The first naval vessel sent to sea by the United States following the adoption of the Constitution is almost forgotten. This ship raised morale at a critical time by boldly sailing out to defend shipping by herself, did much to build naval tradition, made several captures, served as a squadron flagship, and gave a number of our naval heroes their early training.
Ganges[*] was her name, and the year was 1798. Early spring saw the country seething with indignation over the way Talleyrand’s “XYZ Affair” had insulted our honor, and then vessels of Revolutionary France actually began capturing American craft along our very shores. Some immediate show of strength was imperative. Yet, since the sale of the old Alliance a dozen years before, the nearest approach to a navy we possessed was a trio of still unready frigates that had been under stop-and-go construction since 1794. The answer lay in the purchase and arming of merchant vessels. So a bill for this was cheered through Congress on 27 April, and three days later another, authorizing creation of the Navy Department itself. Spirits rose, and the black cockade worn during 1776 appeared on the streets again.
On 3 May, the East Indiaman Ganges was bought from the shipping firm of Willings and Francis at Philadelphia for $58,000, which sum included her equipment, guns, stores, and provisions. Her certificate of registry gives two decks, three masts, a 116-foot 4-inch length, 31-foot 4-inch breadth, and a 15-foot 8-inch draft. Also a square stern, a stern gallery, double quarter galleries, a roundhouse, and (most likely, though part of the word is missing from the records) a figurehead. From this it would seem that she also had a raised afterdeck. Months later a copper bottom is referred to, but this may have been added by the government. Thomas Penrose of the same city had built her in 1795, and while her original tonnage of 504 seems quite small now, it was well above the merchant vessel average of that day.
Events continued to move with rapidity, for either that day or the next, command was accepted by Richard Dale, who had been John Paul Jones’s right-hand man in the Bon Homme Richard. As a further qualification, he had commanded the Ganges herself during at least one of her Asian trips. Besides directing the alterations and re-equipping, he was charged to appoint 11 officers, a boatswain, a gunner, and a carpenter, and then to oversee the enlistment of 64 able seamen and 32 ordinary seamen at a monthly wage of $17 and $10 respectively. The city’s enthused merchants thereupon increased the former amount to $20 out of their own pockets. Twenty-five Marines were also recruited, including a “drummer” and a “fife.” The armament installation consisted of 24 long 9-pounders, and one source says that a few of her old sixes were kept. This might have meant two, for a total of 26 guns is unofficially mentioned about a year later.
A curious mixture of fervor and desperation appeared on 17 May when news came that American vessels were being taken right at the harbor’s mouth. So final preparations were rushed through, and on 24 May, amid cheers, the Ganges dropped down Delaware Bay “eager for a fight.” But the lurking raider in the vicinity had fled owing to her being warned by “some Dam rascal,” as Dale put it. Nor did any others care to tangle with the vessel as she patrolled and convoyed along our coast. Just how strongly she impressed the excited public during this period may be judged from the noticeable number of merchant craft named for her throughout the following decades. “You have frightened the French cruisers from our coast,” wrote Benjamin Stoddert, the Navy’s first Secretary, to Dale a month or so later, “and have relieved in a considerable degree our commerce from depredation.” President John Adams also expressed commendation. And 35 years later, James Fenimore Cooper, who had observed the situation as a boy, gives in his Afloat and Ashore a vivid description of a meeting between a returning East Indiaman and the Ganges, with Dale even coming aboard the former for a visit.
Nevertheless, with regular warships reportedly leaving France, it must have been comforting for everyone in the Ganges to learn that Thomas Truxtun had gotten the fine new frigate Constellation out to sea late in June, even though without a full complement of men. But she represented the start of a steady, if motley, naval augmentation which was large enough by August to allow the Ganges to come back for badly needed supplies and repairs. Merchant skipper Thomas Tingey who had commanded the Ganges back in 1796 was thereupon appointed naval captain, and took over from Dale, who had decided to wait for one of the new frigates being constructed.
After some patrol and convoy duty in the West Indies, the Ganges was boarded near St. Kitts by an officer of HBM ship Surprise to inquire if there were any British subjects signed on—though he politely added that Tingey’s word would be “sufficient to forestall any examination of protections” (i.e., citizenship papers). Tingey’s worthy answer was that he considered all the crew Americans by birth or adoption, but that the only “protection” on board that he knew of was that of the American flag. When the boat came back a little later, he feared a formal demand for an inspection, and quietly informed his officers he would fight first. But the request was only for some medicine, which was quickly supplied. Later that evening, however, Tingey called all hands and pledged to their cheers that as long as he could stand, the Ganges would suffer no impressment. While his staunch attitude is of importance to our naval tradition, it must be stated that our naval relations with Britain were generally quite cordial then. Both countries were concentrating on the French, and the Napoleonic Wars had not yet rendered the British Navy desperate for men.
