Tyrannicide was a 14-gun brigantine

Brigantine

In sailing, a brigantine or hermaphrodite brig is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.-Origins of the term:...

-rigged sloop

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

 of the Massachusetts State Navy

Massachusetts State Navy

The Massachusetts State Navy , a naval militia active during the American Revolutionary War was founded December 29, 1775, to defend the interests of Massachusetts from British forces....

. The ship was built for the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 and participated in commerce raiding

Commerce raiding

Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...

 until destroyed in the Penobscot expedition

Penobscot Expedition

The Penobscot Expedition was the largest American naval expedition of the American Revolutionary War and the United States' worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor...

.

John Fisk

Captain John Fisk (born in Salem 10 April 1744) was the first commanding officer, Jonathan Haraden

Jonathan Haraden

Jonathan Haraden was a privateer during the American Revolution.-Biography:Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Haraden joined the Massachusetts State Navy in July 1776 as First Lieutenant of the sloop-of-war Tyrannicide, fourteen guns...

 of Gloucester was First Lieutenant

First Lieutenant

First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...

, and Joseph Stockman was 2nd Lieutenant. Tyrannicide sailed from the Salisbury, Massachusetts

Salisbury, Massachusetts

Salisbury is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,827 at the 2000 census. The community is a popular summer resort beach town situated on the Atlantic Ocean north of Boston on the New Hampshire border....

, shipyard on 8 July 1776 and returned to Salem, Massachusetts

Salem, Massachusetts

Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...

 17 July after capturing the sloop HMS Dispatch on 12 July following a 90-minute engagement at 41° 26′ N, 65° 50′ W. Dispatch mounted 8 carriage guns and 12 swivel guns with a crew of 31 men. The armed ship Glasgow, the brig Saint John and the schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 Three Brothers were captured during an August 1776 cruise between Cape Sable and Nantucket. Tyrannicide narrowly avoided capture by a British frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 which retook a fourth prize. Tyrannicide was re-rigged from schooner to brigantine prior to embarking on a cruise to the West Indies on 29 October 1776. Tyrannicide captured the snow

Snow (ship)

A snow or snaw is a sailing vessel. A type of brig , snows were primarily used as merchant ships, but saw war service as well...

 Ann, the brig Henry and Ann, the 140-ton snow John, and the 100-ton brig Three Friends before returning to Massachusetts on 14 February 1777.

Jonathan Haraden

First Lieutenant Jonathan Haraden was promoted to command Tyrannicide when Captain Fisk assumed command of the brig Massachusetts. The two ships sailed together for the coast of Europe on 24 March 1777. They captured the brig Eagle, the snow Sally out of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 with a cargo of English goods for Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, and then on 2 April Chalkley out of Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

 bound for Bristol with a cargo of mahogany

Mahogany

The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....

 at 41° 30′ N, 45° W. On 8 April Tyrannicide captured the 500-ton barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

 Lonsdale after a three-hour engagement at 35° W. Massachusetts and Tyrannicide cooperated in the 22 April capture of a brig straggling from a British convoy at 48° N, 16° W. Tyrannicide captured the 160-ton brig Trepassy on 30 April, but became separated from Massachusetts while being chased by a superior British squadron on 17 May. Tyrannicide escaped to Bilbao, Spain after throwing guns and stores overboard to lighten the ship, and returned to Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 on 30 August 1777.

Tyrannicide sailed with Hazard on 21 November 1777 and captured the 130 ton brig Alexander on 13 December. Alexander was out of Halifax

Halifax Harbour

Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality.-Harbour description:The harbour is called Jipugtug by the Mi'kmaq first nation, anglisized as Chebucto...

 with a cargo of fish, oil, lumber and staves bound for the West Indies. The prize was retaken by HMS Yarmouth

HMS Yarmouth (1745)

HMS Yarmouth was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard. She was previously ordered to the dimensions specified in the 1741 proposals for modifications to the 1719 Establishment, but the Admiralty had very quickly concluded that these were too small, and...

 on 22 January 1778 off Barbadoes. Tyrannicide captured the schooner Good Intent on 22 December and the brig Polly (both out of Newfoundland with cargoes of fish and hoops) and then the snow Swift with a cargo of flour out of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

. Tyrannicide left the West Indies on 30 March 1778 and returned to Boston in May.

John Allen Hallet

Tyrannicide next sailed on 10 July 1778 under the command of John Allen Hallet. On 29 September 1778 she captured the privateer brig Juno. After avoiding damage in a 9 March 1779 gale, she captured the 14-gun privateer Revenge on 31 March at 28° N, 68° W. Revenge mounted fourteen 4 and 6 pdr carriage guns and two swivel guns with a crew of 60. Tyrannicide captured two more prizes before returning to Boston on 25 April 1779.

John Cathcart

John Cathcart assumed command of Tyrannicide on 1 May 1779. She was part of the Penobscot Expedition

Penobscot Expedition

The Penobscot Expedition was the largest American naval expedition of the American Revolutionary War and the United States' worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor...

 sailing from Boston on 24 July. With the other ships of the expedition, she was burned at Bangor, Maine

Bangor, Maine

Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...

 on 14 August 1779 after retreating up the Penobscot River

Penobscot River

The Penobscot River is a river in the U.S. state of Maine. Including the river's West Branch and South Branch increases the Penobscot's length to , making it the second longest river system in Maine and the longest entirely in the state. Its drainage basin contains .It arises from four branches...

to avoid capture by a superior British fleet.