The Continental Navy

xebec A xebec ( or ), also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft-set mizzen mast. The term can also refer to a small, fast vessel of the sixteenth to nineteenth ...

, ''Champion'', commanded by Captain James Josiah, served in the Delaware River in a force composed of ships of the Continental and Pennsylvania State Navy during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. It was this force that contested British efforts to establish sea communications with their forces in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

in the fall of 1777. After several months of fighting against heavy odds, the American ships attempted to run past Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania State galleys succeeded but the Continental fleet, including ''Champion'', was burned by its own officers on 21 November 1777, when tide and winds turned against them.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Champion Ships of the Continental Navy 1777 ships Maritime incidents in 1777 Xebecs