The Disappearance of the Schooner Patriot and Theodosia Burr Alston

I have been writing about the HMS Nimrod captured the French privateer Nouvelle Enterprise, which was taken into the British Navy as the HMS Venturer and afterwards the HMS Theodosia.

From the August 5, 2016, Mental Floss  "7 ships that disappeared without a trace" by Claire Cock-Starkey.  Also from the North Carolina Shipwrecks February 9, 2012, Schooner Patriot  and tye mystery of Theodosia Burr Alston."

Also August 13, 2018 History.com  "Wreckers scavenged a living by snatching shipwrecks' loot" by Hadley Meares.  How Nags Head got name.  Also Bermuda Triangle Central  The Patriot

The Patriot:  The Disappearance of Theodosia Burr Alston. (1783-1813)
--Brock-Perry

Disappearance of Schooner Patriot and Theodosia Burr Alston in 1813-- Part 2

After the Patriot left Charleston Harbor, no trace of the ship, crew or Theodosia was ever found.

A number of theories and legends have spring up about their disappearance.  Some claim the ship was attacked by pirates and made to walk the plank.  Others think they might have been captured by the British since the war was going on at the time.

Perhaps most fanciful of all was the story of a Karankawa Indian chief, who claimed that he had rescued a woman who had washed up ashore after a shipwreck and that in thanks, she had given him a locket with the name Theodosia inscribed upon it.

Personally, I think their end came from a storm or shipwreck.  The Patriot would have to pass North Carolina's Outer Banks n the way to New York and, as you know, many ships have been wrecked in that area.  Had the British captured or destroyed the ship, they would have written about it.

Now, after more than 200 years, it is not likely we will ever know their fate.

--Brock-Perry

The Disappearance of the Schooner Patriot and Theodosia Burr Alston in 1813-- Part 1

From the August 5. 2016, Mental Floss "7 ships that disappeared without a trace" by Claire  Cock-Starkey.

While looking up the HMS Theodosia after the last several posts, I came across this article.  It wasn't about the HMS Theodosia but definitely had a War of 1812 connection.

Theodosia Burr Alston (1783-1813) was the daughter of the third U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr.  She had a privileged upbringing and was well-educated.  In 1801, she married wealthy landowner  Joseph Alston who went on to become South Carolina's governor (1812-1814, so, the war years).

Sadly in 1812, she lost her only son and, stricken with grief, boarded the schooner Patriot in South Carolina to visit her father in New York.

After it sailed, it was lost to history.

What Happened to the Patriot and Theodosia?  --Brock-Perry

HMS Venturer (HMS Theodosia)

From Wikipedia.

In the last post, I mentioned the HMS Nimrod (1799) capturing the French privateer Nouvelle Enterprise in 1807, and it being taken into the British Navy as the HMS Venturer  and later having its name changed to HMS Theodosia.

It was 72 feet long with a 20,5 foot beam.  55 crew members as the French privateer, and one 12-pdr gun and four carronades when captured.

Served in thee Mediterranean until 1814, when she was sold.  Was a merchant ship after that, but no records of her after 1822.

Commissioned in 1809 for service in the Mediterranean.

In early September 1812, she reportedly destroyed a 22-gun privateer.  In 1814, returned to England where crew was paid off.

--Brock-Perry

The Earlier HMS Nimrod (1799)-- Part 2: A Former French Privateer

Even before commissioning as a British ship, the newly captured French ship took several Spanish ships on her way to Plymouth where, between May 21 and August 8, she was refitted and commissioned as the HMS Nimrod.

In November, the Nimrod captured two ships.  In November 1804, the Nimrod sailed for the Leeward Islands and recaptured a brig taken by a French privateer and in January 1805, an American ship, the Ardent which had also been captured by a French privateer.

In 1807, came the capture of a Spanish packet and then the French privateer schooner Nouvelle Enterprise which entered British service as the HMS Venturer.  It was renamed HMS Theodosia in 1808 and then sold in 1814.

Kind of Confusing Whose On Whose Side Back Then.  --Brock-Perry