I am very grateful to the many persons who have assisted me. Space does not permit me to thank each of them by name. I am under special obligations to the librarians and officials of the Library of Congress, the Library of the Department of the Navy, the Bureau of Rolls and Library of the Department of State, the State Library of Massachusetts, the Office of the Massachusetts State Archives, the Boston Public Library, the Boston Athenaeum, the library of Harvard University, the State Library of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Historical Society, the State Library of Connecticut, the Connecticut Historical Society, the Pennsylvania Historical Society, the State Library of Virginia, the Virginia Historical Society, the Office of the Secretary of State of South Carolina, the Charleston (South Carolina) Public Library, and the Library of the University of Chicago. Far more than to any one else, I am indebted to Professor John Franklin Jameson, Director of the Department of Historical Research in the Carnegie Institution of Washington. I have had the advantage of Professor Jameson’s extensive knowledge of bibliography, his fruitful suggestions as to treatment, and his painstaking care in reading and criticising my manuscript. Parts of the narrative, somewhat popularized, have appeared in the Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute and the Sewanee Review. C. O. P. Washington, D. C. March 1, 1906. CONTENTS THE CONTINENTAL NAVY CHAPTER I.—The Naval Committee. The need in 1775 for an army and for a navy 31 Agitation for a navy outside of Congress 32 Agitation for a navy in Congress 34 The first naval legislation 35 Appointment of the Naval Committee 38 First work of the Naval Committee 38 Reconstitution of the Naval Committee 38 John Adams’s description of the Naval Committee 39 The organization and decline of the Naval Committee 40 Growth in Congress of naval sentiment 41 Naval legislation under the Naval Committee 42 The procuring of a fleet 51 The appointment of officers 52 The first naval expedition 55 _Résumé_ of the work of the Naval Committee 60 CHAPTER II.—The Fleets of Washington and Arnold. Fitting out of the “Hannah” 61 Fitting out of Washington’s “Boston fleet” 62 Washington’s opinion of his commanders 64 Services rendered by Washington’s “Boston fleet” 65 Broughton and Selman’s raid on Prince Edward island 66