The Raid on Canso took place on 22 September – November 22, 1776 during 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 raid involved American Continental Navy captain

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

attacking

Canso The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) is a representative body of companies that provide air traffic control. It represents the interests of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs). CANSO members are responsible for supporting ov ...

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 ...

(now part of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

) and the surrounding fishing villages.

Background

During the American Revolution, Americans regularly attacked Nova Scotia by land and sea. American

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

s devastated the maritime economy by raiding many of the coastal communities, such as the numerous raids on

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and on

Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal, formerly known as Port-Royal (Acadia), Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be ...

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 th ...

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 ...

raided Charlottetown, now in

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

, on 17 November 1775, and three days later they raided Canso Harbor.

Raid

On September 22, 1776, the American privateer John Paul Jones attacked Canso. Captain Jones commanded . He destroyed fifteen vessels and damaged much property on shore. There he recruited men to fill the vacancies created by manning his prizes, burned a British fishing

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

, sank a second, and captured a third besides a

shallop Shallop is a name used for several types of boats and small ships (French ''chaloupe'') used for coastal navigation from the seventeenth century. Originally smaller boats based on the chalupa, the watercraft named this ranged from small boats a l ...

which he used as a tender. Jones then pillaged the community of Petit-de-Grat and

Arichat Arichat is an unincorporated place in the Municipality of the County of Richmond, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the main village on Isle Madame on the southeastern tip of Cape Breton Island. Toponym The name derives from a Mi'kmaq word meaning c ...

Isle Madame, Nova Scotia Isle Madame is an island off southeastern Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. It is part of the Municipality of the County of Richmond. Once part of the French colony of Île-Royale, it may have been named for Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise ...

. The nine ships (300 men) immediately surrendered. On the evening of September 25, a gale drove three of the prizes on to shore, destroying them. (The remaining prizes were ''Alexander'', ''Kingston Packet'', ''Success'', and ''Defence''.) Jones destroyed John Robin’s fishing business when they plundered and razed the entire establishment. The business of John Robin ended and he did not return until after the war. Jones then sailed to Boston. On 22 November, John Paul Jones returned to Canso in . Boats from ''Alfred'' took a raiding party ashore; his crews burned a transport bound for Canada with provisions, and a warehouse full of whale oil, besides capturing a small schooner. In all, Jones took 6 prizes, 1 burned, 1 confiscated. Captain Jones then went on to present-day

Sydney, Nova Scotia Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolv ...

to free 300 Americans imprisoned in the British coalmines.

Aftermath

Again in 1779, American privateers destroyed the Canso fisheries, worth $50,000 a year to England.Lieutenant Governor Sir Richard Hughes states in a dispatch to Lord Germaine American privateers remained a threat to Nova Scotian ports for the rest of the war. For example, after a failed attempt to raid Chester, Nova Scotia, American privateers struck again in the Raid on Lunenburg in 1782. Continental Sloop Providence (1775-1779)

Continental Sloop Providence (1775-1779)

Notes

References

Primary Sources
John Paul Jones Account of the Raid
Secondary Sources * John Brebner. The Neutral Yankees of Nova Scotia. Columbia University. 1937. * John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography by Samuel Eliot Morison, 1959
John Paul Jones Raids Arichat, 1776
* John Dewar Faibisy. Privateering and Piracy: The Effects of New England Raiding Upon Nova Scotia During the American Revolution, 1775-1883. University of Massachusetts. 1972. pp. 41-44 *William Bell Clark, George Washington’s Navy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1960, Chapters 5, 7. * Gardner W. Allen, A NAVAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (Boston, 1913), Chapter 17. * * * {{cite book, editor-last1=Reid, editor-first1=John G., editor-last2=Basque, editor-first2=Maurice, editor-last3=Mancke, editor-first3=Elizabeth, editor-last4=Moody, editor-first4=Barry, editor-last5=Plank, editor-first5=Geoffrey, editor-last6=Wicken, editor-first6=William, display-editors=3, title=The "Conquest" of Acadia, 1710: Imperial, Colonial, and Aboriginal Constructions, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MqJ9qFqWK4IC&pg=PP1, year=2004, publisher=University of Toronto Press, doi=10.3138/9781442680883 , isbn=978-0-8020-8538-2, jstor=10.3138/9781442680883, last1=Reid , first1=John G. , last2=Basque , first2=Maurice , last3=Mancke , first3=Elizabeth , last4=Moody , first4=Barry , last5=Plank , first5=Geoffrey , last6=Wicken , first6=William * Guysborough Sketches and Essays.

Privateering in the American Revolutionary War

Maritime history of Canada Military history of Nova Scotia Military history of New England 1776 in Prince Edward Island Canso (1776)

Background

Raid

Aftermath

See also

Notes

References