FAMOUS

SHIPS

The LEXINGTON was a brigantine that was purchased by Abraham van Bibber for the Maryland Committee of Safety at St. Eustatius.  At the time she was a merchantman named the WILD DUCK.  According to one account, she was 94 feet in length, 24.5 feet in breadth and had a depth of 11 feet, with a tonnage rating of 210 bm.  She carried a compliment of 110 men and was armed with fourteen 4pdr’s, two 6pdr’s and 12 swivels. 

The Wild Duck sailed from the Dutch West Indies to Philadelphia with a cargo of gunpowder in February of 1776.  She was then purchased by the Continental Congress’s Marine Committee and renamed LEXINGTON.  This was in honor of the site of the first battle of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775, when the British were chased back to Boston.  She was then fitted out as the warship as indicated above under the direction of Joshua Humphreys and put under the command of Captain John Barry, an individual who should be better known by the American public then he is.  According to a report filed by a British spy, the LEXINGTON was described as having “two topgallant yards and royals, square tuck, painted yellow and a low round stern painted lead color, black sides and yellow mouldings.”

On April 7, LEXINGTON captured the British tender EDWARD in the Continental Navy’s first victory in a single-ship action.  Over period of about 6 months, Lexington then proceeded to capture two sloops and helped rescue a cargo of very much needed gunpowder from the stranded merchantman NANCY.  Command was then turned over to Captain William Hallock.  He was unfortunate enough to run into HMS PEARL, a 32-gun frigate, which captured her when on route from the Caribbean to Philadelphia.  Seventy of her crew were confined below decks, but they managed to free themselves and take over the ship from the prize crew.  The LEXINGTON was then safely returned to Philadelphia. 

Under Captain Henry Johnson, Lexington sailed for France on February 20, 1777, capturing two prizes on her way there.  Once she arrived in France, she was ordered to patrol the Irish Sea together with REPRISAL and DOLPHIN.  Together, they captured thirteen ships between June 18^th and June 25^th.  Two days later LEXINGTON was forced into Morlaix, Brittany, where she remained until ordered out of France on September 13^th.  She became becalmed off Ushant on September 19^th, were she was brought to battle by the cutter HMS ALERT ( 14-guns).  There was a fierce ship-to-ship battle that was then fought, but LEXINGTON ran out of gunpowder and was forced to surrender.  What became of her after that is not now known.

There is a kit available to this ship offered by Model Expo.  It is a Mamoli kit and cost $79.95 plus shipping, item #MV48, if anyone is interested.  The picture accompanying this article is of this kit model. 

As to my earlier reference to John Barry, the first Captain of LEXINGTON, more should be said.  John Barry was born in 1745 at Ballysampson, Tacumshane, Co. Wexford.  This is on the eastern tip of Ireland.  He has a statue there today which has an inscription claiming him as the founder of the American Navy.  In 1766 he commanded the schooner BARBADOS, which was engaged in commercial trade along the east coast of America.  Later, he is recorded as being the owner of the BLACK PRINCE, a ship that he presented to Congress at the outbreak of the American Revolution.  She was crewed by Irish smugglers and commissioned at Dunkirk for John Nixon of Philadelphia (grandson of a certain Richard Nixon of Wexford who emigrated to the New World in 1686).  This ship along with several others was authorized by Benjamin Franklin to capture British ships and crews.  Together the three ships took 161 British prisoners.

The BLACK PRINCE was one of 6 or 8 ships fitted out by Barry as the first American Fleet.  The BLACK PRINCE was renamed ALFRED (24 guns).  John Barry then went on to captain the LEXINGTON as related above and captured America’s first of many prizes.  Next, he commanded the EFFINGHAM, a 32 gunner, which he was forced to burn later to avoid her capture and use by the British after the fall of Philadelphia in 1777. 

He did not stop there, however.  He used the ships boats to conduct raids on the British transports to such effect that General Howe reputedly offered him $100,000.00 to stop.  Barry refused.  Later in 1777, Barry commanded the 32 gun RALEIGH tried to break the British blockade off the coast.  He was intercepted by two British frigates off Boston and forced to run the RALEIGH onto the rocks to avoid her capture.  He persevered, however, and was in command of the 200 ton DELAWARE that was involved in a series of engagements.  The following year, 1781, he took command of the ALLIANCE that captured many prizes.  At one point 9 merchantmen were captured with a cargo of rum and sugar worth 620,000 pounds – a very welcome financial boost to the American cause.  John Barry fought the last engagement of the American Revolution at sea between the ALLIANCE and the British frigate HMS SIBYLLE, the action being indecisive.  After the fall of Yorktown, Barry was chosen to convey Lafayette to France.  His last command was the 44-gun frigate UNITED STATES when the fledgling United States became involved with the Algerian pirates.  He died on September 13^th, 1803 aged 58 years.  At the time he was considered ‘of all the naval captains that remained, the one who possessed the greatest reputation for experience and skill’.