The Bold Privateering of Adam Hyler

Adam Hyler was born in Germany. A newspaper account claims he served on a British or Loyalist vessel early in the Revolutionary War. Besides this, there is little reliable biographical information about him. He likely participated in the privateer activities of William Marriner, who was captured by the British in August 1780; Hyler would soon fill the void left by Marriner’s capture.

In Hyler’s first action, he was mistaken for Marriner. On April 4, 1781, the New York Gazette reported: "Last Sunday evening a sloop from New York to Lloyd's Neck was captured on Coney Island by two rebel whaleboats." Marriner was credited with the attack, but Marriner wrote that it was "Hyler & Dickey" who led the action; Marriner, still imprisoned at the time, disavowed any role in the action.

April 1781: Hyler Leads Raids on New York

Hyler’s exploits would soon overshadow Marriner’s or any other New Jersey privateer. He raided Brooklyn four times and Staten Island once over five months:

Date / Hyler’s Party / Destination / Result

Apr 1781

Two whaleboats

Brooklyn

Captures sloop, ransomed back

Apr 1781

Unknown

Brooklyn

Captures two German officers

May 1781

Unknown

Staten Is.

Captures pilot boat, ransomed back

Jun 1781

Unknown

Brooklyn

Misses intended capture, takes slave and family goods

Aug 1781

Two whaleboats

Brooklyn

Captures two Loyalists, two slaves, and family goods

Hyler’s “manstealing” raids against Brooklyn mirrored the raids launched against the New Jersey shore by Loyalist irregulars. His actions worried Colonel John Taylor of Middlesex County who wrote Governor William Livingston that "the whaleboat men from this place are daily robbing the inhabitants of Long Island and Staten Island, and in their last cruise they have murdered an old man because he defended his property in his own house." Taylor worried that Hyler’s actions would draw Loyalist retaliation.

Fall 1781: Hyler Targets Sandy Hook

Perhaps for this reason, Hyler pivoted away from attacking New York and started targeting Sandy Hook. While others had successfully raided Sandy Hook before Hyler, Hyler’s activity level greatly surpassed any other individual. On October 7, the New Jersey Gazette reported on Hyler’s first action there:

Captain Hyler of this place with one gunboat and two whale ditto, within a quarter mile of the guard ship at Sandy Hook, attacked five vessels; and after a smart conflict of fifteen minutes carried them. Two of them were armed, one of them mounting four six pounders, and the other had six swivels and one three pounder. The hands escaped in a longboat and took refuge in a small fort, in which twelve swivel guns were mounted, and from whence they kept a constant firing, notwithstanding which he boarded them all without the loss of a single man.

Hyler’s haul included 350 bushels of wheat, cheese, and a cask of gunpowder. Due to “contrary wind & tide,” he was unable to bring the boats up the Raritan River, so he "stripped the vessels of the sails and rigging” and “burnt them all except one, on board of which was a woman & four small children."

Hyler’s next action was on October 13. The New Jersey Gazette reported that, "with one gun-boat and two whale boats,” Hyler and his men:

Boarded one sloop and two schooners, which all the hands except two had previously left, and which lay under cover the Light House fort at Sandy Hook, and brought them off; but the sloop being such a dull sailor, and being much annoyed from a galley lying near Sandy Hook, was set on fire about three miles from the fort. One of the schooners, running aground by accident, was stripped and left; the other, a remarkably fine and fast sailing Virginia-built pilot boat mounted with one four pounder, was brought in with four prisoners.

Hyler raided Sandy Hook again on October 24, this time landing at Refugeetown, the Loyalist settlement. The New Jersey Gazette reported:

Capt. Hyler went down with one gun-boat to surprise Refugeetown near Sandy Hook where the horse thieves resort. He landed within three quarters of a mile of the light-house, but found they were out in the county of Monmouth stealing horses. The Captain however fell in with six other noted villains, whom he brought off.

