His Majesty's Ships Scarborough, Tamar, Cherokee, and Hinchinbrook sail up the Savannah River on March 1 to Five-Fathom Hole, accompanying transports carrying two to three hundred men under Grant's command.

Hinchinbrook and one of the transports now sail up the Back River, a secondary channel of the Savannah River.

The transport anchors opposite the port area, while Hinchinbrook, in an attempt to take a position above the town, grounds on a sandbank in the river.

Gunfire from Joseph Habersham's militia clear Hinchinbrook's decks, but without suitable boats, Habersham is unable to attempt the taking of the vessel, which floated free on the next high tide.

Late on the evening of March 2, Grant's men are landed on Hutchinson Island.

They make their way across the island, and, at 4:00 am on March 3, take over a number of the rice boats anchored near the island.

Due to their success at remaining quiet, and possibly with the collusion of the ship captains, the alarm is not raised in Savannah until 9:00 am.

The arrival of the ships on March 1 prompts the Committee of Safety to issue calls for the defense of the town and the ships, which are forwarded along with a request for assistance to South Carolina's Committee of Safety the next day.

When the alarm is raised, Colonel McIntosh takes three hundred militiamen and sets up three four-pound cannons on Yamacraw Bluff.

He now sends Lieutenant Daniel Roberts and Major Raymond Demeré II under a parley flag to one of the occupied ships; they are promptly arrested.

When a second, larger, parley arrived to discuss the release of the two captives and the ships, the situation turns nasty when Captain Rogers, leader of the party, is insulted.

After he fires at someone on the occupied ship, the British respond in kind, wounding one and very nearly sinking the parley group's boat.

Following that boat's retreat, McIntosh opens fire with the cannons on the bluff, beginning a gun battle that lasts or four hours.

The Committee of Safety, when it meets to discuss the situation, decides that the supply ships should be burned, and a company of militia is assembled to accomplish this task.

One supply ship, the Inverness, is torched and set adrift toward the occupied vessels, causing a scramble as the British troops hurry to abandon them in the face of the arriving fire ship.

During the confusion, the Patriot militia and battery are active, raking the scurrying British crews with musket fire and grape shot.

Two of the occupied vessels manage to get away downstream, and two more escape the flames by going upstream, but are forced to dock, and their crews are taken prisoner.

Three ships succumb to the flames, which burn well into the night.

The action is assisted by the timely arrival of five hundred South Carolina militia sent in response to the earlier appeal.