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Frigate Deane in Spring 1790

Frigate Deane in Spring 1790

Posted: 1 Jul 2009 2:38AM GMT
Classification: Query
I am trying to learn the whereabouts of a Cyril Brown of Cumberland RI in spring 1780. He entered the Navy in Dec 1779 on the frigate Deane under Capt. Elisha Hinman. He served 5 months. Cyril was the likely father of Cyrel Brown b. Attleboro 30 Dec 1780 to an unmarried woman named Ruth Sweetland.

I have learned that the Deane sailed in mid-Feb 1780 for the West Indies. Another report has it in Boston mid-April 1780. However, there was also a news article of a ship in Boston in March 1780. It had been sent there as a "prize of the Deane."

How did this work? If a ship was captured and became a prize, how was it then sent back to a port. Would some of the crew of the Deane have been responsible for getting the "prize ship" back to Boston? Would the Deane have normally come back with it, too?

I am trying to place Cyril in MA in late March or early April and therefore able to have fathered the child born 30 Dec 1780. By 1788/89 he was in Vinalhaven Maine where he married and eventually had a family with 7 children. Brown's head lighthouse on Vinalhaven was named for Cyril Brown.

Ruth Sweetland never married Cyrel's father - and didn't marry at all until 1796 when she m. John Bates. Her son Cyrel's death certificate gives mother as Ruth (no last name given) b. Attleboro and father as Cyril Brown b. Cumberland RI.

Re: Frigate Deane in Spring 1790

Posted: 9 Aug 2009 9:10PM GMT
Classification: Query
From what I've found in my research into privateers (which Deane was not, but it was still taking prizes), they would have "prize masters" on board who would take a captured vessel into port so that the privateer didn't have to. I haven't come across a reference to a privateer coming into port with a prize. It may be that Deane came into port for provisions or more men during those five months and Cyril met up with Ruth somehow and fathered a son. It doesn't seem likely the child was premature. He would have to be very premature, and therefore not likely to have survived. I would check the orginal Attleborough records to make sure the December birth date isn't a transcription error when the vital records were published. It would fit better in this scenario if he was born in late December 1779, after Cyril, Sr., had hightailed it out to sea, but probably not. Good luck with this one!

Re: Frigate Deane in Spring 1790

Posted: 9 Aug 2009 10:54PM GMT
Classification: Query
In actuality, mid-April to Dec 30 would not result in a child very premature. Human gestation from conception to birth is 266 days. An April 15 conception to a Dec 30 birth is 258 days - so that's not out of the question. And if mid-April was just a few days before that, then it isn't bad at all. My daughter was 22 days early and was small but fine - no special care was needed that would not have been available in 1790.

Thanks for the information about how "prizes" were brought into port. I am not sure why the Deane isn't a privateer, as the published invitation to enlist referred to it as The Grand Privateer Ship Deane. Where would I find information to answer that question? Another article published 11 May 1780 referred to it as the Privateer Frigate Deane.

I didn't try to get original records as both the 1850 and 1860 census had ages for him that fit with the 1790 birth date. Also his death certificate has him as 84 years 9 months at his death in early Oct. 1865. Everything seems to match up with the published birth record.

Florence

Re: Frigate Deane in Spring 1790

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 2:25PM GMT
Classification: Query
I guess Navy ships were also privateers at times. It seems contradictory, but as you say, the evidence is there. I only read about the ship being a "U. S. frigate," so didn't think the term privateer would apply. It's a moot point, though, since it was obviously taking ships as prizes at sea.

I agree about the not-very-premature aspect now that I recalculate the months. I had the baby being born much earlier, and 1780 medicine would not have helped. That would also negate the need to scrupulously check Cyril's birth date.

If there were any specific records of the coming and going of "Deane," it would most likely be at the National Archives in Washington, given that it was a Navy ship. I haven't used Navy records. I can't think of anything that would help locally, in Boston for instance, although that was its home port, right? The Massachusetts Archives would be the most likely spot to look in that case. The local National Archives branches (there is one for New England) have custom house shipping records for private commerce, mostly for 19th and 20th centuries. I dont' recall seeing anything else in their catalogue that would help you. You have a lot of good circumstantial evidence, though.

Doug

Re: Frigate Deane in Spring 1790

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 3:20PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hello Doug,

Thanks for the suggestions. Since I am not in MA, checking records there is not easy. At this point I think I will accept the theory I have based on what bits of evidence I have uncovered and leave it at that. Even proving the Deane was in port doesn't do anything to prove the paternity of Cyril. I was just hoping to fill in some historical perspective and show there was nothing to prove Cyril couldn't have been the father. Guess I should be thankful for the Attleboro birth record having the 2 surnames and the rarity of the names involved. Thanks for your help with this issue.

Florence

Re: Frigate Deane in Spring 1790

Posted: 31 Aug 2009 4:58PM GMT
Classification: Query
Maybe this will give you a better time line?

Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 13 June 1, 1779 - September 30, 1779, Marine Committee to Samuel Nicholson .

