FOOTNOTES:
[432] One must distinguish between the Council and Council of Safety. A few members were common to both bodies.
[433] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 99-100. The published Colonial and State Records of Connecticut to which I refer, consist of two parts, the Records of the General Assembly, and the Journals of the Council of Safety. The reader can easily tell from the context to which part each reference refers.
[434] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 108, 109.
[435] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 109, 110.
[436] Ibid., 111-13.
[437] Ibid., 117.
[438] Connecticut Gazette, October 13, 1775.
[439] See Chapter I, Naval Committee, page 35; Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 176.
[440] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 176.
[441] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 200-02.
[442] Ibid., 223-24.
[443] Ibid., 229, 232.
[444] Connecticut Gazette, August 23, 1776.
[445] Records of the State of Connecticut, I, 11.
[446] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 492.
[447] Records of State of Connecticut, I, 212, 214, 418, 452. This is either Samuel Elliot, a Boston merchant, or Samuel Eliot, a most distinguished Boston merchant, a benefactor of Harvard college, and grandfather of the present President Eliot.—See New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XXIII (1869), 338-39. I find the agent’s name spelled Elliot, Eliott, and Eliot.
[448] Better evidence of the social standing of the Shaw family in New London may not be needed than that afforded by the statistics contained in the following newspaper clipping: “A great wedding dance took place at New London at the house of Nathaniel Shaw, Esq., June 12, 1769, the day after the marriage of his son Daniel Shaw and Grace Coit; 92 gentlemen and ladies attended, and danced 92 jigs, 52 contra-dances, 45 minuets, and 17 horn-pipes, and retired 45 minutes past midnight.”—F. M. Caulkins, History of Norwich, Connecticut, 332.
[449] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 474.
[450] Records of State of Connecticut, II, 136.
[451] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 233-36. I have followed the familiar accounts of this invention. Washington gave Jefferson an account of Bushnell’s invention in September, 1785.-Ford, Writings of Washington, X, 504-06.
[452] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 318-19.
[453] Records and Papers of New London County Historical Society, I, pt. 4, p. 32.
[454] State Archives, Acts of Connecticut, May, 1780. The laying of embargoes on privateers for short periods in order to obtain men for different purposes was common during the Revolution.
[455] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 280-81.
[456] See Chapter IV, page 129; Records of State of Connecticut, I, 246-49.
[457] Connecticut Revolutionary Archives, VIII, 1777-1778.
[458] Records of State of Connecticut, II, 230-33.
[459] The vessels of the Connecticut navy with the approximate periods of their service were as follows: Brigantine “Minerva,” 1775; schooner “Spy,” 1775-1778; ship “Defence,” 1776-1779; ship “Oliver Cromwell,” 1776-1779; galleys “Crane” and “Whiting,” 1776; galley “Shark,” 1776-1777; schooner “Mifflin,” 1777; sloop “Schuyler,” 1777; and sloop “Guilford,” 1779. The galley “New Defence,” belonging to Branford, received arms, ammunition, and stores from the state. The sloop “Dolphin,” a prize of the “Spy,” was purchased in the fall of 1777, and sent to Philadelphia for flour. The following captains were the chief officers of the navy: Giles Hall, Robert Niles, William Coit, Seth Harding, Timothy Parker, and Samuel Smedley. Coit had commanded the “Harrison” in Washington’s fleet, and Harding was given a commission in the Continental navy.
[460] Revolutionary Files of Connecticut Gazette, Hartford Courant, and Connecticut Journal.
[461] Colonial Records of Connecticut, XV, 481, 488; Records of State of Connecticut, I, 85, 201; Hartford Courant, August 12, 1776; Connecticut in Revolution, 593-94.
[462] Records of State of Connecticut, II, 372; Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 642, 650; Hartford Courant, March 16, 1779.
[463] Hartford Courant, June 15, 1779.
[464] Records of State of Connecticut, II, 360.
[465] Records of State of Connecticut, II, 222.
[466] State Archives, Acts of Connecticut, May, 1780.
[467] Ibid., October, 1780.
[468] History of Norwich, F. M. Caulkins, 398.
CHAPTER XIII
THE NAVY OF PENNSYLVANIA
The two objects of Pennsylvania’s naval enterprises were the defence of Philadelphia and the protection in Delaware river and bay of the outward and inward bound trade of the state. These two needs determined the form and size of her armed vessels and the character of their operations. Pennsylvania therefore adapted her fleet to shallow waters. Only in a few instances did her armed vessels pass beyond the Capes of the Delaware into the Atlantic.
