British Service
The British took Boston into service as a frigate and armed her with 28 guns and six 18-pounder carronades.
In June 1781 Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot sent Charlestown and several other vessels to attempt to intercept some French reinforcements from entering Boston. On 7 July, the squadron that Arbuthnot sent to Boston recaptured the British sloop-of-war HMS Atalanta, which the American frigate Alliance had captured on 27 May. Charlestown, under Captain Henry Francis Evans, and Vulture (20), brought Atalanta into Halifax. Then Charlestown sent in two American privateers that she had taken, the Flying Fish and the Yankee Hero.
Next, Charlestown took part in the Action of 21 July 1781. She was one of five Royal Navy ships escorting a convoy of 13 colliers merchant vessels. The escorts comprised also included the two sloops Allegiance (24) and Vulture, the armed transport Vernon (14), and the Jack (14), another small armed merchant ship. The convoy was off the harbour of Spanish River, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (present-day Sydney, Nova Scotia), or Île Royale, when it came under attack from two French frigates the Astrée (38), commanded by La Pérouse, and the Hermione (34), commanded by Latouche Tréville. The French captured Jack. Charlestown struck to the French frigates but they were unable to take possession of her; French accounts state that she escaped in the dark. The French lost six men killed and 34 wounded; the British lost some 17 or so men killed and 48 wounded. Charlestown alone lost 8 men killed, including Evans, and 29 men wounded. The merchant vessels and their cargoes of coal entered Spanish River safely. Charlestown and the sloops sailed back to Halifax.
Lieutenant Rupert George of Vulture replaced Evans as captain of Charlestown. He was posted on 29 November 1781 and remained her captain.
Read more about this topic: USS Boston (1777)
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