Samuel Cooper, Captain’s Clerk, Purser

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Joe

Samuel Cooper. Samuel Cooper was the third son and fifth surviving child of William Cooper, Esq. (1721-1809) and Katharine Wendell (1726-1796) who were married on 25 April 1745. Although seventeen children were born to the couple, only seven lived to adulthood. William Cooper, a merchant and Boston Town Clerk from 1761 until his death in 1809, was one of the “Sons of Liberty” and served on many important public committees leading to the American Revolution. He was the son of the Rev. William Cooper- President of Harvard College, minister of Boston’s Brattle Street Church from 1715-1743 and oldest brother of the eminent clergyman Rev. Dr. Samuel Cooper. Continue reading →

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William Cooper, Jr., Captain’s Clerk, Chaplain, 2nd Lieutentant of Marines

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Joe

William Cooper, Jr. Born in February 1750, William Cooper, Jr. was the oldest surviving son of William Cooper, Esq. (1721-1809) and Katharine Wendell (1726-1796) who were married on 25 April 1745. The senior Cooper, a merchant and Boston Town Clerk from 1761 until his death in 1809, was one of the “Sons of Liberty” and served on many important public committees leading to the American Revolution. William Cooper, Esq. was the son of the Rev. William Cooper, President of Harvard College and minister of Brattle Street Church from 1715-1743 and the oldest brother of the eminent clergyman Rev. Dr. Samuel Cooper. Samuel Cooper followed in their father’s footsteps serving as Harvard’s President and pastor of the Brattle Street Church until 1783, baptizing all seventeen children of William Cooper, Esq. Continue reading →

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William Sturgess, Chaplain

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Joe

William Sturgess. A statement of distribution of prize money in the amount of $948.17 prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury on 3 January 1862 in response to a 29 July 1861 resolution of the United States Senate in relation to payment due under an Act of Congress passed 28 March 1848 to the heirs of John Paul Jones and others who served under him; represents the only evidence that William Sturgess served as Chaplain of the Bonhomme Richard under Jones. None of the crew lists examined to date identify any individual as chaplain. It is well known from a letter written on 12 July 1778 by John Paul Jones in Passy, France to Mr. Henry Grand in Paris and quoted in the Life and Character of the Chevalier John Paul Jones by John Henry Sherburne (1825) that the captain had definite opinions concerning a chaplain for the ship Ranger. “I could wish him to be a man of reading and of letters, who understands, speaks, and writes the French and English with elegance and propriety: for political reasons it would be well if he were a clergyman of the Protestant profession, whose sanctity of manners, and happy natural principles, would diffuse unanimity and cheerfulness through the ship. And if to these essentials is added the talent of writing fast and in fair characters, such a man would necessarily be worthy the highest confidence, and might, therefore, assure himself of my esteem and friendship; he should always have a place at my table, the regulation whereof would be entirely under his direction.” There was an Irish-born William Sturgess (aka Sturges, Sturgis, Sturgiss) who entered on the Bonhomme Richard at Brest on 2 March 1779 and is rated on the List of Officers and Men of the ship dated 26 July 1779 as Armourer. The minutes of a court martial dated just days later on 29 July 1779; presided over by Captain of the frigate Alliance Peter Landais, Bonhomme Richard Midshipman Beaumont Groube serving as Judge Advocate and twelve other peers; indicate that the petty officer was found guilty of disobedience- the lesser of charges usually associated with insubordination associated with conspiratorial activity. According to John Paul Jones: A Sailor’s Biography by Samuel Eliot Morison (1999), William Lawrence Sturgess was released by the court, having already been confined for six weeks in “the Cashoe,” or the brig. A typewritten transcript of A Log Book from the Ship Bon Homme Richard, the Honorable John Paul Jones commander, begun at L’Orient Saturday 8th of May 1779 in the Navy Department Library of an original purported to be in possession of the Selkirk family at St. Mary’s Isle includes an entry dated Friday 30 July 1779, “at 10 in the Morning there were four Men Flogged, and two sent on board the Pallace (frigate Pallas), namely William Sturges and James Cameril.” Interestingly, Cameril is not listed with the ship’s crew on the roll drafted shortly before. The redeemed Armourer apparently participated in the bloody sea battle with the Serapis on 23 September 1779, escaping injury to appear on the 1 August 1785 manuscript list of officers and men of the Bonhomme Richard, Pallas and Vengeance due shares of prize money. Nothing more has been found to shed light on William Sturgess- the Armourer or the Chaplain. It is known that a Rev. William Sturgess was rector of Christ Church in Philadelphia twenty-four years earlier when the cleric officiated over the marriage of merchant John Hobart and Hannah Pratt on 3 May 1755. It is also known that a Captain Sturgiss of the Brig Bee was captured off the coast of France and was put off the ship at Nantes in November 1778, five months before the Bonhomme Richard’s new Armourer stepped aboard. No connection has been found to either party to date.

