p304  XXI.

The Continental Navy Passes

News of peace — definite word the curtain had been rung down upon eight long years of hostilities — reached John Barry on the last day of March of 1783. It found him on the Alliance, anchored off Petuxet, some five miles below Providence, Rhode Island. The frigate had moved up Narragansett bay a week before, Newport harbor being regarded "not Safe from the Enemy." Peace tidings came as no surprise. The Captain had slipped out of L'Orient in December knowing them imminent. That the news had not beaten him home seemed more remarkable. Nor was he at a loss as to the future. Thomas Russell, deputy Agent of Marine for New England, already had sent him orders issued by the far‑seeing Robert Morris more than a month earlier.

For some time, Barry had been developing a plan of naval operations to lay before Morris; one he was sure the latter would adopt. With the war over, it was pigeon-holed, and, as March ended, he addressed the two letters to the Agent of Marine upon how best to utilize the Alliance to carry cargo and still "keep up the appearance of a public Ship." He recommended redu­cing the commissioned personnel to two lieutenants, a lieutenant of marines, a surgeon and four midshipmen, and the warrant officers to a master and thirteen others.

"The Ship at present is very Leaky," he continued. "If we  p305 cannot find it out, we shall be obliged to heave her Down, if so & oblige[d] to take the Copper off to find out the Leak, I think if we are to go a Mercht Voyage we had best not put it on again."

More disturbing was the treasure he was guarding.

"I have the Money Still on Board," he pointed out, "which makes me very uneasy as I dont think it is at all safe."

Faced with extensive repairs and the care of the specie, Barry abandoned any thought of going to Philadelphia, and sent for Sarah. Meanwhile, he found himself involved in two unwarranted and highly unfair lawsuits. One had been instigated by that perpetual thorn‑in-the‑flesh, Dr. Joseph Kendall. The former surgeon of the Alliance had sued in a Massachusetts court for prize money and wages, and had recovered £180. The Captain protested vehemently:

"I can hardly think that there is a sett of laws that will Condemn a Man who is fighting for them without being heard."

He persisted in his refusal to pay until, finally, Morris authorized him to discharge the obligation and enter it in his own accounts against the government.

The other suit was more involved. The plaintiffs were a group of Connecticut merchants, owners of the sloop Fortune, which, it will be recalled, Barry had retaken from the British off Bermuda, on August 25, 1782, and had sent into Cape François under her former master. At the Cape, she had been sold by the American agent without legal condemnation. This omission was grasped by the owners, who sued Howland & Coit, of Norwich, as Barry's agents, knowing that firm had money on hand — the proceeds of the sale of another of the Captain's prizes. Joseph Howland sent a copy of the court summons to the Alliance and asked advice.

"A most rascally writ," Barry exploded in reply on April 8, "couch'd with the most dirty Language I ever beheld." He worked himself into high indignation. "I comply'd with my orders and I out them, or any Dirty Scoundrels like them to Defyance." Hire a lawyer, he told Howland, and pay out any prize money in his hands before it could be attached. As the writ spelled his name incorrectly — "Barre" — he remarked, chuckling, "therefore it cannot be me they have summon'd."

The suit over the sloop Fortune ran along for well-nigh two  p306 years. The plaintiffs were awarded judgment, but as late as October, 1784, the clerk of the court reported he could not find "Captain Barre or his estate" in Connecticut. Congress ended the matter in February, 1785. The agent at Cape François had paid into the United States Treasury one‑half of the proceeds of the sale of the Fortune. A congressional resolution authorized the transfer of this sum to the owners upon their giving "Captain Barry a full discharge from the judgment obtained against him."

When Sarah Barry arrived at Providence, about April 12, she found the Alliance hove down in the river at Petuxet, and her husband still on board guarding the hard dollars. With Sarah was her young cousin, eighteen-year‑old Mary Crawthorne, who, in after years would marry John Montgomery, a Philadelphia merchant. Miss Crawthorne was another of the numerous descendants of that prolific pioneer, Joran Kyn. Like Sarah, she was a granddaughter of Jonas Keen, her mother having been a younger sister of Sarah's mother.

