Stephen Champion was a miller by trade, and in company with his brother Reuben owned a mill at Four Mile River in Lyme. He entered the Continental service as a seaman on board the frigate “Confederacy,” 36 guns, Capt. Seth Harding. The vessel was built on the Thames below Norwich and was launched in 1778. On October 20, 1779, she sailed from Philadelphia for France. Being dismasted in a storm on November 7th, she was obliged to put into Martinique, W. I., which she reached on December 18th. After refitting she again put to sea, but on June 22, 1781, was captured off the Capes of Virginia by a British seventy-four and with her crew taken into Charleston, S.C., then in the enemy’s possession.¹