r/nelsonsnavy

In order:

Jone Paul Jones (1747-1791)

John Barry (1745-1803)

John Adams (1797-1801)

"At the urging of General George Washington, the Second Continental Congress created the Continental Navy. In Philadelphia, the Congress commissioned the first Navy officers, including John Barry, regarded as the Father of the U.S. Navy, and John Paul Jones, who went on to fame by raiding the coasts of Britain itself.

On the Philadelphia bank of the Delaware River, the new Navy commissioned its first ship, the USS Alfred. On the Alfred, John Paul Jones was the first to hoist the original American national flag, the Grand Union Flag. Later, Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey signer of the Declaration, designed the first Navy flag, which became the pattern for the Stars and Stripes.

In Philadelphia's historic tavern called The Tun, John Adams wrote the Navy’s organizing document, the Articles of War. From the Delaware the navy’s first flotilla sailed, and escorted the Marines on their first amphibious operation to seize guns and gunpowder from the British in the Bahamas. The Navy’s efforts were organized in Philadelphia through most of the American Revolution, until the war ended and the Continental Navy was dissolved.

The U.S. Navy was reborn in Philadelphia after the Constitution was adopted there. A few years after Philadelphia became the Nation’s Capital, Congress met in Congress Hall and passed the Navy Act of 1794, creating the Department of the Navy. There President Washington nominated the first Secretary of the Navy, and Congress authorized construction of the famed six frigates, which were designed in Philadelphia. The first – USS United States – was launched on the Delaware and was the first U.S. Navy ship."

https://www.homecoming250.org/birthplace-of-the-navy-marine-corps/the-birth-of-the-navy/

Confirmed! (Probably.)

>In the still waters of Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, the long-lost bones of a ship lie buried in silt. For centuries, the wreck had no name. Now, after more than 25 years of international detective work above and below the waves, Australian maritime archaeologists are confident they’ve found one of the most storied vessels in history: HM Bark Endeavour, the ship that carried James Cook to the Pacific, New Zealand, and the eastern coast of Australia.

Full story at link above.

Link to the outstanding Australian National Maritime Museum's report HERE

Born into a genteel family of middling prospects, Shovell first went to sea as a cabin boy at the age of 13, under the protection of Christopher Mings and then John Narborough. He fought at the four days battle, and served in the Caribbean and the Pacific, before he was made midshipman (at 22) upon moving to the Duke of York’s flagship, Royal Prince (100). He arrived just in time for the battle of Solebay. Made Lieutenant, he followed Narborough to the Mediterranean the following year, where he spent the next 13 years fighting the pirate states of Tripoli and Salle, with his most notable successes coming leading a night raid to burn four warships in Tripoli harbour - for which he was posted - and the capture of the Half Moon of Algier (32). 

In his last years in the Mediterranean he became one of Arthur Herbert’s ‘Tangerines’ (captains working out of the short lived British-African colony of Tangier), which worked in his favour when Herbert went over to the side of William III in 1688. In 1689, he was captain of the Edgar (70) at the battle of Bantry bay, the action for which he was knighted, after which the turbulent waters of the post-glorious-revolution world saw him quickly rise to Admiral. He was commanding the centre-rear of Admiral Russel’s vastly superior Anglo-Dutch fleet which caught Tourville’s French fleet off Barfleur, and played a crucial role breaking the French line in the fog, in the battle that ended the threat of invasion to England. During the war of the Spanish succession he served under George Rooke at the battle of Vigo, the capture of Gibraltar and the battle of Malaga, before leading the Naval squadron which participated in the capture of Toulon in 1707. He died at the tragic disaster off the Scilly Isles in 1707, in which an error in calculating longitude caused the wreck of 4 vessels with the loss of all hands. The tragedy led to the Longitude Act of 1714, and to the development of accurate marine chronometers for longitude assessment. 

“A large, fat, fair man,” he earned the respect of those around him through his bravery and attention to the details of seamanship, with contemporaries describing him as “the best officer of his age”, and lauding that “no man understands the affairs of the navy better, or is beloved of the sailors so well as he. He loves the constitution of his country and serves it without factious aim.” His origin as a cabin boy, technically classified him as a Tarpaulin, and even as an Admiral he remained “familiar and plain in his conversation” and dressed “without affectation”. That simplicity of manner and apolitical devotion to duty (as well as a memorable name) led him to become a renowned national hero, and his death was rightly treated as a tragedy.

