The Reprisal audaciously sailed across the Atlantic, being the first American vessel to visit Europe, and commenced a wild work of capture and destruction among the British merchant-ships in the Channel, right under the noses of their great fleets of war. Being joined a little later on by the Lexington, these two vessels, assisted by several prizes that they had armed, caused such havoc that rates of insurance on all English vessels were advanced twenty-five per cent. In the year 1778 the Reprisal foundered in a gale, and only the ship's cook was saved.
The Andrea Doria received the first foreign salute ever paid to an American man-of-war. Upon visiting St. Eustatins, the Dutch Governor greeted the vessel with a grand salvo from the fort; and this courtesy proved a very costly one for him, as his nation had not recognized the United States, and he therefore paid the penalty of his politeness by being dismissed from his high office.
The Randolph, on the night of March 7, 1778, engaged the British line-of-battle-ship Yarmouth, and while the fight was being gallantly conducted by Captain Biddle against a vastly superior foe, the Randolph, blew up. Out of 310 souls on board only four seamen were left alive, and these were picked up, four days later clinging to a piece of the wreck of their old ship.
One other vessel was ordered to be built by Congress during the year 1776, and that was a line-of-battle-ship of 74 guns, the name of which was to be America. This fine vessel was constructed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but was not completed until the end of the Revolutionary struggle. She was then fitted out and presented, in the name of the United States, to Louis XVI. of France, as a mark of appreciation and gratitude by this republic, in whose cause he had so nobly and generously assisted.
It does not come within the scope of this story to tell of the gallant actions that took place between our modest vessels and the towering ships of England, but some measure of the great honors that we fought for and gained may be appreciated when it is known that American men-of-war made over 800 prizes at sea during the struggle for independence.
