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ntinental Congress, December 13 and 22, 1775.

Ibid., January 6, 1776.

Manuscript letters of John Adams, Massachusetts Historical Society; Warren to Adams, November 14, 1775; Chase to Adams, November 16 and 25, 1775.

Collections of New York Historical Society, Deane Papers, I, 91-92.

Edward Field's Esek Hopkins, 78-9.

British Marine Encyclopedia, in Hogg's Naval Magazine for 1801.

Edward Field, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, II, 422.

Edward Field's Esek Hopkins, 134, quotes from Drake's Life of Knox.

Sands, Life and Correspondence of John Paul Jones, 32.

Journals of Continental Congress, December 22, 1775.

Force, American Archives, 4th, IV, 360; letter to Earl of Dartmouth, dated Maryland, Dec. 20, 1775.

Journals of Continental Congress, December 2, 1775, January 9 and 16, 1776. The Naval Committee spent 4,333 on the eight vessels which they fitted out.--Journals of Continental Congress, September 19, 1776.

Force, American Archives, 4th, V, 823.

Edward Field's Esek Hopkins, 101; a copy of Hopkins's orders is given.

Papers of Esek Hopkins, Rhode Island Historical Society, an invoice of captured articles.

Force, American Archives, 4th, V, 823, Hopkins to President of Congress, April, 1776, giving an account of the expedition.

W. L. Clowes, Royal Navy, IV, 3, 4; Connecticut Gazette, April 12, 1776.

THE FLEETS OF WASHINGTON AND ARNOLD

The first armed vessels that sailed under Continental pay and control were those that composed the little fleet fitted out by Washington in the ports of Massachusetts in the fall of 1775. As these vessels were manned by soldiers and were commanded by army officers, and were designed to weaken the army of the enemy by capturing his transports carrying supplies and troops, Washington was able to derive his authority for procuring and fitting out the fleet from his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental army. The first vessel employed in this service was the schooner "Hannah," commanded by Nicholson Broughton, a captain in the army. According to his instructions, issued September 2, 1775, and signed by Washington, Broughton was directed to proceed "immediately on a cruise against such vessels as may be found on the high seas, or elsewhere, bound inwards and outwards, to or from Boston, in the service of the Ministerial Army, and to take and seize all such vessels, laden with soldiers, arms, ammunition, or provisions, for or from said Army, or which you shall have good reason to suspect are in such service." One-third of all captured cargoes were to be given to officers and crews as an encouragement. The proportions according to which the captors' share was to be divided were fixed. The captain was to receive six times as much as a private. Prizes were to be sent to the "safest and nearest port to this camp." Prisoners were to be treated with kindness and humanity. Broughton was directed to be exceedingly careful and frugal with his ammunition, and not to waste it in salutes.

Not until a month after the fitting out of the "Hannah" did Washington begin to add to his naval force. On October 4 he appointed Colonel John Glover and Stephen Moylan agents to equip two vessels at Salem, Marblehead, or Newburyport, and they were directed to name suitable men for prize agents in the leading ports of Massachusetts. When Washington received the letter of Congress of October 5 directing him to obtain two vessels from Massachusetts and to send them to the St. Lawrence river to intercept two British transports bound from London for Quebec, he ordered on this service, since Massachusetts at this time had no armed vessels, the schooners "Lynch," Captain Nicholson Broughton, and "Franklin," Captain John Selman, which had been or were being fitted out by Glover and Moylan. In October and November four other small vessels, the schooners "Lee," "Harrison," and "Warren," and the brigantine "Washington" were fitted out and sent cruising against the enemy's transports. About the first of January, 1776, the schooner "Hancock" was added. Washington had the entire management of his fleet. Stephen Moylan, who was attached to his staff, conducted most of the correspondence with the captains and naval agents while Washington was at Cambridge. Agents for fitting out the fleet and receiving its prizes were established in Plymouth, Boston, Lynn, Salem, Marblehead, Beverly, Newburyport, and Portsmouth, N. H. In January, 1776, Washington appointed John Manly commodore of the fleet. The other commanders thereby became subject to Manly's orders.

