A ROYAL NAVY SHIP THAT CAPTURED AT LEAST 18 AMERICAN VESSELS DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Autograph document signed by Capt. Thomas Wilkinson. Gibraltar, 6 June 1774. 1 page, 8vo. Docketing to verso. 

An order for stores for a British ship that fought in the Revolutionary War. Ordered by Capt. Thomas Wilkinson of the HMS Winchelsea, he requested the following gunners' stores: tarred rope, single and double blocks, grape shot boxes, sweet oil, forelock keys and emory course. The order was approved by a P. Denis. 

The Winchelsea was a 32-gun fifth-rate Niger-class frigate of the Royal Navy that was originally ordered during the Seven Years' War; however, she was completed too late for that conflict and wasn't brought into service until 1769. At the time this order was written, Wilkinson was her second captain, and he and his crew were stationed at the British Mediterranean Fleet. 

She entered the Revolutionary War in December 1776 under the command of N. Bateman. In her first two years in the American Revolution, the Winchelsea captured at least 18 different ships. She stayed in service until 1794, eventually becoming a convalescent ship at Sheerness in 1803 and being sold to be broken up in 1814. 

[American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] 

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