Dudley Saltonstall Dudley Saltonstall ( 1738 – 1796 ) was an American naval commander during the American Revolutionary War . He is best known as the commander of the naval forces of the 1779 Penobscot Expedition , which ended in complete disaster , with all ships lost . Norton ( 2003 ) argues the Penobscot Expedition was a total failure due to poor planning , inadequate training , and timid leadership on the part of Saltonstall . Early life . Dudley Saltonstall was born in 1738 to Gurdon Saltonstall Jr and Mary Winthrop . Both sides of his family were prominent in British colonial politics ; his great - grandfather on his father ' s side was Sir Richard Saltonstall , and his mother was descended from John Winthrop , who served as governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in the 17th century . His father was a prominent figure in New London and Connecticut politics , serving as a probate judge and a leader of the community . In 1765 he married Frances Babcock , the daughter of Joshua Babcock , a doctor and lawyer who served on the supreme court of the Rhode Island Colony . Saltonstall took positions on the ships of the colonial mercantile fleet , and served as a merchant captain during the Seven Years ' War . In April 1762 he was given command of a letter of marque brigantine , the " Britannia " , with which he made several successful voyages to the West Indies . During these years he established a reputation as a competent ship ' s captain . Continental Navy . When the American Revolutionary War broke out , Saltonstall joined Connecticut ' s militia , helping to defend New London ' s harbor . When the Continental Navy was established , he was given one of the first captain ' s commissions , based on the recommendation of his brother - in - law Silas Deane , who served on Connecticut ' s Naval Committee . He was given command of the " Alfred " , the flagship of the new navy ' s commodore , Esek Hopkins . He hired John Paul Jones as his first lieutenant , and gave him the responsibility of overseeing the fitting out of the newly acquired ship . He and Jones did not get along well , as Jones did not like Saltonstall ' s sometimes distant and superior demeanor . Saltonstall captained the " Alfred " on the Continental Navy ' s maiden voyage in March 1776 , an expedition to Nassau in the Bahamas whose objective was arms and critically needed gunpowder . The expedition was somewhat successful , as Nassau was taken , but its governor had managed to remove much of the gunpowder before the takeover was completed . The return voyage was uneventful , although smallpox was spreading through the ships ' crews , until the fleet neared Block Island . On April 4 and 5 , the fleet captured British ships . On the morning of April 6 , the was spotted , and was brought to action . In the ensuing battle , " Alfred " steering controls were damaged by cannon fire , and she drifted out of the action . " Glasgow " was able to escape to Newport outrunning the heavily laden fleet . While the expedition was successful , Hopkins and Saltonstall were questioned over the fleet ' s failure to follow its stated orders , which had been to engage the British fleet off the Carolinas , and over its failure to capture the clearly outnumbered " Glasgow " . Saltonstall was not censured , but other captains in the fleet were punished for cowardly behavior . In September 1776 Saltonstall was given command of the " Trumbull " , which had been built at a dockyard on the Connecticut River . To Saltonstall ' s dismay , she was too heavily laden to cross the sand bar at the mouth of the river . After numerous repeated attempts to pass the bar in 1776 and 1777 , the Marine Committee gave her command to Elisha Hinman , who successfully floated her into Long Island Sound in August 1779 . Saltonstall ' s next command was the " Warren " , based in Boston . He replaced Hopkins at her helm in July 1779 ; Hopkins was suspended for breach of orders , and was eventually dismissed from the navy . Penobscot expedition . In the summer of 1779 , the British established a base in Penobscot Bay near present - day Castine , Maine , intended to be the beginning of a new province , New Ireland , and a stronghold for attacking American privateer s operating against British shipping . The state of Massachusetts ( which at that time included the District of Maine ) , organized an expedition to dislodge the British from this position . Saltonstall , the senior Continental Navy commander , was given command of the naval forces , which consisted primarily of ships from the Massachusetts State Navy , a large number of privateer s , and a few Continental Navy ships , include the " Warren " . Command of the land forces accompanying the expedition was given to a relatively inexperienced Massachusetts militia brigadier general , Solomon Lovell . The unwieldy fleet had virtually no captains with experience in any sort of fleet operations , and many of them were used to the independence afforded by their privateering operations . While Saltonstall had participated in the Nassau expedition , he had only exercised command over his ship . Furthermore , the expedition was to be his maiden voyage aboard his new command . The expedition sailed for Penobscot Bay on July 19 . When it arrived near the British base , commanders of the various forces met to consider their attack in a council that was later described by Paul Revere , the militia ' s artillery leader , as " more like a meeting in a Coffee House than a council of War " . Nothing of consequence was agreed , and the resultant lack of coordination between the various forces proved disastrous . Saltonstall and Lovell disagreed on tactics , and Saltonstall refused to take steps to engage the three British ships that were anchored near the fort in somewhat treacherous waters . He finally engaged Henry Mowat ' s small fleet at long range on June 29 ; his inexperienced gunnery crews did little damage , while Mowat ' s did significant damage to " Warren " and other ships . This made Saltonstall reluctant to order further engagements , including in support of land and amphibious operations . The arrival of a British relief fleet under Admiral George Collier at the mouth of the bay led to further strains . Saltonstall at first set up a line of defense against the arriving fleet , but when they began to close , he essentially ordered each ship to act independently , and the fleet organization dissolved . Most of the ships were eventually grounded and burned ; some were captured after brief exchanges by the British . The land forces were essentially abandoned , and many men had to make lengthy overland treks back to civilization . Saltonstall ' s reported inaction and timidity were blamed for the failure of the expedition . This may have been an unfair judgement , as few people understood the technological and nautical limitations Saltonstall faced . Other ship captains in the expedition overwhelmingly agreed that a naval assault was too risky without a simultaneous land attack on the British fort , which Lovell refused to provide . Saltonstall was court - martialed in September 1779 , found guilty , and eventually dismissed from military service . Later career . Saltonstall returned to Connecticut , and convinced one of his wife ' s relatives , Adam Babcock , to support him in a privateering venture . As captain of the 16 - gun brig " Minerva " , he embarked on a successful career as a privateer in 1781 . Among his prizes was the richest captured by a Connecticut ship ; the British ship " Hannah " was valued at £80 , 000 . After the war , he engaged in trade with the West Indies , and also dabbled in the slave trade . He died in 1796 in the West Indies , apparently of a tropical disease .