of the town, the cordage for the gallant Yankee ships was spun. In the
busy shipyards along the Delaware, many of the frigates, provided for
by the Act of 1775, were built.

In the summer of 1777 all this was changed. Sir William Howe, at the
head of an irresistible army, marched upon Philadelphia; and,
defeating the American army at Brandywine, entered the city in
triumph. The privateers and men-of-war scattered hastily, to avoid
capture. Most of them fled down the Delaware; but a few, chiefly
vessels still uncompleted, ascended the river.

To cut off these vessels, the British immediately commenced the
erection of batteries to command the channel of the river, and prevent
any communication between the American vessels above and below
Philadelphia. To check the erection of these batteries, the American
vessels "Delaware" twenty-four, and "Andrea Doria" fourteen, together
with one or two vessels flying the Pennsylvania flag, took up a
position before the incomplete earthworks, and opened a heavy fire
upon the soldiers employed in the trenches. So accurate was the aim of
the American gunners, that work on the batteries was stopped. But,
unluckily, the commander of the "Delaware," Capt. Alexander, had
failed to reckon on the swift outflowing of the tide; and just as the
sailors on that ship were becoming jubilant over the prospect of a
victory, a mighty quiver throughout the ship told that she had been
left on a shoal by the ebb tide. The enemy was not long in discovering
the helpless condition of the "Delaware;" and field-pieces and
siege-guns were brought down to the river-bank, until the luckless
Americans saw themselves commanded by a heavy battery. In this unhappy
predicament there was no course remaining but to strike their flag.

Though the British had possession of Philadelphia, and virtually
controlled the navigation of the river at that point, the Americans
still held powerful positions at Red Bank and at Fort Mifflin, lower
down the river. Against the former post the British sent an
unsuccessful land expedition of Hessians, but against Fort Mifflin a
naval expedition was despatched.

Fort Mifflin was built on a low marshy island near the mouth of the
Schuylkill. Its very situation, surrounded as it was by mud and water,
made it impregnable to any land attack. While the fort itself was a
fairly strong earthwork, laid out upon approved principles of
engineering, its outer works of defence added greatly to its