Give Me a Fast Ship

by Tim McGrath

  89 Barney, 89–99, Cohen, 185–187.

  90 APS, BFP, Digges to Franklin, 4/14 and 8/18/80; PMHB, 22:414–415.

  91 Matthewman’s “Narrative.”

  92 Ibid.; Cohen, 186.

  93 APS, BFP, Conyngham to Franklin, 6/16/81; Neeser, PMHB, 22:487–488.

  94 Ibid., Franklin to Conyngham, 6/20/81; Conyngham to Franklin, 6/21 and 7/4/81.

  95 Ibid., Williams to Franklin, 7/21/81.

  96 Neeser, Memorial of Gustavus Conyngham to Congress; Hayes, 41.

  97 NRAR, 181, Memorial of Nicholson to Congress, 5/31/81; De Koven, 2:212–214, Nicholson to Barry, 6/24/81; Morison, 377; Thomas, 249–250; Callo, 134.

  98 Ibid.; NRAR, 180, Committee Report to Congress, 6/29/81; 181, Jones’s Memorial to Congress, 7/17/81; RMP, 4:458–459, Morris to Langdon, 3/26/82.

  99 RMP, 3:5, Morris to president of Congress, 10/1/81; Pennsylvania Gazette, 9/27/81; Fowler, 113.

  100 Continental Journal, 9/13/81; Pennsylvania Packet, 9/27/81; Fowler, 113.

  101 Ibid.; Pennsylvania Packet, 9/27/81; Allen, 556–557.

  102 Ibid.; Boston Independent Chronicle, 8/30/81; RMP, 3:202, Morris to President of Congress, 11/17/81.

  103 Fowler, 113–114.

  104 Fleming, 334.

  105 Rappleye, 227.

  106 Michael J, Crawford, PhD: “Naval Administration under Robert Morris” (2000).

  107 RMP, 4:451–452, Morris to the Navy Board of the Eastern Department, 3/25/82.

  108 LOC, JPJP, Jones to Barry, 9/7/81.

  109 Naval Historical Center, Early History Branch, Boston Newspapers 2:85; RMP, 2:193–194; JCC, 7/15/81 and 8/5/82; Clark, 233.

  110 ISM, BHP, Henry Mitchell to John Brown, 9/4/81; Clark, 233.

  111 Ibid.; Amalia Atkinson, “Captain Rathbun’s Last Voyage,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register, no. 115, July 1961, 165.

  112 Ibid.; Tuchman, 127.

  113 Ibid., 166; Newport Mercury, 4/2/82.

  114 Ibid.; Newport Mercury, 4/17/82; Providence Gazette, 10/19/82.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN SHUBAEL GARDNER

  1 RMP, 3:20–21, John Adams to Morris, 11/6/82.

  2 ISM, BHP, “Admiral Digby [‘s] Permission to a Whale Brig Capt[ured] by the Alliance, 7 of Sept. 1782”; Historic Nantucket, July, 1963, Emil Frederick Guba, “Revolutionary War Service Roll,” 5–17.

  3 Ibid.; Massachusetts Review 18, no. 3 (Autumn 1977), George Rogers Taylor, “Nantucket Oil Merchants the American Revolution,” 584–585, 590–591; Alexander Starbuck, History of Nantucket (Rutland, VT: Tuttle, 1969; 1st ed., Boston: Goodspeed, 1924), 210, 211n.

  4 LDC, Huntington to Jones, 6/27/81; Gawalt, 60; Thomas, 250; Callo, 135; Morison, 381.

  5 LOC, JPJP, Jones to Barry, 9/7/81; Jones to Brown, 12/9/81.

  6 Ibid., Lafayette to Jones, 12/22/81; Jones to “Delia,” 12/25/81; Jones to McNeill, 3/21/82; Thomas, 251–252.

  7 RMP, 4:101, Morris to Brown, 1/23/82; to Langdon, 3/18/82; to Jones, 3/18/82; to Brown, 3/25/82.

  8 Ibid., 458–459, Morris to Jones, 3/26/82; to Langdon, 3/26/82; Morison, 386–387. One of Morris’s visitors in Philadelphia that spring was Dr. James Craik, the army’s chief surgeon, Washington’s personal physician, and the son of William Craik, Jones’s laird (4:553, Diary, 4/10/82).