On July 5, 1775, the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, the first Revolutionary executive of this state, visited “Red Bank,” situated a few miles below Philadelphia, near the mouth of the Schuylkill, for the purpose of deciding on the character of the defences which were to be made at this point on the river. On the 6th, having returned to Philadelphia, the Committee reported the results of its inspection; whereupon it came to its first naval resolution, that Robert White and Owen Biddle be a committee for the construction of boats and machines for the defence of the River.[469] On July 8 it ordered John Wharton to immediately build a “Boat or Calevat,” 47 or 50 feet keel, 13 feet broad, and 4½ feet deep. By October, thirteen such galleys or armed boats had been built, at a cost of about £550 each. They were armed chiefly with 18-pounders.[470] During the late summer and the fall of 1775 the Committee of Safety attended to the numerous details of officering, manning, arming, and provisioning these galleys. It chose a captain and lieutenant for each of them; and on October 23 it appointed Thomas Read commodore of the fleet. It organized a naval staff consisting of a muster master, a pay master, a surgeon, an assistant surgeon, a ship’s husband, and a victualer. The distinguished scholar, Dr. Benjamin Rush, was made surgeon. The Committee of Safety prepared a form of commission for officers, a list of rules and regulations, general instructions for the captains, and general instructions for the commodore.[471]
The rules and regulations of the Pennsylvania navy were concerned with little else than the establishing of a penal code. All penal offenses were to be tried by a court-martial, which, in capital cases, was to consist of fifteen naval officers; and in all other cases, of five officers, unless so many could not be assembled, when it might consist of three. A majority of the court was sufficient to convict, except in capital cases, where two-thirds were necessary. In returning a verdict, the officers of lowest rank voted first. Except in cases of mutiny, or of cowardice in time of action, all sentences of death needed the approval of the General Assembly, or, in its recess, of the Committee of Safety. Besides the death penalty, a court-martial could inflict no punishment other than “degrading, cashiering, drumming out of the fleet, whipping, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, fine, not exceeding two months’ pay, and imprisonment, not exceeding one month.” All fines were to go to the relief of those maimed and disabled in the service, or to the widows and families of such as should be killed. These rules, apparently, were not influenced by those of the Continental navy prepared by John Adams.[472]
On November 7, 1775, the Committee of Safety decided to build a ship for the service on the Delaware, which would mount twenty 18-pounders; and it appointed six of its members, among whom were Robert Morris and John Nixon, a committee to build and arm the vessel. This committee estimated that £9,000 would be necessary to construct the ship. Later, owing to the unfitness of the season for shipbuilding, it was authorized to purchase a vessel.[473] By April, 1776, it had obtained and equipped the ship “Montgomery,” and Thomas Read had been given command of it. A number of small and unimportant craft were gradually added to the navy. On December 28, 1775, Captain John Hazelwood was appointed commander of ten fire-rafts. These rafts were thirty-five feet long and thirteen feet wide, were loaded with oil barrels, rosin casks, turpentine, brimstone, and various other inflammables, and were designed to float down stream and set fire to the enemy’s ships through direct contact.[474] An inventory of the navy, dated August 1, 1776, shows the following vessels and men: the ship “Montgomery,” 138 men; the floating battery “Arnold,” 82 men; thirteen galleys, 35 men each; six guard boats, 12 men each; six small vessels, including fire-ships, a total of 27 men. The total number of officers, seamen, and marines was 768; the Pennsylvania land forces at this time amounted to 1,365 men.[475] In August, 1776, the schooner “Delaware” and the brig “Convention” were added; and in the fall the “Putnam” floating battery.
I have found no mention of the uniform of the officers of the Pennsylvania navy. The uniform of the Pennsylvania marines was “a brown coat faced with green, letters 1. P. B. on the buttons, and a cocked hat.” In October, 1776, the flag for the naval vessels had not been provided. The following memorandum, taken from the minutes of the Pennsylvania Navy Board of May 29, 1777, shows that flags had then been procured: “An Order on William Webb to Elizabeth Ross, for fourteen pounds twelve shillings and two pence, for Making Ships’ Colours etc.”[476]
The Committee of Safety was assisted and directed in its naval work by committees of its own members, of which the principal ones are as follows: “ship committee,” “armed boat committee,” “committee for fitting out two of the armed boats,” “committee for building two galleys for the Bay Service,” and “committee for fitting out four guard boats to cruise at Cape May.” The Committee of Safety was composed of twenty-five members, any seven of whom formed a quorum. Benjamin Franklin was its first president. Robert Morris was for a time its vice-president. In the absence of Franklin, Morris or John Nixon often presided. On July 23, 1776, the Pennsylvania Convention appointed a Council of Safety to succeed the Committee of Safety, a succession which involved merely a change of personnel and of name. From July 24, 1776, until March 4, 1777, when the Supreme Executive Council, the executive under the first state constitution, assumed control, the administration of the Pennsylvania navy was vested in the Council of Safety.
