PROVIDENCE vs. MILFORD

On 10 May 1776, temporary CAPT John Paul Jones assumed command of the Continental Navy sloop Providence, armed with twelve 4-pounder guns.  Jones received his permanent appointment on August 8^th and departed the Delaware Capes on the 21^st 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 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 positiion 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 criss-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, 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 made Canso Harbor, Nova Scotia, the following day, where Jones commandeered a English fishing schooner and scuttled two fishing smacks, but not before his crew had transferred all the fish to the schooner–their own fishing having been interrupted!

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CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

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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.

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