Toms River Emerges as Privateer Port

By any measure, Little Egg Harbor (commonly called “Egg Harbor” at the time) was New Jersey’s busiest privateer port during the Revolutionary War. But it was not the only one. New Brunswick would become the focal point for the small-vessel privateers that preyed on British shipping in the Raritan Bay. On the Atlantic shore, there were two other privateer ports in addition to Egg Harbor—Cape May to its south, and Toms River to its north.

First Privateer Prizes at Toms River

The first evidence of privateer activities at Toms River is a June 10, 1778, letter to George Washington from Philemon Dickinson (commanding the New Jersey militia). Within a larger report on preparations for the expected march of the British Army across New Jersey, Dickinson informed Washington:

Two valuable Prizes were sunk into Toms River, two days ago, by a small New England Privateer. Part of the Cargoes consists of one hundred & fifty hogsheads Rum—this small Privateer within five weeks past, has taken Prizes, to the amount of, One hundred & fifty thousand pounds.

The New England privateer was Captain Benjamin Pratt. The Loyalist New York Gazette reported about his captures on June 19:

There are now at Cranberry Inlet in New Jersey three row gallies from New London, of four guns each, that have taken several vessels, among them a schooner from Cork with provisions, and a vessel from the West Indies with rum and sugar.

Cranberry Inlet connected Toms River to the ocean. It was filled in during a storm in the early 1800s and no longer exists. It is easy to imagine that the inlet was shallow and subject to shifting sand bars.

The next vessel taken near Toms River was the large brig, Love & Unity, which grounded at Cranberry Inlet in August 1778. While loaded, it sat too deep in the water to be brought into shallow Toms River. Its cargo was unloaded, and then the vessel was brought in. Months later, a British raiding party recovered the vessel but not its cargo. This is the subject of another article.

Antiquarian sources suggest that January 1779 was the first month in which several prizes were brought into Toms River. They were:

• sloop Fancy;

• schooner Hope with cargo of pitch, tar & salt;

• brig Dove with cargo of rum;

• sloop Skipjack;

• unnamed smaller vessels.

The Fancy and the Hope were condemned at admiralty court to John Chadwick and John Cook, both of whom lived near Toms River. They were sold at Toms River on March 1. The final disposition of the other ships is not known. According to another antiquarian source, Major John Cook, the senior militia officer of Toms River, led two whale boats in capturing the Hope.

The prizes of January 1779 apparently convinced the New Jersey government to appoint John Potts Port Marshal for Toms River. The marshal was an agent of the New Jersey Admiralty Court. He registered captured vessels as they came into port and impounded them until an admiralty court declared the capture a legal prize of the privateer captain. At that time, the marshal supervised an auction for the sale of the vessel.

The next vessel taken, as discussed in two antiquarian sources, was another large brig, the Success. In March 1779, it grounded on shore near Toms River. The vessel was too large and heavily loaded to be floated. So, the local militia rowed out and captured the 22-man crew, who were sent to Trenton as prisoners. The vessel’s cargo of rum, molasses, cocoa, and coffee was then unloaded and rowed into port. An admiralty court upheld the seizure on April 7 and the battered vessel was auctioned on the beach on April 26. The auction led to another public notice regarding dividing the proceeds of the sale:

The people concerned in capturing the sloop Success are desired to meet at the house of Daniel Griggs at Toms River.... the 13th of May, to receive their proportion of moneys arising from the sale of the said sloop and cargo. All persons indebted for goods bought at above sale are requested to make immediate payment to Mr. Abiel Aiken of Toms River.

Toms River as a Privateering Boomtown

The privateering at Toms River and Egg Harbor created a boomtown economy in the formerly poor and small shore villages. Nationally prominent men like General Nathanael Greene invested in local privateers. Several local militia officers put to the sea in small vessels and took prizes. Major John Van Emburgh of New Brunswick took multiple trips to Toms River and Egg Harbor. In May 1779, he wrote that privateering created a new "busy season for the people on the shore.” He wryly observed that “the late captures have made them negligent of everything but dividing and determining their share of prizes."

A year later, Van Emburgh was temporarily captured by a Loyalist boat off of Toms River. The New Jersey Gazette reported that in June, reports that "Major Van Emburgh of Bordentown, with eight or nine others, being at Toms River on a fishing party, were surprised while a-bed by a number of armed Tory Refugees and put on board a vessel for New York; but they found means to make their escape." A second source suggests that Van Emburgh escaped by bribing the Loyalists into releasing them. Toms River would remain dangerous—militia Lieutenant Joshua Studson was killed while patrolling the port in December 1780 and Pine Robbers menaced the village throughout 1781 and into 1782, when Loyalists razed the village and the vessels in port.