Hyler’s next action was the capture of a vessel that was part of a convoy heading for Sandy Hook from New York. The Pennsylvania Evening Post reported that Hyler "and a small party of men went into the Narrows, where he captured a ship with 14 or 15 hands.” Hyler chased another vessel, the sloop Father’s Desire, across Raritan Bay until it grounded near Keyport. Colonel Samuel Forman wrote: "Capt. Hyler captured a brig that belonged to the outward bound fleet last Saturday night - was pursued & was obliged to burn her after getting 25 h.h. [hogshead] of rum out of her & some other things."

On December 15, Hyler took two more London Trading sloops. The New Jersey Gazette reported:

Capt. Hyler of Brunswick (who now commands seven or eight stout whaleboats manned with near 100 men) fell in at the Narrows with two refugee sloops trading to Shrewsbury; one of them was commanded by the noted villain Shore Stevens [Stevenson], and had on board £600 in specie, besides a considerable quantity of dry goods; the other also had a parcel of similar articles, sugar & rum & c., they were both conducted to Brunswick.

Hyler’s successes gave him access to several whale and gunboats, as well as a small sloop, Revenge. Maritime historian Donald Shomette wrote that Hyler’s preferred vessel was a "lightly armed sloop-rigged whaleboat."  Hyler’s crew of strong rowers could sprint into and out of creeks. Whaleboats sat high in the water and passed over sand bars that scuttled sailing vessels. 

Whaleboats were also quiet, allowing Hyler’s parties to surprise larger vessels at night. Samuel Forman, Jr., brother of one of Hyler’s men, recalled: “These gunboats were all propelled by muffled oars that dipped in and out of the water so as to make no noise; nor did any of them speak above their breath.”

1782 started ominously for Hyler. An attack on Sandy Hook on January 4 was unsuccessful. Hyler was driven off by fire from the shore battery. Then the British launched a punitive raid against New Brunswick on January 9, in which 200 British soldiers in six boats landed and burned every boat they found in the Raritan River. The Loyalist New York Gazette took note of him on January 12: "this Hyler is a deserter from the Royal service, and ever since his defection has proved too successful an enterpriser in his various descents upon our vicinities."

1782: Hyler Raids Again

Hyler apparently took the winter off. Sea traffic slowed—rivers and shallow bays froze. An antiquarian source reports his next action occurred on March 25. He apparently landed on Sandy Hook with a 25-man party and dispersed a Loyalist party camped there. Details on this action are unknown.

Hyler’s next action was April 20, documented by Loyalist publisher Hugh Gaine:

The cutter Alert (at Sandy Hook) of 16 nine pounders, Captain White, lay under the Highlands about 2 o'clock was boarded by three boats under command of Hyler, at the same time [that] 12 sail of man of war were not a mile off [the Hook], and taken, but the rebels finding it impracticable, got her away, took out the crew and blew her up.

John Bray of New Brunswick wrote Governor Livingston on the same incident. Bray noted that Hyler attacked with a gunboat and 35 men. He first “boarded a trading sloop commanded by Capt. James Corlies, but finding nothing of consequence on board, thought it was most advisable to suffer her to be ransomed” (for $400). Hyler then spotted the sloop-of-war, Alert:

Capt. Hyler and his brave crew, with the greatest spirit, boarded her, and after a few minutes of conflict, in which Capt. White was sounded, she struck [surrendered]. The Alert had 46 men on board, which so far exceeded Hyler in number that he was under the necessity of tying them to himself. This being done, he made sail, but after running about two miles, the wind being not favorable... He ran her aground. This being done, he took out a quantity of, and together with the prisoners, he blew her up.

Hyler took out the “arms, powder, and chest of medicine” and fired the vessel. The prisoners were sent to Middletown Point and the white sailor prisoners were then sent to Elizabethtown. The black sailors (many of whom were likely runaway slaves) were kept. Bray noted that “the eleven Negroes [are] detained for trial.” They were presumably treated as prizes of war and sold with the ship’s cargo.

