In April 2015, I rediscovered a list of 209 officers and men of the Continental Navy frigate Confederacy first transcribed by William M. Mervine 114 years earlier among a number of power of attorney documents associated with individuals and crews of Revolutionary War private armed ships recorded in Exemplification Book 11 of the early deed books of the City of Philadelphia. Since that time, these records have been moved to the new City Archives building at 548 Spring Garden Street. In the unsuccessful process of searching for the crew of the Continental Navy vessel West Florida under the command of Captain William Pickles, I revisited Exemplification Book 11. Following is a list of those power of attorney records associated with privateers sailing out of Philadelphia. Many are associated with individual crew members with some bearing the names of entire crews. The index below is listed by vessel name followed by her commander in parentheses. Next, the month and year the POA was recorded followed by all pages of Book 11 that includes references to the vessel in brackets. Some of the crew lists are included in Mervine’s contribution to Volume XXVII, No.1 of the Philadelphia Magazine of History and Biography (1903) available online beginning on page 115. Hopefully, this reference will assist other researchers seeking data on the various privateer crews.
Sloop of War Congress (George McElroy) April 1776 [1,2,16,52,53,84,117,118,138,139,177,178]
Sloop of War Chance (John Adams) April/June 1777 [3,4,6,84,104,117,118,133,134]
Brigantine Hancock (Wingate Newman) June 1777 [5,6,22,30,33-35,42,49-51,70,71,102,176,177]
Brigantine Hancock’s Prize Brigantine Polly, April 1777 [17]
Brigantine Hancock’s Prizes Lovely Nelly, Sherbourne, Polly- April 1777 [49-51]
Brigantine Hancock’s Prizes Brig Sherbourne & Sloop Peggy (James Craig) May 1777 [77-80]
Brig General Montgomery (James Montgomery) April 1777 [59-62]
Ship of War Oliver Cromwell (Harman Courter) POA for whole crew, Feb 1777 [170-173,186,226]
Schooner of War Hunter (John Douglass) May 1779 [194-197]
Brigantine Hibernia (Robert Collins) July 1779 [201-214]
Brigantine Hibernia’s prize Brigantine Sally taken at Egg Harbour, July 1779 [216]
Brigantine Convention (William Allen) July 1779 [216]
Schooner Mars (Yelverton Taylor) July 1779 [228-231]
Schooner Mars’ Prizes Schooner Tomlinson, Brigantine Liberty & Brigantine Burgoyne, Oct 1779
Brig Holker (George Geddes) POA for the whole crew, Nov 1779 [237-241,244-247,251-2,264-5,285]
Brig Holker’s prize Ship Golden Rose [264-267]
Brig Mermaid (Thomas Gion) to St. Thomas & West Indies, Dec 1779 [249]
Sloop General Pickering (Jonathan Haraden) Dec 1779 [259-263]
Sloop Active (Peter Day) April 1780 [265,270-272]
Sloop Active’s prize Ship Needham
Brigantine Enterprise (Gardiner, Commander) May 1780 [268]
Schooner Bunker Hill (Sanford Thompson) July 1780 [276-7]
Brig Fair American (Joseph Jackways) 2/6/1781 POA for whole crew, Aug 1780 [284,309-311]
General Green (Samuel Hollingshead) POA for crew, Sept 1780
Brig Holker (Roger Kaighn/Kean/Cane) 9/14/1781 POA for whole crew, Nov 1780 [288-290,387-8,438-9,454-5,472-3]
Brig Ariel (Matthew Lawler) Nov 1780 [297-303,314-315]
Sloop Charleston Packet to Charleston, SC Jan 1781 [305-6]
Brigantine Friendship (John Ball) 10/7/1780 POA for crew to Nicholas Low, Jan 1781 [308-309]
Frigate Confederacy (Seth Harding) POA to Nathaniel Richards and Richards & Sands of Phila [317-321]
Brig Ariel (Peter Miller) POA for crew, May 1781 [325-326]
Brig Ariel’s prize Ship Resolution, May 1782 [439]
Ship Revenge (Peter Day) 5/17/1781 POA for Capt of Marines Archibald Lyons to Henry Osbourne [327]
Ship Franklin (John Angus/Angros) 6/29/1781 POA for crew, June 1781 [332,333,337]
Brigantine Fair American (Phineas Eldridge) July 1781 [338,425,474-5]
Ship Revolution (John McNorton) POA for crew, Aug 1781 [340-341]
Ship Congress (George Geddes) Aug 1781 [341-355,362-365,372-376,379-380,383-386]
Ship Rising Sun (Samuel Canson/Colfaw) 9/14/1781 POA for crew, Aug 1781 [378-379,389-390]
Ship Rising Sun’s prizes Brig Tristram, Ship Shandy
Prize Ship Nonsuch (John Caughey, Prizemaster) Jan 1782 [456-7]
Ship Favour (James Buchanan) POA of Bon Homme Richard veteran William McCollough [491]