by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 26, 2016 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Minerva v Concorde – 22 August 1778 News of the outbreak of war with France six weeks earlier had yet to reach the Jamaican-based frigate Minerva 32, Captain John Stott, when on 22 August she came across an unknown vessel whilst cruising near Cap François...
by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 18, 2016 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The Battle of Ushant – 27 July 1778 – and the Political Aftermath Admiral Hon. Augustus Keppel was the equal of Lord Howe as the finest officer in the Navy, but being an eminent Whig he was a bitter opponent of the war against the American colonies...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 26, 2016 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Lord Howe’s defence of New York – July 1778 In early May the dull-sailing sloop Porcupine 20, Captain Hon. William Clement Finch, arrived in the Delaware River from England with despatches announcing the imminent commencement of hostilities with...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 18, 2016 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
On 13 April Vice-Admiral Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, Comte d’Estaing, who fifteen years before had joined the French navy from the rank of lieutenant-general in the army, departed Toulon with a fleet of eleven sail of the line, a 50-gun ship, five...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 4, 2016 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
King George conducts a Review of the Fleet at Portsmouth – May 1778 With war against France inevitable, a grand fleet began commissioning at Spithead in the spring of 1778 under the command of Admiral Hon. Augustus Keppel. Ever anxious to involve himself...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 3, 2016 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
John Paul Jones’ Cruise and the Capture of the Drake – 7 March 1778 On 10 April 1778, the American privateer commander John Paul Jones departed Brest in command of the Ranger 18, having enjoyed the hospitality of the French Navy and the...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 1, 2016 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Yarmouth v Randolph – 7 March 1778 When intelligence was received that the trade in the waters around Barbados was about to be attacked by a group of American privateers from South Carolina, the British merchantmen were ordered to remain in port whilst...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 1, 2016 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Revelling in their capture of the rebel capital Philadelphia during the previous autumn, the British and their American loyalist allies were able to enjoy a socially-charged, relaxed and indulgent winter in the city, staging balls, theatrical productions and...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 26, 2016 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
1778 Overview On 6 February France signed a friendship and commercial treaty with the American Congress, and a month later officially advised the British government that it considered the colonials had already won their independence. The government had long...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 23, 2016 | 1777, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Alert v Lexington – 19 September 1777 On 27 June the Admiralty sent orders to 36 year-old Lieutenant John Bazely to report to Deptford and take command of the cutter Alert 10, which having been launched three days earlier was daily expected from Dover....
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 11, 2016 | 1777, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The Philadelphia Campaign – August to November 1777 On 23 July a fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral Lord Howe, conveying an army of fifteen thousand men led by his brother, General Sir William Howe, set sail from Sandy Hook, New York. Their aim was...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 7, 2016 | 1777, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Rainbow and Flora v Hancock, Boston and Fox – 6 to 8 July 1777 On 21 May the newly launched American frigate Hancock 34, Commodore John Manley, and her consort the Boston 24, Captain Henry McNeill, had put to sea from Boston with eight privateers to...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 26, 2015 | 1777, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Fox v Hancock & Boston – 7 June 1777 The British frigate Fox 28, Captain Patrick Fotheringham, was patrolling the Grand Banks off Newfoundland on the morning of Saturday 7 June when at 5 a.m. two unknown vessels were seen bearing down at great speed...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 22, 2015 | 1777
Captain Jervis and the Foudroyant on Cruise – April to August 1777 In September 1775 the highly regarded Captain John Jervis was appointed to what could only be considered a plum command that was worthy of him the twenty-five year-old French built Foudroyant 80,...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 20, 2015 | 1777
Having been captured without opposition in the previous month, the anchorage at Rhode Island should have been a safe haven for the British in January 1777. However, this was not withstanding the arrival on the station of the frigate Diamond 32, Captain Charles...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 20, 2015 | 1777
?Vice-Admiral Lord Howe, commanding the North American station, began the year by enforcing a strict blockade of the American coast, and then as the war progressed he set sail with his brother, General Sir William Howe, to hasten its end by capturing the jewel in the...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 30, 2015 | 1776, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The Occupation of Rhode Island – 8 December 1776 The last act of the British campaign in North America during 1776 was the occupation of Rhode Island and Narragansett Bay by a squadron under the command of Commodore Sir Peter Parker consisting of five...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 30, 2015 | 1776, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The Battle of Lake Champlain – 11-12 October 1776 After the British relief of Quebec in May, the American forces under the command of Benedict Arnold retired down towards Lake Champlain with the British Army under Major-General Sir Guy Carleton in hot...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 30, 2015 | 1776, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
With their marine forces being unable to make any significant impact upon the superiority of the British Navy the Americans soon began considering more ingenious forms of warfare, and one such attempt was a submersible attack that was perpetrated on...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 30, 2015 | 1776, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
?Whilst the British and many members of the rebel?Congress prevaricated over taking up arms to resolve their dispute, two American adventurers, Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen, decided to attack the British army outposts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point at the northern...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 30, 2015 | 1776, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
During 1775 the American colonies had began turning from civil disobedience to armed rebellion in order to achieve their desire for free right of settlement, abolition of punitive taxes and the removal of restrictions on trade. In Britain political attitudes to...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 29, 2015 | 1776, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The New York Campaign – July to October 1776 On 12 June a fleet of men-of-war and one hundred and twenty transports carrying General Sir William Howe’s army left Halifax in Nova Scotia and sailed south. Vice-Admiral Molyneux Shuldham, who having...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 28, 2015 | 1776, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The Battle for Charleston – 28 June 1776 On 3 May 1776 Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton assumed command of a British army of four thousand men, part of which had recently arrived off Cape Fear, North Carolina, after a torturous two-month voyage under...
