Combat· Quasi-War with France
United States vs Sans Pareil
In the autumn of 1798, in the opening months of the Quasi-War, Captain John Barry's frigate United States, the first warship launched under the Naval Act of 1794, cruised the American coast and the West Indies hunting French privateers preying on commerce.
The United States, working with the Delaware, took the French privateers Sans Pareil and Jaloux, whose crews were landed at New Castle, Delaware, where Marines were detailed to guard them, later joined by an army officer and twenty men. The Marine detachment aboard the United States stood ready for boarding, but the privateer offered little resistance to so powerful a frigate and was secured without a fight. Captures like this set the early pattern of the war: American frigates escorting merchantmen and running down the privateers that menaced them, with Marines manning the rails and guarding prisoners.
Podcast episodes on Quasi-War with France
Record no. 78