USS Lynch (1776)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | USS Lynch |
| Namesake: | Thomas Lynch |
| Owner: | Colonel John Lee of Marblehead, Massachusetts |
| Ordered: | by General George Washington |
| Builder: | not known |
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Acquired: | 26 January 1776 |
| Commissioned: | 1 February 1776 at Manchester, New Hampshire |
| Decommissioned: | (captured by the British 19 May 1777) |
| Refit: | Beverly, Massachusetts |
| Captured: | by HMS Foudroyant 19 May 1777 |
| Fate: | taken to Plymouth, England, 23 May 1777 by the British |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | schooner |
| Tonnage: | not known |
| Length: | not known |
| Beam: | not known |
| Draft: | not known |
| Propulsion: | sail |
| Complement: | not known |
| Armament: | two 4-pounder guns; two 2-pounder guns; four swivel guns |
USS Lynch was a schooner acquired as part of the Continental Navy in 1776. She served for over a year on the New England coast, interfering with British maritime trade when possible. In 1777 she was assigned dispatch boat duty and, after delivering her secret dispatches to France, set sail for the United States with French secret dispatches, only to be captured by the British, but only after destroying the French dispatches.
The first ship to be so named by the Navy, Lynch, a fishing schooner chartered by order of General George Washington 26 January 1776 from Col. John Lee of Marblehead, Massachusetts, was commissioned 1 February 1776 at Manchester, New Hampshire, Comdr. John Ayers in command.
Lynch eluded fire from HMSFowey when she sailed 7 February 1776 from Manchester, New Hampshire, to fit out at Beverly, Massachusetts. Shortly after midnight on 2 March, Lynch slipped out of Beverly and dodged Fowey and Nautilus to make her way to rendezvous in Cape Ann Harbor with three other ships in the little American fleet commanded by Commodore John Manley.
On the night of the 4th, Manley’s schooners drove off British brig Hope in a spirited engagement. The next day they took their first prize, Susannah, a 300-ton English merchantman laden with coal, cheese, and beer, for General Howe’s beleaguered army in Boston, Massachusetts.
After escorting their prize to Portsmouth, Manley’s squadron returned to Cape Ann, where on the 10th he captured a second prize, Boston-bound transport Stokesby, a 300-ton ship carrying porter, cheese, vinegar, and hops. Lynch and the others escorted the prize toward Gloucester, Massachusetts, but Stokesby ran hard aground. After much of the prize’s cargo had been removed, British brig Hope arrived and put the torch to the hulk.
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Wikipedia