Grace Neill's Restaurant & Bar

The Battle of the Copelands - The A.C.S Ranger vs. H.B.M. Drake

This famous sea battle took place off the North Down coast on April 23rd 1778. The American Continental Navy was commanded by Captain John Paul Jones, a former famous pirate. Jones’ mission was to raid British Commercial Shipping; it was hoped by the Americans that the ingenuity acquired from Jones’ ‘colourful’ past would be put to good use in his trip around these islands in the A.C.S. Ranger.

The cunning Captain Jones learnt from some captured fishermen that the English had dispatched Captain Burden in the twenty gun sloop warship H.B.M. Drake to search for his A.C.S .Ranger. Jones moved from Belfast Lough to just off the coast of Donaghadee to await Burden. Jones’ ship had previously been a British Merchantman but had been captured and converted. This fact gave Jones’ the ace card - he was in possession of a British flag which he used to trick Burden.

Captain Burden sent a six man crew out to observe the A.C.S Ranger. Jones’ decoy tactic with the British flag was successful and soon the half dozen Englishmen found themselves prisoners aboard the American ship. The two ships sailed onwards to the nearest point of land at the Copeland Islands and were unaware of each other’s identities until they virtually bumped into each other.

As the darkness of night fell a powerful sea battle ensued. The onslaught was ferocious and both ships fought courageously for over an hour. They were well matched in size, speed and fire-power but Jones’ men eventually reduced the power of H.B.M. Drake by strategically attacking her masts, spars and rigging which lessened the ship’s manoeuvrability.

Captain Burden eventually lost his life to a musket shot and H.B.M. Drake surrendered, having witnessed the deaths of her captain, first officer and seventeen crew members. The Ranger sailed on victoriously, elated by this initial victory for the newly fledged American Navy.

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