Tarletons origins are uncertain. Though the name was unusual, it was not unique at the time. There were at least two
Tarletons in French hands in early 1783, with different commanders. Supposedly the
Tarleton of this article had been a vessel the Royal Navy had captured and lost to the French in 1782. However, there are no readily accessible Royal Navy records of any capture, service, or subsequent loss. There was a mercantile
Tarlton [sic], of New York, with Young, owner, that escaped Yorktown shortly before its fall in 1781. The ambiguous report of "Jonas Rider, a Black Man", raises the possibility that the French captured this vessel, only to lose it to the British. If the French then recaptured it, it may have been the
Tarleton that the Royal Navy reportedly captured and lost in 1782.
Tarleton (I) The Archives of the State of Maryland record on 3 January 1783 that two armed vessels,
Pole Cat and
Tarleton, had arrived from Baltimore and sailed into Chesapeake Bay to drive out the British forces there. On 25 February there was a memo to Captan de Barrass, of
Tarleton. On 19 March a second memo mentioned Captain de Barrass of the sloop
Tarleton. Lastly, a memo on 19 May discusses the return to
Tarleton of her sick that have recovered.
Tarleton (II) In late 1782
Tarleton, Captain Lecamus, was at Saint Domingue when the governor sent her to Boston. On 3 January 1783, the French brig
Tarleton, of 14 guns, and under the command of
lieutenant de vaisseau le Camus, encountered an 18-gun brig that escaped
Tarleton only by its superior sailing.
Tarleton forced the enemy brig to abandon a Spanish prize that it had taken.
Tarleton suffered one man wounded in the engagement. The mention does not make clear where this occurred, but a second mention is more specific. On 9 February,
Tarleton was leaving
Port-au-Prince, having returned there for repairs. As she left to resume her voyage to Boston, she encountered a British frigate and a brig. M. de Camus sailed
Tarleton into a cove. There he found two guns that he combined with four of his own to form a shore battery. With this he forced the English vessels to sail off. Eventually she did reach Boston. The issue then is, if one
Tarleton was in the Chesapeake between January and May 1783, which was the
Tarleton that was at
Saint-Domingue in January–February 1783? The most likely candidate is
Tarleton, launched in 1780 at Glasgow. She was of 140 tons (bm), was armed with fourteen 3-pounder guns, and her owner was Crosbie. As a privateer under the command of A. Taylor she captured the American vessel
Tom Lee, Buchanan, master, on 23 March 1781 after an engagement of two and a half hours during which
Tom Lee suffered one man killed;
Tarleton had no casualties.
Tom Lee had been sailing from Baltimore to Nantes with 140 hogsheads of tobacco valued at £9000.
Tom Lee was armed with 12 guns and had a crew of 45 men. Shortly after this M. Reed became master and her trade became Liverpool-Barbados. She made a voyage to Saint Lucia and return but on 19 October 1782 the French captured her and took her into
Cap François. Her captor was apparently
Aigrette. Her entry in the 1783 volume of ''Lloyd's Register'' carried the annotation "Taken". The remaining question then is, which of the two
Tarletons is the one that the French navy took back to France? ==French service==