Near the end of March 1776, two British warships began to disrupt American shipping in the Delaware Bay, causing much anxiety in Swedesboro and especially in Penn’s Neck (modern-day Pennsville).
In April, the enemy ships ascended the river and dropped anchor to send foraging parties ashore, who were looking to appropriate supplies from the pantries of the rebellious citizens of Cumberland and Salem counties. The 44-gun HMS Roebuck and her consort, the Liverpool, 28 guns, were under the command of Captain Andrew Snape Hammond of the Royal Navy.
Captain Hammond recorded in his ship’s log:
“As I now began to grow short of water, and had lighten’d the Ship to as easy a draught of water as I could… I took the Liverpool with me & sailed up the River in order to fill my empty casks and reconnoiter the enemy’s force [on] the River.”
Alarm guns were fired from American signal stations on the Delaware as Captain Hammond’s ships ascended further upriver. In response, 13 American row galleys of the Pennsylvania Navy descended the river from Philadelphia to attack Captain Hammond’s warships.
Thus began the first naval engagement of the war on the Delaware on May 7, 1776, near Helm’s Cove.
“In the spring some warships came up into the river and fought the American galleys [about two miles] from the Pennsneck Church,” Pastor Nicholas Collin recorded in his diary. Captain Hammond also confirmed that his vessels were attacked by the pesky row galleys.
Each of the galleys was equipped with a large-caliber cannon in the bow and swivel guns on the sides. The galleys were about 45 to 50 feet long, 13 feet abeam, and pointed at both bow and stern to facilitate going forward or backward without having to turn the vessel around.
The boats were propelled by 16 to 32 oars, and each possessed two masts with lateen sails that could be raised when the wind freshened. One great advantage that the row galleys had over their larger British opponents was a flat bottom to maneuver in shallow water and over submerged obstructions in the river.
The opposing forces exchanged fire for about two hours before the galleys rowed off to replenish their ammunition. Job Whitall of Red Bank wrote that he clearly heard the spirited firing from his home some 20 miles upriver.
The galleys returned the next day and the battle resumed. In the afternoon the Roebuck, with her deep draft, ran aground on a sandbar just north of today’s Delaware Memorial Bridge. The warship was in a very precarious position. Seeking to take advantage of the situation, the galleys increased their rate of fire at the stranded ship.
Meanwhile a crowd had gathered on the Jersey side of the river to watch the battle. When the spectators began jeering at the Roebuck’s predicament, a cannonball was fired from the frigate in their direction. The projectile struck the wall of Helm’s tavern underneath a second-story window, scattering the onlookers.
Most of the cannonballs fired that day by both sides missed their marks. The British had a hard time striking the galleys, which presented low profiles on the water. The Americans, on the other hand, had to calculate just how close they could approach the warships without getting raked by grapeshot and musketry.
At four o’clock in the morning, on the next tide, the Liverpool managed to pull her sister ship off the bar with a strong hawser. Once off the sandbar, the British retreated to Reedy Island to repair damages.
Captain Hammond estimated that the American flotilla “fired away Seven Tons of Powder without doing us the least mischief.” However, another contemporary account of the engagement claimed that the Roebuck was holed at least three times and the Liverpool seven. The British sustained at least six casualties.
On the American side, the galleys suffered one sailor killed on the first day of the battle, and two or three wounded on the second. There was also minor damage to several of the galleys.
The Philadelphia newspapers were highly critical of Captain Henry Dougherty and his row galleys. It was felt that a golden opportunity to inflict more harm to the stranded Roebuck had been missed. Nonetheless it was the British who broke off the engagement and fled downriver.
Later in the war, the Pennsylvania Navy would receive credit for helping to turn back the Hessian attack on Fort Mercer on October 22, 1777. On that day the row galleys kept up a hot fire from the river into the right flank of the charging Hessian soldiers as they attempted to capture the undermanned fort.
The contribution of the galleys during the Battle of Red Bank was confirmed by friend and enemy alike. None other than General William Howe reported, “The detachment [of Hessians], in moving up and returning from the attack, was much galled by the enemy’s galleys.” And Joseph Reed, General Washington’s aide-de-camp wrote, “The gallantry of our brave fellows in the fort has been emulated by the Row Galleys… [E]very mouth is open in their Praise and I can assure from the best Intelligence that they will come in for a full Share of the honor acquired in the defense of the River.”
By Bennett Carlton, Swedesboro-Woolwich Historical Society
