USS ''Wasp'' was originally a merchant schooner named ''Scorpion'', built at Baltimore, and purchased under authority from the
Second Continental Congress dated 2 December 1775 by Col. Benjamin Harrison sometime between 2 and 18 December 1775, the first US naval ship to be given that name. She was outfitted in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
from December 1775 to early 1776; and
commissioned in December 1775 or January 1776, Capt.
William Hallock
William Hallock, Ph. D., D.Pharm. (1857–1913) was an American physicist, born at Milton, Ulster County, New York, Milton, New York.
He graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University, Columbia College in 1879, and received the degree of ...
in command.
''Wasp'' set sail from Baltimore on 14 January 1776 in company with and a convoy of ships bound for the
Delaware Capes. By virtue of their voyage to meet Commodore
Esek Hopkins' squadron at the Delaware Capes, ''Wasp'' and ''Hornet'' appear to be the first ships of the Continental Navy to get to sea. They joined Hopkins' squadron on 13 February; and, four days later, the first American squadron to put to sea began its maiden voyage.
Interpreting his orders rather liberally, by ignoring those portions which related to operations in the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
and along the southern coast of the colonies, Hopkins led his fleet directly to the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...
. The ships, minus ''Hornet'' and , arrived at
Abaco in the Bahamas on 1 March, and Hopkins began laying plans for the raid on
New Providence. The fleet ran in to attempt a landing at the port of
Nassau but failed to achieve surprise. The landing, therefore, went forward several miles to the east of the town. ''Wasp'' and covered the
Marines
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
as they went ashore, but their guns never fired because the landing was not opposed. That afternoon, the landing force took
Fort Montague and the following day captured the town of Nassau and
Fort Nassau. They took a large quantity of
cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
—close to 90 pieces, and 15 brass mortars—but the governor had managed to foil the mission in its primary objective by spiriting away the bulk of the gunpowder which had been stored there. Hopkins had to settle for 24 casks of powder out of the 174 originally stored there. The cannon and other military stores captured, however, more than justified the enterprise.
The fleet remained at Nassau for about two weeks loading the booty of war. So large was the take that several local ships had to be pressed into service to carry the materiel back to North America. Hopkins' squadron finally hoisted sail on 17 March and set course for
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
. ''Wasp'', however, parted with the main fleet and made her way independently back to the Delaware capes and thence into port at
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 ...
, where she arrived on 4 April.
After repairs at Philadelphia, ''Wasp'' returned to duty in the
Delaware River and Bay. On 5 May, two British
men-of-war
The man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a Royal Navy expression for a powerful warship or frigate from the 16th to the 19th century. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually reserved for a ship armed w ...
, the 44-gun and the 28-gun , entered the bay with several prizes. In the face of these two formidable enemies, ''Wasp'' retreated into
Christiana Creek, but came out again on the 8th to join a force of galleys in attacking ''Roebuck'' after she had run aground. During the ensuing engagement, the Continental schooner captured the British brig
''Betsey'' and took her into Philadelphia where the British officers were placed in jail.
The schooner continued to operate on the
Delaware River and
Bay and along the nearby Atlantic coast for the remainder of her career.
On 28 June, she engaged in the
Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet to salvage the cargo of
''Nancy''.
Near the end of the year, she took three more prizes—''Leghorn Galley'' late in October, ''Two Brothers'' in December, and an unnamed sloop that same month. She also recaptured ''Success'', an American ship previously taken by HMS ''Roebuck''.
Into the fall of 1777, ''Wasp'' continued her operations in the vicinity of the Delaware Capes until November when she and four other ships unsuccessfully engaged the British force under Admiral Sir
Richard ("Black Dick") Howe. Philadelphia had already fallen to Admiral Howe's brother, General Sir
William Howe, late in September, but American forces retained control of the river below the city until losing that engagement. Following the clash, ''Wasp'' was run aground, set afire, and destroyed when her gunpowder exploded.
See also
*
List of schooners
__TOC__
The following are notable schooner-rigged vessels.
Active schooners
Historical schooners
* ''Schooner A.W. Greely, A. W. Greely'', originally named ''Donald II''
* ''Ada K. Damon''
* ''Albatross (1920 schooner), Albatross''
*
* '' ...
*
Bibliography of early American naval history
Historical accounts for early U.S. naval history now occur across the spectrum of two and more centuries. This Bibliography lends itself primarily to reliable sources covering early U.S. naval history beginning around the American Revolution per ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wasp (1775)
Wasp
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...
Schooners of the United States Navy
1770s ships
Maritime incidents in 1777