The third ship to be named Washington, a lateen-rigged, two-masted galley, was built on Lake Champlain at Skenesboro, New York, in the autumn of 1776. On 6 October 1776, the galley joined the small fleet established and commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold.[1]
Design
Washington was 72ft 4in (22.05m) long, 19ft 7in (5.97m) wide with a draft of 6ft 2in (1.88m)and a displacement of 123 long tons (125t).[1]
Washington, commanded by Brigadier General David Waterbury, Arnold's second in command—was among Arnold's ships that anchored in the lee of Valcour Island to await the expected English move.[1]
When that lakeward push began, Capt. Thomas Pringle, of the Royal Navy, led a 25-ship fleet past Valcour Island on 11 October. Pringle sighted the American fleet after he had passed it and attacked from leeward. In the ensuing action, Washington suffered the heaviest damage of any ship in Arnold's fleet; Waterbury, her commander, subsequently reported that she was
... so torn to pieces that it was almost impossible to keep her above water.[1]
Arnold regrouped his shattered fleet and slipped past the British on 12 October with muffled oars, the Americans slipping noiselessly past Pringle's fleet in a desperate attempt at escape. However, after a long chase, the British caught the retreating Continental force the following day, on 13 October, at Split Rock near Crown Point.[1]
After the battle
Arnold managed to beach and destroy four of the galleys and his own flagship, Congress, while most of the remaining ships escaped upriver. Only Washington, at the rear of the van, was captured by the enemy; she struck her colors, as Arnold reported later, " ... after receiving a few broadsides."[1]
Final disposition
Washington was eventually taken into British service, apparently retaining her name, and was re-rigged as a brig. Her subsequent fate, however, is unrecorded.[1]
DANFS (26 October 2015). "Washington III (Galley)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 26 July 2016. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Priolo, Gary P. (15 July 2016). "Washington (III)". NavSource Naval History. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
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 Valcour Island. The battle is generally regarded as one of the first naval battles of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the first fought by the United States Navy. Most of the ships in the American fleet under the command of Benedict Arnold were captured or destroyed by a British force under the overall direction of General Guy Carleton. However, the American defense of Lake Champlain stalled British plans to reach the upper Hudson River valley.
A xebec, 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 centuries, used almost exclusively in the Mediterranean Sea.
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USS Lee was a galley built for the Continental Navy during the American Revolution. She participated in the Battle of Valcour Island during which she was grounded and lost. However, her participation in the battle helped delay the British advance on New York City by a year.
USS Spitfire was an American gundalow that operated as a gunboat in 1776 on Lake Champlain. She was part of Benedict Arnold's small, hastily built fleet of ships whose purpose was to counter any British invasion forces passing through the lake from Canada. Her service life was brief; after only a few months patrolling the lake she was lost in the aftermath of the Battle of Valcour Island. The gunboat's wreck was located and documented in the 1990s by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.
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Vice-Admiral Thomas Pringle was a British officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
An udema, also udenma, was a type of warship built for the Swedish archipelago fleet in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was developed for warfare in the Archipelago Sea in the Baltic and along the coasts of Svealand and Finland against the Russian navy. The udema was designed by the prolific naval architect Fredrik Henrik af Chapman for use in an area of mostly shallow waters and groups of islands and islets that extend from Stockholm all the way to the Gulf of Finland.
New York (1776) was a gunboat built in 1776 at Skenesboro, New York. It was originally called Success prior to launch for service in General Benedict Arnold's fleet on Lake Champlain. New York may be named after the City of New York, because other ships in the fleet were named after cities, however, it could be named after the State of New York, because at least one or two other ships, Connecticut and Jersey, sometimes referred to as New Jersey, were named after states.
Royal Savage was a two-masted schooner built by the British in the summer of 1775. She was damaged and sunk by soldiers of the United Colonies during the Siege of Fort St. Jean and later raised and repaired after the fort was captured. She then participated in General Benedict Arnold's campaign on Lake Champlain. The British captured and burnt her in October 1776 at Valcour Island.
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