Combat· American Revolutionary War
Alliance vs HMS Sybil(le)
On March 10, 1783, the Continental frigate Alliance, after tacking northwestward through the Straits of Florida, fought the 28-gun frigate Sybil.
Captain John Barry had left Havana on March 6 to convoy the Duc de Lauzun, a ship purchased for the Continental Navy, to Philadelphia. That morning three British ships stood for the Alliance: the 32-gun frigate Alarm, the Sybil and the 18-gun sloop-of-war Tobago. When the French 64-gun ship Triton appeared to the southwest, Barry bore between the Duc de Lauzun and the Sybil. At ten minutes of twelve he gave the order to fire. Within a half hour, according to Midshipman Kessler, the Sybil's guns were silenced, and she sheered off to the northeast. The Alliance had 10 wounded. The Sybil's captain reported two killed and six wounded; later accounts listed 37 killed and more than 40 wounded. Lieutenant Thomas Elwood was the Alliance's Marine officer. News of the final peace settlement reached the frigate on March 31, 1783, and 33 of her 41 Marines were discharged.
Record no. 157