
Captain Daniel Fones (born 9 March 1713,
Conanicut Island,
Jamestown, Rhode Island – ,
North Kingstown
North Kingstown is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and is part of the Providence metropolitan area. The population was 27,732 in the 2020 census. North Kingstown is home to the birthplace of American portraitist Gilber ...
,
Washington, Rhode Island
Washington is a village within the town of Coventry in Kent County, Rhode Island, and is part of the .
Background
The village was first settled in the 1670s around the time of King Philip's War. It was re-settled after the War and named Brayto ...
) was the leading military commander for Rhode Island in the Siege of Louisbourg (1745). He was the captain of
''Tartar'', the privateer vessel was the Rhode Island contribution to the victory in the
Siege of Louisbourg (1745)
The siege of Louisbourg took place in 1745 when a New England colonial force aided by a British fleet captured Louisbourg, the capital of the French province of Île-Royale (present-day Cape Breton Island) during the War of the Austrian Succ ...
(the 150 soldiers from Rhode Island arrived after the Siege).
Fones took command of ''Tartar'' at the outbreak of King Georges War. In April 1745, Fones successfully escorted the 500 soldiers in seven transports to Canso, Nova Scotia. During the voyage he drew fire from the French 32-gun frigate
''Renommée'', under
Kersaint-Coëtnempren, in an eight-hour engagement.
In May 1745, participating in the blockade of Louisbourg, Fones captured the French merchant ship ''Deux Amies''. In June he participated in the
Naval battle off Tatamagouche
The action of 15 June 1745 (also known as the Battle of Famme Goose Bay) was a naval encounter between three New England vessels and a French and native relief convoy en route to relieve the Siege of Louisbourg (1745) during King George's War. ...
. In the battle, Fones rescued the Connecticut warship Resolution and crushed the French and Indian expedition en route to save Louisbourg.

After the war he commanded the privateer Prince Frederick, the Defiance and Success.
After he retired from the sea, he represented North Kingstown in the General Assembly. Then in 1770, he opened David Fones Tavern at 126 Main St., North Kingstown.
His father Jeremiah Fones was buried at Chestnut Hill Cemetery, Exeter, Washington County, Rhode Island.
References
Texts
Chapin, Howard M., The Tartar: The Armed Sloop of the Colony of Rhode Island (The Society of Colonial Wars in Rhode Island, 1922)*
ttp://www.colonialnavy.org/ships/ship_type_brig/index.html Colonial Navy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fones, Daniel
History of Nova Scotia
1713 births
1790 deaths
People from Jamestown, Rhode Island
Military personnel from Rhode Island
Members of the Rhode Island General Assembly