In July, 1779, the schooner Happy Return sailed from Portsmouth, N.C. to the island of Saint Eustatius and returned to Ocrarock, N.C. In Nov. 1779, the ship sailed from North Carolina to St. Eustatius.
In December 5, 1799, the schooner Rebecca, under command of Capt. Daniel Brazier, sailed from Portland to the Island of Tortola. On their return trip, the schooner and crew were captured by a French privateer La Patriote. Samuel Stephenson, the supercargo who kept the Rebecca's logbooks, was taken first to Port-Loius, and then to Point-a-Pitre in Guadalupe, and, after eighteen days of captivity, released. Having received his passport and condemnation papers from the French authorities in Gaudalupe, he sailed to St. Barthelemy "under Swedish colors." The ship was captured by an English privateer the Success of Nevis, and everybody onboard was brought to St. Kitts, where the American squadron under the command of Morris was stationed. In the end of February Stephenson returned to Portland, as a passenger onboard of the ship Butler, during which journey he kept the ship's logbook.
From the description of Journal of an Intended Voyage ... in the good Schooner call'd the Happy Return from Portsmouth in Virginia towards the Island of S. Eustatia in the West Indies, 1779-1800. (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 228721147
