Joseph

The brig Joseph was built in Brewster Maine in 1794 and launched in the Piscataqua river which forms a boundary between Maine and its southern and western neighbor New Hampshire. The ship saw lots of action during its life. In June of 1795 during an inspection off Halifax, in a fistfight with an officer of the English sloop of war Rattlesnake the captain of the Josph bested the Englishman. The Joseph was captured by the British in 1811. On November 30, 1818 in one of the small harbors in the West Indies, the Joseph was boarded by pirates who killed a visitor with a pistol. After ransacking the vessel, Augustus Sheafe of Portsmouth was forced to accompany the pirates on a marauding party. Sold to foreign interests in 1834 – fate unknown.