Benjamin Crowninshield — From the Capture of the Fox to the Disaster at Penobscot

In This Article

His Story

In August 1832, an elderly sailor from Massachusetts appeared before an Essex County probate judge to recount his service during the American Revolution. Benjamin Crowninshield remembered sailing aboard the Continental frigate Boston when it captured the British warship Fox. He also remembered serving as a lieutenant aboard the Massachusetts armed ship Black Prince during the disastrous Penobscot Expedition of 1779, when an American naval force was destroyed.

Those experiences alone would have made Crowninshield an interesting Revolutionary War veteran. Yet his pension declaration told only part of his story. Known throughout his later life as “Sailor Ben,” he became a merchant captain, commanded a privateer during the War of 1812, and eventually took the helm of one of the most remarkable American yachts of the nineteenth century.

His maritime career carried him from the Revolutionary War to the Mediterranean, and from the dangerous waters of naval combat to a federal appointment as a customs collector.

His life also intersected with one of Salem’s most prominent maritime families. Among his relatives were shipowners, naval officers, merchants, and members of Congress. His own children would continue that legacy through naval service, art, and historical writing.

The story of Benjamin Crowninshield is therefore more than the account of a Revolutionary War sailor. It is the story of a man whose career followed the development of American maritime power from the struggle for independence into the early republic.

A Sailor from Salem

Benjamin Crowninshield was born in Salem, Massachusetts, to Jacob Crowninshield and Hannah Carlton Crowninshield. The Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum gives his birth date as February 15, 1758. His own pension declaration, made in 1832, instead states that he was born in Salem in 1757. The discrepancy remains part of the surviving record.

Salem was an important center of colonial maritime commerce. Its merchants and sailors operated within an Atlantic world shaped by trade, imperial competition, and war. Members of the Crowninshield family were deeply involved in shipping, and Benjamin grew up within a family whose fortunes were closely tied to the sea.

The Phillips Library’s family papers identify him as the son of Jacob Crowninshield, who died in 1774, and Hannah Carlton Crowninshield, who lived until 1824. Later family accounts portray Benjamin as an experienced mariner from an early age, although the details of his childhood and initial training are not supplied by his Revolutionary War pension declaration.

In time, he became known as “Sailor Ben,” a nickname that distinguished him from other members of the large Crowninshield family who shared his first name.

A Remarkable Account of Bunker Hill

A later family history preserves an extraordinary account of Crowninshield’s activities at the beginning of the American Revolution. According to the biographical sketch in the Phillips Library’s Benjamin Crowninshield Family Papers, he was serving as a midshipman aboard a British warship when the Revolution began.

The account states that his British captain permitted him to leave the vessel, after which Crowninshield entered the American militia and was wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775.

If accurately preserved, this episode would place Crowninshield among those Americans whose loyalties changed dramatically as the colonies broke with Britain. It would also mean that he experienced both land combat and naval warfare during the Revolution.

However, this Bunker Hill account comes from later family and archival biographical material, not from the portion of Crowninshield’s 1832 pension declaration examined for this article. His declaration focuses on naval service beginning around 1777 and does not describe a wound at Bunker Hill.

The earlier episode should therefore be understood as a family account requiring separate contemporary corroboration, rather than an independently verified claim from his own pension testimony.

The Continental Frigate Boston

Crowninshield’s own Revolutionary War declaration begins with his appointment as a midshipman in the American naval service around 1777. He stated that he entered the Continental frigate Boston under the command of Hector McNeill.

The Continental Navy faced an enormous disadvantage against the Royal Navy. Britain’s fleets were larger, more experienced, and supported by an established system of ports and supplies. American warships nevertheless challenged British naval operations, protected American interests, and occasionally captured enemy vessels.

As a midshipman, Crowninshield served within the ship’s officer structure, learning and carrying out duties associated with navigation, seamanship, discipline, and the operation of a fighting vessel.

He estimated that his service aboard the Boston lasted approximately thirteen months, although he acknowledged that he could no longer recall the exact dates of his entry and discharge. Another pension-related notation appears to give a different duration.

These inconsistencies illustrate the difficulty of reconstructing military service more than half a century afterward.

