Ordered to America
On 13th September, 1775, the King ordered that, effective 25th August, 1775, all of the British regiments then active were to be augmented. This entailed adding one serjeant, one drummer and 18 men to each of the ten existing companies, plus the raising of two additional companies consisting of three serjeants, three Corporals, two Drummers and 56 private men, plus the usual commissioned Officers (WO 7/27, 13th Sept.). The 55th was augmented to 12 companies in response this order. Two companies stayed in Ireland, and the other ten companies were ordered to America on 29 July, 1775. They left Cork in ??, and after ?? months at sea, six companies of the 55th arrived safely in Boston on December 30 of that year (Kemble, p 62).
What of the other four companies?
In a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth dated 16 January, General Howe wrote "the six missing companies of the 17th and six companies of the 55th regiments arrived the 30th December in The Grosvenor and Grand Duke of Russia Indiamen, but have not had any account of the other 4 companies of the 55th regiment ä " (Davies, Transcripts p 47, C.O. 5/5, p 61 ).
The other four companies of the 55th left Cork in September, 1775, on board the Enterprize, George Shelby, Master. The ship lost all her masts in a gale while at sea and drifted to Antigua, finally arriving at English Harbor on 13th January, 1776 -- four months after they left Cork. Three masts were sighted in the water by Captain Benjamin Payne of the 18th foot on board the Earl of Suffolk at 38:10 longitude, 52:50 Latitude (about half-way between England and Newfoundland -- near the Azores) on 16th February, 1776. These could very easily have been the masts from the transport Enterprize.
At Antigua, the Enterprize was reported not fit for sea, and in mid-February of 1776, three of the four "lost" companies of the 55th were put on the Royal George, which had been blown off course from the Bay of Fundy and was also at Antigua. The fourth company boarded the Diana, and all four companies finally joined the rest of the regiment at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 18th April, 1776. (CO 5/5, p 265).
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