James Munro

Posted by colin munro on Wednesday 3rd of September 2025 13:34

Extracted with permission from an article by Mark E Monroe in the Clan Munro USA newsletter.
James was born in 1747 to Benjamin Munro (q.v.) and Martha Sweeting of Bristol, RI. James’ father served as ship master on the Prince Charles of Lorraine commanded by Simeon Potter, under a commission signed by Governor William Greene of Rhode Island authorizing Potter to seize vessels belonging to the Kings of Spain and France during the British war with Spain termed the War of Jenkins’ Ear or King George’s War (1740-1748).
James followed in his father’s footsteps and became a privateer during the American Revolutionary War.
James commanded at least seven ships. The first recorded, in April 1776, is the sloop Sally, armed with ten 6-pounder cannons and owned by John Brown of Providence, RI. James’ first prize was the brig (two-masted ship) Agnes in September of that year followed shortly thereafter by his capture of the frigate Blaze Castle.
Blaze Castle was purchased by John Innis Clark and Joseph Nightengale of Providence. Armed with twenty 6-pounder cannons and commanded by James Munro, it was unable to leave port due to the British invasion of Rhode Island, until November 1777 when it escaped the blockade with the advantage of fair wind and dark night. The Blaze Castle sailed to the West Indies and took four brigs with cargos of coal, provisions, wine and dry goods as well as one British privateer vessel. Blaze Castle was captured in June 1778 by the HM frigate Unicorn. James was released in an exchange of prisoners and was back in Providence in late 1778.
The next ship commanded by James was the brig Saratoga with 16 6-pounder cannons, commissioned in June 1779. In August, James brought six vessels and seventy prisoners into Egg Harbour, New Jersey. After the Saratoga was replenished and returned to sea, the HM Frigate Galatea captured Saratoga and the crew was sent to a prison ship anchored off New York.
On October 6, 1779, James escaped from the prison ship and traveled to General George Washington’s military headquarters at West Point to deliver important information on the British forces in the New York area. On October 10, Washington wrote a letter to Brigadier General Duportail and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton which contained the following “The only material intelligence which I have obtained from New York or respecting the Enemy since your departure, is contained in the inclosed (sic) account, which I received yesterday from Captain Monroe.” The account, written by Robert Hanson Harrison, military secretary to Washington, begins with “Capn James Monroe, late of the Armed Brig Saratoga, escaped from on board a prison ship in New York harbour on Wednesday the 6 instant at 2 OClock AM informs that a Mr. Burling of the Luty send (sic) him word on the preceding Monday …” The paper continues with details of British vessels and their recent movements and the size of troops at different places in the New York area.
James returned to Rhode Island and commanded other privateer vessels in 1780 and 1781, including the frigates General Washington and Belisarius. The Belisarius was reported to have 24 9-pounder cannons and a crew of 150 men. During a cruise south to Florida, the frigate captured three ships. Unfortunately, upon the lifting of a dense fog when off the coast of North Carolina on August 6, 1781, the crew saw two British frigates, the Amphritrite and Medea, ready to fire upon the Belisarius and James surrendered.
Ebenezer Robinson, one of the crew of the Belisarius, later wrote “we were all put on board the ‘Old Jersey,’ the notorious British prison ship, then lying up East River above the City, and entirely without rigging … Our sufferings while confined in this old hull of a ship were unaccountably severe, and many of our number perished on account of the stench, the damp, deathly atmosphere in which we were confined and the miserable food.” The plaque on the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Brooklyn, NY reads “In memory of the 11,500 patriotic American sailors and soldiers who endured untold suffering and died on the British prison ships anchored in Wallabout during the Revolutionary War.” James was not one of the poor souls that perished. Instead, he became part owner of a ship trading goods in the Far East.