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Photo # NH 60699:  Continental Cutter Revenge in action in the English Channel.  Painting by John P. Benson

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-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

Continental Cutter Revenge (1777-1779)

The cutter Revenge was purchased at Dunkirk, France, in 1777 on behalf of the American Colonies. Despite British protests, on 17 July she sailed on a purported commercial voyage to Bergen, Norway. Soon after departure, Continental Navy Captain Gustavus Conyngham took command and commenced a commerce raiding cruise in the North Sea. Four vessels were captured during the next several days, greatly troubling English trade in the area.

Revenge continued to operate around the British Isles for the next two months, then shifted to the Bay of Biscay, the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. At the beginning of September 1778 she crossed the Atlantic to begin raiding in the Caribbean. After taking over sixty enemy merchantmen, and a couple of privateers, Revenge arrived at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in February 1779. Sold in March, she was employed as a privateer, still under Conyngham's command, but was captured by HMS Gallatea off New York on 27 April 1779.

This page features the only view we have concerning the Continental Cutter Revenge (1777-1779).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 60699

Continental Cutter Revenge


In action in the English Channel while under the command of Captain Gustavus Gonyngham, 1777-1778.
1930s vintage photograph of a painting by John P. Benson, Kittery, Maine.

Courtesy of Mrs. Alice Conyngham Gifford Johnson.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 500 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 31 December 2003