  9 LOC, JPJP, Jones to Brown, 4/21/82; Jones to Measach Ware, 6/1/82; Gawalt, 61; Morison, 387; Thomas, 253.

  10 RMP, 4:18, Morris to the Governor of Massachusetts, 8/4/81; Barry to Congress, 7/25/81, from Griffin, 148; PA Archives, Kessler, “Rough Sketch,” 11; Clark, 191, 238.

  11 HSP, Dreer, Morris to Brown, 9/19/81, Continental Journal, 11/1/81; Clark, 239.

  12 RMP, 3:260–263, Morris to Barry 11/27/81 and enclosure, “Sentence of the Court-Martial on Three Men from the Alliance,” 6/28/81.

  13 Continental Journal, 11/1/81; Clark, 239.

  14 RMP, 4:556–557, Morris to Joseph Kendall, 4/10/82; LOC, JBP, Alliance muster roll, 5/17/82; Barry to Eastern Navy Board, from Clark, 239.

  15 HSP, Dreer, Morris to Brown, 11/27/81; PA Archives, Brown and Kessler, 11; RMP, 3:260–263, Morris to Barry, 11/27/81; Flexner, 168.

  16 RMP, 3:260–263, Morris to Barry, 11/27/81.

  17 Ibid., 3:429, Barry to Morris, 12/22/81, and 4:202, Barry to Morris, 2/10/82; JCC, 11/13/80.

  18 LOC, JBP, Alliance Letter Book, Barry to Morris, 12/22/81.

  19 Ibid., GWP, Lafayette to Washington, 2/18/82; APS, BFP, Barry to Franklin, 1/31/82.

  20 Kessler, 12.

  21 APS, BFP, Barry to Franklin, 1/17 and 1/31/82; Franklin to Barry, 1/24/82.

  22 FDR, Captain de Galatheau to Barry, 2/2/82; LOC, JBP, Barry to de Galatheau, 2/9/82; JCC, 7/15/82; LDC, Charles Thompson to Barry, 7/16/82.

  23 LOC, JBP, Barry to Morris, 1/30 and 2/10/82; Barry to Brown, 2/10/82; APS, BFP, Barry to Franklin, 2/27/82.

  24 Ibid., Barry to Franklin, 2/29/82; APS, BFP, Barry to Franklin, 2/27/82.

  25 ISM, John Green Collection, Green to Barry, 2/10/82; Barry to Green, 3/13/82; NYHS, Barnes Collection, Alexander Thomas to Barry, 3/5/82; Barry to Thomas, 3/8/82.

  26 LOC, JBP, Barry to Morris, 1/20/82; RMP, 4:380–381, Franklin to Morris, 3/9/82. Barry had, in fact, arranged for the supplies to go in his friend Thomas Truxton’s privateer.

  27 RMP, 5:269, Morris to Richard Butler, 7/18/82; Rappleye, 300.

  28 Ibid., 5:283, Diary, 2/21/82; Barney, 109–111.

  29 Barney, 112–113; Miller, 276; Allen, 588; Fowler, Silas Talbot, 55–56.

  30 Ibid.; Miller, 278.

  31 Ibid., 114–116; King, 96.

  32 Ibid., 114–116.

  33 Ibid., 115–117; London Chronicle, 9/10/82.

  34 Ibid., 118, 308.

  35 Ibid., 118; RMP, 5:178–179, Diary, 5/15/82; 195–196; Morris to Robert Smith, 5/16/82; 197–198, to José Solano, 5/16/82.

