Samuel Nicholson autograph letter signed ("Sam Nicholson"). One page of a bifolium, 7.5" x 9.25", [USS] Deane; June 27, 1779. Integral address sheet. Docketed. Samuel Nicholson, the future first commander of the USS Constitution, provides an update on his voyage as commander of the USS Deane. Letter from Nicholson to William Palfrey (1741–1780), Paymaster-General of the Continental Army, concerning activities of the USS Deane. The letter reads, in full: "The Inclosed is from one of our Press'd Men, we took him from one Capt. Wm. Godfrey of the Schooner Surprize from St. Estatia [Sint Eustatius], you will receive the Articles he Mentions, dispose of them for him, the Money you will retain in your own hands until further Orders from him, I think his name is Chs. Bauman, we are now beeting down for Cape Henlopen, we are in sight of Cape May and Expect to get down next Tyde, I am now well man'd, suppose I get no more, with 194 Men on board, I have been in luck this 3 Days; Contrary winds has been very fortunate for me, as we have got a least 40 good men by it." Signed, "Sam Nicholson". Nicholson writes to Paymaster-General Palfrey from the USS Deane, informing Palfrey that an enclosure is from an impressed seaman who had been taken from a schooner from Sint Eustatius, an island in the Caribbean. Under the command of Nicholson, the USS Deane sailed from Boston on January 14, 1779 with another ship for a cruise in the West Indies. She returned to Philadelphia on April 17 with one prize. Weeks after this letter was written, the USS Deane was one of several ships guarding a convoy of merchantmen out to sea and continuing for a five-week cruise that netted eight prizes, including privateers and British ships. The frigates arrived at Boston on September 6 with 250 prisoners after one of the most notable cruises of the Continental Navy. The USS Deane was named Hague in 1782 and was taken out of commission in 1783. The letter is accompanied by a typed transcription and an engraved vignette portrait of Palfrey. Samuel Nicholson (1743-1811) was born in Maryland and was a captain in the Continental Navy during the American Revolution and later in the U.S. Navy. Along with shipwright George Claghorn (1748-1824), he oversaw the building of the USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides"), and Nicholson was that ship's first commander. Nicholson died at Charleston, Massachusetts. William Palfrey was born in Boston, Massachusetts and worked as John Hancock's chief clerk before the war. He served as an aide-de-camp to George Washington during the War of Independence, in March and April 1776. Hancock later arranged to have him appointed paymaster-general in the Continental Army, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was appointed consul-general in France by Congress in November 1780. He embarked to France, but was lost at sea after leaving the capes. Condition: Small area of paper loss to blank portion of address leaf from seal removal upon opening. HID03101062020 © 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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