Local Pilots Advise French Fleet About Sandy Hook

As noted in the prior article, a large French fleet anchored off Shrewsbury Inlet (which connected the Shrewsbury River to the ocean a few miles south of Sandy Hook) on July 11, 1778. The fleet’s admiral, Comte Charles Henri D’Estaing, knew he greatly outgunned the local British fleet, but he faced a problem. Crossing Sandy Hook to engage the British required navigating a narrow channel just north of the Hook. It was understood that the four largest French ships, each with more than 80 cannon—the same ones that gave them the firepower advantage to destroy the British fleet—would be unable to navigate the channel without local pilots who knew the waters.

Sending Pilots to the French Fleet

The Continental government knew the French needed pilots. Even before the French anchored on July 11, Samuel Cooper wrote of the first American pilot the fleet picked up (while in the Delaware Bay):

A pilot taken from the Delaware had promised the Admiral that he would convey his Squadron into the middle of the harbour of Sandy Hook… But the doubts, the fears, the mistakes of the Pilot, before he had reached Sandy Hook, and finally his absolute refusal to perform what he had undertaken, threw the Count into an Embarrassment.

Cooper further noted that local pilots living on the disaffected Shrewsbury shore did not come forward when the French anchored: “That part of the Jerseys has not the reputation of the greatest Zeal for the common cause.” Cooper concluded that “nothing presented itself to the squadron of our allies, unacquainted with our coasts, but an inaccessible Shore.”

The first attempt to send a local pilot to the French was on July 12. Richard Westcott, a militia colonel at Egg Harbor, wrote Congress of receiving orders dated July 10. As a consequence of those orders, he "dispatched the Lexington privateer schooner, Capt. Cook [John Cook], with them." John Cook was a militia officer from Toms River who presumably knew the Monmouth shore and Sandy Hook well.

George Washington, on receiving word of the French arrival, dispatched Colonel John Laurens to Shrewsbury to establish communications with the French and see to their needs. Washington asked Colonel David Forman, a Continental officer from Manalapan who had lost his command, to take “every measure in your power to facilitate Mr. Laurens getting on board the admiral's ship."

Meanwhile, lacking pilots and provisions, D’Estaing took matters into his own hands. The Admiral landed inside Shrewsbury Inlet. He set up an outpost on Rumson Neck to procure provisions and establish contact with the Continental government. D’Estaing wrote Washington:

The desire of communication speedily with your Excellency determines me to make a debarkation upon the coast of the Jersey in a village which, according to the map, is to the northwest of the river Shrewsbury.

Washington received D’Estaing’s letter on July 14. He forwarded it to Congress, noting that "Count D'Estaing is off or near Sandy Hook, having already seized several fishing boats on the banks, in order to procure information and pilots." One of those pilots was apparently William Fundrum, a Loyalist, who would (likely correctly) counsel the French against attacking Sandy Hook.

Washington sought pilots for the French and was led to Captain William Dobbs, living in New York state. Dobbs had been the resident pilot at Sandy Hook before the British took the Hook in April 1776. He wrote Dobbs on July 15:

A considerable fleet of French men of War, chiefly Ships of the line, has just arrived at Sandy Hook, under the command of Admiral Count D'Estaing. As the Admiral is a Stranger to our Coast, and is come for the purpose of cooperating with us against the Enemy, it is absolutely necessary that he should be immediately provided with a number of skillful pilots, well acquainted with the Coast and Harbors and of firm attachment to our cause.

Washington then asked Dobbs to immediately go to the French fleet:

I would flatter myself you will not have the smallest objection to going on board the fleet on so essential and interesting an occasion. I will not at this time say anything of your pay, but I doubt not we shall readily agree on a sum that will not only be just but generous and if we should not, that your services will be liberally considered and rewarded by the States.

Dobbs replied that he "should have immediately complied with the request - but that it met me on my sick bed." He suggested two other pilots. French officers with the Continental Army took note. Captain Choin was suspicious: “I am sorry to say… the pilot with the best reputation, under pretext of having a fever, he refused to board your ship." The Marquis de Lafayette was kinder, "regarding this pilot, he will try to get to your squadron as soon as his health will allow." Dobbs arrived in Shrewsbury on July 20. D'Estaing wrote Washington, "I thank you for the Captain... I will make use of him as soon as possible."

