Samuel Tucker (naval officer)

Born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Tucker began his naval career in the spring of 1760 as a cabin boy in the warship, King George.

His first, taken jointly with the schooner Lee, came on 29 February, when the two Continental ships cornered the 300-ton Henry and Esther, bound for Boston laden with wood from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Standing in to the harbor, near the protecting cannon of British warships anchored in the roadstead, he soon captured brigs Jane and William, out of Ireland.

For the remainder of 1777, Tucker, in Boston, carried out commerce-raiding forays in the North Atlantic and off the northeast coasts before being selected for a special mission.

Later, in remarks before the Navy Board, Tucker would say of Adams, "I did not say much to him at first, but damn and bugger my eyes, I found him after a while as sociable as any Marblehead man.

According to John Adams' diary, one of the sailors had a hole burnt in the top of his head from the lightning, and soon died "raving mad."

In 1779, two cruises in the North Atlantic netted nine prizes before orders sent Boston to Charleston, South Carolina, to help defend that port against the British onslaught.

In an era where chivalry in war was still alive, Tucker wrote a letter of apology to the British garrison commander for his escape.

During the years following the establishment of peace, the old mariner from Marblehead sailed packets from America to Bremen, Germany, until he retired to farming, in Maine, in 1792.