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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name |
|
| Builder | John Brown ofProvidence, Rhode Island[1] |
| Cost | $1250 |
| Launched | about 1768 |
| Acquired | By Rhode Island, 15 June 1775 |
| Commissioned | Into Continental Navy, 3 December 1775 |
| Fate | Destroyed by her crew, 14 August 1779 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Sloop |
| Length | ~65 feet |
| Beam | 20 feet |
| Sail plan | jib, flying jib, staysail, square sail, and fore-and-aft mainsail |
| Complement | 6 officers, 22 seamen, 26 Marines |
| Armament | 12 × 4-pounder guns and 14 × railside swivel guns |
| Service record | |
| Commanders: |
|
| Operations: | |
USSProvidence was a 12-gunsloop of theContinental Navy. Originally theRhode Island State Navy shipKaty, she took part in a number of campaigns during the first half of theAmerican Revolutionary War before being destroyed by her own crew in 1779 to prevent her falling into the hands of the British after the failedPenobscot Expedition.
From early 1775,Royal Navy warships, in particular the post shipRose, carried out anti-smuggling operations off the New England coast. They frequently searchedRhode Island merchant shipping, annoying the colony's merchants. On 13 June, Deputy GovernorNicholas Cooke wrote the frigate's CaptainJames Wallace demanding restoration of several ships whichRose had detained. Two days later, the Rhode Island General Assembly ordered the committee of safety to fit out two ships to defend the colony's shipping, and appointed a committee of three to obtain the vessels. That day, the committee chartered the sloopKaty fromJohn Brown ofProvidence and the sloopWashington at the same time. The General Assembly appointedAbraham Whipple as commander ofKaty, the larger ship, and made him commodore of the tiny fleet. Whipple had won fame in burning the British armed schoonerGaspee in 1772, and he captured a tender to HMSRose before sunset that same day.Katy then cruised inNarragansett Bay through the summer protecting coastal shipping.
Gunpowder was an essential commodity, scarce in theContinental Army throughout the Revolutionary War and desperately low during the first year of the struggle for independence. Late in the summer of 1775, the shortage inWashington's army besiegingBoston became so severe that he was unable to use his artillery, and his riflemen would have been unable to repel an attack had the British taken the offensive. Cooke, therefore, ordered Whipple to cruise for two weeks offSandy Hook, New Jersey to intercept a powder-laden packet expected from London. He was then to proceed to Bermuda to capture the powder stored in the British magazine there.Katy departed Narragansett Bay on 12 September but caught no sight of the packet. Upon reaching Bermuda, Whipple learned that the powder from the magazine was already en route toPhiladelphia.
Katy was purchased by Rhode Island 31 October 1775, soon after she returned to Providence. Late in November, she sailed for Philadelphia carrying seamen enlisted by CommodoreEsek Hopkins inNew England for Continental service. She arrived on 3 December and was immediately taken into Continental service and renamedProvidence.
Captain Whipple assumed command ofUSS Columbus, a larger ship, and CaptainJohn Hazard was placed in command ofProvidence, formalized by a commission from theContinental Congress dated 9 January 1776. The ships joined a squadron being formed by Congress under the command ofEsek Hopkins, who was Commander in Chief of the Fleet of the United Colonies; they ordered him to sail forChesapeake Bay on 5 January 1776 and to clear waters there of a fleet organized the previous autumn byGovernor Dunmore ofVirginia. These ships were cruising in the shores of the bay and the rivers which empty into it. Once Whipple's ships had completed this task, they were to move south and attack British ships off the Carolina coast, then sail North toRhode Island to perform a similar service.
Providence and her consorts departed Philadelphia early in January but were delayed by ice and did not get to sea until 17 February. Hopkins deemed it unwise to cruise along the southern coast and led his little fleet to theAbaco Islands in the Bahamas, which they reached on 1 March and staged for araid onNew Providence. The next day, they seized two sloops on which Hopkins placed a landing party of 200 marines and 50 sailors. The Americans went ashore unopposed on the eastern end of New Providence at mid-morning of the 3rd, under cover of the guns ofProvidence andWasp. They advanced towardFort Montagu which opened fire, interrupting the invaders' progress. The defenders spiked their guns and retreated toFort Nassau. The next day, Nassau surrendered and gave the Americans the keys to the Fort. Hopkins then brought his ships into the harbor and spent two weeks loading captured munitions before heading home on 17 March.
Hopkins’ ships captured the schoonerHawk off Block Island on 4 April, belonging to the British fleet atNewport, Rhode Island, and they took the brigBolton at dawn the next day. That evening, the Americans added a brigantine and a sloop to their list of prizes, both from New York. About 1 a.m. on 6 April,USS Andrew Doria sightedHMS Glasgow, a 20-gun sloop carrying dispatches from Newport toCharleston, South Carolina.Glasgow engaged the American squadron for one and a half hours, badly damaging it before sailing to Newport. After daylight, Hopkins ordered his ships to give up the chase and headed with his fleet and prizes forNew London, Connecticut, where they arrived on the 8th.
