The transports had to surrender, for they were under the guns of the Alert, and Barry carried his five prizes triumphantly to Port Penn, where he handed his captives over to the garrison.
And now the daring captain made things lively for the foe. He sailed up and down the river and bay, and cut off supplies until the British army at Philadelphia began to suffer for food.
What was to be done? Should this Yankee wasp go on stinging the British lion? General Howe decided that this would never do, and sent a frigate and a sloop-of-war down the river to put an end to the trouble.
Captain Barry, finding these water-hounds sharp on his track, ran for Christiana Creek, hoping to get into shallow water where the heavy British ships could not follow. But the frigate was too fast, and chased him so closely that the best he could do was to run the schooner ashore and escape in his boats.
But he was determined that they should not have the Alert if he could help it. Turning two of the guns downward, he fired through the ship's bottom, and in a minute the water was pouring into her hold.
The frigate swung round and fired a broadside at the fleeing boats; but all it brought back was a cheer of defiance from the sailors, as they struck the land and sprang ashore. Here they had the satisfaction of seeing the schooner sink before a British foot could be set on her deck.
The war vessels now went for the transports at Port Penn. Here a battery had been built on shore, made of bales of hay. This was attacked by the sloop-of-war, but the American sharpshooters made things lively for her. They might have beaten her off had not their captain fallen with a mortal wound. The men now lost heart and fled to the woods, first setting fire to the vessels.
Thus ended Barry's brave exploit. He had lost his vessels, but the British had not got them. The Americans were proud of his daring deed, and the British tried to win so brave a man to their side. Sir William Howe offered him twenty thousand pounds in money and the command of a British frigate if he would desert his flag. But he was not dealing now with a Benedict Arnold.
"Not if you pay me the price and give me the command of the whole British fleet can you draw me away from the cause of my country," wrote the patriotic sailor.
Barry was soon rewarded for his patriotism by being made captain of an American frigate, the Raleigh. But ill-luck now followed him. He sailed from Boston on September 25, 1778, and three days afterward he had lost his ship and was a wanderer with his crew in the vast forests of Maine.