John Barry had aged. Sarah saw it the moment she laid eyes on him. True, he had just recovered from a severe cold, but the strain of the last cruise and the effects of the illness at L'Orient were evident. There were streaks of gray in his dark hair, and his face was lined by the pain that had laid him low. He looked older than his thirty-eight years, but he was the same aggressive, self-possessed individual, and his eye could still shoot fire when angered, as well as soften at sight of the woman he loved. He ensconced Sarah and Mary Crawthorne in comfortable quarters on the Alliance, and learned they had come in expectation of sailing with him to Virginia, and, perhaps, to Europe.

The happy young wife brought disquieting reports of her vain efforts to sell the goods her husband had sent her from New London the previous summer. Not having a good head for such matters, Sarah left the explanations to a letter John Brown had written for her to carry to Providence.

He went on to tell of letters received from Barclay, at L'Orient,  p307 announcing shipment of the goods Barry had bought there.

"You have done well to place the matter in Brown's hands," Barry reassured Sarah. "James Seagrove is a reputable man and well-established at Havana. But I could wish I had not authorized Barclay to invest in so many European purchases."

Making the best of a bad situation, he sent instructions to Brown on April 19. Some of the goods coming from Barclay belonged to certain officers and men of the Alliance, who had made Barry their agent. Also, Barclay had yet to account for the prize money from the sale of the Jamaicamen. When the prize account and the goods arrived, Brown should sell the latter, and advertise his readiness to pay the prize money. The Captain left it to his friend to dispose of the goods to the best advantage, either in Philadelphia or Havana.

Orders came from Robert Morris to reduce the crew to fifty men, and to take on stores to carry the Alliance into the Chesapeake. The Agent of Marine wanted the hands paid off, but said nothing as to disposal of the specie. By this time Barry had discovered many of the hard dollars were not Continental property, but private shipments for various merchants scattered from Baltimore to Boston. Some had drawn upon him for the amounts due, and Brown had promised to advise the others to collect their money. Until they did, until Morris gave directions regarding the balance, the Captain continued unwilling guardian of the treasure.

How to pay the men was another problem. The purser's books had remained with young Samuel Cooper in L'Orient.  p308 All Barry could do was estimate what each of the crew had due him, give orders on George Olney, the Continental agent at Providence, and trust his reckoning would agree with Cooper's records, if and when received. Paying off was further complicated by the departure of many hands without a "by your leave." With the fighting over, numbers considered their terms of service had expired. While, technically, they were deserters, the Captain did not want to deprive them of well-earned wages. Thirty-three had run off in April, and sixty-three had been discharged by May 1. The total personnel was down to 142, comprising three commissioned and thirteen warrant officers, and 126 enlisted men — seamen, landsmen, marines and boys.

By mid‑May Barry had made additional reductions. Old Hezekiah Welch had gone off to his family in Boston, and the only commissioned officer was Lieutenant Elwood of the marines. Recent letters from Brown had indicated bewilderment in the handling of the Alliance's prize money. Morris had continued silent on the disposal of the rest of the specie. Leaving Elwood and his marines on the frigate — protectors of the specie and of Sarah and Mary Crawthorne — the Captain packed his saddle bags and, about May 20, rode off eastward. If letters failed to answer the purpose, a visit to Philadelphia in person was necessary.

* * *

There is a story that Barry's route lay though New York where he visited his late antagonist, the Sybil, "was politely treated," and was told said Sybil had never before been so roughly handled as by the Alliance in the engagement off Florida. This tale comes from young Kessler. But Kessler had been discharged at Providence, on April 1, so his testimony is no longer that of an eye‑witness. Moreover, the Sybil, which had arrived at New York from Jamaica, had sailed again for Europe, on May 11, with Hessian troops. At that time, Barry was still on the Alliance at Petuxet. Hence, the visit becomes not only improbable, but impossible.

Before May ended, John Barry rode into Philadelphia. Within a day he was glad he had come. His commercial ventures were in bad shape. Barclay, Moylan & Co. had exceeded orders in buying and shipping goods. Brown had sent several  p309 shipments to Havana, but had been swamped by additional importations.

"I have taken every means I know to sell the goods," he apologized almost tearfully to the Captain, "yet there are still 6,000 livres worth on hand. They were damnably high laid in at L'Orient, too. I've offered them fifty times at one‑sixth the purchase price and can find no purchasers."

"Ship them to Seagrove," said Barry, "unless you think the market will improve."

"Improve!" Brown groaned. "Each day brings eight or ten sail to port. Sixteen came in yesterday. All the world seems to have bent its view this way. Every store in the city is full of goods."

