The Navy of the American Revolution

by Charles Oscar Paullin

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]