On 13 April 1778, during the American Revolution, a privateer ship called "The Ranger" captained by John Paul Jones appeared in Belfast Lough. The American ship engaged the Royal Navy vessel that was stationed there, the HMS Dregg. The Dregg was taken and the Sovereign of Belfast, Stuart Banks, sent word to Dublin Castle asking for military assistance. When no help materialized, the Irish began to form their own militias, independent of the government, to defend their land. Though many Ulster-Scots had relations in the American colonies which made them sympathetic to their cause (John Hancock had ancestry from County Down and Charles Thompson, who would design the Great Seal of the United States, was from Maghera), they nonetheless formed into militias for the defense of Ireland from possible invasion. The Volunteer Corps was formed in Belfast in 1778 and was self-financed and free from the military chain of command. Originally created to repel invasion, when no action took place, the Volunteer Corps. turned their attentions to the Irish Parliament, pressuring it to reform.