I represent George Chapman. I was a Marine aboard HMS Hound, a sloop of 14 guns that served in the West Indies and Gulf Coast during the British colonial period. It survived the hurricane of October 1778 and became part of the small naval defense of Pensacola Bay – along with the Mentor and Port Royal – as the Spanish began to close in. Like the crews of the other vessels, we spent more and more time ashore as it became apparent our efforts were better spent assisting the army than trying to take on the much larger Spanish fleet. On February 25, 1781, the Hound was sent to escort a convoy of smaller merchant ships to England, mostly to relieve the desperate straits of the merchants and tradesmen in the province. It did not return before the surrender of Pensacola. I was not part of the crew that sailed away home that day, however. I died on November 24, 1778, probably of illness.
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