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Photo # NH 84902-KN: Captain Gustavus Conyngham, Continental Navy. Portrait by V. Zveg

Online Library of Selected Images:
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Captain Gustavus Conyngham, Continental Navy (1747-1819)

Gustavus Conyngham was born in County Donegal, Ireland, in 1747 (His date of birth has also been cited as "circa 1744"). He moved across the Atlantic in 1763 to become a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later entered the shipping profession. In the fall of 1775 he arrived in Holland to seek supplies for the rebellious American colonies. When this mission was thwarted by British diplomacy, Conyngham went to France and, in March 1777, obtained a commission as Captain in the Continental Navy. Given command of the lugger Surprise (or Surprize), he began a fruitful commerce raiding career by capturing two British merchant vessels in the North Sea early in May and taking them to Dunkirk.

Though the French soon returned his prizes and seized Surprise, Conyngham was made captain of the cutter Revenge, in which he was to capture or destroy more than sixty enemy merchantmen and a few privateers during an remarkably productive cruise through the waters around the British Isles, off Spain and in the Caribbean Sea between July 1777 and February 1779. After returning to the United States, he undertook another voyage, but was captured and imprisoned in England. Captain Conyngham managed to escape after several attempts and, after reaching France, was briefly an officer of the Continental Frigate Alliance. Recaptured again while sailing back to the Colonies in mid-March 1780, he remained a prisoner until exchanged in June 1781.

Following the end of the Revolutionary War, Conyngham resumed his commercial shipping career. He also began a long and frustrating effort to gain Congressional recognition for his contributions to the struggle for American independence. Conyngham's later martial involvement included command of an armed brig in the Quasi-War with France and assisting with the defense of Philadelphia during the War of 1812. He died at Philadelphia on 27 November 1819.

The U.S. Navy has named three destroyers in honor of Gustavus Conyngham, including: Conyngham (Destroyer # 58, later DD-58) of 1916-1934; Conyngham (DD-371) of 1936-1948; and Conyngham (DDG-17) of 1963-1994.

This page features all the views we have of Captain Gustavus Conyngham.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

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Photo #: NH 84902-KN (color)

Captain Gustavus Conyngham, Continental Navy

Painting by V. Zveg, 1976, based on a miniature by Louis Marie Sicardi.

Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 595 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 1381

Captain Gustavus Conyngham
, Continental Navy

Eighteenth Century print, after a miniature portrait by Louis Marie Sicardi, reproduced in "Letters and Papers relating to the Cruises of Gustavus Conyngham", edited by Robert Wilden Neeser, 1915, and credited to the collections of James Barnes.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 134KB; 540 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 2082

Captain Gustavus Conyngham
, Continental Navy

Eighteenth Century French engraving, reproduced in "Letters and Papers relating to the Cruises of Gustavus Conyngham", edited by Robert Wilden Neeser, 1915.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 162KB; 520 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 43175

Captain Gustavus Conyngham
, Continental Navy

Engraving contemporary to the American Revolution, based on "the Original Sketch which was taken by an Artist of Eminence, and stuck up in the English Coffee House at Dunkirk".

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 142KB; 490 x 765 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 30 December 2003