Much difficulty was experienced by the several Pennsylvania executives in finding suitable commodores for the fleet. The office on October 23, 1775, first fell to Thomas Read. On January 13, 1776, Thomas Caldwell was made commodore; and on March 6, 1776, Read was formally placed second in command. Failing in health, Caldwell, on May 25, resigned, and on June 15 the Committee of Safety appointed Samuel Davidson. This succession met with serious and continued opposition on the part of the officers of the navy. They declared that the appointment of Davidson violated the rule of promotion according to seniority in service; and they made vigorous remonstrances, which received countenance and support from men of influence in Philadelphia. So serious was the clamor and insubordination, that the Committee of Safety was compelled to yield to the demands of a resolution of the Provincial Conference of Committees, and remove Davidson from the command of all the vessels except the ship “Montgomery” and the “Arnold” floating battery. The Committee, however, in an “Address to the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania,” upheld the propriety and justice of their appointment; and it declared that by the support which the dissatisfied officers had received “mutiny was justified and abetted and disobedience triumphed over Authority.”[477]
When the Council of Safety assumed control of the navy on July 24, 1776, it found the spirit of dissatisfaction and insubordination so strong among the naval officers that it removed Davidson from the navy; at the same time, however, it declared that the charges made against him were frivolous.[478] On September 2, 1776, the Council of Safety gave Samuel Mifflin an opportunity to decline the office of commodore. Thomas Seymour was named for the place on September 26, 1776. Early in 1777 Captain John Hazelwood, “Commander-in-Chief of the Fire Vessels, Boats and Rafts belonging to the State,” objected to being subject to the orders of Commodore Seymour, who was an old man, infirm, and incapacitated for his position. On September 6, 1777, when Philadelphia was threatened by the British, Seymour was discharged, and Hazelwood was appointed in his place.[479] Hazelwood was the sixth commodore within less than two years.
The Committee of Safety and the Council of Safety passed a number of resolutions fixing the naval pay. For a time the officers on board the ship “Montgomery” and the two floating batteries were generally paid larger wages than those on board the galleys. On February 22, 1777, the Council of Safety adopted a new pay-table, which gave the same salary to officers of the same rank, on whatever vessel employed. The monthly wages of the leading officers were as follows: commodore, $75; captains, $48; first lieutenants, $30; second lieutenants, $20; and surgeons, $48. Seamen were paid $12 a month. A bounty of $12 was now given to recruits.[480] On June 25, 1777, the salary of the commodore was raised to $125 a month.[481] On February 4, 1776, the Committee of Safety gave captors two-thirds of the proceeds of the prizes taken on the Delaware river, and reserved the remaining one-third for the maintenance of disabled sailors and the widows and families of those who should be killed.[482]
Recognizing the navy’s need of a permanent body of administrators, the Council of Safety on February 13, 1777, appointed a Navy Board of six members who were authorized to take under their care all the vessels of the navy. On February 19 four additional members were added.[483] On March 13, 1777, the Supreme Executive Council, which on March 4 had become the executive of the state, reconstituted the naval board. It was now to consist of eleven members, any three of whom formed a quorum. It was given “full power and authority to do and perform all Matters and things Relating to the Navy of this State, subject nevertheless to the directions and examinations of the Council, from time to time, as we may judge expedient, and saving to ourselves always the power of appointing officers.” William Bradford and Joseph Blewer, who each served for a time as chairman of the Board, were its most useful members. On the same day, March 13, the Supreme Executive Council constituted a Board of War.[484]
The work of the Navy Board consisted of a great variety of details relating to provisioning, arming, equipping, officering, and manning the numerous craft of the navy. Soon after entering into office it reported to the Council that it found the armed boats needing repairs and alterations, and that owing to the better wages paid to the seamen on board privateers there was a shameful deficiency in the armed boats’ complement of men. The Board recommended the laying of an embargo to prevent the sailing of private ships until the navy should be recruited. It found that additional officers were needed.[485] The Council immediately ordered the Board to appoint the requisite number of warrant officers and to recommend proper commissioned officers.
