Russia Merchant
Russia Merchant
RUSSIA MERCHANT. This 243-ton British transport, carrying two hundred artillery personnel, foundered with valuable supplies needed for Clinton's Charleston expedition of 1780. All personnel were apparently saved, but the ship sank with four thousand muskets shipped for the use of Georgia Tories, which deprived the British of many armed irregulars. The loss also made Clinton more dependent upon his naval commander, Arbuthnot, from whom he had to borrow guns, shot, and powder. Some of the artillerymen from the ship reached the Charleston lines on 6 April 1780 from the Bermudas.
SEE ALSO Charleston Expedition of Clinton in 1780.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Clinton, Sir Henry. The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton's Narrative of His Campaigns, 1775–1782. Edited by William B. Willcox. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1954.
Uhlendorf, Bernhard A., ed. and trans. The Siege of Charleston, with an Account of the Province of South Carolina. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1938.