With the exception of Manly, Washington had a poor opinion of the abilities of his commanders. On January 28 he wrote to Manly: "I wish you could inspire the captains of the other armed schooners under your command with some of your activity and industry." In November, 1775, he had written: "Our rascally privateersmen go on at the old rate, mutinying if they can not do as they please. Those at Plymouth, Beverly, and Portsmouth have done nothing worth mentioning in the prize way, and no account as yet received from those farther eastward," referring to the "Lynch" and "Franklin," whose commanders he feared "would not effect any good purpose." Early in December Washington was still more emphatic: "The plague, trouble, and vexation I have had with the crews of all the armed vessels, are inexpressible. I do believe there is not on earth a more disorderly set. Every time they come into port, we hear of nothing but mutinous complaints. Manly's success has lately, and but lately, quieted his people. The crews of the Washington and Harrison have actually deserted them; so that I have been under the necessity of ordering the agent to lay the latter up, and get hands for the other on the best terms he could."

Notwithstanding the Commander-in-chief's unfavorable judgment, it must be said that his fleet, upon the whole, was quite as successful as were other fleets of equal size and force during the Revolution. The vessels which composed it were small and lightly armed. Manly's first vessel, the "Lee," with which he rendered effective service, carried fifty men and four 4-pounders. The brigantine "Washington" was somewhat larger, mounting ten guns. Altogether the fleet captured some thirty-five prizes. The first important capture, that of the brigantine "Nancy," was an exceedingly timely one, and was made by Manly in the "Lee" on one of the last days of November, 1775. Among other stores the "Nancy" had on board 2,000 muskets, 100,000 flints, 30,000 round shot, more than 30 tons of musket shot, 11 mortar beds, and a brass mortar weighing 10,000 pounds. It would have taken the Americans eighteen months to have manufactured a like quantity of ordnance. In June, 1776, the fleet, together with the "Defence" of the Connecticut navy, captured four British transports, which had on board besides a quantity of supplies upwards of three hundred and twenty Scottish troops.

Washington's fleet cruised chiefly off the Massachusetts coast. Broughton and Selman, whom Washington dispatched to the river St. Lawrence to intercept the two British transports, did not enter the river at all. After making several unauthorized captures, they turned their attention to the island of St. Johns, now Prince Edward island. Here they pillaged the defenceless inhabitants, and robbed the houses of the Governor and Acting-Governor of plate, carpets, curtains, mirrors, table linen, and wearing apparel. They made prisoners of the Acting-Governor and two other leading men of the island, whose families were left in great distress. Washington was highly indignant at these unwarranted acts of his captains, and at once on their arrival in Massachusetts he released their three prisoners.

Moved by the need for a proper judicial tribunal to try the prize cases arising from captures made by his vessels, Washington on November 11, 1775, wrote to Congress on the subject. He enclosed in his letter a copy of the Massachusetts law establishing admiralty courts, and explained that this law did not apply to the captures made by Continental vessels. "Should not a court," he asked, "be established by authority of Congress, to take cognizance of prizes made by the Continental vessels? Whatever the mode is, which they are pleased to adopt, there is an absolute necessity of its being speedily determined on, for I can not spare time from military affairs to give proper attention to these matters." As early as October 5 Washington had requested the "determination of Congress, as to the property and disposal of such vessels and cargoes, as are designed for the supply of the enemy, and may fall into our hands." On November 8 he called the attention of Congress to the same subject. On December 4 and December 14 he again urged Congress to establish a Continental prize court. Finally, on December 20 Congress resolved that the several vessels heretofore carried into Massachusetts by the armed vessels in the service of the United Colonies should be "proceeded against by the rules of the law of nations, and libelled in the courts of admiralty erected in said colony." The method of procedure which Congress here established was followed throughout the Revolution in all prize cases arising from captures made by Continental vessels. Congress permitted the states to exercise original jurisdiction in all Continental prize cases, and reserved to itself appellate jurisdiction, so far as it had power to do so.

It is recalled that Congress, on November 25, 1775, having under consideration the report of a committee on Washington's letter of November 8, determined the kinds of British property which should be subject to capture, fixed the shares of prizes, and established certain forms of procedure in the trial of prize cases. The lack of correspondence between these resolutions and the Massachusetts law of November 1, establishing admiralty courts, caused long and serious delays in bringing the Continental prizes to trial. Washington, on April 25, 1776, wrote from New York: "I have not yet heard, that there has been any trial of the prizes carried into Massachusetts Bay. This procrastination is attended with very bad consequences. Some of the vessels I had fitted out are now laid up, the crews being dissatisfied that they cannot get their prize money. I have tired the Congress on this subject, but the importance of it makes me again mention, that, if a summary way of proceeding is not resolved on, it will be impossible to get our vessels manned."

