The ships put afloat by Congress and which may be taken as the regular
navy of the Revolution were, however, strongly supplemented by the
navies of the states (except New Jersey and Delaware), and by the
multitude of privateers which cruised under both state and Continental
commissions. Massachusetts led in the number of state ships; but South
Carolina in size and importance. Massachusetts had sixteen vessels, the
only one of any size being the _Protector_, a ship carrying 26 light
guns. All the others carried but from ten to twenty. This “navy” made
about seventy captures during the war. But the state made one most
unfortunate venture, the Penobscot Expedition, to be mentioned later.
New Hampshire had one small ship, the _Hampden_, of 22 guns; Georgia,
four galleys (vessels propelled by both sails and oars). Connecticut
had a navy of ten vessels, the largest of which were the _Oliver
Cromwell_, of 18 guns, and the _Defence_, of 14. All had disappeared
by loss or capture by July, 1779, after having made some thirty
captures. There was, however, throughout the war great activity in Long
Island Sound where there was a warfare of boats against the illicit
traffic carried on to supply the British at New York. As always, greed
frequently overcame patriotism, and smuggling in both directions was
rife throughout the war.
The situation of New York, with its one port in possession of the
enemy, precluded anything of a patriot naval force except a few
galleys on the Hudson. Pennsylvania, however, had in 1777 a total of
fifty-one vessels on the Delaware, the only important one in size
being the small purchased ship _Montgomery_; all the others were but
armed boats of the type known as galleys. In 1777 there were in the
state naval service (which was administered by a board of six, later
of ten) a total of about 700 officers and men. The activities of this
force were confined to the Delaware River and Bay, and when the British
army was transferred to Philadelphia in 1777 these activities were
very active indeed, including the burning of a British line-of-battle
ship, the _Augusta_, 64, and the sloop-of-war _Merlin_, 18, which had
grounded. All these vessels were finally driven up the Delaware by an
overpowering force, except the _Montgomery_ and several smaller craft,
which had to be burned to escape capture. What remained after the
British evacuation of Philadelphia in 1778, when the French fleet had
appeared on our coast under the alliance just made with France, were
sold in December of that year. This remainder consisted of ten galleys,
nine armed boats, the brig _Convention_, the sloops _Speedwell_,
_Sally_, _Industry_, and _Black Duck_, and the schooner _Lydia_.[2]
Maryland in 1776 invested in a ship called the _Defence_ carrying
twenty-two 6-pounders, the largest vessel of her coming small navy; two
schooners and seven row galleys formed the remainder. All except two
galleys and a schooner were sold in 1779, but British success in the
South renewed depredations in the Chesapeake, and four large barges
to carry twenty-five men each and 9 and 18 pounders and a schooner to
carry ten 4-pounders were ordered. In 1782, depredations continuing,
a ship and four additional barges were ordered, and in November of
that year such vessels fought a severe and most gallant action with
an overpowering British force of the same character, the _Protector_,
which bore the brunt of the action on the American side, losing
fifty-four killed and wounded out of her crew of sixty-five. “Except
when used for commercial purposes, Maryland’s vessels rarely passed
outside the capes at the mouth of the Chesapeake.” Virginia entered
upon the question of a navy with enthusiasm and a number of vessels
were authorized; the two frigates voted were, however, never built.
Actual construction was confined to galleys and schooners; the number
first and last, though very considerable, is indefinite. The state
established a navy yard on the Chickahominy, operated a ropewalk, and
established naval magazines. The whole force practically disappeared
during the raid by Phillips and Arnold when on April 27, 1780, a
few miles below Richmond, six ships, eight brigs, five sloops, two
schooners, and several smaller vessels and the ropewalk at Warwick were
destroyed; twelve were captured which had escaped destruction, and but
one vessel remained in the Virginia navy, the armed boat _Liberty_.
A small force later, in 1782, was gathered which operated in the
Chesapeake (within which the Virginia force remained almost entirely
during the war) until peace in 1783.
Almost foremost in naval activity and expenditure was South Carolina.
The state owned in all some fifteen vessels, of which the most
important was the _Bricole_, purchased in France, and mounting
forty-four 24’s and 18’s, though pierced for sixty. She, with nearly
all the other ships of the state, was sunk as an obstacle to the
British in the siege ending in the surrender of May 11, 1780. She was
the largest American ship of the Revolution in actual service. There
survived the _Indian_, “rented” by Alexander Gillon, who had been
commissioned as commodore and sent abroad to raise some £71,000 with
which to build three frigates. The only result was the renting of the
_Indian_, which had been built by Congress in Holland, but which, to
prevent international complications, had been sold to the King of
France and by him given to the Chevalier Luxembourg. The _Indian_ was
renamed the _South Carolina_ and given an armament of twenty-eight
32’s and twelve 12’s, an unusually heavy battery. It was not until
August, 1781, that she got to sea, cruised for a time in the North
Sea, but arrived at Havana on January 12, 1782, with five valuable
prizes. She formed one of a combined American and Spanish expedition in
May to the Bahamas, which was successful. On May 28th she arrived at
Philadelphia, where an agent of Luxembourg caused the removal of Gillon
and the appointment of a Captain Joyner; she refitted and left for sea
in December. Scarcely outside the Capes of the Delaware, she was chased
by a British squadron and taken after a two hours’ fight. Luxembourg
demanded under the contract an indemnity of 300,000 livres (francs).
This Gillon denied, claiming his removal to be a breach of contract.
