Rhodes [ ]Commander Nehemiah Buffington Buffinton

Frigate/Sloop-of-War 21 July 1780-15 February 1782Massachusetts Privateer Ship

Commissioned/First Date: 21 July 1780Out of Service/Cause: 15 February 1782/captured by HMS Protheè

Owners: William Shillaber et al of Salem, Massachusetts

Tonnage: 220, 270

Battery: Date Reported: 21 July 1780Number/Caliber Weight Broadside20/Total: 20 cannon/ Broadside: 10 cannon/Swivels:

Date Reported: 13 September 1780Number/Caliber Weight Broadside20/6-pounder 120 pounds 60 poundsTotal: 20 cannon/120 poundsBroadside: 10 cannon/60 poundsSwivels:

Date Reported: 2 March 1782Number/Caliber Weight Broadside22/6-pounder 132 pounds 66 poundsTotal: 22 cannon/132 poundsBroadside: 11 cannon/66 poundsSwivels:

Crew: [ ](1) 21 July 1780: 121 total[ ](2) 13 September 1780: 130 total

Description: (1) Length on the gun deck between rabbits, 92N, beam25N2O, depth in hold 10N6O; [ ] (2) modern reconstruction97N7Olength on the deck, her keel measured 81N9O in length,

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she had a 25N beam, a depth in the hold of 10N7O

Officers: (1) First Lieutenant George Ervin, 21 July 1780-; (2) SecondLieutenant Daniel Needham, 21 July 1780-; First MateFrancis Bowden, 21 July 1780-; Second Mate William Harris,21 July 1780-; Prize Master Isaac Walker, 21 July 1780-;Prize Master Edward Standly, 21 July 1780-; Prize MasterJames Pickman, 21 July 1780-; Prize Master Philip Le Cuier,21 July 1780-; Prize Master Joseph Dolliver, 21 July 1780-;Surgeon Samuel Nutting, 21 July 1780-; Captain of MarinesJohn Prat, 21 July 1780-

Cruises:

Prizes: (1) Sloop [ ]unknown , [ ]September 1780, near Charlestown,South Carolina

(2) Ship Lyon, [ ]September 1780, near Charlestown, SouthCarolina

(3) Brig Mary (Galbrath), [ ]September 1780, offCharlestown, South Carolina, with Massachusetts PrivateerShip Junius Brutus

(4) Ship Neptune, [ ]September 1780, off Charlestown, SouthCarolina, with Massachusetts Privateer Ship Junius Brutus

(5) Brig General Leslie [ ], October 1780

(6) Sloop Rodney [ ], October 1780

(7) Brigantine Alicia [ ] (Edward Mason), February 1781

(8) Brigantine Hawke [ ], February 1781

[ ] [ ](9) Brig unknown , February 1781

(10) British Transport Ship Mary [ ], August 1781

Actions: (1) Action with the Mary and another transp [ ]ort, August1781

Comments:

Massachusetts Privateer Ship Rhodes was built in the [ ] area around Salem Essex County ,

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Massachusetts in 1779-1780. Rhodes was apparently designed as a privateer from the keel up. Herdeck measured 97N7O in length, her keel measured 81N9O in length, she had a 25N beam, a depth inthe hold of 10N7O and measured 270 tons.1 Following her capture, the British measured her aslength on the gun deck between rabbits, 92N, beam 25N2O, depth in hold 10N6O.2

Rhodes was commissioned on 21 July 1780 under Commander Nehemiah (or John Buffington [ or]Buffinton ) of Salem, Massachusetts. She was listed as being armed with twenty guns and having

a crew of 120 men. Her $10000 Continental and £4000 Massachusetts bonds were signed byNehemiah Buffington and by Aaron Wait and Benjamin Goodhue, all of Salem.3

Other officers aboard the Rhodes were First Lieutenant George Ervin of Salem,4 Second LieutenantDaniel Needham of Salem,5 First Mate Francis Bowden of Salem,6 Second Mate William Harris ofBoston,7 and Prize Masters Isaac Walker of Boston,8 Edward Standly of Salem,9 James Pickman,10

Philip Le Cuier of Salem,11 and Joseph Dolliver of Marblehead.12 Samuel Nutting of Danvers servedaboard as Surgeon13 and John Prat as Captain of Marines.14

1 Millar, American Ships of the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods, 244. Millar gives very slightly different measurementson p. 245.

2 Letter Books and Order-Book of George, Lord Rodney, Admiral of the White Squadron 1780-1782, New York: NewYork Historical Society, 1932, I, 257-259. Online. The dimensions given in Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792, 292, are for some other vessel.

3 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 264

4 MASSRW, 5:386

5 MASSRW, 11:304

6 MASSRW, 2:318

7 MASSRW, 7:361

8 MASSRW, 16:448

9 MASSRW, 14:816

10 MASSRW, 12:358

11 MASSRW, 9:624

12 MASSRW, 4:861

13 MASSRW, 11:580

14 MASSRW, 12:662

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On 29 July the owners (William Shillaber, BenjaminGoodhue, Jr., John Tucker, and Robert Goodhue)petitioned the Massachusetts Council for permission for theRhodes to sail, notwithstanding the embargo on privateersailings. The petition was granted, on the condition thatBuffington was to search for the second division of theFrench fleet and, when he found it, to inform the Frenchof the strength of the British fleet at Newport.15

The next mention of the Rhodes was in September 1780.The Charleston newspapers reported, on 13 September,that the Rhodes had captured the ship Lyon and hadchased a sloop ashore, twelve leagues from the city. Thesloop was believed to be lost. The newspaper reportedthat Rhodes was armed with twenty 6-pounders and hada crew of 130 men.16

On 31 October 1780 the Connecticut newspapers reported that Rhodes, sailing with MassachusettsPrivateer Ship Junius Brutus (Commander John Leach), had taken five prizes, four of which werefrom Jamaica bound to England. The other prize was an ordnance brig, bound to New York. None

The lines of the Rhodes, as taken from the ship after her capture. From Millar, American Ships of the Colonial and

Revolutionary Periods, 245.

