From the Encyclopedia of North Carolina.
North Carolina gunboats fall into three categories: Revolutionary War, the period of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison administrations and the Confederacy. I will write about those from the Revolution here. The War of 1812 and the Civil War will be covered in those blogs.
The Revolutionary War gunboats were armed merchantmen, intended to protect coastal towns. Three of them, the Pennsylvania Farmer, King Tammany and General Washington were outfitted as guard ships. They were not staisfactory, so the state went in with Virginia to build two rowing galleys to defend Ocracoke Inlet: the Caswell and the Washington.
The Caswell served at Ocracoke under Captain Willis Wilson from 1778-1779. Neither galley saw action but did defend trade passing through the inlet.
In 1790, the worm-riddled Caswell sank at its mooring in New Bern and its crew and weapons transferred to the Washington.
A Revolutionary Affair. --Cooter
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