Deane (frigate)
1778-1783
(Fr: t. 550; l. 96'; b. 32'; a. 24 12-pdr., 8 4-pdr., 2 6-pdr.)
Silas Deane, born 24 December 1737 in Groton, Conn., was an outstanding leader of the Revolutionary movement in Connecticut and a member of the first and second Continental Congresses. He was sent in 1776 as the first political and commercial agent to France and remained there until appointed as one of the three American commissioners who successfully negotiated two treaties one of commerce and the other, a military alliance, with the French government in February 1778. He died 23 September 1789.
The Continental frigate Deane was built at Nantes, France, and brought to the United States in May 1778 to be prepared for sea. Under the command of Captain Nicholson of the Continental Navy, Deane sailed from Boston 14 January 1779 with Alliance for a cruise in the West Indies. She returned to Philadelphia 17 April with one prize, the armed ship Viper. On 29 July she joined with Boston and two ships of the Virginia Navy guarding a convoy of merchantmen out to sea and continuing on for a 5-week cruise which netted eight prizes, including four privateers, the packet Sandwich, and the sloop-of-war HMS Thorn. The frigates arrived at Boston 6 September with 250 prisoners after one of the most notable cruises of the Continental Navy.
During the winter and early spring of 1781 and again in 1782 Deane cruised with Confederacy and Saratoga in the West Indies, capturing four prizes on the second of these cruises. After two more cruises in the Caribbean, one in September 1782 and the other in 1783, Deane was placed out of commission in 1783 at Boston. She was renamed Hague in September 1782.
30 July 2001
