The Hawke and the Dove, a Cautionary Tale: Neutral Ports and Prizes of War During the American Revolution
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: Pendant la révolution américaine, le congrès continental et les nouveaux gouvernements nationaux ont fourni des lettres de marque aux capitaines entreprenants de la marine marchande les autorisant à arraisoner les navires marchands britanniques.Le problème se posant aux commandants de ces corsaires, navigant loin des eaux américaines, était celui de trouver des ports complaisants en France et en Espagne où ils pourraient disposer de leurs prises pendant les années 1776-77 tant que ces deux pays prenaient une position officiellement neutre dans la guerre américaine pour l'indépendance.Cet article discute des complications légales rencontrées par les officiers navals américains et comment ils ont surmonté ces obstacles avec la complicité des fonctionnaires espagnols et français qui ne montraient aucune sympathie pour la cause britannique.In the midst of the American Revolutionary War, British merchant sea captain John Lowden Cole fell victim to an American privateersman.Despite heroic efforts to recover his vessel, he could not prevail over sharp Yankee practice.Cole sailed the British merchantman Dove with a cargo of fish from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Spain.Off Cape Ortegal, an officer from the frigate HMS Thetis boarded the Dove and warned Cole that American privateers were operating near Bilbao.Despite Cole's precaution of sailing to Santander instead of Bilbao, the Massachusetts privateer schooner Hawke, Captain Jeremiah Hibbert, captured the Dove, just a league from the Spanish shore.In Santander's roadstead, Hibbert transferred Dove's entire crew, officers included, to the Hawke.The Hawke and the Dove then sailed into Santoña, where Hibbert sold the Dove with its cargo to a Spanish merchant.The Hawke escorted the Dove, now with Spanish colors and a Spanish crew, to Bilbao.Hibbert kept Cole and his crew closely confined in the Hawke, fending off approaching boats and preventing anyone from conversing with the prisoners.Despite the Americans' vigilance, one of the Dove's sailors slipped overboard in the night and swam ashore.None of the merchants in Bilbao to whom the sailor applied offered any assistance.Ten days after the Hawke and the Dove anchored at Bilbao, Hawke's officers and men received their share of the proceeds from the sale of the Dove and most of them went ashore to spend their prize money.As darkness fell and a hailstorm came up driving The Northern Mariner/le marin du nord, XVIII Nos. 3-4, (July-October 2008), 49-66
Author: Michael J. Crawford
Language: English
Subfield: Transportation
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4229650775