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List of the Petty Officers on board the Continental Ship Alliance (1779)

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Joe

List of the Petty Officers on board the Continental Ship Alliance (1779). This undated List of the Petty Officers on board the Continental Ship Alliance located in Box XI of the Benjamin Franklin Papers at the University of Pennsylvania was transcribed by Joseph Ross in 2011. Also included in Box XI of the Franklin Papers is a longer undated “List of Officers, Seamen, and Marines belonging to the Continental Ship of War the Alliance under the Command of Peter Landais Esq ” which names 156 men including the nineteen on this list. It is suggested by the editors of the Franklin Papers that the larger list of officers and men belonging to the Alliance is possibly referenced in a letter from Landais to Franklin posted from Brest on 17 March 1779.

John Larchar, Masters Mate
Louis Larcher, Masters Mate
Thomas Fitzgerrald, Masters Mate
Nath’l Marston, Midshipman
James Lynd, Midshipman
James Hogan, Midshipman
Freegift Arnold, Midshipman
Arthur Robertson, Midshipman
John Sawin, Midshipman
James Daly, Surgeon’s Mate
Samuel Guild, Surgeon’s Mate
Chipman Bangs, Steward
Fitch Pool, Captain’s Clerk
Alex. Taylor, Boatswain’s Mate
Wm Dennen, Boatswain’s Mate
Chase Rogers, Cooper
Ebenezer Field, Armourer
John Farnum, Sergeant of Marines
Edmund Ogden, Sergeant of Marines

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List of Officers, Seamen, and Marines belonging to the Continental Ship of War Alliance (1779)

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Joe

List of Officers, Seamen, and Marines belonging to the Continental Ship of War Alliance (1779). This undated List of Officers, Seamen, and Marines belonging to the Continental Ship of War the Alliance under the Command of Peter Landais Esq located in Box XI of the Benjamin Franklin Papers at the University of Pennsylvania was transcribed by Joseph Ross in 2011. Also included in Box XI of the Franklin Papers is a shorter “List of the Petty Officers on board the Continental Ship Alliance not including in the term, Warrant Officers” which includes nineteen of the 156 men named in this list. The crew of the frigate Alliance was recruited at Boston during the Autumn of 1778. The vessel sailed from Boston on her maiden voyage under Captain Peter Landais on 14 January 1779 with Lafayette onboard, arriving in Brest, France on 6 February 1779. It is suggested by the editors of the Franklin Papers that this list of officers and men belonging to the Alliance is possibly referenced in a letter from Landais to Franklin posted from Brest on 17 March 1779. After some time, the ship sailed for L’Orient arriving on 14 May 1779. The frigate Alliance departed from L’Orient on 19 June 1779 in company with the Bonhomme Richard. After an incident at sea between the two vessels, the Alliance returned to L’Orient on 2 July 1779, sailing from there again in company with the Bonhomme Richard on 14 August 1779. After witnessing the celebrated 23 September 1779 sea battle between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis, the Alliance escorted the crippled Serapis and her new commander John Paul Jones on 2 October 1779 into Texel, the deepwater port of Amsterdam, Holland. A second extant list of officers and men of the Alliance was drawn up on 3 October 1779, while the ship was still under the command of Landais who was soon relieved of his duties by Jones. Taking the frigate Alliance under his own command, Jones sailed from Texel on 27 December 1779. After a brief stop in Spain in January 1780, the Alliance returned to L’Orient in February 1780. Landais surreptitiously retook command of the vessel in June 1780 and eventually sailed from France on 7 July 1780. The frigate Alliance returned to Boston on 19 August 1780 with Lieutenant James Degge in charge, Landais having been stripped of his command and confined by mutinous officers and men of the crew. Soon after the Alliance’s return, Landais and Degge were both court martialed and Captain John Barry was placed in command. An Alphabetical List of Officers, Seamen, and Marines belonging to the Continental Ship of War the Alliance (1779) derived from this list will be located shortly on this website and will offer alternate spellings of names (in parenthesis) to assist internet browsing.

