Battle of Gloucester (1775) - Battle

Battle

On August 8 or 9 (sources disagree on the exact date), Captain Linzee spotted two American schooners making sail for Salem around 8 in the morning. Quickly capturing one of the schooners without incident, he put a crew aboard the prize before giving chase to the other. The captain of the second schooner, apparently familiar with the area, brought his ship deep into Gloucester Harbor and grounded it near Five Pound Island shortly after noon. Linzee forced a local fisherman to pilot the Falcon and the prize schooner to an anchorage in the harbor. He then sent 36 men on three small boats under the command of his lieutenant to take the ship. Among the crews sent were 10 impressed Americans, including four from Gloucester. The arrival of the British ship had caused the townspeople to raise the alarm, and militia companies began to muster, led by their captains, Joseph Foster and Bradbury Sanders. Armed with muskets and two aging swivel guns, they opened fire from the shore at the small boats as they neared the schooner. The British rowed faster, and boarded the grounded schooner, where they were effectively trapped by constant fire from the shore. Linzee, attempting to distract the townspeople, fired the Falcon's guns on the town, and eventually sent a landing party to try to burn the town. However, this attempt was unsuccessful, and the party on the grounded schooner continued to be harassed by from the shore. The lieutenant was wounded in the action, and he and a few men managed to escape the action in a skiff around 4 pm, leaving the Falcon's master in charge. The remaining men left on the grounded ship were eventually taken prisoner, including the impressed Americans. By 7 pm, the small boats had all been taken. Linzee then decided to send the prize schooner in to recover his men. Linzee reported his suspicion that the crew of the captured ship took the opportunity to overpower the prize crew, and recovered the vessel. According to Linzee, "After the master was landed I found I could not do him any good, or distress the rebels by firing, therefore I left off."