Captain Jeremiah O’Brien and his five brothers, Gideon, John, William, Dennis and Joseph, were crewmembers of the sloop Unity which captured HMS Margaretta at the entrance to the harbor at Machias, Massachusetts (now Maine), 12 June 1775. Under the command of Jeremiah O’Brien, thirty-one townsmen armed with guns, swords, axes, and pitchforks captured the British armed schooner in an hour-long battle after Margaretta had threatened to bombard the town for interference with the shipment of lumber to British troops in Boston.