Hull form of the Rhodes as drawn by Millar. Note

the deadrise and pronounced knuckle.

15 Allen, Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution, 264

16 From the South Carolina and American General Gazette, September 13, 1780, Source is E. Lee Spence, Shipwrecks of South" ' " 'Carolina and Georgia, Spence s List 1520-1865 , Sea Research Society, Sullivan s Island, SC, 1984, p.259

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Massachusetts Privateer Brig Rhodes departing Salem for a patrol, by Ray Cross, about July 1780. Everything about this beautiful painting is correct.

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of the prizes had arrived in port.17

Two of the prizes were recaptured by the British. The brig Mary (Galbrath), bound from Jamaicato Charleston,South Carolina, was captured off the bar by the Junius Brutus and the Rhodes. Shewas recaptured by HMS Prudent (Burnet) and sent in to New York, New York, arriving on 21October 1780. The ship Neptune, also bound for Charleston, with a cargo of rum, was recapturedby HMS America, and arrived at New York on 26 October.18

On 13 November 1780 Buffington libeled the 60-ton brig General Leslie (Duncas Etill) at Boston.General Leslie was to be tried on 21 November in the Maritime Court of the Middle District. Atthe same time Buffington libeled three bales of merchandise, removed from the sloop Rodney

Model of the privateer Rhodes. She seems to be armed as she was in British service, for the Americans gave her twenty guns.

From Americanhistory.edu.

17 The Connecticut Gazette and the Universal Intelligencer [ ] New London , Tuesday, October 31, 1780

18 The New-York Gazette; and The Weekly Mercury, Friday, October 27, 1780

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(Ingraham) on 10 August 1780 and brought into Boston.19 Rodney evidently made port not too longafter, for she was libeled on 14 December 1780, as the 50-ton sloop Rodney, in the MaritimeCourt for the Middle District. Her trial was set for 2 January 1781.20

In the winter of 1781, Buffington was again at sea. On 28 February 1781 a prize brigantine arrivedat Salem, with a cargo of rice, indigo and deerskins. The prize was part of a convoy fromCharleston to England. Rhodes had taken another brig from the same convoy, and was still inchase of it when the second prize left her. On 8 March 1781, the second prize arrived at Salem,along with a third prize brig taken by the Rhodes.21

One of these brigs, the 50 ton Alicia (Edward Mason), was libeled on 12 March, with her trial setfor 27 March.22

An advertisement for the sale of three of Rhodes’s prizes appeared on 19 March, with the sale tobe held on 27 March at Salem. Brigantine Alicia, 100 tons, was said to have been built in Georgiaas a privateer and was pierced for fourteen guns. She was probably armed with the fourteen short12-pounders, which appeared in the same advertisement. The brigantine General Leslie, listed at90 tons, and brigantine Hawke, 130 tons, were also listed.23

On 8 September 1781 the Rhodes returned to Salem, bringing in an 18-gun British transport shipin ballast. She was bound home, with another transport of the same force, which the Rhodes alsoengaged. While Rhodes was manning the first prize the second escaped.24 The prize was the shipMary, advertised for sale on 27 September, with the sale to be held at Salem on 3 October 1781.Mary was said to be a frigate-built ship of about 350 tons, and mounted twenty guns when taken.At the time of sale she mounted twelve 18-pounders,25 very heavy guns for a transport ship.

On 20 April 1782, the Massachusetts Privateer Mohawk (Smith) arrived at Beverly. Smith reportedthat the Rhodes had been captured some time ago and taken into Barbados.26 It was true. Rhodeswas captured on 15 February 1782, by the 64-gun HMS Protheè (Captain Charles Buckner).27

19 The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, November 6, 1780

20 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [ ] Boston , Thursday, December 14, 1780

21 The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, Monday, March 12, 1781

22 The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, Monday, March 12, 1781

23 The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, Monday, March 19, 1781

24 The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal, Monday, September 10, 1781

25 The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [ ] Boston ; Thursday, September 27, 1781

26 The Independent Ledger, and the American Advertiser [ ] Boston , Monday, April 22, 1782

27 Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792, 112

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Buffington was soon exchanged.28

Rodney ordered the Rhodes surveyed, prior to her being taken into the Royal Navy as HM SloopStormont.29 The surveyors reported, on 4 March 1782, that the Rhodes measured, on the gun deckbetween rabbits, 92N, with a beam of 25N2O, and a depth in hold of 10N6O. Her hull was valued at£1300, she was armed with twenty-two 6-pounders, and her value with all her stores was stated

£as 2616.30

28 Claghorn, Naval Officers of the American Revolution, 41

29 Letter-Books and Order-Book of George, Lord Rodney, Admiral of the White Squadron 1780-1782, New York: NewYork Historical Society, 1932, vol. II, 619

30 Letter-Books and Order-Book of George, Lord Rodney, I, 257-259. Online.

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