[1226] The steps leading to this action of Washington, who felt authorized to take it by giving a liberal interpretation to his commission, were these: As early as June 7, 1775, the Massachusetts legislature had considered the question of creating a naval force, but moved cautiously (Frothingham's Siege of Boston, p. 111). Rhode Island moved first, June 12th, and put two vessels in commission under Abraham and Christopher Whipple, and in July they were cruising. (On this and other early movements in Rhode Island, see Arnold's Rhode Island, ii. 351, 363, 369, 386; Staples's Annals of Providence, pp. 265-70; R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. vi.; Gammell's Life of Samuel Ward; and Ward's journal in Sparks MSS., lxviii. no. 7.) By July 1st Connecticut had begun to move. Washington's first commission was given to Capt. Nicholas Broughton, of Marblehead, accompanied by instructions, which are given in Sparks's Washington, iii. 517, when he took command of the "Hannah" (Frothingham's Siege of Boston, 260). John Adams says (Works, x. 27; Letters of Washington to John Langdon, 1880, p. 19) it was John Manly's application to Washington for authority to fit out a cruiser that led directly to this step, and that Manly was the first to fly a Continental flag, and to have a British flag struck to him.
For the early navy of Pennsylvania, see Wallace's William Bradford, p. 130, and in the Appendix of the same work we have an account of the first naval combat on the Delaware, and the first hostile guns heard by Congress, when the "Roebuck" and "Liverpool" were driven down the river by the American flotilla.
On the early movements in Virginia, see Va. Hist. Reg., i. 185; Southern Lit. Messenger, xxiv. 1-273.—Ed.
[1227] Hancock's letter of instructions, October 5, 1775, is in Sparks's Correspondence of the American Revolution, i. 56. Cf. John Adams's Works, i. 187; x. 31.—Ed.
[1228] Selman's own account of this exploit has been printed in the Salem Gazette, July 22, 1856. Cf. Sparks's Writings of Washington, iii. 193.—Ed.
[1229] "Lord Amherst laments the capture of the ordnance vessel,—says her cargo amounted to £10,500. The Board is censured for not putting her stores into a vessel of greater force." Hutchinson's Diary (July 10). Manly continued to gain and deserve the commendation of Washington (Sparks's Washington, iii. 266, 271). For an account of Manly's being driven into Plymouth, see Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc. 2d ser., ii. 158.—Ed.
[1230] Rhode Island, as she had put the first armed vessel afloat, was also the inciter of the movements in Congress which resulted in this fleet, her members, in Oct., 1775, having urged action (4 Force, iv. 1838). John Adams gives on the successive stages of the movement (Works, ii. 463, iii. 7. Cf. Gammell's Ward, 316, and the Journal of Congress, 1775). A naval committee was instituted Oct. 13th, and in December it was enlarged, to have a member for each colony. John Adams tells on his labors on this committee were the most agreeable he had in Congress; and he always took great credit to himself for being mainly instrumental in committing Congress to naval policy (Works, ix. 363, Familiar Letters, 166), and it was he who drew up the Rules of the naval service (Works, iii. p. 11; Journal of Congress, 1775, p. 282). In tracing the official action of Congress towards the navy, beside the Journals, use the index of Ben: Perley Poore's Descriptive Catal. of Government Publications; the indexes to the Amer. Archives, under such heads as "armed vessels", "fleet", "Mass. armed vessels", "marine committee", "navy", "privateers", "prizes", "row galleys", "seamen", "vessels", and the names of naval characters. The incongruous character of Force's indexes increases the labor considerably in using the Archives.
The beginnings of the navy, beside being followed in Cooper, Clark, etc., can be traced in W. E. Foster's Stephen Hopkins, ii. App. M; in Bancroft, ix. 134, or final revision, v. 50 in Silas Deane's correspondence in Conn. Hist. Soc. Coll., ii. Washington ceased to exercise any supervision over the armed fleet after the evacuation of Boston in March, 1776. General Ward, who was then left in command in Boston, commissioned Captain Mugford to cruise, June, 1776, before he received any blank commissions from Congress. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., i. 203.
In 1775 David Bushnell invented at Saybrook a machine for blowing up the enemy's vessels, called the "American Turtle." It is described in the Conn. Soc. Coll., ii. 315, 322, 333, with references.—Ed.
[1231] Sparks's Washington, i. 36; iii. 77. There is a memoir of Whipple, with a portrait (cf. also E. M. Stone's Our French Allies, p. 26), in Hildreth's Pioneer Settlers of Ohio (1852), pp. 120-164. There are letters of Whipple among the Com. Tucker Papers in Harvard College library. Few of the earlier captains made more captures than Samuel Tucker. Washington commissioned him in Jan., 1776. His reputation as a naval officer was mostly made during his command of the frigate "Boston", in one of whose voyages he took John Adams to France in 1778. The log of this voyage is preserved in Harvard College library, where are also a collection of Tucker's papers, embracing his instructions, correspondence, and logs. They have been used in John H. Sheppard's Life of Samuel Tucker (Boston, 1868), which is abridged by the author in the N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., April, 1872 (xxvi. 105). Cf. New Eng. Mag., ii. 138; Niles's Register, xliv. 140; and Johnston's History of Bristol and Bremen, Me.—Ed.