Loyalist Privateers Sail the Monmouth Shore

Prior articles have discussed the rise of privateering along the Jersey shore, first in the summer of 1778 with small vessels operating out of Little Egg Harbor, and then surging in spring 1779 when several New England privateers began preying on British shipping just outside of Sandy Hook. This was enabled by a weakened British naval presence, as the British diverted ships away from America to defend other parts of their empire from a growing coalition of European naval enemies—France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

American Loyalists in New York complained about British weakness; some responded by going on offense in their own privateers. There is scattered evidence of Loyalist privateers operating off Toms River and elsewhere in 1778, and they returned in greater numbers in 1779. General Karl Bauermeister, based in New York, wrote of “freebooting” Loyalist privateers putting to sea in February 1779 :

The homeless Loyalists who are still here are fitting out forty vessels to cruise under cover of six armed British ships and land anywhere between Rhode Island and Egg Harbor. They will keep all of their booty without exception, which has greatly encouraged them, for all of them had been well to do, but have lost everything.

Bauermeister reported that Loyalist privateers had brought 46 prizes into New York since December. In April, he later reported that 32 Loyalist vessels were between New York and Delaware Bay. However, by June, Bauermeister was pessimistic: "Of the one hundred and twenty one New York privateers... sixty-one have been captured." He reported that 31 rebel vessels were “cruising between Sandy Hook and the Delaware."

In early spring 1780, Loyalist privateers again went on offense along the Jersey shore. Below, are descriptions of successful small-vessel Loyalist privateer voyages along the Jersey shore from spring 1780. (Loyalist vessels scored additional wins along the Long Island and Connecticut shorelines, and larger Loyalist vessels scored some wins as far away as Charleston and the West Indies—but those voyages are beyond the scope of this article.)

Loyalist Privateer Voyages in 1780

In March 1780, the New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury reported on "one of the most gallant privateering exploits performed by eleven determined refugee sailors." The Loyalists were motivated by "having been severely persecuted", "stripped of their property," and "reduced to circumstances detested by generous minds." So, they "resolved to balance accounts with the authors of their misfortune." They embarked in the whale boat, Lewistown Revenge, with only one swivel gun in the bow under a man named Wilby. Given its size, the boat must have stayed close to shore as it traversed the entire 70-mile Monmouth shoreline without incident. The newspaper reported:

They passed Sandy Hook and proceeded to Egg Harbour [just south of Monmouth County] where they found three privateers ready for sea and a 12-gun schooner laden with lumber. Their number being inadequate for the force collected there, they pretended to be rebels and spent an evening with those who were really such in a most social manner.

The Loyalists then proceeded to the Delaware Bay where "they captured a loaded vessel" and then another small vessel. The Loyalists captured and paroled "between fifty and sixty rebel prisoners." One of their prizes was lost at Cape May. The Loyalists, with their one remaining prize, then sailed the Monmouth shoreline again and nearly made it back to Sandy Hook. They lost their prize near Sandy Hook when a boat (likely Monmouth militia) chased them. One Loyalist was wounded during the journey.

In June, the New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury, reported on another Loyalist whaleboat attack:

The whaleboats, Fox, Capt. Urion, and Cock, Capt. Creppen, came in last Saturday after a five days cruize off Barnegat last Thursday. They fell in with two rebel whaleboats, with whom they engaged and took, killing one of their men without loss. It appears that those gentry intended to take our fishermen, and then plunder the inhabitants of Long Island or Staten Island. They belonged to Cape May and had a commission from Congress, eight men in each boat, well armed.

Loyalist Privateers in Later Years of the War

A year later, on August 25, 1781, the New York Gazette reported that "the whaleboat Surprise, Capt. Thomson, with a small boat in company" cruised between Barnegat and Manasquan where he "fell in with two large rebel gunboats" with three guns each. "They engaged, and after an hour of close combat were obliged to sheer off with the loss of one of the rebel commanders, and a number of men, four of whom were seen thrown overboard." Thomson "received a swivel gun [shot] in his groin" and two of his men were wounded.  Thomson kept giving orders while "in a supine position from the wound." The report concluded that his actions "does him much credit and demands tribute and praise."

An antiquarian account provides additional details. Captain William Thomson left New York City for Barnegat in a small vessel where he fell in with two privateers, one with a howitzer, and both with swivel guns. The antiquarian source continued:

A very severe action was fought between the boat Surprise, Captain Thomson, and her consort, both crews consisting of twenty-four men and two rebel boats belonging to Philadelphia off Barnegat on the coast of New Jersey. The conflict lasted more than an hour within pistol shot in which Captain Thomson received a severe wound in the thigh notwithstanding which he continued the contest until the rebels took to their oars, first throwing over four of their dead, among the number was one of their Captains.

Loyalist privateers continued to score occasional victories into late 1782. The last recorded prize taken off the Jersey shore was reported in the New York Gazette reported in October 1782:

The galley, Boston Hero, Captain Read, from Boston, of 8 guns and 26 men was brought in here [New York] on Tuesday last, by the whaleboat Black Snake, Capt. Richardson, 12 men only.  Capt. Read having sent 9 of his men ashore for water near Egg Harbor, the Black Snake's crew made prisoners of them in a farm house, then rowed on board the galley in the night and took her without firing a single shot.

Capt. Richardson also brought in "the sloop Nancy, Capt. Dedrick, from Egg Harbor."

This report suggests that the Loyalists were not opposed, and may have been supported, by the disaffected residents of Stafford Township—who surely could have assembled and protected the New Englanders against only twelve Loyalists. This and other incidents demonstrate that the Loyalist crews sailing the Monmouth shore often enjoyed some support from pockets of Jersey shore residents.

The totality of evidence suggests that American privateers from Philadelphia (commonly based at Egg Harbor), New England, and small vessels manned by New Jersey militia took dozens more prizes than the Loyalist privateers operating out of New York. Besides a brief period of time in 1780 when the British navy was aggressive on the Jersey shore (the subject of another article), the British navy was not a consistent check against these privateers. But it is also true that a handful of small Loyalist vessels successfully sailed the New Jersey shoreline. Braving rebel privateers and militia boats, these Loyalists scored more than a few victories. This article, focusing only on their New Jersey shore voyages, remembers a fraction of these forgotten Loyalist victories.

Caption: Rowboats, often with a small sail and small cannon on a turret, were used by both sides for coastal privateering. Loyalist crews conducted daring voyages down the Jersey shore from 1780-1782.

Related Historic Site: National Museum of the United States Navy

Sources: New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury, March 27, 1780; New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury, June 19, 1780; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, etc. (London: Oxford University Press, 1876), 5th Series, vol. 5, p247.