POET OF THE REVOLUTION

POET OF THE REVOLUTION

PHILIP FRENEAU

Philip Freneau, the so called poet of the revolution, was also a minister, a teacher and a

mariner. Early in 1780, during the month of May, he was aboard the privateer “Aurora” under

command of Captain John Laboyteaux, out of Philadelphia, at the enterance of the Delaware

Bay.

Here they met with a British frigate, one of the fleet of British warships led by the 44 gun

Roebuck which prowled the waters near Lewes. The newly formed Continental Navy had no

match for the Reobuck and other English warships. The best Americans could do were two

“galleys”. a barge like vessel with a single sail and oars, which were effective in the low water

but no match against the heavy armed British fleet.

The British frigate, with a 12 pound shot, took the Aurora from the rightside, smashing it to

atoms. The Aurora crew was sent to a New York prison ship, crowded and virmin filled,

where Freneau was held for six weeks. He wrote two accounts “Some Account of the

Capture of the Aurora” and “The Prison Ship”. After his freedom was granted he continued to

write of the Continental victories of John Paul Jones and the defeat of General Cornwallis at

Yorktown.

Source: Michael Morgan's Delaware Diary, Delaware Coast Press, November 29, 2017.