"And Barclay, Moylan are still shipping!" Barry's ire rose with his voice. "By God, it's got to stop, and I'll tell 'em so. Here's a letter just arrived from Moylan. He says some L'Orient merchants who outfitted the Alliance have attached all the prize money, and he wants to charge me interest on the money he advanced us last winter — interest on my money and my men's money! It's a damned outrage, and he'll hear from me."

Barry's reply was written May 31. Any attachments laid on his and his crew's prize money to pay public debts were a mere form, he told Barclay, Moylan & Co. He demanded every penny in prize money be held "sacret to my Orders." He wanted no more investments in goods. He had lost "a great deal of money" through the shipments already made, which were more than he had ordered, as they could find by consulting his original instructions. Likewise, his shipments were "the highest laide in of Any Goods shipt from France." Let them submit him a proper account immediately, and he would draw upon them for the balance due. As to interest charged him on his own money, he was willing to pay, if they, in turn, would pay interest on the balance of his money in their hands. "As I have many People to Sittle with I expect you will be very particular with the Accts", he reminded them.

During his brief stay, the Captain was occupied chiefly with Robert Morris. His accounts — long tabulations of wages and subsistence since he had taken command of the Lexington in March, 1775 — were presented. The Agent of Marine promised payment as soon as they were audited. The proposed voyage  p310 was discussed. The cargo of tobacco he would receive in Virginia was to be delivered in Amsterdam. Barry asked for Richard Dale, his one‑time master's mate on the Lexington, as first officer. Dale was otherwise employed. Second choice fell upon Alexander Murray, another Continental navy lieutenant. Finally, Morris directed the Captain to deposit the remainder of the specie in safe hands in Providence.

'Ere departing, Barry happened upon John Paul Jones. The Chevalier had sailed as a volunteer with de Vaudreuil's squadron from Boston the previous fall and was just back from the West Indies. Learning the Captain's destination, Jones insisted upon giving him a letter of introduction to the house of Dennisville & fils at Amsterdam.

"They were exceedingly gracious to me when we lay in the Texel in '79," the Chevalier said, "and they'll be equally so to you."

That was on June 4. Several days later, Barry set off for Providence.

* * *

The Alliance, most of her guns stored in the hold, the hard dollars deposited in Providence, and with Sarah Barry and Mary Crawthorne as favored passengers, stood down the river from Petuxet on June 20. Barry had come on board a few days before to find over-hauling completed and the frigate in sound condition. He anticipated a quick and un­event­ful run to the Chesapeake, and the two ladies looked forward to the delights of a pleasant sea trip.

A careless pilot put an end to the Captain's hopes. Shortly after the Alliance cast off, and while she was dropping down stream at a moderate rate of four or five miles per hour, this worthy ran her upon a sunken rock. The staunch frigate shivered and stopped abruptly with ominous crunchings audible. For two hours they lay upon the rock, the carpenter reporting her hull apparently undamaged. When she floated at high tide, and the well showed no increase in water depth in the hold, Barry "was in good hopes she received no Damage," and resumed sail.

Blowing weather, experienced the moment they nosed out of Narragansett bay, spelled the end of Sarah's and Mary's anticipated  p311 enjoyment of the voyage. The sea was rolling, the wind brisk with occasional bursts of rain or hail — really ideal sailing conditions. Decidedly unpleasant, however, this pitching, for the city-bred ladies, who took to their bunks and stayed there. The sea lost its enchantment for Sarah and Mary. They were desperately sea‑sick every day of the brief passage, and did not emerge on deck until the frigate entered the Chesapeake. While they enjoyed the run up the bay to the mouth of the Rappahannock river, Sarah could not be persuaded to venture the long voyage to Amsterdam.

"Mrs. Barry has been so sick on the passage here," Barry wrote Brown on June 8, "that she has entirely given over going any farther."

He did not expect to remain in Virginia more than four weeks, and inquired anxiously whether there had been any more word from Barclay about the prize accounts.

"I wish I knew what money was still in their hands," he lamented. "In Short I do not know what to do."

The expected four weeks lengthened considerably. Daniel Clark, of Richmond, in charge of supplying the tobacco, was none too prompt. Not until August 20 was the last of the cargo stowed. Barry had found the frigate ill suited for carrying freight.

"I have put more tobacco in the two decks than I intended, the Ship stowing so little in her hold," he reported to Brown that day. "We have on board 500 hhds for the public and I assure you the privilege [to ship on private account as well] you was pleased to allow is chiefly put in the places that the officers sleep in (unfortunately the Cabbin and Ward rooms full)."