  36 RMP, 6:396, Diary, 9/19/82; Barney, 128–131.

  37 Tuchman, 97.

  38 Ibid., 237.

  39 Ibid., 293–295; Syrett, 224; Miller, 508–514. For a captivating read on the Battle of the Saintes, see Nathan Miller’s Sea of Glory.

  40 RMP, 4:100–102, Morris to Brown, 1/23/82.

  41 RMP, 5:145–157, “State of American Commerce and Plan for Protecting It,” 5/10/82; Rappleye, 301.

  42 Ibid., 6:345, Morris to Washington, 9/9/82; ibid., 290–291.

  43 RMP, 4:214, Morris to Samuel Nicholson, 2/11/82; to John Brown, 3/25/82; Boston Independent Chronicle, 1/24/82.

  44 Ibid., 5:349, Michael Knies to Morris, 6/5/82; J. Philip London, “The Challenging Life of a Patriot Captain,” Naval History Magazine, October 2012, 49.

  45 Ibid., Knies to Morris, 6/9/82; Ibid.

  46 Ibid, 349, footnote 1; 487–488, Warrant Appointing a Court of Inquiry on Samuel Nicholson, 6/26/82; 6:204, Warrant Appointing a Court-Martial for the Trial of Michael Knies, 8/14/82; 616–617, Determination on the Court of Inquiry on Samuel Nicholson, 10/17/82; London, 49.

  47 Fowler, Rebels Under Sail, 217; Rappleye, 274–275.

  48 RMP, 5:75–79, John Jay to Morris, 4/28/82; (and footnote 10); London, 49–50.

  49 LOC, JBP, Barry to Morris, 5/12/82; Barry to Brown, 5/16/82; Kessler “Rough Sketch,” 13.

  50 Allen, 570–571.

  51 HSP, Proceedings of the Court-Martial Aboard the Alliance, 7/27/82; LOC, JBP, Alliance Letter Book, Barry to Mumford, no date; RMP, 5:254–255, Morris to Mumford, 5/24/82.

  52 Ibid.

  53 Ibid.

  54 LOC, JBP, Barry to de Quémy, 5/29/82; RMP, 5:248–250, Morris to Barry, 5/24/82.

  55 Ibid., Barry to Morris, 6/24/82; Barry to de Quémy, 5/29/82.

  56 LOC, JBP, Barry to Washington, 5/30/82; HSP, PMHB, vol. 4, Keen, 485–486.

  57 HCL, Roberts Collection, Hancock to Barr
y, 6/3/82; HSP, Connarroe Papers, Barry to Hancock, 6/6/82.

  58 LOC, JBP, de Quémy to Barry, 5/29/82; Barry to Morris, 6/5/82; Manuscript Division of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, no. 167, Barry to Brown, 6/4/82.

  59 LOC, JBP, Brown to Barry, 6/10 and 6/20/82; with thanks to Susan Klepp, Temple University Department of History.

  60 RMP, 5:448 Morris to Barry, 6/19/82; JBP, Barry to Brown, 7/22/82; Barry to Morris, 8/2/82. Morris had also defended Barry to Franklin. In his reply to Franklin’s letter questioning Barry’s priorities, Morris insisted that Barry’s orders “were such that was right not to stay longer in France, and therefore I must pray you to excuse his Inattention to your Requests”—RMP, 4:244.

  61 LOC, GWP, Washington to Barry, 6/12/82; Flexner, 169.

  62 Ibid., JBP, Tracy to Barry, 6/10/82; Barry to Tracy, 7/12/82; Barry to Sarah Barry, quoted from Griffin, 175.

  63 Ibid.; also Barry to Brown, 8/4/82; HSP, Proceedings from the Court-Martial on Board Alliance, 7/27/82.

  64 Ibid., Barry to Morris, 8/2/82; LOC, Alliance Letter Book, Barry to William Ellery, 4/4/82; Barry to Howland and Coit, 4/8/82.