Cook and other pilots were already on board. On July 16, Richard Henry Lee of the Continental Congress wrote D’Estaing about available fresh water and provisions at Toms River and Egg Harbor. Lee also noted that “the Pilots on board the fleet will conduct vessels sent for the purpose to either of these places.”

Governor William Livingston was also seeking pilots. On July 16, he wrote Washington of his efforts “to forward pilots to the Hook to conduct the fleet.” Livingston noted that each French warship “ought at least to have one” pilot, but was doubtful he would find enough qualified pilots. He recommended three pilots living in New York to Washington Dobbs, Dennis McQuire, and Isaac Symondson.

That same day, Alexander Hamilton, on behalf of George Washington, wrote to Captain Patrick Dennis of D’Estaing’s arrival and need for pilots:

It is absolutely necessary that he should be attended by some Gentlemen of intelligence and who possess an accurate knowledge of the Coast and harbours. His Excellency General Washington from the information he has received is persuaded you answer this description in every part; and I am directed by him to request you in his name, if circumstances will permit, to go on board the Admiral as early as possible.

For all the efforts, D’Estaing had only three pilots on July 18. He wrote Washington that the pilots were testing the entrance of the channel to see if it was deep enough for the largest French ships, "I have only three pilots yesterday; they have a need of recollecting their ideas and are at this time sounding the river." A disaffected fisherman, Samuel DeHart, informed the British about the pilots: "Captain Dobes [William Dobbs], Daniel Marlon, John Fise, Jeramia Tonkins are gone on board the French Fleet as Pilots.” DeHart was wrong about Dobbs—who had not yet arrived and he did not mention John Cook, who likely was piloting another French ship for provisions at Toms River or Egg Harbor at that time.

The New York government was also seeking pilots. Jacobus Van Zandt wrote Governor George Clinton on July 19 on the need for pilots. Van Zandt was concerned by delays in sending Dobbs: “I beg your Excellency will send Maj. William Dobbs down to Black Point [Rumson]... Dobbs is a proper coasting and channel pilot." Van Zandt had been to Shrewsbury and delivered other pilots—”collected eight and delivered them.” He also had some harsh words about Shrewsbury and its residents, "I am much fatigued and almost burned up with hot sand in going through a villainous Tory country."

By July 20, Alexander Hamilton was at Black Point. He wrote of establishing a chain of signal cannons that would fire to tell the Continental Army when the French started their attack. He also wrote that the French troops were sent to the area, so that a land attack could accompany the sea attack on the now fortified Sandy Hook peninsula. However, the French remained reliant on American pilots. Hamilton wrote, “Pilots will be a material article.”

Pilots Advise Against Attack

However, those same pilots on that same day advised D’Estaing that the largest French warships sat too deep in the water to navigate Sandy Hook’s channel. Hamilton wrote Washington again on July 20: "he [D'Estaing] has had the river sounded and finds he cannot enter, he will sail for Rhode Island."

D’Estaing wrote twice about the counsel he received from the pilots. The key obstacle was an underwater sand bar at the front of the channel:

The better pilots obtained and given to me by General Washington joined me. I encouraged them secretly and publicly by the promise of compensation. They only reiterated what we already knew -- it was necessary to take whatever presented itself, but not cross the bar.

Later, he wrote:

The pilot removed all hopes of crossing the bar. He observed that the French [ships of line] were three or four feet deeper in the water than English ships of the same class, and advised that the larger ships could not enter on the other side of the Hook, one would have to unload the ships and tow them.

Conrad Alexandre Gerard, the French diplomat in Philadelphia, wrote comprehensively of the depth of the French ships vs. the depth of the channel. He suggested that the largest French warship might clear the channel by only one inch—an unacceptable margin of error:

[The channel will] yield only a high sea depth of 23 feet 11 inches. The Languedoc’s draft is 22 feet six inches; that of the Tonnant is 23 feet 10 inches, and all the squadron’s 74-gun ships draw from 21 to 22 feet of water; they alone can have superiority over the 64 and fifty-gun ships that the English possess.

The French warships could be unloaded to lighten them. Then they would sit higher in the water and have less risk of grounding when passing through the channel. But, of course, unloading the ships would mean removing their artillery and neutralizing their firepower. Heading into battle, this was not an option.

