Battle of Delaware Bay
Joshua Barney was twenty-two years old and already running out of tricks. It was April 8, 1782, and the young Continental Navy lieutenant stood on the deck of the privateer sloop Hyder Ally, watching three British warships bear down on his convoy in Delaware Bay. He had five unarmed merchant vessels to protect, two unreliable escort ships at his side, and a sixteen-gun sloop under his feet. What he did in the next few hours would become one of the most celebrated single-ship actions of the American Revolution -- a story of cunning, audacity, and a shouted lie that changed the course of a battle.
Three Sails on the Horizon
The American convoy had anchored within Cape May the previous evening after the wind died. Barney and his crews believed they were safe for the night. They were wrong. HMS Quebec, a 32-gun frigate under Captain Christopher Mason, and HMS General Monk, an 18-gun sloop-of-war under Captain Josias Rogers, had spotted the Americans and anchored nearby to prepare an attack. A loyalist privateer brig, Fair American, rounded out the British force. When the Americans sighted the enemy at ten in the morning, Barney made a swift calculation. He ordered the merchant ships to flee up the bay, hugging the shoreline where the deeper-drafted British ships could not follow. General Greene and Charming Sally, his two escort sloops, were to shepherd them. Hyder Ally would stay behind -- alone -- to hold off the entire British squadron.
A Plan Built on Disobedience and Shoals
Almost immediately, the plan began to unravel. General Greene disobeyed orders and prepared for battle instead of fleeing. Charming Sally ran aground on a shoal and her crew abandoned ship. But the shallow waters that wrecked Charming Sally also worked in Barney's favor. Fair American grounded as well, her hull damaged beyond recovery, removing her from the fight permanently. General Greene also grounded, though safely outside British gun range. HMS Quebec, the most powerful ship on the water, positioned herself off Cape Henlopen to block any escape into the Atlantic -- an unnecessary precaution, since the Americans were heading deeper into the bay, not out to sea. That left General Monk advancing alone against Hyder Ally. The odds had narrowed to something approaching manageable.
The Bluff That Won a Warship
Barney turned his ship as if attempting to flee, luring General Monk closer. When Rogers closed to pistol range and demanded surrender, Barney answered with a broadside of grape, canister, and round shot that raked General Monk's deck and killed several of her crew. Barney swung to port and fired again, shredding sails and rigging and cracking masts. Then came a fatal error on the British side: General Monk's crew had bored out their six-pounder cannons to fire nine-pound balls, hoping for heavier firepower. When they unleashed their broadside at close range, the overstressed guns tore free from the deck and flipped over. Sailors burned themselves scrambling to right the useless weapons. As the two sloops drifted close enough for crews to hear each other's commands, Barney seized the moment. He shouted to his helmsman: "Hard a-port! Do you want him to run aboard of us?" Captain Rogers heard the order and turned his own ship to port -- exactly what Barney wanted. Barney immediately ordered starboard. The two vessels collided and tangled in each other's rigging.
Twenty-Six Minutes
American sailors lashed General Monk to Hyder Ally to prevent her from breaking free, then poured another broadside into the captured ship at point-blank range. Marines perched in Hyder Ally's rigging rained musket fire down onto General Monk's exposed deck. Barney directed the boarding action from atop the compass box -- which was shot out from under his feet, leaving him with only a slight injury. He ordered his port-side guns rotated to starboard to concentrate all available firepower. After just 26 minutes of close-quarters combat, Captain Rogers lay wounded and every one of his officers was dead except a single midshipman, who struck the colors. The British had suffered 20 killed and 33 wounded. American losses were four killed and eleven wounded. HMS Quebec, her consort captured and Fair American stranded on a shoal, withdrew.
The Prize and the Legend
Barney sailed both Hyder Ally and the captured General Monk -- riddled with over 300 shot-holes -- to Chester, Pennsylvania, and then on to Philadelphia. The victory made him a hero. He was given command of the prize ship and ordered to France to deliver dispatches to Benjamin Franklin. Barney's career would span decades and two more wars: he joined the French Navy after the Revolution, and during the War of 1812 he commanded the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla and led marines and sailors at the Battle of Bladensburg. The waters off Cape May where he fought that April morning are calm today, giving little hint of the chaos that unfolded here. But the battle remains one of the most tactically brilliant small engagements of the Revolution -- won not by superior firepower, but by a young officer's nerve, a well-timed lie, and cannons that could not take the strain.
From the Air
The Battle of Delaware Bay took place near Cape May at approximately 39.08N, 74.97W, in the waters of Delaware Bay where it opens toward the Atlantic. From altitude, the broad mouth of Delaware Bay is unmistakable, with Cape May on the New Jersey side and Cape Henlopen on the Delaware side. The battle site lies in the open waters near the cape's tip. Cape May County Airport (KWWD) is approximately 8 nm south-southeast. Atlantic City International (KACY) is about 40 nm to the northeast. Delaware Bay's shallow shoals -- a defining factor in the battle -- are visible as lighter-colored water at lower altitudes.