This list of 102 Officers and Men of the frigate Trumbull captured on 9 August 1781 is derived from the rolls of the General Monk and prison ship HMS Jersey transcribed at the National Archives in Kew, England by Joseph and Joshua Ross in February 2014. The list has been edited to offer a complete spelling of the abbreviated Christian name, alternative spellings in parenthesis and includes rate or quality on the vessel if known in brackets. The rate or quarters on the vessel have been determined by other documents found in the prize court records. Following each individual is their final disposition according to the HMS Jersey muster roll records including date of exchange or discharge to the hospital ship HMS Falmouth or other destination.
The second of two vessels named Trumbull, this ship was one of the 13 American frigates authorized by the Continental Congress on 13 December 1775 which also directed that two of the frigates be built in Connecticut. Governor Jonathan Trumbull and the Connecticut Council voted that the vessel should be built at Chatham on the Connecticut River under the supervision of Captain John Cotton (1719-1785) of Middletown. It was laid down in the Spring of 1776 and launched on 5 September 1776. After the frigate had been launched, it was discovered her eighteen feet deep draft would not allow the ship to cross the sandy “Saybrooke Barr” at the mouth of the river where it empties into Long Island Sound. Called the Quinnehtukqut or “long tidal river” by the Indians, the Connecticut River was first charted by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block in 1614 who named it De Versehe or “the freshwater” river. The Connecticut varies in width and is rife with shifting shoals that make navigation difficult for all but vessels with the shallowest draft. The Saybrook Bar, formed by the confluence of river and tidal currents at the river’s exit into the sound, is just twelve feet deep at Spring tide.
In April 1777, as the frigate Trumbull lay in the river at Saybrook awaiting assistance in getting out to deep water, General Howe ordered the Royal Governor of New York to lead a raid into neighboring Connecticut. American General Arnold wrote to Governor Trumbull on 30 April 1777, “I think it very probable they have in Contemplation the Destroying the Continental Frigate at Saybrook, which may be easily effected by a few small Tenders, as there is no Battery or Armed Vessel to Cover her. If she cannot be got over the Barr & secured in harbour, will it not be prudent to move her up the river to some place of greater safety? I know not If your honour or the Continental agents have the Direction of her; that she is greatly exposed & ought to be secured, there is no doubt. I should Imagine she might be easily got over the barr with proper lighters & an Easterly wind, & secured…where she might be got in readiness for the Seas.” As multiple attempts to get the frigate to sea proved unsuccessful, concern increased as the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress wrote to the Eastern Navy Board on 26 October 1777, “getting the ships out of Providence River and the Ship Trumbull out of Connecticut River is a matter of great importance, and what Congress has much at heart; the procuring this with the hazard that may attend it, may be left to your prudence and the good conduct of their Commanders.”
Losing patience with the situation in February 1778, the Continental Congress chastised Connecticut authorities who in turn ordered John Cotton “to endeavor by all practical means in his power, to cause the continental frigate to be removed over said sand bar into the harbor of New London [and] to employ such help of men and materials as he should find necessary.” Trumbull’s commander Continental Navy Captain Dudley Saltonstall “and all other officers and men who belonged to said ship, were directed to render Capt. Cotton every aid and assistance in their power, to effect the important and necessary object, which Congress had so much at heart.” Cotton was also “directed to use his best prudences and discretion in prosecuting the important business of preventing said ships falling into the hands of the enemy, or any other misfortune; and to report his doings to the Governor in the premises, together with all expenses, that the same should be defrayed, and information given to Congress.” President of the Eastern Navy Board William Vernon wrote on 25 March 1778 that in order to release the Trumbull from her confinement “she must be intirely stript of her Yards and Top Mast and all her Story, even to a Swept Hole, that if possible to bring her to 9 or 10 feet Water.”