The capture of the Alert apparently was not reported locally, but was reported in the Maryland Gazette:

The celebrated Captain Hyler of New Brunswick… in an open boat, boarded and took a large cutter lying near Sandy Hook almost at sea in sight of the Lion man of war and her 64 guns. The vessel mounted twelve 18 pounders and was commanded by one White... She [Alert] was designed to cruize in Delaware Bay. Captain Hyler, in coming off with his prize, was pursued by several armed vessels, and finding it impracticable to save her, blew her up, but brought off said White and about forty prisoners.

The humiliation of losing a well-armed ship exasperated leading Loyalists. This prompted the Board of Directors of the Associated Loyalists, on April 23, to consult with Monmouth County Loyalists and propose a joint expedition with the New Jersey Volunteers to catch Hyler and burn his gunboat:

The Board, having consulted some intelligent refugees from Monmouth County on the practicability of destroying the boat of one Hyler, a rebel partisan, which infest the bay of New York -- they proposed in a letter that day to the Adjutant General the Lt Colonel Buskirk and Taylor of the New Jersey Volunteers, should be authorized to take about one hundred men of that corps and when joined by the Refugees and some boatmen, endeavor to accomplish this desirable purpose.

This raid never occurred. The next day, General Henry Clinton drydocked the Associated Loyalists amidst the building furor over Richard Lippincott’s brazen hanging of Monmouth County’s Joshua Huddy.

Hyler was at sea again in early May. A Loyalist newspaper reported on May 7 that "Hyler's playing devil at Rockaway"; the results of that trip are unknown. On this or another excursion, Hyler took the schooner, Speedwell. Interestingly, Speedwell was not brought to New Brunswick or Middletown Point, but was taken down the Atlantic shore to Toms River (one of Hyler’s men recalled going as far as Cape May on a different trip). The New Jersey government passed a law on June 20 to permit issuing official privateer commissions to “boats” (versus ships). It is probable that Hyler made this necessary.

Hyler’s next descent on Sandy Hook was reported in the New York Gazette on May 29:

Mr. Hyler paid a visit to our fishing boats last Saturday and took three boats and a prize, inward bound, without [the Hook]; he was pursued by an armed vessel dispatched from one of his Majesty's ships, which obliged him to run the prizes ashore.

This action climaxed with Hyler capturing a party of British regulars sent from Sandy Hook (the subject of another article). The New Jersey Gazette on May 25:

Capt. Hyler with his armed boat, being in the Shrewsbury River, a party of twenty-five men, a party of British troops, under Capt. Schanck, was detached to intercept them. Hyler discovered them and landed thirteen men with orders to charge; when four of the enemy were killed and wounded, and the Capt. and eight men taken prisoners.

A month later, Hyler preyed on the fishing boats off Sandy Hook again. The New York Gazette reported on June 19: "A number of fishing boats were just on the eve of being captured on the bank's by Hyler's boats; but luckily the Lark, privateer, inward bound, saved them from being convoyed to Middletown."

Perhaps frustrated by not taking the boats, Hyler attempted what might have been his boldest action. An anonymous letter details his attempt to kidnap Loyalist partisan Richard Lippincott from Manhattan:

Capt. Hyler was determined to take Lippincott, on inquiry he found that the man resided in a well known house on Broad Street, New York. Dressed and equipped like a press gang of a man of war, he left the kills with one boat, landing after dusk... He then passed the residence of Lippincott where he inquired for him and found that he was absent, gone to the cock-pit. Thus failing in his object, he returned to his boat... but finding a boat from the West Indies laden with rum, he took her, cut her from her cable and sailed to Elizabethtown Point; and before daylight had landed from her 40 hogshead of rum. He then burned the sloop to prevent her recapture.

Hyler was, by now, a hero. The Freeman's Journal (of Philadelphia) exulted “the celebrated paritizan” who captures ships “by surprise or strategem." The report called Hyler “a considerable annoyance to the wood shallops, trading vessels and plundering parties of the enemy about Sandy Hook” and asked “the whaleboat men in Delaware Bay… to copy his conduct." And the report called Hyler's crew “particularly expert at the oars” and they “row with such silence and dexterity as to not be heard at the smallest distance, even though they go three or four boats together and go at a rate of twelve miles an hour."