  65 Pennsylvania Gazette, 9/4/82; Matthewman’s “Narrative”; e-mail from George Nagle/Afrolumens Project, 3/21/12.

  66 Ibid.

  67 Lt. Col. Michael Lee Lanning (Ret.), Defenders of Liberty: African Americans in the Revolutionary War (Kensington, NY: Citadel Press, 2000), 178; W. Jeffrey Bolster, Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997), 30–31.

  68 NDAR 9:889, Benjamin Rumsey to Governor Thomas Johnson, 9/6/77.

  69 Bolster, 30–31, 153–155, 273 (footnote no. 50); RMP, Morris to President of Congress, 6/10/82.

  70 LOC, JBP, Alliance Letter Book, Barry to William Ellery, 4/4/83.

  71 Thomas Truxton Moebs, Black Soldiers, Black Sailors, Black Ink: Research Guide on African-Americans in U.S. Military History, 1526–1900 (Chesapeake Bay: Moebs Publishing Co., 1994), 257, 259–260, 266.

  72 Julie Winch, A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 28–29, 36–34: Lincoln, 449, Bonds of the Letters of Marque, Royal Louis, 7/23/81.

  73 Ibid., 39–40; Pennsylvania Packet, 8/23/81.

  74 Quoted from Winch, 43.

  75 Quoted from Winch, 43–46; Lanning, 19–20. Winch’s biography on Forten is a marvelous account of his adventures and accomplishments.

  76 HSP, MSS Collection, Franklin Papers, Conyngham to W. T. Franklin, 6/8/82; Schiff, xiii.

  77 Ibid.; PMHB, 22:488; Hayes, 41.

  78 Neeser, 206–207, “Memorial of Gustavus Conyngham to Congress, October 1782”; 207–208, Certificate Issued by Benjamin Franklin, 8/7/82.

  79 Millar, 48–49; LOC, JPJP, Jones to Brown, 4/21/82; Jones to Gouverneur Morris, 7/17/82; RMP, 6:178–179, Morris to Jones and Morris to Langdon, 8/13/82.

  80 Ibid., 313, Morris to Chevalier de la Luzerne, 9/4/82.

  81 Ibid., 6:17, Morris to Jones, 11/5/82; Gawalt, 63–65; Morison, 389–391.

  82 Ibid., 5:515, Diary, 10/7/82; Van Powell, 120; Millar, 263–265.

  83 Pennsylvania Packet, 12/31/82; Boston Independent Chronicle, 11/29/82; Allen, 585–586.

  84 LOC, JPJP, Expense Report, 1781–82; Jones to Morris, 11/29/82; Morris to Jones, 12/5/82; Thomas, 255, Morison, 393–395.

  85 RMP, 6:184–185, Diary, 12/9/82.

  86 RMP, 5:75–77, John Jay to Morris, 4/28/82; ibid., 6:154–155, Morris to Manley, 8/8/82; 176–177, Circular to John Barry and John Manley, 8/13/82; Boston Independent Chronicle, 9/26/82; Pennsylvania Packet, 10/8/82.

  87 Boston Gazette, 1/27, 2/3, and 3/3/83; Allen, 608–609; RMP, 8:266–267, Morris to Manley, 7/10/83; 844–445, Confirmation of the Sentence of John Manley, 12/17/83; Morgan, 213–215.

  88 Morgan, 213–215.

  89 ISM, BHP, “Admiral Digby[’s] Permission to a Whale Brig Capt[ured] by the Alliance, 7 of Sept. 1782”; Kessler, “Rough Sketch,” 14; Pennsylvania Packet, 12/17/82.

  90 Ibid.

  91 JBP, Barry to Brown, 8/4 and 8/10/82; PA Archives, Brown and Kessler, 20.

  92 Ibid., 19.

  93 Ibid., 19; Kessler, 13–14; NYHS, Barnes Collection, “Samuel Tuft’s Statement,” 8/23/82; “Statement of Manassah Short,” 8/12/82; Pennsylvania Packet, 12/17/82.

