HMS Keppel (1778)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Keppel.

History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Keppel
Namesake	Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel
Acquired	1778 by capture
Fate	Sold 1783
General characteristics
Tons burthen	75[1] (bm)
Armament	Privateer:16 × 6&4-pounder guns + swivel guns Royal Navy: 14 × 4-pounder guns

HMS Keppel was the American privateer brig New Broome, of New Haven, Connecticut, that Ariel and Savage captured on 21 October 1778. She was sold on 5 August 1783 at Boston.^[1]

Captain Israel Bishop received a commission for New Broome in July 1778.^[2]

Ariel, under the command of Captain Charles Phipps, captured New Broom on 22 October 1778, as well as the schooners Lark and Three Friends. New Broom was armed with 16 guns and had sailed from New London when Ariel and Savage stopped her off Nantucket shoals and sent her into New York.^[3]

The British Royal Navy purchased her in Boston that month. She was commissioned under Lieutenant Richard Whitworth.^[4]

In September–October 1779, Keppel was part of the Royal Navy's squadron at the siege of Savannah.

In the evening of 9 September 1780 Keppel, under the command of Lieutenant Robert Steel had an inconclusive, three-hour single-ship action with USS Saratoga. The engagement led to Steel's promotion to Master and Commander.

On 17 June 1781 Keppel, Captain Steel, accompanied the brig Sir Henry Clinton and the sloop Association, which carried a small group of Loyalists who conducted a successful raid on Patriot blockhouses on Leete's Island, near Sachem Head.

Citations

1. Colledge & Warlow (2006), p. 213.
2. Crawford (2019), p. 511.
3. "No. 11950". The London Gazette. 2 February 1779. p. 1.
4. Winfield (2007), p. 320.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• NDAR: Crawford, Michael J., ed. (2019). Naval Documents of the American Revolution. Vol. 13. Naval History Division.
• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1844157006.