachusetts who fought in numerous naval battles during the American Revolutionary War. He was taken prisoner twice during the war and then killed in the Battle off Halifax (1782).
Captain William Williams was an American naval officer in the American Revolution. He was imprisoned twice by the British and participated in the Battle off Halifax (1780).
Belisarius was launched in Massachusetts in 1781. The British Royal Navy captured later that year and took her into service as HMS Bellisarius. She captured several American privateers, including one in a single ship action, before the Navy sold her in 1783. Her new owners sailed her as a merchantman between London and British Honduras. In 1787 she carried emigrants to Sierra Leone for the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor, before returning to trading with Honduras. She was wrecked in September 1787.
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