  94 LOC, JBP, Barry to Morris, 10/18/82; Pennsylvania Packet, 12/17/82; Tuchman, 293; Clark, 274; Miller, 517.

  95 Ibid.; LDC, Virginia Delegates to Benjamin Harrison, 12/17/82.

  96 Ibid.; also John Black to Barry, 10/25/82; Kessler, 15; King, 197.

  97 Ibid., Alliance Letter Book, Barry to Lafayette, 10/28/82; RMP, 7:203–204, Franklin to Morris, 12/14/82; Clark, 278–279; Brands, 614–615.

  98 Ibid., Barry to Franklin, 10/31/82; Mary Guinta, ed., The Emerging Nation: A Documentary History of the Foreign Relations of the United States Under the Articles of Confederation, 3 vols. (Washington, D.C.: National Historical Publicatons and Records Commission, 1996), 1:547, Lord Shelburne to Richard Oswald, 9/3/82.

  99 Ibid.; various correspondence, November 1782.

  100 Ibid., Ship’s Officers of Alliance to Barry, 11/17 and 11/19/82; Barry to Ship’s Officers, 11/19/82; Barry to Mathew Parke, 11/24 and 11/25/82; Barry to Patrick Fletcher, 11/25/82; Clark, 281.

  101 Ibid., Barry to Thomas Barclay, 12/14/82; Barry to Morris, 12/7/82; ibid., 285–286.

  102 Ibid., Alliance Muster book, 12/8/82; Barry to Henry Johnson, 11/29/82; Barry to Barclay, 12/14/82; HSP, Dreer Collection, Barry to Brown, 12/7/82; quoted from Schiff, 326. One man in Brest wanted to get to Lorient in time but could not: Henry Johnson, late of Mill Prison and former captain of the Lexington (HCL, Charles Roberts Autograph Collection, Johnson to Barry, 10/16/82).

  103 Ibid., Barry to Morris, 1/22/83.

  104 Pennsylvania Journal, 2/26/83, “Extract from the Martinique Gazette,” 1/15/83; Pennsylvania Gazette, 2/12/83.

  105 ISM, BHP, ship’s log, Alliance, 1/1–1/22/83; Howard, 156.

  106 ISM, John Green Papers, Extracts, Robert Morris’s Diary, 8/13, 8/14, 11/27/82; Morris to Thomas Randall & Co., 10/17/82; Morris to Green, 11/27/82; HCL, Charles Roberts Collection, Barry to Morris, 2/13/83.

  107 RMP, 7:467–468, Barry to Morris, 3/20/83.

  108 ISM, BHP, Ship’s Log, Alliance, 2/1/83; HSP, Society Collection, James Seagrove to Brown, 3/6/83; LOC, JBP, Alliance Letter Book, Barry to Morris, 3/20/83; Clark, 293.

  109 Ibid., 2/6–3/5/83; ISM, John Green Papers, Barry to the Governor of Havana, 2/15/83; Howard, 159.

  110 RMP, 7:424, Diary and Notes, 2/11/83.

  111 ISM, Ship’s Log, Alliance, ibid., 3/5–6/82; also “Barry’s Account of Proceedings on the Alliance and Duc de Luzon [sic],” 3/20/83.

  112 Ibid.

  113 PRO, Admiralty, 51/875, Sybil Journal, 3/7/83; James Ralfe, The Naval Biography of Great Britain, vol. 3, “Historical Memoirs of James Vashon,” 187–190.

