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U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues
Where Duty, Honor and Country
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Commodore John Barry
(1745-1803)
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"Father of the American Navy"
Few Americans are well-acquainted with the gallantry and heroic exploits of Philadelphia's Irish-born naval commander, Commodore John Barry. Obscured by his contemporary, naval commander John Paul Jones, Barry remains to this day an unsung hero of the young American Republic. As most naval historians note, Barry can be classed on a par with Jones for nautical skill and daring, but he exceeds him in the length of service (17 years) to his adopted country and his fidelity to the nurturing of a permanent American Navy. Indeed, Barry deserves the proud epithet, "Father of the American Navy," a title bestowed on him not by current generations of admirers, but by his contemporaries, who were in the best position to judge.
In the space of 58 years, this son of a poor Irish farmer rose from humble cabin boy to senior commander of the entire United States fleet. Intrepid In battle, he was humane to his men as well as adversaries and prisoners. Barry's war contributions are unparalleled: he was the first to capture a British war vessel on the high seas; he captured two British ships after being severely wounded in a ferocious sea battle; he quelled three mutinies; he fought on land at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton; he captured over 20 ships including an armed British schooner in the lower Delaware; he authored a Signal Book which established a set of signals used for effective communication between ships; and he fought the last naval battle of the American Revolution aboard the frigate Alliance in 1783.
Early Years
John Barry was born in a modest thatched cottage in 1745 at Ballysampson on Our Lady's Island, which is part of Tacumshin Parish in County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford, at the southeasternmost part of Ireland, has always had a strong maritime tradition. Yet Barry's father was a poor tenant farmer who was evicted by his British landlord. The family was forced to relocate to the village of Rosslare.
At Rosslare, the youth's uncle, Nicholas Barry, was captain of a fishing skiff, and the young man determined at an early age to follow his uncle to sea. Barry started out as a ship's cabin boy, and graduated from seaman to able seaman and ultimately, a Mate's rating. Barry grew to be a tall, muscular, well-respected seaman. A salient event which occurred in Barry's youth led to a lifelong enmity of oppression and the British. At a young age Barry learned of the massacre of some 3,000 Wexfordians under an invading force led by Oliver Cromwell in 1649.
His First Command
Barry's first command came in 1766 aboard the schooner, Barbadoes, sailing out of Philadelphia, which Barry adopted as his home port. Barry had good reason to make Philadelphia his new home. William Penn's legacy of religious freedom allowed Roman Catholics, which Barry was, greater latitude of worship than most anywhere else in the Colonies. Further, the city was emerging as a great maritime trade center. Its growing population, which exceeded 30,000 by the start of the Revolution, hungered for imported goods brought in by ships piloted by captains such as Barry. Plying back and forth between Philadelphia and the West Indies, Barry gained his early skills of command at the helm of several merchant ships.
Minature portrait painted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, possibly by Gilbert Stuart. It appears to show Barry as a young man.
In the West Indies trade, Barry honed his nautical skills making at least nine round trips without a single mishap. Philadelphians came to like "Big John" Barry due to his reliability, personable nature and his success in the merchant shipping business. His next command, the Patty and Polly, was a small brigantine which he took on but a single voyage. Shortly after, Barry took command of the Industry, a 45-ton vessel which he described as a "good schooner."
By 1772, Barry's abilities as a shipmaster had come to the attention of one of Philadelphia's premier mercantile houses, Meredith and Clymer. Reese Meredith recognized Barry's ability by assigning him command of the vessel Peg, quite a plum for a young captain. About the time colonial difficulties with the mother country necessitated the convening of the First Continental Congress in 1774, Barry began a lifelong friendship and collaboration with the Revolutionary financier, Robert Morris. Barry's last pre-revolutionary sailing experience came in the service of Morris, who was a partner in Philadelphia's top merchant shipping firm, Willing, Morris and Cadwalader. Barry was assigned to their sleek 200-ton ship, Black Prince. It was aboard Black Prince on a return voyage from England that Barry made the amazing and unparalleled record of travelling 237 miles by dead reckoning in a 24 hour period -- the fastest day of sailing recorded in the 18th century.
The Private Barry
In private life, Barry's world was twice darkened by tragic events. First was the premature death of his first wife, Mary Clary (or Cleary), whom he had married at Philadelphia's Old St. Joseph's chapel on October 31, 1767. Mary's death on February 9, 1774, at 29 years of age, grieved him all the more since he was at sea when her passing occurred. The second tragedy was the disappearance at sea of Barry's brother and fellow mariner Patrick Barry. Patrick's ship, the Union, a letter of marquee vessel, sailed from Bordeaux, France, in August of 1778, and was never heard from again.
Barry was consoled by his second marriage, this time to the socially popular and attractive Sarah Keen Austin, nicknamed "Sally" by her friends. Sally Austin and John Barry were married on July 7, 1777, in Old Christ Church by the Reverend William White, rector and founder of the American Episcopal Church. Sarah, an Episcopalian, eventually converted to Barry's Roman Catholic faith. The Barrys were regular parishioners at several Philadelphia Catholic churches: Old St. Joseph's, Old St. Mary's and eventually, St. Augustine's. The Barrys had no children; however, they happily raised two boys from Barry's deceased sister Eleanor's household.
Sarah's nephews from Ireland, Michael and Patrick Hayes, were brought to Philadelphia by Captain John Rosseter on his ship, the Rising Sun. Rosseter was a neighbor of the Barry family in Ireland, and the captain also wound up living on the same street as John Barry in Philadelphia. His close association with the Barrys continued even in death, as the Rosseter plot lies next to the Barry plot in Old St. Mary's churchyard.
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