Combat· American Revolutionary War
Alliance vs HMS Atalanta and HMS Trepassey
In one of the most celebrated Continental Navy victories of the later war, the frigate Alliance under Captain John Barry fought and captured two British sloops-of-war, HMS Atalanta and HMS Trepassey, in a grueling three-hour action off Nova Scotia.
Becalmed at first, Alliance was raked from astern by the nimble enemy sloops working with sweeps, and Barry himself was struck in the shoulder by grapeshot, refusing to go below as his colors were nearly carried away. When a breeze finally let the frigate bring her broadside to bear, both sloops struck. The fight was costly to the Marines: Lieutenant Samuel Pritchard was mortally wounded, Sergeant David Brewer killed at his post by a musket ball, and Lieutenant James Warren so badly wounded that his leg was amputated. Their fire from the exposed deck and tops, sustained under heavy punishment, was central to Barry's hard-won double capture.
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Record no. 151