"The Auack and Defeat of rhe American Fleet under Benedic [sic] Arnold, by the King' s Fleet Commanded by Cap!. f hos. Pn11gle , f rom a Sketch taken by an Officer on rhe Spot..,
began to trickle in, first from nearby Albany , followed by others from Connecticut, Massachusetts , Maine and Rhode Island-even from as far away as Philadelphia. They sweated under the broiling summer sun, slept in steamy barracks, were bloodied by mosquitoes, suffered from small pox . Some died. But, the fleet was built. And what a strange armada it was! With no time to build a fleet of conventional ships, what was launched at Skenesborough were large galleys: 72 ' x 20 ', round-bottomed, with extra heavy scantlings, rigged with two triangular lanteen sails on short masts for ease of handling ; and gundelos (or gunboats): 54' x 15 ', flat-bottomed, carrying two square sails on a single mast. The galleys, looking most like Mediterranean pirate vessels, carried crews of 80-90. T he gundelos carried crews of 45 . Arnold's fleet, according to British records, was made up of the galleys Congress (flagship),Washington and Trumbull; the cutter Lee; topsail schooners Royal Savage and Revenge; the sloop Enterprise; and eight gundelos, Boston, New
Ha ven, Providence, New York, Connecticut, Spitfire, Philadelphia, and Jersey. The Washington and the Congress each carried two 18pounders and two 12-pounders. The Trumbull had one 18- and one 12-pounder. A ll three carried a mix of smaller cannon and sw ive l guns. Each gundelo carried a 12-pounder in the bow, two 9-pounders (one on each side) and swive l guns. Just about half the size of the British flotilla , lightly armed and sorely lacking experienced sailors (right up to the end, Arnold had fruitlessly begged Gates for " one hundred good seamen as soon as possible"), the Colonial force fou ght valiantly against virtually hopeless odds and were able to desperately hang on long enough to sow the seeds of ultimate victory for the Revolutionary cause. "That the Americans were strong enough to impose the capitulation of Saratoga," noted wellknown naval historian Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, "was due to the invaluable year of delay secured to them by their little navy on Lake Champlain."
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B y early fall, the two fleets stood ready. British fleet captain Thomas Pringle commanded a formidable force. The Inflexible, a quarterdeck ship-sloop, mounted eighteen 12-pounders and was quite equal to handling Arnold 's squadron sing le30
handedly. The M aria and the Carleton , topsail schooners, mounted respectively fourteen and twelve 6-pounders, m aking either one more powerful than anything in Arnold ' fleet. The Thunderer, a large, flat-bottomed , ketch-rigged radeau, carried six 24-pounders, six 12-pounders and two howitze1s in addition there was the Loyal Convert, a gundelo armed with seven 9-pounders and, fi nally, twenty-fo ur gunboats each armed with one gun rang ing fro m 9- to 24-pounders. In it time, manned by crews of expe1ienced Royal Navy sailm s and marines, this was the most powerful fleet ever assembled m America ' s inland waters. As each American vessel slid down the ways at Skene borough, it was worked north , down the lake to Cro wn Point, where it was anned , fitted and rigged. OnAug ust 20, 1776, the vang uard of the Colonial fl eet bravely sailed north for its date with destiny. Arnold had wi sely decided not to challenge the British in open water, where their superior firepowe r and seamanship would give them the advantage. Instead, he planned to " come up as high as the Isle of Valcour , where is a good harbor, and where we shall have the ad vantageofattacking the enemy." After reconno itering and taking soundings , Arnold fi nally chose an anchorage in the channel between thickl y wooded Valcour and the western shore of the lake . Here his squadron would be screened from disco very by any boats coming fro m the north. " We are . . . moored as near together as possi ble," he wrote General Gates, " and in such a fo1m that few vessels can attack us at the same time , and those will be exposed to the fire of the full fleet. " Arnold 's strategy was clearly vindicated when, on October 11 , 1776 he watched from his flagship Congress as the B ritish fleet, a strong north wind bellying its sails, boldly sailed pas t Valcour Island . P ri ngle overshot his quarry by two mile& before realizing hi s error. Finally sightin g the American squadron , the British immediately put about. But now they had to beat up agai nst the strong northerly wind . In P rin gle ' s own words, "T he wind was so unfavorable that for a long lime nothing could be brought into action with them, but the gunboats and the Carleton." The British g unboats, able to use their oars, turned at once and began to pull lo the attack. T he radeau Thunderer, the gundeloLoyal Converr, and thesquarerigged Inflexible were too far downwind to help, leaving Pringle without his most powerful ships. lL was to be late afte rnoon before the Inflexible was able to work her way up into effecti ve range. Arnold had won his ad vantage! While hi s strategies worked tactically, the seamanship of his crews fa iled him . Had Arnold ' s sailors been more experienced , the outcome of the engagement might have been delayed , or at least made more costly to the E ng lish. Arnold, still limping from the leg wound he had sustained at Quebec. certainly perforn1ed " above and beyond'' as he awkwardly moved around the bloodied , slippery deck of the Congress, personally aiming and firing the cannon, his face and c lothes smudged with bl ack powder, his hair singed. Battle action was intense and sanguinary. The boom of the cannon created a fie rce cacophony punctuated by the sharp thud of " on target" cannonballs and the guttu ral screams of wounded and dyi ng sailors. Acrid black powder smoke hung between the island and shore, obscuring the brill iant foltage, sting ing English and American eyes alike. T here were heroes on both sides, but the outcome was inevi table. By some bad management, the Royal Sa vage was caught S.E A HIS OR Y 53, SPRING 1990