Mohawk (1781 ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Massachusetts
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| Name: | Mohawk |
| Namesake: | Mohawk people |
| Builder: | Beverly, Massachusetts, or Philadelphia |
| Launched: | 1781 |
| Homeport: | Beverly, Massachusetts |
| Captured: | October 1782 |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Mohawk |
| Acquired: | October 1782 by capture |
| Fate: | Sold 1783 |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Mohawk |
| Owner: |
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| Acquired: | 1783 by purchase |
| Homeport: | Bristol |
| Captured: | July 1801 |
 France
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| Name: | Mohawk |
| Acquired: | July 1801 by capture |
| Fate: | Sold June 1814 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 130,, c.280, 284 86⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 26 ft 4 in (8.0 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 16 ft 10 in (5.1 m) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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Mohawk (or Mohawke) was a ship launched at Beverly, Massachusetts in 1781. She became a privateer, making two voyages. In 1782 the Royal Navy captured her and briefly took her into service under her existing name before selling her in 1783. She then became a merchantman until some investors in Bristol bought her in 1796 and turned her into a privateer again. In 1799 she became a letter of marque, but the French Navy captured her in 1801. She then served in the French Navy, capturing a British privateer in 1805, and was sold in 1814.
William Leach, William Bartlett, and other merchants of Beverly, Massachusetts, applied for a commission for Elias Smith as commander of the ship Mohawk, which they received on 8 November 1781. Mohawk was a new ship, built especially for privateering.
On her first cruise Mohawk sent three prizes into Martinique.Lloyd's List of 7 June 1782 reported that in the latitude of Barbados, Mohawk had captured the Adventure, Ingram or Bodkin, master, which had been sailing from Quebec to the West Indies. Mohawk took Adventure into Martinique. Adventure's captain and boatswain arrived at Barbados in a cartel on 19 April.Mohawk also sent one prize, the ship Daniel, formerly the Salem Packet, into Beverly.Mohawk had captured Daniel, Benjamin Bickford, master, as she was homeward bound from Bilboa.
Captain John Carnes, of Beverly, replaced Smith. He sailed on 6 September 1782, but the cruise was short-lived. On 5 October 1782, HMS Enterprise, Captain John Payne, captured Mohawk off Cape Ann. Mohawk was armed with 20 guns and had 106 or 108 men aboard. Enterprise landed her prisoners at Sandy Hook on 13 October. Two days later, Captain John Payne of Enterprise libeled Mohawk in the Vice-Admiralty Court at New York.
The Royal Navy purchased Mohawk immediately after her capture, and in November had her hull coppered at Antigua. A draught of Mohawk's lines shows her as having ten gun ports on each side of her gun-deck, and nine ports on each side in the bulwarks of what is apparently a continuous upper deck.
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Wikipedia