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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

Continental Navy Ship Columbus (I)

Ship :
  • Built at Philadelphia in 1774 as Sally
  • Purchased for the Continental Navy in November 1775; CAPT. Abraham Whipple in command
  • Continental Navy Ship Columbus participated in expedition to New Providence, Bahamas in February and April 1776
  • Participated in the capture of the British schooner HMS Hawk, 4 April and the British brig HMS Bolton, 5 April 1776
  • Engaged HMS Glasgow, 6 April 1776
  • During the ensuing months Columbus cruised the New England coast taking five prizes
  • Chases ashore on Point Judith, R.I., 27 March 1778 by a British squadron
  • Final Disposition, stripped and abandoned by her crew and burned by the British
    Specifications:
    Displacement 200 t.
    Length unknown
    Beam unknown
    Draft unknown
    Speed unknown
    Complement 220
    Armament
    eighteen 9-pdrs
    ten 6-pdrs
    Propulsion sail
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Columbus 109k Painting in oils by W. Nowland Van Powell, depicting Continental Navy Ship Columbus, under the command of Captain Abraham Whipple, bringing in the British brig HMS Lord Lifford, while operating off the New England coast in 1776.
    US Navy photo # NH 85210-KN from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command.    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Columbus 127k Commission appointing Abraham Whipple as Captain of the Continental Navy Ship Columbus, dated 8 December 1775 and signed by John Hancock and Charles Thomson.
    Courtesy of the Detroit Public Library, Burton Historical Collection, 1975.
    US Navy photo # NH 82609 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command.    		 Naval History and Heritage Command
    Columbus 72k Oil on canvas, 78" x 53", by Edward Savage (1761-1817) of Abraham Whipple. Signed and dated by the artist, 1786. This painting is in the U.S. Naval Academy Museum Collection. Gift of John Nicholas Brown, 1949
    US Navy photo # KN 10876 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command.    		 Tommy Trampp
    Continental Navy Ship Columbus (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 3 June 2016