Notes |
- He was a naval officer in the Revolution, serving on the sloop "Retrieve," a privateer, with his cousin William (McLellan, I believe). He was prominent in Portland, first president of the Bank of Portland, ship owner, and involved in St. Paul's Church.
A description of his privateering during the war found in a history of Portland, with a footnote included:
"After 1775 the town was not again visited by the enemy, and the harbor became a resort for privateers. A number in the course of the war were built and fitted out here by merchants residing in other places, particularly in Salem. Our own people made a humble attempt in 1776, to make reprisals upon the enemy; in the summer of that year a number of persons united and fitted out a sloop called the Retrieve, as a privateer: she mounted ten guns, and was commanded by Capt Joshua Stone of this town. She was not successful, and was soon taken and carried into Halifax.1
1. Capt. Arthur McLellan was an officer on board of her; after her capture, Capt. McLellan sailed from Salem as prize master on board a well appointed private armed ship of twenty-two guns. They captured two rich brigs at once, by running between them and firing a broadside into each; one mounted sixteen guns." [2]
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