FIRST CRUISE OF THE YANKEE SQUADRON
A FAIRLY SUCCESSFUL RAID ON NEW PROVIDENCE, BUT THEY LET A
BRITISH SLOOP-OF-WAR ESCAPE--CHARACTER OF THE FIRST NAVAL
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND OF THE MATERIAL WITH WHICH HE HAD TO
WORK--ESEK HOPKINS, A LANDSMAN, SET TO DO A SAILOR’S WORK--CREWS
UNTRAINED AND DEVOID OF “ESPRIT DE CORPS”--GOOD COURAGE, BUT A
WOEFUL LACK OF OTHER NEEDED QUALITIES--HOPKINS DISMISSED FOR
DISOBEDIENCE OF ORDERS.
The career of Commodore Esek Hopkins as commander-in-chief of the
American navy lasted for a year and ten days. If it was not a glorious
career it was at least an instructive one, and the candid student is
likely to conclude that, under the circumstances, it was creditable
to his reputation. He was badly handicapped from the beginning in a
variety of ways, but in spite of this he accomplished something.
As already noted, Commodore Hopkins received his appointment chiefly
through the influence of John Adams, and because he was the brother of
the capable Governor of Rhode Island. The student of American history
should keep in mind that the colonists were still monarchists in 1775,
and that they followed the monarchial system of appointing favorites
to office. That is to say, the man who had the most influence, who
had what politicians call a “pull,” got the appointment, regardless,
usually, of his fitness for the place. Commodore Hopkins had been a
brigadier-general in the Rhode Island militia by appointment of his
brother. He had served in various capacities at sea, but it is likely
that training had made him a soldier rather than a sailor, and no
greater mistake can be made by executive authority than to appoint a
soldier to do a sailorman’s work.
Further than this, the vessels under the command of Hopkins were all
built for carrying cargoes and not for fighting--they were not as swift
or as handy as fighting ships of the same size. Worse yet, they were
manned by crews brought together for the first time--men who were not
only unacquainted with each other, and therefore devoid of _esprit de
corps_, but who were unaccustomed, for the most part, to the discipline
necessary on a man-of-war and untrained in the use of great guns. When
compared with the crews of the British warships they were more inferior
in these two respects than were the raw militia around Boston when
compared with the British regulars. The raw militia could at least
shoot well.
[Illustration: A Letter from Esek Hopkins.
_From the original at the Lenox Library._]
With these facts in mind it is worth while comparing the American
ships with the British naval forces on the coast. As said, Commodore
Hopkins had eight vessels, of which two only were ships, and the others
were brigs or smaller, and all were lubberly merchantmen. All told,
this squadron mounted just 114 guns, of which the largest was a cannon
that could throw a round cast-iron ball weighing nine pounds. Even of
these there were less than fifty. And the powder to load them and the
muskets with which the seamen had been armed were all borrowed from the
commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Yet this puny squadron, “poor and contemptible, being for the greater
part no better than whale boats,” as a British authority truly says,
was to go to sea to make war--against what force does the reader
suppose? A navy of 112 ships, carrying 3,714 guns, of which force no
less than seventy-eight ships, carrying 2,078 guns, were either already
on the American coast or under orders to go there.
[Illustration: A Corvette.
_From an old French engraving._]
Nor does a comparison of the number of guns--114 against 2,078--give
an idea of the utter inefficiency of the American sea power; for,
while the best of the American guns was but a nine-pounder, at
least a fourth of the guns on the British ships--at least 500 of
them--were eighteen-pounders or heavier. For every nine-pounder in
the American ships there were at least ten of double that size in
the British, not to mention the 1,500 and more guns in the fleet that
included six-pounders, nine-pounders, and twelve-pounders. “Poor and
contemptible” were just the words for describing the comparative merits
of the American warships. And in the matter of experience and training
the American crews were but little better than their ships and guns. As
will appear further on, there were to be fights between British ships
manned by experienced, thoroughly disciplined crews of full numbers
against Yankee ships that were manned for the greater part by _seasick
landsmen_, and short-handed at that.