Sarah, Mary Crawthorne and Clark, the agent, waved him Godspeed as the Alliance dropped away from the wharf and stood down the Rappahannock on the morning of August 21.

* * *

"Captain Barry went with the Alliance to Virginia, took on board a load of tobacco on public account, and went to Amsterdam and returned to Philadelphia."

So concludes John Kessler's account. But bear in mind, Kessler had left the frigate the previous April. Once more he had relied on hearsay, and again he proves inaccurate.

 p312  With every prospect of a success­ful voyage, Barry took the Alliance out between the Virginia capes on August 24. The wind was moderate, the sea smooth. Her head pointed into the northeast, the heavy-laden frigate sailed easily. Then, before the day ended, came a disquieting discovery. The ship was making •nineteen inches of water per hour! The carpenter traced the leak to the spot where she had jammed on the rock in the Providence river. Efforts to stop it were ineffectual. That night, with the wind increasing and the sea rougher, the well gauge showed them making water at the rate of •an inch and a half per minute. All hands were constantly at the pumps, but, by morning, there were •three feet of water in the hold. That meant the lower tier of tobacco must already be damaged. To save the balance, Barry decided to put back for port. As they were mid‑way between the Virginia and Delaware capes, he determined to make for Philadelphia. On the morning of August 26, the Alliance came up Delaware bay, and the Captain sent a boat ashore at Bombay Hook with a letter to Robert Morris, describing his misfortune. He philosophized:

By the time the frigate was off Philadelphia, Congress had appointed a committee to examine into her condition. Its report, on September 5, ended all prospects of continuing the voyage. Morris was directed to unload the tobacco, ship it to Europe in other bottoms, discharge the officers and crew, have the frigate surveyed, and supply an estimate of "the expenses necessary to give her a good repair."

That was as far as Barry ever got on the way to Amsterdam.

* * *

Robert Morris regarded the return of the Alliance as a calamity. Hard-pressed to meet the nation's tremendous commitments, he was conducting a precarious financial program. Promissory notes were his stock in trade — promises to pay next year when the states imposed Federal taxes (if they could be induced to do so), and when money came in from tobacco cargoes to Europe. Revenue from the frigate's cargo was seriously  p313 delayed, and the cost of her repairs would have to be met with another hazardous promissory note.

Pursuant to Congressional instructions, he had a survey made. Barry, Thomas Read and three Philadelphia shipbuilders undertook that job in October. Morris did not, however, take the order to discharge the Alliance's crew too literally. He retained the Captain, Lieutenant Murray and a handful of seamen, figuring a skeleton crew would keep down further deterioration on board.

The naval problem was a vexatious one. When he had assumed the Agency of Marine, the Continental navy boasted four vessels — the America, ready for launching at Portsmouth; the Bourbon, on the stocks in Connecticut, and the Alliance and Hague in service. The America, launched in November, 1782, had been presented immediately to France, to replace a ship-of‑the‑line lost in Boston harbor. By then, however, Morris had acquired the General Washington and the Duc de Lauzun. The war closed with five vessels in the navy, and no money to keep them in service. In July, the Hague was ordered sold, to be followed shortly by the Bourbon. The Duc de Lauzun was sent to Europe with tobacco, both ship and cargo to be disposed of in France. That left the General Washington, being used as a packet, and the Alliance. Morris was ready to recommend the sale of both. He refrained only until the survey was completed on the frigate, and the General Washington returned from abroad.

* * *

Two letters from Thomas Barclay were awaiting John Barry at the post-office. One specified the Alliance's share of the four prizes at L'Orient as 281,310 livres, of which about 107,000 livres had already been advanced to officers and men. The other, a reply to the Captain's fiery letter regarding attachments and interest, pledged a satisfactory accounting, and payment of the balance due. It asked that no bills be drawn against the amount until Barclay, Moylan & Co. succeeded in having the attachments lifted.

No money from that source for some time! Inquiry at the Marine Office disclosed his accounts were still being audited! A wretched outlook! If nothing was to be forthcoming in the way  p314 of prize money or wages, however, there was a possible source of revenue from the state. Pennsylvania was providing its army officers with half‑pay and land grants. Certainly a naval officer from Pennsylvania was entitled to similar consideration.

