John Manley (naval officer)

John Manley (c.1733–1793) was an officer in the Continental Navy and the United States Navy.

Early life

Tradition holds that John Manley was born in 1733 near Torquay, Devonshire, in south west England. As a young man, he settled in Marblehead, Massachusetts, eventually becoming the captain of a merchant vessel there.^[1] For reasons apparently lost to history, Manley went by the name of John Russell during his time spent in Marblehead, where he married Martha Russell (née Hickman) on September 27, 1764, and by whom he had at least two sons and three daughters. According to his descendants, the reason for two different last names is because he was the illegitimate child of his mother Elizabeth Manley and the Duke of Bedford whose last name was Russell. Outside of Marblehead, John continued to use the surname Manley.^[1][2] Modern fiction writer James L. Nelson acknowledges the above accounts, but suggests that they were "made up", and that in actuality Manley was likely born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, where he later became a merchant sea captain and married Hannah Cheevers in 1763, by which he had one surviving son John.^[3] All of the sources place Manley in Boston by 1775 after his services were enlisted for the nascent Continental Navy.

Military Service

Manley was appointed captain of the schooner Lee by George Washington on 17 October 1775. He assumed command on 24 October 1775 with a crew of 50 men from John Glover's Marblehead Regiment,^[1] and on 9 November, Manley sailed from Marblehead flying the new pine tree flag from the main truck.^[4] Sources differ as to Manley's first prize, either recapturing a small Continental schooner^[4][5] or capturing the British sloop Polly,^[6] but on 28 November, he captured one of the most valuable prizes of the American Revolutionary War—the British brigantine Nancy carrying much ordnance and military stores for British troops in Boston that proved invaluable to George Washington’s army. While not the first British vessel to surrender to the continental fleet, the Nancy was perhaps the first capture of significant consequence,^[7] leading John Adams to later remark "I assert that the first American flag was hoisted by John Manley, and the first British flag was struck to him".^[5] Through the end of 1775, Manley captured several additional prizes carrying cargos of food, rum, coal, dry goods, all badly needed by the Continental forces.

In January 1776, for his "great vigilance and industry," Manley was appointed commodore of "George Washington's fleet", a group of small armed ships fitted out by him to harass the British and to seize supply vessels. The fleet was led by two frigates, Hancock and Boston.^[8]

On May 21, 1777 Manley's ships evaded the British blockade of the town of Boston and set sail for Newfoundland. A large British fleet was at anchor in nearby New York, but there was no pursuit as all British vessels were engaged in supporting troops stationed on shore. On June 7, Manley's ships encountered and defeated the 28-gun Royal Navy frigate HMS Fox (1773) in a brief engagement off the Grand Banks. Three weeks later they turned for the New England coast, in the hope of finding further British targets.^[8]

By early July, Manley's fleet had made landfall off Cape Sable. On July 7 they were discovered by a small force of two British frigates and a brig, who opened fire. After a running battle lasting 39 hours, the British succeeded in capturing both Hancock and Boston, and retaking Fox.^[8] Manley and his crew were imprisoned in New York until March 1778. Upon his release, Manley entered privateer service to command Marlborough, Cumberland, and a prize, Jason,^[9] until 1782, except for two more periods of imprisonment, one for two years in Mill Prison, England. His privateer ship Jason was a small ship of 18 guns owned by Mungo Mackay and others.^[10]

On 11 September 1782, he returned to the Navy with command of frigate Hague. On a West Indies voyage, he made a spectacular escape from a superior naval force and, in January 1783, took the last significant prize of the war, Baille. Regarded as one of the outstanding captains of the young Navy, he had captured 10 prizes singlehandedly and participated in the seizure of five others.

Captain Manley died in Boston, Massachusetts in 1793.

Namesakes

Three ships have been named USS Manley for him.

Notes

1. Peabody p5
2. Lord pp284-285
3. Nelson p168
4. Peabody p7
5. Lord p111
6. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
7. Peabody p8
8. Syrett 1989, pp. 71-72
9. Allen p. 191
10. Allen

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

References

• Allen, Gardner Weld (1927). Massachusetts Privateers of the Revolution Boston. The Massachusetts Historical Society.
• Daughan, George C. (2008). If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy - from the Revolution to the War of 1812. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01607-5.
• Lord, Priscilla Sawyer; Gamage, Virginia Clegg (1972). Marblehead: The Spirit of '76 Lives Here. Philadelphia: Chilton Book Co. ISBN 0-8019-5596-3.
• Nelson, James L. (2008). George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-149389-5.
• Peabody, Robert E. (January 1909). Naval Career of Capt. John Manley of Marblehead. Historical Collections of the Essex Institute. Vol. XLV, No. 1. Salem, MA: Peabody Essex Museum. pp. 1–27.
• Smith, Philip Chadwick Foster (1977). Fired by Manley Zeal: A Naval Fiasco of the American Revolution. Salem, MA: Peabody Museum of Salem. ISBN 0-87577-053-3.
• Syrett, David (1989). The Roysl Navy in American Waters 1775-1783. United Kingdom: Gower. ISBN 0859678067.