The _Andrea Doria_ was under command of Capt. Isaiah Robinson. Captain Robinson, in the sloop _Sachem_, had, on July 6th, two days after the colonies had declared their independence of Great Britain, captured a British vessel of six guns and brought her into port. For his success in this he was transferred to the brig _Andrea Doria_, and sent to the Dutch port of St. Eustatius to get arms and ammunition for the American army. It is worth mentioning, perhaps, that he received a salute from the governor of the port (the first salute the flag ever received from a foreign power), although the governor was afterward removed from office at the request of the British, for firing it. Having taken in his cargo, Captain Robinson steered for home, but off the western end of Porto Rico fell in with the _Racehorse_, and during the next two hours the sun-lit tropical seas were the scene of what was probably the first even sea contest of the Revolution. It ended in the surrender of the _Racehorse_ after her captain, Lieutenant Jones, had been mortally wounded. The _Andrea Doria_ lost four killed and eight wounded. The loss on the _Racehorse_ was “considerably greater.” Captain Robinson brought both vessels safely into the Delaware, but there the career of the little _Andrea Doria_ came to an end, for, before she could get to sea again, she had to be burned to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy, who captured Philadelphia about that time. [Illustration: St. Pierre, Martinique. _From an old engraving._] Another West India fight was still more to the glory of the young American navy, even though the enemy was not captured. The American brig _Reprisal_ sailed for Martinique early in the summer of 1776, and on the way captured and sent home a number of prizes. But when just outside of the port to which she was bound she fell in with the British sloop-of-war _Shark_, of sixteen guns. Not only was the _Shark_ the larger vessel; the _Reprisal_, because of the number of prizes sent home, was short-handed. Nevertheless, when the _Shark_ ranged up alongside of the Yankee and opened fire the Yankee fought back. The firing of the great guns brought the people of the port by hundreds to the heights overlooking the sea. And it was a spectacle well worth their coming, too, for the vigor of the Yankee defence compelled the _Shark_ to haul off for repairs. The _Reprisal_, during this cruise, was commanded by Capt. Lambert Wickes. As will appear further on, it was he who first flaunted the American flag in British waters and took British ships within sight of the British coasts. The _Shark_ afterward came into port and demanded of the authorities that the _Reprisal_ be surrendered as a pirate. Of course the authorities (they were Frenchmen) refused.