John Manley was born at Tor Bay, near Torquay, Devonshire, England, in the year 1733, and while still a young man came to America and settled at Marblehead, where he seems to have become a man of some substance, owning, at the time we first find mention of him, besides several fishing vessels, a warehouse and a wharf at Beverly.
There is little record of his early life except that on September 27, 1764, under the name of John Russell, he married a Martha Hickman of Marblehead. By this marriage he had at least two sons and three daughters, who, together with their descendants, were known by the name of Russell. Manley himself, while known by the name of Russell in Marblehead, was elsewhere known as Manley. Unfortunately no reason for this change of name can be found. Manley seems to have lived with his family at Marblehead until he entered the service of the United Colonies, about which time he moved nearer Boston and probably settled in Malden.
The first notice we find of Manley’s connection with the Navy is a record in September, 1775, of the schooner Hannah, belonging to John Manley of Marblehead, being fitted out and commanded by Nicholas Broughton under a commission given by General Washington, who acted without the authority of the Continental Congress, on his own initiative as Commander-in-Chief of the Army.
About the first of October, 1775, Washington, acting again on his own initiative, ordered Colonel Glover of Marblehead to charter and fit out several vessels to prey on the transport and supply ships of the English then besieged in Boston. Accordingly Glover chartered four small schooners owned in or near Marblehead at the rate of $1.00 per ton per month. He did this in the name of the “United Colonies of North America.” These vessels bore the names Hancock, Lee, Franklin, and Warren.
On October 12, 1775, Washington received orders from the Congress to dispatch two of these schooners to the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the purpose of intercepting two English brigs bound from England to Quebec with military stores. The Hancock and the Franklin were detached for this service and sailed on October 21 under the command of Captain Nicholas Broughton, ex of the Hannah, and John Selman, respectively.
The Warren, Captain Waters of New Hampshire, and the Lee, Captain John Manley of Marblehead, were directed to cruise off Boston.
General Washington approved Manley’s commission on October 17, 1775, and a few days later sent him orders empowering him to “take and seize all vessels bound to or from Boston on the service of the Ministerial Army.”
The Lee was a half-decked top-sail schooner of seventy-two tons carrying ten swivels and four 4-pound cannon. Twenty rounds of ammunition were provided for each gun. Her crew consisted of fifty men of Colonel Glover’s Amphibian Regiment, so called because they were equally at home on sea or land, being all fishermen or sailors from the Essex County coast towns.
On October 29, 1775, the Lee sailed under Captain Manley, flying the Pine Tree flag. Manley cruised off Boston with slight success until November 26, when he received information that the English brig Nancy with military stores was off the coast alone, having lost her man-of-war convoy. At the time he received this news Manley was taking on provisions at Beverley, but sailed immediately and three days later fell in with the brig about ten miles off Cape Ann. Being lightly armed the Nancy struck without hesitation and that night Manley brought her into Fresh Water Cove in Gloucester outer harbor. The value of the prize proved to be more than £20,000, a large amount for those days, and her cargo was of great value to the Continental Army which was almost destitute of military stores.
During the month of December, 1775, Manley took four more vessels totaling 900 tons and of considerable value. In the same month Captain Manley had risen from comparative obscurity to a position as one of the young nation’s most noted naval officers. As an enthusiastic citizen wrote, “as many towns contend for the honor of his birth as they did for that of Homer’s.”
That Washington appreciated Manley’s ability and aggressiveness is shown by the fact that on January 1, 1776, he appointed him commodore of the armed schooner force. Manley hoisted his flag on the Hancock, about the same size as the Lee but faster. The other vessels of his force were the schooners Lee, Captain Waters, Franklin, Captain Tucker, Harrison, Captain Dyer, Lynch, Captain Ayers, and Warren, Captain Burke. About this time these vessels were placed under the authority of the newly- organized Marine Committee of Congress, thus becoming the real embryo of the United States Navy.
