Note 958 — Chapter VII

Of the vessels shown in this view the “Massachusetts” frigate (no. 20) was under the command of Edward Tyng, the senior of the provincial naval officers, who, acting under Shirley’s commission, had found a merchantman on the stocks, which under Tyng’s direction was converted into this cruiser of 24 guns. (Mass. Hist. Coll., x. 181; Williamson’s Maine, ii. 223; Preble’s “Notes on Early Ship-Building,” in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., Oct., 1871, p. 363; Alden’s Epitaphs, ii. 328; Drake’s Five Years’ War, 246.) Tyng had been a successful officer. The previous year he had captured a French privateer which, sailing from Louisbourg, had infested the bay, and on May 24, 1744, the town of Boston had thanked him.