The Freeman's Journal also reported that British vessels were now in the Raritan Bay to check Hyler:

The enemy have a stout galley stationed near the mouth of the Raritan, and gun boat or two cruizing about the bay, who appear to do little more else then firing now and then upon such rebel oystermen and fishermen as venture too near them... It is further said that it is expected in New York that Brunswick will be shortly burnt on account of the whaleboat depredations.

The report was defiant: “If the town is destroyed, every whaleboat, like the Hydra's head, will speedily multiply into ten and make the masters of Sandy Hook bay more uneasy.”

On July 2, Hyler returned to Sandy Hook. The New Jersey Gazette reported that Hyler and John Storer, (another whaleboat privateer): "boarded and took the schooner Skipjack, carrying six guns and swivels, and burned her at noon, in sight of the guard ship.” Hyler also “took the Captain and nine or ten men prisoners. About the same time, he also took three or four trading vessels loaded with calves, sheep, etc." A July 10 admiralty court announcement noted that Skipjack was sold with two slaves as part of the cargo. Other prizes taken were an unnamed sloop with two cannon and a sloop, Providence.

On or about July 10, according to the New Jersey Gazette, "Mr. Hyler took two fishing boats near the Narrows and ransomed them for $100 each. One of them has been twice before captured."

Hyler’s last documented action occurred a few days later, on July 15. The New Jersey Gazette reported that “a little before sunset, Mr. Hyler, with three large oar boats, made an attack on a galley stationed at Prince's Bay, south side of Staten Island." While attacking the galley, a second British vessel under Captain Cashman fired and landed an 18 lb. ball on one of Hyler's boats. The heavy ball crippled Hyler’s boat and forced it to land on Staten Island. The other two boats landed and picked up their stranded comrades while taking fire. Hyler’s party narrowly escaped, but Hyler was fatally wounded in the action. One of his men, Job Compton, recalled that Hyler “was wounded, of which wound he died.”

On September 6, the New Jersey Gazette reported that Adam Hyler died "after a long and tedious illness." A few days later, the Loyalist New York Gazette reported “that the famous partisan, Hyler, lately died in New Jersey of a wound in the knee, accidentally given himself some time ago." Antiquarian sources note that Hyler’s boats became the property of colleagues who continued attacking British interests—but without Hyler’s boldness or track record. Historian Robert Schiena wrote about these men: Alexander Dickey, John Bordwine, John Storer and retired Continental Navy officer Luke Matthewson. Appendix 1 excerpts newspaper reports of the actions of Hyler’s successors.

The danger of whaleboat privateering was best summed up by John Riddle, who served under Hyler:

On two occasions, we narrowly escaped being taken prisoners by two different frigates; once in coming up from Sandy Hook to Amboy, with two gun boats and a whale boat, Capt. Hyler commanding, being in chase of a British gunboat, we run in between an enemy's brig and a galley, that carried an eighteen pounder in the bow. The gun boat had struck [her colors (surrendered)]; but before we were able to board her, an eighteen pound ball passed through one of our gun boats, which obliged us to make the best of our way to the Jersey Shore; and getting everything out of the boat, under a continual fire of cannon and small arms.

While Hyler’s bravery and success as a privateer is abundantly documented, it cannot be forgotten that he also engaged in kidnapping and selling captured black sailors as part of a prize ship’s cargo. A militia colonel from Hyler’s home county suggested that he was involved in a murder.

Hyler was not from Monmouth County. But he very much belongs in this compendium because most of his actions occurred on the shores of Monmouth County. He often used Middletown Point as his point of departure and point of return. Most importantly, a large portion of Hyler’s men were Monmouth Countians. Of the nine men who wrote narratives about serving under Hyler, four (Job Compton, Lewis Compton, Denice Forman, Benjamin Wilson) were from Monmouth County. So, Hyler’s remarkable exploits were, in large part, enabled by the strong backs of Monmouth Countians. Excerpts of these nine accounts are in Appendix 2 of this article.

