Combat· American Revolutionary War
Alliance vs HMS Atalanta and HMS Trepassey
On May 28, 1781, the Continental frigate Alliance, Captain John Barry, fought and captured the British sloops of war Atalanta and Trepassey in the Atlantic while bound home from France.
With too little wind to steer, the frigate lay nearly still while the lighter sloops used sweeps to stay off her stern and quarters. Captain Matthew Parke commanded her Marines, who fired their muskets from the deck and fighting tops with little protection. Lieutenant of Marines Samuel Pritchard was mortally wounded by a 6-pound shot, Sergeant David Brewer was killed by a musket ball, and Lieutenant James Warren took a knee wound that later cost him the leg. About two in the afternoon Barry was wounded in the shoulder by grape shot and went below. Shortly before three a wind sprang up, the Alliance brought her starboard battery to bear, and both sloops struck. The fight lasted more than three hours and cost the Alliance five dead and 22 wounded. She reached Boston on June 6.
Record no. 151