His tactical doctrine focused on close, in-line fighting, that turned each individual ship into a formidable defensive and offensive weapon as part of the greater line of battle. It was exactly the sort of stuff that Nelson became famous for throwing out of the window, but that doctrine - and his wider opinions - were shaped in an era very different from the height of the Georgian navy, in which England lacked any noticeable advantages in quality of ships, administration, budget, officers or seaman. Shovell once wrote that “the misfortune and vice of our country is to believe ourselves better than other men.” and that “experience has taught me that where men are equally inured and disciplined to war, ‘Tis without a miracle, number that gains the victory… rarely have [I] seen at sea any victory worth boasting where the strength has been near equal.” For the era in which he fought, Shovell’s assessment of naval combat was correct, and the line of battle was the solution to the frailties with which he had to contend. Shovell's would remain the established line of thought for 100 years.

In late 1610, Hudson found his ship, the Discovery, trapped in the ice of James Bay as he searched the east coast of North America for the Northwest Passage. Hudson and his crew spent the winter struggling for survival (though they did also carry out some cartography work). When the ice finally cleared in the spring of 1611, Hudson wanted to continue the search for the passage. Most of the sailors, however, had had enough and pleaded with him to let them go home. When, Hudson refused their request, they staged a mutiny.

The rebels placed Hudson in a small open boat alongside his young son John and seven other men, who were either loyal to Hudson or too sick to stay with the ship. The mutineers headed back to England in the Discovery. Although they were reportedly left some meagre supplies, it is thought that Hudson, his son and his remaining men soon perished in the harsh and unfamiliar environment.

Painting: The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson by John Collier, 1881

EDIT: I decided to write up the full story: it's here.

I originally purchased "Thomas Jefferson: and the Tripoli Pirates" years ago as I had an interest in the Barbary Wars, and my knowledge of it at that point was only surface level.

As I was reading through it, I became increasingly frustrated with the author and how he was presenting everything. Endless amounts of personal opinions, jingosotic to the point of delusion and nausea, and a conplete failure to expand on any pov outside of an American centric one.

Once I finished it, I had to figure out who was this author that was responsible for such amateurish writing. He certainly was no historian in the way he presented this subject matter. As I read the back sleeve of the book jacket and saw "Brian Kilmeade is a host for Fox News..." all was revealed. Complete jabroni

The only thing I can praise about his book though, is that it put me on a search for a real history book about the subject matter. Which led me to Ian W Toll's "Six Frigates" one of greatest history books I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

Anyone else ever rebound from an awful history book to a grand one on the same subject matter?

In the summer of 1667 peace between England and the Netherlands seemed near (owing largely, to a French invasion of Flanders). In response to this - and due to financial pressures - Charles II had his fleet paid off and laid up, with a large part in the lower Medway river.

Dutch Stadtholder, Johan De Witt, had other ideas. Having long held the ambition of delivering a decisive blow to the heart of English sea power, he sent his brother - Cornelius de Witt - with a fleet of 62 frigates/ships of the line +20 fireships, under the operational command of Michiel De Ruyter, to deliver that blow to the ships laid up in Chatham.

De Ruyter was reluctant, and the Dutch commanders raised a litany of objections, but they proceeded nonetheless and took the partially finished fort at Sheerness on the 20th (10th O.S). The incredulous English were very slow to respond, and the Dutch had dismantled the chain and forced the blockships on the Medway before they managed to mount an effective defence. Once inside, on the 22nd, they burnt the Matthias (48) and captured the Royal Charles (80). George Monck, Duke of Albermarle, now commanding the defence, had many of the remaining big ships scuttled to prevent capture (in total the English sunk 30 of their own vessels). On the 23rd, the Dutch got as far up the Medway as Chatham, being sure to burn whatever was left of the remaining English big ships, before retreating in expectation of greater resistance, thus completing "a great victory in a just war in self-defence."

The raid completely changed the terms of the negotiated peace, prompting Pepys to write in his diary that "in wisdom, courage, force, knowledge of our own streams, and success, the Dutch have the best of us, and do end the war with victory on their side". To this day, the raid is still considered the greatest ever British military defeat.

I had been one of the guys who re-rigged her seven years ago and tried to follow her trajectory since then, but there was little to see. https://www.reddit.com/r/Tallships/comments/bqo80a/long_sidelined_sloop_providence_had_her_spars/