to adopt the Royal cause" and so took
service on the "Edward" and so was taken prisoner.

Captain Barry induced young Dale to return to American allegiance and
accept service under him on the "Lexington" as Midshipman. Dale in
October, when the "Lexington" was assigned to Captain Johnston, became
Master's Mate. He continued in the service of the United Colonies and
rose to be a Commodore in the Navy under the present Constitution. He
ever retained the friendship of Captain Barry, who, by his will,
bequeathed to his "good friend, Captain Richard Dale, his gold-hilted
sword as a token of his esteem."

This sword had been presented to John Paul Jones by King Louis XVI after
the memorable battle between the "Bonne Homme Richard" commanded by
Jones and the "Serapis," as the expedition commanded by Jones was under
French auspices and direction. The sword "was sent by Jones' heirs to
Robert Morris," the financier of the Revolution, "who presented it to
Commodore John Barry, the senior officer of the present American Navy,
who will never disgrace it," Morris wrote, March 18, 1795, to Thomas
Pinckney, the American Minister to Great Britain. Barry by his will
bequeathed it to "my good friend Captain Richard Dale," with whose
descendants it yet remains. It is claimed by the Morris family that the
gift to Barry was "in trust to descend to the senior officer of the
Navy." There is no proof of the trust nor is there any that Jones' heirs
gave the sword of great money value to Morris. Morris had it. He gave it
to Barry who bequeathed it to Dale who, two months before Barry made his
will, had resigned from the Navy. There could have been no "trust" for
Barry to "disregard." But it is singular that it is now possessed by
those whose ancestor had, by Barry, been induced to return to American
allegiance after having entered the service of the enemy.

The "Edward," taken by Barry, was the first armed vessel taken under the
authority of the Continental Marine Committee and brought to
Philadelphia, the seat of Congress, and delivered to its Marine
Committee. Previous captures off the New England coast by Manly and
others, had been those of unarmed supply vessels to Quebec or Boston
under authority of General Washington. The capture was most important.
When the project had, in August, 1775, been presented to Congress by the
delegates from Rhode Island, by direction of its Assembly, to fit out
armed cruisers, many of the patriots thought it