The depredations of the new French Republic had come to give an impetus
to our new navy, and on April 27, 1798, $950,000 was appropriated for
its increase, and a regular navy department created. Benjamin Stoddart,
of Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, was the first secretary.
War against France was formally declared, in so far as authorizing,
on July 9, 1798, the capture of French ships, and authorizing the
President to issue commissions for privateers. On the same day a marine
corps of 881 of all ranks was established, to be commanded by a major.
By July 16th the total force authorized then and previously was twelve
frigates, twelve sloops-of-war from 20 to 24 guns, six smaller sloops,
besides galleys and revenue cutters; a total of thirty.
The first ship to get to sea under the new organization was the
_Ganges_, a purchased Indiaman, which sailed under command of Captain
Richard Dale on May 22, 1798, on a coasting cruise with orders to
capture all French cruisers on our coast with hostile intent. The
_Constellation_, 38, Captain Truxton, and _Delaware_, 20, Captain
Decatur, followed in June. The last made the first capture, a French
privateer of 14 guns and 70 men. She was condemned and bought into
the navy under the name of _Retaliation_, with Lieutenant Bainbridge
in command. The _United States_, 44, Captain Barry, went to sea early
in July, followed by the _Constitution_, 44, on the 20th, with four
revenue brigs of from 10 to 14 guns each. There were at sea in all,
in 1798, fifteen ships of the navy and eight revenue vessels, many of
which latter were finally taken into the navy. It is worthy of note
that one of these, the _Pickering_, was Preble’s first command.
All of these vessels except the _George Washington_, _Merrimack_,
and _Ganges_, the _Montezuma_, _Baltimore_, and _Delaware_, and
the _Herald_, _Richmond_, and _Retaliation_ were built by the
Government.[20]
One of the first affairs of the new navy was a notable case of
impressment of British seamen from the _Baltimore_, acting as convoy
to a number of merchantmen. Meeting a powerful British squadron off
Havana, Captain Phillips of the _Baltimore_ was informed by the British
commodore of his intention to remove all British seamen from his ship.
Phillips announced his intention of surrendering his ship rather than
to submit to the outrage. Unfortunately there was a lawyer on board
as passenger, and Phillips asked his judgment as to the legality of
the British commander’s procedure. Had Phillips acted as he at first
intended, viz.: to resist to the utmost, short of an engagement which
would have been folly against three line-of-battle ships, he would
have done well, but his legal friend found reasons for yielding,
which was done. Five men were taken, and three ships of the convoy
seized, for what actual reason Cooper, who gives this case in great
detail, does not say. Phillips was handicapped by his inexperience
as a naval officer, having been only just appointed into the navy
from the merchant service. There were, too, dissentient opinions even
among patriotic Americans of standing as to the justice of the British
claims, many upholding the, then, British doctrine of inalienable
allegiance. Even so considerable a person as Gouverneur Morris, one
of the ablest men America has produced and of large diplomatic and
political experience, maintained the view. It was the first of many
cases which had so large a part in bringing on the War of 1812.
In November the _Retaliation_ was captured by a French squadron, and
Bainbridge was a prisoner for the first, though not for the last, time
in his career. By the good fortune of the release of his schooner as a
cartel he was enabled to return home.
During 1799 we had twenty-eight vessels in active service. Most of
the captains and many of the officers of lesser rank were men who had
seen service during the Revolution, which, it must be remembered, had
ended but sixteen years before; many of them of course were men with
no experience of naval life, which differs from that of the merchant
service much as does that of the raw militiaman from that of the
seasoned soldier.
There was a squadron of ten ships under Commodore Barry, with his
broad-pennant in the _United States_; a second of five under Captain
Truxton in the _Constellation_; and a third of three under Captain
Tingey. A number of French privateers were captured by each, but on
February 8, 1799, the _Constellation_ sighted near the island of Nevis
the French frigate _L’Insurgente_, of forty 12-pounders and 409 men,
which, after a hot action of an hour, surrendered. The _Constellation_
carried 38 guns, those on her main deck being 24-pounders, and a
crew of only 309. She was, however, distinctly superior in weight of
gunfire. Among her midshipmen was David Porter of future fame, who
was to be the father of an even more famous son. The _Insurgente_ was
carried into St. Kitts under very difficult circumstances by Lieutenant
Rodgers, later one of the navy’s worthies, and the progenitor of a
famous family with now its sixth successive generation in the naval
service.
It was now, in 1799, that Preble, promoted to be a captain and in
command of the _Essex_, 32, carried the first American man-of-war east
of the Cape of Good Hope. By the beginning of 1800 France was disposed
to peace, and on November 3d the _United States_ sailed with the
American envoys.
The victory of the _Constellation_ had warmed the American blood, and
Congress in 1800 appropriated $2,482,593.90 for the naval service. This
strictly naval war had now lasted a year and a half, and during 1800 we
had thirty-five ships in the West Indies. Again the _Constellation_,
and under the same captain, was the lucky ship. On February 1, 1800,
she sighted off Guadaloupe a French frigate, _La Vengeance_, of 52
guns, which, deep with valuables which she was transporting to France,
tried to avoid action. This, however, after a chase extending into the
evening of the next day, was brought on, and lasted until 1:00 A.M. of
the 3d, when the French frigate hauled by the wind. In the endeavor to
follow, the _Constellation’s_ mainmast, every shroud of which had been
shot away, went by the board despite the efforts to repair damages,
carrying with it midshipman Jarvis and the topmen aloft, all but one
of whom were lost. The _Constellation_ had fourteen men killed and
twenty-five wounded, eleven of whom died later of their wounds. Her
quarry got into Curaçao dismasted and in a sinking condition with fifty
killed and one hundred and ten wounded. The engagement had lasted five
hours within pistol shot.
These brilliant actions not only brought Truxton a gold medal from
Congress and a great name, but greatly increased the popularity of the
navy, service in which was now sought by the best young manhood of the
country.
There were many other successes in this year which included the
capture of nearly fifty privateers, for the detail of which there
is no space; but one of these actions, the cutting out of a French
privateer, the _Sandwich_, in Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, is notable
as being brilliantly carried out by Isaac Hull, the first lieutenant of
the _Constitution_, and who, as captain of the same ship twelve years
later, was to capture the _Guerrière_.
The only other capture of special note was that of the French cruiser
_Le Berceau_, “a singularly fine vessel of her class,” by the _Boston_,
on October 12, 1800, which was returned to France under the treaty of
peace which had already been signed on September 30th.
The year involved some sea losses. The _Insurgente_, which had been
taken into the service, sailed in July and was never again heard of;
the _Pickering_ sailed in August to a like fate.