An Arctic Summer: April 19, 1773

A quick note: my name is Mike Romero, and I'm a Historic Interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg.  The postings I make on this site are my own personal opinions and research, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Colonial Williamsburg.  With that said, enjoy the read!

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Anyone who has spent a summer in the tidewater of Virginia can tell you that it gets hot and sticky down here.  Interpreters throughout Colonial Williamsburg have their own tricks for beating the summer heat.  Me, I'm trying a variant of 'mind over mater,' pretending I'm somewhere a bit cooler.  To that end, this is the first in a series of posts I'll be making throughout the summer chronicling the attempt of two Royal Navy vessels to sail to the North Pole in the summer of 1773.  I'll be posting entries from the journal on particularly noteworthy days with some interesting background information, as well as weather data recorded that day during the expedition and comparing it to what the Weather Channel app says about CW, just for fun.

Constantine John Phipps,
Second Baron Mulgrave

The notion of a passage to the East Indies via the North Pole was suggested as early as 1527.  In a letter to King Henry VIII, Robert Thorne suggests that as Spain and Portugal had profited greatly from nautical discoveries to the east and west, and that it was only natural that England should profit from discoveries to the north...in fact, Thorne apparently suggests that it is the King's particular duty to further England's reputation and glory by promoting such explorations.  In another letter written to Henry's ambassador to Charles V, THorne hypothesizes that during the summer, it shouldn't be prohibitively cold at the Pole due to the abundance of daylight; he suggests that the notion that encountering excessive cold at the Pole to the point of death will prove as equally as fallacious as the old notion of dying from extreme heat as one approached the equator.  Several known northern reaches experiencing fairly temperate climates year round tended to support his hypothesis.

Despite the writings of Thorne and several other prominent thinkers, no exploration of the circumpolar seas appear to have taken place until Henry Hudson attempted to find a northern passage to Japan and China in 1607.  Hudson and several other explorers in the years between 1607 and 1613 attempt to pass the North Pole by sea, none getting farther north than 82 degrees latitude before encountering impassible ice.  No other voyages were known to be attempted until 1773, when the Royal Society encouraged King George III to order and sponsor another expedition.  Constantine Phipps was already an accomplished naval officer, and a veteran of the Seven Years War.  In 1765, he served as a lieutenant aboard HMS Niger during an exploration and survey of Newfoundland, where he becomes friends with the soon to be prominent natuaralist Joseph Banks.  When Phipps hears of the expedition being planned, he quickly volunteers, and is selected to command the expedition consisting of the converted bomb ketches Racehorse and Carcass.

Knowing that the expedition will face many difficulties from the cold, likely harder than normal labor, and most likely encounter large amounts of dangerous ice, the two vessels are fitted out appropriately.  The bomb ketches (a type of vessel whose primary armament are a series of heavy mortars, ideal for shore bombardment) already boast a strong construction due to the nature of their original mission, but their hulls are further reinforced to better punch through loose pack ice without risk of damage.  The usual stock of provisions described in 'Regulations and Instructions Relating to His Majesty's Service at Sea' are adjusted to include additional supplies of spirits as an added constitutional and incentive for the men, a more extensive variety of cold weather clothing is added to the slop chests, an apparatus for distilling drinkable water from the sea is put aboard, and the crews are chosen specifically to be of high experience (substituting additional Able Seamen for the usual number of boys), officers hand-picked for their reliability, etc.  Various instruments for a variety of scientific purposes are included, along with several members of the Royal Society to make many valuable scientific observations of opportunity during the voyage.

From Phipps' Journal:
"April 19th, 1773, I received my commission for the Racehorse, with an order to get her fitted with the greatest dispatch for a voyage of discovery towards the North Pole, and to proceed to the Nore for further orders."

No weather data until we get out to sea.  Join me throughout the summer to see how the voyage unfolds!

Source:
Phipps, Constantine John.  A Voyage Towards the North Pole Undertaken at His Majesty's Command. (J. Nourse, 1773.)

The Continental Navy vs. HMS Glascow

A quick note: my name is Mike Romero, and I'm a Historic Interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg.  The postings I make on this site are my own personal opinions and research, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Colonial Williamsburg.  With that said, enjoy the read!

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"Commodore Hopkins, Commander-in-Chief
of the American Fleet,"
mezzotint engraved by C. Corbutt

In the early hours of April 6, 1776, in waters off New England, five ships of the Continental Navy:the 30-gun ship Alfred, the brigs Cabot, Columbus, and Andrew Doria, along with the sloop Providence came across the 20-gun HMS Glascow and her tender Nautilus.  Under the command of Commodore Esek Hopkins, the Continental squadron anticipated an easy victory.  The morning would not go as planned.

