P. 33 of Jersey Sailing Ships:
"Capt. Le Cronier of the 'Defiance' returned to the island on 30 June 1757 accompanied by two large prizes which he had taken on their voyage from Bordeaux to America. 'Defiance' sailed again and surprised a Swedish vessel valued at L8000. Altogether no fewer than nine prizes valued at L486,440 fell to Le Cronier that year."
However when I look at the list of privateering captains, it lists Geroge Le Cronier as the captain of the Defiance from 1756 to 1757, so this might not be your g-grandfather Philip.
Defiance was a 67 ton schooner, owner Daniel Messervy.
The Le Croniers also seem to have been involved in the Newfoundland fishery. In my own research, I have compiled a list of Jersey vessels that cleared out of Harbour Grace between 1770 and 1794 (source Munn Fonds, Harbour Grace Customs records, Maritime History Archive). Le Croniers or possible Le Croniers (the handwriting in the document was poor and I was in a rush so you might want to check the source) were as follows:
Peter Le Cronier, 'Good Friends', 1776
Philip le Cromier, 'George', 1791 (Philip also the owner)
Peter le Cremier, 'Good Friends', 1789
Peter le Cronier & Co also owned the 'Reward" which cleared Hr. Grace in 1792, captained by P. Dolbol. This vessel was registered in Gaspe, so the Le Croniers might also have been involved in the Gaspe fishery.
You should really try to get a look at a copy of 'Jersey Sailing Ships', there are whole chapters on Jersey privateers and the Newfoundland and Gaspe fisheries, and an index at the back of Jersey sea captains and the vessels they sailed on. I only have a copy of certain segments. The Maritime History Archives at Memorial Univerity of Newfoundland are also a great resource.
http://www.mun.ca/mha/index.php. I believe the Jersey archives also holds a collection of John Jean's reference notes which might contain more details (I've never seen this collection but would love to some day).
Jennifer.
