The importance of the maritime history of the American Revolution is often overlooked. Most of the war was fought on land, and what few ships the American’s could muster failed to achieve significant wins throughout the course of the war. Many history books record one significant battle and its hero, John Paul Jones. In recent […]
John Paul Jones tends to overshadow the study of the American Revolution at sea. While his accolades are well deserved, Jones earned many of them with John Peck Rathbun at his side. An American-born merchant captain who joined the Continental Navy at its beginning, Rathbun’s exploits are as daring as Jones’s, but less well known. […]
The British defeat at Yorktown in October 1781 did little to convince those fighting that peace was near. Gen. George Washington pleaded with his French naval ally, Admiral de Grasse, for a campaign against other British strongholds, perhaps in the Carolinas. When Grasse, instead, returned to the Caribbean, Washington began planning for his 1782 campaign […]
When de Grasse’s fleet left Yorktown for the Caribbean on November 4, 1781, he was already planning how to pursue the second objective of the July 17, 1781, de Grasse/Saavedra Conventions. The objectives that he had agreed to with the Secretary of State and General Bureau for the Spanish Indies, Don Francisco Saavedra, were “to […]
As early as October of 1775, the Continental Congress voted to authorize its first naval vessels[1], and as these ships were outfitted and crewed, the crews needed to be fed. Reconstructing the diet on board involves a certain amount of detective work, as accounts of the early Navy are focused less on the routine, and […]
After a British fleet of seventy-one warships and transports entered Narragansett Bay on December 7, 1776, and the next day landed soldiers that occupied Newport, Rhode Island, as well as the rest of Aquidneck Island, the Royal Navy had an excellent port for its ships to spend the winter. In addition, the fleet’s commander, Commodore […]
When the Royal Navy fleet of warships and transports, carrying a British army of more than 7,000 soldiers, passed New London, Connecticut, on December 6, 1776, the British were just a few days from easily capturing Newport, Rhode Island and bottling up the privateers and commercial vessels from Providence, Bristol, Warren, Swansea and other ports […]
In mid May 1775, just weeks after the bloody Battle of April Nineteenth had sparked the start of the American Revolution, the perhaps first naval skirmish of the Revolution was waged. I am not referring to the Battle of Chelsea Creek near Boston on May 27-28, 1775. True, British warships were involved at Chelsea Creek, […]
While recently watching “The Ten Commandments,” starring Charlton Heston, I pondered a few thoughts. First, they don’t make flicks like that anymore. Secondly, wouldn’t the Patriots have benefited from having a set of rules like the Ten Commandments to guide their struggle for independence? Lastly, that the editors of this Journal were waiting for me […]
