Background
Hector McNeill was the son of Malcolm and Mary (Stuart) McNeill. He was born in County Antrim, Ireland, and came with his parents to Boston in 1737.
Hector McNeill was the son of Malcolm and Mary (Stuart) McNeill. He was born in County Antrim, Ireland, and came with his parents to Boston in 1737.
McNeill was educated in the Boston schools.
While still young, McNeill went to sea, becoming master of a vessel before he was twenty-two. McNeill served at the beginning of the French and Indian War as master of a vessel which, in 1755, carried General Monckton to Nova Scotia. Very soon afterward his vessel was captured by Indians and he was sent a prisoner to Quebec. Several years later he was engaged in the coasting trade between Quebec, Boston, and the West Indies.
In 1775, he was living in Quebec, but soon entered the service of the United Colonies on the St. Lawrence River. Early in 1776, he returned to Boston and on June 15 was appointed a captain in the Continental Navy. On October 10, 1776, he was placed third on the list of captains. He was given command of the new frigate Boston, of twenty-four guns.
On May 21, 1777, the frigate Hancock, under Captain John Manley, senior to McNeill, and the Boston, accompanied by nine privateers, sailed on a cruise to the eastward. The privateers soon became separated and took no further part in the enterprise. The Hancock and Boston fell in with and escaped from the British sixty-four-gun ship Somerset and the frigate Mercury. Soon after this, in June, they captured, after a fight, the British frigate Fox.
Three small prizes were burned. On July 7 the little American squadron encountered the enemy's forty-four-gun ship Rainbow, the frigate Flora, and the brig Victor. A severe action followed, first with the Flora. The American ships becoming separated, the Hancock engaged the Rainbow alone and was captured, as was also the prize Fox. The Boston escaped and went into Wiscasset, later returning to Boston.
McNeill was blamed for not coming to the rescue of the Hancock when it was attacked by the Rainbow, was court-martialed, and was dismissed or suspended from the navy in June 1778. No report of his trial has been preserved. In January 1779, the Marine Committee recommended that the sentence of the court "be not carried into execution. " But nothing was done and the captain never again served in the navy.
Doubtless one of the contributing factors to the disastrous outcome of this cruise, so auspiciously begun, was the lack of cordial relations between Manley and McNeill; effective cooperation between them was hardly possible.
Later in the war, McNeill commanded two privateers the brigantine Pallas and the ship Adventure the bonds of which are dated May 22 and November 22, 1780, respectively. The Pallas was supposed to have been lost or captured on her way to Amsterdam, but this is uncertain. After the war the captain returned to the merchant service and on Christmas night, 1785, was lost at sea.
McNeill's many letters show strength of character and, despite a somewhat contentious disposition, a kindliness and devotion to the interests of the officers and men who served under him.
On November 12, 1750, McNeill was married in the Presbyterian church to Mary Wilson. They had four children, three of whom survived infancy. In 1769 his wife died and on December 26, 1770, he was married to Mary Watt, by whom he had one daughter.