In 1775 the Continental Congress established a Navy which after the Revolutionary War was disbanded and the ships were sold. In 1794 the United States Navy was created with an original 6 frigates. In 1806 the Navy purchased the schooner Ranger in New Orleans which it renamed the Revenge under the command of Lt. Jacob Jones. 1n 1809 a young Lt. named Oliver Hazard Perry relieved Jones command of the Revenge.
In April 1910 Revenge was in for repair, but by July was again sailing. An American ship named Diana had been seized by the British off the coast of Florida then in Spanish hands. Perry and Revenge were ordered to Diana’s rescue in which the daring Perry boarded Diana with a crew and sailed it away while the crews of two British warships watched.
Later that year Perry was ordered to chart the coastal waters in the Rhode Island area. On January 9, 1811 Revenge ran aground, and although Perry ordered cannons and other gear jettisoned it could not be floated away. It was then pulled off the reef, but the tow rope broke and the Revenge sunk. The 25-year-old Perry was court martialed, but the ship’s loss was blamed on a pilot that had assured Perry he could navigate the area waters.
Oliver Hazard Perry went on to command the American forces on Lake Erie winning a decisive battle there against a British naval squadron September 10, 1813. He reported, “We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop.”
The Revenge, lost in that 1811 grounding, was unseen again until it was announced January 7, 2011 only 2 days short of 200 years later that artifacts from the long lost ship had been located in the waters between Rhode Island and Long Island. Hopefully some of the cannons and possibly the anchor can be salvaged for future generations to see the remains of the once proud schooner Ranger, one of the first U S Navy ships.
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