Lentorama 2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

Day 7: Continental Navy Blocked

The Continental Navy executed a raid on Nassau, Bahams in early April, 1776, capturing a couple of forts and seizing all of the military equipment and stores they could fit on their ships before withdrawing to head back to New England. The fleet split into two columns, comprised of Continental naval vessels and prize ships captured at Nassau and during the trip home.

One of the columns encountered the HMS Glasgow, a dipatch ship sailing from Newport, Rhode Island to Charleston, South Carolina, in the early hours of Saturday, April 6 off of Block Island. Three Continental ships engaged the Glasgow, but none were able to do so effectively. The Glasgow's more effective fire damaged the Continental ships, and allowed the Glasgow to retreat to Newport. The Continental fleet broke off the engagement, as it did not want to fight the British naval squadron headquartered there. 

The skirmish, known as the Battle of Block Island, was a win for the British, as the Glasgow only suffered four casualties, while the Continental ships counted 24. In the aftermath of the encounter, the commanders of the USS Columbus and USS Hazard were both accused of a variety of charges. A court martial cleared the commander of the Columbus, but the Hazard's commander was convicted and forced to surrender his commission.

Commodore Esek Hopkins, who was in charge of the Continental fleet, also came under scrutiny, both for disobeying orders (he was supposed to sail to Virginia and the Carolinas rather than Nassau) and for distributing prizes without consulting Congress. He would hang on for a couple of years, but was finally dismissed from the navy in 1778.