Abraham Whipple
American Revolutionary War commander in the Continental Navy
Years: 1733 - 1819
Abraham Whipple (September 26, 1733 – May 27, 1819) is an American Revolutionary War commander in the Continental Navy, and later one of the founders of Marietta, Ohio.
Born near Providence, Rhode Island, Whipple chooses to be a seafarer early in his life and embarks on a career in the lucrative West Indies trade, working for Moses and John Brown.
In the French and Indian War period, he becomes a privateersman and commands privateer Game Cock from 1759 to 1760.
In one six-month cruise, he captures twenty-three French ships.
In 1772, Whipple sinks the first British ship of the American Revolution, the British schooner Gaspee, in the Gaspee Affair.
The first to unfurl the Star Spangled Banner in London, Whipple is also the first to sail an ocean-going ship two thousand miles downriver from Ohio to the Caribbean, which opens trade with the Northwest Territory.