During 1777 the naval business of Pennsylvania was large and complicated. A list of stores issued to the navy for one month during the year contains the names of fifty-one vessels. Many of these are minor and unimportant craft, such as half-galleys, fire-ships, and accommodation sloops. A return of the Naval Department on February 1, 1777, shows 71 commissioned officers, 2 staff officers, 123 non-commissioned officers, and 513 privates; total officers and men in the navy, 709. Many men who enlisted in the navy had little or no experience at sea. The amount of the pay rolls for May, 1777, was £6,325.[486]
The salient event in the history of the Pennsylvania navy was the campaign on the Delaware river which followed the occupation of Philadelphia by the British in September, 1777. Before this time the navy had rendered miscellaneous services on the Delaware river and bay, which had been useful though not at all brilliant. Now and then some of the vessels were ordered down the river to protect incoming and outgoing merchantmen, or to drive back the venturesome craft of the enemy. On May 8, 1776, the galleys had a spirited engagement with the “Roebuck,” 44, and the “Liverpool,” 28, in the Delaware river near the mouth of Christiana Creek. Little injury was done on either side. The British vessels returned to the Delaware Capes, and the Americans returned to their station at Mud Island, which was generally the headquarters for the state fleet.
The reader is familiar with the military movements of Howe during the summer and fall of 1777; his irretrievable blunder in sailing from New York for Philadelphia, instead of coöperating with Burgoyne in the campaign on the Hudson; his landing with an army at the head of Elk in Maryland late in August; his march to Philadelphia; and after fighting the battle of Brandywine, his entry into that city late in September. Upon occupying Philadelphia the British were forced to open a communication with the sea. This was for the time being prevented by the American defences at Mud Island and Red Bank just below the mouth of the Schuylkill. Here were situated Forts Mercer and Mifflin; and here were stationed the vessels of the Pennsylvania and Continental navy under the command of Commodore Hazelwood. During October and November, 1777, the Pennsylvania navy did its best fighting and rendered its most valuable services. At this time the Pennsylvania Navy Board made its headquarters near the fleet on board the sloop “Speedwell.”
On October 22 and 23, when the British fleet below the American defences on the Delaware attempted to pass them, Commodore Hazelwood with two floating batteries and twelve galleys forced them to retire, and succeeded in burning two of their vessels, the “Augusta,” 64, and “Merlin,” 18, which ran aground. Congress voted Hazelwood an elegant sword in recognition of his merit. On the fall of Forts Mifflin and Mercer the American fleet was left without support. At a council of war held on board the sloop “Speedwell” on November 19, it was decided to pass Philadelphia with the fleet in the night and gain a point of safety to the northward of the city. Thirteen galleys, twelve armed boats, the brig “Convention,” and a number of minor craft passed the city without receiving a shot. Before the ship “Montgomery,” schooner “Delaware,” floating batteries “Arnold” and “Putnam,” and several Continental vessels could get under sail, the wind died away; and thus becalmed it was found necessary to set fire to them in order to prevent their capture.[487]
On October 11, 1777, Commodore Hazelwood reported a capture of fifty-eight prisoners. About seventy men were killed or wounded in the different actions of the navy in the fall of 1777. Hazelwood wrote in October, 1777, that he had lost two hundred and fifty men through desertion owing to their cowardice and disaffection; and in February, 1778, that a great many men had run away since he had been in winter quarters.[488]
Several cases of the desertion of commissioned officers which took place during the campaign on the Delaware, were tried by courts-martial during the summer of 1778. First Lieutenant Samuel Lyon of the “Dickinson” galley was charged with deserting his vessel and going over to the enemy with seven men. Lyon pleaded guilty to the charge, and a court of fifteen fellow officers sentenced him “to suffer Death by being Shott.” On September 1 Lyon, together with Samuel Ford, a lieutenant lately attached to the “Effingham” galley who also had been convicted of desertion, were executed on one of the guard boats in the Delaware. The first conviction for a capital crime in the Pennsylvania navy is said to have been made in the case of the boatswain of the “Montgomery,” who was sentenced to death for desertion on June 25, 1778. On the trial of John Lawrence for desertion, a gunner on board the “Dickinson” galley, the accused acknowledged that he “took the Oath of Allegiance to the King of Great Britain, and received three and a half Guineas for his share of the Boat and Arms,” which he assisted in carrying to the enemy. The court sentenced him to “suffer Death by being hung with a Rope around his Neck till he is Dead, Dead, Dead.” Lawrence together with the lieutenant of the galley “Ranger” were reprieved on September 1, 1778.[489] These desertions from the Pennsylvania navy are but one instance of many which prove that it was without esprit de corps, and that its officers and men were often raw, undisciplined, and insubordinate. Used to a free and easy life, they did not take kindly to the routine and discipline of the naval service.
