Thought I'd try one more time to see if I could find some more/better local information (where in the US) about the British ship, Margaretta. I seem to have found some more specific information. Rhonda Houston http://www.mpbc.org/mpbcsite/television/hometsom/timelines/moreinfo/margart. html The British ship Margaretta is captured: A group of Machias citizens led an impromptu attack on a British ship anchored in Machias Bay. The ship and its captain were there to protect a local merchant who supplied Britain with lumber. Machias residents, armed with guns, swords, axes, and pitchforks, managed to capture the ship and to fatally wound its captain. The capture of the Margaretta was the first naval battle of the American Revolution. Maine Public Broadcasting http://www.quoddyloop.com/ma.shtml The first naval battle of the American Revolution was fought here. A monument to that battle is Burnham Tavern, where a wounded British officer (shot by a Passamaquoddy marksman) was taken for medical treatment, although he later died from his wound. http://www.quoddyloop.com/museum.htm#anchor77029 Two commissioned American privateers, Foster and Jeremiah O'Brien, angered the British so much that they burned several buildings in the area, but were driven off by both Americans and Indians. http://www.quoddyloop.com/washcohist.htm http://earth.vol.com/~vandy/military.htm Revolutionary War Patriots Nathaniel Cox MA Soldiers & Sailors in the War of the Revolution, vol. 4, pg 53: Cox, Nathaniel, Narragaugus. Private, Capt. Francis Shaw, Jr.'s (Seacoast) co.; enlisted 9/9/1775; service 4 mos. 1 day; company stationed at Narragaugus, Gouldsborough, No. 4, and Pleasant river. vol. 4, pg. 53: Cox, Nathaniel. Sergeant, Lieut. Thomas Parrat's detachment drafted from militia; enlisted 6/24/1777; discharged 6/30/1777; service, 7 days, at Machias. Roll sworn to at No. 4. vol 4, pg 53: Cox, Nathaniel. Sergeant Major, Col. Benjamin Foster's regt.; engaged 9/25/1777; discharged Oct. 10, 1777; service, 15 days, at Machias. vol 4 pg 53: Cox, Nathaniel. Certificate dated Machias 12/12/1777, signed by Capt. Reuben Dyer, stating that said Cox and others had received bounty from Capt. Stephen Smith, Muster Master for Lincoln Co., for engaging to serve on the expedition against St. Johns; also, Sergeant, Capt. Reuben Dyer's co.; engaged 7/4/1777; discharged 12/13/1777; service, 5 mos. 10 days; company raised for expedition against St. Johns, NS, and continued in service at and for the defense of Machias. Per Early Pleasant River Families was one of 4 men from Pleasant River who received 18 pounds of prize money from the capture of the Margaretta - see below "On June 12, 1775, a party of Maine mariners, armed with pitchforks and axes, inspired by the news of the recent victory at Lexington, Massachusetts, used an unarmed lumber schooner to surprise and capture a fully armed British warship, HMS Margaretta, off the coast of Machias, Maine." This was the first Naval battle of the Revolution and led to the creation of the U.S. Navy by the Continental Congress. See: www.ncts.navy.mil/homepages/nsgawh/unity.html and www.usmm.org/revolution.html and http://home.earthlink.net/~patriot1/nav1.html Memorial of the Loyalist Families: "And so as to Machias. There was in the last quarter of the eighteenth century in Machias one fighting Ben Foster, who first went and fought the French at Louisburg, then the French and Indians under Sir William Pepperell, and soon after, in the unpleasantness that culminated in Lexington and bunker Hill, still in fighting fettle, organized with Jere O'Brien (Jere came from Ireland) two schooners, with such crews and such weapons as they could lay their hands on, to seize an armed schooner that belonged to a Mr. George the Third ..., and was commanded by one Midshipman Moore ... carrying about forty men, four ten-pounders and sixteen swivels, and any amount of hand-grenades, while the other fellows had some twenty fowling-pieces, a lot of pitchforks, and several axes. Well, the two schooners came around all right to the attack, but Jere got his schooner round in Ben's way (or else it was the wind or tide) and he got aground, and so Jere went it alone, he and Joe Getchell between them (Joe was my ancestor) between them, I say in that Jere was captain and Joe a high private that first set his foot on the schooner's deck, though this was disputed by one of the O'Briens; and besides these there were one or two other O'Briens, a Knight, a Libby, a Whitney, and several others, thus between them mustering quite a crew. And as I said, they had to go to the attack without Ben; but they succeeded after killing four and wounding the brave commander, who died the next day." http://www.paonline.com/deanorma/machias-patriots.htm Accounts indicate that about 40 Machias men manned the Unity. George W. Drisko, a local Machias historian, actually listed the following 55 names of Machias men for whom he had evidence of participating in the attack on the Margaretta. (What I believe to to be the webmaster) Footnote: 1Of the crew on board the Unity during the fight for the Margaretta, four of the men were direct ancestors of Norma Jean Getchell Newhouse. The wounded John Berry was her 5th great grandfather. Benjamin Foss was also her 5th great grandfather. Joseph Getchell and his son Joseph, Jr. were her 5th and 4th great grandfathers, respectively. Several others were brothers of other ancestors, making them Norma's distant uncles. References: George W. Drisko's "History of Machias", the "Life of Captain Jeremiah O'Brien", the "Sea of Glory", William James Morgan's "Captains to the Northwind", and the "American Theatre" Other Relevant Resources: Drisko's "The Liberty Pole; a Tale of Machias", William Bartlett Smith's "Historical Sketch of Machias" and "Memorial of the Centennial Anniversary of the Settlement of Machias", Stephen Jones' "Historical Account of Machias, Me.", and Foxhall A. Parker's "The First Sea Fight of the Revolution; the Capture of the Margaretta" http://www.trnty.edu/depts/education/teach/war/ships/warpage1.htm Merchant Mariners in the Revolutionary War The 13 Colonies, having declared their Independence, had only 31 ships comprising the Continental Navy!