On January 25, 1776, Manley, cruising off Boston, sighted the ship Happy Return, 130 tons, Whitehaven to Boston and, giving chase, took her in full sight of the English fleet at anchor in Nantasket Roads. Putting a prize crew on the Happy Return he started to convoy her to Plymouth but off Cohasset he sighted a Boston bound brig. Bearing down on her she struck her colors to him, proving to be the Norfolk, 120 tons, Captain Grindall, Whitehaven to Boston. Putting a prize crew on the Norfolk Manley was about to continue with his two prizes when he sighted a British armed schooner and convoy of two small provision vessels coming rapidly toward him.
In spite of the fact that the English schooner was more heavily armed than the Hancock and was full of men while the Hancock, having depleted her crew to man the two prizes, had only two officers and sixteen men left aboard and in addition was full of prisoners from the prizes, Manley hove her to and waited for the enemy. When the English schooner came up a sharp engagement took place. Strange to relate the prisoners lent considerable aid, and as Manley said in a letter written shortly after this event “Did as much as they dared do in such circumstances.” After a short encounter the enemy sheered off and continued to Boston, while Manley, seeing the English frigates in Nantasket Roads were getting under way, made what speed he could for Plymouth, where he arrived on the ensuing evening, being able to report no greater casualties than one man wounded and some slightly damaged rigging.
A few days later he received a letter from General Washington which in closing said:
I wish you could inspire the captains of the other armed schooners under your command with some of your activity and industry. They dare not disobey your orders as it is mentioned in the instructions I have given them that they are to be under your command as Commodore, and as such I desire that you will give them such instructions, in writing, as to you will appear for the good of the service.
I am, sir, wishing you a continuance of success, yours etc.
George Washington
On January 30, 1776, he encountered an English frigate outside the Gurnet and knowing it to be useless to engage a vessel of such superior force, fled up the coast, but finding the frigate to be gaining on him rapidly he put the Hancock aground just south of the North River in Scituate. The frigate approaching as near as her draft would allow came to anchor and poured such a heavy fire on the Hancock that Manley and his crew left her and waded ashore. Lowering their boats the English stood in to board the Hancock, but the militia of the neighborhood having joined Manley and his men, such an array was presented that the English returned to their ship, weighed anchor and stood up for Boston. The following day Manley refloated the Hancock and on February 1 was ready for sea again.
Manley is reported as having taken several prizes, totaling 700 or 800 tons, during February and March, 1776, and on April 17 we find that Congress appointed him to command the 32-gun frigate Hancock, then building at Newburyport. This was one of the seventeen frigates authorized by Congress by the Act of December 13, 1775. Through delays in building and fitting out Manley was unable to put to sea in his new command until April 24, when he left Boston in the Hancock, flag, in company with the frigate Boston, twenty-four guns, Captain McNeil, to search for an English frigate which was capturing American vessels off the Massachusetts coast. On the morning of the 28th, Manley sighted a sail which proved to be an English frigate of about the same size as the Hancock. The two ships approached rapidly and passed close enough to exchange broadsides. The British vessel did not wish to continue the engagement but crowded on sail to escape. Manley came about in pursuit and as soon as in range opened an engagement which lasted about an hour and a half When the Boston came up and the Englishmen struck his colors proving to be the Fox, twenty-eight guns. Manley lost eight men in this engagement while thirty-two were killed on his prize.
About the 1st of June, 1777, the three ships, Hancock, Boston, and Fox, imprudently appeared off Halifax. This move brought out three English frigates, the Rainbow, forty-four guns, Flora, thirty-two guns, and Victor, eighteen guns, then at anchor in the port.
