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Gustavus Conyngham (1744 - 1819)
American patriot, American War of Independence Veteran, Privateer
Captain, Continental Naval Officer
 Gustavus Conyngham was born circa 1744 in
the Rosaguill Peninsula in Co Donegal, Ireland. The Conyngham's were
products of the Protestant Ascendency whose linage can be traced back to
Alexander Cunningham, the fourth Earl of Glencairn in the Peerage of
Scotland in 1488. The first known member of the Conyngham family to
appear in Ireland was the Rev. Alexander Conyngham in 1611. He was first
Protestant minister of Iver and Kellymard in Co. Donegal.
As a child of a privileged family, Gustavus
was either home schooled by a private tutor or at an established Church
of England school. There is no information available to indicate that he
attended university. His passion was for the sea and the open world that
lay beyond the mouth of Lough Swilly, much more so than for the confines
of a university setting.
Gustavus immigrated to Philadelphia in the
American colonies in 1763. At that time Philadelphia was one of the
preferred destinations for many of the early colonists because of its
adherence to Quaker principles and its liberal attitude towards
business. Philadelphia had another asset, particularly conducive to the
shipping and trading business, its east coast location and sheltered
harbor. For these reasons many of the wealthy and well connected
colonists choose Philadelphia as an ideal location to setup branches of
family owned business so as to take advantage of the rapidly expanding
trade between the Colonies the Caribbean and Europe.
It was into this type of environment that
Gustavus entered at the age of nineteen. He was one of the lucky ones in
that he was the scion of well-established family with successful
businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. Upon arrival in Philadelphia
he was hired as an apprentice in the shipping business of his first
cousin, Redmond Conyngham
Redmond Conyngham, who arrived in the
colonies in 1740, was the founder of Conyngham & Nesbitt one of the most
successful shipping and trading companies in Philadelphia. Over time
Redmond took on partners and hired family members and close friends from
Ireland and Scotland. Gustavus was one of those who were taken on as an
apprentice. He was assigned to a Captain Henderson, the master of a
trading ship the Molly servicing the Antigua trade. After completing
his mandatory four year apprenticeship, Gustavus had perfected his
seamanship skills and had acquired a deep and abiding respect for the
sea and those who sailed its waves. After Henderson death, Gustavus was given
command of the Molly, a command he held until the onset of the
Revolutionary War in 1775.
Gustavus married Ann Hockley, the daughter
of a Philadelphia merchant, in October of 1773.
Despite the fact that the Cunningham’s were
members of the "Ruling Class" in Ireland they did not hesitate to throw
their support to the colonist’s quest for freedom and liberty. The
owners and employees of Conyngham & Nesbitt either joined the
Continental Army or Navy or provided same with provision and money for
the duration of the war. When the army was bivouacked and practically
starving in Valley Forge during the winter of 1777/78 the company owners
paid for rations to alleviate the suffering and keep the army intact.
In September of 1775 Gustavus was given
command of the brigantine Charming Peggy with instruction to sail
to France to acquire and smuggle back to the colonies desperately needed
gunpowder and other military equipment for the Continental army. On
arrival in Dunkirk he docked close to the powder magazine in order to
load the cargo surreptitiously at night away from the prying eyes of
British agents. Unfortunately, a crewman on a nearby British ship became
suspicious and alerted his captain to the unusual nighttime activity in
and around the Charming Peggy. Gustavus was informed by French
sympathizers that his mission was compromised, thus was able to jettison
the cargo before French officials boarded and searched his ship at the
behest of the British.
Unable to find any contraband aboard the
Charming Peggy the French allowed Gustavus to leave Dunkirk
unhindered. Unwilling to return to the colonies without a cargo he
headed north to Texel in the Dutch West Frisian Islands where colonial
agents had arranged the transfer of gunpowder, military equipment and
other necessities purchased from Dutch businessmen.
