Historedia
AmericasEvent

Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet

When
1776
Where
Delaware Bay; Turtle Gut Inlet, off Cape May, New Jersey; Turtle Gut Inlet; Cape May area, New Jersey
Episodes
4

On June 29, 1776, the Continental Navy brig Nancy, pursued by British warships, ran toward Turtle Gut Inlet off New Jersey in heavy fog. Captain John Barry's Americans broke the Royal Navy's Delaware Bay blockade effort in an early naval victory, at the cost of Lieutenant Richard Wickes, the war's first American casualty in New Jersey.

Episodes

  1. March 1, 1776 (charter date) · Delaware BayRoyal Navy Blockades Delaware Bay

    The Royal Navy blockaded Delaware Bay to cut supplies reaching Philadelphia; Robert Morris chartered the brig Nancy on March 1, 1776, to carry gunpowder and arms.

  2. June 29, 1776 · Turtle Gut Inlet, off Cape May, New JerseyNancy Runs for Turtle Gut Inlet

    Blocked from Delaware Bay and pursued by Orpheus and Kingfisher, Nancy headed for Turtle Gut Inlet in heavy fog in the early hours of June 29, 1776.

  3. June 29, 1776 · Turtle Gut InletEngagement and Death of Richard Wickes

    The engagement off Turtle Gut Inlet ended as an early Continental Navy victory under John Barry, but Lieutenant Richard Wickes was killed by British cannon fire.

  4. after June 29, 1776 · Cape May area, New JerseyAftermath: Blockade Shifted

    The battle demonstrated American resourcefulness to the British, who moved their Philadelphia blockade further from the Cape May area; it is called the war's first privateer battle.

Background and detail

Background. To prevent the Americans from receiving supplies through the port of Philadelphia, the Royal Navy established a blockade of the Delaware Bay. To move gunpowder and arms past it, Robert Morris of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety chartered the newly built brig Nancy and her captain, Hugh Montgomery, on March 1, 1776. John Barry had been commissioned captain of the fourteen-gun Lexington on March 14, 1776.

Opposing Forces. The British blockade squadron was led by the 28-gun HMS Liverpool under Captain Henry Bellew and included the 32-gun HMS Orpheus under Charles Hudson and the sixteen-gun HMS Kingfisher under Alexander Graeme. The American side centered on the chartered brigantine Nancy, whose captain was Hugh Montgomery.

Outcome and Significance. The engagement was an important early naval victory for the Continental Navy and for Barry, later called the "Father of the American Navy," and is described as the first privateer battle of the American Revolutionary War. It demonstrated American resourcefulness to the British, who moved their blockade of Philadelphia further away from the Cape May area.

People involved

Sources

  1. Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-20

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.