To recapitulate some data of the first chapter:

The British navy had at the beginning of the war 270 ships, of which 131 were of the line (from 100 to 60 guns), and but 18,000 seamen. At the end, January 20, 1783, there were 468 ships, of which 174 were of the line, and 110,000 seamen. They had lost (taken, destroyed, burned, foundered, or wrecked) 202 ships carrying 5,130 guns. The Continental and state navies had lost (taken, destroyed, burned, foundered, or wrecked) 39 ships, carrying 876 guns. The French had lost (in all the ways just mentioned) 72 ships, with 2,636 guns; the Spanish 24, with 960 guns; the Dutch 9, with 364 guns.

The British during the war lost 3,087 merchant vessels, taken by Americans, French, Dutch, and Spanish; 879 of these were retaken or ransomed. They lost 89 privateers, of which 14 were retaken or ransomed. They captured 1,135 merchantmen, of which only 27 were retaken or ransomed, and 216 privateers, of which only one was retaken.[11] The net result was heavily against them.

The navy of the Revolution, however insufficient and ineffective as an instrument of real war, served a good purpose. It kept up our communication with Europe; made many captures of material in ordnance, ammunition, and stores of utmost importance to our forces, and fought many gallant actions. But actions between small cruisers and captures of merchantmen are not the means which bring control of the sea. The action of greatest moment was that of the little flotilla on Lake Champlain in 1776, and this, even though defeated, was a main instrument in gaining the French alliance and thus our independence. It is the battleship, in that day known as the ship-of-the-line, which decides the question of command of the world’s highway and thus decides the outcome of war between powers separated by the ocean. The services of the small Continental navy thus from the very nature of things could effect comparatively little so long as the ship-of-the-line could go and come as it pleased. It was the French battleship in larger numbers than the English that completely changed the melancholy outlook of 1780 and 1781. In July of the latter year Rochambeau, in a letter to De Grasse urging him to come north, could use the words: “General Washington has but a handful of men.... This country has been driven to bay and all its resources are giving out at once.” He told but the painful fact. The presence of a dominating fleet gave us victory and independence; without it the Revolution would have failed. It took us a hundred years to realize the truth of the principle here stated, and we have yet to frame a policy in accord with its meaning.

With the passing of the ships passed all semblance of naval organization. The Board of Admiralty had really consisted of Robert Morris only, and the Congress of the loosely bound Confederation was itself almost moribund. The United States found itself free, but it was the freedom of disorganization, an atrophy of government. The Revolution had been fought until March, 1781, without an established government. This is a remarkable fact. We had yet to wait four years from the peace for a real instrument of government, the Constitution of 1787. The adoption of this on September 13, 1787, was the true birthday of the Republic rather than the 4th of July, 1776. The Revolution of 1787 was quite as momentous as that of the war just ended.

