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lost her bowsprit and her topmasts, a portion of which fell down and damaged the poop deck. Another portion of the topmasts fell into the top-gallant sails and then onto the cap. Five
British sailors were killed and another twelve men received wounds.
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with a broadside. The
British, in turn, responded and opened fire. This bloody battle raged on for twenty minutes. Captain Biddle was wounded early in the battle but continued to fight. It is thought that the shots that wounded him came from the
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782:. However, after sailing out to meet the British off Charleston on February 14, the enemy was nowhere in sight, so the American fleet headed for the West Indies where Biddle would raid commerce. On February 16, the fleet burned a British
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came across them on March 12 while she was chasing a ship west. The four survivors were found clinging to wreckage and had survived by sucking rain water out of a blanket. The death of
Captain Biddle was considered a severe blow to the
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under the command of
Captain Nicholas Vincent. After a few hours of maneuvering, at about 9:00 pm, the Americans raised their colors and opened fire on the
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s sail also gave the
Americans the advantage to slip away. The four surviving Americans were not captured until five days later; HMS
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then sank with a loss of 301 men and only four survivors. Captain Biddle died ten days later due to the wounds he sustained.
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718:. The following action resulted in America's most costly naval defeat, in terms of human lives, until the sinking of
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802:. Three days after that, at about 5:30 pm, on March 7, 1778, the Americans were sailing off the eastern coast of
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where a large number of merchantmen were trapped. After breaking the blockade Biddle was to sail into the
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in the first twelve to fifteen minutes, while the
American ships were still mostly unharmed. The
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when lookouts spotted a large ship to the windward. Captain Biddle assumed the vessel to be a
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so he directed most of his ships to continue on while he remained behind with the
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The
Americans seemed to be on the verge of victory when a spark entered the
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Naval battles of the
American Revolutionary War involving the United States
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923:"Action off Barbados, USS Randolph v. HMS Yarmouth, American Revolution"
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Naval battles of the
American Revolutionary War involving Great Britain
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The enemy ship turned out to be the sixty-four-gun HMS
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A History of the United States Navy, from 1775 to 1898
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A naval history of the
American Revolution, Volume 1
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8:
993:Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
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868:, Biddle and his men heavily damaged the
762:. Four other armed ships accompanied the
987:This article incorporates text from the
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683:was fought in March 1778 during the
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1042:History of the Colony of Barbados
864:According to Captain Hall of the
798:that was added to the fleet as a
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839:, which accidentally struck the
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818:to engage the oncoming vessel.
750:to break the enemy blockade of
786:that had been dis-masted by a
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1:
739:commanded the thirty-six-gun
687:. While escorting a fleet of
603:2nd Demerara & Essequibo
568:1st Demerara & Essequibo
1011:. Houghton Mifflin Company.
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1007:Allen, Gardner W. (1913).
814:and the eighteen-gun ship
685:American Revolutionary War
39:American Revolutionary War
1016:Maclay, Edgar S. (1898).
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790:, and on March 4, the
272:Atlantic naval theatre
167:Commanders and leaders
1047:1778 in the Caribbean
1022:. D. Appleton and Co.
766:in this mission: the
219:Casualties and losses
705:was attacked by the
98: /
885:After sinking the
681:Battle of Barbados
419:2nd Chesapeake Bay
209:1 ship of the line
32:Battle of Barbados
18:Battle of Barbados
1037:Conflicts in 1778
946:Maclay, pg. 83–84
794:captured a small
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563:Dutch West Indies
466:Revolutionary War
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663:Turks and Caicos
658:17 February 1783
653:15 February 1783
538:12 December 1779
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931:. Retrieved
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533:San Fernando
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328:Charles Town
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290:Block Island
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130:Belligerents
52:USS Randolph
51:
37:Part of the
693:West Indies
628:Black River
618:The Saintes
598:Frigate Bay
528:Cayo Cocina
518:2nd Grenada
513:1st Grenada
471:West Indies
348:Cape Breton
231:4 captured
229:301 killed
105: /
1031:Categories
933:2011-12-27
909:References
866:Notre Dame
772:Notre Dame
752:Charleston
729:Background
668:3rd Nassau
633:2nd Nassau
608:Montserrat
578:Fort Royal
548:Guadeloupe
483:1st Nassau
394:Hudson Bay
343:Cape Split
226:12 wounded
212:1 frigate
93:59°27′25″W
90:13°11′13″N
881:Aftermath
808:man-o-war
788:privateer
725:in 1941.
523:Río Hondo
318:Frederica
224:5 killed
898:Yarmouth
891:Yarmouth
887:Randolph
874:Yarmouth
870:Yarmouth
859:Randolph
848:Randolph
841:Randolph
832:Yarmouth
828:Yarmouth
812:Randolph
804:Barbados
796:schooner
778:and the
764:Randolph
744:Randolph
715:Yarmouth
702:Randolph
689:American
493:Dominica
488:Barbados
464:American
361:Cape Ann
355:Trumbull
305:Yarmouth
300:Barbados
204:Strength
77:Barbados
71:Location
734:Captain
722:Arizona
707:British
697:frigate
384:Halifax
312:Hancock
196:†
985:
822:Battle
800:tender
774:, the
770:, the
695:, the
613:Roatán
583:Tobago
373:Savage
285:Nassau
214:1 brig
192:
157:
142:
118:Result
894:'
851:'
792:Polly
780:Polly
784:ship
720:USS
713:HMS
700:USS
679:The
75:Off
63:Date
741:USS
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853:s
843:.
754:,
79:,
996:.
936:.
468::
455:e
448:t
441:v
262:e
255:t
248:v
20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