The frigate remained in the Connecticut River yet another year before she was freed on 11 August 1779 under the temporary command of Captain Elisha Hinman by means of casks of water lashed to her sides with connecting ropes running beneath the keel. When the casks were pumped out, they rose and lifted the ship just enough to pass over the bar. The vessel was then fitted out at New London but did not go to sea until the Spring of 1780 under Captain James Nicholson (1737-1804). Nicholson had previously commanded the frigate Virginia since the Spring of 1777. While that ship was bottled up in the Chesapeake by a British blockade, Nicholson and his crew fought briefly alongside Washington’s army at the Battle of Trenton. Returning to his vessel then lying in the York River, Nicholson was still prevented from getting to sea by British ships blockading the Chesapeake Bay at the Virginia Capes. When the Virginia attempted to break the blockade in the Spring of 1778, she ran aground near Hampton Roads and was captured. Narrowly avoiding surrender himself, Nicholson fled to shore in a small boat and was accused of abandoning the crew by Lieutenant Joshua Barney. Subsequently exonerated by a Congressional inquiry, Captain James Nicholson was appointed to command the 38-gun frigate Trumbull on 20 September 1779 and served with distinction during one of the Revolutionary War’s bloodiest naval battles between the Trumbull and 32-gun British armed vessel Watt on 1 June 1780. Captain of Marines Gilbert Saltonstall said of the two and a half hour close hot action, “We were literally cut all to pieces; not a shroud, stay, brace, bowling, or other rigging standing. Our main top mast shot away, our fore, main mizzen, and jigger gone by the boards…”
After refitting in Philadelphia prior to her final cruise, the frigate Trumbull departed the Delaware Capes on 8 August 1781 escorting a twenty-eight ship convoy of merchantmen in company with a 24-gun privateer and 14-gun letter of marque. Despite a number of sources indicating her date of capture as 28 August, that same day three enemy ships were sighted, two of which bore down on the convoy. As night approached, a severe rain squall carried away the Trumbull’s fore-topmast and main-topgallant mast. Losing the merchant fleet as Trumbull was obliged to run before the wind, the 32-gun HMS Iris under George Dawson- formerly the Continental frigate Hancock- and 18-gun General Monk under Josias Rogers engaged the crippled vessel. Nicholson’s account was published in the Continental Journal of 13 September 1781, “The wreck of the topmast with the yard and rigging laying aback of the foresail and over the bows, the topsail yard arm came through the foresail and on the forecastle, so that with our utmost exertion we could not clear ourselves of the wreck until one of the ships came alongside and the other in sight. Immediately all hands were called to quarters; instead of coming, three quarters of them ran below, put out the lights, matches, &c. With the remainder and a few brave officers we commenced an action with the Iris for one hour and thirty-five minutes, at the end of which the other ship came up and fired into us. Seeing no prospect of escaping in this unequal contest, I struck, having my first and third lieuts. and Capt. Murray, a volunteer, with eight others wounded and 5 killed. My crew consisted of 180 men, 45 of whom were taken out of the new gaol – prisoners of war; they through treachery and others from cowardice betrayed me, or at least prevented my making the resistance I would have done. At no time of the engagement had I more than 40 men upon deck.”
Towed into New York by the Iris, the Trumbull was barely a wreck and not taken into the British service. A few weeks later the Iris was captured by the French, which explains why her muster rolls are not extant in the British National Archives. Eighty-three of Trumbull’s officers and men are entered on the Jersey’s rolls from the General Monk and only nineteen from the Iris. By Nicholson’s own accounting of his compliment of 180 with five dead in the engagement and 102 prisoners on the Jersey, approximately seventy-three men are not accounted for. As the prize court records indicate, Trumbull’s 1st Lieutenant Jonathan Maltbie (Maltby) was kept on board the Iris for his deposition in the libel proceedings. It is suspected that other high ranking commissioned and warrant officers including Captain James Nicholson, Lieutenant Richard Dale and Volunteer Lieutenant Alexander Murray were kept on the Iris or elsewhere off the Jersey prison ship segregated for quick exchange. A number of seaman who did not have positions of importance on the Trumbull- like the gun captains confined on the Jersey- may have been kept on the Trumbull in the meanwhile. Some of those with British sympathies who were impressed, enlisted from jail or who refused to fight may have been promptly released or attached to other vessels directly off the rolls of the Iris, no longer extant. According to Maltbie’s 17 August 1781 deposition, the 760 ton Trumbull armed with “24 twelve pounders and 6 six pounders” was taken on 9 August with 187 men onboard who chiefly signed on in Philadelphia. He testified that “there were five hundred Barrels of Flour (besides Ship’s Stores) on Board…but what was to have been done with the same he does not know”. About himself, Maltbie said he was born in Connecticut where he always resided and that as her 1st Lieutenant, he “has known her [the Trumbull] ever since she was built”. The prize court records include a number of other interesting documents captured with the vessel including; Peter Langdon’s warrant as Gunner dated 22 June 1781, a list detailing each man’s station or quarters during battle; as well as- a list of the Marine detachment, supplemental crew who signed on after the ship’s papers and individuals impressed at Lewis Town just before departure.
