Unity vs. HMS MARGARETTA
12 JUNE 1775
250th ANNIVERSARY
UNITY vs. HMS MARGARETTA
In June 1775 civilian Ichabod Jones, captain of the schooner Unity, requested clearance from British ADM Samuel Graves to carry a load of provisions from Boston to the far-flung town of Machias in what was then the colony of Massachusetts (now Maine). Graves approval was contingent upon Unity returning with a load of much-needed lumber to build barracks for the British troops in Boston. It had only been two months since the skirmishes we know as the battles of Lexington and Concord, and the seeds of rebellion were spreading throughout New England. Thus, Graves sent Royal Navy Midshipman James Moore in the tender HMS MARGARETTA, 4, to insure Machias’ compliance. Jones and Moore arrived to find the town in dire need. Despite this, some of the townspeople resisted loading British lumber. Jones responded with a refusal to sell provisions to the protesting citizens, but Moore’s threat to bombard the town with MARGARETTA’s 3-pounders won reluctant cooperation. Resentment simmered over the subsequent days until Sunday, June 11th, when a band of irritated citizens tried to grab Moore and Jones as they left church services. Both escaped, and Moore prudently moved his ships out of musket range.
Then early this morning, 40 lumbermen led by merchant captain Jeremiah O’Brien and his five brothers overpowered the crew of Unity. Twenty more got Benjamin Foster’s nearby schooner Falmouth Packet underway. Sensing the rage of the angry colonials, Moore hastily cut MARGARETTA’s lines in an effort to hail any stronger British warship that might be in the area. The ungainly tender was quickly overhauled however, near Round Island at the mouth of the Machias River. A lucky shot from Unity’s swivel killed MARGARETTA’s helmsman, sending the Briton into irons. O’Brien now brought Unity alongside, and incensed lumbermen stormed across with handspikes, axes, and pitchforks. Moore fell mortally wounded and British resistance quickly faded. Both ships were taken back to Machias.
The schooner’s 3-pounders were transferred to the smaller, swifter Unity, whom O’Brien rechristened MACHIAS LIBERTY. Under his capable hands and the sanction of the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts, Liberty harassed British vessels along the New England coast until October 1776. In that month, in the Bay of Fundy, O’Brien and his plucky sloop were finally captured. Following his release in 1780 O’Brien returned to the independence effort as captain of registered privateers. His contribution to the naval War of Independence continues to be remembered in the naming of five modern warships, most recently the Spruance-class O’BRIEN (DD-975).
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 16 JUN 25
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 5 “N-Q”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1979, pp. 131-32.
Fowler, William M., Jr. Rebels Under Sail: The American Navy during the Revolution. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976, pp. 26-28.
Giambattista, M.D. “Captain Jeremiah O’Brien and Machias Liberty.” Proceedings, February 1970, pp. 85-87.
Miller, Nathan. Sea of Glory: A Naval History of the American Revolution. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1974, pp. 29-35.
Pratt, Fletcher. The Compact History of the United States Navy, 3rd ed. New York, NY: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1967, pp. 18-19.
Site visit, Fort O’Brien State Historical Site, Machiasport, ME, 21 August 2004.
Site visit, San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, CA, August 1998.
Sweetman, Jack. American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 2nd ed. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1991, p. 1.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: It is important to note that this first naval action in defense of our soon-to-be nation was taken by the freedom-minded citizens of the British colony of Massachusetts before we had a Declaration of Independence or a Continental Navy. Following this action the colonists of the region erected two protective earthenwork forts near the mouth of the Machias River, several miles downstream from the town. However, Fort O’Brien and Fort Foster were overrun by the British without firing a shot later in the war. Ft. O’Brien proved the more lasting, having been manned by American artillery batteries during the War of 1812 and later during the Civil War. Ft. O’Brien is now a Maine State Historical Site.
Perhaps the best-known namesake of O’Brien is one of only two preserved WWII Liberty ships, SS Jeremiah O’Brien, currently part of San Francisco’s Maritime Museum. (SS John W. Brown is the other in Baltimore.) “Liberty” ships were mass produced in WWII to help counter losses to German U-boats. A second series, the “Victory” ships, was similarly mass-produced, and the sole surviving member from that class is SS Lane Victory berthed today in San Pedro, California.
