John Manley (c.1733–1793) was an officer in the
Continental Navy and the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. Manley was appointed
commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore ...
of "
George Washington's fleet."
Early life
Tradition holds that John Manley was born in 1733 near
Torquay
Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...
,
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
. As a young man, he settled in
Marblehead,
Province of Massachusett Bay, eventually becoming the captain of a
merchant vessel there.
[Peabody p5] For reasons apparently lost to history, Manley went by the name of John Russell during his time spent in Marblehead, where he married Martha Russell (née Hickman) on September 27, 1764, and by whom he had at least two sons and three daughters. According to his descendants, the reason for two different last names is because he was the illegitimate child of his mother Elizabeth Manley and the
Duke of Bedford
Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third so ...
whose last name was Russell. Outside of Marblehead, John continued to use the surname Manley.
Modern fiction writer James L. Nelson acknowledges the above accounts, but suggests that they were "made up", and that in actuality Manley was likely born and raised in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, where he later became a merchant sea captain and married Hannah Cheevers in 1763, by which he had one surviving son John. All of the sources place Manley in Boston by 1775 after his services were enlisted for the nascent
Continental Navy. It is reported that he also hunted with the Washingtons and gave them land as the Manley family was very wealthy.
Military service
Manley was appointed captain of the
schooner by
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
on 17 October 1775. He assumed command on 24 October 1775 with a crew of 50 men from
John Glover's Marblehead Regiment
The 14th Continental Regiment, also known as the Marblehead Regiment and Glover's Regiment, was raised as a Massachusetts militia regiment in 1775, and taken into the Continental Army establishment during the summer of 1775. When the Continen ...
,
and on 9 November, Manley sailed from Marblehead flying the new
pine tree flag
The Tree Flag (or the Appeal to Heaven Flag) was one of the flags used during the American Revolution. The flag, which featured a pine tree with the motto "An Appeal to Heaven," or less frequently "An Appeal to God", was originally used by a squ ...
from the
main truck.
[Peabody p7] Sources differ as to Manley's first prize, either recapturing a small Continental schooner
[Lord p111] or capturing the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
sloop Polly, but on 28 November, he captured one of the most valuable prizes of the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
—the British brigantine ''Nancy'' carrying much ordnance and military stores for British troops in Boston that proved invaluable to
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
's army. While not the first British vessel to surrender to the continental fleet, ''Nancy'' was perhaps the first capture of significant consequence, leading
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...
to later remark "I assert that the first American flag was hoisted by John Manley, and the first British flag was struck to him".
Through the end of 1775, Manley captured several additional prizes carrying cargoes of food, rum, coal, dry goods, all badly needed by the Continental forces.
In January 1776, for his "great vigilance and industry," Manley was appointed
commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore ...
of "
George Washington's fleet", a group of small armed ships fitted out by him to harass the British and to seize supply vessels. The fleet was led by two frigates, and ''Boston''.
[Syrett 1989, pp. 71-72]
On May 21, 1777 Manley's ships evaded the British blockade of the town of Boston and set sail for Newfoundland. A large British fleet was at anchor in nearby New York, but there was no pursuit as all British vessels were engaged in supporting troops stationed on shore. On June 7, Manley's ships encountered and defeated the 28-gun Royal Navy frigate in a brief engagement off the
Grand Banks
The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...
. Three weeks later they turned for the New England coast, in the hope of finding further British targets.
[
By early July, Manley's fleet had made landfall off ]Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
. On July 7 they were discovered by a small force of two British frigates and a brig, who opened fire. After a running battle lasting 39 hours, the British succeeded in capturing both ''Hancock'' and ''Boston'', and retaking ''Fox''.[ Manley and his crew were imprisoned in New York until March 1778. Upon his release, Manley entered privateer service to command ''Marlborough'', ''Cumberland'', and a prize, ''Jason'',][Allen p. 191] until 1782, except for two more periods of imprisonment, one for two years in Mill Prison, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. His privateer ship ''Jason'' was a small ship of 18 guns owned by Mungo Mackay Mungo Mackay (April 1, 1740 – March 29, 1811) was a Scottish people, Scottish seafarer from the Orkney Islands who made a fortune in the Boston shipping trades in Massachusetts. Mungo was a highly regarded ship master, successful privateer own ...
and others. In November 1779, the ship fell in with the frigate Surprise of 28 guns and 18 were killed and 12 wounded on Jason, while 7 killed and several were wounded on the Surprise.
On 11 September 1782, he returned to the Navy with command of frigate . On a West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
voyage, he made a spectacular escape from a superior naval force and, in January 1783, took the last significant prize of the war, ''Baille''. Regarded as one of the outstanding captains of the young Navy, he had captured 10 prizes singlehandedly and participated in the seizure of five others.
Captain Manley died in Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
in 1793.
Namesakes
Three ships have been named USS ''Manley'' for him.
See also
* Bibliography of early United States naval history
Historical accounts for early U.S. naval history now occur across the spectrum of two and more centuries. This Bibliography lends itself primarily to reliable sources covering early U.S. naval history beginning around the American Revolution per ...
Notes
:
References
*
*
*
*
Naval Career of Capt. John Manley of Marblehead. Collections of the Essex Institute, Vol. XLV, No. 1, January 1909
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manley, John
1733 births
1793 deaths
Continental Navy officers
United States Navy officers
People from Marblehead, Massachusetts
People of colonial Massachusetts
British emigrants to the United States
Military personnel from Massachusetts
Military personnel from Devon