Combat· American Revolutionary War
Mass State Mars vs British 22-gun cutter, off Belle Isle
The Massachusetts state ship Mars fought an English cutter of 22 guns west of Belle Isle, off the coast of France, on September 7 or 8, 1780.
In the summer of 1780 the Massachusetts Board of War had turned the Mars over to the Massachusetts Committee for Foreign Affairs, which sent her to France and Holland for supplies. She was commanded by Simeon Samson, and her Marine officers were Captain William Tidmarsh, Captain Thomas Turner and Lieutenant Nathan Haskell. The Mars sailed from Boston for Nantes in July 1780. On the passage she met an enemy and a sloop; the sloop proved to be the cutter. The action lasted one hour and five minutes and ended when the cutter sheered off. The Mars was the slower vessel and the other enemy ship was near, so the chase was given up. Two Americans were killed, one of them Lieutenant Haskell of the Marines. The Mars reached Nantes on September 10, 1780, and Captain Tidmarsh was sent to Paris with despatches.
Record no. 146