On September 18, he petitioned the General Assembly for "the same benefits and emoluments which are extended to the officers of the Pennsylvania line." His petition was referred to a special committee. Shortly afterwards word came the committee was in a quandary because of lack of knowledge of Captain Barry's actual services. He addressed the honorable house with a memorial that gave a thumb-nail sketch of his performances. Said he:

 p315  Despite the clarity of his statement, and the justice of his claim, it took the Pennsylvania Assembly practically eleven months to come to a resolution to extend to him and to other Pennsylvanians in the navy, including Thomas Read, James Josiah and John Green, similar compensation to that enjoyed by army officers.

Through the fall of 1783, Barry divided his time between his home and the Alliance. He dwelt on Spruce street, between Third and Fourth — a residence he had acquired for Sarah when the legal controversy over the old Austin homestead had made the latter a precarious abode. The earliest Philadelphia directory inscribes him as "captain, merchant," a happy identification, considering the fact that he still commanded the frigate, and was constantly busied with the disposal of goods imported for his account by Barclay, Moylan & Co., not all of which had been reshipped to Havana.

Two British naval commanders that fall had opportunity to visit him on the Alliance. Commodores Affleck and Sweeney, on a diplomatic mission to Philadelphia, were rowed out to the frigate one afternoon, the guests of Captains Armstrong and Garden, of Lee's Legion. The latter, in his copious memoirs,⁠a relates the incident, including an amusing exchange between the Captain and Commodore Sweeney.

"Adieu, my countryman," said Sweeney, clasping Barry's hand at parting.

"Not exactly so," Barry replied. "You, commodore, are a Briton. I am an American."

"I am an Irishman," Sweeney responded, "and so are you, Barry, or if not you ought to be. You have too many of the strong features of a genuine Irishman for me to be mistaken. Your attachment to the country for which you have fought and bled is both natural and highly to your honor; but, by God, you are too good a fellow for Ireland to relinquish the claims she has upon your best affections."

Barry laughed, and honored the departing Britons with a complimentary salute from the few guns remaining on the frigate's deck. It was the last time the Alliance's weapons spoke under the colors of the Continental navy.

That fall, also, Barry learned a naval court-martial had upheld his action in the case of two of the officers who had deserted  p316 him the previous year at L'Orient. Lieutenant Patrick Fletcher and Sailing Master Buckley had returned to Boston, and immediately had been ordered to trial. The verdict was that Fletcher be deprived of his commission, and Buckley of his warrant, the sentence not to prejudice their claims to wages and prize money earned prior to their offense. Because of their earlier excellent services, Morris, in transmitting the decision to Congress, recommended them as capable officers, worthy of future notice — a recommendation that would bear fruit years afterwards for Fletcher.

* * *

The survey of the Alliance, showing cost of repairs to be 5,866⅔ dollars, was presented to Congress by Morris the day after Christmas in 1783, and a committee took it under advisement. Its report, on January 15, 1784, was a surprise to the Agent of Marine, who wanted desperately to be rid of the financial obligations of maintaining a navy.

Morris bided his time, and the General Washington returned from Europe. A conversation with her commander, Joshua Barney, convinced the Agent of Marine she needed more repairing than she was worth. The Alliance, according to Morris, had become "a meer Bill of Costs." He went to Congress, on March 19, urging sale of both.

"As to a Marine we must for the present give up the Idea," he told that honorable body, "and whenever the Situation of the American Finances will permit we can certainly build better Ships than any we have yet had."

Prophetic wisdom in that statement, but it was met with obstinacy in Congress. On April 8, despite a committee report favorable to Morris' suggestion, the sale of the General Washington only was approved. The Alliance remained in service, and for more than a year no further efforts were made by the Agent of Marine to change the congressional decision.

* * *

 p317  Early in 1784, Barry learned from Thomas Barclay that the prize money at L'Orient was free of legal entanglements. The General Washington had arrived at Philadelphia, on March 10, bringing the Captain two letters. One, dated November 16, 1783, enclosed bills on a number of Philadelphians, all in Barry's favor, and amounting to 25,520 livres. The other, written on December 25, stated the balance yet due to be 3,119 livres.

"Be as sparing as you can with convenience to yourself," Barclay cautioned, "and draw at as long sight as possible."

