Although much is not known of her exact origins, it is well accepted that the Continental Sloop PROVIDENCE began her life in the 1760s as the sloop KATY. History suggests that she was built at India Point in Providence by John Brown, a prominent Rhode Island shipbuilder. Her original duties were that of a privateer, and in the years leading up to the Revolution was used as a merchantman and a whaler.

At the outset of the American Revolution, the KATY was the flagship of the Rhode Island Navy. In November of 1775 she formally joined the Continental Navy, taking the name PROVIDENCE in honor of the city from which she sailed. Her armament consisted of four pounder cannon and one pounder swivel guns. Although she was pierced for ten carriage guns, different accounts of her exploits state that between 1774 and 1779 she carried anywhere from six to twelve cannon.

The original sail plans for the PROVIDENCE have been lost to time, but paintings and first-hand accounts from the period have provided details of the sloop's size, rigging and compliment. The length of her hull measured from sixty to seventy feet with a beam of twenty to twenty two feet. She drew some ten to twelve feet below the waterline, and her single mast and bowsprit carried a square topsail, studding sails, a gaff-headed mainsail and three headsails. As did many ships of her size, she did not ship a wheel, but instead had a large tiller from which to control her rudder. Her crew was generally comprised of eighty officers and men, which included at least twenty marines.

In the four years that the PROVIDENCE served as a ship in the Continental Navy, she successfully captured numerous merchantmen and took on British warships of greater size and armament. In January, 1778, under the command of Captain John Peck Rathbun and Marine Captain John Trevett, the PROVIDENCE and her crew assaulted New Providence Island in the Bahamas. After three days the Americans had managed to capture and pillage the islands only defenses - Forts Nassau and Montagu. In addition to capturing the forts, the PROVIDENCE's crew managed to claim five prizes, liberate thirty American prisoners of war, and fill their hold with a large supply of badly needed gunpowder and military stores. Not one man was wounded during the operation.

The PROVIDENCE met her end in August, 1779, when she was burned on the banks of the Penobscot River to avoid being captured by the British.

The Providence Maritime Heritage Foundation has published a new home page for the Sloop Providence - the reproduction sailing ship built in 1976. Please visit them at www.sloopprovidence.org.

Last updated April 17, 2000