On the evacuation of Boston by the British in March, 1776, Washington soon removed his headquarters to New York. He left his fleet in charge of General Artemas Ward, who reported its movements to him. In February, 1777, the Marine Committee of Congress ordered the Continental agent at Boston to pay off and discharge the fleet. In March the Marine Committee appointed three commissioners to settle the accounts of Washington's prize agents. These commissioners had not completed their task in April, 1778.

In April, 1776, immediately upon Washington's arrival in New York, he began to equip a fleet similar to the one at Boston. He requested from the New York Committee of Safety the loan of their state vessels, which he wished to use in suppressing illicit trade with the enemy. Some disagreement arose as to the terms of the loan. Washington insisted that if he manned the "General Schuyler," he would expect to appoint her officers. In the end, the "General Schuyler" was turned over to Washington, and the captain of the "General Putnam" was directed to obey his orders. Washington now obtained from other sources the sloop "General Mifflin." These vessels, which cruised during the summer of 1776 chiefly in the neighborhood of Long Island, and usually with the New York state sloop "Montgomery," captured several British vessels. In the summer of 1776 Washington was constructing some "gondolas," row-galleys, and fire-ships, for the defence of the Hudson. The galley "Lady Washington," which was manned and completed by the summer of 1776, was still in service on the Hudson in June, 1777.

In the significance of their results the operations of no other naval armament of the Americans during the Revolution compare with those of Arnold's fleet on Lake Champlain in the fall of 1776. On May 31, 1775, the Continental Congress desired the New York Provincial Congress "to take effectual care that a sufficient number of batteaus be immediately provided for the lakes." Major-General Schuyler commanded the Continental forces in this region, including the naval armaments upon the Lakes. These last, in September, consisted of a sloop, a schooner, two row-galleys, and ten "batteaus." About the first of August the New York Provincial Congress sent James Smith to Schuyler to take command of the sloop "Enterprise." Smith either received or gave to himself the title of "Commodore on the Lakes." He did not long hold this title; for in March, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed Major William Douglass of New York, "Commodore on the Lakes," a place for which General Schuyler had recommended Captain Jacobus Wynkoop, of the same state. In April Wynkoop was enlisting seamen in New York City. In May, since Douglass did not enter upon his appointment, Schuyler, acting under the orders of Congress, put the armed vessels under the command of Wynkoop.

About the first of July, 1776, the American forces were driven out of Canada. They retreated southward as far as the forts on the Lakes. The holding of Lakes Champlain and George, which were a strategic part of the line of communication between Canada and the Hudson, now became a matter of vital importance. Providing against a possible failure in Canada, Congress, Washington, and Schuyler had, in May and early June, been increasing the effectiveness of the naval armament on the Lakes. On June 17 Congress ordered Schuyler to build "with all expedition, as many galleys and armed vessels as, in the opinion of himself and the general officer to be sent into Canada, shall be sufficient to make us indisputable masters of the lakes Champlain and George." A master carpenter, acquainted with the construction of the galleys used on the Delaware, other carpenters, and models of galleys, if required, were to be sent on from Philadelphia.

Towards the end of June, Brigadier-General Benedict Arnold, recognizing the supreme importance of maintaining a naval superiority on the Lakes, began to exert an influence in naval affairs. Arnold was not without marine experience; as a resident of New Haven, engaged in the West India trade, he had sometimes commanded his own ships. On June 25, 1776, he wrote to Washington: "It now appears to me of the utmost importance that the Lakes be immediately secured by a large number of gondolas, row-galleys, and floating batteries.... I think it absolutely necessary that three hundred carpenters be immediately employed." Towards the end of July, General Gates appointed Arnold to command the naval forces on the Lakes. Wynkoop, who held a similar command by virtue of an appointment from Congress and Schuyler, refused to yield to Arnold. He was thereupon arrested by Gates and sent as a prisoner to Schuyler.