How hard-pressed the Captain was for money is indicated by two letters he wrote the day he heard from Barclay. One was to Thomas Mifflin, then sojourning with Congress at Annapolis, notifying him that a bill of exchange from L'Orient for $260 at forty days' sight, was ready for presentation, and would his Excellency the President of Congress please take steps to honor it. The other was to Anthony Wayne, asking the loan of $200 "to meet a demand the Bank has on me." The bank loan had been made by the Captain as part of a financial operation he and John Brown had been engaged in since the previous September. The pair had been purchasing prize warrants from impecunious former hands on the Alliance, who were willing to settle for a little cash. By mid‑May, 1784, they had netted about 900 livres through these purchases, Barry's share being one‑half.

All through 1784, he was involved in collecting the money from L'Orient. It came in dribbles; notes that were marked for non‑acceptance, but ultimately were paid by John Barclay, Philadelphia representative of the house of Barclay, Moylan & Co., and other notes drawn on sixty, ninety and even 120 days' sight.

It was well, however, the money was received, for, in October, came a letter from James Seagrove, relating a story of money lost in piece-meal sale of Barry's goods at Havana; of other goods still on hand, and of still other items stolen by Spaniards.

"This is not the worst, my good friend," concluded Seagrove in a most offhand manner for such a momentous announcement, "for at present I cannot pay you . . . I must begg your patience until I am able to Collect which shall be as soon as  p318 possible after I have obtained an indulgence from my Creditors which I am now about."

Periodically, the Captain made inquiry about his long due accounts. Always they were still being audited. His pay, since the Alliance had been placed upon a peace-time footing, fortunately was not involved in the same delay. The sixty dollars a month was paid with some degree of regularity.

As Lieutenant Murray had resigned in October, Barry remained the sole naval officer in active service. Consequently, to him came frequent inquiries from his former companions. Luke Matthewman, writing from New York, wanted to be sure his name was included in the list of those in the late naval service, as, if there should be half‑pay or land bonuses, he thought himself "Justly Intitled to a part of the Benefit." Stephen Gregory bobbed up again, this time from far off Port-au‑Prince, to implore the Captain's aid in obtaining permission from Congress to enter the merchant service, and to trust that Barry was resting at ease in Philadelphia "after tedious war." Even Murray, from Annapolis, had inquiries to make as to steps taken in Pennsylvania to place naval officers on the same footing as officers in the land service. There had been such a petition presented in Maryland, and Murray did not know which state he was connected with, a matter, as he pointed out, of little odds, "so I get my due."

Amid all this and similar correspondence, the Captain was engaged in drafting an extensive narrative of his war services to be used as a memorial praying Congress for promotion. There had been no commodore since Hopkins had been dismissed in 1777. As senior officer, Barry felt the length and importance of his service warranted elevation to this long-vacated post. Only five pages of the rough draft of the memorial exist today. It begins with the oft misquoted statement:

It ends, unfinished, with an account of the engagement with the Sybil: "all tho I had at that time alargeº sum of dollars on Board I Brought one of the Frigats of 32 Guns to acloseº Action and not only cut him to pieces but saved Capt. Green."

 p319  The memorial went to a special committee of Congress early in December, and the final decision, on December 16, spelled the end of Barry's hoped for promotion. The committee recommended that "it would be advisable to postpone a Decision on Mr. Barre's Request until Congress can arrange and organize that Department [of Marine]; and then that the sd Petition be referred to the Commissioners or Commission or who may be appointed to superintend it."

By then there was no Agent of Marine. Morris had resigned, his work finished. Barry and the Alliance remained in public service, but not for long. In the spring of 1785, a motion was made in Congress to sell the frigate. On June 3, the motion was carried with nine states favoring the sale, New Jersey divided, North Carolina opposed, and Delaware and New Hampshire absent.

The Alliance went under the hammer at the Merchants' Coffee House in Philadelphia, on August 1, 1785. Almost a month before, on July 9, John Barry issued his last order — to turn over all military appointments on board to Samuel Hodgdon, commissioner of stores. 'Ere the summer ended, the Continental navy had become history. The Captain, after ten years of active service, was back in private life, but his accounts were still being audited!

---

Thayer's Note:

a Garden left two volumes of memoirs on the American Revolution. The anecdote appears in the second volume (Charleston, 1828), p220.

◂ previous						next ▸
Images with borders lead to more information. The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)
UP TO:		Gallant John Barry	American Naval History	American & Military History	History of the Americas	Home
A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer. See my copyright page for details and contact information.

Accessibility