ft pulled the oar.

When and under what circumstances young Barry left his birthplace and
departed from Ireland are not known. The best traditionary evidence
justifies us in believing that leaving Ireland, while yet young, he went
to Spanishtown in the Island of Jamaica and from there, when about
fifteen years of age, came to Philadelphia, where he found employment in
the commercial fleets of Samuel Meredith and of Willing & Morris,
leaders in the mercantile life of the city.

[Illustration: TACUMSHIN LOUGH]

[Illustration: LADY'S ISLAND LOUGH]

Being but a boy, records do not attest his presence or position. But
however lowly, we are sure that merit hovered over every action and
proved the worth of the young navigator of the seas so fully that on
attaining his twenty-first year he was at once entrusted with the sole
command of a vessel--the schooner "Barbadoes," sixty tons, which cleared
from Philadelphia on October 2, 1766.

The schooner he commanded was registered at the Custom House on
September 29, 1766. It was built at Liverpool, in the Province of Nova
Scotia and was owned by Edward Denny, of Philadelphia. John Barry was
registered as its Captain.

In this schooner, small in measurement and in tonnage by the standard of
our times and yet not surpassed in either by many vessels in the
colonial marine trade, John Barry, now a man in years and capabilities,
continued until early in 1771 to make voyages to and from Bridgetown,
the principal port of Barbadoes.

[Illustration: BRIDGETOWN]

In May, 1771, he became Captain of the brig "Patty and Polly," sailing
from St. Croix to Philadelphia. In August of that year we find him
Captain of the schooner "Industry," of forty-five tons, plying to and
from Virginia, making trips to New York, voyages to Nevis and to and
from Halifax, Nova Scotia until, on October 9, 1772, he became Commander
of the "Peggy" sailing to and from St. Eustatia and Montserrat until, on
December 19, 1774, a register for the ship the "Black Prince" was issued
to John Barry as Master. It was owned by John Nixon, whose grandfather,
Richard, a Catholic, of Barry's own county, Wexford, arrived in
Philadelphia in 1686. John Nixon read the Declaration of Independence on
July 8, 1776. On December 21st Barry sailed to Bristol, where he
arrived at the end of January, 1775. Later he proceeded to London, where
he arrived June 7th, from whence he returned to Philadelphia, where he
arrived October 13th, t