USS Warren (1775)

USS ''Warren'' was a 4-gun schooner of the Continental Navy from 1775 to 1776. She was named for patriot Joseph Warren, who had been killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

''Warren'' was originally the fishing schooner ''Hawk'', probably built at Marblehead, Massachusetts, and owned by John Twisdon at the time of her appraisal for naval service in the American Revolutionary War by Colonel Jonathan Glover and Edward Fettyplace on 12 October 1775. Hurriedly fitted out as the fourth vessel of the fledgling seagoing force assembled by General George Washington to intercept British supply ships bound for Boston, Massachusetts, ''Warren'' was commissioned at Beverly, Massachusetts, late in October 1775. Under the command of Captain Winborn Adams, the armed schooner sailed from Beverly on 31 October 1775, on her maiden voyage under Continental colors.

''Warren'' cruised north of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and captured a small wooden schooner before bagging a Boston-bound supply ship, the schooner ''Rainbow'', around 27 November 1775.

''Warren'' continued to cruise north of Cape Ann until she came across the brig ''Sally'' on 24 December 1775. Bound from Lisbon, Portugal, to New York City with 153 quarter casks of wine, ''Sally'' had been captured by the fifth-rate HMS ''Niger'' earlier in the month, placed under a prize crew, and ordered taken to Boston. ''Warren'' captured ''Sally'' and took her into Marblehead as a "Christmas present" for General Washington.

After returning to port and undergoing repairs into January 1776, ''Warren'' was placed under the command of William Burke. She set sail from Boston on 25 March 1776 to intercept a convoy of transports but was frustrated by the weather in her attempt to pick off any strays while sailing in company with the Continental 6-gun schooner ''Franklin''. The schooners then sailed their separate ways, with ''Warren'' going to the familiar waters north of Cape Ann.

After another rent and recruiting new crewmen, ''Warren'' joined schooners ''Lynch'' and ''Lee'' in an attempt to get to sea on 27 May 1776, but that day they could not slip past the British 28-gun frigate HMS ''Milford'' patrolling outside Cape Ann harbor. When ''Warren'' did manage to get to sea, she scoured the waters of the bay near Cape Ann but did not score any successes that summer. In June 1776, she tangled with the British troopship ''Unity'', bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, with Hessian troops embarked, but met with a hot reception from the troopers' carriage guns and musket fire. While ''Warren'' was disengaging, some powder stored on her quarterdeck exploded, killing three and wounding seven.

Returning to Beverly for repairs, ''Warren'', still under the luckless Burke, put to sea again in late August 1776 to patrol the supply lanes between Nova Scotia and Boston. Before dawn on 26 August 1776, ''Warren'' and ''Lynch'' encountered the British 28-gun frigate HMS ''Liverpool'' patrolling. The two schooners separated to flee, and ''Liverpool'' chose to follow ''Warren''.

The ensuing engagement was one-sided, and ''Liverpool'' had little difficulty forcing ''Warren'' to strike her colors before noon. Burke and his crew were transferred to ''Liverpool'', which kept ''Warren'' as a tender until 4 September 1776. On that day, ''Liverpool'' rendezvoused with ''Milford'' off Cape Ann, transferred ''Warren''s guns to ''Milford'', and sent ''Warren'' to Halifax.

Condemned by a British prize court, ''Warren'' subsequently served as a tender to ''Milford'' until ''Warren'' ran aground in a storm near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and was wrecked in late December 1776.Silverstone, p. 14

See also

* List of ships captured in the 18th century

Citations

References

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Schooners of the Continental Navy
Ships built in Marblehead, Massachusetts
1770s ships
Vessels captured from the Continental Navy