  114 ISM, BHP, Ship’s Log, Alliance, 3/7–9/83; “Barry’s Report,” 3/20/83.

  115 Ibid., 3/10/83; Ibid.

  116 Ibid.; LOC, JBP, “List of Officers and Men on board the Continental Frigate Alliance,” 12/8/82.

  117 Ibid.; Kessler, “Rough Sketch,” 16.

  118 Ralfe, 190–191; PRO, Sybil Journal, 3/10/83.

  119 Kessler, 17; Clark, 301.

  120 Ibid.; PRO, Sybil Journal, 3/10/83; ISM, BHP, “Barry’s Account”; Wilbur, 50.

  121 PRO, Sybil Journal, 3/10/83.

  122 Ibid.; Brown and Kessler, 10; ISM, BHP, Ship’s Log, Alliance, 3/11/83; “Barry’s Report.”

  123 ISM, BHP, “Barry’s Report”; Howard, 160.

  124 PRO, Sybil Journal, 3/10/83; LOC, BHP, Letter Book, Alliance, Barry to Morris, 3/20/83; ISM, BHP, “Barry’s Report”; Brown and Kessler, 10.

  125 LOC, JB
P, Letter Book, Alliance, Barry to Morris, 3/20/83; ISM, BHP, “Barry’s Report.”

  126 Ibid.

  127 Ibid.; RMP, 7:618, Diary, 3/21/83; Barry to Brown, 4/19/83, quoted from Griffin, 247–248.

  128 Pennsylvania Gazette, 3/26/83; JCC, LDC, Boudinot to Pritchard, 3/23/83.

  129 PRO, Sybil Journal, 3/10/83; HSP, Seagrove to Brown, 4/24/83; RMP, 7:424, Diary and Notes, 2/11/83.

  130 Boston Continental Journal, 3/27/83.

  EPILOGUE

  1 Quoted from Fowler, 262–263; Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence (“RDC”), Adams to Huntington, 7/6/80.

  2 RMP, 8:264, Morris to Boudinot, 7/10/83; 325, “Report to the Congress on the State of Vessels of the United States,” 7/22/83; Rappleye, 371–372.

  3 Ibid., 857–865, appendix 1, Early Records of Robert Morris’s Involvement in American Trade with China.

  4 Ibid., 16, Morris to Thomas Read, 5/8/83; 264, Morris to Boudinot, 7/10/83; 326, nn. 3 and 4; 9:194, Morris to Thomas Mifflin, 3/19/84; Fowler, Jack Tars and Commodores, 4–9; Griffin, 258; Pennsylvania Gazette, 9/21/85; JCC, 10/21/85.

  5 Charles Lyon Chandler, “Early Shipping in Pennsylvania, 1683–1812,” in Philadelphia: Port of History (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Maritime Museum, 1976), 26; Watson’s Annals, 2:339; Wagner, 108.

  6 RMP, 5:544, Diary, 7/8/82; Examples of Memorials are from ISM, BHP, “Barry’s Memorial to the Pennsylvania Assembly,” 1783; RMP, 8:247–249, “Report to Congress on the Memorial of John Jordan, James McKenzie, and Joseph Brussel,” 7/5/83.

  7 Ibid., “Report to Congress on the Memorial of John Jordan, James McKenzie, and Joseph Brussel,” 7/5/83; Rappleye, 366–367.

  8 NYHS, Barnes Collection, Barry to Barclay, 11/28/83; Barry to Anthony Wayne, 3/10/84; Wayne to Barry (no date); RMP, 8:835, Diary, 12/23/83; from Griffin, 256: “An Account of Monies paid to the Officers and Crew of the Frigate Alliance, and also of the net profits on sundry shares purchased for the account of Captain John Barry and John Brown,” 1/12/85.

  9 LOC, William Bell Clark Papers, Petition of Joanna Young, 2/23/85.

  10 Quoted from Rappleye, 377; Thomas, 213.

  11 J. R. Dull: “Was the Continental Navy a Mistake?” The American Neptune, XLIV (1984), 167–176; William S. Dudley and Michael Palmer: “No Mistake About It: A Response to Jonathan R. Dull,” The American Neptune, XLV (1985), 244–248.