Beadle's Dime Novels No. 74: Cruiser of the Chesapeake

"The Cruiser of the Chesapeake; or, The Pride of the Nansemond" by Lieutenant Robert Phillipse, U.S.N. (Beadle's Dime Novels No. 74, 1864) A Revolutionary War-era naval adventure set on Virginia's Chesapeake Bay. Patriot settlers at the Nansemond River operate a privateering vessel, the Dolphin, which captures British military transports. The protagonists include Captain Alberto Nansemond and his daughter Lettie, a seventeen-year-old girl. The narrative centers on the capture of a British ship through daring subterfuge: a enslaved crew member named Samuel Josephus Adolphus Mason infiltrates the vessel, intoxicates the guards with brandy, and forces the captain's surrender at knifepoint. The captured ship is repurposed as a privateer and christened "The Pride of the Nansemond" in honor of Lettie. The story emphasizes the patriotic fervor of colonial Virginians resisting British occupation and the Chesapeake region's strategic importance during the war.