52nd Annual Delaware Show

“NOW FITTING OUT FOR A CRUIZE . . . AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF AMERICA”: THE PRIVATEER SHIP REVOLUTION BY NEAL T. HURST On December 21, 1948, Harry Shaw Newman of The Old Print Shop in New York City sent to H. F. du Pont a unique “large folio broadside” on approval (fig. 1). Newman described the broadside as “Articles of Agreement between Captain and crew of the privateer Revolution. March 23, 1780, Philadelphia, John Dunlap.” Mr. du Pont’s secretary replied to Newman, “The Broadside has arrived, and Mr. du Pont is keeping it.” 1 For the next fifty-plus years, hanging on the walls at Winterthur, this framed woodcut seemed to be a rather anonymous material object. The story of Captain John McNachtane, his forty-five- member crew, and the ship Revolution remained a complete mystery until the discovery of the ship’s logbook at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the vessel’s financial papers at Hagley Museum & Library. Those documents have finally allowed us to piece together the harrowing account of the ship and her tumultuous life at sea during the American War for Independence. In early 1779, construction began on the 100-ton Revolution in the Kensington district of Philadelphia (figs. 2, 3). Successful merchants and brothers Mathew and Thomas Irwin financed the vessel, with a cost in excess of £230,000. To command the ship, they selected Captain John McNachtane, who had recently returned from Fig. 1. “Articles of Agreement,” printed by John Dunlap, Philadelphia, March 23, 1780. Woodcut. Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont 1965.1912 This broadside lists the terms of agreement between the captain and crew of the Revolution. — 151 —