Haraden, Jonathan

HARADEN, JONATHAN. (1744–1803). State naval officer and privateer. Massachusetts. Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on 11 November 1744, Haraden started his sea service in July 1776 as a lieutenant on the Massachusetts navy sloop Tyrannicide, which was commanded by John Fiske. After two successful cruises that year, Haraden took command of the vessel in 1777, when it was converted into a brigantine. Captain Fiske's Massachusetts and Haraden's Tyrannicide took 25 prizes from France and Spain, including a transport loaded with Hessian troops. Back to Boston in August 1777, Haraden sailed again in the fall and was in the West Indies during the winter. In the summer of 1778 he started his career as a privateer, commanding the General Pickering (16 guns). Distinguishing himself as a commerce raider, he gained a reputation for winning against heavy odds. Off Sandy Hook in October 1779, he captured three enemy privateers in a ninety-minute action and took them all into port. In June 1780 he fought a much more powerful British privateer, the Achilles, at close range for nearly three hours in the Bay of Biscay. The Achilles broke off the engagement, and Haraden recaptured this twenty-two-gun schooner, which had been taken by the enemy just a few days earlier. When Admiral George Rodney captured the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius for the British, on 3 February 1781, he set a trap that caught Haraden and several of his prizes. After being released, Haraden commanded the Julius Caesar (fourteen guns), another Salem privateer, which started operations in 1782. In June of that year he fought two larger British ships and escaped. He died in Salem, Massachusetts, on 26 November, 1803.

SEE ALSO Naval Operations, Strategic Overview.

                        revised by Michael Bellesiles