Samuel Tucker was an officer in the Continental Navy and the United States Navy.
Background
Samuel Tucker was born on November 1, 1747 in Marblehead, Massachussets, third of the eight children of Andrew and Mary (Belcher) Tucker.
His father was a prosperous ship captain, said to have come from Dundee, Scotland, and his mother was of English extraction.
Career
At the age of eleven the boy ran away from home and went to sea, enlisting on board the Royal George bound for Louisbourg. At seventeen he was a second mate.
Rising to first mate, he later became a master and on the eve of the Revolution was in command of the Young Phoenix, trading with Spain and England and importing salt.
It is said that Tucker saw his first Revolutionary service in 1775 as lieutenant of a company of soldiers. On January 20, 1776, Washington commissioned him captain of the Franklin, an army warship, and directed him to cruise against British vessels. A few months later he was transferred to the Hancock, a superior command.
During 1776, alone or in company with another ship of the army, he captured several valuable prizes, including two transports carrying Scottish troops and two ships laden with beef, pork, and other supplies.
Congress on March 15, 1777, recognized his services by appointing him a captain in the navy, but several months elapsed before he received a command, the frigate Boston. On Feb. 17, 1778, he weighed anchor at Marblehead and sailed for France, carrying as passengers John Adams, recently appointed commissioner to France, and his son John Quincy Adams.
The elder Adams had left a description of this eventful voyage (The Works of John Adams, vol. III, 1851). Noteworthy were the rough weather that shattered the mainmast, the escape of the Boston from the watchful enemy, the chasing of prospective prizes, the capture of the valuable privateer Martha, whose captain had served twenty years in the Royal Navy, and the anxieties of all as the ship neared her destination.
On August 22, after a successful cruise in French waters in which he captured four small prizes, Tucker sailed for America, accompanied by the Providence, Commodore Abraham Whipple, and the Ranger, Capt. John Paul Jones. The little fleet captured three prizes before arriving at its destination, Portsmouth, N. H. In the spring of 1779 Tucker sailed southward to Chesapeake Bay and on July 29, accompanied by the Deane, Commodore Samuel Nicholson, two ships of the Virginia navy, and a convoy of merchantmen, sailed out of the bay. The two frigates made a successful cruise of about five weeks, capturing eight prizes, including four New York privateers, and the packet Sandwich and the sloop of war Thorn, each of sixteen guns.
On September 6 they arrived at Boston, with 250 prisoners, among whom were several officers. In November the Boston with several other naval ships sailed on important service. After a brief cruise, during which a privateer of twelve guns was captured, the fleet arrived at Charleston, S. C. , where Tucker participated in the siege of Charleston, with the Boston anchored in the Cooper River. On the surrender of the city he and his vessel fell into the hands of the enemy. He was almost immediately paroled and his vessel was taken into the Royal Navy and renamed the Charleston.
Exchanged for the captain of the Thorn, Tucker obtained leave of absence from the navy and in 1781 made several cruises in that vessel, now a privateer, and captured among other ships the packet Lord Hyde.
About August 1 near the mouth of the St. Lawrence the Thorn was captured by the frigate Hind and Tucker and his officers were landed on the island of St. John's (now Prince Edward Island).
Furnished with an open boat to carry them to Halifax, they laid a course for Boston, where in due time they arrived. This ended Tucker's active service in the navy.
In comfortable circumstances by reason of prize money, Tucker lived for several years in a house on Fleet Street, Boston. Returning to the merchant service, in 1783-85 he commanded several vessels trading with West Indian and European ports. In 1786 the Cato, a ship in which he had a large pecuniary interest, sank in the harbor of Lisbon.
Giving up the sea, he moved to Marblehead and purchased there an interest in two grist mills and a granary. Failing in this enterprise, in 1792 he purchased a farm in Bristol, Me. , on which he spent the rest of his life.
From 1814 to 1818 he was a member of the Massachusetts house and later he was twice elected to the Maine house. In 1820 he carried to Washington the electoral vote of Maine, making the journey of 600 miles in less than five days. A statement made at this time that he had taken sixty-two prizes, more than 600 cannon, and 3, 000 prisoners probably exaggerated his Revolutionary services.
In 1821 a private act of Congress pensioned him at the rate of twenty dollars a month and ten years later a general act increased his pension to $600 a year.
Samuel Tucker died at the age of 86 in Bremen, Maine.
Achievements
Religion
When the Tuckers were living in Boston they "attended the Episcopal Church, of which (his wife) was a communicant. Often in his family would he repeat parts and passages of what he called the beautiful Church Liturgy. His views were serious, and he always spoke with reverence of religion. "
Personality
The elder Adams characterized Tucker as an able seaman, and a brave, vigilant officer, though of no great erudition.
Connections
On December 21, 1768, he had married Mary Gatchell of Marblehead, who bore him several children. His wife died December 30, 1831.