1776
U.S. Navy Captures First British Warship
On this day in 1776, Navy Captain John Barry,
commander of the American warship Lexington, makes the first American
naval capture of a British vessel when he takes command of the British warship
HMS Edward off the coast of Virginia. The capture of the Edward
and its cargo turned Captain Barry into a national hero and boosted the morale
of the Continental forces.
Barry was born in the seaboard county of
Wexford, Ireland, in 1745 and offered his services to the Continental Congress
upon the outbreak of the American Revolution. Congress purchased Barry’s ship, Black
Prince, which it renamed Alfred and placed under the command of
Commodore Esek Hopkins. It was the first ship to fly the American flag, raised
by John Paul Jones.
Barry served with distinction throughout the
American Revolution. At sea, he had continued success with the Lexington.
On land, he raised a volunteer force to assist General Washington in the
surprisingly successful Trenton, New Jersey, campaign of 1776-77. On May 29,
1781, Barry was wounded while successfully capturing the HMS Atlanta and
the HMS Trepassy while in command of a new ship, Alliance. He
recovered and successfully concluded the final naval battle of the
Revolutionary War with a victory over the HMS Sybylle in March 1783.
Barry’s outstanding career has been
memorialized on both sides of the Atlantic. A bridge bearing his name crosses
the Delaware River, and Brooklyn, New York, is home to a park named for him. In
addition, four U.S. Navy ships and a building at Villanova University carry his
name, and statues in his honor stand in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and his
birthplace, Wexford, Ireland. On September 13, 1981, President Ronald Reagan
declared Commodore John Barry Day to honor a man he called one of the earliest
and greatest American patriots, a man of great insight who perceived very early
the need for American power on the sea.