The growth at Toms River was noticed by British leaders too. Captain Patrick Ferguson, who razed Egg Harbor and slaughtered nearby Continental troops in October 1778, discussed attacking Toms River in November 1779 as part of a proposed weeklong campaign against New Jersey. On Day 5 of his attack, British regulars would go “cattle collecting” through central New Jersey while Ferguson would lead cavalry and Loyalist refugees against "the piratical town of Barnegat, destroying the small craft, numerous salt works & proceeding along that very rebel coast to Toms River." The campaign never took place.

Though Toms River was never as busy as Egg Harbor, at least fourteen additional captured vessels were brought in the capture of the Success in March 1779. The data below lists those vessels. It likely misses several captures of small Loyalist boats engaged in illegal trade—as most of these actions went undocumented.

Date / Captured Ship / Taken By / Cargo

May 2, 1779

Lively, sloop

Boat led by John Cook

Lumber

August 22, 1779

Grower, sloop

Privateer, Hero

None

August 29, 1779

Merchant vessel

Privateer Susannah

Unknown

September 29. 1779

Hope

Privateer, Pickering

Unknown

January 24, 1780

Besty (wrecked)

Unknown

Rum

June 27, 1780

Restoration, schooner

Privateer, Commerce

Iron

September 1780 (2)

Catherine, sloop; John, schooner

Boat led by Joshua Studson

Unknown

December 27, 1780

Dove, brig

Boats led by Samuel Bigelow

Rum

January 25, 1781

Betsy, sloop

Boat led by Samuel Bigelow

Unknown

January 25, 1781

Brunswick, sloop

James Randolph

Unknown

May 19, 1781

General Greene, sloop

Unknown

Apparel, three slaves

September 26, 1781

Nancy, schooner

Richard Robins, Jr.

Lumber, shingles

Prizes brought into Toms River included vessels taken off Sandy Hook and brought into Toms River (because it was closer than Egg Harbor). However, Toms River more often received vessels that grounded on the New Jersey shoreline and were then taken by opportunistic local militia. Four Dover Township militia or township officers—John Cook, Samuel Bigelow, Joshua Studson, and James Randolph all took prizes. Toms River was also a convenient stopping point for boats from southern New Jersey’s privateer ports at Great Egg Harbor and Cape May.

Before the war, Toms River was a small, poor village. It had only one religious meeting house—a multi-denominational building at Good Luck—north of the village. A Quaker missionary observed that locals were “loose libertine people.” The first significant wartime investment at Toms River—the grandiose Pennsylvania Salt Works—was an abject failure. The port of Toms River was too shallow for large ships and the port could only be approached by navigating the unmarked, tricky channels at Barnegat and Cranberry Inlet.

Despite all of these disadvantages, at least 22 vessels were sold at Toms River during the war (and probably many more). In addition, various merchant vessels come into port with valuable cargoes from the West Indies. This led to dozens of auctions in which the previously poor people of the village gained considerable wealth by unloading, holding, and transporting ship cargoes. 

Additional money was brought into the village by dozens of investors, ship-buyers, and privateer captains who stayed several days at a time in the formerly sleepy village.

By the end of the war, Toms River was a booming small port. Local leaders had the funds necessary to construct a fort (the “Blockhouse”) to protect the village, and the state of New Jersey funded a company of State Troops to protect it starting 1781. Success came with a price. A vengeful Loyalist raiding party attacked and burned Toms River to the ground on March 24, 1782.

Caption: Due to financial gains from privateering, the formerly poor residents of Toms River acquired the wealth to construct a small fort (the “Blockhouse”) to protect the village and its port.

Related Historic Site: Joshua Huddy Park

Sources: Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 371–372; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 39; Heston, Alfred M. South Jersey, A History, 1664-1924 (New York: Lewis Historical Co., 1924) p 225; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 80-84; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 3, p 70; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 194-202; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 39; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 194-202; John Van Emburgh quoted in Leonard Lundin, Cockpit of the Revolution the War for Independence in New Jersey (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950) pp. 404-5; Patrick Ferguson to Henry Clinton, Clements Library, U Michigan, Henry Clinton Papers, November 15, 1779; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 194-202; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 63-4; William MacMahon, South Jersey Towns (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1973) p 308; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, N.J.: E. Gardner and Son, 1890) pp. 119-120; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 64-5; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 194-202; Heston, Alfred M., South Jersey, A History, 1664-1924. New York: Lewis Historical Co., 1924) p 226; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, June 7, 1780, reel 1930; New Jersey Gazette, January 24, 1780; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 4, p 147; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 74; William Nelson, Austin Scott, et al., ed., New Jersey Archives (Newark, Somerville, and Trenton, NJ: 1901-1917) vol. 4, p 372; Toms River discussed in Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 41-2; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 226; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 194-202; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; John Griffith, Journal of the Life, Travel and Labors in the Work of Ministry of John Griffith (London: James Phillips, 1779) p 388-9.