The USS ''Liberty'' was a
schooner built at
Skenesboro, New York, on
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain ( ; french: Lac Champlain) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the US states of New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canada, Canadian province of Quebec.
The New York portion of t ...
, for wealthy landowner and former
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
Captain
Philip Skene. It was captured on 11 May 1775 during a raid on Skenesboro led by Capt. Samuel Herrick, an early action in 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 ...
.
Service history
Originally named ''Katherine'', she was renamed ''Liberty'' to honor the patriot cause.
She sailed to
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French milit ...
on 13 May 1775 and filled out her crew. Later that day she got underway for
Fort Crown Point
Fort Crown Point was built by the combined efforts of both British and provincial troops (from New York and the New England Colonies) in North America in 1759 at a narrows on Lake Champlain on what later became the border between New York and Verm ...
where she arrived at sunset the following day. On 16 May she pushed on toward
St. Jean, the British shipyard on the lake. North of
Isle La Motte
Isle La Motte is an island in Lake Champlain in northwestern Vermont, United States. At 7 mi (11 km) by 2 mi (3 km), it lies close to the place that the lake empties into the Richelieu River. It is incorporated as a New England town in Grand Isle ...
, the schooner was becalmed, but General
Benedict Arnold with a party of 35 men pressed on in small boats. After rowing all night the raiders surprised the fort and captured the
sloop ''George'', mounting six 6-pounders.
''Liberty'' and the prize, renamed , gave the Americans undisputed control of the entire lake. The two ships, reinforced by new vessels built at Skenesboro, supported the Continental forces during the Canadian campaign, and prepared to defend the lake when the British assumed the offensive. During the
Battle of Valcour Island
The Battle of Valcour Island, also known as the Battle of Valcour Bay, was a naval engagement that took place on October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain. The main action took place in Valcour Bay, a narrow strait between the New York mainland and ...
, ''Liberty'', away on a supply run, escaped the fate of most of Arnold's fleet, only to be destroyed the following summer as
Burgoyne marched south.
References
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberty (1775)
Schooners of the United States Navy
Ships of the Continental Navy
Ships built in Whitehall, New York
1775 ships
Lake Champlain