USS ''Lynch'' was a
schooner acquired as part of the
Continental Navy in 1776. She served for over a year on the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
coast, interfering with British maritime trade when possible. In 1777 she was assigned
dispatch boat
Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore. Dispatch boats were employed when other means of transmitting a message w ...
duty and, after delivering her secret dispatches to France, set sail for the United States with French secret dispatches. The British captured her, but not before she could destroy the French dispatches.
Chartered by order of Washington
The first ship to be so named by the Navy, ''Lynch'', a fishing schooner chartered by order of General
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 ...
26 January 1776 from Col. John Lee of
Marblehead, Massachusetts
Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends into the northern part of Massachusetts Bay. Attache ...
, was commissioned 1 February 1776 at
Manchester, Massachusetts
Manchester-by-the-Sea (also known simply as Manchester, its name prior to 1989) is a coastal town on Cape Ann, in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is known for scenic beaches and vista points. According to the 2020 population ...
, Comdr. John Ayers in command.
Continental Navy service
''Lynch'' eluded fire from
HMS ''Fowey'' when she sailed 7 February 1776 from Manchester, Massachusetts, to fit out at
Beverly, Massachusetts. Shortly after midnight on 2 March, ''Lynch'' slipped out of Beverly and dodged ''Fowey'' and ''Nautilus'' to make her way to rendezvous in
Cape Ann
Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts, United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns of ...
Harbor with three other ships in the little American fleet commanded by Commodore
John Manley
John Paul Manley (born January 5, 1950) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the eighth deputy prime minister of Canada from 2002 to 2003. He served as Liberal Member of Parliament for Ottawa South from 1988 to ...
.
On the night of the 4th, Manley’s schooners drove off British brig ''Hope'' in a spirited engagement. The next day they took their first prize, ''Susannah'', a 300-ton English merchantman laden with coal, cheese, and beer, for
General Howe’s beleaguered army in
Boston, Massachusetts.
After escorting their prize to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
, Manley’s squadron returned to Cape Ann, where on the 10th he captured a second prize, Boston-bound transport ''Stokesby'', a 300-ton ship carrying porter, cheese, vinegar, and hops. ''Lynch'' and the others escorted the prize toward
Gloucester, Massachusetts, but ''Stokesby'' ran hard aground. After much of the prize’s cargo had been removed, British brig ''Hope'' arrived and put the torch to the hulk.
Howe evacuates Boston
While Manley’s squadron was at Gloucester, General Howe evacuated Boston and Washington ordered his ships to dog the British fleet and pounce upon any stragglers. The patriot schooners departed Gloucester 21 March and sighted a merchant brig off
Boston Light that afternoon. They chased their prey and by evening were close enough to open fire. Their quarry then hove to, but two English men of war,
''Savage'' and
''Diligent'', arrived to compel the American schooners to abandon their prize.
Soon afterwards, Manley divided his fleet, keeping ''Lynch'' and
''Lee'' with his flagship
''Hancock''. On the afternoon of 2 April they sighted brig ''Elizabeth''. This prize, an American vessel captured by the British the previous October, was full of loot plundered from the warehouses of patriot merchants just before the
evacuation of Boston, and carried a goodly number of
Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
refugees. Many of the Tories were transferred to ''Lee'', their leaders were taken on board ''Hancock'', and the captive crew was imprisoned in ''Lynch'', which accompanied ''Hancock'' to Portsmouth, arriving 4 April to refit and recruit.
Underway again 13 May, ''Lynch'' joined ''Lee'' and
''Warren'' in Cape Ann Harbor. A
fortnight
A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days," since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights).
Astronomy and tides
In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is ha ...
later
HMS ''Milford'' pursued the schooners but they escaped in the fog. On 7 June they captured British transport ''Anne'' carrying a light infantry company of the
71st Highland Regiment and some twoscore British
tars sent out as fleet replacements. The Highlanders were transferred to ''Lynch'' and taken to
Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Cruising the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
coast through the summer, on 26 August ''Lynch'' and ''Warren'' encountered British frigate
''Liverpool'' and scurried away in opposite directions. ''Warren'' was captured while ''Lynch'' escaped and a few days later reached Boston.
''Lynch'' next cruised athwart the
transatlantic
Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to:
Film
* Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950
* Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s
* ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...
shipping lanes. On 27 September she ran across a fleet of 120 sail bringing a division of
Hessians to reinforce General Howe. Frigate
HMS ''Unicorn'' peeled off the convoy and chased the schooner. ''Lynch'' only managed to escape by jettisoning her guns and water, enabling her to stay out of range until darkness allowed her to slip away. The schooner was laid up after reaching Boston.
Service as a dispatch boat
Late in February 1777 ''Lynch'' was reactivated to take important dispatches to France. Under command of Capt. John Adams, she got underway from Boston 3 March and reached
Nantes 2 April with valuable intelligence for the American Commissioners at Paris.
Captured by the British
On 19 May, while trying to slip away from the French coast, ''Lynch'', again carrying important secret documents as well as arms and clothing for the American Army, was intercepted by
HMS ''Foudroyant'' south of
Belle-Île, on the western coast of Brittany. Unable to escape, Adams was captured before he could run the schooner aground, but he did manage to sink the dispatches. ''Foudroyant'' took her prize to England, arriving
Plymouth, England
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth' ...
, 23 May.
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch (1776)
Schooners of the United States Navy
Ships of the Continental Navy
Dispatch boats of the United States Navy
1770s ships
Vessels captured from the United States Navy