Captain Nicholson Broughton, First Captain of the Privateer Hannah

Captain Nicholson Broughton earned honor as the first commodore of the United States Navy. But he first gained fame as captain of the even more famous schooner Hannah, the “first” official privateer vessel sent out from Marblehead / Beverly waters under a commission from George Washington in service of his Continental Army, on September 2, 1775. Broughton had at first been a captain of one of the ten regiments in Colonel John Glover’s 21st Massachusetts Regiment (as it began in June 1775). In November 1775, Captain Broughton commanded the privateer Hancock, which sailed up to Nova Scotia waters with the schooner Franklin, commanded by Captain John Selman, also of Marblehead, to interrupt the shipping of British armaments to bases in Canada. Finding none, they took matters into their own hands and were court martialed personally by Commander-in-Chief George Washington.

Donald Doliber was appointed as Marblehead’s Town Historian after 24 years as an award-winning history teacher, who was selected as the “Outstanding  American History Teacher in the United States” by the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.), followed by 17 years as an assistant high school principal. His ancestors arrived in Marblehead in the 1630s and were fishermen, selectmen, and merchants in the early community, and later, a few served in the Revolutionary War.

This event is presented in collaboration with the Marblehead 250 Committee and Abbot Public Library. 

This program is funded in part by a grant from the Marblehead Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.