Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 9 July '86 27

—jersey Cape SI Historically By John Merrill J

In early June of 1776, our nation was in the midst of a life and death struggle for survival. Hearing the call for help, Cape May County contributed in the development of our history by aiding colonial forces in their battle for independence. Owned by businessmen from Wilmington, De.. and under consignment to Robert Morris, banker, financier, and American patriot from Philadelphia, the brigantine, Nancy, was returning from a secret journey to St. Croix to load arms, ammunition, rum, and molassas THE ARMS and am-' munition were loaded under the cover of darkness and hopefully, out of the prying eyes of the British. British patrol vessels had blockaded the points of strategic importance along the Atlantic coast, with one such location being the entrance of the Delaware Bay, major waterway to the 'treasonous' city of Philadelphia. CAPTAIN John Barry of the Lexington (history will remember Barry as the Father of the American Navy), Capt. John Baldwin of the Wasp and Capt. Lanbert Wickes of the Reprisal were ordered by the Continental Congress to protect colonial shipping entering the Delaware Bay. British blockade vessels of the Delaware included the frigate Orpheus under the command of Capt. Charles Hudson, and the ships Liverpool and Kingfisher. The Orpheus was responsible for the patrol of the Delaware coast while the Kingfisher was responsible for the Cape May County coastal waters. ON FRIDAY 28 June 1776, The Nancy was sighted heading towards the Delaware Bay. Waiting on either side of the bay were the British patrol vessels. Captain Barry, being senior officer, ordered the Lexington and the Wasp sent to help the Nancy. Barry also realized that his vessels were not a match for the more heavily armed British ships. Captain Montgomery, as he headed for Philadelphia, noticed that the vessels he had spotted were the British vessels Orpheus and Kingfisher immediately altered his course for an area with which he was familiar, Turtle Gut Inlet. THE BRITISH fleet, anchoring in deep water, sent smaller launches to locate and destroy the Nancy, for Captain Graeme of the Kingfisher felt he had successfully blockaded the inlet at Turtle Gut. Much to his amazement, Re-enlisted WILDWOOD - Spec. 4, Jeffery W. Chunn, of Winchester, Tenn., has reenlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., for three years. His wife, Army Spec. 4 Jeanine M. Lymons-Chunn, is the daughter of Lola Lymons of this city.

the Nancy had slipped by his notice under the cover of a late afternoon haze, and anchored in the shallow waters of the inlet. As the haze began to clear shortly after dark, Capt. Montgomery noticed vessels moving closer to the Nancy. He ordered three of his six "threepounders" to fire at the incoming vessels. ATTRACTED BY the noise and flashes in the night, the tiny flotilla of armed barges sent from the Reprisal, Lexington. and Wasp, sped to the aid of the Nancy. First to arrive and board the Nancy was Lt. Richard Wickes, followed shortly thereafter by Captain Barry. Barry, understanding the hopelessness of the situation, ordered the Nancy run aground as close as possible to the banks of the inlet. Here the precious supplies could be unloaded with the help of the local residents drawn to the area by the sound of gunfire. BY NOON of the following day, 50 firelocks, 286 barrels of gunpowder, and most of the general cargo was taken ashore. One hundred barrels of gunpowder still lay deep within the hold. Using a torn sail and 50 pounds of gunpowder, a homemade fuse was made extending from the deck to the gunpowder in the hold. After igniting the "fuse" and striking the colors, the patriots had no sooner landed on shore than six British sailors climbed on board the Nancy THE BRITISH, joyously thinking that they had been victorious over our sailors, failed to notice the lit fuse. Reputedly heard over an area that included "40 miles above Philadelphia", the explosion killed 30 or more of the British who were on the vessel, engaged in boarding the Nancy or in the waters near the vessel. The patriots, unable to leave the beach area and move to the interior of the countryside because they remained within the range of the cannons of the larger British vessels, discouraged a possible British offensive by laying down small arms fire and using the one cannon they had salvaged from the Nancy. OF THE patriots, Lt. Richard Wickes was the only fatality when a cannonball struck his head at the very end of the battle. Lambert Wickes, brother of Richard and commander of the Repraisal, commented • "... He was buried., on the 30th of June in the Meeting House Yard at Cape May..." More than likely, he was buried in the burial grounds of Old Brick (Cold Spring Presbyterian Church). The church and most of the records were destroyed in a fire in the early 1800's, also, the headstone of Lt. Wickes has not been located, so it is possible that he was buried elsewhere. LIKE THE headstone, Turtle Gut Inlet is also lost to history. In 1922, Turtle Gut Inlet was filled to create the present island community of Wildwood Crest. Before the filling-in of Turtle Gut, there were two

ft V v <vl ■ ■ S M II ■ .. I ■ I IT'S ALL HISTORY — John Merrill, right, teacher and author of "Jersey Cape Historically" column in this paper, chats with Myroh McGuigan of Dennisville after speaking recently to Dennis Township Historical Society.

separate islands of Five Mile Beach and Two Mile Beach. Turtle Gut Inlet would encompass, today, parts of. if not all of. Syracuse, Denver, and Toledo Avenues plus parts of Charleston, Pittsburgh, Topeka, Hollywood. Preston, St. Paul, and Monterrey Avenues and the north-south streets of Atlantic, Pacific, New Jersey, and Boulevard Avenue, and the length of Sunset Park. This engagement, no matter how minute in the entire scope of the Revolutionary War, was another step on the pathway to American independence. And the vessel Nancy

should be remembered as the first American vessel to fly a newly developed American flag in a foreign port.

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