Pirates of the American Revolution

On March 3, 1776 – 250 years ago next week – Commodore Esek Hopkins of the new U.S. Continental Navy sailed to the Bahamian island of New Providence, just 50 nautical miles due west of here in the Caribbean Sea.

He commanded a small fleet, hastily assembled and sailing under the American flag. The target was the British garrison at the port of Nassau and the military supplies stored there. Nassau was only lightly defended, and Hopkins, with a force of roughly 200 American marines, captured 24 casks of gunpowder, 103 artillery pieces, and significant other war-making provisions – all without a single loss of American life.

It was the first amphibious assault by the brand-new US Navy, and an auspicious birth to what would grow to become the mightiest naval power the world has ever known.

Sailing with Hopkins were two men who would become maritime legends of the Revolution: Samuel Nicholas, the founder of the United States Marine Corps, and John Paul Jones, “the father of the U.S. Navy,” who, even as the ship foundered beneath him, famously told the British, “I have not yet begun to fight.”

Both men will be honored during America’s 250^th celebration, and rightfully so. But there is another group of revolutionary naval heroes who should also be remembered, who did more to win our nation’s independence than Nicholas and Jones combined. Their story is seldom told, perhaps because they never served in uniform, never obtained an officer’s rank, and never swore an oath of allegiance to the U.S. government.