John Barry
John Barry was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1745 and came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when he was fifteen years old. Prior to the American Revolution, he was a skillful mariner and rose to the rank of captain of a large merchant vessel.
In February 1776, Congress put him in command of the brig Lexington with 16 guns, with which he made several successful cruises. In 1777, when the British attacked the little American Navy in the Delaware, then under the command of Commodore Barry, and destroyed it at White Hall, Capt. Barry took charge of the Raleigh with 32 guns. He lost his ship when the enemy ran his ship on shore in Penobscot Bay.
Commodore Barry was then transferred to a ship commissioned with letters of marque and reprisal and successfully cruised among the West India Islands. On his return, he was put in command of theAlliancefrigate and left Boston in February of 1781 for France. John Laurens, the American minister of France, was onboard. Upon returning, he came in contact with the British ship Atlantic and brig Treposaon on May 29th and captured them after a severe engagement. In February 1782, he had what the British captain called a drawn battle with an English frigate of equal metal with his own but could outsail her. The enemy had 37 killed and 50 wounded. Commodore Barry lost three men, with eleven wounded.