Bringing a convoy home, the Ganges again refitted, and then recaptured the American ship Eliza off Santo Domingo, where she also took the smuggler Mary. Dispatched to St. Kitts, which was the rendezvous of our fast-growing West Indian fleet, she became flagship for some months. Included in the fleet was the Baltimore (20), Barron; Norfolk (18), Bainbridge; George Washington (32), Fletcher; Pickering (14), Preble; Richmond (14), Speake; Eagle (14), Campbell; and the store brig Florida—with the Montezuma (20), Mullowny; and the Merrimack soon to join.
Most of the duty consisted of patrol and convoy work, singly or in small numbers, yet captures were fairly frequent. The Ganges obtained her first credit in company with the Norfolk. Sighting the well-known privateer Vaincueure, they started in pursuit. The Frenchman tried every trick of escape, eventually even to throwing overboard her cannon to gain speed, but she succumbed just the same. The smuggler Young George was next taken by the Ganges alone; and in August after a short battle, the letter-of-marque schooner La Rabateuse; then a small craft which was sold in the area for $3,800.
When Stoddert wrote about the necessity for the Ganges to remain on the Caribbean station until another above-average vessel could be sent, he expressed concern about the fall hurricanes. Tingey’s reply is as fine a recommendation as any naval craft would wish for:
No ship in the Service, I speak from experience, will be better able to sustain their violence than the Ganges—nor a crew that can with more alacrity bring a ship to a state of preparation to bear heavy weather—Nor can I suffer myself to be totally silent on the subject of her sailing; believe me Sir, she out-sailed every ship and vessel of the United States that we have been in company with.
By the time her replacement arrived, she had captured the fast raider L’Esperance which had been doing considerable damage to shipping in the Caribbean.
Tingey was replaced by Captain Mullowny, and after some necessary repairs, the Ganges sailed south again. One of her convoy jobs this time was to the South American port of Cartagena. On the way back, she narrowly missed meeting the big 54-gun La Vengeance, which Truxtun outfought in the frigate Constellation a short time later. So she counted herself lucky upon arriving home safely, although making no captures herself. Her arrival in Philadelphia in May 1800 marked two years to a day after being purchased by the Navy.
The following assignment brought even greater opportunities for action. She first captured the slaver Prudent, and then retook the former American brig Dispatch which was being sailed by Frenchmen into one of their ports. Soon the Phoebe, another slaver, arrived at Philadelphia as a Ganges prize, and next the armed French vessel L’Eugène. July 27th witnessed a running battle with the cruiser La Fortune, for whom the Ganges had lain in wait for some time off the coast of Cuba. A bit shot up, La Fortune finally ran herself aground so that most of her crew of 70 could escape. But the vessel herself was gotten afloat again, and sent home as a valuable prize.
In August 1800, a new foe which had already disabled some of our vessels struck the Ganges—yellow fever. Over 20 deaths were reported by the time the craft reached the lower Delaware for a stay in quarantine until October. Then brimstone was burned below decks and vinegar liberally scattered about in the usual decontamination method of the time.
Her final assignment was to guard a merchant fleet down around Africa and through her old Indian Ocean waters to Sumatra. It took some time for the convoy to be made up, but she finally left New York at its head 31 January 1801. Bad weather immediately set in. So much that by the time St. Kitts was reached, an examining board of fleet captains decided the vessel was unfit to continue the long and arduous trip. Instead, Commodore John Barry assigned her to some less demanding but important escort duty around the Islands, and then sent her home covering a sizeable group of merchantmen. And by then the Quasi-War was over. The Washington National Intelligencer of 13 August 1801, states that she was sold back to her owners for $21,000—a price previously set. A few months later, she made a trip to Europe and back, but from then on, what we know of her evidently short period of use becomes nebulous.
Unfortunately, there is no full list of her complement during any of her several voyages as a naval warship. Yet, in addition to her three captains, it is known that among the later naval heroes serving on board were Midshipman Thomas Macdonough, who later won the remarkable Battle of Lake Champlain; James Lawrence of “Don’t give up the ship!” fame; and Jacob Jones, who commanded the Wasp in her victory over the Hornet. Also Daniel Carmick, known as the “Fighting Marine,” and who as a major received a death wound at the Battle of New Orleans. Undoubtedly there were others, and undoubtedly also, they were likewise inspired by the frequently reported high morale and pride of hard work found in the Ganges.
[*] *So far as we could determine, no drawing or painting of this particular Ganges survives.