This was apparently contrary to what the French were told while the fleet was still in Europe. Lt. Jean Julian LeMauff wrote that Americans “assured him [D’Estaing] in Europe that there was enough water there [at Sandy Hook] for his squadron to enter” and “fight the English.” However, when “the pilot having arrived [Dobbs], there was not enough water for the large ships of the line and even for those of 74 guns, he would not take charge of the squadron."

Were the pilots correct that the larger French ships, when loaded for battle, sat too deep in the water to take the channel into Sandy Hook? The first pilot to accompany the French, the unnamed man picked up in Delaware Bay, probably was unqualified to lead the fleet around Sandy Hook. He likely led their failed landing at the bottom of Sandy Hook on July 12. But there is no reason to think the other pilots were incorrect in their judgment.

Continental Army Doctor, David Ramsey, who wrote one of the first narratives of the Revolutionary War, did not blame the pilots for the non-attack at Sandy Hook:

American pilots of the first abilities, provided for the purpose, went on board his fleet. Among them were persons, whose circumstances placed them above the ordinary rank of pilots… The pilots on board the French fleet, declared it to be impossible to carry the large ships thereof over the bar, on account of their draught of water.

Washington, though probably disappointed, trusted the counsel of the pilots. On July 26, four days after the French sailed for Rhode Island, he called Dobbs “a pilot of the first established reputation.” He further wrote: “The most experienced Pilots have been employed in sounding, and after the deepest consideration of what might be effected by lightening the Ships and the like, the attempt has been determined unadvisable." Three years later, British ships of the line, the same size as the largest French ships, would unload their cargoes in order to sail the channel Sandy Hook—an option not available to the French.

However, narratives written in the 1800s labeled Dobbs and the other pilots “cowardly,” “timorous” or worse. A French writer, for example, wrote: “The American pilots, whose advice he [D’Estaing] took too much, whether from ignorance on their part, treason or cowardice, dissuaded him from this enterprise.” Someone had to be blamed for the failure to attack Sandy Hook and the pilots—middling men who did not write their own narratives of the war were a convenient place to assign that blame.

Caption: This map shows the narrow channel that large ships needed to navigate to clear Sandy Hook. Local pilots advised the French that their ships sat too deep in the water to safely navigate the channel.

Related Historic Site: Hartshorne Woods Park

Sources: David Ramsey, The History of the American Revolution, Liberty Fund: Indianapolis, 1990, Vol. 2, 88-89; Edmund Burke, Annual Register, 1778 (London: J. Dodsley, 1778) p228; John Campbell, Lives of British Admirals Containing New and Accurate Naval History (London: J. Robinson, 1779) vol. 4, p415-7; Samuel Cooper to Benjamin Franklin, Ben Franklin Papers online: http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=37&page=240a002; Richard Wescott to Congress, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I78, Misc Letters to Congress, v 23, p 509; George Washington to David Forman, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence; George Washington to Henri D’Estaing, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 13, 14, and  17, 1778; George Washington to William Dobbs, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw120218)); Henri D’Estaing in Henri Donoil, ed., Histoire de la Participation de la France à l'Etablissement des EtatsUnisd'Amerique: Correspondance Diplomatique et Documents, 5 vols. (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1876–99), vol. 3, pp. 327-32, 447-9; Alexander Hamilton to George Washington in Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 405; Henri D’Estaing to George Washington in Jared Sparks, Correspondence of the American Revolution: Being Letters of Eminent Men (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1853) pp. 157-8; George Washington to William Dobbs, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 15 - 20, 1778; Jacobus Van Zandt to George Clinton, The Public Papers of George Clinton, (Albany: State of New York, 1899) v 4, p561; Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 20, 1778; Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval Historical Foundation, Washington DC, 2019), vol 13, 448; Jonathan Lawrence, Journal, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 468; Henri D’Estaing to George Washington, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 653; George Washington to Henri D’Estaing, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 16, 1 July–14 September 1778, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, p. 172; Journal of Lt. Jean Julian LeMauff in Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 359-360; George Washington to John Sullivan, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw120243)); Lapeyrouse de Bonfils, Léonard Léonce, Histoire de la Marine Française, Par M. le Comte (Chez Dentu, Librarie, Palais Royal Galerie D'Orleans, Paris, 1845) v. 3, pp45-48.