. Nevertheless, tea ships
came to Boston, when the citizens cast their cargoes into the waters of
the harbor.

That tea party made the British government very angry. The King called
his American subjects "rebels," and proceeded to punish the people of
Boston. All the colonists stood by them. British troops were sent to
make the Americans obedient vassals instead of loving subjects. The
representatives of the colonists all over the land met in a General
Congress at Philadelphia. That was in 1774. In that Congress Patrick
Henry, of Virginia, said, "We must fight." At the same time Joseph
Hawley, of Massachusetts, said in the Provincial Congress, "We must
fight." The patriotic people everywhere, with compressed lips and
valorous hearts, said, "We must fight."

Faint-hearted men and women shook their heads, and said: "Be prudent.
You know Great Britain has scores of ships of war, and we have not one;
how can we hope to win in such a contest?"

Stout-hearted men and women replied, "We will buy or build ships, make
warriors of them, man them with hardy New England fishermen, and with
the faith of little David meet the Goliath of England, trusting in the
Lord, who will defend the right."

And the people said, "Amen."

The Congress appointed a "Marine Committee"--a sort of distributed
Secretary of the Navy. They ordered more than a dozen war vessels to be
built. Officers were appointed, crews were gathered, and Esek Hopkins, a
seaman of Rhode Island, then almost sixty years of age, was made
Commodore and Commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy. This was the
germ of the United States Navy.

Early in 1776 Hopkins sailed from the Delaware to the Bahama Islands,
with four ships and three sloops. At New Providence he captured the
forts, nearly one hundred cannon, and a large quantity of ammunition and
stores. On his return he fought several British vessels, captured two,
and took his little squadron safely into the harbor of New London,
Connecticut. Not doing so well as the Congress desired, he was soon
afterward relieved of command, and no successor was appointed.

John Paul Jones, a little Scotchman less than thirty years of age, was
one of the most active officers of this Continental Navy, and became the
most conspicuous marine hero of the old war for independence. He was the
first who raised an American flag over an American vessel of war, in
December, 1775; and in various ships he gained such great renown that
after