Caption: In whaleboats that could be rowed or sailed, Adam Hyler, New Jersey’s greatest privateer, led small parties in more than a dozen actions against enemy ships in Raritan Bay and near Sandy Hook.

Related Historic Site: American War of Independence Privateer Museum

Appendix 1: Newspaper Accounts of Raritan Bay Privateers after Adam Hyler’s Death

New York Royal Gazette, September 11, 1782: "The privateer Jack , Capt. Marsh, took and sent a New Jersey whale boat commanded by Peter Nephew [Neafie]; the whale boat had first taken two fishing boats and had one killed and one wounded."

New York Gazette, October 9, 1782: Loyalist Capt. Peter Laurens arrives in New York, "He was taken at the Hook some days ago by John Bordwine, who commands the whaleboats lately commanded by Capt. Hyler….after his capture, he was not only stripped of his clothes and money, but also beat and abused in such an unmerciful manner that he has for the present lost use of his right arm, and is most shockingly bruised; he hopes to soon return to them, quid pro quo."

New Jersey Gazette, November 13, 1782: "We hear that the brave Capt. Storer, commissioned as a private boat of war under this State, and who promises to be the fair successor of the late Capt. Hyler, has given a recent instance of his velour in capturing one of the Enemy's vessels… He embarked with two boats under his command at Point Comfort" and went to the Narrows, "after a fruitless search for detached vessels, he bore away for Middletown"...on the Staten Island side of the bay "discovered a vessel lying under the flag staff fort, within a half pistol shot of a fourteen gun battery. This vessel he immediately boarded, and carried away without any alarm." Prize is a sloop under the command of the British Army's Engineer Dept. "He had the good fortune to get her safe into port in spite of the Enemy's armed vessels lying in Prince's Bay."

New York Gazette, December 1782: "On Wednesday last, as Morford Taylor, William Salter, Robert Patterson and James Lippincott were passing Sandy Hook shore in a skiff, a party under Capt. Storey rose behind a hill and fired on the boat without first hailing them. Mr. Taylor was shot through the head and died instantly; the other three were made prisoners and stripped of their apparel. Mr. Salter was taken on shore, Messrs. Patterson and Lippincott, with a sentry to over them, were ordered to row the skiff to the cove where Storey had his boats concealed; but Patterson and Lippincott seized a favorable moment to throw the sentry overboard and made their escape. The sentry swam to shore and Mr. Salter was immediately compelled to exchange his dry clothes for those of the wet, half-drowned sentry. He has since ransomed himself for $200 and is now in town."

Appendix 2: Post-War Accounts of Service under Adam Hyler

Job Compton of Middletown veteran's pension application excerpted: As a privateer, "he was in several affairs with Captain Hyler... in the year 1782, [when] he entered under Captain Hyler on board a gun bote [sic]. He remained with him until he [Hyler] was wounded, of which wound he died... The Captain has a commission and what they took, the prize money was divided amongst them."

Lewis Compton of Middletown veteran’s pension application excerpted: "at Brown's Point on the Bay Shore under Capt. Walton, in which engagement he was partially blinded by a swivel ball striking immediately before him; in the same skirmish, Capt. Hyler was also present, about which time Capt. Hyler landed and took a British man-o-war lying in the bay near the Sandy Hook Light House."

Samuel Forman of Freehold Township, a boy during the Revolution, recalls his brother, Denice Forman serving under Privateer Captain Adam Hyler: "Denice Forman engaged in a boat under Captain Hyler, who had charge of a few gunboats that coasted along the Jersey shore to annoy and oppose the enemy. When the British fleet lay at anchor at Sandy Hook, Captain Hyler went in the night and surprised a large sloop at anchor, and got her out from the fleet, and took her up Middletown Creek, all without any fighting." More on Hyler: "These gunboats were all propelled by muffled oars, that dipped in and out of the water so as to make no noise; nor did any of them speak above their breath. On the gunwale of the boat a strip of heavy canvas was nailed, the inner having been left unfastened, under which were concealed their swords, guns and other implements for use in combat, and so placed so that any could, at a moment's notice, lay his hand upon his weapon."

