The interest of this blog writer has focused on the men who walked the decks of the frigate South Carolina and their contributions and lives on board this ship-of-war. Many of them have a great deal recorded concerning them and their lives, both while they were on board the frigate and afterwards, in many cases. But, for some of these men there is only their names recorded in Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, the section entitled "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina". Often, through the means of further research, little bits and pieces of information will be located that inform more upon the life of an individual on board the frigate. Thus, we can "see them" a bit more clearly, even after the passage of over 200 years time. It has been a determination on the part of this blog writer to locate any and all information and record it here to make these men known to those of us here and now. Another hope has been to provide current and future genealogists and family researchers with additional information on a family ancestor and, for that family, make their forefather, of foremother as it may be, a bit, more real to them. All of this effort has provided at least some bits and pieces of information about many, many of the crew and marines who did walk the decks of the most heavily gunned ship-of-war under the command of any of the patriot navies during the course of the American Revolution.
But, through all of this research and exploration of documents, sometimes rather obscure pieces of text, there have been an ever decreasing group of men who have defied all efforts to find out anything concerning them. They are "just a name on the roster". This group originally contained over 400 names. Further research decreased the number to one hundred and sixty-one. Additional research and examination of documents has aided in constantly reducing this number but, unfortunately, never eliminating it altogether. The number is now down to seventy-three (possibly, seventy-two but, this will be examined in a note later in this post).
This specific post will cite these men again for ease of examination. Hopefully, additional research will locate documentation that will provide further information on these men and reduce the number further still. This blog writer will cite the sources that have provided information on each of the men examined in other posts. This citation of sources will be followed by the list of the remaining men on board the frigate South Carolina who have no other information given on them:
The sources are as follows:
Lewis, James A. Neptune's Militia: The Frigate South Carolina during the American Revolution. The Kent State University Press, 1999.
Middlebrook Louis F. The Frigate South Carolina: A Famous Revolutionary War Ship. The Essex Institute, 1929.
Moss, Bobby Gilmer. Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1983.
Revill Janie. Copy of the Original Index Book Showing the Revolutionary Claims Filed in South Carolina Between August 20, 1783 and August 31, 1786. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969.
The information in each of these sources appears in certain forms in each source. The information drawn from the Lewis work, Neptune's Militia, comes from the section of the work entitled "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina" pages 135-170. The information drawn from the Middlebrook work, The Frigate South Carolina, comes from pages 18-25 and consists of the lists of prisoners-of-war transported by each of the British men-of-war into New York City harbor after the capture of the frigate South Carolina on December 20, 1782. The information drawn from the Moss work, Roster, consists of citations on individual men taken from their alphabetical listing contained within the work. Some of these citations are very brief in nature while others are quite extensive, in comparison. The information drawn from the Revill work, Copy of the Original Index Book, is cited on pages 385-386 and consists of lists of men to whom certificates were issued after the war had concluded.
The list of men for whom there is no other information than their name contained in the section of Lewis's work, Neptune's Militia, entitled "Appendix: Crew and Marines of the South Carolina", pages 135-170, appears next. Again, we only know their names.
John Adamson
James Banner
Francis Barney
Elias Bartlett
Mr. ------- Birck
Thomas Bisset
John Boyland
John Boyne
Joseph Brown
Samuel Brown
John Bulkey
John Burkley
John Byne
Joseph Byne
Job Calihorn
Daniel Carles
Daniel Carter
William Chester
Joseph Coaker
John Cochran
John Colchan
Fitzgerald Collins
James Common
John Connor
James Connor
------- Corbin
John Cowing
John Craw
------- Dean
Henry Dicin
Job Dillion
Patrick Divine
John Dummarix
John Dunivan
David Earles
Aaron Edwards
John English
Charles Farefield
Nicholas Foulaine
Francis Foussard
Adam Grambling
Mr. ------- Gribett
John Groin
----rvy Harmon
Josiah Hewes
------- Hogan
------- Hopes
Patrick Lawler
William Lelog
John Lief
Richard Luat
Francis Lunnery
George Maucpagne
William McHasset
Thomas Meany
Mr. ------- Moore
Edward Morgrau
------- Morse
------- Nickeson
------- Perney
William Pickett
Barrebus Quin
------- Rafin
------- Riley
John Robinson
Samuel Ross
William Roulain
Roland Sandiford
John Sauler
James Sirvir
Sebron Philup Skepper
Mr. ------- Speairs
James Wilson
(Note: There is one individual on this list who may have additional information cited for him. There is an individual named " ------- Nickeson" on the list towards the end of the list. His first name is unknown or unrecorded. But, in the Moss work, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, there turns up the following citation:
John Nixon - He served in the Navy. A.A.404.
Also, in the Lewis work, Neptune's Militia, page 159, the citation for John Nixon contains the "position" identification as "secretary".
"Nickeson" and "Nixon" could be phonetic spellings of the same last name. It is possible that this could be the same individual. Or, it could be that these are indeed two separate men. What we know about "John Nixon" is that he served in the Navy as a secretary. Yet, we know nothing about "------- Nickeson" except that he served on board the frigate South Carolina at some point in time.)
So, the list contains the names of seventy-three men (or seventy-two names, depending on whether or not one accepts the statement concerning the "------- Nickeson/John Nixon" issue). To this point, research has turned up no additional information on any of these men except that they appear on the roster of the frigate South Carolina. By their names appearing on the roster of the frigate South Carolina, these men certainly served on board the frigate. Yet, we know nothing else about them except their names. In the opinion of this blog writer, they deserve to have their names included in this blog site, if for no other reason than they did spend some time, however brief or extended, on board the ship-of-war and thus had a small part in the life of the vessel. Any further information that shines more light upon any of these men will be collected and recorded on this site as it is found. But, there is the distinct possibility that for some of these men their names will have to stand as all that history remembers of them.