William Marriner's Second Brooklyn Raid and Later Career

In June 1778, William Marriner co-led a remarkable raid against Brooklyn. He and militia captain John Schenck led two boats that left Middletown Point (Matawan), rowed through the night, landed in Brooklyn, captured Loyalist prisoners, and returned to Middletown Point without the loss of a man. One observer called it “perhaps the most extraordinary circumstance which ever took place.” To New Jerseyans living along the Raritan Bayshore who had been victimized by Loyalist raids, Marriner was a hero.

Two months later, Marriner and his business partner, Henry Remsen, received a Letter of Marque (more or less, a privateer license) from the State of New Jersey. On August 18, the state licensed Marriner to attack and capture enemy ships in the sloop Enterprise, with 15 crew and an unstated number of “carriage guns” (very small cannon). But there is no record of Marriner immediately capturing enemy vessels.

Marriner’s Later Actions

On November 3, Marriner again raided Brooklyn. According to a report published in the New Jersey Gazette and Pennsylvania Evening Post, Marriner went to Brooklyn with a small raiding party that included seven Continental soldiers. He "landed at New Utrecht [Brooklyn] and brought off Simon [Simon Courtylou] and Jacques Courtylou, two famous Tories, and in specie and property to the amount of 5000 dollars." The prisoners were brought to New Brunswick. A Loyalist newspaper suggested that the Courtylou brothers were targeted because they had been "uncivil to some Whigs who were prisoners."

A few weeks later, Marriner apparently attempted another raid. Courtland Skinner, the general commanding the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers wrote from Staten Island on December 4: "Marriner, who took Mr. Bache, is out on another escapade." The details of this action are unknown.

With winter coming and prize money in his pocket, Marriner apparently purchased an inn near New Brunswick. He hosted an auction of Loyalist property there in February 1779. Marriner was inactive well into 1779. In July, however, rumors of him putting to sea began again. The Loyalist New York Gazette reported that "William Marriner, late a cordwainer & oyster fryer of this city" was expected to attack Staten Island or Brooklyn. Citizens were warned to be alert. It was noted Marriner was spotted in sixteen-foot boats “between Sandy Hook and the Narrows."

Just two weeks later, the British issued a new rule that small boats nearing New York must first obtain a pass from "the commanding officer at an Out-Post" (of which there were six including Sandy Hook). It is possible that this regulation was calculated to curtail the stealthy Marriner from going to New York undetected.

One of Marriner’s men, Benjamin Coddington of Middlesex County, recalled a successful privateer action that August. Coddington exaggerated some of the details, but described Marriner taking two vessels:

In August 1779, I volunteered under Capt. Marraner [Marriner] to go privateering on an expedition which took two months; during my term under Capt Marraner we took a privateer brig belonging to the British carrying 16 guns & 24 swivels on her …. We took the brig by surprise in the night while the crew was asleep after we captured the brig and got her underway and went about ten miles. We run foul of a schooner with 60 to 70 refugees going to join the enemy, Capt Marraner and crew had nothing more than our gun boat; these two vessels was captured off Sandy Hook near the light house, we took the brig & schooner and about one hundred prisoners into Egg Harbour.

Marriner took two more prizes six months later, in April 1780. The New Jersey Gazette reported:

The privateer Black Snake was captured by the British, but Capt. [William] Marriner, with nine men, retook her. Capt. Marriner then took to sea in his prize, and captured the Morning Star, of 6 swivels and 33 men, after a sharp resistance, in which he lost three killed and five wounded; he carried both prizes into Egg Harbor.

The prize vessels were sold at auction on May 16.

Historian Richard Koke wrote that in July 1780 Marriner and Captain Thomas Clark of Middlesex County co-led a raid on Jamaica Bay. There, they were captured by the local Loyalist militia. Joseph Vanderveer of Middletown was with Marriner on this raid:

I volunteered in a gunboat under Capt. William Marriner (in company of Capt. Alexander Dickey who commanded another boat) and was taken prisoner by the British on the fifth of August, and taken to N. York where I was confined until the latter part of December, when I was exchanged.

Marriner was detained several months longer than Vanderveer before he was exchanged. He was paroled in early 1781, but did not return to New Jersey until October 1781. A celebration was held on his return to New Brunswick. He was not active after that.

Marriner’s legacy would be continued by one of his men, Alexander Dickey, who took prizes in the Raritan Bay in 1782. And Marriner’s exploits were ultimately eclipsed by the dramatic exploits of Adam Hyler, who made numerous successful assaults on British shipping in Raritan and New York bays in 1781 and 1782.

Caption: Daring privateer William Marriner captured Simon and Jacques Courtylou at Simon’s house in New Utrecht, Brooklyn. Marriner remained an active privateer for two more years after this capture.

Related Historic Site: American War of Independence Privateer Museum (in progress)

Sources: Privateer Bond, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 2, pp. 415-6; Richard J. Koke, "War, Profits, and Privateers Along the Jersey Coast," New York Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 41, 1957, p 295; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post, November 20, 1778; Courtland Skinner to Henry Clinton, William Clements Library, Henry Clinton Papers, vol. 47; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; New Jersey Gazette report in Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 79; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 226; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Joseph Vanderveer; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 4, p 358-9, 385; Richard J. Koke, "War, Profits, and Privateers Along the Jersey Coast," New York Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 41, 1957, p 295-6 note 30; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Benjamin Coddington of Maryland, National Archives, p19.