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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

Diligent (I)


Brigantine:
  • Built in American, purchased by the Royal Navy, 25 October 1777
  • Captured by the Continental brig Providence 7 May 1779
  • Taken into the Continental Navy under the command of LT. Phillip Brown, Diligent cruised with her captor for a short time
  • Later she participated in the Penobscot Expedition during July and August 1779
  • After successfully landing an armed force to attempt the recapture of Castine, Maine, from the British, despite opposition from shore and from three British sloops of war, the American ships were forced by the arrival of an overpowering British squadron to break off their efforts
  • Final Disposition. On 14 August Diligent was run ashore and burned by her own crew to prevent her capture by the British
    Specifications:
    Displacement 236 t.
    Length 88' 6"
    Beam 24' 8"
    Depth of Hold 10'
    Draft unknown
    Speed unknown
    Complement
    British, 45
    United States, 50
    Armament
    British, ten 3-pdrs
    United States, fourteen 4-pdrs
    Propulsion sail

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    Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Diligent
    098699801
    142k Oil on Canvas "Destruction of the American Fleet at Penobscot Bay, 14 August 1779", by Dominic Serres
    This is a depiction of naval action in the American Revolutionary War's 1779 Penobscot Expedition. painting shows the bay viewed from the south. In the left background is Raisonable with a white ensign and broad pendant and firing into Hunter (Hunter [1779] is not known to Navsoruce). During the American War of Independence, 1775-1783, the British decided to establish a post on the east side of the entrance to the Penobscot River in Maine. On 16 June 1779 a detachment of 650 troops commanded by Colonels McLean and Campbell arrived by sea from Halifax and began clearing the ground to build a fort on a promontory by the mouth of the river. Before the fortifications had been completed the rebel Commodore Dudley Saltonstall laid siege to the British on July 25 with a fleet consisting of a frigate, 16 sloops and 24 transports. A British relief force consisting of a ship of the line, two frigates and three sloops, commanded by Sir George Collier left New York on August 3 and arrived in Penobscot Bay on the evening of the 13 August. He found Saltonstall’s men-of-war anchored in a crescent across the mouth of the river, the transports behind them. The next morning the British squadron approached them and the whole fleet retired up the river where they were pursued by Collier’s ships, aided by the three sloops which had convoyed the troops from Halifax. Saltonstall’s entire fleet was burned and two associated ships, Defence and Hunter (Defence and Hunter are not known to Navsource) were also dealt with. The ‘Defence’ was blown up by her crew and the ‘Hunter’ was captured.
    National Maritime Museum, London
    Robert Hurst

    Diligent (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    HMS Diligent (1777) on Wikipedia
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    Last Updated 20 May 2022