/ii. 



U. S. S. "SYLPH" FLYING THE FOUR-STAR FLAG OF ADMIRAL BENSON, CHIEF OF 



NAVAL OPERATIONS (64), ON THE MAINMAST, AND THE FLAG 



OF VICE-ADMIRAL BROWNING, OF THE BRITISH 



NAVY (606), ON THE FOREMAST 



Our naval jack (4) is flying at the jackstaff, but the motion of the steamer has given the 



stars a striped effect 



great need. Two hundred marines were 

 landed, under the command of Captain 

 Nichols, supported by fifty sailors, under 

 Lieutenant Weaver, of the Cabot. The 

 Providence and the Wasp covered the 

 landing party. Fort Nassau was taken 

 and a great quantity of military stores 

 fell into the hands of the expedition. 



A correspondent of the London "La- 

 dies' Magazine," who was in New Provi- 

 dence at the time of the capture of the 

 fort by the American forces, under date 

 of May 13, 1776, described the colors dis- 

 played by the marines and sailors as 

 "striped under the union (the British 

 union of the crosses of St. George and 

 St. Andrew) with thirteen stripes" (364), 

 while "the standard (the commodore's 

 flag) bore a rattlesnake and the motto 

 "Don't Tread on Me" (398). 



THE FIRST FOREIGN SALUTE TO AN AMERI- 

 CAN FLAG 



The first salute ever fired in honor of 

 an American flag (the Grand Union en- 

 sign) was an eleven-gun volley given by 

 the Fort of Orange, on the island of St. 

 Eustatius. Dutch West Indies, on No- 



vember 16, 1776. The salute was in ac- 

 knowledgment of a similar number of 

 guns fired by the Andrezv Doria (see also 

 page 401), one of the original vessels of 

 Commodore Hopkins' fleet, which had 

 been sent to the West Indies, under com- 

 mand of Captain Isaiah Robinson, for a 

 cargo of military supplies. 



The commander of the near-by British 

 island of St. Christopher, hearing of the 

 salute, protested to the Dutch governor 

 of St. Eustatius, Johannes de Graef, who 

 promptly replied that "in regard to the 

 reception given by the forts of this island, 

 under my commandment, to the vessel 

 Andrezv Doria, I flatter myself that if my 

 masters exact it I shall be able to give 

 such an account as will be satisfactory." 

 Whereupon the British commander re- 

 sponded that "the impartial world will 

 judge between us whether these honor 

 shots, answered on purpose by a Dutch 

 fort to a rebellious brigantine, with a flag 

 known to the commander of that fort as 

 the flag of His Majesty's rebellious sub- 

 jects, is or is not a partiality in favor of 

 those rebels." 



The British g-overnor then forwarded 



294 