"You are to take command of the sloopProvidence and put her in the best condition you can – and you are to take soldiers on board that belong to General Washington's army and carry them to New York as soon as you can."
LieutenantJohn Paul Jones took command ofProvidence on 10 May and made a voyage to New York, returning about 100 soldiers to the Continental Army whom Washington had lent to Hopkins to help man the American fleet, and Jones then hove down the ship to clean her bottom. She sailed again on 13 June, escortingFly toFishers Island at the entrance to Long Island Sound. He recaptured a brigantine which had been captured by the British frigateCerberus, bringing munitions fromHispaniola.
Providence next escorted a convoy ofcolliers to Philadelphia, arriving 1 August, and Jones received his permanent commission as captain a week later.Providence departed the Delaware Capes on the 21st to begin an independent cruise; she took the brigantineBritannia soon after and sent her into Philadelphia under a prize crew. On 1 September, daring seamanship enabled Jones to escape from the British frigateSolebay. Two days later,Providence captured the Bermudan brigantineSea Nymph carrying sugar, rum, ginger, and oil and sent her to Philadelphia. On the 6th,Providence caught the brigantineFavourite carrying sugar from Antigua to Liverpool, butHMS Galatea recaptured the prize before she could reach an American port.
Turning north, Jones headed for Nova Scotia and escaped another frigate on 20 September before hisraid on Canso two days later. There he recruited men to fill the vacancies created by manning his prizes, burned a British fishing schooner, sank a second, and captured a third besides a shallop which he used as a tender.Providence took several more prizes fishing near Ile Madame before riding out a severe storm. The whalerPortland surrendered to her before she returned to Narragansett Bay on 8 October.
WhileProvidence was at home, Hopkins appointed Jones the commander ofAlfred, a larger ship and the Commander in Chief's flagship on the expedition to the Bahamas, and Captain Hoysted Hacker took command ofProvidence. The two ships got under way 11 November. They took the brigantineActive after ten days and the armed transportMellish the next day, carrying winter uniforms and military supplies for the British Army. On the 16th, they captured the snowKitty.Providence had been troubled by leaks which developed during bad weather on the cruise, so she headed back for Rhode Island and arrived at Newport two days later.
The British seized Narragansett Bay in December 1776 andProvidence retired up the Providence River with other American vessels. She ran the British blockade in February 1777 under Lt. Jonathan Pitcher and put into New Bedford, then cruised to Cape Breton where she captured a transport brig loaded with stores and carrying two officers and 25 soldiers of the British Army, besides her crew. She made two cruises on the coast under command of CaptainJohn Peck Rathbun, and sailed from Georgetown, N.C. about mid-January 1778, again bound for New Providence in the Bahamas but this time alone. On 27 January, she spiked the guns of the fort at Nassau, taking military stores including 1,600 pounds of powder and releasing 30 American prisoners. She also captured a 16-gun British ship and recaptured five other vessels which had been brought in by the British. On 30 January, the prizes were manned and sailed away, except two that were burned,[3] andProvidence put into New Bedford with her armed prize.
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During the early part of April 1779,Providence was ordered to make a short cruise in Massachusetts Bay and along the coast of Maine. She later sailed south of Cape Cod and captured the brigHMS Diligent, 12 guns off Sandy Hook on 7 May. She fired two broadsides and a volley of muskets during the engagement andDiligent was forced to surrender, with mast rigging and hull cut to pieces.Providence was then assigned to Commodore Saltonstall's squadron which departed Boston on 19 July 1779 and entered Penobscot Bay 25 July.
Providence was scuttled by her crew, along with other American vessels in the Penobscot River on 14 August 1779 to prevent her from falling into the hands of the British towards the end of the failedPenobscot Expedition.
In the early 1970s a reproduction of theProvidence was constructed with a fiberglass hull and was used for youth sail training. The ship was maintained by the Providence Maritime Heritage Foundation. The ship was commissioned byJohn Fitzhugh Millar who was the captain of the replica frigateRose in the 1970s.[4]
She was launched in 1976 and designated in 1992 as theflagship and tall ship ambassador of the state ofRhode Island. The ship was indrydock for the winter of 2015, when she was toppled and severely damaged by high winds during theJanuary 2015 nor'easter.[5]
Providence is currently docked in Alexandria, Virginia, under the care of the Tall Ship Providence Foundation. The ship now offers tours, sails, and educational programs to tourists and locals alike.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