Stephen Hills, 1st Lieutenant
Joseph Adams, 2nd Lieutenant
James Degge, 3rd Lieutenant
John Buckley, Master
Amos Windship, Surgeon
Nathan Blodget, Purser
Benj’a Pierce, Gunner
John Darling, Boatswain
James Bragg, Carpenter
John Larchar, Master’s Mate *
Louis Larchar, Master’s Mate
Thomas FitzGerrad, Master’s Mate
Nath’l Marston, Midshipman
James Hogan, Midshipman
Freegift Arnold, Midshipman
Arthur Robertson, Midshipman
James Lynd, Midshipman
John Sawin, Midshipman
Samuel Guild, Surgeon’s Mate
James Daley, Surgeon’s Mate
Fitch Pool, Captain’s Clerk
Chipman Bangs, Steward
Ebenezer Fields, Armourer
Chase Rogers, Cooper
Isaac Carr, Sailmaker
Jacob Wendall, Sailmaker’s Mate
Gardner Hammond, Sailmaker’s Yeoman
Alex Taylor, Boatswain’s Mate
William Dennen, Boatswain’s Mate
John Essex, Acting Boatswain’s Mate *
Charles Dagne, Coxwain
Joshua Getchell, Carpenter’s Mate
John Green, Carpenter’s Crew
Patrick Brannon, Carpenter’s Crew
James Richards Carpenter’s Yeoman
John Smith, Cooper’s Crew
Walter Dumphy, Cooper’s Crew
James Burrows, Armourer’s Mate
John Frasier, Armourer’s Mate
Robert Embleton, Quarter Master
William Brice, Quarter Master
George Fenwick, Quarter Master
Wm McCassett, Quarter Master
Mich’l Longstaff, Quarter Master
John Durand, Quarter Gunner
John Orr, Quarter Gunner
James C. Minton, Quarter Gunner
Chancey Wheeler, Quarter Gunner
Hugh Fleming, Gunner’s Yeoman
Robert Ellis, Seaman
Jere Mahany, Seaman
James Mahane, Seaman
Henry Graves, Seaman
John Kirk, Seaman
Gregory Martenis, Seaman
Caleb Brown, Seaman
Zeph Rogers, Seaman
James Davis, Seaman *
John Ellison, Seaman
George Willson, Seaman
Samuel Wall, Seaman
John Ambrose, Seaman
Thomas Andrews, Seaman
Arch McCarter, Seaman
Alex Gallaway, Seaman
John McLane, Seaman
Thomas Cox, Seaman
Samuel Rogers, Seaman
Robert Salmon, Seaman *
Thomas Felds, Seaman
John Fitzgerald, Seaman
James Rogers, Seaman
Gard Mentor, Seaman
Charles Howard, Seaman
John Anniball, Seaman
John Cockran, Seaman *
John Gray, Seaman
Hendrick Nylander, Seaman
Richard Rian, Seaman
Robert Calder, Seaman
James Mann, Seaman
Timothy Heath, Seaman
Daniel Moncor, Ordinary Seaman
Luther Breck, Ordinary Seaman
John Downing, Ordinary Seaman
Joseph Evans, Ordinary Seaman
Prince Patterson, Ordinary Seaman
Juba Blodget, Landsman
George Allen, Landsman
Peter Adams, Landsman
Richard Woodrow, Landsman
Ceasar Hall, Landsman
John Ferress, Landsman
John Heligo, Landsman
William Woodhead, Landsman
Juba Whitwell, Landsman
Juba Bowen, Landsman
James Brown, Landsman
William Taylor, Landsman
Peter Lyons, Landsman
Samuel Getchell, Boy
John Terry, Boy
Thomas Bolton, Boy
James Chester, Boy
Thomas Dupree, Boy
Aaron Francis, Boy
Joseph Ferdinand, Boy
Samuel Gray, Boy
Peter Greenwood, Boy
Moses Hilton, Boy
Joseph Bill, Boy
Edward Jarvis, Boy
Lewis Russell, Boy
David Rice, Boy
Robert Smith, Boy
David Trow, Boy
John Wier, Boy
Elisha Caesar, Boy
Jacob Wendall, Junr, Boy
Henry Colligin, Boy
Phoenix Baker, Boy
Mathew Parke, Captain of Marines
James Warren, 1st Lieutenant of Marines
Thomas Ellwood, 2nd Lieutenant of Marines
John Farnum, Sergeant of Marines
Edmund Ogden, Sergeant of Marines
Joseph Butler, Corporal of Marines
James Whitney, Corporal of Marines
George Cox, Marine
Moses Stocking, Marine
Dan’l Cumstock, Marine
Stephen Turner, Marine
Jeremiah Perry, Marine
George Skipper, Marine
James O’Neill, Marine
James Haslum, Marine
Samuel Dale, Marine
Nich’l Woodbury, Marine
William Riley, Marine
John Kennady, Marine
Oliver Arnold, Marine
John Weatherby, Marine
Benj’a Taylor, Marine
Abra Bradley, Marine
John Forester, Marine
John Doile, Marine
Samuel Platt, Marine
John Theaf, Marine
Edward Fling, Marine
John Sadler, Marine
William Scott, Marine
Mich’l Lyons, Marine
John Fitz Gerrald, Marine
James Dickinson, Marine
John Morand, Marine *
Patrick Martin, Marine *

* them with this mark are still on board the Prize Ship

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