The Greatest Privateer of the Jersey Shore

Prior articles discussed the rise of privateering on the Jersey shore starting in 1778. Yelverton Taylor and a number of small vessel captains from Philadelphia based themselves at Little Egg Harbor (called Egg Harbour) and took dozens of smaller British and Loyalist ships coming to and from New York. In 1779, New England privateers began “cruising the lanes” outside of Sandy Hook. They engaged and took dozens of larger British ships.

The greatest prize taken off the Jersey shore may have been the Triton, a British troop transport that separated from other ships in its flotilla during a storm and lost a mast. The wounded ship was taken by Taylor and a second privateer. On October 1, 1779, they brought the Triton into Egg Harbour with 214 German soldiers as prisoners. After this event, Captain Taylor retired. The captain of the second privateer, Rhode Island-born Stephen Decatur, emerged as an even greater privateer captain.

Decatur’s first documented prize was brought into Egg Harbour on November 11, 1779. Zuriel Waterman, a surgeon on board the privateer Providence, reported from Clamtown (near the southern tip of Monmouth County) that the privateer Comet under Captain Decatur had captured a prize vessel and brought it into Egg Harbour with cargo of "naval stores." With prize money from this capture and a share of the Triton, Decatur was apparently able to move to a larger ship, the 16-cannon, 125-man Fair American. He prepared for greater activities.

Decatur soon teamed with the Massachusetts privateer, Jack, (captain Nathan Brown) and the Pennsylvania privateer, Argo, to capture Swallow. The 4-gun merchant vessel was on its way from Madera to New York with cargo of foods and gunpowder. Decatur then took a second vessel off Jersey shore. He escorted his prizes to Cape May to prevent their re-capture.

Stephen Decatur’s Greatest Jersey Shore Prize

The Pennsylvania Evening Post reported on June 3, 1780, Decatur’s actions on May 29. Decatur was “standing in here [Philadelphia] with our prize, brig Nymph, formerly the privateer Neptune of Philadelphia” when he came upon a second vessel. The report continued:

We perceived two small sail standing in for Sandy Hook, which we gave chase to and came up to very fast; at eight o'clock the smallest sail bore away, and we stood after a small river schooner, which we soon took; she proved to be a prize loaded with indian corn, taken by a whale boat of thirty or forty feet long, open decked, called Lewistown Revenge, commanded by Hall, mounting one blunderbuss in her bow, one swivel in her head, and sixteen muskets and thirteen men; we then gave her chase, and took her about ten o'clock. He has a proper commission, and has been on our coast since the 13th of March, during which time he has taken twenty-eight prizes, loaded with different products for the Philadelphia market, and the boat which has so much annoyed the trade with our bay and river this spring.

Decatur had taken Lewistown Revenge, the daring and famous Loyalist privateer that had been lionized in Loyalist newspapers. While the claim that Lewistown Revenge had taken 28 prizes is certainly exaggerated, Decatur’s capture of the most famous Loyalist privateer cannot be minimized. The New Jersey Gazette happily reprinted the news on June 14.

Decatur’s Other Prizes

According to the online database, American Independence at Sea, the Fair American, in concert with one or two other vessels, took a dozen vessels in the summer of 1780 alone. This makes Decatur the most successful privateer of the Jersey shore during the Revolutionary War. See table 11 for Decatur's 1780 successes.

Throughout August, Decatur teamed with captain Roger Keane, commanding the 16-gun Philadelphia privateer, Holker. For most of his captures, teamed with a third vessel as well.

As described by historian Donld Shomette, Decatur’s greatest loss was inflicted by the Continental Navy. On August 31, Fair American, General Greene, and Holker sailed for Philadelphia. While entering the Delaware River, the privateers were stopped by two Continental vessels--Trumball and Deane--and boarded. Continental press gangs took 59 sailors off the privateers.

Maritime historian Donald Shomette notes that there was a shortage of American sailors by the middle years of the war, privateer captains were forced to rely on "untrained landsmen" to man their ships. Decatur did not put to sea again until October—probably because he needed to recruit and train new sailors. When he sailed again, he headed for South Carolina, perhaps to avoid additional run-ins with Continental ships. Off Charleston, Decatur took a British vessel carrying specie—the L175,000 cargo was his most valuable prize of the war.

After this capture Decatur, now a rich man, apparently retired. Fair American, with a Captain Eldrigdge at the helm, took to sea again in 1781. It was involved in four more captures. On October 17, 1781, the Pennsylvania Evening Post reported:

The privateer Fair American under Capt. Eldridge has brought four prizes from the same fleet into Philadelphia... All were part of a British fleet that was scattered in a storm from its navy escorts before entering Sandy Hook. Cargoes of foodstuffs, porter, dry goods, etc… the loss of which goods will be greatly felt by the enemy.

This would be the last successful voyage for the Fair American. On January 16, 1782, the New Jersey Gazette printed a January 2 report from a Loyalist newspaper. The report noted that the British ship, Garland, had taken the “famous privateer” Fair American in the Delaware Bay. The report noted that the elusive Fair American "for the past two years, always escaping our cruisers by the swiftness of her sailing."

Stephen Decatur would not take to sea again during the Revolutionary War, but he would continue on as one of the great heroes in American maritime history. He was a United States Navy captain who took a number of prizes during the naval war between the United States and France during the Washington administration. His son, also named Stephen Decatur, would become a national hero for his daring marine attacks during the American war against the Barbary Pirates during the Jefferson Administration.

Related Historic Site: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

Sources: Zuriel Waterman, Rhode Islanders Record the Revolution: the Journals of William Humphrey and Zuriel Waterman (Providence: Rhode Island Publications Society, 1984) pp. 77; Donald Shomette, Privateers of the Revolution: War on the New Jersey Coast (Shiffer: Atglen, PA, 2015);  Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Pennsylvania Evening Post, June 3, 1780; American War of Independence at Sea - American Privateers: http://www.awiatsea.com/Privateers/F/Fair%20American%20Pennsylvania%20Brig%20%5bDecatur%20Jakways%20Eldridge%5d.html; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930.