REVOLUTIONARY WAR ACTIVITIES AT CAPE HENLOPEN

REVOLUTIONARY WAR

CAPE HENLOPEN ACTIVITIES

During the Revolution , about 1778, the British slope of war, HMS Mermaid, her

captain, James Harker, was stationed at the mouth of Delaware Bay to warn away

any British vessels from sailing to Philadelphia as the British Army had left in anticipation

of the landing of a French fleet sent by Louis XVI to assist the Continental Army of

America. There would be no protection of any British in Philadelphia.

The morning of July 7 1778, the French fleet under d' Estaing was at the mouth of the

Delaware Bay at Cape Henlopen. The HMS Mermaid fled south along the Delmarva coast

with the French in chase. Unable to make escape , Capt Harker, beached the Mermaid

on Assateague Island near the Sinepuxent Inlet.

Harker surrendered his ship and men to Colonel Samuel Handy of Snow Hill and 150

POW were taken to Cambridge, then on to Fort Frederick in western Maryland.

Col Handy filed a Bill of Libel with the Maryland Admiralty Court and the Mermaid

and her store were sold at auction.

One hundred Worcester county men, members of the Sinepuxent Battalion of the Worcester

County Militia, participated in the salvage of he Mermaid.

Source of Harrison H abstract Ranovak @ rootsweb.com January 11 2006