Blue water patriots : the American Revolution afloat / James M. Volo.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [297]-298) and index.

1. The enforcement crisis -- 2. The rebels under sail -- 3. Naval administration -- 4. The art of war at sea -- 5. Sea officers -- 6. The continental navy -- 7. Warships -- 8. Cannon and powder -- 9. George Washington's private navy -- 10. The invasion of New York -- 11. Whaleboat warriors and Bateaux battalions -- 12. Invoking Poseidon -- 13. The French alliance -- 14. Prisoners of war -- 15. Epilogue -- App. 1. Important vessels and commanders belonging to the North American Squadron during the enforcement crisis, 1764-1767 -- App. 2. Disposition of the Royal Navy on the North American station, January 1775 -- App. 3. 1794 admiralty list of vessels of war in service or built before 1783.

Every schoolchild knows that the American Revolution began on Lexington Green in April, 1775, but how many people are aware that in 1764 a Royal Navy cutter, St. John, engaged in the suppression of smuggling and was fired upon by Rhode Islanders; that in 1769, the revenue sloop Liberty was seized and burned by the people of Newport; or that in 1772, the navy cutter Gaspee was burned in the night by armed patriots attacking from small boats? It was these Blue Water Patriots who fought the first battles on the road to American independence." "The primary focus of this work is the period before 1779 when the French had not yet come to the aid of the fledgling American nation, when the Blue Water Patriots confronted the Royal Navy alone, relying on little more than ingenuity and courage.