After transferring the cargo the
Charming Peggy was unable to sail due to becalmed winds. In the
meantime a rogue crewman aboard the Charming Peggy informed the
local British consul that it was transporting a cargo of munitions and
armaments for the rebelling colonists. The Charming Peggy was boarded by
mariners from a patrolling British warship. Gustavus and his crew were
placed under arrest aboard the Charming Peggy for transport to
England when the winds returned. When the winds did return Gustavus and
his crew overpowered their captors and set sail for home. Shortly after
hoisting sail the winds died down again. To avoid recapture Gustavus and
his crew were forced to abandon the ship; leaving it and its cargo in
the possession of the Dutch authorities with the understanding that he
would be compensated, thus be able to purchase another vessel.
After losing possession of the Charming
Peggy, and not having been compensated for same, he made his way
back to France hoping to meet up with compatriots and also to reassess
his options.
In December of 1776 Benjamin Franklin, one
of three commissioners sent to France by the Continental Congress,
arrived in Paris. Their mission was to obtain France's recognition
of the newly declared United States of America and to secure French
military personnel and equipment to help oust the British from their
American colonies.
Shortly after arriving in Paris, Franklin
met Gustavus who was living there since losing the Charming Peggy. Franklin
had in his possession a number of blank Continental Navy commissions,
one of which was used to appoint Gustavus an officer of the Continental
Navy and give him command of the luger, Surprise. Immediately after
assuming command of the Surprise he set course towards the
English Channel in search of British vessels. Within a week he returned
to Dunkirk with two captured British vessels, (prizes) the Prince of
Orange carrying mail and the brig Joseph carrying wine.
Returning to a French port with captured
British vessels was not a wise decision as provision of the 1763 Treaty
of Paris that ended the Seven Year War in a British victory, forbid
France from harboring vessels hostile to Britain or selling commandeered
British goods. As a consequence, Gustavus and his crew were placed under
arrest and the captured vessels returned to their owners. Although his
arrest was a ruse to pacify the British, his commission and other
documents confiscated on his arrest were not returned on his release.
The loss of the Surprise was not a
lethal setback for the American commissioners, particularly, Benjamin
Franklin. Impressed by Gustavus skill and daring in capturing the two
British ships in the shadow of patrolling British warships he set about
finding another ship for Gustavus to command. In order to deceive the
ever-vigilant British, the commissioners purchased the Greyhound,
in Dunkirk in the name of their agent. Upon observing the placement of
armament on board the cutter the British navy threatened to set it on
fire. In order to placate the British the cutter was sold to a "buyer"
in England who gave a bond to the Admiralty in London that it would not
be used against British maritime interests.
When the Greyhound left Dunkirk in
July of 1777, supposedly, for Bergen in Norway it was boarded by Gustavus and his crew who hoisted the Continental colors, renamed her
the Revenge and headed north to prey on British shipping. Within
a week the Revenge had captured two British vessels. Due to the
proximity of British warships the vessels were set on fire.
After two months at sea the Revenge sailed
into Broadhaven Bay in Co. Mayo for repairs and provisions. By then it
had captured as many as twenty vessel. Some of the sunk due to the
proximity of British warships, the others were sent to ports in America
or Spain where the cargo was sold. In some instances the vessel was
returned to the owners after a ransom was paid.
After departing Broadhaven Bay the
Revenge set sail for Ferrol in northern Spain arriving there in late
August of 1777. For the next twelve months the Revenge cruised
the Bay of Biscay, the Straits of Gibraltar and the
Mediterranean Sea wreaking havoc on British shipping. The escalating toll on British
shipping by Gustavus, referred to by the British as the “Dunkirk
pirate”, caused a 30% increase in maritime insurance for British flagged
ships and a substantial decrease in the number of British merchant ships
plying the shipping routes to and from British ports
In order to stop Gustavus the British
exerted diplomatic pressure on the Spanish Court to bar Gustavus from
using Spanish ports to dispose of his prizes of to grant the Revenge
safe harbor. Despite these restriction he was able to find a friendly
Spanish port where he refitted the Revenge and stocked up on
provisions.
