Thomas Read (1740 in

New Castle, Delaware New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The city is located six miles (10 km) south of Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington and is situated on the Delaware River. As of 2020, the city's population was 5,551. New Cast ...

– 26 October 1788 in White Hill, New Jersey) was the first naval officer to obtain the rank of commodore in command of a fleet of the

Continental Navy The Continental Navy was the navy of the United Colonies and United States from 1775 to 1785. It was founded on October 13, 1775 by the Continental Congress to fight against British forces and their allies as part of the American Revolutionary ...

Biography

Thomas Read was the son of John and Mary Read, and the younger brother of U.S. statesman George Read. A brother worked in

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and

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trade. He was appointed, on 23 October 1775, commodore of the

Pennsylvania Navy The Pennsylvania Navy, more formally known as the Pennsylvania State Navy or in modern terms the Pennsylvania Naval Militia, served as the naval force of Pennsylvania during the American Revolution and afterward, until the formation of the United ...

, having as the surgeon of his fleet

Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was an American revolutionary, a Founding Father of the United States and signatory to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social refor ...

, and while holding this command he made a successful defence of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

. He was appointed, 7 June 1776, to the highest grade in the

, and assigned to one of its four largest ships, the 32-gun frigate ''George Washington'', then being built on the Delaware River. While awaiting the completion of his ship he volunteered for land service, and was sent as captain by the committee of safety to join

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

. He gave valuable assistance in the crossing of the Delaware, and at the

Battle of Trenton The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal American Revolutionary War battle on the morning of December 26, 1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After General George Washington's George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, crossing of the ...

commanded a battery made up of guns from his frigate, and with it raked the stone bridge across

Assunpink Creek Assunpink Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in western New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden S ...

. After much service on sea and land, Thomas Read resigned his commission, and, retiring to his seat near

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, dispensed a liberal hospitality to his old companions-in-arms, especially to his brother members of the

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. Shortly afterward he was induced by his friend, Robert Morris, to take command of his old frigate, the ''

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

'', which had recently been bought by Morris for commercial purposes, and make a joint adventure to the China seas. Taking with him as chief officer one of his old subordinates,

Richard Dale Richard Dale (November 6, 1756 – February 26, 1826) was an American naval officer who fought in the Continental Navy under John Barry and was first lieutenant for John Paul Jones during the naval battle off of Flamborough Head, England again ...

, afterward Commodore Dale, and George Harrison, who became an eminent citizen of

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, as supercargo, he sailed from the Delaware on 7 June 1787, and arrived at Canton on 22 December following, after sailing on a track that had never before been taken by any other vessel, and making the first "out-of-season" passage to China. In this voyage he discovered two islands, which he named, respectively, "Morris" and "Alliance" islands, and which formed part of the

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. By this discovery the United States became entitled to rights which were never properly asserted.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Thomas 1740 births 1788 deaths People from colonial Delaware People from New Castle, Delaware Continental Navy officers People of Delaware in the American Revolution