The British vessel had been sighted by a lookout aboard Andrew Doria  just after midnight.  Captain Nicholas Biddle, a veteran of the Royal Navy, promptly ordered light hung from the ensign staff and two false fires lit in the prearranged signal for having sighted a strange sail.  Less than an hour later, the brig Cabot was alongside Andrew Doria with the Continental flagship Alfred right behind.  As the Continentals closed on the enemy, Biddle regularly expected signals from Commodore Hopkins dictating tactics to the squadron...forming a line of battle to smash Glascow with successive broadsides, for example...but he was disappointed.  No signals came from the flagship, and Biddle watched with disgust as each ship went off on it's own initiative, "all went Helter Skelter, one flying here and another there to cut off the retreat of a fellow who did not fear us,"

HMS Glascow was a relatively small vessel; at 20-guns she was the minimum strength to qualify as a sixth rate, just large enough to have a full post-captain in command rather than a commander or even a lieutenant.  Glascow had originally been part of a larger British squadron known to be operating nearby, but she and her tender had been recently detached to Virginia, bearing dispatches for Lord Dunmore.  Under the command of Captain Tyringham Howe, Glascow made straight for the Continental squadron, despite being outnumbered five-to-one.  Coming up on the port bow of Cabot, Howe asked the ships to identify themselves.  Cabot's Captain John Hopkins (son of the Commodore) named his own ship and Alfred just astern.  The exchange was cut short when a Marine on one of Cabot's fighting tops threw a grenade that exploded on Glascow's deck.  The British promptly responded with a full broadside, and the engagement began.

Cabot was outmatched, attempting to put her sixteen 6-pound guns against Glascow's twenty 9-pounders.  To make matters worse, Cabot was crewed with Americans almost entirely unused to battle at sea, with nervous gun crews unable to match the British vessel's far superior rate of fire.  Multiple broadsides smashed the Continental brig, ruining her rigging, killing four and wounding seven to include the young Captain Hopkins.  After several minutes of intense punishment, Cabot sheered off to allow Alfred to attack.  In the process, she very nearly rammed Andrew Doria as the other brig moved in to attack.  Captain Biddle's quick reflexes prevented a collision, but in doing so was forced to temporarily turn away from the engagement.

With twenty 9-pounders and ten 6-pounders, Alfred should have been more than a match for Glascow.  Once again, however, the relative inexperience of the Continental crew came back to bite them.  The British ship fired far more often than Alfred, despite the heroic efforts of Lieutenant John Paul Jones on her gun deck, his relentless drilling of the gun crews paying off as Glascow began to take damage.  Marines on both ships poured musket fire and grenades at the opposing crews.  The two ships blazed away for nearly a half hour before a fortuitous shot destroyed Alfred's wheel block and ropes...the Continental flagship could no longer steer.  Drifting out of control, Alfred was helpless as Glascow crossed her bow and raked her, firing a broadside down the entire length of the ship.  This proved to be devastating to Alfred: rigging was shredded, masts damaged, the hull pierced below the waterline, and killing four aboard ship.

A short time later, Alfred had regained control of her steering and Glascow was sailing past her to the northeast with Andrew Doria in hot pursuit.  After working furiously to get his ship into action, Captain Abraham Whipple in the brig Columbus was able to approach Glascow's stern on the starboard side.  It had taken nearly two hours, but three of the Continental ships were  finally able to coordinate their attack: Alfred to port, Andrew Doria at the center, and Columbus to starboard.  The Cabot remained out of action, almost completely disabled.  Captain John Hazard of the sloop Providence expended all his efforts in keeping his speedy vessel safely clear of the action.  The three active Continental ships traded chaser fire with Glascow and were slowly closing.  It began to look increasingly likely that the British frigate would be taken, and Captain Howe ordered his signal books and dispatches cast overboard to prevent their capture.

The chase continued until dawn, when the wind unexpectedly changed, allowing the harried Glascow to bear away.  As the light increased, Commodore Hopkins realized that Captain Howe was not fleeing...he was attempting to lure the Continental ships towards Newport, Rhode Island where a squadron of British reinforcements under Captain James Wallace lay in wait.  Hopkins ordered his ships to break off, and the action ended.  Three hours later, HMS Glascow arrived in Newport, with severe damage to her rigging and masts, with one man dead and three wounded (all from Continental Marine musket fire).  Hopkins collected his battered squadron and the five ships reached New London, Connecticut the next day.  The crews of the Continental ships were welcomed as conquering heroes...the five of them had come together to make a single small ship of the world's most powerful navy running, after all.

In truth, Hopkins' decision not to pursue Glascow into Newport was likely the wisest of his naval career.  The Continental Navy had a long way to go if they truly intended to prove an effective force against the Royal Navy.  Political infighting and quiet criticism from Captain Biddle and Lieutenant Jones would steadily weaken Hopkins' credibility, leading to his eventual relief as Commander in Chief.  The Continental Navy was off to a decidedly mediocre start, but there would be better days in the future.

Source:
McGrath, Tim. Give Me a Fast Ship: The Continental Navy and America's Revolution at Sea.  (The Penguin Group, 2014.)