The American ships scattered and the Boston having a good start escaped. On arriving at Boston, Captain McNeil was court martialed and dismissed from the service for abandoning Manley under such serious circumstances. The Flora quickly overtook the Fox and after a short engagement captured her. The Rainbow and Victor gave chase to the Hancock. The wind being light Manley tried to lighten his vessel by pumping tanks and bilge, but only succeeded in so putting his ship out of trim that she became practically unmanageable. Seeing that he could not escape Manley tried to bring his ship about and board the Rainbow, but before the maneuver could be completed the Rainbow was on him and the Victor in raking position. Finding himself in a hopeless situation Manley surrendered and was taken prisoner to Halifax. It is not known how long he remained prisoner, but on December 14, 1778, his name appears as being in command of the privateer Cumberland, 20 guns. In January, 1779, the Cumberland sailed from Boston and proceeded to the West Indies. She was taken by the English frigate Pomona and carried into Barbadoes, where Manley and his officers were imprisoned without any of the indulgences usually offered to officer prisoners of war. About a month later they escaped by bribing the jailer. Seizing a sloop in the harbor they made their way to Martinique, from whence they obtained passage to Boston, arriving in April. On June 2, 1779, Manley received command of the privateer Jason, eighteen guns, of Portsmouth, proving that in spite of his having lost two vessels, his ability as a naval commander was still respected. On June 22, the Jason left Portsmouth and on the same day sighted two sails. These proved to be an English frigate and brig. Faced by such a superior force Manley came about and crowded on sail for Portsmouth. The enemy gained rapidly, but off the Isles of Shoals a heavy thunder squall struck in from the west and hove the Jason aback, after a few moments the wind shifted sharply north carrying away nearly all the sails that had not been furled. The wind then shifted suddenly again to the east throwing the ship on her beam ends and dismasting her. The two Englishmen were driven out to sea and disappeared.
During the squall one of the crew of the Jason was knocked overboard and drowned, and this together with the fact that Manley had lost two vessels, caused his crew to consider him a Jonah and, mutinying, they refused to do any work unless the ship were returned to Portsmouth which would give them a chance to desert. When Manley received word of the munity he seized the cutlass of the sentry at his cabin door, and, running down the deck, singled out the ringleaders of the mutineers and punished them to such a good purpose that within thirty-six hours the masts were restepped, topmasts and topgallant masts on end, lower yards athwart, topsail yards on caps, sails bent, and running rigging rove. After completing his repairs Manley continued his cruise and a week later appeared off Sandy Hook.
On July 23, 1779, Manley in the Jason fell in with the privateers Hazard, eighteen guns, of Liverpool, and Adventurer, eighteen guns, of Glasgow, taking them both after a brisk engagement in which he lost only one man. Manley brought his prizes into Boston, but anchored off Hull and had his stores boated down to him, not daring to bring his ship up to the city for fear the crew Would desert. On July 30, he put to sea, and up to September 30 had sent in several English merchant ships as prizes. On the morning of September 30 an English frigate was sighted-and Manley made all sail to get away until about 11 p.m. when the Englishmen came up with him. Quoting from the journal of one Joshua Davis, who was on board the Jason at the time:
On hailing we found her to be the Surprise frigate, twenty-eight guns. They hailed us and we answered the Deane. They ordered us to heave to or they would fire into us and we replied “Fire away and be d—d, we have Sot as many guns as you.” They gave us a broadside. Captain Manley would not let us fire until they got abreast of us. They gave us another broadside which somewhat cut up our running rigging and drove some of our men from the tops. We gave them a broadside which silenced two bow Suns. Both sides continued the fire until one in the morning. Our running rigging, yards, and spars were so cut away they were useless. Lanterns were hung at the ship’s sides between the guns, but they soon fell on deck at the shaking of the guns which made it so dark the men could not see to load. They broke the fore hatches open and ran below. Our captain sent the sailing master forward to see why the bow guns did not keep the fire up, but he never returned. The captain then sent the master’s mate on the same errand and he never returned. It was, therefore, thought needless to stand out long and the captain took the trumpet and called for quarter. The fight lasted two glasses and some minutes.