The claims were unsettled until December, 1874, when the state of South
Carolina paid $28,894 to the heirs of Luxembourg as a final settlement.
South Carolina is still prosecuting her claims against the United
States for a reimbursement of her expenditures for this ship.[3]
The efforts at a state navy of North Carolina, Georgia, and Rhode
Island were of too moderate a character to need much comment. That of
the first consisted of three brigantines in 1778 and the addition of a
small ship, the _Caswell_, in 1778. By June, 1779, all had disappeared
by sale or (in the case of the _Caswell_) by sinking at Ocracoke.
Georgia had but four galleys. But two sloops and two galleys were the
extent of Rhode Island’s navy, though it was this state, as mentioned,
which took the first steps toward naval defence.
Of vastly greater importance than the state navies were the privateers,
a service congenial to the New England seamen from every point of view.
There was “more money in it”; there was the absence of a strict and
irksome discipline, and the cruises were short. The great number of
privateers fitting out made it a matter of extreme difficulty to find
men for the ships of the regular service, which thus not infrequently
had to lie idle and unemployed. Had a tithe of the effort expended upon
privateers been expended upon the building and equipment of a navy,
it is not unfair to say that the general results would probably have
been much better. But privateering had already been a much-indulged-in
occupation. The Seven Years’ War had ended only in 1763, and during
this period many American privateers were afloat. The slave trade also
was a favorite New England occupation, and piracy itself at the period
was not altogether disreputable if applied only to those “natural
enemies,” the French and Spanish. Nearly all the officers of the new
Continental navy had their first war training in privateers, and very
frequently during the Revolution officers took a hand at privateering
in the moments of enforced leisure when there was no naval ship to
which they could be assigned.
Congress authorized privateering on March 23, 1776, and a list printed
by the Library of Congress shows the number and kind of vessels
furnished with letters of marque by the Continental Congress. This
gives a total of such of 1,697. Of these there were ships 301; brigs
and brigantines, 541; schooners and sloops, 751; boats and galleys,
104. These are accredited to the several states as follows: New
Hampshire, 43; Massachusetts, 626; Rhode Island, 15; Connecticut, 218;
New York, 1; New Jersey, 4; Pennsylvania, 500; Maryland, 225; Virginia,
64; South Carolina, 1. Distributed by years there were afloat in 1776,
34; 1777, 69; 1778, 129; 1779, 209; 1780, 301; 1781, 550; 1783, 22.
These altogether carried 14,872 guns and 58,400 men. It is, of course,
almost a certainty that many of these vessels were duplicated in this
list, but such duplication is more than offset by the issuance of
letters of marque by the several states and in France and the West
Indies which, according to an excellent authority, would carry the
number to over 2,000, with 18,000 guns and 70,000 men. “Judging from
the scanty information at hand concerning British privateering, it
is probable that their vessels engaged in this form of warfare were
considerably less numerous but decidedly superior in force to the
Americans; the latter seem to have carried on an average between
eight and nine guns and less than thirty-five men; the British about
seventeen guns and seventy-five or more men.”[4]
The value of the captures of the privateers was about $18,000,000;
that of the captures of the navy, which had thirty-one ships afloat in
1776, thirty-four in 1777, and but seven in 1782, was, proportioned
to the number of ships employed, much greater, being some $6,000,000.
Altogether (i. e., by both services) some 800 vessels were captured.
Our own losses were also very great, but not nearly so great as those
of Britain. About 16,000 prisoners were taken afloat, only 6,000 less
than those taken by the army.
By July, 1776, the British fleet in the vicinity of New York, where
the attack was about to take place on the American army assembled
on Long Island near Brooklyn, which resulted in our defeat and
the occupancy of New York for the remainder of the war, consisted
of nine ships of from 50 to 64 guns; three of 44; twenty-seven of
from 28 to 32; fourteen of 20; eleven of 14 to 18; sixteen of from
8 to 10--a total of eighty ships of war. This fleet was under the
command of Richard Viscount Howe, whose brother, General Howe, was
commander-in-chief of the army of 34,614 men, of whom 13,167 were of
the 29,867 Hessians hired for the war by Great Britain. These two
brothers were for some two years to conduct the British main operations
in America. One, the admiral, was an officer of great ability and
rose to high distinction; the General was handicapped by a slothful
and unenterprising disposition with a character marred by an extreme
looseness in moral conduct. His want of enterprise may have been due
in part to the attitude of the Whig party in England, to which he was
attached, and which was opposed in general to the use of force against
America. In any case, his qualities were such that they went a long way
toward the establishment of American independence.
In addition to Howe’s fleet there were, under Commodore Sir Peter
Parker, two 50-gun ships, four of 28, two of 20, and three of 8 guns.
These were to be employed against Charleston, South Carolina.
On Lake Champlain the British were to have during 1776 a ship of
eighteen 12-pounders, a schooner of fourteen 6-pounders; another of 12;
three “Radeaux” (flat-bottomed craft), one carrying six 24-pounders,
one six 12-pounders, and one two howitzers. There were also a gondola
(with oars) carrying seven 9-pounders, and twenty gunboats, each with a
brass field piece of from 24 to 9 pounds.
The naval force here mentioned was at times reinforced by accessions of
line-of-battle ships, as many as twenty-one being at times available.
The British, however, with an unwise conception of the true strategy
of the situation, were constantly diverting these to the West Indies,
which, during our Revolution, after war was declared by France and
Spain, was the great field of naval action. It is within bounds to
say that they lost the United States for the sake of the West India
Islands.