Richard Nixon of Morris County veteran's pension application: "in the summer or Fall of 1782 [7/82] Deponent again entered on board of Captain Hyler’s Gunboat in which Deponent served six weeks, during the cruise off Sandy Hook we Captured in the night by Boarding the British Cutter Alert Carrying eighteen 9 & 12 pounders, Commanded by Captain White, Deponent received an additional share of Prize money for having been the first on board in boarding."

Marsh Noe of Middlesex County veteran’s pension application: recalls serving 2 years "on the water" under Captains Adam Hyler and John Storer "both of which commanded gunboats." From bases at Amboy and New Brunswick, "cruised into the bay of New York, the Narrows and Sandy Hook; owing to the superiority of the enemy, we had to go mostly at night." Recalls three missions with Hyler - 1. "boarded & took a British cutter in the night-time near Sandy Hook" with 18 carriage guns, Hyler has 32 men and the cutter 50, then they "ran the cutter aground near Sandy Hook and blew her up", 2. took an "armed schooner, Jack, mounting 6 carriage guns with a crew of about 40, taken near Sandy Hook, was run ashore near the Highlands, stores and ammunition taken out & the vessel burnt up - a seventy four gun ship firing on them most of the time", 3. "landed with 14 or 15 men on Sandy Hook... engaged a party of British (about 30 men) commanded by a Captain & after a smart action, took them prisoners & sent them to Headquarters."

John Riddle’s autobiography of his service under Adam Hyler:

Recalls that they coasted from Brooklyn to Sandy Hook, and sometimes down the Jersey Shore as far as Cape May - usually two boats, a gunboat and whaleboat, 30 men:

* "The first vessel we captured was a sloop of war carrying two guns; having boarded her in the night and ransomed her for $400. Same night boarded and took a 16 gun cutter, mounting 18 pounders and six 6 pounders, having captured her in the midst of the British fleet, then lying at Sandy Hook; after running the prize past the guard ship up the bay towards Amboy, we run aground on a sandbar in the night. the next morning, took out of her fifty prisoners, and everything else we could, then set fire to her with provisions, ammunitions & c."

* "On another night, the Captain and fourteen of us (who had volunteered our services) sailed up the narrows in York bay, in a whale boat, and on our return boarded a schooner, (which we ransomed for $400) returned to our gunboats in the Sosbury [Shrewsbury] River, without injury or the loss of a single life."

* "On another occasion, Capt. Story, from Woodbridge, with a gun and whale boat, fell in with us in Sosbury river - Captains Hyler and story ascending the heights [Middletown Highlands], observed four vessels at a distance, moored close to the Highlands, termed London traders. One of them, However, being an armed schooner, carrying eight guns, used as a guard ship to protect the other three; there being a calm tide against them, we run out on them, within a short distance of the British fleet, a severe cannonading commenced on both sides; at last, the schooner having struck [her colors, surrendered], we captured the other two without much difficulty. The guard ship by this time coming up, poured her shot on us like hail, one shot cutting off the mast of our whale boat just above our heads; but at last we succeeded in running the [prize] schooner on a sand bar, where we burnt her in view of the fleet; the others were bilged and driven on the beach."

* “On hard combat and narrow escapes, "In fact, every day while off Sandy Hook afforded a skirmish of some kind or another, either with small arms or cannon. At Toms River inlet we were twice nearly cast away; once [more] at Hogg island inlet, on two occasions we narrowly escaped being taken prisoners by two different frigates, one the fair American; once in coming up from Sandy Hook to Amboy, with two gun boats and a whale boat, Capt. Hyler commanding, being in chase of a British gunboat, we run in between an enemy's brig and a galley, that carried an eighteen pounder in the bow. the gun boat had struck; but before we were able to board her, an eighteen pound ball passed through one of our gun boats, which obliged us to make the best of our way to the Jersey Shore: and getting every thing out of the boat, under a continual fire of cannon and small arms (which lasted until 9 O’clock at night), we left her to the British, our ammunition being all spent."

