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Photo # NH 92864:  'New England Armed Vessels ... on Lake Champlain', including Continental gondola Providence, October 1776.  Artwork by C. Randle

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Continental Gondola Providence (1776)

The gondola (or gundalow) Providence was one of eight or nine rowing gunboats built at Skenesborough (now Whitehall), New York, in mid-1776 to help defend Lake Champlain from a British invasion from Canada. She was probably identical, or very similar, to the Philadelphia, which is now on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution. Serving with Brigadier General Benedict Arnold's squadron, Providence was badly damaged during the 11 October 1776 Battle of Valcour Island and was sunk by her crew the following morning to prevent capture.

This page features our only view of the Continental Gondola Providence.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 92864

"A Sketch of the New England Armed Vessels, in Valcure Bay on Lake Champlain as seen in the morning of 11 October 1776 ..."


Contemporary artwork by C. Randle, depicting the Continental squadron, under Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, just before the Battle of Valcour Island.
The vessels shown include schooner Royal Savage (center) and (from left to right around Royal Savage): schooner Revenge, galley Washington, gondola Philadelphia, galley Congress, gondola Jersey, galley Lee, gondola Boston (in the middle, largely hidden behind Royal Savage's sails), gondola Spitfire, gondola New Haven, gondola Providence, gondola Connecticut, gondola New York, sloop Enterprise and galley Trumbull.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 435 pixels

 

Other Views:

(1) The Public Archives of Canada, at Ottawa, Ontario, holds a watercolor by the British officer C. Randle entitled "A View of the New England Arm'd Vessels in Valcure Bay on Lake Champlain ...". This painting is quite similar to that presented above (which may be a copy of it), but has the inscription below the image rather than above it.
(2) The Fort Ticonderoga Museum, at Ticonderoga, New York, holds a watercolor entitled "God Bless our Armes" which features individual sketches of sixteen vessels of the Continental squadron on Lake Champlain. One of these is Providence.
For more information on the availability of reproductions of these artworks, contact the institutions that hold them. Contact information should be readily found on the Internet through the use of any of the more popular search engines.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 1 October 2003