CAPTURES THE "EDWARD"--HIS PRISONER RICHARD DALE--IMPORTANCE OF THE
PRIZE--BARRY UNKNOWN TO OR IGNORED BY CAPTAIN HOBSON.
The "Lexington" cruised off the coast of Virginia a week without meeting
with the enemy. Barry had gone to sea on Sunday. The Sunday following,
April 7, 1776, while off the "Capes of Virginia" he "fell in with the
sloop 'Edward' belonging to the 'Liverpool' frigate" and "shattered her
in a terrible manner," as he reported to the Marine Committee, after an
engagement of "near two glasses." The "Lexington" lost two men killed
and two wounded. The "Edward" had "several of her crew killed and
wounded." She carried "eight guns and a number of swivels" and was
commanded by Lieutenant Richard Boger of the "Liverpool." Barry brought
the "shattered" captive to Philadelphia with the crew of twenty-five
prisoners taken.
Among the number was Richard Dale, of Virginia, who had been Lieutenant
of a light cruiser in the service of Virginia, which had been captured
by the "Edward." Dale was "induced to adopt the Royal cause" and so took
service on the "Edward" and so was taken prisoner.
Captain Barry induced young Dale to return to American allegiance and
accept service under him on the "Lexington" as Midshipman. Dale in
October, when the "Lexington" was assigned to Captain Johnston, became
Master's Mate. He continued in the service of the United Colonies and
rose to be a Commodore in the Navy under the present Constitution. He
ever retained the friendship of Captain Barry, who, by his will,
bequeathed to his "good friend, Captain Richard Dale, his gold-hilted
sword as a token of his esteem."
This sword had been presented to John Paul Jones by King Louis XVI after
the memorable battle between the "Bonne Homme Richard" commanded by
Jones and the "Serapis," as the expedition commanded by Jones was under
French auspices and direction. The sword "was sent by Jones' heirs to
Robert Morris," the financier of the Revolution, "who presented it to
Commodore John Barry, the senior officer of the present American Navy,
who will never disgrace it," Morris wrote, March 18, 1795, to Thomas
Pinckney, the American Minister to Great Britain. Barry by his will
bequeathed it to "my good friend Captain Richard Dale," with whose
descendants it yet remains. It is claimed by the Morris family that the
gift to Barry was "in trust to descend to the senior officer of the
Navy." There is no proof of the trust nor is there any that Jones' heirs
gave the sword of great money value to Morris. Morris had it. He gave it
to Barry who bequeathed it to Dale who, two months before Barry made his
will, had resigned from the Navy. There could have been no "trust" for
Barry to "disregard." But it is singular that it is now possessed by
those whose ancestor had, by Barry, been induced to return to American
allegiance after having entered the service of the enemy.
The "Edward," taken by Barry, was the first armed vessel taken under the
authority of the Continental Marine Committee and brought to
Philadelphia, the seat of Congress, and delivered to its Marine
Committee. Previous captures off the New England coast by Manly and
others, had been those of unarmed supply vessels to Quebec or Boston
under authority of General Washington. The capture was most important.
When the project had, in August, 1775, been presented to Congress by the
delegates from Rhode Island, by direction of its Assembly, to fit out
armed cruisers, many of the patriots thought it of doubtful wisdom to do
so against the powerful British Navy. Samuel Chase, of Maryland,
declared "it is the maddest idea in the world."
So Barry's capture was a demonstration of the ability of the Colonies to
contest the sea with Great Britain and to do it so effectively that "we
captured from the British over eight hundred vessels and more than
twelve thousand seamen, and of these more than one hundred were war
vessels of the Royal Navy, carrying more than two thousand, five hundred
guns, while the American losses were scarcely more than one-sixth those
of the British," as Captain Richmond Pearson Hobson declared in an
address on the Navy on Flag Day, 1901, at the Buffalo Pan-American
Exposition. Yet he, in looking "over the range of our Naval history, saw
a long line of majestic figures whose very names are an inspiration,"
did not, in giving the names of twenty-one of these "majestic figures,"
name Captain John Barry, the very "Father of the Navy." He was not
mentioned as among those which "History with her bright and luminous
pencil inscribed upon the glorious scroll." Captain Hobson, the heroic,
is now a member of Congress from Alabama and ought to make reparation
for his ignorance or conscious ignoring of the foremost naval commander
of the very Navy he proved himself to be a worthy representative of. He
may become unknown or be ignored if known.
Captain Barry had command of the first Continental cruiser, the
"Lexington," and the last frigate, the "Alliance"--the largest and
finest vessel in the Revolutionary Navy--had made the first capture
under Continental authority and fought the last battle of the
Revolution, and commanded the whole of the Navy at the close of the
war--had been the earliest, the constant and the latest fighter and the
first Captain and ranking officer of the present Navy on its
establishment in 1794. Yet he was entirely unknown to Captain Hobson. Or
was he purposely ignored?
The capture of the "Edward" was considered of considerable import in
patriot circles: "We begin to make some little figure here in the navy
way," wrote John Adams, the day after the arrival of Barry and his
prize. The Marine Committee also wrote to Commodore Hopkins, who had
arrived at New London, Connecticut, the same day Barry had arrived at
Philadelphia with his prize, informing him of the capture and saying the
loss to the British of the twenty-five men was one "they cannot easily
provide against--the want of men."
The demonstration of satisfaction at Philadelphia because of Barry's
success gave heart to the patriots in an endeavor to have an increase in
the naval force. By the alertness of armed cruisers, protection would be
given to the supplies coming to the Americans and at the same time
captures could be made of supplies going to the British.
On May 1, 1776, the "Edward," condemned by the Court of Admiralty as a
prize to the "Lexington'" was, with all her ammunition, furniture,
tackle and apparel, sold at public auction and the proceeds divided
between the Government and Captain Barry and his crew.