By Willie White
IS HE the greatest American hero of all time? To many, the answer would be positive. To his peers it would be certain, and to historians, he would be right there at the top. Never has his courage, his honour, his dedication or his fairness in the treatment of either friend or foe been questioned, which is remarkable considering the context of actions he was involved in.
John Barry is aptly named the Father of the American Navy. Besides his own heroic record (which we will mention later), he was also responsible for training of most of the distinguished officers under his command. Here are some extracts from tributes paid to him.
Mr Dennie, in 1813: “The utility of whose services and the splendour of whose exploits, entitle him to the foremost rank among our naval heroes.”
Allen’s Biographical Dictionary 1809: “He was a patriot of integrity and unquestioned bravery.”
Foster’s Naval Biography states: “Few commanders were employed in a greater variety of services, or met the enemy under greater disadvantage, and yet he did not fail to acquit himself of his duty in a manner becoming of a skilful seaman, and a brave warrior,”
Commodore John Barry was born into a poor tenant family in Ballysampson, Our Lady’s Island, Co Wexford, in September 1745. The exact date of his birth is unknown. His family was evicted and moved to nearby Rosslare, where John’s uncle, Nicholas, was captain of a fishing boat.
And John quickly decided to follow the seafaring route. It is uncertain when he left Ireland, probably when he was about 14, and it is believed he arrived in Philadelphia, via Spanishtown, Jamaica, where he took up employment with the commercial fleets of Meredith, then Willing and Morris.
Barry became a cabin boy, progressing from seaman to able seaman to mate, and although records are scarce, we are aware that the now 21-year-old 6ft 4in and well-built Barry was given command of the schooner Barbados on 2 October 1766.
For five years he made regular return voyages to Bridgetown, the principal trading port of the island of Barbados.
In May 1771, Captain Barry took command of the brig Patty and Polly. Three months later, he was commander of the schooner, Industry, trading between Virginia, New York and Halifax, Nova Scotia.
On 9 October 1772, he became captain of the Peggy. In 1774 a register for the ship Black Prince was issued to John Barry as Master. It was owned by John Nixon, whose grandfather Richard was also a Wexford native, of whom little is known of his early days or his exact birth place. He was a well-respected business man in Philadelphia, responsible for the construction of Nixon’s Wharf in that city. John Nixon was the man who read the Declaration of Independence on 8 July 1776. Nixon also became the second president of the North American Bank.
During this period, John Barry married Mary Clary on 31 October
1767. Tragedy struck when Mary died just seven years later at the tender age of 29.
Another tragedy to hit Barry was the loss of his brother Patrick, whose ship, The Union, left Bordeaux in August 1778, and was never heard of again.
Barry married his second wife, Sarah Austin of New Jersey, on 7 July 1777. They had no children of their own, but raised Patrick and Michael. They were the sons of his sister Eleanor and her husband Thomas Hayes who died in the 1780s.
Barry was commissioned captain of the Lexington, a ship named after the first battle of the revolution. He became the first commander of the new naval service in December 1775. The Lexington was one of two ships purchased by congress. It was fitted out with 14 guns and was the first of the naval force vessels used by the united colonies. The other ship, the Reprisal had 12 guns and was commanded by Captain Wickes.
Black Prince was purchased by the marine committee and renamed The Alfred, after Alfred the Great, founder of the British Navy, and placed under the command of Captain Salstronstal, with another American hero, John Paul Jones, as his lieutenant.
On Barry’s first mission out of Cape May, he outwitted a British pirate Man-O-War The Roebuck and her tender The Edward which put to sea in an attempt to intercept, but Barry was too fast, and showed the pirates how to sail.
The Lexington’s next action was more serious, as she clashed with the British Sloop Edward off the Capes of Virginia, on Sunday 7 7 April 1776. In a short but bitter battle, The Edward was captured after a number of her crewmen were killed, while Lexington sustained two casualties and two wounded.
Among The Edward’s prisoners was Richard Dale, a Virginian lieutenant, captured in an earlier battle and coerced into joining the crew of the British ship. Barry gave Dale the option of joining him as midshipman, which Dale duly accepted. The two men became close friends, with Dale himself later reaching the rank of commodore.
When Barry died, he willed his friend his gold-hilted sword as a token of their friendship. The sword is still in the hands of Captain Dale’s descendants.
The capture of The Edward was the first of many successes for the new navy. Records show that more than 800 vessels (100 of which were Royal Navy ships) and 12,000 sailors were taken.
Barry’s career had many memorable moments. He was given command of the newly constructed 32-gun frigate Effingham which he had to scuttle when the British assault on Philadelphia was imminent.
He became a soldier, and fought in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Returning to sea, he took command of seven small craft, made up of row boats, barges and longboats, with which he attacked and captured two sloops and a schooner. In another action, he destroyed three ships, including a frigate, which led to a commendation from George Washington.
One of the few setbacks he had was when, in command of the frigate Raleigh, he was attacked by a superior British force led by The Unicorn and lost his ship. He had to deal with three mutinies by throwing the offenders overboard.
It is no secret that Barry’s favourite ship was The Alliance, and his most renowned encounter was on that ship off the coast of Newfoundland when he was badly wounded in a battle with two smaller British vessels which were favoured by slack wind conditions.
The Alliance was hit several times and many crewmen were killed. When requested to strike the colours by second-in-command, Lieutenant Hacker, Barry gave orders for him to be carried on deck, where he proceeded to disable the two opposing ships, The Atlanta and Trepassey, before taking them captive. The battle had lasted four hours.
These are just a few highlights of John Barry’s naval career. On 10 May 1797, the first USS United States was launched under the command of the now Commodore Barry. This vessel would serve as his flagship. He was commanderin-chief of all American warships in the battle with France (1798 to
1800) and served his last day of active duty on 6 March 1801.
He remained as head of the navy until his death on 12 September 1803 aged 58. He died from asthmatic complications, and was buried with full military honours in St Mary’s churchyard, Philadelphia, two days later.
Many memorials stand to John Barry’s memory, including a park in Brooklyn New York and a bridge over the Delaware River. Four US navy ships have borne his name. Schools and streets are called after him, and many monuments were erected, including a bronze statue of him gazing out to sea at Crescent Quay in Wexford town which was presented by the US government in 1956.