L'Indien and the Gilded Plaice: Building American Frigates in Amsterdam, 1777–1782

Abstract

In 1777, the American commissioners in Paris, Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, contracted with French naval captain Jacques Boux to design two frigates for the Revolutionary cause. The design was the first of a new concept of very large frigates, able to outgun anything they could not outrun. The ships were to be built at a private yard in Amsterdam. One of these vessels, laid down as L’Indien, would ultimately serve the American cause in the South Carolina State Navy under the name South Carolina. This article examines the Dutch period of the two ships built at the yard of Arie Staats in Amsterdam in 1777–1781. Despite the attention given to South Carolina in the historiography, the Dutch sources have not yet been studied. The case of L’Indien and Tijger, her sister ship, illustrates the continuing importance of private contractors to navies in the late eighteenth century.