Library ceremony for Britannia
There will be an unveiling of a painting of the Revolutionary ship the Britannia at a ceremony tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. at the Middletown Township Library, New Monmouth Road.
The painting of the Britannia was a gift to the Middletown Historical Society who in turn is loaning it to the library for display at a part of the history of the township and the role it played during the Revolutionary War.
The public is invited to attend the brief ceremony and stay for refreshments to be served immediately after.
Members of the Middletown Chapter of the DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution, will also be present at the ceremony.
One of its members, Middletown native Maureen Foster wrote a story which appears in Monmouthtimeline.org about the Britannia, a brigantine under the command of a British privateer.
It was a time when British troops and Loyalist refugees occupied Sandy Hook and Patriots were in control of the shoreline, both sides taking advantage of the strategic location of the Sandy Hook peninsula. Patriots along the shore were able to monitor supplies coming and going to British ships in the safe harbor Sandy Hook provided them.
The Britannia was under Commandeer Jonathan Stout, outfitted with 20 guns, who had a license from his government to wage war against any enemy nation. On Dec. 28, 1779, the Britannia broke loose from its mooring during a heavy storm that drove the ship toward the western shore of the harbor. The first Regiment of the Monmouth Militia, stationed in the hills of Highlands, saw the ship dragging its anchors and saw the opportunity capture the ship, claim its cargo and put the hull up for sale to keep its proceeds for their families.
Under the command of Col. Asher Holmes from what is now Colts Neck, the Monmouth Militia was able to gain control of the ship near Shoal Harbor in Middletown and tow it to one of the creeks for unloading, then moving it to Cheesequake Creek in Middlesex County. Monmouth County records at the Historical Association trace the record of the ship’s location, the militia who guarded it and the payments they received for their work from the sale of the ship’s supplies.
President Thomas Valenti and other members of the Middletown Historical Society, the DAR, the Monmouth County Historical Association, who donated the painting to the historical society, and the library as well as artist Steven Schreiber and other historians will be on hand at the ceremony for more information on the ship and its capture.
DAR member Foster’s interest in the ship was stimulated when searching the genealogy of a maternal great grandfather several generations removed who served with Col. Holmes.