The Capture of the British Fox

One event stood out in Crowninshield’s recollection: the capture of the British frigate Fox by the American frigate Boston.

In his pension declaration, Crowninshield specifically placed himself aboard the Boston during the engagement. He recalled that the British vessel was captured, an important success for a young American navy operating against a powerful opponent.

The declaration does not describe Crowninshield’s individual actions during the fighting. It does not identify a particular gun station, a boarding action, or an act of personal heroism. His documented role was that of a midshipman serving aboard the victorious American vessel.

For a sailor who would later witness a devastating American defeat, the capture of the Fox represented one of the more successful episodes of his wartime career.

Lieutenant of the Black Prince

In July 1779, Crowninshield received another naval appointment. According to his declaration, he became a lieutenant aboard the Massachusetts armed ship Black Prince, commanded by Nathaniel West.

Unlike the Continental frigate Boston, the Black Prince was identified in his account as a Massachusetts state armed vessel. This distinction matters because American naval warfare during the Revolution involved Continental ships, state vessels, and privately commissioned armed ships operating under different authorities.

Crowninshield’s appointment as lieutenant also represented a more senior position than his earlier role as a midshipman. He was now an officer serving under the vessel’s captain during a major expedition organized by Massachusetts.

That expedition was directed against British forces occupying a position on the Penobscot River in present-day Maine.

The Disaster at Penobscot

During the summer of 1779, Massachusetts assembled an expedition combining naval and land forces to remove the British from the Penobscot region. The campaign involved American warships, armed vessels, transports, and troops under separate commanders.

Crowninshield recalled that the land forces were commanded by Generals Solomon Lovell and Peleg Wadsworth. The expedition’s naval commander was Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, whose name appears imperfectly rendered in the surviving transcription.

The Americans failed to achieve their objective before a British relief force arrived under Sir George Collier. The expedition collapsed, and the American naval force suffered catastrophic losses as vessels were destroyed or abandoned rather than surrendered.

Crowninshield remembered the defeat plainly. His declaration stated that the American fleet had been destroyed. He estimated that his service during the expedition lasted about three months.

His testimony does not explain his personal movements during the retreat or establish exactly how he escaped the destruction. It nevertheless places him aboard a Massachusetts armed vessel during one of the most severe American naval disasters of the Revolutionary War.

For Crowninshield, the Revolution had offered both extremes of naval warfare: the successful capture of an enemy frigate and the destruction of an American expedition.

From Naval Officer to Merchant Captain

After the Revolution, Crowninshield continued his life at sea. The Phillips Library’s family papers identify him as a successful shipmaster and merchant who commanded several vessels associated with the Crowninshield family.

Among the ships named in the archival collection are the America, Belisarius, and Prudent. A 1916 Peabody Museum exhibition catalog specifically records that Crowninshield commanded the Belisarius in 1798 and the America in 1799.

Commercial shipping during this period demanded considerable skill. A shipmaster was responsible not merely for steering a vessel but also for managing a crew, navigating unfamiliar waters, protecting cargo, and dealing with the uncertainties of international commerce.

American merchant vessels also faced dangers beyond storms and accidents. The wars of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras exposed neutral American shipping to seizures, restrictions, and interference by European powers.

Crowninshield’s experience made him part of a generation of Salem captains whose careers linked American independence with the expanding maritime trade of the early United States.

A Privateer in the War of 1812

Crowninshield’s military experience did not end with the Revolution. Later historical accounts identify him as a privateer commander during the War of 1812, when the United States again fought Great Britain.

A 1913 history of Cleopatra’s Barge, written by Francis Boardman Crowninshield, states that Benjamin commanded the family ship John after it had been converted into a privateer. The author describes the cruise as successful and notes that the vessel was subsequently captured by the British.

Privateers were privately owned armed vessels operating under government authorization to attack enemy commerce. Their captains were not simply pirates acting on their own authority. They operated under commissions and were expected to follow the applicable rules governing wartime captures.

For an experienced merchant captain such as Crowninshield, privateering combined the practical skills of commercial seamanship with the risks of wartime naval operations. It also reflected the importance of private armed vessels in supplementing the relatively small United States Navy.