A quick analysis reveals seventeen men (17%) quickly exchanged with between 47 and 59 days of confinement and twenty-four additional men (23%) surviving to eventual release after 80 days of confinement. Thirty-nine men (38%) were discharged to the hospital ship HMS Falmouth. No doubt some of these were among the eleven wounded in the engagement leading to Trumbull’s capture. Since no deaths were recorded for any of this group on the HMS Jersey, it is presumed that many of these men either died on the Jersey or subsequently on the Falmouth, but always attributed to the hospital ship. If one assumes all were fatalities, thirty-eight percent appears to be the maximum mortality rate for the Trumbull’s sampling of Jersey prisoners. That is not to say some on the Falmouth survived and were ultimately released or that others did not succumb to wounds or disease shortly after exchange or release from the Jersey. The HMS Jersey’s muster rolls indicate that on occasion, some of the sick recovered sufficiently to be returned to confinement on the prison ship. An additional twenty-two men and boys (22%) were attached to other units, ships or places. The 88th British Regiment of Foot was raised to help protect the West Indies and saw service in Jamaica. A number of Trumbull’s boys were placed on the 8-gun sloop HMS Avenger or 16-gun sloop HMS Rover, which wrecked later in 1781. The eventual fate of these others is unknown.
Entered from the General Monk on 12 August 1781
Joseph Barkley (Barclay) [Pressed Seaman], 25 Aug to Falmouth
Benjamin Stubbs [Gun #2 Capt], 25 Aug to Falmouth
Morrison (Moliston) Wheeler [Private of Marines], 24 Aug to 88th Regt
John Black [Pressed Seaman], 6 Sept to Jersey’s Suppl List
John Downe, 1 Nov to Commissary General
John Day, 23 Aug to 88th Regt
Absalom Twaite, 13 Sept to Falmouth
John Lowring (Loring), 22 Aug to 88th Regt
Robert Vernon, 1 Nov to Commissary General
John Bishop, 31 Aug to Falmouth
Miles (Myles) Carpenter [Drummer], 21 Oct to Falmouth
Joseph Sutton [Private of Marines], 21 Aug to 88th Regt
Jeremiah Bonafoy (Bonfoy, Bonifoy) [Gun #3 Capt], 21 Aug to Avenger
Jacob Hawstick (Bostwick), 10 Oct Exchanged
John Sherman [Gun #5 Capt], 1 Nov to Commissary General
William Long, 1 Nov to Commissary General
John Hassett, 1 Nov to Commissary General
Isaac Thompson, 21 Aug to Avenger
Entered from the General Monk on 13 August
Robert Geddes [Probably Sugeon’s Mate], 29 Sept Exchanged
Samuel Claypoole, 27 Sept to Falmouth
Thomas Knight [Carpenter], 16 Oct to Falmouth
William Roberts [Cooper, Gun #8 Capt], 26 Aug to Falmouth
Thomas Scott [Gun #1 Capt], 1 Nov to Commissary General
John Stevens [Seaman, Gun #3 Capt], 1 Nov to Commissary General
Barnabas Bonus, 1 Nov to Commissary General
Thomas Aston, 1 Nov to Commissary General
John Mitchell, 1 Nov to Commissary General
Elisha Kenyon [Private of Marines], 2 Sept to Falmouth
Gilbert Saltonstall [Capt of Marines], 29 Sept Exchanged
Peter Manifold [Lt of Marines], 29 Sept Exchanged
David Moffett (Moffet), 1 Nov to Commissary General
Richard Law [Midshipman, Quarter Gun #2 Capt], 29 Sept Exchanged
Gustavus Brown [Gun #7 Capt], 10 Oct Exchanged
Edward Clayton [Midshipman], 5 Sept to Falmouth
Denis Kenyard (Dennis Vinnard), 18 Aug to Falmouth
Richard West, 10 Sept to Falmouth
Silvester Mersey (Marcy) [Boy], 29 Sept Exchanged
