Continental Navy Service
Lynch eluded fire from HMS Fowey when she sailed 7 February 1776 from Manchester, New Hampshire, to fit out at Beverly, Massachusetts. Shortly after midnight 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 porter 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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