The 1913 family history provides evidence of Crowninshield’s privateering during the War of 1812. The specific vessel identification and cruise details are derived from that later publication, rather than from his Revolutionary War pension declaration.

They should not be confused with his documented Continental and Massachusetts naval assignments of the 1770s.

The Extraordinary Voyage of Cleopatra’s Barge

Perhaps the most unusual chapter of Crowninshield’s career came in 1817, when he was entrusted with command of Cleopatra’s Barge, the celebrated yacht built for his cousin George Crowninshield Jr.

The vessel was extraordinary for its time. Rather than being constructed primarily to carry commercial cargo, Cleopatra’s Barge was designed as a luxurious private pleasure craft. Its voyage to Europe attracted attention because it represented an unusual expression of American wealth, maritime ambition, and leisure.

George Crowninshield selected his experienced cousin Benjamin, already known as “Sailor Ben,” to command the voyage. Benjamin’s son, also named Benjamin Crowninshield and known as “Philosopher Ben,” accompanied the expedition.

In 1817, Cleopatra’s Barge crossed the Atlantic and visited European and Mediterranean destinations. The journey became famous in American maritime history as an early transatlantic voyage undertaken by a purpose-built pleasure yacht.

For Crowninshield, the assignment was a remarkable contrast to his earlier experiences. As a young naval officer, he had sailed against British warships and witnessed the destruction of an American fleet. Decades later, he commanded a vessel whose purpose was not combat or commerce but an ambitious voyage of exploration and pleasure.

His son kept a detailed journal of the journey, recording observations that would help preserve the voyage’s place in maritime history. The Phillips Library holds substantial material relating to the younger Benjamin’s writings and the family’s shipping activities.

The 1916 Peabody Museum exhibition commemorating Cleopatra’s Barge included a portrait of Captain Benjamin Crowninshield and identified him as the commander of the yacht during its 1817 voyage to the Mediterranean.

Thus, more than forty years after the outbreak of the American Revolution, the veteran sailor was still entrusted with the command of an important ocean-going vessel.

A Federal Appointment

Crowninshield’s later career also brought him into federal public service. The Phillips Library identifies him as Collector of Customs for the Marblehead and Lynn district of Massachusetts from 1821 to 1830.

Customs collectors occupied important positions in the early republic. Federal revenue depended heavily on duties imposed upon imported goods, and customs officials helped administer the laws governing international commerce.

The position placed Crowninshield within the administrative system that supported the federal government. After decades of experience at sea, he was now involved in the regulation and collection of revenue from the commerce that had shaped his working life.

He also maintained ties to Salem’s maritime and civic institutions. The Phillips Library records that he joined the Salem Marine Society in 1794 and became a member of the East India Marine Society in 1799. He was also associated with the Essex Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons.

These memberships reflected his longstanding place within Salem’s maritime community and the professional networks of its shipmasters and merchants.

From His Account

Military Service

Conflicts	American Revolutionary War; War of 1812
State	Massachusetts
Reported Early Service	British naval midshipman and American militia service, including Bunker Hill, according to later family history; not independently corroborated by the reviewed pension declaration
Continental Navy Service	Approximately 1777; exact dates uncertain
Rank	Midshipman
Vessel	Continental frigate Boston
Commander	Hector McNeill
Engagement	Capture of the British frigate Fox
Massachusetts Naval Service	Beginning July 1779
Rank	Lieutenant
Vessel	Massachusetts armed ship Black Prince
Commander	Nathaniel West
Campaign	Penobscot Expedition, 1779
Estimated Duration	Approximately three months during the Penobscot expedition
War of 1812	Privateer commander, according to later family history
Privateering Vessel	John, according to the 1913 family history
Revolutionary Pension	W.24832
National Archives ID	54343093

Later Life & Burial

After decades spent at sea, Benjamin Crowninshield’s later years were centered in Massachusetts. His work as a customs collector from 1821 to 1830 represented a transition from commanding vessels to administering federal maritime regulations.

By August 1832, he was living in Danvers, Massachusetts. He appeared before Judge Daniel A. White to seek the benefits of the federal pension law enacted on June 7 of that year.

