The navy of Massachusetts, between the beginning and end of the war, numbered at least thirty-four vessels. One or two of these were vessels which ranked in the language of that day as frigates. The finest and largest of them was the "Protector", built on state account at Salisbury, Mass., where the fine frigate "Alliance", which proved so successful and popular, was also built, almost at the same time. It may be said, in passing, that the names of the New England vessels showed very distinctly that men had not yet lost the traditions of their ancestry. The "Tyrannicide" was a favorite cruiser in the state navy, and the action which has been spoken of, in which she took the "Revenge", was one of the best fought battles of the war. The "Oliver Cromwell" was a Massachusetts privateer, and the name of the "Hampden" appears twice on the lists of those days. The keel of the "Protector" was laid in 1778, and she sailed first in 1780. But she was also one of the unfortunate squadron destroyed in the Penobscot. The failure of the well-planned but disastrous expedition to that river resulted in the destruction of all the important vessels belonging to the State.
We have only a partial catalogue of the privateers commissioned by the State between 1775 and 1783. It is sometimes difficult to draw the line between state cruisers and privateers, and it will sometimes happen that a vessel which has one year been chartered by the State, and officered in her commission, falls back the next year into the hands of her owners, and is equipped and fought by them under a privateer's commission. In this list there are rather more than three hundred names of separate vessels. Of the privateersmen sent out from Salem there is a separate list. Between the beginning and end of the war, the Salem vessels alone numbered nearly one hundred and fifty. The Massachusetts Archives give a list of three hundred and sixty-five, as commissioned and belonging in Boston. If we had lists, equally full, of the privateers which sailed from Falmouth (Portland), from the Merrimac, from Marblehead, from Falmouth, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Barnstable, and the other towns on Cape Cod, it is probable that we should enlarge the list of Massachusetts privateers so that it should include more than six hundred vessels. It is to be remembered that all the regular operations of the fishing fleet were stopped, and that therefore, in every town on the coast, there were vessels and men ready for service, and very easily commissioned if a spirited commander appeared. To this number must be added the considerable list of what were virtually New England privateers among the vessels commissioned in France by Deane and Franklin.
The largest of these privateers, at starting, carried one hundred and fifty men. Such an exploit as Whipple's, which has been already recorded, would have been impossible unless he had as many as ten prize crews on his vessel, of fifteen men each. With each prize sent in, the fighting force of the captor was reduced, and in such reduction is the reason to be found why we often find that at the last a privateer captain was not able to fight his own ship, and, after he had sent in many prizes, was himself taken. On the other hand, the smallest of these vessels, equipped for short cruises, carried but few guns and few men.
Mr. Felt's statement of the privateer force of Salem and Beverly at the end of the war gives a total force of fifty-nine ships, carrying four thousand men. This would give an average of about sixty-six men to a vessel. The general estimate is higher, and we suppose that the average crew of a Massachusetts privateer, when she sailed, was about one hundred men.
If this estimate is correct, we must modify Hutchinson's statement so far as to say that, sooner or later, Massachusetts alone probably sent sixty thousand men out in warfare upon the seas. Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut probably sent twenty thousand more. Next to this fleet was that of the Delaware; next to that, the privateers commissioned in France; and to these must be added those from the Chesapeake and more southern waters.
The number of seamen and officers employed by the Continental Congress was probably largest in the earlier years of the war. No papers now exist which give full returns of this force. But it would probably be fair to estimate it as varying in different years from five thousand to ten thousand men. The several state navies represented, perhaps, as many more.
When one considers these forces in the privateer fleet and the national and state navies, the English force opposed seems surprisingly small. We have the official returns of the officers and men in the whole English navy for every year of the contest. The number comes up to 87,000, after England was well engaged with America, France, and Spain. But of this fleet a very considerable part was in the East Indies and on other stations. Almon's Remembrancer says distinctly that the number of men engaged against the colonies at sea in 1776 was 26,000. It is very sure that in that year the colonies had many more men at sea engaged against England. There were some English privateers; but their number was not considerable.
A comparison between the military and naval forces of America in the Revolution shows that the navy, in its various forms, embodied almost as many men as the army, and sometimes, indeed, more.
In a report sent by General Knox to Congress on the 11th of May, 1790, he gives the number of men actually in the Continental army year by year, the number of militia called out from time to time, and the number of men demanded in the quotas fixed by Congress. The last figures are of no great importance now, though they have some historical curiosity. The others exhibit the forces for seven years, thus:—
| Continentals. | Militia. | |
| 1775 | 27,443 | 37,623 |
| 1776 | 46,891 | 42,760 |
| 1777 | 34,820 | 33,900 |
| 1778 | 32,899 | 18,153 |
| 1779 | 27,699 | 17,485 |
| 1780 | 21,015 | 21,811 |
| 1781 | 33,408 | 16,048 |
| 1782 | 14,256 | 3,750 |
| 1783 | 13,476 | No militia. |