Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/261

 Rh Mars had previously ordered the Hessian lieutenant-colonel to come on board of that vessel, but had fortunately excused him from doing so on account of his sickness.

On the 29th of September the Triton was brought into Little Egg Harbor. Here the prisoners were disembarked. They passed through Philadelphia and were at last quartered at Reading. The officers were exchanged and returned to New York in December, 1780.

Of the six vessels in which the Knyphausen and Lossberg regiments we're embarked, one returned safely to New York with her passengers; the fate of one I have not been able to trace with certainty; one was lost at sea with all hands; two were disabled in the storm and afterwards taken by American privateers.

The remaining vessel, the Badger, with part of the Lossberg regiment, lost her fore and main masts in the storm. She was afterwards attacked by two small privateers, which followed her for two days and fired at her, but drew off on account of the determined attitude of the Hessians. On the 9th of October, however, a privateer mounting twelve guns attacked the Badger, and the latter, having no cannon, was obliged to surrender. A lieutenant, three ensigns, and twenty men were taken on board the privateer, together with the equipment of the remaining Hessians. The privateer seems, moreover, to have retained at first some hold on the Badger herself, on which a Hessian captain, who was sick, with a surgeon and most of the privates, still remained; for it is stated in the journals