His declaration revealed that he had previously received recognition under the pension legislation of 1818 but had later been removed from the rolls because of his property. His renewed application required him to describe naval service that had occurred more than half a century earlier.

Crowninshield died in 1836, but the precise date is inconsistent among the consulted sources. A pension payment notation identifies November 22, 1836, as the date of his death. A published 1913 family history instead gives December 22, 1836. The Phillips Library’s finding aid confirms the year 1836 without resolving the difference.

A Find a Grave memorial has been associated with Benjamin Crowninshield, but its burial information has not been independently confirmed for this article. Because members of the Crowninshield family shared similar names, the exact grave location should be verified against cemetery or burial records before being presented as established fact.

After his death, his widow Mary Lambert Crowninshield pursued a widow’s pension. Her surviving pension documentation preserves additional information about their marriage and household. She remained connected to the Revolutionary War pension system long after Benjamin’s naval service had ended.

Crowninshield’s death closed a maritime career that had begun before American independence and extended through the development of the early United States Navy, Salem’s international merchant trade, the War of 1812, and the celebrated voyage of Cleopatra’s Barge.

Family & Descendants

Parents and the Salem Crowninshields

Benjamin Crowninshield was born into one of Salem’s established maritime families. The Phillips Library’s Benjamin Crowninshield Family Papers identify his parents as Jacob Crowninshield, who died in 1774, and Hannah Carlton Crowninshield, who lived until 1824.

The Crowninshield family became prominent in shipping, commerce, naval service, and public office. Its several branches included men who shared the names Benjamin, Jacob, and George, making careful identification particularly important when tracing relationships.

The Revolutionary War veteran became known as “Sailor Ben,” a nickname that distinguished him from other relatives. He should not be confused with his cousin Benjamin Williams Crowninshield, who later served as Secretary of the Navy, or with his own son Benjamin, known as “Philosopher Ben.”

The archival family papers establish Benjamin’s parents, but a complete list of his siblings has not been independently assembled for this biography.

Marriage to Mary Lambert

On November 9, 1780, Benjamin Crowninshield married Mary Lambert, according to the Phillips Library’s family history. The marriage took place during the Revolutionary War, shortly after Crowninshield’s reported service in the Penobscot Expedition.

Mary Lambert was born in 1760 and died in 1851, surviving her husband by approximately fifteen years. Her longevity meant that she lived into the middle of the nineteenth century, long after the Revolutionary War generation had begun to disappear.

The couple’s marriage is particularly well supported because Mary later pursued a federal widow’s pension based on Benjamin’s Revolutionary War service. Their pension file, W.24832, contains documentation associated with both husband and wife.

Further examination of the original widow’s pension papers may provide additional evidence about their marriage, residence, and family circumstances.

The Five Children of Benjamin and Mary Crowninshield

The Phillips Library’s family papers identify five children of Benjamin Crowninshield and Mary Lambert Crowninshield:

• Benjamin Crowninshield Jr. (1782–1864), known as “Philosopher Ben.”
• Maria Crowninshield, whose later life requires additional documentation.
• Hannah Crowninshield (1789–1834), who married naval officer James Armstrong.
• Elizabeth Crowninshield, whose marriage and later family relationships have not been established from the sources used here.
• Jacob Crowninshield (1799–1849), who pursued a career as an officer in the United States Navy.

The family’s surviving papers are unusually valuable because they connect several generations through correspondence, journals, maritime records, and biographical descriptions.

Nevertheless, the amount of surviving information differs considerably among the children. Benjamin, Hannah, and Jacob are comparatively well documented, while the lives of Maria and Elizabeth require further research before additional relationships can be assigned to them.

Benjamin Crowninshield Jr. — “Philosopher Ben”

The eldest son, Benjamin Crowninshield Jr. (1782–1864), became known as “Philosopher Ben.” He attended school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later studied at the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

In 1817, he accompanied his father aboard Cleopatra’s Barge during its celebrated voyage to Europe and the Mediterranean.

His detailed journal helped preserve observations of the journey, providing a valuable account of one of the early republic’s most unusual maritime expeditions.

The Phillips Library’s family papers contain substantial material relating to the younger Benjamin’s writings and personal records. He died unmarried in 1864.

