Abraham Whipple (September 26, 1733 – May 27, 1819) was an American revolutionary commander in the Continental Navy. Whipple was born near Providence, Rhode Island and chose to be a seafarer early in his life. He embarked upon a career in the lucrative West Indies trade, working for Moses and John Brown. In the French and Indian War period, he became a privateersman and commanded privateer Game Cock from 1759 to 1760. In one six-month cruise, he captured 23 French ships.
He sank the first British ship of the American Revolution, the British schooner HMS Gaspée, in the 1772 Gaspée Affair. The first to unfurl the Star Spangled Banner in London, he was also the first to sail an ocean-going ship 2000 miles down river from Ohio to the Caribbean, opening trade to the Northwest Territory.
Read more about Abraham Whipple: Early Life, Later Life, Fictional References
Famous quotes containing the word abraham:
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)