ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN NAVY.

BY CAPTAIN HOWARD PATTERSON.

Every patriotic American is proud of our famous White Squadron, illustrating as it does to all the navies of the world the perfection of ship-building, motive power, ordnance and personnel. Although two or three other navies have a much longer list of men-of-war in their registers, there is not a foreign power that can show, class for class, anything superior in battle-ships, cruisers, and coast-defense vessels to those which float under "Old Glory," and it is not making a rash claim when it is asserted that in a competitive exhibition the laurel wreaths would in all probability be hung upon the mast-heads of the ships that belong to Uncle Sam.

And yet how weak and lowly in comparison was the birth of our navy!—but still a navy that even in its infancy humbled almost to degradation the strength and vanity and hauteur of that of the British, that mistress of the seas, against which for more than a century the most magnificently equipped and powerful fleets in Europe had hurled themselves, only to be beaten back from its "walls of oak," crushed and shattered.

On October 13, 1775, one hundred and twenty-one years ago, or nine months before the Declaration of Independence was signed, the representatives from the thirteen colonies authorized the building of two vessels, one to be armed with 14 guns and the other with 10 guns. When completed it was designed that these ships should escape through the English fleets blockading the coast, and then prey upon the commerce of the enemy. On October 30 Congress ordered the building of two additional cruisers, one to carry 36 guns and the other 20 guns. These measures so aroused the patriotic fire and zeal of hundreds of American seamen whose vessels were locked up in idleness in our seaports, owing to the embargo, that they petitioned Congress to provide ships and put them on board, so that they might go out against the enemy's vessels that tantalizingly kept watch before the approaches to our harbors. Appreciating the spirit of the petitioners, and realizing that a possible opportunity was offered them to deal a serious blow to the supremacy of the English along our line of coast, Congress ordered, on December 13 (or just two months, to the day, following the first authorization, for ship construction), the building of thirteen vessels of war, of which five were to carry 32 guns, five 28 guns, and three 24 guns.

Work was immediately commenced on this fleet; but as the builders demanded six months' time to complete them, Congress passed a law to purchase and arm suitable merchant-ships for immediate service. It cannot fail to interest the reader to give the names of the first vessels of the American navy. Among the many merchant-ships lying idle in the Eastern and Southern ports the following fourteen were selected by a committee, and, after being purchased, were armed with the number of guns set opposite their respective names: Ships—Alfred, 24; Columbus, 24. Brigs—Lexington, 16; Cabot, 16, Reprisal, 16; Andrea Doria, 14; Hampden, 14; Providence, 12. Schooners—Wasp, 8; Fly, 8. Sloops—Hornet, 10; Independence, 10; Sachem, 10, and Mosquito, 4.

Had the guns with which these vessels were armed been of uniform and suitable calibre, the odds in favor of the English men-of-war would still have been enormous; but when it is considered that the batteries of the ships were made up of every description of ordnance, from the antiquated Dutch cannon brought over by Peter Stuyvesant, to the ridiculously small and obsolete saluting-guns that had been preserved as relics on the public greens in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and other cities, the wonder grows that with such implements, served by men green to naval warfare, and mounted within lumbering merchant-ships, the stateliest frigates of the enemy were again and again beaten and captured, and the proud white ensign of old England lowered repeatedly to the flag whose motto was "Don't tread on me!"

The difficulty encountered by Congress in equipping, officering, and manning the little American fleet in the absence of arsenals and dock-yards, and when men trained to the service were not obtainable, finds only one parallel in history, when Alfred the Sailor King fitted out and conducted a fleet against the Danes one thousand years and more ago. But if system and order were at first lacking, patriotism compensated, and the old guns were served by men whose love of liberty breathed in the shot they hurled against their foes.

On December 22, 1775, Congress appointed Ezekiel Hopkins as commodore and commander-in-chief of the navy, and the following officers, all drawn from the merchant marine of the colonies, to serve as captains: Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham Whipple, Nicholas Biddle, and J. B. Hopkins. Leading the list of first lieutenants appointed on the same day, we find the immortal name of John Paul Jones, and in succession those of Rhodes Arnold, James Stanbury, Haysted Hacker, and Jonathan Pitcher. Next, under the head of second lieutenants, the records preserved in the Navy Department in Washington show the names of Benjamin Seabury, Joseph Olney, Elisha Warner, Thomas Weaver, and James McDougal, while the three third lieutenants appointed were John Fanning, Ezekiel Burroughs, and Daniel Vaughn.