Because he is identified as having died unmarried, no spouse is assigned to him. The available material also does not establish a line of descendants through this son.

Hannah Crowninshield Armstrong — Portrait Artist

Benjamin’s daughter Hannah Crowninshield (1789–1834) became a portrait artist and is particularly remembered for a portrait of Revolutionary War General John Stark of New Hampshire.

Hannah studied under the influence of Reverend William Bentley of Salem, whose diaries preserve important information about her life and artistic interests.

In 1819, she married naval officer James Armstrong, who later attained the rank of commodore in the United States Navy.

Her marriage connected the Crowninshield family with another American naval family. The association was fitting for a daughter whose father had served in the Continental Navy and whose brothers continued the family’s maritime traditions.

Hannah died in 1834, two years before her father. She is buried at Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts.

The cemetery’s historical account identifies her parents as Benjamin “Sailor Ben” Crowninshield and Mary Lambert Crowninshield, providing an additional source for her family relationship.

The material consulted does not establish a verified list of children from Hannah’s marriage to James Armstrong. No later Armstrong descendants are therefore assigned to Benjamin Crowninshield through this line without additional documentation.

Jacob Crowninshield — A Naval Family Continues

Another son, Jacob Crowninshield (1799–1849), followed his father’s maritime tradition into the United States Navy.

His career eventually took him to the Pacific, where he commanded the American naval vessel USS St. Mary’s.

Jacob died at sea in 1849, continuing the family’s connection to ocean-going service until the end of his life.

The Phillips Library’s family collection also identifies Jacob’s son, William Wallach Crowninshield, who served in the United States Navy.

This relationship establishes an identifiable line from Benjamin “Sailor Ben” Crowninshield through his son Jacob to his grandson William Wallach Crowninshield.

The younger William’s naval service demonstrates that the family’s maritime tradition extended into at least a third generation. Further research would be necessary to document any subsequent descendants.

Maria and Elizabeth Crowninshield

The family papers also identify two daughters named Maria Crowninshield and Elizabeth Crowninshield.

Unlike their siblings Benjamin, Hannah, and Jacob, their lives are not described in sufficient detail in the sources assembled for this article to establish their marriages, death dates, or children.

It would be inappropriate to connect them to similarly named individuals in Massachusetts records without corroborating evidence.

Additional research in Salem marriage registers, church records, probate files, and family correspondence may help establish their later lives and determine whether either daughter left descendants.

The Extended Crowninshield Family

The wider Crowninshield family included some of the most influential maritime and political figures of early nineteenth-century Massachusetts.

One of Benjamin’s prominent cousins was Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1772–1851), who served as United States Secretary of the Navy under Presidents James Madison and James Monroe from 1814 to 1818.

Benjamin Williams Crowninshield later represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives from 1823 to 1831.

Despite sharing the same first and last names, the two men were different individuals. The Revolutionary War veteran was the son of Jacob Crowninshield, while Benjamin Williams Crowninshield was the son of George Crowninshield.

Another cousin, George Crowninshield Jr., commissioned the celebrated yacht Cleopatra’s Barge and selected “Sailor Ben” to command its 1817 voyage.

These relationships illustrate how the extended Crowninshield family participated in American naval service, maritime commerce, federal politics, and cultural life across several generations.

Known Descendants and Genealogical Research

The surviving family papers establish that Benjamin Crowninshield and Mary Lambert had five children. They also identify at least one grandson, William Wallach Crowninshield, through their son Jacob.

That documented relationship provides a starting point for tracing later generations of the family.

However, no complete descendant tree has been established for this article. The later families of Maria and Elizabeth Crowninshield remain unverified, and additional descendants through Hannah Armstrong or Jacob Crowninshield require individual documentary confirmation.

The Phillips Library’s Benjamin Crowninshield Family Papers, including correspondence, family records, and documents extending into the twentieth century, are especially promising for future genealogical research.

Researchers should distinguish carefully among the many members of the Crowninshield family who shared the names Benjamin, Jacob, and George. A shared surname or association with Salem does not, by itself, establish a direct line of descent from the Revolutionary War veteran.

Original Sources & Historical Note