p. vii  Preface

For more than a century, John Barry has been the football of propagandists. Biased biographers, with a modicum of facts and abysmal ignorance of the history of his times, have distorted the entire life of the old Commodore. Seeking to create a great Roman Catholic naval hero, they have a performed a disservice to their faith by over-emphasizing the religious aspect, and actually under-emphasizing his splendid achievements.

John Barry was not "the first officer appointed to the first vessel purchased" by the Continental Congress. His initial service was far more important — he outfitted the first Continental fleet. He was never the senior officer of the Continental navy, but his record through the Revolution was consistently finer than any of his naval contemporaries save John Paul Jones. And he can be classed on a par with Jones.

He never received the rank of commodore in the American navy, but, as its senior captain, he bore that courtesy title with honor from 1798 to his death. He was not "The Father of the American Navy" in the sense of being its founder, but his devotion to that navy, whose first ship he launched and equipped, coupled with the fact that he trained many of the lads who later added glory to its history entitles him to the appellation in the modified form it was first bestowed upon him in 1813.

Within these pages will be found many a deed of John Barry of which sectarian biographers knew nothing — the master­ful skill with which he sailed the ship Black Prince prior to the Revolution, the second spectacular cruise in the armed brig Lexington, his voyage in the letter-of‑marque brig American, the way in which he quelled mutiny on the Alliance at New London, the long and success­ful China voyage in the ship Asia, the battle against odds in the equipping and manning the frigate p. viiiUnited States, and his squadron maneuvers in the West Indies — to mention but a few.

Because nothing hitherto printed about Barry has been wholly trustworthy, I have gone to original sources for every line of this biography. In doing so, I found much which threw clearer light upon such exploits as his previous biographers had recounted. These sources are listed in the bibliography, which has been made sufficiently comprehensive to enable anyone to check any facts within these pages.

While I assume all responsibility for the text, I am deeply indebted to a number of persons who gave me unstinting assistance in collecting the source material. Foremost among them has been Barry Hayes Hepburn, of Philadelphia, a collateral descendant of John Barry, who granted me access to the Barry Hayes and Somers papers in the possession of the Hepburn family. Without these hitherto unconsulted documents, the biography would have lacked much that is fresh and never before known about John Barry. In the bibliography, I have listed a few of the most interesting items in this important Hepburn collection.

To M. V. and Dorothy E. R. Brewington, of Berwyn, Pa., I owe more than this brief acknowledgment can convey. The former, perhaps the greatest living authority upon ship construction in the sailing era of the navy — Continental and United States —- read every line of the manuscript, checking each technical and nautical detail, and saving an unwary author many a pitfall. Dorothy Brewington, with uncanny research ability, turned up item after item of buried treasure about John Barry and labored long hours copying musty, faded ship's journals and other voluminous papers.

Others whose aid I wish to acknowledge with gratitude are Mrs. Cornelia Barnes Rogers, another collateral descendant of the old Commodore, who provided interesting genealogical material on the Barry-Hayes family; Dorothy C. Barck, secretary of the Naval History Society, who compiled for me a two‑line calendar of the exhaustive Barnes collection of Barry papers, and annotated every document photostated for my use; Captain Dudley W. Knox, U. S. N., retired, editor of the "Quasi‑War with France" documents now being published by the Navy Department, who placed at my disposal many ships' logs; William p. ixS. Mason, whose library with its Franklin collection (now at Yale University) was opened to me all hours of the day or night, and the librarians of the numerous historical societies listed in the bibliography.

My interest has been neither to build up nor to tear down, but to present John Barry for his true worth — and I found him a greater man than his previous biographies had led me to believe.

William Bell Clark

Evanston, Ill.

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