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The Battle off Halifax took place on 28 May 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. It involved the American privateer ''Jack'' and the 14-gun Royal Naval brig off Halifax, Nova Scotia. Captain David Ropes commanded ''Jack'', and Lieutenant John Crymes commanded ''Observer''. The battle was "a long and severe engagement."〔''Salem Gazette'', July 11, 18, 1782; ''Boston Post'', June 15, 1782; and ''Hunts Magazine'', February, 1857, as cited by Gardner W. Allen, A NAVAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (Boston, 1913), Chapter 17.〕 ==Background== During the American Revolution, Americans regularly attacked Nova Scotia by land and sea. American privateers devastated the maritime economy by raiding many of the coastal communities,〔Benjamin Franklin also engaged France in the war, which meant that many of the privateers were also from France.〕 such as the numerous raids on Liverpool and on Annapolis Royal.〔Roger Marsters (2004). ''Bold Privateers: Terror, Plunder and Profit on Canada's Atlantic Coast" , p. 87-89〕 The engagement between ''Jack'' and ''Observer'' was one of several in the region. On 10 July 1780, the British privateer brig ''Resolution'' (16 guns) under the command of Thomas Ross engaged the American privateer ''Viper'' (22 guns and 130 men) off Halifax at Sambro Light. In what one observer described as “one of the bloodiest battles in the history of privateering”, the two privateers began a “severe engagement”〔Simeon Perkins Diary. Thursday 13 July 1780〕 during which both pounded each other with cannon fire for about 90 minutes.〔Bandits and Privateers: Canada in the Age of Gunpowder; Beamish Murdoch A history of Nova-Scotia, or Acadie, Vol. 2, p.608.〕 The engagement resulted in the surrender of the British ship and the death of up to 18 British and 33 American sailors.〔There are varying reports on the number of casualties. Another source indicates that the Americans reported between 3 died (British reporting 30 American died), while British reported 8 killed and 10 wounded.〕 ''Jack'' herself was involved in a previous naval engagement. ''Jack'' (or ''Saucy Jack'') was originally a Massachusetts privateer commissioned in September 1779. After three successful cruises in which she captured a number of prizes, and captured her in July 1780 in the St. Lawrence River. The British took ''Jack'' into the Quebec Provincial Marine, though she was commissioned out of Nova Scotia. She then served as a patrol vessel for the fisheries and the St. Lawrence River. In an engagement off Cape Breton with two French frigates at Spanish River, near Cape Breton Island in 1781〔Thomas B. Akins. (1895) History of Halifax. Dartmouth: Brook House Press, p. 82.〕 two French frigates captured her. They took ''Jack'' back to Boston, where her previous owners purchased her and sent her to sea again as a privateer. ''Observer'' was herself a former Massachusetts privateer, originally built as a merchantman, the ''Amsterdam'', which captured on 19 October 1781. The British sent ''Amsterdam'' into Halifax to be condemned as a prize, where the Royal Navy bought her. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Naval battle off Halifax」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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