After the surrender of Cornwallis, the General Assembly met on May, 1782, and appointed three Commissioners to superintend the work of protecting the Bay. The ship Cormorant and the brig Liberty were prepared, and plans made for building two galleys and two barges or whale boats. The Commissioners managed to keep a small naval force together during 1782 and 1783, until the war came to an end. When peace was declared in 1783, the Commissioners had in different stages of construction the schooners Harrison and Patriot, the barges York and Richmond, and the pilot boat Fly. Virginia dispensed with all her fleet except the Liberty and Patriot which were retained, with the approval of Congress, as revenue cutters.
Among the various types of vessels mentioned here, galleys are generally thought of as having been rather insignificant. On the contrary, they were among the important vessels constructed for the Virginia Navy. While they were so built that they could easily retire up the creeks out of range of British guns, they were capable also of sailing out in the broad waters of the Bay. They were broad in proportion to their length which varied from 60 to 90 feet, and not drawing much water could support immense weight upon their decks, as in transporting troops with their horses and baggage, and in carrying guns of the largest size. Generally they had two masts and were rigged as schooners, but an occasional galley carried three masts as in the case of the Gloucester. Some were without masts and were called row-galleys. These were only half decked, were provided with high and strong bulwarks for the better protection from marksmen, and were propelled by oars only.
The armaments of these galleys were much more formidable in proportion to their tonnage than were those of any other vessels. In November, 1776, two large galleys for river and sea service were ordered to be built to carry four 24-pounders, and fourteen 9-pounders each. Also, in October, 1780, two more large ones were ordered to carry two 30-pounders in the bow, the same in the stern, with 6-pounders at the sides, for the protection of the Chesapeake Bay.
The Gloucester was one of the largest galleys built. Judging from the order sent to Captain Charles Thomas on April 30, 1777, for rope and cables from the ropewalk at Warwick, the galley had a foremast, a mainmast, a mizzen and a bowsprit. All the rigging was to have a rogue's yarn in it, that it might be distinguished from merchant rope. A rogue's yarn was a single thread of red or blue which was twisted in the rope at the manufactory, and served to distinguish it from all others. The Gloucester was used as a prison ship.
Two accounts of the development of the schooner in use by Virginia during the Revolution are worth recording:
(a) It is from this time perhaps that we may date that new era in the art of shipbuilding which now produced the firstlings of that brood of fast-sailing clippers that afterwards were to astonish and charm the naval world with their brilliant performance. The Americans were the originators of this improved naval architecture. It was developed by that spirit of invention and love of adventure so characteristic of a young and vigorous people, urged by necessity…. The far-famed Baltimore clipper soon established the reputation of that long, low, rakish-looking craft, which has ever since been the cynosure of the seaman's eye.
(b) The most spectacular event in the history of naval architecture in the 18th century was the emergence of the clipper-schooner which became famous during the Revolution. This was a trim, rakish craft known as the Virginia-built schooner, an exclusively Chesapeake type prior to the Revolution. The war created a demand for this fast-sailing vessel and builders all along the coast constructed vessels on the clipper lines thereby converting it to a national type. The war made the clipper-schooner internationally known, however, and before the end of the century, the French, Dutch, and British built schooners on the clipper lines.
The pilot boat used in the Virginia Navy was a small fast-sailing craft used as "lookouts", only two of which, the Molly and the Fly, were armed. Their duties were attended with many hardships and extreme peril. They were obliged to hover along a dangerous coast in all weathers to give notice of the approach of every sail whether friend or foe. They acted as a flying sentry at the gates of the Chesapeake, but constantly exposed to the broad Atlantic outside.
Although the war virtually eliminated Virginia's trading fleet as well as her Navy, her shipbuilding capacity was at its best. Her many shipyards, abundant supplies of available shipbuilding timber, and her skilled craftsmen soon put her trading fleet in operation and it became an integral part of the American Merchant Marine.