The Irish standard., 1905-08-05
The Quotations Here Published Compris.
Every Reference In the Work to the
Dashing Naval Hero.
They Show That Barry Was the Leader Of
the Navy and That His Services
Entitled Him to the Rank.

The following extracts from J. Feni-
more Cooper's history of the navy of
the United States, which extracts
were collected and compiled by the
Honorable James O'Brien of Gale.
donia, are of great interest and I'M
portance at this time because of the
controversy as to the relative merits
Of the first leaders of the American
navy Cooper was not biased OBJ
server. He gives full credit to Com
modore John Barry for the part played
by him in the Revolution. The quota
tions are taken from the third edition
Of said work published in 1916. Mr.
O'Brien has given the reference where
each quotation can be found. The
extracts are as follows:
Vol. 1, page So. The first regular
cruisers that ever got to sea under the
new government, we're the Hornet 10,
and Wasp 8, a sloop and schooner
that had been equipped at Baltimore
by the Marine Committee and which
sailed in November, to join the squad
ron under Commodore Hopkins, in the
Delaware. This passage cannot, how
ever properly be called cruise. For
the first of these We must refer to the
squadron itself. This distinction has
been claimed for the Lexington, Capt.
Barry, and we have SO stated the fact
in the earlier editions of this book,
but an examination of the private
papers Of that officer, has shown us
that he was actually employed on
shore, or in the Delaware, for short
time after Com. Hopkins got to sea.
Pages 81, 55 lib. AS an or
set to the escape of the Glasgow, an
English vessel. the Lexington, Capt.
Barry, which had sailed from the Della
ware some weeks after the squadron
got to sea- fell in with the Edward. an
armed tender of the Liverpool, on the
18th Of April. 177G of the capes of
Virginia, and after a close and spirited
action of nearly an hour, captured her
The Lexington had four of her crew
killed and wounded, while the Edward
was cut to pieces, and met with
very heavy comparative loss in men.
This little vessel, the Lexing-
ton, mounted sixteen 4-pound guns,
and, under Barry, had crew of 70
souls, all told
At page 81 ib. But it (Con-
gress) had now declared the nation in
dependent of the King of Great Brit.
ain, and there was a long and bloody
war in perspective, before that indie.
pendence could be recognized. 1t was
time to reduce the confused elements
of the service to order, and to quiet
the disputes and claims Of individuals,
by an exercise of sovereign power. A
resolution was accordingly passed on
the 10th of October, 1776, directing
that the captains in navy should take
rank in the following order, viz: 1,
James Nicholson; 2, John Manly; 3,
Hector Mcneil; 4, Dudley Saltonstall;
S, Nicohlas Biddle; 6, Thomas Thomp-
son; Z, John Barry, and II others con.
secutively named and numbered to
Elisha Warner, who stands Oath on
the list.
The Marine Committee was en-
powered to arrange the rank of the in
ferior officers. At this time, Oct. 10th,
1916, Commodore Hopkins was Com
mander-inChief, and he continued to-
serve in that capacity until the CON-
mencement Of the following January,
when Capt Nicholson became the Sen.
ior officer of the navy, with the rank
OF Captain only.
Page IS lib. Capt. John Barry, whose
spirited action off the capes of Vir.
ginia, in the Lexington IA, has been
mentioned, and whose capture of the
Edward on that occasion, is worthy of
note, as having been the first of any
vessel of war, that was ever made by
regular American cruiser in battle,
was placed on the regulated list OF
October, 1776, as the seventh captain,
and appointed to the command Of the