During the winter of 1777-1778 when the British were in Philadelphia, the navy and Navy Board were some miles up the Delaware. A few members of the Board continued to hold its sessions at Bordentown, Trenton, or other convenient points. The navy was disorganized at this time, and the work of the Board was naturally dull and disheartening. In January, 1778, William Bradford, its chairman, wrote from Trenton to President Wharton of the Supreme Executive Council: “I am left here alone, none of the Board being with me. I am also tired of being here, had much rather be in action with the Militia.”[490]
In April, 1778, the Navy Board, acting reluctantly on Washington’s advice who feared that the British would make a raid and capture the fleet, dismantled and sank all or nearly all of the state craft in the Delaware river.[491] On May 8 the British made their expected foray on the shipping to the northward of Philadelphia, and destroyed some forty-five vessels, among which were the two Continental frigates, “Effingham” and “Washington,” and probably a few of the minor craft belonging to the Pennsylvania navy.[492]
As soon as the British received intelligence of the sailing of a French fleet under D’Estaing for America, they prepared to evacuate Philadelphia. In anticipation of this event Hazelwood was in June raising and refitting his fleet, and wishing that he had it in his “power to give the enemy a scouring before they got out of the river.” On July 19 he reported his vessels afloat and ready for use. Already the Supreme Executive Council had ordered the navy to be put into commission, and the brig “Convention” to make a cruise down the Bay.
The Pennsylvania navy had cost the state at the rate of £100,000 a year.[493] It had been serviceable in defending the Delaware, but it had in the end failed to hold it. Always hampered by a lack of seamen, of naval supplies, and of an armed force comparable to that of the enemy, the Navy Board found the greatest difficulty in enforcing the orders of the Council. It was naturally blamed for a part of the inactivity and the misfortunes of the fleet. Since the British had abandoned Philadelphia, and a strong French fleet was in American waters, the need for a naval defence of the Delaware seemed more remote than it did in the first years of the Revolution. These considerations moved the Supreme Executive Council on August 14, 1778, to recommend to the General Assembly the dismissal of the Navy Board, and all the officers and men of the navy, except those that were necessary to man two or three galleys, two or three guard boats, and the brig “Convention.” The General Assembly at once agreed to the recommendation. Finally, on Friday, December 11, the following vessels were sold at the “Coffee House” in Philadelphia: “Ten galleys, Nine armed Boats, the Brig ‘Convention,’ the sloops ‘Speedwell,’ ‘Sally,’ ‘Industry,’ and ‘Black Duck;’ and the schooner ‘Lydia.’”[494]
In March, 1779, there remained in the navy six small craft, namely, the galleys “Franklin,” “Hancock,” and “Chatham,” and the armed boats, “Lion,” “Fame” and “Viper;” and there were still in commission five captains, six lieutenants, and one hundred and eighteen men.[495] This little fleet was quite insufficient to protect the commerce of the state. In March, 1779, the Supreme Executive Council, in response to a petition from the merchants of Philadelphia praying for the protection of their trade, purchased the ship “General Greene,” at a cost of £53,000; and placed it in charge of two agents, who were to fit it for sea, and receive and dispose of its prizes. Part of the money which was used in fitting the “General Greene,” 14, was raised by private subscription. During the summer and fall of 1779 the new ship, under the command of Captain James Montgomery, cruised along the Atlantic coast between Sandy Hook and the Virginia Capes either alone, in company with the Continental frigates, “Boston,” “Deane,” and “Confederacy,” or in company with the well-known Philadelphia privateer, “Holker.” The “General Greene” was quite fortunate, as she sent into Philadelphia six prizes. In the spring before a full complement of men could be enlisted, President Reed of the Supreme Executive Council was compelled to lay an embargo on privateers. Her crew were a mutinous rabble. In June Captain Montgomery wrote that he had arrived at New Castle with a “Great number of Prisoners on board and a Great Part of my own Crew Such Villons that they would be glad of an opportunity to take the Ship from me. Som of the Ringleaders I have sent up in Irons.” On October 27 the Council ordered the “General Greene” to be sold, as this was more economical than laying her up for the winter. Her sale, much below her real value, aroused suspicions of collusion and corruption.[496]
