Samuel Smedley was a ship captain and

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...

from

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Easton, Weston, and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. Located within the New York metropolitan are ...

. At age 15, Smedley was the captain of the ''Defence'' as a lieutenant of the marines. He was best known for capturing the British ship ''Cyrus''. He also started the "ships' papers collection" currently located at Fairfield Historical Society's library that contains letters by Smedley dating back to the early 19th century. In his career, he captured or aid in capturing more than a dozen prizes, survived shipwreck, battled Loyalists off the shore of Fairfield, twice captained privateers, and was twice captured by the British, yet was able to escape from the infamous Mill Prison in England.

References

{{Reflist People from colonial Connecticut People of Connecticut in the American Revolution People from Fairfield, Connecticut