During July and August, 1776, Skenesborough, at the head of Lake Champlain, was the scene of the greatest naval activity. Requisitions were made upon Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts for carpenters. Naval stores and munitions of war of all sorts, sail-cloth, cordage, anchors, cannon, and ammunition were sent to the Lakes from the seaboard, especially from New York and Connecticut. Seamen were hurried forward. On August 13 the Governor and Council of Safety of Connecticut voted ?180 to Captain Seth Warner of Saybrook to enable him to raise a crew of forty seamen for the naval service on the Lakes. These men were "to receive a bounty of ?6 for inlisting; and for finding themselves blankets, 12s; guns, 6s; and cartouch-box and belt and knapsack, 2s; and one month's wages being 48s advanced, according to proclamation." On August 16 the Governor and Council of Safety authorized two other companies to be raised. In September Gates understood that two hundred seamen had been enlisted in New York city.

During the first days of October the naval superiority on the Lakes shifted to the British. General Sir Guy Carleton, the British commander, drawing upon superior naval resources, had outbuilt Arnold. Early in October Carleton's fleet consisted of one ship, two schooners, one "radeau," one large "gondola," twenty gunboats, and four armed tenders. Some of these vessels and the material for others he had brought from the St. Lawrence up the Richelieu. The ship "Enterprise," eighteen 12-pounders, 180 tons burden, whose construction had been begun at Quebec, he thus transported in pieces. She was set up at St. Johns, on the Richelieu, where the British shipyard was situated. This vessel in size and armament greatly exceeding any one craft of the Americans. A fleet of transports and ships of war in the St. Lawrence furnished Carleton with seven hundred experienced officers and seamen.

The two fleets engaged each other on Lake Champlain on October 11, 12, and 13, 1776. Ten of the American vessels were captured or destroyed. General Waterbury, second in command, and 110 prisoners, were captured. In killed and wounded Arnold lost about eighty men; and the British forty. The British were left in command of the Lake; the Americans retreated to Ticonderoga.

Although most decisively defeated in the battle upon the Lake, Arnold had delayed the advance of the British some two or three months, while they were obtaining a naval superiority. This delay had far-reaching consequences. Carleton now found the season too late to pursue his advantage, and to make, or attempt to make, a juncture with Howe to the southward. He therefore soon returned to winter quarters at Montreal. When Burgoyne, in 1777, repeated the attempt to penetrate to the Hudson, Howe's removal of his army to the Chesapeake in his movement against Philadelphia, deprived Burgoyne's army of the support on the Hudson, which it might have had in the fall of 1776. It has been strikingly said, by Captain Mahan, that Arnold's and Carleton's naval campaign on Lake Champlain was a "strife of pigmies for the prize of a continent." Although the American flotilla was wiped out, "never had any force, big or small, lived to better purpose, or died more gloriously; for it had saved the Lake for that year."

FOOTNOTES:

Moylan had been for some months a member of Washington's official household before he was appointed aide-de-camp in March, 1776.

Ibid., 231-32, Washington to Joseph Reed, November 20, 1775.

This calculation is made chiefly from accounts of the vessels found in Force's American Archives and Ford's Writings of Washington.

Boston Gazette, July 6, 1776.

Journals of Continental Congress, December 20, 1775.

Marine Committee Letter Book, Robert Morris, Vice-President of the Marine Committee, to John Bradford, Continental agent at Boston, February 7, 1777. The "Lee," Captain Skimmer, was still in the Continental service in November, 1777, when the Navy Board was ordered to discharge Skimmer, and to take the "Lee" into the regular Continental navy, if she was adapted for it.--Marine Committee Letter Book, Committee to Navy Board at Boston, November 22, 1777.

Marine Committee Letter Book, Committee to the three Commissioners, March 21, 1777.

Journals of Continental Congress, April 9, 1778.

Journals of New York Committee of Safety, April 24, May 10, 1776.

The movements of these vessels may be followed in Force's American Archives, Ford's Writings of Washington, and the Journals of the New York Provincial Congress and Committee of Safety.

Journals of Continental Congress, May 30, 1776; Force, American Archives, 5th, I, 1263; Journals of New York Provincial Congress, June 7, 1777.

Journals of Continental Congress, May 31, 1775.

Ibid., 11, 14.

Journals of Continental Congress, March 26, 1776; Journals of New York Committee of Safety, March 18, 1776.

Journals of New York Committee of Safety, April 24, 1776.

Force, American Archives, 5th, I, 1186, 1277; Journals of New York Provincial Congress, March 16, 1776; Journals of Continental Congress, May 2, 1776.

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