THE PRINCIPAL SHIPS OF THE CONTINENTAL NAVY

NAMECLASSGUNSORIGINEND
Alfred Ship 24 Purchased, November, 1775 Captured, March 9, 1778, off Senegal, in company
with the Raleigh, by an inferior force.
Columbus Ship 20 Purchased, November, 1775 Chased ashore, March, 1778, on Point Judith, and
burned.
Andrew Doria Brig 14 Purchased, November, 1775 Destroyed, October 7, 1777, in Delaware River, to
prevent capture by greatly superior force.
Cabot Brig 14 Purchased, November, 1775 Chased ashore, Nova Scotia, March, 1777, by British
frigate; was got off, and taken into British service.
Providence Sloop 12 Purchased early in 1776 Destroyed, August, 1779, Penobscot Expedition, to
prevent capture by greatly superior force.
Lexington Brig 16 Purchased in 1776 Captured, September 19, 1777, by British cutter
Alert, 10.
Reprisal Brig 16 Purchased in 1776 Lost, October, 1777, banks of Newfoundland, on
return from Europe.
Raleigh Frigate 32 Built at Portsmouth, N. H., 1776 Chased ashore, September, 1778, by greatly superior
force, on Maine coast; hauled off, and taken into
British service.
Hancock Frigate 32 Built at Salisbury, Mass., 1776 Captured, July, 1777, off Cape Sambro, by Rainbow, 44.
Washington Frigate 32 Built on the Delaware, 1776 Destroyed, May, 1778, in Delaware River, to prevent
capture, without getting to sea.
Randolph Frigate 32 Built on the Delaware, 1776 Blew up, March 17, 1778, in action with Yarmouth, 64.
Warren Frigate 28 Built at Providence, 1776 Destroyed, August, 1779, in Penobscot Bay Expedition.
Providence Frigate 28 Built at Providence, 1776 Captured, May 11, 1780, on surrender of Charleston.
Trumbull Frigate 28 Built at Middletown, Conn., 1776 Captured, August 9, 1781, by superior force.
Congress Frigate 28 Built at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1776 Destroyed, October, 1777, in Hudson, to prevent capture.
Virginia Frigate 28 Built at Baltimore, 1776 Captured, March 31, 1778, in Chesapeake, through
grounding.
Effingham Frigate 28 Built on the Delaware, 1776 Destroyed, May, 1778, in the Delaware, without getting
to sea.
Boston Frigate 24 Built at Newburyport, 1776 Captured, May 11, 1780, on surrender of Charleston.
Montgomery Frigate 24 Built at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1776 Destroyed, October, 1777, in Hudson, to prevent capture;
never got to sea.
Delaware Frigate 24 Built on the Delaware, 1776 Captured, September, 1777, at Philadelphia, by
General Howe.
Ranger Ship 18 Built at Portsmouth, N. H., 1777 Captured, May 11th, on surrender of Charleston; a
very successful ship.
Confederacy Frigate 32 Built at Norwich, Conn., 1778 Surrendered, April 15, 1781, to British frigates Roebuck
and Orpheus.
Pallas Frigate 32 Purchased in France, 1779 Later history unknown.
General Gates Ship 18 Built 1778 Sold.
Bonhomme Richard Frigate 42 Purchased in France, Jan., 1779 Sunk, September 25, 1779, after capturing the Serapis.
Serapis Frigate 44 Captured, September 23, 1779 Sold at Lorient, France, date unknown.
Deane (renamed, in
1782, the Hague)		 Frigate 32 Built in France, 1777 Sold, August, 1783.
Queen of France Frigate 28 Built in France, 1777 Sunk at Charleston, April, 1780, as an obstruction to
British fleet.
Revenge Cutter 14 Purchased in France, 1777 Sold, March, 1779, after having great success as a
cruiser; refitted as a privateer under same captain
(Conyngham), and captured April, 1779.
Saratoga Cutter 18 Built 1777 Lost, 1781, at sea, and never heard of.
General Washington Cutter 20 Originally a privateer Captured by British and named General Monk; recaptured
by Barney, in Hyder Ally, April 8, 1782;
bought into the Continental service, resumed
original name, and was sold in 1784.
Duc de Lauzun Cutter 20 Purchased 1782 Sold in France, 1783.
Bourbon Frigate 36 Built at Middletown, Conn., 1782-1783 Sold, September, 1783.
AmericaShip-of-
the-line		 74 Laid down, May, 1777;
launched, November 5, 1782		 Presented to France by Resolution of Congress of
September 3, 1782, to replace the Magnifique,
wrecked, August 13, 1782, on Lovell’s Island, near
Boston.
Indian Frigate 40 Built by Congress in Holland Sold to France to escape diplomatic complications;
hired to South Carolina; captured, December 19,
1782, by a British squadron.
Alliance Frigate 32 Built at Salisbury, Mass., 1778 Sold, August, 1785. With this sale ended the navy
of the Revolution.

CHAPTER IX

Stretching along the southern shore of the Mediterranean some 1,800 miles, in the latitude, roughly speaking, of Cape Hatteras, are the regions known to our forefathers as Barbary. The westernmost was Morocco, then Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. The last three were nominally appanages of the Turkish Empire. Anciently there had been along these shores a high civilization. Carthage (now Tunis) had disputed with Rome the empire of the Mediterranean; she failed through Rome’s final dominancy at sea, and her power was utterly wrecked, as was the city itself. Rome ruled and built thriving cities throughout the coastline mentioned, the remains of which now mark but dimly the footsteps of civilization and history.