The Surprise was much stronger than the Jason having twenty-eight guns and 230 men against the Jason’s eighteen guns and 170 men, yet on the Surprise fifteen were killed and thirty wounded while on the Jason only five were killed and a few wounded. The Surprise took the Jason into St. Johns, N. F., where Manley and his crew were kept until the first of November, when they were taken to England, and placed in the Old Mill Prison, being confined there for a little over three years. Early in January, 1782, Manley was exchanged and, making his way to France, obtained passage on a French letter of marque bound for America and on April 1 of the same year was again in Boston. On September 26, 1782, the Independent Chronicle of Boston bears the following notice:
On Monday the 11th inst. John Manley, Esq., captain in the American Navy, was appointed to command of the Continental frigate Hogue (late Derne), now in the harbor, agreeable to an order from the Hon. Robert Morris, Esq., Principal Agent of Marine. Captain Manley, at two p.m. of the same day repaired on board, attended by his principal officers, and was welcomed with united acclamations, thirteen guns were fired 'in honor of his appointment, the ship beautifully decorated with colors, and every possible demonstration of joy expressed a general satisfaction.
After taking command of the Hogue Manley put to sea for an extended cruise in the West Indies. Of this, his last, cruise during the Revolution, little is known beyond the fact that by January, 1783, he had sent in five prizes.
About the middle of January of that year the Hogue was chased by a 50-gun British ship, and after keeping clear for thirty-six hours, had the misfortune to ground. The Englishman coming up was reinforced by three other ships of the line, one of them a 74, and all four vessels, anchoring with springs on their cables within gun shot, opened a tremendous fire. For two whole days the Hogue withstood and returned the fire, but on the third day Manley, succeeding in refloating his ship, fired a 13-gun salute, and made good his escape.
Quoting from a letter which he wrote about this time from Guadeloupe to friends in Boston:
I have been drove on shore after a 36-hour chase by a 50-gun ship and sat at the mercy of her incessant fire for two days, who with the assistance of a seventy-four and two other ships of the line to back her were not very sparing of a heavy and brisk cannonade. However, without a man killed and one slightly wounded and my damages repaired in masts and hull it is with pleasure I look to the prospect of getting out tomorrow for Martinique Port Royal for heaving down.
With this anecdote the clear story of Captain John Manley’s naval career comes to a close. It is known he paid off the Hogue in Boston sometime in May, 1783, and also that he remained in the Navy until his death in 1793, but of his activities during the ten years of his naval service that followed the Revolution nothing definite can be found.
We do know that he had the signal honor of taking the first and last valuable prize taken by a Continental ship during the War of Independence, receiving, on one of the last days of November, 1775, the surrender of the brig Nancy, 250 tons, while in command of the tiny schooner Lee and eight years later in November, 1783, he took the ship Baille, 340 tons, while in command of the frigate Hogue.
In spite of the fact that he lost three ships entrusted to his command, that at times his judgment was not of the best, as is witnessed by his ill-fated appearance off Halifax in June, 1777, he undoubtedly was possessed of great courage, initiative, and determination.
His exploits were sparkling with daring, boldness, skill and not without an occasional dash of sarcastic humor. One can still chuckle over the baffled wrath of the commanders of that British squadron when the saucy rebel sailed on his way with his 28-gun frigate, herself taken from the British, firing a 13-gun salute of farewell to rub it in. His whole career makes him worthy of a place in United States naval history little lower than that occupied by John Paul Jones himself, as a founder and maker of those fine traditions that make the Navy what it is today.
Bibliography
Historical Collections Essex Institute. Vol. XLV, 1909.
The Navy of the United States. G. F. Emmons.
A Pamphlet on John Manley, by Peabody.
Author’s Note: The quotations in this article are as they appear in the Printed Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, Vol. XLV, 1909. I believe most of the original manuscripts from which the quotations are taken are in the possession of the Essex Institute at Salem, Massachusetts, but the opportunity has not presented itself for me to examine them.