I represent William Miller. I was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and the second in command of HMS Mentor. I was appointed to that post by Admiral Parker, after I had only two years’ experience as a lieutenant. The Mentor was a sloop built in Maryland in 1778. It spent between April 1780 and May 1781 – the height of Spanish hostilities – patrolling the waters near Pensacola, and at times our crew would go ashore to help the army shore up defenses. Sometimes we’d cruise out to take Spanish prizes – and I was often the one who assumed command of those captured vessels. In March 1781, our captain realized the Mentor couldn’t hold out against the much larger Spanish convoy and our guns, ammunition, and men were better spent defending Pensacola on shore. I was sent with 40 men to garrison the Advanced Redoubt. The ship was taken up the Blackwater River, where it capsized and was burned to keep from falling into enemy hands. After the surrender of Pensacola on May 10, 1781, the Mentor’s captain, Robert Deans, was detained by the Spanish at Pensacola. It fell to me to command the crew to New York with the rest of the survivors and prisoners of war. I died in 1786.
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