The secret orders that had been given to Commodore Hopkins commanded
him to go in search of Lord Dunmore, who had been making so much
trouble along the shores of Chesapeake Bay as to cause Washington to
write that “if this man is not crushed before spring he will become
the most formidable enemy America has.” The ships were to gather at
Cape Henlopen, and sail thence for the Chesapeake. But the Delaware
River was full of ice, and it was not until February 17, 1776, that the
squadron finally passed out to sea. Then, on the night of the 19th,
while running along with a fresh breeze, the _Hornet_ and the _Fly_
became separated from the others, and did not again join the squadron.
It appears from the meagre record that Hopkins did not enter the
Chesapeake at all. Instead of that he sailed away to the Bahama
Islands, because he had learned that a large quantity of military
supplies were stored at New Providence, with only a few men to guard
them. He was determined to capture the supplies.
On reaching Abaco, Hopkins divided his forces by sending 300 men
under Capt. Samuel Nichols, in ten small sloops found at Abaco, to
capture New Providence. Hopkins supposed the force would surprise the
garrison, but the commander was found ready to repel an attack, and the
_Providence_ and the _Wasp_ had to be sent over to assist the men in
landing.
It was at this point that a branch of the American naval personnel,
of which too little notice has been taken by historians, first made a
record for gallantry. Captain Nichols was the first captain of marines
in the American naval service, the organization of the marine corps
having been ordered by the Congress on November 10, 1775.
Under cover of the guns of the _Providence_ and the _Wasp_, Captain
Nichols and his marines landed on the beach, and then “behaved with
a spirit and steadiness that have distinguished the corps from that
hour down to the present moment.” They carried the forts by assault.
“A hundred cannon and a large quantity of stores fell into the hands
of the Americans,” but because the Governor had been apprised of the
coming of the Americans, he succeeded in sending away in a small
coaster 150 barrels of powder.
It is worth noting that Commodore Hopkins not only loaded his vessels
with these stores, but that the stores made a heavy cargo for them, and
they were deep in the water when they turned toward home. It should
be further noted that the Governor of the island “and several of the
more prominent inhabitants” were carried away for use as hostages to
compel the British authorities to modify the harsh treatment American
prisoners were receiving.
[Illustration: Commodore Esek Hopkins.
_From a very rare English engraving._]
New Providence was taken in the middle of March, 1776. Elated by the
success of his expedition, Commodore Hopkins set sail for the north on
the 17th of that month. How much more elated he and his crews would
have felt could they have known that at four o’clock on that morning
the British were hurriedly, and in great confusion, leaving Boston
through fear of an assault by the troops of Washington, may be easily
imagined.
Two weeks later the American fleet had arrived off the east end of Long
Island, where, on April 4th, the tender _Hawke_, of six guns, and the
bomb-brig _Bolton_, of twelve guns, were captured. And then followed
a conflict that well-nigh ruined the reputation of the first American
fleet commander. It began soon after midnight on the morning of April
6th.
With a gentle breeze, the fleet, well scattered out--too well, in
fact--was washing along over the smooth sea between Block Island and
the Rhode Island shore. Only those who have floated and dreamed in the
soft light of a warm night on these waters can fully appreciate the
influences of sea and air over a sailor on such an occasion, but it
was, last of all, a night for thoughts of bloodshed. Suddenly a large
strange ship appeared in the midst of the fleet. From the way the
narrative reads one is forced to the conclusion that the lookouts were
all at least half asleep. The stranger was heading for the flagship
_Alfred_, but before she could close in, the crew of the little brig
_Cabot_, Capt. John Burrows Hopkins, woke up, and, ranging alongside,
they hailed her.
For a reply the stranger fired a broadside, and so began the first
naval battle of the first American squadron.
The brave captain of the _Cabot_ returned the fire, in spite of the
great superiority of the stranger, and still bravely stood to his duty,
even after a second broadside from the stranger had partly disabled his
brig, killed a number of his crew, and wounded himself.
The _Alfred_, the flagship, soon came ranging up beside the stranger
and opened fire, whereat the stranger turned his attention to her; and
then came the _Providence_, Captain Hazard, who secured a position on
the lee quarter (they were all close hauled) of the enemy, where she
opened an effective fire.
