Frederica naval action The Frederica naval action was a naval battle during the American Revolutionary War in which three galley s of the Georgia State Navy defeated a British raiding party off the coast of Georgia . The action occurred on April 19 , 1778 . Background . The state of Georgia had twice attempted , without success , to invade the British colony of East Florida . In 1778 a third attempt was launched , to be headed by Colonel Samuel Elbert . The catalyst for the invasion was the discovery , in April of that year , that four British ships were sailing in St . Simons Sound . Two of these , the sloop " Rebecca " and the watering brig " Hatter " , were private vessels under contract to the Royal Navy ; the other two , the frigate HMS " Galatea " and brigantine HMS " Hinchinbrook " , were official Royal Navy ships . For defense , Elbert had the galleys of the Georgia State Navy ; four of these , " Washington " , " Lee " , " Congress " , and " Bulloch " , had been underwritten by the Continental Congress and constructed in Savannah between 1776 and 1777 . All four were under the command of Commodore Oliver Bowen . Prelude . On April 15 Elbert received word that the Royal Navy had been spotted off the coast , and detailed around 360 men of the Georgia Continental battalions of Fort Howe to march to Darien ; from here they were to embark upon three of the galleys , " Washington " , " Bulloch " , and " Lee " . The first was led by Captain John Hardee , the second by Captain Archibald Hatcher , and the third by Captain John Cutler Braddock . By the middle of the afternoon on April 18 , the flotilla had entered the Frederica River and anchored at Pikes Bluff , close to a mile and a half above Fort Frederica . Troops under Colonel Robert Rae and Major Daniel Roberts were the first to land , followed , under Elbert ' s orders , by Captain George Young and the artillery detachment . They set up the field piece on the island . Officers were chosen to command troops on the galleys . Colonel John White was assigned to " Lee " , Captain George Melvin to " Washington " , and Lieutenant Barnard Patty to " Bulloch " . Elbert ordered Rae to take 100 of his men and march them to the fort , where British prisoners were taken . Some of the men in the scouting party which had been landed escaped by boat , taking word to " Galatea " to alert Captain Thomas Jordan to the imminent American attack . Jordan responded by sending a ship loaded with soldiers to assist " Hinchinbrook " and " Rebecca " . Elbert received some intelligence regarding the two British ships ; he decided , however , that it was too late in the evening to initiate an attack , and ordered his men to rest for the night . Battle . Early on the morning of April 19 , Elbert took the galleys down the river to attack the British ships , which were already ranged in their order of battle . The galleys likely initiated the attack shortly after first light , around 5 : 30 that morning , beginning their assault on the " Hinchinbrook " , " Rebecca " , and " Hatter " . Galleys are lightly built craft that are optimized for rowing . They are fragile and at a severe disadvantage against strongly built sailing vessels . However , galleys have a tactical advantage against pure sailing vessels in restricted waters or when there is no wind . Either by happenstance or by brilliant planning , the ebb tide combined with the lack of wind to give the Americans the advantage ; with no wind , the British ships were unable to sail forward to board and storm the galleys , and were forced to remain stationary . Consequently , the galleys began by firing a few random shots at the British vessels before anchoring a safe distance away and beginning a heavy cannon ade . " Hinchinbrook " and " Rebecca " carried four - pounder s which were no match for the heavier ordnance on the galleys , so they began dropping downriver , hoping to find a place to maneuver and possibly catch a breeze . They thought that the channel was deep , and sailed accordingly ; however , at around 10 in the morning , " Rebecca " suddenly became grounded at a place called " Raccoon Gut " . " Hinchinbrook " and " Hatter " soon suffered the same fate . As the galleys were drawing nearer , the British made the decision to abandon ship . Most of the officers and men crowded into the ship ' s boat s and rowed downriver to " Galatea " , which was still anchored in the sound . A few of " Hinchinbrook " crew were left behind . Aftermath . Although the battle was comparatively minor , it had a galvanizing effect on the people of Georgia , for it disabled two ships which had been capturing American merchant ships off the South Carolina and Georgia coasts . More importantly , it helped to delay by over eight months a British attempt to capture Fort Morris and the town of Sunbury . At the same time , it demonstrated the effectiveness of galleys , when heavily armed , in confined waters . Elbert , for his part , was deeply impressed with the victory , writing to General Robert Howe that . . . you must imagine what my feelings were , to see our three little men of war going on to the attack of these three vessels who have spread terror on our coast , and who were drawn up in order of battle ; but the weight of our metal soon damped the courage of these heroes , who soon took to their boats : and , as many as could , abandoned the vessels with everything on board , of which we immediately took possession . What is extraordinary , we have not one man hurt . . . Fresh from the victory at Frederica , Elbert went on to lead the disastrous Third Florida Expedition later that year .