Description:

John Hancock
Boston, MA, December 5, 1780
John Hancock Signed Rare Naval Commission for Sailor on Frigate Protector
DS

A naval commission signed by John Hancock. 1p of vellum, measuring 11.5" x 10", [Boston, Massachusetts], dated December 5, 1780. Signed "John Hancock" at the lower right corner. The document commissions Lemuel Weeks as Second Lieutenant of the Ship Protector, co-signed by Secretary John Avery. The commission has been restored at the upper left corner, including a red wax seal replacement. Flattened folds with some small holes along the folds. Toning and staining along the folds and edges. Scratches and cracking to the wax seal. With Hancock's iconic bold signature. Mounted and framed to the overall size of 16" x 14.5".

Excerpt:
"To Lemuel Weeks Gentn By virtue of You being appointed Second Lieutenant of the Ship Protector fitted out and equipped by this Commonwealth for the service thereof Commanded by John Foster Williams Esquire. By Virtue of the Power vested in me, I do by these Presents (reposing special Trust and Confidence in your ability, courage, and good conduct) Commission you accordingly. You are therefore carefully and Diligently to discharge the Duty of a Second Lieutenant on board said Ship and all Officers, Seamen & Marines are hereby directed to obey you as their Second Lieutenant, and you are yourself to observe and follow such Orders and Instructions as you shall from time to time receive from your Superior Officers."

Lemuel Weeks (1757-1821) was born in Falmouth, Maine, then a part of Massachusetts. He became a wholesale merchant and importer at Portland in partnership with his brother-in-law Captain Daniel Tucker. They owned a large number of vessels and Weeks had been a midshipman who served as an acting lieutenant aboard the Protector since at least October 1779. Weeks became a prisoner of the British when the HMS Roebuck and the HMS Medea captured the Protector off Sandy Hook in May 1781, and he spent the next fifteen months in British captivity. After his release, he was commissioned captain of artillery in the militia in 1791 and promoted to major of artillery in 1798. During the War of 1812, he served as major of a detachment of artillery charged with the protection of forts and munitions in Portland that belonged to the state. He also served on the Portland Committee of Safety during the war.

Frigate Protector (1779-1781) was built at Newburyport for the Massachusetts Navy and launched in the fall of 1779. It was the largest, and for a time, the only ship in the Massachusetts Navy. Captain John Foster Williams (1743-1814) received command of the 28-gun Protector and took it to sea in June 1780 to cruise the Newfoundland Banks in search of British merchant vessels. On June 9, it fought and destroyed the 32-gun letter-of-marque Admiral Duff, rescuing 55 survivors after the ship exploded. In 1781, the Protector captured three British ships, before it was captured with more than 130 men on board off Sandy Hook on May 5, 1781, by the 44-gun HMS Roebuck and the 28-gun HMS Medea. The Royal Navy took the ship into service as the sixth-rate HMS Hussar. As the HMS Hussar, the ship fought a single-ship action off the Chesapeake Bay in which it captured the French frigate Sybille in January 1783.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 16" x 14.5"
  • Medium: DS

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