By this time the _Cabot_ was drifting out of range, but the _Andrea
Doria_ came up to take her place. For an hour thereafter the stranger
maintained the unequal contest, while the fleet drifted along over the
smooth sea. At one time a shot from the stranger cut away the tiller
ropes of the Yankee flagship, leaving her to broach to where she could
not use her own guns. At that the stranger raked her fore and aft with
a number of broadsides. But when repairs had been made the _Alfred_
closed in once more, and then, at about two o’clock in the morning, the
stranger found it too hot, and, putting up his helm, he squared away
for Newport and safety.
Commodore Hopkins pursued the stranger until after daylight. The
course lay along the Rhode Island coast, and the people of the region,
awakened by the roar of the guns, came hurrying to the cliffs to look
away over the smooth water, where one ship, badly cut up aloft, was
still able to keep ahead of the fleet that followed, and fired at
frequent intervals upon the pursued.
But the ships of the American fleet were cargo-carriers deeply loaded
with the spoils of New Providence, and the stranger was a man-o’-war
well formed and fitted for the sea. So the chase ended when it was
found that the stranger steadily gained, and the distance from Newport
was growing so short as to warrant the belief that the cannonading
would call out the British fleet then lying there. So the Yankee fleet
“hauled its wind,” captured a small tender that had been in company
with the stranger, and then made port at New London.
[Illustration: An English “Seventy-Four” and a Frigate Coming to Anchor.
_From an old engraving._]
When there Commodore Hopkins learned that the stranger he had
encountered was the British sloop-of-war _Glasgow_, Capt. Tyringham
Howe, a full-rigged ship (three masts), carrying twenty guns, and a
crew of 150, all told. She had lost one man killed and three wounded,
while the American loss had been in all twenty-four killed and wounded,
of whom the little brig _Cabot_ lost four killed and seven wounded.
Nothing more is needed to show the superiority of the British naval
crews over the American, at this time, than the above statement of
casualties. How that superiority was overcome at the last will appear
later on; but if all British warships in the contests that followed
this one had been handled as Captain Howe handled the _Glasgow_ the
story of the American navy would not have appealed to patriotic
American pride as it now does.
As for the effect of this fight upon the American people it should be
said they were at first elated because it was told that the American
fleet had driven off an enemy of superior strength. But when the real
facts became known their elation was turned to anger that was really
as little founded in reason as their joy had been. Commodore Hopkins
and his men had shown unquestioned bravery. Considering their lack of
knowledge and experience, they had done well enough. They had captured
and brought into port military supplies that were badly needed and
could be obtained only by capture from the enemy. Unfortunately, the
Americans overlooked this, and thought only of the escape of the
valiant _Glasgow_.
The career of the first American squadron, as a squadron, practically
came to an end when it arrived at New London, although it did
afterwards sail thence as a squadron around to Narragansett Bay after
the British left Newport. What remains to be told of the career of
Commodore Hopkins will occupy brief space. In the month of June the
Congress investigated his case. His good friend John Adams defended
him successfully. It was decided that he had exceeded his orders in
going east of Long Island, for he had been directed to “annoy the
enemy’s ships upon the coast of the Southern States,” but he was merely
relieved of his command temporarily. On October 16th his case was
considered once more, and a vote of censure was carried. On October
19th he was directed to take “command of the fleet formerly put under
his care,” but he was very dilatory in getting ready for sea, and so
he was once more summoned before Congress. This summons he refused to
obey, and on January 2, 1777, he was dismissed from the service.
According to Lieut. F. S. Bassett, U. S. N., Hopkins, after the war
of the Revolution, “resided near Providence, R. I., and was several
times a member of the General Assembly for that State, and died there
on February 26, 1802, aged eighty-four years. He was, when made
commander-in-chief, fifty-seven years old, and, Bancroft says, old and
incompetent. His portraits show him to be a man of vigor, and he was
influential in the political affairs of his own State. His bravery was
never called into question, but he was doubtless not a good seaman, and
was incompetent to command the navy.”
His title of commander-in-chief was intended to rank him with
Washington, the commander-in-chief of the army. The title was never
again conferred on an American naval man.