Description:

THE AMERICANS CAPTURE A NEW 28-GUN BRITISH FRIGATE
JOHN BRADFORD (1735-84) Member of the Committee of Correspondence and The Committee of Secret Correspondence. In April, 1776, Congress appointed him ''Agent for Prizes'' for Boston, the most important such position in the colonies, and also as Continental Agent to assist the Marine Committee in purchasing and outfitting ships. THE "HANCOCK" AND "BOSTON" CAPTURE H.M.S. FOX Important war-date A.L.S. "J. Bradford", 1p. 4to., Boston, July 14, 1777 to WILLIAM WHIPPLE (1730-1785), Signer of the Declaration of Independence who was then in Portsmouth. Fine "secret correspondence" regarding the capture a British ship, in part: "...I most heartily congratulate you on our Naval Acquisition by the Hancock & Boston which have taken the Fox a new twenty eight gun frigate with the loss of seven men on our side, & fourteen killed on theirs. Fifty American imideatley [sic] enter''d into the Service & their exams file was followed by about fifty Brittons. Each of the ships put fifty men on board the Fox, which made her complement 200 and Mackneil left her under the command of Capt. Watson cruising with Manly. McNeile I hear is come in to clean at Sheepscut & I am told designs to join Manly again, they had taken a sloop wch they gave to the prisoners and sent her with a flag to Hallifax..." Also docketed by Whipple on the integral address leaf: ''John Bradford Esqr - 14 July.'' Fine. The "Fox" has quite a history: she was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate commissioned in October 1775 under the command of Capt. Patrick Fotheringham. The Americans captured her in June 1777, only to have the British recapture her about a month later. The French then captured her a little less than a year after that, only to lose her to grounding in 1779, some six months later!

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December 10, 2016 11:00 AM EST
Wilmington, DE, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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