The Irish standard., 1898-07-16
1.-THE LEXINGTON OF THE SEAS"
Their Memories Are Now Honored
By Secretary Long.
JEREMIAH O'BRIEN OF MACHlAS
A New Torpedo Boat Bearing His
Milesian Cognomen.

The fact that the navy department
has named one of the new vessels that
are being built for Uncle Sam the
O'Brien has directed attention to the feat
which the Machias O'Briens accomp-
lished in the revolutionary period,
when five of them, brothers all, cap
tured the armed sloop Margaretta and
brought her as prize into the Maine
port, says the Boston Republic. The
names OF two of these brothers, Jere-
miah and John. became more conspicu-
GUS than the rest for the reason that
they were subsequently commissioned
officers of the American navy and bore
themselves gallantly as such. The fol-
lowing brief account of the capture by
the O'Brien brothers of the British
sloop may not be without its interest
at the present time. "On June 12," says
one historian of that event, "a plan was
formed in Machias, in Maine, for taking
the Margaretta, an armed sloop, in the
service of the crown then lying at that
port. The scheme was carried out with
success, the Margaretta, another Kings
sloop, and sloop that was loading
with lumber under her protection, being
taken. The armament OF the Margar-
eta was then transferred to another
vessel, which was placed under the
command of jeremiah OBrien. He
was soon afterwards made marine
captain by the provincial congress of
Massachusetts, and sent to intercept
vessels bringing supplies to the troops
In Boston" The Margaretta was taken
in IT'S, and how we'll Captain O'Brien
acquitted himself of the duties placed
upon him as commander of the little
fleet which he created may be judged
from the complaints which Lord Howe,
the British commander at Boston, after
wards addressed to the British govern
ment, to which he wrote saying that
his provision vessels, sent from Eng
land, had fallen Into the hands of the
insignificant American cruisers in Bos-
ton bay" Captain O'Brien's fleet COM
prised six small ships, to-wit, the
Lynch, Washington, franklin, Lee,
Warren and Harrison; and the instruc-
tions given the captain and his associ-
ates was to avoid encounters with Brit
ish armed vessels, but to seize every
provision ship they encountered. This
little fleet has often been styled the
germ of the American navy, of that
splendid, if poorly-equipped, force
which played havoc with the British
vessels in the revolutionary period,
which in subsequent wars humblsd the
British flag so often on the lakes and
seas, and of that magnificent navy with
one section of which Admiral Dewey
won his glorious victory on May day in
Manila harbor, with another portion of
which Sampson and schley are invest
ing Santiago, and which boasts, in our
day, of such heroes as Patrick Mallon,
Lieutenant Hobson and his seven brave
associates, not to mention the many
others who need but chance to show
themselves equally valorous and brave.
But Jeremiah O'Brien and his BROTH
ers were not by any means the only
representatives of "the fighting race" to
distinguish themselves in the early his
tory of the American navy. The father
OF that navy was another Celt, John
Barry, the son of a Snug Wexford
farmer, who was born in the parish of
hoI
side of his fathers door, as he was wont
to say, to be at the sea. No wonder
that this young Irish lad, whose play
ground was the beach, and who daily
looked out across the seas that came
turabling to his feet, conceived an irrcs-
istible longing to venture out on the
deep and visit the world that lay beyond
his ken. At II years of age he could no
longer bide in Tacumshame, but, ship
ping as sailor, he voyaged to and fro
from Ireland to Philadelphia, winning
his way upward by his pluck and skill
until at the age of Is he had command
Of the Black Prince, one of the finest
boats that in those days crossed the
ocean. 1t was while he was thus en-.
gagged that Barry met George Washing.
ton, and out of that meeting came his
appointment to the navy. The vessel
which Barry commanded was owned by
Mr., Merideth. of the Quaker City, who
frequently had Washington for his
guest, and 1t was at the Meredith man.
sion that the American commander first
saw and appreciated the father of the
American navy.
Congress did not provide for a navy
until the latter part of the year 1775
when it purchased some merchantmen
and had them fitted up for war pur
&C.,