Naval legislation in Pennsylvania was not extensive. In 1775, 1776, and 1777 almost all naval rules and provisions were established by executive decrees. Before the middle of January, 1776, the Committee of Safety had established courts for the trying of prize cases.[497] It permitted appeals from the state prize courts to Congress. On September 9, 1778, however, the General Assembly established a Court of Admiralty. A law passed in 1780 provided that a judge of admiralty should be appointed and commissioned for seven years by the Supreme Executive Council.[498] On September 17, 1777, an act was passed for the relief of officers, seamen and marines, who, being in the service of the United States and residents of Pennsylvania, should be disabled from earning a livelihood. In all probability this was passed in accordance with the recommendations of the Continental Congress of August 26, 1776. On March 1, 1780, the General Assembly granted officers, seamen, and marines in the Pennsylvania navy, who were in actual service on March 13, 1779, and who should continue therein until the end of the war, half-pay for life.[499]
It is believed that Pennsylvania did not establish state privateering. Her executives in commissioning privateers in all probability followed the regulations of Congress. The Pennsylvania Archives contain a list of 448 privateering commissions issued for the years from 1776 to 1782. Most of the privateers were small vessels, mounting six to twelve cannon, and carrying twenty-five to fifty men. Out of the 448 commissions, only 14 commissions were for vessels mounting twenty or more guns. In 1779 Pennsylvania issued commissions for one hundred different vessels.[500]
The spring of 1782 was marked by a renewal in naval enterprise similar to that in the spring of 1779. Armed ships, refugee boats, and picaroon privateers fitted out at New York, had been greatly distressing the shipping and trade of Philadelphia. Within eight months the British frigate “Medea” had taken nine Philadelphia privateers; the whale-boat “Trimmer” from New York had been very destructive to the shipping on the Delaware; and the British naval ship “General Monk,” formerly the American privateer “Washington,” was inflicting serious losses on Pennsylvania’s commerce.[501] The merchants and traders of Philadelphia now appealed by petition to the General Assembly for protection. Accordingly, on April 9, that body appointed three commissioners to procure and equip a naval armament for the defence of Delaware river and bay. The commissioners were authorized to borrow £50,000, which was to be repaid from certain old tonnage and impost duties, and from a new impost on certain specified articles. The act also provided for a distribution of the proceeds of prizes. This act is significant in its being the first instance where the General Assembly authorized a naval increase and appointed a committee to take charge of naval vessels. It met with considerable disfavor. The Supreme Executive Council informed the General Assembly that it considered the appointment of commissioners and the conferring upon them of full administrative powers unconstitutional and an encroachment of the legislative on the administrative body.[502]
Anticipating the act of the legislature, the merchants of Philadelphia had fitted out the ship “Hyder Ally,” 18, and had appointed Lieutenant Joshua Barney of the Continental navy to command her. Proceeding down the Bay, Barney on April 8 made his memorable capture of the “General Monk,” 18, Captain Josias Rogers. Both the “Hyder Ally” and the “General Monk” were now taken into the service of the state. The “General Monk,” which was renamed the “Washington,” was in May, 1782, loaned to Robert Morris, the Continental Agent of Marine, who sent her on a commercial errand to the West Indies. On the return of the “Washington” Morris purchased her for the service of Congress. The “Hyder Ally” under different commanders cruised for the rest of the year with little success. In December the commissioners obtained permission from the Supreme Executive Council to sell her, and build a vessel of more suitable construction for the defence of the Delaware, for which purpose they were already equipping an armed schooner. When the “Hyder Ally” was offered for sale, the commissioners bid her in for the state, as the bidders refused to give her full value.[503]
The establishment of officers and seamen on board the “Hyder Ally” and the “Washington” was a new one. On February 13, 1781, the officers and seamen of the first establishment were all discharged, except Captain Boys and certain disabled seamen; and on December 20 Boys was dismissed, since the service in which he was engaged was at an end.[504] When peace was declared in the spring of 1783, a few men were probably in naval employ under the new establishment. That the state still owned a few small vessels is certain. On April 10, 1783, the Supreme Executive Council endorsed a letter from the commissioners saying “that as no doubt appears to remain that Hostilities are ceased, we conceive it our Duty to request your permission to dispose of the Armed vessels under our direction belonging to the State, in order to enable us to close our accounts with the Public.”[505]