Where Was The Navy Born?

Atlantis HQ is located in Marblehead, MA, and it’s where we all live. When I drive into town, it says right there on the “Welcome to Marblehead” sign: “Birthplace of the American Navy”.

Now, my parents taught me not to believe everything I read, but given Marblehead’s heritage as a seafaring town, is there really a reason to question this assertion? Apparently there is, as evidenced by an ad we ran in Scuttlebutt two weeks ago in which we referred to Marblehead as the place the Navy was born. We received many responses from the Scuttlebutt audience, some gently correcting our misperception and others more stridently making a case for other towns and cities including Philadelphia, Whitehall, NY, Portsmouth, NH and our neighbor Beverly, MA. The facts surrounding the case are not totally clear, but at the end of the day, it would seem to us that Marblehead’s claim to the title is solid. Here’s what we think we know:

The spring and summer of 1775 marked the beginning of the American Revolution, and it essentially began with the Seige of Boston. Continental militia forces surrounded Boston and cut off the British forces occupying the town from escape to or support from the surrounding countryside. The Battles of Lexington & Concord and Bunker Hill took place as the British made attempts to break out of Boston, but to their surprise, the Continental forces were too strong and too well-organized. They couldn’t do anything to cut off the British from the sea, however, and this allowed the occupiers to hold out for as long as they could receive supplies and material via ship.

George Washington, who’d arrived in July to take command of what had become the Continental Army, came to the conclusion that harassing British supply vessels entering Boston harbor could accomplish two objectives: tormenting the enemy and supplying his own troops. So on September 5, 1775, he asked Marblehead merchant Col. John Glover and members of his Marblehead Regiment to take his sloop Hannah to sea to “cruise against the enemy” and to seize “such Vessels as may be found on the High seas or elsewhere, bound inward and outward to or from Boston in the Service of the ministerial Army". Glover and his Marblehead militia were one of Washington’s favorite units, and they later distinguished themselves as the 14^th Continental Regiment for, among other things, ferrying the army across the Delaware River in December 1776 for the surprise attack on the British at Trenton.

The Royal Navy squadron on the Boston Station at that time had some pretty serious firepower in it, so expectations for the Hannah, a 43-footer with no real armament to speak of (4 guns) nor an experienced fighting crew, can’t have been too high. In fact, you could argue that it was a ridiculous proposition to send her out there at all, and the initial foray ended somewhat ignominiously when the Hannah crossed paths with the HMS Lively. The Lively was a 20-gun sloop-of-war with a full complement of battle-tested seamen, and she’d been part of the North American Squadron for many years. Being Marbleheaders, however, one thing the crew of the Hannah could do well was sail, and they were fortunately able to elude their pursuers by setting everything they had and nipping into Gloucester harbor before the Lively could catch them.

It’s reported that Hannah captured the British sloop Unity two days later, but that would prove to be the only bright spot in the ship’s short career as America’s first warship. A month after getting started, she was run aground in Beverly, and despite being saved from capture by a bunch of citizens with guns, she was removed from service.

We are certain that strong cases can be made for other cities and towns as the Navy’s cradle. There is no question that the Hannah spent a significant amount of time in Beverly, and Philadelphia’s claim is, one assumes, based on the fact that it’s where the Continental Congress voted to authorize the construction of the famous six frigates and that’s where the USS United States, the first one launched, was built.

Whitehall’s claim is based on the fact that it was where Philip Schuyler had a fleet of 16 schooners and gunboats built in 1776 which Benedict Arnold used in the Battle of Valcour Island. The British thought they could end the Revolution by gaining control of the Hudson River Valley and linking Canada with British-occupied New York City, thereby cutting rebellious New England off from the rest of the colonies. In order to accomplish this goal, the Brits needed to neutralize the American strongholds at Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the only way to get there from the St. Lawrence River Valley was via Lake Champlain.

The Brits brought 30 ships to the party vs. Benedict Arnold’s 16, and while the battle resulted in a British victory, it slowed them down enough to delay the planned assault on Ticonderoga and Crown Point until the following year. This delay gave the Americans much-needed time to gather a larger and better-supported force which would eventually defeat the British at Saratoga in 1777. Saratoga represented the first real American military victory, and is largely thought to be the tipping point that brought France into the war on the American side.

All great stories, and they give each town a strong case to make on their respective behalves. But, while Hannah going to sea may not have had quite the impact on the formation of the young republic that Benedict Arnold’s fleet or Philly’s United States did, she was the first American warship sent to sea by George Washington. With all due respect to those other places, there can only be one “birthplace”, and Marblehead is it.