The U.S.S. Philadelphia, 1776

So I'm resting down by the afore-mentioned sit-in lunch counter, and Granpa is continuing through the enormous Smithsonian venues.  He knows how to please me though, and comes back with these amazing photos (including shots of interpretive plaques so that I can read the stories that go with the artifacts.)  What a good man he is!

Literally, 1776.  She was built and sunk in the same year.  Bummer.  But she has been resurrected and is now known as the oldest American man-of-war in existence.  That's cool. 

Water was the super-highway before automobiles because unpaved roads back then could turn into muddy bogs - especially for the narrow wheels of wagons.  Therefore, control of rivers and lakes and oceans was of tantamount military importance.  Lake Champlain (over 100 miles long and about 15 miles wide) sits between what is now the states of Vermont and New York.

Benedict Arnold, a very successful Connecticut businessman by the age of 21, had sailed many times to the West Indies and Canada.  In 1774 he was elected captain of his states' militia, and later put in command of American forces on Lake Champlain.

Spring and summer, 1776.  Picture the northern end of Lake Champlain at Quebec teeming with British shipbuilders pounding together war ships as fast as they could.  Now then, at the southern end, a short distance from Saratoga and Albany, New York, imagine colonists doing the same quick ship building.  It was a race for control of Lake Champlain.

The Philadelphia was built over a two month time frame.  She was a gundalow (now called a gondola).  That is to say, she was a flat bottom ship designed to carry cargo.  She was typical of vessels common at the time in Maine and New Hampshire for river travel.   They floated on tidal currents but might have a large sail in case of good winds.  The Philadelphia was outfitted for war, though, and not cargo.

Now it's October, 1776, and these could be considered good times for Benedict Arnold.   He was in command of the American war ships on Lake Champlain.  It was his duty to prevent the British from capturing Fort Ticonderoga and thereby gaining control of central colonial New York.  (Remember, it's not a state yet because America is not a country yet...)  At Valcour Island, Arnold led the small American fleet of fifteen ships against the British's twenty-nine ships.  The fate of the Philadelphia was sealed when the British dropped a 24-pound shot on her.  She sank to the bottom.  Arnold's other ships were either burned, sunk or captured.

The Americans lost the battle, but in a manner of speaking, they won the war because of the delay it caused the British.  Before the British could regroup winter had set in, and back then armies went to ground in the winter.  By the time things began to thaw out (Lake Champlain can sometimes freeze over solid in the winter regardless of its size), George Washington and the Continental Army had gotten its act together and were able to win a victory at Saratoga.  Armies have been known to make huge sacrifices of men and material in order for the larger war effort to succeed.  That's exactly what the Texas Alamo fight was all about!

So, though Arnold's little fleet was almost entirely wiped out, it was a "win" in the long run, as was the Alamo - though I think the Alamo is remembered and not Arnold because Arnold eventually turned against America.

Now fast forward to 1935.  The 54-foot Philadelphia is discovered sitting upright at the bottom of Lake Champlain!  She still bears three of her cannon and eight swivel guns!  She not only retained most of her armaments but also hundreds of other items - including human bones.  Even her mast was intact and upright - with only about 15 feet of water from its tip to the lake's surface!  All those years and she was hiding just under the surface.  Cool!

The level of preservation is astonishing to me.

 

At first it was used as a tourist attraction, but finally ended up - along with the 24-pound shot that sank her - at the Smithsonian in 1964.