* Final term under Hyler and his successor: "About the first of April 1782, the applicant volunteered on board a gunboat at New Brunswick, under the command of Captain Adam Hyler, for the term of eight months as a privateersman, and served out said term... the said Captain Hyler commanded forty-five men, who occupied said gunboat and a whaleboat... after said eight months had ended, and the Spring of 1783 (Captain Hyler having died), the applicant again volunteered as a privateersman at New Brunswick under the command of Capt. John Bordwine, for a term of two weeks, and served out said term coasting from Sandy Hook around to the New Jersey shore and performed nothing of note, except the taking of a British barge and crew."

John Sutphin of South Amboy veteran's pension application: "He shipped himself aboard a Gun Boat called the White Bottom Nancy as a Privateer under the command of Edmund Hiler in this Boat. He sailed from New Brunswick on a cruize round Sandy Hook in company with three other boats for the purpose of surprising and taking a British gunboat then lying in Princes Bay near Staten Island. In this attempt we were unsuccessful in consequence of the Nancy’s being wholly disabled in a combat with a British Row Galley then lying in the same bay... The ensuing season during his service as a Privateersman under Capt. Hiler he assisted in taking from the British two sloops & three schooners then lying in a place called the Horse Shoe [Bay]. After this he assisted in cutting out from the British at the Narrows a three decked British vessel called Father’s Desire which we ran aground & burnt at Sandy Hook. He was in an engagement with a British Cutter. This Cutter was boarded by the crew of our boat and after an action of 15 or 20 minutes in which we killed and threw overboard 8 or 10 of the crew of the Cutter we succeeded in Capturing her with near 300 prisoners, nearly all Blacks. We burnt the cutter took the negroes which were called Dunmore’s Army, into the country and sold them. After this, we took an English vessel in Prince’s Bay loaded with arms and ammunition took out what we could and being closely pursued by the enemy we blew up the vessel and made good on our retreat and returned to New Brunswick."

Abraham Van Tine's of Middlesex County veteran's pension application. On his time as whaleboat privateer: "He afterwards continued in the same service under Captain Peter Begins who had the command of a whale boat called the General Green & served under him for the period of five months, when they were taken prisoners by a privateer in the British service called The Jack o Lantern commanded by Captain Thomas Marsh a Tory and were sent to New York & confined as prisoners in what was then called the Provost prisoner where he lay for seven months and was discharged precisely at the expiration of 7 months imprisonment and when peace was proclaimed – During his service under Captains Adam Hyler and Nevins they took several vessels engaged in the enemy’s service. They went out to take the schooners or privateers commanded by Marsh & made an attack upon her in the night but were overpowered by numbers & taken prisoners themselves... That the engagement in which he was taken prisoner took place between Sandy Hook and the Great Kilns – That his whole Term of service during the war together with the term of his imprisonment as aforesaid amounted to at least two years."

Benjamin Wilson of Middletown veteran's pension application excerpted: 1782, serves on a whaleboat privateer, in an action "was engaged under Capt. Hyler at Point Comfort, Captain Hyler was cruising off the shore & was chased by the British boats & was obliged to land: the British also landed, a sharp engagement ensued in which the applicant was engaged"; also in 1782, he was in "a skirmish under Capt. Neafie, who was chased ashore by a British gunboat."

Sources: Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gaze reel 2906; John J. Clute, Annals of Staten Island: From Its Discovery to the Present Time (New York: Press of Charles Vogt, 1877), pp. 111-3; J.A. McManemin, Captains of Privateers. (Spring Lake, N.J. : Ho-Ho-Kus Pub. 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