USS Active (1779)

Type

Brigantine

Period

18th Century

Nation

United States

Overview: USS Active was a small brigantine-rigged packet of the Continental Navy, built to carry dispatches and diplomatic correspondence between the United States and its European allies during the American Revolutionary War rather than to fight fleet actions. Specifications: She was built at Marshfield, Massachusetts on the orders of the Continental Congress and launched in July 1779; official figures list her at 60 tons burthen, sail-powered with a brigantine rig, and a small complement of 15 men, reflecting her role as a fast dispatch/packet vessel rather than a combatant. Service History: Under Captain Corbin Barnes, Active made dispatch voyages to Bilbao, Spain, in 1780 and to Nantes, France, in 1781, ferrying correspondence and officials between America and its French and Spanish allies. Her career ended on 23 March 1782 while sailing from Philadelphia to Havana, Cuba, when she was intercepted and captured by the British man-of-war HMS Proserpine; the British took her into Jamaica, where she was condemned as a prize and sold. Notable Facts: Modelers should note there were several other Continental- and state-navy vessels also named Active in this period, including a distinct Massachusetts state-navy brigantine (originally a privateer prize) that was captured by the brigantine Hazard in March 1779 and purchased into Massachusetts service, so care is needed not to conflate armament or dimensions across them. As a plain dispatch packet rather than a warship, this Active likely carried little to no armament, making her a good subject for a modest, lightly-armed Revolutionary War merchant/packet build rather than a heavily armed brig. No period artwork, museum model, or documented scratch-build/kit representation of this specific vessel could be located, so no image is included; modelers seeking visual references may instead look to generic small brigantine/packet plans of the 1770s-80s.