40 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



3. JOHN BARRY. 



JOHN BARRY was born at Tacumshane, Ireland, in 1745. He went to sea 

 when a boy and commanded a vessel when in his twenty-first year. At 21 years 

 of age he emigrated to Philadelphia and sailed merchant ships until 1775, when 

 he arrived from England in the Black Prince just as the Continental Congress 

 had resolved to fit out two armed cruisers. He offered his ship and his services, 

 and was commissioned captain of the 16-gun brig Lexington. Thus he was the 

 first officer appointed in the new navy. In April 1776 he captured his first prize, 

 an English vessel, and carried her to Philadelphia. He did some privateering 

 until October 1776, when by an act of Congress he was appointed captain of the 

 Effingham (28 guns), which lay in the Delaware river above Philadelphia. Before 

 taking to sea, however, he organized a company of volunteers to assist Wash- 

 ington, who was retreating from Trenton but blocking the progress of the British 

 toward Philadelphia by land. Returning to his vessels, Barry received orders to 

 sink the Effingham to prevent her capture; this he reluctantly did after some 

 delay. Shortly after, he manned four small boats, passed Philadelphia at night, 

 and captured a larger schooner of 10 guns and four British transports. All of these 

 he destroyed to prevent them from being recaptured. This undertaking won 

 admiration from both sides and an offer from the British of 20,000 and com- 

 mand of a squadron, which he indignantly refused. During the following years 

 of the war Barry had a series of encounters with the enemy at sea. In June 1780, 

 in command of the Alliance, a 32-gun frigate, he sailed from France with Colonel 

 Laurens, commissioner to France. On the outward trip he captured a privateer. 

 Returning with his ship loaded with dry goods, he captured two privateers on 

 April 2 and on May 28 ran upon two more. As the wind subsided he was at the 

 mercy of his antagonists for an hour and was wounded; then, as a breeze sprang 

 up, he sent the Alliance between her two antagonists and delivered such a fire 

 that both vessels struck. In August 1782, in a brief three-weeks' cruise from New 

 London, he captured eight vessels. In 1783, returning with specie from the West 

 Indies, he was attacked by three frigates; despite the heavy odds against him he 

 fought bravely until, a French vessel coming to his assistance, the British ships 

 sailed away. This was the last naval fight of the Revolution. Captain Barry 

 was one of the delegates to the convention at Philadelphia to revise the Articles 

 of Confederation. On the last day but one of the session the resolution to refer 

 the Constitution to a convention of the States was before the house. Postpone- 

 ment until afternoon was asked for and granted; members who were opposed to 

 the bill kept away in the afternoon to prevent a quorum. Two additional mem- 

 bers were required, and Captain Barry led a party that carried by force two 

 members from their rooms to the meeting, thus securing a vote. When the new 

 navy was formed Barry was the first of the six captains named by Washington. 

 In 1797 he completed building the frigate United States and was placed in com- 

 mand of her. He was authorized, in 1798, to capture armed French vessels, and 

 did so effectively. He died September 1803. 



John Barry was a hyperkinetic. His reactions were wonderfully quick and his 

 judgment correct. "The promptitude and propriety of Captain Barry's decisions 

 on sudden emergencies was wondered at and admired. Waked out of sleep, on 

 deck in an instant, and all hands set to work, whether it be in the case of a vessel 

 in sight, a violent gale, or otherwise, and the propriety of the order appeared in 

 no countermanding becoming necessary." His passions on some occasions were 



