The Loss of RALEIGH
24-27 SEPTEMBER 1778
THE LOSS OF RALEIGH
On December 13th, 1775, the Continental Congress issued our young nation’s first naval construction authorization, ordering that 13 frigates be built for the Continental Navy. Five of these were to be rated at 32 guns, five at 28 guns and three at 24 guns. All 13 were built, indeed the second of the largest frigates was launched on 21 May 1776. She was named RALEIGH after Sir Walter Raleigh, whose Roanoke Island, NC, settlement was one of the first attempts at European colonization of the New World.
On 24 September 1778 RALEIGH departed Boston under command of the daring CAPT John Barry, escorting a merchant brig and sloop to Portsmouth, VA. Only six hours out two sails were sighted on the horizon. When they were identified as British, RALEIGH sent her charges back to port and hauled off to the north to draw the enemy away. CDR Matthew Squire in HMS UNICORN, 28, and CAPT Sir James Wallace in HMS EXPERIMENT, 50, gave chase, with the faster UNICORN slowly gaining. For the next sixty hours RALEIGH raced northward ahead of her pursuers. By the morning of the 27th UNICORN had drawn close enough to score a few hits with her bow chasers.
Barry now considered his situation. He held a slight weight of broadside advantage over UNICORN, and, though he was out gunned by EXPERIMENT, the latter was lagging hours behind. A bold Barry rounded on the British frigate, hoping to dispatch her before EXPERIMENT caught up. Instead, a heated seven-hour close-quarters running battle developed. Both warships were damaged, but as the battle dragged on RALEIGH was steadily wearing the Briton down. Barry’s plan appeared to be working though it had taken great effort, until a lucky shot at dusk carried away RALEIGH’s foretop mast and main topgallant spars. A tangle of yards, spars, and canvas fell across RALEIGH’s forward quarter, shielding a third of her guns. Before this could be cleared RALEIGH was pounded. Barry made a last effort to grapple and board UNICORN, but Squire eluded.
By now EXPERIMENT had been sighted. Recognizing he was out matched, Barry made a final vow that his ship would not be taken. He ordered her beached on Wooden Ball Island in Penobscot Bay and carried the fight ashore. Incendiary charges were rigged, but inexplicably (perhaps through treachery) the fuses were never lit. Instead, as the British rejoined the battle around midnight, traitorous Midshipman Jesse Jacocks, the last man aboard RALEIGH, hauled down her colors and surrendered the frigate.
RALEIGH was refloated on the next day’s tide and was taken into the Royal Navy under the same name. Barry and 85 of his men escaped. They arrived in Boston on October 7th to a hero’s welcome, having hiked overland from Penobscot.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 3-4 OCT 23
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 6 “R-S”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1976, p. 18.
Miller, Nathan. Sea of Glory: A Naval History of the American Revolution. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1974, pp. 352-53.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: Sadly, like RALEIGH, all of the 13 frigates authorized by the Continental Congress in its first naval appropriation were lost during the course of the Revolutionary War. These first 13 frigates should not be confused with the six better-known frigates built a decade later, the latter including CONSTITUTION, CONSTELLATION, and UNITED STATES.
By convention, the number of guns a warship of sail was rated to carry is indicated by a number following her name. Frigates usually carried between 25-50 guns, “ships-of-the-line” often carried over 100. RALEIGH was constructed with the intent to mount 32 guns. However, in those days the captain of the ship was responsible for procuring his own ship’s armament, and the true number of guns a ship mounted often varied from her official rating.
