tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post757876311983438994..comments2024-03-14T13:25:20.613-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Belknap on Blackler’s BatteryUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-40451303355180160152012-10-19T16:30:02.657-05:002012-10-19T16:30:02.657-05:00It would be interesting to see more about Marblehe...It would be interesting to see more about Marblehead's Freetos. <br /><br />Belknap’s phrase “Portuguese sailor” certainly sounds like an immigrant rather than a British subject of Portuguese descent. But, as I said, there's no guarantee this sailor survived long enough to be listed on the surviving Marblehead rolls. For that matter, I made the assumption that he was in Blackler's company, and that could be wrong, too.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-32666159413817741462012-10-18T07:59:05.506-05:002012-10-18T07:59:05.506-05:00I was wondering if "Freeto" is not "...I was wondering if "Freeto" is not "Frito" or "Freito" in Portuguese. Although it Freito doesn't strike me as a super common surname but common enough that there might be more than one Freito family in a maritime community.<br /><br />For what it's worth, in checking on it I found a RootsWeb post that references the family's oral history that the family came from Guernsey. Always love reading your posts.Brookenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-63363394272927807702012-10-17T23:07:33.969-05:002012-10-17T23:07:33.969-05:00In the early skirmish at Chelsea, I think the prov...In the early skirmish at Chelsea, I think the provincials got lucky because the captain of H.M.S. <i>Diana</i> wasn’t familiar with the harbor and ran aground. After that the Royal Navy held the mouths of the rivers and the harbor but avoided shallower areas.<br /><br />The Continental Army had some success with whaleboats raiding harbor islands at night. But these floating batteries seem to have been overreach, as shown by how one was blown up not by British shot but by its own gun. The Americans don't seem to have repeated the experiment.<br /><br />After the first couple of months, the Royal Navy saw more action along <i>other</i> parts of the American coast, collecting food and trying to stymie privateers. One of Washington’s schooners actually got into Boston harbor and attacked a British vessel late in 1775, but that was the exception.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-56095839248015659072012-10-17T10:27:13.014-05:002012-10-17T10:27:13.014-05:00Good post—the men on those improvised floating bat...Good post—the men on those improvised floating batteries were exceedingly brave and not engaged in folly. Rev. Belknap indicting it as ‘military frolic’ I think misses the real strategic value of probing and harassing enemy positions: accepted tactics in use for centuries with peltasts, skirmishers, etc. A question: in general, during the Siege, did British warships patrol Mystic and the surrounding Boston Harbor environs with relative impunity? I'm aware of the Battle of Chelsea Creek, but I would think that with the King's overwhelming naval power, it would make sense that the regulars had command of the waters, at least until Dorchester was populated with captured Ticonderoga artillery. Byron DeLearnoreply@blogger.com