Jeremiah O'Brien

Captain Jeremiah O’Brien (1744–1818) was a captain in the Massachusetts State Navy. Prior to its existence (or that of the Continental Navy), he commanded the sloop Unity when she captured the British armed schooner HMS Margaretta in the Battle of Machias, the first naval battle of the American Revolutionary War.

Jeremiah was the eldest son of Morris and Mary O'Brien. He was born at Kittery, Maine in 1744. His family moved to Scarborough, Maine and settled in Machias, Maine in the 1760s to engage in lumbering. Maine was a part of Massachusetts at the time.

Reports of the battles of Lexington and Concord reached Machias in early May 1775. Benjamin Foster rallied Machias residents at Job Burnham's tavern and erected a liberty pole. Machias merchant captain Ichabod Jones sailed his ships Unity and Polly to Boston with a cargo of lumber and purchased food for sale in Machias. British troops encouraged Jones to deliver another cargo of lumber for construction of their barracks in Boston. Admiral Samuel Graves ordered HMS Margaretta, under the command of James Moore, to accompany Jones' ships to discourage interference from Machias rebels. When the ships reached Machias on 2 June 1775, James Moore ordered the liberty pole removed; and Machias townspeople refused to load the lumber. Foster plotted to capture the British officers when they attended church on 11 June, but the British avoided capture and retreated downriver aboard Margaretta. On 12 June Foster pursued Margaretta aboard the packet boat Falmouth. After Falmouth ran aground, O'Brien and his five brothers, Gideon, John, William, Dennis and Joseph, seized the Unity.

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