New England Native Naval Battles
Notes from Utley & Washburn
Introduction
Previously -
The posts in the series on Colonial New England Native American conflict are avail. https://crackpot.substack.com/t/pennacook
Many Eastern Native Americans were more at ease on water than on horseback. They venture onto every conceivable body of water - including oceans. Indian seafarers produced the New World’s first navies and first true admirals - men who came to be feared by able British sailors. The Indians of the East were accomplished seamen long before the first English settlers arrived… - Utley & Washburn. pg. 47
In another vein, the natives were no doubt adept at building ships, and if Mandans and stories of Verendrye about Tartar script are credible, they no doubt benefited from incorporating Norse engineering to their canoes, skiffs and ships.
[1] 1676 - A Wabenaki named Mugg raided the port settlement of Black Point.
[2] When an English warship arrived at Black Point to defend the attack, Mugg’s men waited until the English soldiers debarked then cleverly hijacked the English warship and sailed away with it.
[3] By repeating this tactic up and down the coast, Mugg assembled a formidable naval force that included a ketch, two scallops, and several other boats.
[4] Mugg’s plans to destroy Boston meet their end with him in a skirmish on a port town raid. However, naval battles continue to take place on the coast for another fifty years.
[5] A notable battle in 1724 - the native war ship outmaneuvered two English man-o-wars and executed a broadside attack ‘T’ maneuver. Two perpendicular from broadside bow-to-stern cannon blasts killed the English captain, 2 seamen, 1 mate, and severed the man-o-war’s mainsheet, disabling the ship.
Utley & Chase - pg. 47-48.
Notes
References
Utley, Robert M, and Wilcomb E Washburn. Indian Wars. Boston Mass., Houghton Mifflin, 2002.