Frederica naval action

Frederica naval action
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Georgia Navy vessels capturing the British squadron on Frederica River.
Date April 19, 1778 Location off St. Simons Island, Georgia, Frederica River Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Colonel Samuel Elbert	Captain Thomas Jordan (nominally)
Strength
3 galleys	1 frigate 1 sloop 1 brig 1 brigantine
Casualties and losses
none	none 1 sloop captured 1 brig captured 1 brigantine captured

The Frederica naval action was a naval battle during the American Revolutionary War in which three galleys of the Georgia State Navy defeated a British raiding party off the coast of Georgia. The action occurred on April 19, 1778.

The state of Georgia had twice attempted, without success, to invade the British colony of East Florida. In 1778 a third attempt was launched, to be headed by Colonel Samuel Elbert. The catalyst for the invasion was the discovery, in April of that year, that four British ships were sailing in St. Simons Sound. Two of these, the sloop Rebecca and the watering brig Hatter, were private vessels under contract to the Royal Navy; the other two, the frigate HMS Galatea and sloop HMS Hinchinbrook, were Royal Navy ships.

For defense, Elbert had the galleys of the Georgia State Navy; four of these, Washington, Lee, Congress, and Bulloch, had been underwritten by the Continental Congress and constructed in Savannah between 1776 and 1777. All four were under the command of Commodore Oliver Bowen.

On April 15 Elbert received word that the Royal Navy had been spotted off the coast, and detailed around 360 men of the Georgia Continental battalions of Fort Howe to march to Darien; from here they were to embark upon three of the galleys, Washington, Bulloch, and Lee. The first was led by Captain John Hardee, the second by Captain Archibald Hatcher, and the third by Captain John Cutler Braddock.

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