AH-WR-1011

Defence

Privateer Brigantine · United States · Lost 1779 · Cape Ann & the Gulf of Maine

A Massachusetts privateer scuttled and burned in the disastrous 1779 Penobscot Expedition, later excavated as one of the best-documented Revolutionary War shipwrecks.

Become Captain of Record

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Defence was built and fitted out in 1779 at Beverly, Massachusetts, and joined the Penobscot Expedition against a British fort at Majabigwaduce. When a British relief squadron scattered the American fleet in mid-August 1779, Defence's crew ran her ashore in a cove west of the Penobscot River and set her ablaze to keep her from the enemy. The wreck lay buried in the harbor mud at Stockton Springs until located in 1972 and excavated between 1975 and 1981.

Vessel

Built: 1779
Builder: Not established
Yard: Beverly, Massachusetts
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: 170
Propulsion: Sail, brigantine rig
Owners: Andrew Cabot and Moses Brown of Beverly, Massachusetts

Loss

Date: August 14, 1779
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Stockton Springs Harbor, Penobscot Bay, Maine
Water: Penobscot Bay
Voyage: Boston, Massachusetts → Majabigwaduce (Castine), Maine
Cargo: Ship's stores and munitions
Aboard: 100
Lives lost: Crew escaped overland after the ship was destroyed; no confirmed deaths documented at the loss.
Master: John Edmonds

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Substantial hull remains recovered by archaeological excavation
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 1972
Protection: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1975) as the Privateer Brigantine Defence Shipwreck Site