With access to most of European ports
blocked Gustavus realized that it was time to leave Europe for more
fertile hunting grounds. By the time he departed Spain on September 1,
1778, for the French island of Martinique in the Caribbean he had
captured 60 British vessels, destroying 33 and sending 27 to friendly
ports as prizes.
After arriving at the port of St. Pierre in
early October, Gustavus reported to the Continental Congress’s agent who
was authorized to allot Continental Navy personnel new assignments.
After the Revenge was fitted out it headed north toward British
controlled islands. By the end of December 1778 he had added six prizes
to his tally. His last assignment in the Caribbean was to carry a
shipment of armament to the United States.
In March of 1779 the Revenge was
sold by act of the financially strapped Continental Congress. The new
owners who intended to use the Revenge as a privateer appointed
Gustavus as her captain. After returning to sea in April of 1779 while
in pursuit of two British vessels he came to close to a British warship
Galatea and, unable to match its firepower or speed was forced to
surrender.
Gustavus was first take to British
controlled New York and from there to England where he faced execution
by hanging. The Continental Congress informed the British that if they,
the British, hanged Gustavus they in turn would hang an English officer
in retaliation. Faced with that dilemma the British relented and
transferred Gustavus to Mill prison in Plymouth for a prisoners-of-war
exchange.
While in prison Gustavus made a number of
attempts to escape. On his third attempt he succeeded and with the help
of compatriots in London made his way to Texel where he met up with
John
Paul Jones. While awaiting further instructions from Franklin he sailed
south with Jones to prey on British shipping. Their route traversed the
heavily patrolled English Channel and the Atlantic waters of the west
coast of France. They put-in for provisions in La Coruna, Spain where Gustavus departed company with Jones having decided that he would return
to the United States.
On March 17, 1780 the British captured the
merchant ship that Gustavus had boarded in La Coruna for his return to
the United States. He was returned to Mill prison where he remained
until he escaped for the second time in June of 1781. After his escape
he met up with his wife, Ann, in Lorient, France and shortly thereafter
returned to the United States.
Gustavus returned to the merchant service and commanded the armed
brig
Maria
during the Quasi-War with France. He was a member of the
Common Council of Philadelphia
during the War of 1812/14 and assisted in the defense of the city
As was the situation with other naval
captains, including John Paul Jones, who served so gallantly in and
around the British isles during the Revolutionary War, the Continental
Congress treated Gustavus poorly, denying him the credit he deserved for
his historic exploits, using spurious excuses including his inability to
produce the confiscated Naval Commission(!) he received from
Franklin in 1777.
In contract to Congresses shameful
dismissal of Gustavus’s contributions to the newly declared United
States the U.S. Navy recognized his extraordinary contributions and
commissioned three destroyers in his honor Conyngham( DD 58) in
1916, Conyngham (DD 371) in 1936 and Conyngham (DDG 17)
in 1963.
Gustavus Conyngham passed away on November
27, 1819 at his home in Philadelphia.
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Notes:
(1) On November 8,
1902, the New York Times reported on “the accidental discovery of a
time-worn document in a small printseller’s shop in Paris.” The winning $2 bidder on a John Hancock signature discovered he had actually
bought the missing commission papers issued by Ben Franklin to Gustavus
Conyngham
Contributor:
Tomás Ó Coısdealbha
cemetery AND grave location
Name:
Saint Peter's Episcopal Churchyard PHONE NO.
215 925 5968
ADDRESS: 313 Pine
Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
GRAVE AND INSCRIPTION
CAPTAIN GUSTAVUS CONYNGHAM
who departed this life on the 27th.
Nov’r
1819, in the 76th year of
his age.
Gone to his dear Saviour’s Eest,
United from earth he flies
Secured from harm he meets the hlest,
The pure above the skies.
Ah ! who shall lament him, dead ?
Yain man ‘twas God’s decree,
Upon the Kock ho rests his head,
Safe through Eternity.
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