American Navy Captures First Ship in US Revolution April 7 1776

Apr 7, 2010
Roger Saunders

USS Lexington - 1776 - Public Domain

Captain John Barry of the USS Lexington took the HMS Edward in a sea battle near the Virginia Capes. It was the first prize taken by the Continental Navy.

This USS Lexington was originally a merchant brigantine named The Wild Duck. It was purchased for the Maryland Committee of Safety by a gentleman named Abraham Van Bibber. At the time it was stationed in Dutch West Indies island of St. Eustatius. Van Bibber bought it in February 1776 and sent it with a much needed cargo of gunpowder, secretly supplied by the French, to Philadelphia. The Marine committee of the Continental Congress immediately saw the value in her and purchased her for the new Continental Navy within 4 days. They immediately sent her off to the ship builders Wharton and Humphry to be refitted for the Navy.

Battle Ready Brigantine

As a Brigantine, the Lexington had two masts. The forward mast was square rigged while the main mast was fore and aft rigged. She was 86 feet long and 24.5 feet at the beam. She was outfitted fourteen 4 pound Cannon and two 6 pounders. She also had 12 swivel guns mounted on her deck. When fully manned she carried a compliment of 110 officers and men. The Continental Navy rechristened the Wild Duck as the USS Lexington, named for the Battle of Lexington, MA that had occurred just short of a year earlier. The assigned Captain John Barry to command the ship.

First Naval Battle

By March 26, 1776, Captain Barry had the Lexington ready and sailed down the Delaware River to Chesapeake Bay to enter the war. Their first goal was to slip through the British blockade on the bay in order to get to the high seas. Though no easy task, the relatively small size and maneuverability of the brigantine helped them to evade the blockade by April 6, 1776. This success was only shortly celebrated as the next day they fell in with the HMS Edward, which was a tender ship for the British Man-O-War, the HMS Liverpool. The Edward was a smaller sloop with fewer guns than the Lexington but its crew was much more experienced. After a very fierce fight of over an hour the Edward struck her colors and Captain Barry took command. They sailed Edward back to Philadelphia where Captain Barry became a national Hero and has been called a Father of the US Navy.

The Legacy of the USS Lexington

The Lexington served her country well taking many other mall ships and saving about 300 tons of gunpowder from the afore mentioned HMS Liverpool in the Chesapeake Bay. Her service ended when captured by the Royal Navy in becalmed waters of the coast of Ushant, France. Four other US Navy ships have been Christened Lexington: 1) a pre civil war sloop which sailed to Japan with Commodore Perry; 2) A Civil War Gunboat; 3) a Lexington-class Aircraft carrier in 1927. 4) an Essex-class aircraft carrier in 1943.