Samuel Tucker Samuel Tucker ( 1 November 1747 – 10 March 1833 ) was an officer in the Continental Navy and the United States Navy . Military career . Born in Marblehead , Massachusetts , Tucker began his naval career in the spring of 1760 as a cabin boy in the warship , " King George " . He subsequently rose to command of a merchant ship in July 1774 . Tucker was in England at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War , but returned to Massachusetts in the autumn of 1775 . Upon his return , Tucker was selected by General George Washington to command a small flotilla of armed schooner s which Washington had purchased and fitted out to prey on the British shipping . Tucker also served as commanding officer of the schooner " Franklin " . In " Franklin " and later in schooner " Hancock " , Tucker cruised off the Massachusetts coast , taking many prizes in the year 1776 . 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 . In April 1776 , in " Hancock " , Tucker sighted two supply brig s making for Boston . 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 . Tucker took both , escaping with the two ships and their valuable cargoes of foodstuffs and other items needed by the Continental Army . On 15 March 1777 Tucker received a commission in the Continental Navy , and in September 1777 replaced Captain Hector McNeill in command of the new frigate " Boston " , following McNeill ' s suspension from duty . 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 . On 15 February 1778 , Capt . Samuel Tucker sailed from Braintree , Massachusetts , to take onboard John Adams , the newly appointed minister to France , and his son , John Quincy . 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 . " Halfway across the Atlantic , " Boston " was nearly dismasted in a lightning storm that injured 20 sailors . 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 . " On another occasion , three British warships gave chase to the frigate . Avoiding contact with British ships as much as possible , Tucker was finally forced to fight . Encountering the British letter of marque ( privateer ) " Martha " , Tucker maneuvered " Boston " to cross the enemy ' s " T . " " Boston ' s " guns thundered and sent shot down the length of the Britisher , and soon " Martha " , after a single ineffectual broadside , struck her colors . The Adams ' arrived safely at Bordeaux on 1 April . Cruising in European waters from the spring of 1778 until the fall of that year , Tucker took four more prizes before returning to Portsmouth , New Hampshire , on 15 October . 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 . On 11 May 1780 , Charleston surrendered , after a siege , and the warships in harbor were captured , along with most of their officers and men . Tucker was among the prisoners but received parole on 20 May and was exchanged for British Capt . Wardlaw , whom Tucker had captured when " Boston " took HMS Thorn in September 1779 . On 11 January 1781 , Tucker assumed command of " Thorn " , now a privateer . After taking seven prizes , he was again captured in an engagement with HMS Hind ( 1740 ) off the mouth of the St . Lawrence River . He and his crew were taken to Prince Edward Island . One day , having had permission to go to Halifax , Tucker escaped and made his way to Boston . In an era where chivalry in war was still alive , Tucker wrote a letter of apology to the British garrison commander for his escape . At his own request , Tucker was paroled . When the war had ended , Tucker received hearty thanks from Congress . 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 . In the War of 1812 , Tucker returned to active service , commanding a schooner which protected the coast of Maine from British privateers . In 1813 , he captured the British privateer " Crown " in a short , sharp engagement . Personal life . Changing his residence to Massachusetts , Tucker settled down once again to a life of farming . In 1823 , he was awarded a small pension , retroactive to 1818 . In 1768 Tucker married Mary Gatchell , daughter of Ann and Samuel Gatchell , a Congregationalist Church Deacon from Marblehead . The Tuckers were married for 63 years until her death . When the Tuckers were living in Boston they " attended the Episcopal Church , of which [ his wife ] was a communicant . Often in his family would he repeat parts and passages of what he called the beautiful Church Liturgy . His views were serious , and he always spoke with reverence of religion . " Samuel Tucker died at the age of 86 in Bremen , Maine . Namesake . Two ships in the United States Navy have been named USS " Tucker " for him .