Sir (1) June 12th 1779 The frigate Deane which you command being now ready for Sea, you are hereby directed to proceed with her on a Cruize on this coast from the Latitude of 40 to 35 degrees, and to take, burn, sink or destroy as many of the enemies Ships or vessels of every kind as may be in your power. The Prizes you will order into the nearest Ports addressed to the Continental Agents in those Ports. As we have received intelligence that a number of the enemys Privateers is cruizing to the Southward near the Latitude of 36 in expectation of intercepting the Merchant vessels bound from the West Indies to Chesapeake Bay and this Port, you are to use your endeavours to frustrate the Designs of our enemies, by Capturing or destroying as many of those Privateers as may be in your power and by Affording every aid and assistance to the inward bound vessels particularly the Brigantine Baltimore Captain Read which is loadened with Continental stores and dayly expected. As the Object of this Cruize is to take or destroy the enemies Privateers or small Ships of war and to give every aid and Assistance to the Merchantmen, you are to confine yourself Strictly to the Latitudes above and to such Longitudes as are best calculated to answer that purpose, but if from circumstances it should happen that the public service necessarily requires you to exceed those Limits, then you are at liberty to do it.
-------------------------------------------

1. The frigate Deane , of 30 guns, was a French built ship and was later renamed the ( Hague ).

2. Between February 1, 1779-May31, 1779, the Deane was some where in the Delaware.

3. The Massachusetts Court of Admiralty for the Middle District had awarded the armed ship of war Viper and her cargo both to Continental agent John Bradford and to Samuel Nicholson, commander of the Continental frigate Deane. Capt. Nicholson had captured the Viper on January 24, 1779, off the Massachusetts coast and Bradford had libeled the ship and cargo on behalf of Nicholson and the Continent, claiming that the ship, cargo, and "appurtances" should be distributed to "the captors and others concerned therein." Martin Brimmer, a Boston merchant, filed a second libel on behalf of Nicholson and his crew, however, claiming that the ship, cargo, and "appurtances" should be distributed "among the captors only." In their libels both Bradford and Brimmer cited unspecified congressional resolves. Under a congressional resolve of October 30, 1776, concerning the division of prizes, the captain and crew of Continental armed vessels were entitled to the entire value of "all ships and vessels" in case of the capture of armed vessels of war, rather than the customary one-half for merchantmen or other unarmed-vessels. The resolve did not mention the cargo and "appurtances," however. When the Massachusetts court awarded the ship and cargo to Bradford on June 28, 1779, to be divided between the captors and "others concerned therein," i.e., the Continental government, Brimmer appealed on behalf of captain and crew to Congress, where on July 24, 1779, the case was referred to the Committee on Appeals. In this decree the committee upheld the Massachusetts court decision.

4. In May of 1779, was off the cost of Georgia.

5. In may 20, 1779, the Deane had arrived from Martinico.

6. The Frigate Deane would have been in Massachusetts a number of times from November 1, 1779-March 31, 1780.

7. The Continental frigate Deane was renamed The Hague about the end of July 1782.

8. Elisha Hinman was commissioned a Captain August 20, 1776.

9. At his June court-martial Capt. Thomas Thompson was found guilty of failing to bring the Raleigh to the assistance of the Alfred during its capture on March 9, whereas the conduct of the Alfred's captain Elisha Hinman was vindicated by a court-martial in February 1779.

10. In a September 23, 1779, letter to the committee, the board had recommended that Capt. Elisha Hinman remain in command of the Trumbull.


Dennis Segelquist
Civilian & Military Surname Searcher
http://www.civilwarthosesurnames.blogspot.com

Re: Frigate Deane in Spring 1790

Posted: 31 Aug 2009 7:11PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thank you for all that wonderful information. I had seen some portions of it before but wasn't really sure just how it would relate to where the Deane might have been during the months of Cyril Brown's service. Having all the information presented the way you provided it is a huge help and much appreciated. My thanks!
Florence

Re: Frigate Deane in Spring 1780

Posted: 8 Jan 2011 4:43AM GMT
Classification: Query
At the beginning of the war, George Washington arrived in Cambridge, MA to create a continental navy. Only 4 ships were suitable to become navy ships but many local traders converted their smaller ships to be privateers. Local fishermen, became the crew of the smaller ships. The Deane was in port in Boston with a ready crew, but could not leave because of the British blockade of Boston Harbor.

Re: Frigate Deane in Spring 1790

Posted: 9 Dec 2011 6:37AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Brown, Dawson
Cyril Brown's Rev War pension application is on fold3.com. He was on the frigate Deane for five months starting Dec, 1779. No family info is given in his app. Further, on fold3.com, if you search on Isaac Dawson, my shirt-tail ancestor, you can read about a Rev War prize case - where the frigate Deane captured the packet Sandwich. Case: Nicholas vs packet Sandwich. Also google books has a copy of A History of the US Navy 1775-1894 Vol 1 by Edgar Stanton McClay from which I copied the following:
"On the 2d of August, 1779, the 32-gun frigate Deane (or Hague), Captain Samuel Nicholson, and the 24-gun frigate Boston, Captain Samuel Tucker, made a short cruise in company, during which they secured six prizes aggregating fifty-four guns. Among the vessels taken were the 16-gun packet Sandwich, the 20-gun privateer Glencairn and the 18-gun privateer Thorn. Captain Tucker, who commanded the Boston on this occasion, was one of the most successful officers in the service. While in charge of a small schooner in 1776 he captured, after a desperate action of two hours and a half, a British transport laden with military stores. While commanding the State cruisers Hancock and Franklin he secured about thirty English vessels."

Re: Frigate Deane in Spring 1780

Posted: 10 Dec 2011 2:09AM GMT
Classification: Query
Please note the date change - when I began this thread I erroneously put 1790 in the subject line.

I have located a notice dated 24 April 1780 announcing the Deane would be sailing again in May. I have also an article from 23 March 1780 that mentions a ship that was prize to the Deane had arrived in Boston. Although I don't know who was on the crew that was responsible for sailing the prize back to Boston, it is possible that Cyril Brown was part of that crew.

These 2 articles support the possibility that Cyril Brown could have been in the MA area in the spring of 1780.

Thanks for the additional info.
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