Immediately after assuming command, Commodore Hopkins sailed, with the Alfred as his flag-ship, for a descent upon the English possession known as New Providence, and was accompanied to the West Indies by the Columbus, Cabot, Andrea Doria, Providence, Wasp, Fly, and Hornet. The expedition was successful, and the ships of the little flying squadron were loaded with captured stores and one hundred cannon, which latter were afterwards mounted on the American men-of-war under construction at the time. The commodore returned north, carrying back with him the English Governor of New Providence, and several other high officials of that colony. When within view of the Long Island shore three of the leading American vessels sighted and later on engaged the English frigate Glasgow and two brigs-of-war. After a spirited contest the latter surrendered, but the former escaped by a great display of seamanship.

The entire fleet with its prizes arrived safely at New London on April-fool day, 1776. This was the first and last naval command that Commodore Hopkins enjoyed; for, not acting with sufficient energy in refitting his fleet, Congress dropped him from the naval service.

In June, 1776, a marine corps was established, and Samuel Nichols was appointed to command it, with the rank of major. The junior officers consisted of nine captains, ten first and seven second lieutenants.

At the time that the Declaration of Independence was signed the thirteen vessels ordered to be constructed during the previous year were reported finished, and Congress assigned officers to them, as well as to other ships that had been captured from the enemy. The standing of the American navy when the Liberty Bell in the City of Brotherly Love pealed out the anthem of the free on July 4, 1776, is shown in the following, and the numerals attached to the names signify the number of guns with which they were armed: Washington, 32; Virginia, 28; Boston, 24; Warren, 32; Trumbull, 28; Randolph, 32; Raleigh, 32; Congress, 28; Effingham, 28; Delaware, 24; Reprisal, 16; Montgomery, 24; Lexington, 16; Hampden, 14; Andrea Doria, 14; Providence, 28; Providence (2d), 12; Alfred, 24; Cabot, 14; Sachem, 10; Independence, 10, and Fly, 8.

To the command of some of these vessels were ordered men who proved themselves heroes in many a notable encounter, and whose names will endure as long as this great republic lasts; but the two most prominent figures in the historical group are those of John Paul Jones, promoted to the rank of captain for bravery in battle and for services rendered to his country, and Nicholas Biddle, the brave old sea-lion, who recognized no odds, but who would engage a vastly superior enemy with the same readiness and confidence that he laid his vessel alongside of a sure prize.

A few words concerning four of these vessels will be found not to be devoid of unusual interest.

The Reprisal audaciously sailed across the Atlantic, being the first American vessel to visit Europe, and commenced a wild work of capture and destruction among the British merchant-ships in the Channel, right under the noses of their great fleets of war. Being joined a little later on by the Lexington, these two vessels, assisted by several prizes that they had armed, caused such havoc that rates of insurance on all English vessels were advanced twenty-five per cent. In the year 1778 the Reprisal foundered in a gale, and only the ship's cook was saved.

The Andrea Doria received the first foreign salute ever paid to an American man-of-war. Upon visiting St. Eustatins, the Dutch Governor greeted the vessel with a grand salvo from the fort; and this courtesy proved a very costly one for him, as his nation had not recognized the United States, and he therefore paid the penalty of his politeness by being dismissed from his high office.

The Randolph, on the night of March 7, 1778, engaged the British line-of-battle-ship Yarmouth, and while the fight was being gallantly conducted by Captain Biddle against a vastly superior foe, the Randolph, blew up. Out of 310 souls on board only four seamen were left alive, and these were picked up, four days later clinging to a piece of the wreck of their old ship.

One other vessel was ordered to be built by Congress during the year 1776, and that was a line-of-battle-ship of 74 guns, the name of which was to be America. This fine vessel was constructed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but was not completed until the end of the Revolutionary struggle. She was then fitted out and presented, in the name of the United States, to Louis XVI. of France, as a mark of appreciation and gratitude by this republic, in whose cause he had so nobly and generously assisted.

It does not come within the scope of this story to tell of the gallant actions that took place between our modest vessels and the towering ships of England, but some measure of the great honors that we fought for and gained may be appreciated when it is known that American men-of-war made over 800 prizes at sea during the struggle for independence.