The Capture of William Marriner

In early June 1778, two whaleboats left Middletown Point (present-day Matawan). They rowed through the night, and landed in Brooklyn. The small party, led by William Marriner (along with Captain John Scheck of Middletown) captured two prominent Loyalists and returned with them without any losses. It was one of the more remarkable raids of the war. Operating out of Middletown Point, Amboy, and New Brunswick, Marriner raided Brooklyn again and intermittently attacked and took larger vessels over the next two years. But his string of successes ended in August 1780.

On August 3, Marriner headed toward Brooklyn again with a small party (28 men) in two whaleboats. In bad weather, one the boats overturned and the party had to go ashore at Hog Island (near present-day Breezy Point). The Loyalist New York Gazette reported the results:

Captain Hicks, of the militia of that place, mustered his company and with a few volunteers in two boats went in quest of them, but the stormy weather prevented their attacking them this evening. About four o'clock the next morning, a smart action ensued, and the whole party of Rebels were taken prisoner.

The report claimed that Marriner had been cruising the Brooklyn-Queens shore for fourteen days and “had met with no success." That seems unlikely as Marriner’s party would not have carried enough provisions to be at sea for that long. The report also stated that "there were none killed or wounded on either side; several grape shot went through Captain Hick's jacket." Finally, the report discussed the captured rebels:

One of them [boats] was commanded by William Marriner, formerly of this city, but of late a great rebel partisan, prisoners amount to twenty-eight, among them a rebel commissary named Mr. [Alexander] Dickey, who ever had proven a violent persecutor of Royal officers and Loyalists who had fallen in his power.

Two men in Marriner’s party discussed their capture in their postwar pension applications. Joseph Vanderveer of Middletown recorded:

He volunteered with about twenty other persons on board a boat under Captain Marriner and another boat under Dickey, upon an expedition where they proceeded as far as Rockaway Bay; our boats, together with a sloop we had captured, ran aground, while lying in this situation we were taken prisoner by a part of the British Army and marched across Long Island to a place called White Stone, where we then put on board boats, taken to New York, and imprisoned in the North Church & kept there in close confinement until the latter part of December in the year 1780, when he was again exchanged.

Josiah Woodruff of Essex County was also in Marriner’s party. He later recalled that "in the year 1780, I volunteered with said William Clark [also from Essex County] in a company under the command of Captain Marriner who, as we understood, had a commission for cruising as a privateer on the water against the common enemy." The party left Amboy on August 3 "on board two boats" with 10 oars each and 28 men "well armed with muskets and other weapons." They rowed past Sandy Hook to the southern shore of Long Island where, at Hog Island, they captured a small sloop “loaded with pork and sugar.”

Woodruff described the mission going bad. The boats were unable to row back to New Jersey "due to boisterous winds." One of the boats overturned and the men had to swim to shore. Then, "very early in the morning, the British collected in a large boat, well armed, and we were all made prisoners." Marriner’s men were jailed five months before they were exchanged. Woodruff noted that the mission was to "intercept London Traders" and that the men “had perfect confidence in his [Marriner’s] skill & his patriotism as a Whig engaged in annoying the London Trader & carrying on unlawful traffic with the enemy."

This was Marriner’s last privateer action. While the men in Marriner’s party were exchanged in December 1780, Marriner was not released until October 1781. Upon release, Marriner returned to a hero’s welcome in New Brunswick. But he quickly faded from public view. Marriner was likely an alias, and he may have reverted to his original name. An antiquarian source claims Marriner managed a tavern at New Brunswick after his release.

Alexander Dickey, the co-leader of Marriner’s party, would remain an active whaleboat privateer through the end of the war. And New Brunswick became the primary port for the Raritan Bay privateers. If Marriner was managing a tavern it is easy to imagine him advising would-be privateers over strong drinks. New Brunswick’s most famous privateer captain, Adam Hyler, would soon emerge.

Caption: William Marriner led two boats with 28 New Jersians to the Brooklyn shore to pick-off vessels trading with New York. Bad weather forced Marriner’s party to land; they were taken by local militia.

Related Historic Site: The Wyckoff House Museum (Brooklyn, New York)

Sources: National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Tunis Vanderveer; J.A. McManemin, Captains of Privateers. (Spring Lake, N.J.: Ho-Ho-Kus Pub. Co., 1994), pp. 341-4; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of William Clark of NJ, National Archives, p26; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, August 1780, reel 2906.