Henry Barney, 1 Nov to Commissary General
Thomas Murphy, 1 Nov to Commissary General
David Beard (Baird) [Private of Marines], 1 Nov to Commissary General
Charles Beard (Baird) [Private of Marines], 1 Nov to Commissary General
Charles E. Irvine [Quarter Gun #1 Capt], 6 Oct to Falmouth
Samuel Nicholson, 1 Nov to Commissary General
William Stevens, 24 Aug Falmouth
William Anderson, 21 Aug Avenger
Joseph Black, 29 Sept Exchanged
Cato Williams, 18 Oct to New York
Joseph Gardner, 1 Nov to Commissary General
John Eli (Ealy) [Private of Marines], 24 Aug to 88th Regt
Abraham Craft (Crasse), 20 Sept to Falmouth
Denis Lafferty (Dennis O’Laugherty), 20 Sept to Falmouth
William Smiley [Boy], 21 Aug to Avenger
Sacheveral Wood [Pressed Landsman], 27 Sept to Falmouth
John Thompson [Carpenter’s Mate], 29 Aug Jersey Prison ship
Gilbert Debow (DeBeau) [Boy], 14 Aug to Rover
Andre DeAnapollen (Antoine D’Enapollon) Gun #9 Capt], 29 Sept Exchanged
Lewis (Louis) Martin, 29 Sept Exchanged
Edmund Helbow (Holbeau), 29 Sept Exchanged
Richard Allen [Private of Marines], 27 Sept to Falmouth
Alexander Clark [Private of Marines], 25 Aug to 88th Regt
John McDaniel, 24 Aug to New York
Aaron Bell (Aron Ball), 25 Aug to New York
Myles Seldon (Sulton), 14 Aug to ??
Entered from the General Monk on 15 August 1781
David Morrow [Surgeon], 10 Oct Exchanged
Samuel Morrow [Probably Surgeon’s Mate], 10 Oct Exchanged
George Nicholson, 27 Aug to Falmouth
Peter Langdon [Gunner], 1 Nov to Commissary General
Jacob Bamper (Bemper) [Midshipman], 1 Nov to Commissary General
Hercules Marriner [Pressed Landsman], 1 Nov to Commissary General
James Devericks (Davorix, Deveroux) [Boy], 21 Aug to Avenger
Joshua Beebe [Boy], 1 Nov to Commissary General
John Brown, 14 Aug to Rover
Charles Wilkins, 16 Aug to Rover
Entered from the General Monk on 16 August 1781
John Jordan (Jorden) [Seaman], 1 Nov to Commissary General
James Duncan (Doncan), 13 Sept to Falmouth
Patrick Taggard (Taggart) [Sergt of Marines], 14 Aug to 88th Regt
Dolphius Hubbard (Dolphin Hubbert) [Ordinary], 29 Sept Exchanged
Robert Jackson [Gun #11 Capt], 1 Nov to Commissary General
Gusian (Touraia) Lucas [Boy], 22 Aug to Avenger
Entered from the Iris on 14 August 1781
John Patterson [Private of Marines], 14 Aug to Falmouth
Nicholas Calwell, 14 Aug to Falmouth
James Roberts, 14 Aug to Falmouth
David Hurlburt (Halbert) [Landsman], 22 Oct to Falmouth
James Calder, 14 Aug to Falmouth
Barnabas Cunningham [Corp of Marines], 14 Aug to Falmouth
Roger Kelly [Landsman], 14 Aug to Falmouth
Alexander Campbell, 29 Oct to Falmouth
Donald McDonald, 14 Aug to Falmouth
James McConnell, 16 Aug to Falmouth
John Blaney, 14 Aug to Falmouth
Charles Chamberlain [At the Wheel], 17 Aug to Falmouth
Richard Nash [Seaman], 6 Sept to Falmouth
Jacob Whitehead, 16 Aug to Falmouth
David Cotteral [At the Wheel], 16 Aug to Falmouth
James McKinney (McKenzie), 14 Aug to Falmouth
John Mills, 10 Sept to Falmouth
John McCanery, 16 Aug to Falmouth
Nancy Chambers, 17 Aug to Falmouth
Entered from the General Monk on 16 August 1781
Joseph Smith [Purser], 29 Sept Exchanged
Lloyd Wharton [Midshipman], 10 Oct Exchanged
William Haight [Gun #10 Capt], 10 Oct Exchanged
John Manley [Midshipman], 1 Nov to Commissary General
Jonathan Maltbie [1st Lieut], Kept on Iris for Libel deposition 8/17/1781