(AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1776) Order from the Massachusetts War

Sale 2546 - Lot 26

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Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1776.) Order from the Massachusetts War Board to appraise the prize brig Charming Sally. Manuscript Document Signed by John Avery as deputy secretary of the Massachusetts Council, attesting it to be a "true copy" from the council records. One page, 9 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches; moderate foxing, minor wear, verso blank with mount remnants at edges. [Boston], 13 December 1776

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Several ships during the revolutionary era bore the name Charming Sally. This one was a British brig captured on 21 November 1776 en route to New York with a load of oats (Naval Documents of the American Revolution, pages VII:274-5). This order by the state legislature reads: "Ordered that the agents . . . under whose care the Brig Charming Sally now is . . . deliver the said brig, with her appurtenances, to the Board of War. After, she shall be apprised by indifferent men, and that the said agents cause the cargo on board said brig to be landed and stored in some safe & convenient place or places. And it is further resolved that if, on the tryal of the justice of the capture of s'd brig, she should not be condemned, the claimant or claimants of said brig on supporting said claim shall receive s'd brig or be entitled to, & receive out of the Treasury of this state the sum at which said brig shall be apprized as afore directed." The ship was soon renamed as the Penet after a French merchant and went into Massachusetts state service, bringing one large cargo of military supplies from France to the Continental Army before being stripped down for use as a prison ship.