PROVIDENCE vs. HMS MILFORD
20 SEPTEMBER 1776
250th ANNIVERSARY
PROVIDENCE vs. MILFORD
On 10 May 1776, temporary CAPT John Paul Jones assumed command of the Continental Navy sloop PROVIDENCE, armed with twelve 4-pounders. Jones received his permanent commission on 8 August and departed the Delaware Capes on the 21st to cruise independently. As small as was the sloop, and as lightly armed, her employment would be against British merchant shipping. But when lookouts spotted a sail on the horizon this day, it turned out to be that of an enemy frigate. British frigates routinely carried long 24-pounders, with twice the range and weight of broadside of Jones’ sloop. A fight was out of the question, but gaming was not!
At that moment Jones’ crew was employed in fishing–a welcomed supplement to a diet of salt pork and hard tack. But the appearance of the frigate sent all hands to quarters. Jones stood his position as the frigate abandoned her escorted merchantman and turned in his direction. Indeed, PROVIDENCE stood fast until the enemy had reached firing range. Then Jones set a full press of sail and skirted off across the wind.
The Briton followed, firing at extreme range. Jones cris-crossed in front of the frigate, first to windward, then to leeward. The sprightly sloop literally danced on the waves compared to the more plodding frigate, who proved to be HMS MILFORD, 28. All the while the frigate fired, hoping even at such extreme range that a lucky shot might reach the sloop. For the next several hours Jones maneuvered. Much to his delight the frigate expended round after round in an impotent bombardment that never touched the American. Remaining just out of reach, Jones ducked in, around, and about the frigate, who lumbered in comparison and whose continued bombardment only ruffled the pitching swells. For eight full hours, the rest of that day’s light, Jones baited the Briton into firing over 100 useless rounds. So contemptuous was the British firing that when the frigate rounded to loose yet another fruitless broadside, Jones ordered the Lieutenant of this Marines, Edmund Arrowsmith, to fire a single musket in reply to what he called the British “salute!”
Nightfall ended the chase with the frigate having closed no further than during that afternoon. The next morning found the enemy still in the area, but on a westward heading. Jones further mused at how her captain would brag in Halifax as to the “sound thrashing” he gave the lucky rebel privateer! PROVIDENCE raided Canso Harbor, Nova Scotia, the following day, where Jones commandeered an English fishing schooner and scuttled two smacks, but not before his crew had transferred all the fish to the sloop–their own fishing having been interrupted!
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 25 SEP 26
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 5 “N-Q”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1979, pp. 396-97.
Hannings, Bud. Chronology of the American Revolution. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2008, pp. 130, 131.
letter of Captain John Paul Jones to the Continental Marine Committee, dtd. 30 September 1776. IN: Morgan, William J. Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Vol 6. Washington, DC: GPO, 1972, pp. 1047-50.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: This cruise of PROVIDENCE was more eventful than simply the above. Between 21 August and 20 September PROVIDENCE took three merchantmen, Britannia, Sea Nymph (shipping sugar and rum), and Favourite (bound for England with cargo of sugar). Jones made another fleeting escape from HMS SOLEBAY, 28, on September 1st. CAPT Jones returned from Nova Scotia on 8 October and was promoted to command the 24-gun former merchant brig, now Continental Navy frigate, ALFRED. (ALFRED is named for Alfred the Great (849-899) the Anglo-Saxon king who united various kingdoms of Brittania into a nation and developed an early foundation of what would become the Royal Navy.)
PROVIDENCE continued to serve our Continental Navy until 14 August 1779 when she was trapped in the Penobscot River by a British squadron and scuttled by her crew to prevent her capture.
