Qualla: North Channel Naval Duel https://qualla.com/north-channel-naval-duel en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/north-channel-naval-duel-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: North Channel Naval Duel https://qualla.com/north-channel-naval-duel North Channel Naval Duel: Introduction https://qualla.com/north-channel-naval-duel/ Photo credit David_Trochos (talk) (Uploads), Public domain. John Paul Jones brought the American Revolutionary War home to Britain. On the evening of 24 April 1778, in the choppy waters of the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, his small Continental Navy sloop Ranger forced the Royal Navy's sloop-of-war Drake to strike her colours in just over an hour of close-quarters gunfire. It was the first American naval victory in Atlantic waters, and one of the very few in the war achieved without a clear superiority of force. The fight was visible from the Antrim coast. The locals had come down to the shore to watch what they assumed would be a routine British capture of a presumptuous American privateer. They watched something else happen instead.

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]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/north-channel-naval-duel-wp/gcsp-north-channel-naval-duel-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full North Channel Naval Duel: A Cruise Among the Trade Routes https://qualla.com/north-channel-naval-duel/ Photo credit David_Trochos (talk) (Uploads), Public domain. By early 1778, American captains had already shown that British home waters were vulnerable. Lambert Wickes, Gustavus Conyngham and William Day had taken merchant prizes into French ports, drawing protests from London that France carefully ignored. After the American victory at S...

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]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/north-channel-naval-duel-wp/gcsp-north-channel-naval-duel-a-cruise-among-the-trade-routes.mp3 0:06 2 full North Channel Naval Duel: Whitehaven, Selkirk and Belfast Lough https://qualla.com/north-channel-naval-duel/ Photo credit David_Trochos (talk) (Uploads), Public domain. Jones knew the Solway Firth: he had learned to sail there as a boy near Kirkbean in Kirkcudbrightshire before reinventing himself in America. On the night of 17-18 April, he attempted to burn the shipping at Whitehaven in Cumberland. The raid failed but it shook the British coast...

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]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/north-channel-naval-duel-wp/gcsp-north-channel-naval-duel-whitehaven-selkirk-and-belfast-lough.mp3 0:06 3 full North Channel Naval Duel: Drake Comes Out https://qualla.com/north-channel-naval-duel/ Photo credit David_Trochos (talk) (Uploads), Public domain. By the morning of 24 April, Drake had been hastily prepared for action. Her captain, the aging George Burdon, was reportedly in poor health. Her gunner, her master's mate, her boatswain and her lieutenant were all absent. She had taken on extra volunteers from the Carrickfergus a...

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]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/north-channel-naval-duel-wp/gcsp-north-channel-naval-duel-drake-comes-out.mp3 0:06 4 full North Channel Naval Duel: The Battle https://qualla.com/north-channel-naval-duel/ Photo credit David_Trochos (talk) (Uploads), Public domain. Around 6 pm, the two sloops closed within hailing distance. Drake's captain demanded to know the strange ship's identity. Jones gave a warning, then ran out his guns. The first broadsides took down Drake's spars and rigging. Royal Navy Lieutenant William Dobbs, a Carrickfergus ma...

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]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/north-channel-naval-duel-wp/gcsp-north-channel-naval-duel-the-battle.mp3 0:06 5 full North Channel Naval Duel: What the Action Meant https://qualla.com/north-channel-naval-duel/ Photo credit David_Trochos (talk) (Uploads), Public domain. The Drake capture changed how the Royal Navy and the British government thought about coastal defence. Until April 1778, the war had been a long-distance affair: troopships sailing for New York and Boston, fleets engaging in the Caribbean, prizes brought into French ports under c...

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]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/north-channel-naval-duel-wp/gcsp-north-channel-naval-duel-what-the-action-meant.mp3 0:06 6 full