REPRISAL vs. HMS SHARK
27 JULY 1776
250th ANNIVERSARY
REPRISAL vs. HMS SHARK
GEN George Washington had chased the British from Boston only to have them reestablish headquarters in New York. News of the conflict in America had only just reached England. At sea, Continental Navy ships cruised the West Indies to obtain sorely needed military supplies. One of these was REPRISAL, 18, enroute to the French island of Martinico (Martinique). The Royal Navy sloop SHARK, 16, had anchored in St. Pierre roads a day ahead of REPRISAL’s arrival. Her captain, CDR John Chapman, had called this evening on Martinico’s Governor, Antoine Maurice Apollinaire Comte d’Argout, a visit that was still in progress when American CAPT Lambert Wickes dropped anchor at 1700. REPRISAL was to secure supplies and to deliver William Bingham, a hand-picked businessman of Philadelphia inbound to act as an agent for American activities in Martinico. Upon REPRISAL’s arrival the Governor gave strict orders to Chapman, “not to engage in combat in our roadstead or beneath our forts…” He was not trying to aid the American, he explained to Chapman, rather he eschewed any combat in neutral French territory.
Regardless, about 2100, HMS SHARK slipped her cables and made toward the new arrival. Many of St. Pierre’s residents began to collect on shore to watch. Lambert sent Bingham ashore in a longboat while the Briton approached. Chapman hailed REPRISAL first in French, to which Lambert replied in French, “We are from Fort Royal [Fort-of-France].” SHARK then hailed in English, commanding that the new arrival lower a boat. Lambert’s crew responded in English something to the effect of, “You come and lower it!” Chapman’s suspicions that the arrival was a rebel American were confirmed. Despite being undermanned with a crew largely comprised of impressed merchant seamen of dubious loyalty, Chapman rounded and fired two shots across the American’s bows. Lambert replied with a broadside! Gunsmoke filled the roadstead for 40 minutes. Then as SHARK maneuvered for a better firing position, the Governor kept his word. Guns of the French forts fired upon SHARK. Recognizing that his sloop was now outgunned, CDR Chapman veered off and made for the open sea.
Captain Wickes now called upon the Governor, arriving on shore to the cheers of Martinico’s citizens. Indeed, the Governor was as receptive to Americans intercourse as was his citizenry. He promised to escort American freighters leaving St. Pierre, he opened the port to the sale of prizes captured by American warships, and he even suggested that privateers be recruited from among local ship captains to harass British trade throughout the Caribbean. To be sure, even as early as 1776, French sympathies lay with our cause.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 31 JUL 26
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
“Captain John Chapman, R.N., to Vice Admiral James Young.” dtd 29 July 1776. IN: Morgan, William James, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 5 1776. Washington, DC: GPO, 1970, pp. 1278-79.
“Copy of the Statement Made by Captain Lambert Wickes, Commanding Officer of the Ship Reprisal.” IN: Morgan, William James, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 5 1776. Washington, DC: GPO, 1970, pp. 1264-66.
Miller, Nathan. Sea of Glory: A Naval History of the American Revolution. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1974, pp. 194-96, 197-99.
Sweetman, Jack. American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3rd ed. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 3.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: CAPT Lambert Wickes would not survive our Revolutionary War. He was lost at sea with REPRISAL on or about 1 November the following year when the brig was caught in a storm off Newfoundland. He is the namesake of DD-75, the lead ship in a class of destroyers from WWI, as well as the Fletcher-class WWII destroyer WICKES (DD-578).
