Nicholas Biddle was a Continental Naval Officer during the American Revolutionary War. He was appointed by the Continental Congress to command the Randolph, a 32-gun frigate.
Background
Nicholas Biddle was born on September 10, 1750, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the sixth son of William Biddle, a member of an old, originally Quaker family of New Jersey, and his wife, Mary Scull, daughter of Nicholas Scull, for many years surveyor general of Pennsylvania.
Career
After a short but eventful career in the merchant service, in which he experienced his full share of hardship and even shipwreck, showing on several occasions uncommon determination and pluck, Biddle decided to enter the British Navy. Proceeding to London with letters of recommendation from Thomas Willing of Philadelphia, president of the Bank of North America, to Willing's brother-in-law, Captain, afterward Admiral, Sterling, Nicholas served for sometime as midshipman in the latter's sloop-of-war Portland in 1772. In the autumn of that year, his cruise having come to an end, he asked to be transferred to one of the ships which the Royal Geographical Society sent out in 1773 under Capt. Phipps, afterward Lord Mulgrave, to discover the polar limits of navigation; but, his application being refused, he abandoned his career in the navy, and shipped before the mast on board one of the vessels of the polar expedition. Here he found himself in the company of young Horatio Nelson, afterward England's greatest naval hero, who, like himself, had made the sacrifice of his rank in order to indulge his spirit of adventure. Both were eventually appointed coxswains, in spite of their youth. The expedition penetrated as far north as 81° 39', and experienced the usual hardships and vicissitudes of an Arctic voyage.
Upon his return to England, Biddle, owing to the strained relations between England and her American colonies, resigned his commission, returned to Philadelphia, and offered his services to the Continental Congress. He was given charge of the Franklin, a "Provincial Armed Boat" or galley, fitted out by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety for the defense of the Delaware, on August 1, 1775, but in December of the same year he was placed in command of the brig Andrea Doria (14 guns and 130 men) with the rank of captain, and ordered to join the squadron of Esek Hopkins, commander-in-chief of the naval forces of the United Colonies, with which he took part in the expedition against New Providence. During and for sometime after this service the efficiency of his vessel was greatly reduced by a violent epidemic of smallpox, to which many of his crew fell victims.
On the breaking up of the fleet he cruised in the North Atlantic and took a large number of prizes laden with arms and ammunition, which thus fell into the hands of Washington, then at Cambridge, instead of those of the British forces. Off the coast of Newfoundland he was fortunate enough to capture two armed transports with 400 Highlanders destined for the British army at Boston. Ordered by the Marine Committee to Martinique, the Randolph encountered a violent storm after leaving the Delaware capes, and lost her masts, which, as appears in a letter from Biddle to his brother, were made of rotten timber. Repairs being quickly made, Biddle undertook a successful cruise to West Indian waters, capturing among other prizes the English ship True Briton, 20 guns, which, with three merchantmen that she was convoying, he carried into Charleston harbor, occasioning great satisfaction throughout the South.
During the remainder of the season the Randolph was blockaded in Charleston by a superior British force, but in late February, 1778, in company with four small war-vessels fitted out by the State of South Carolina and placed under Biddle's command, he put to sea in quest of several British ships which had been cruising off Charleston for sometime. About three o'clock on March 7 a sail was made out to windward, whereupon the squadron hauled on the wind and stood for her. Unfortunately she proved to be the "two-decker" Yarmouth, carrying 64 guns. Awaiting the approach of the American vessels, Captain N. Vincent of the Yarmouth ranged up on the weather quarter of the largest, the Randolph, which, upon the British demand to show her colors, hoisted the American ensign and poured in a broadside. After Biddle was wounded, the Randolph blew up suddenly, killing all but four of the 305 on board including Biddle. The loss of Randolph was a serious blow to the fledgling Continental Navy. His body was lost at sea and never recovered.
Achievements
Personality
In personal appearance Biddle was of athletic frame and strikingly handsome, while his manner was animated and entertaining.
Quotes from others about the person
"His death occurred at the early age of twenty-seven, and he died unmarried, though engaged, at the time, to a lady in Charleston. There is little question that Nicholas Biddle would have risen to high rank and great consideration, had his life been spared. Ardent, ambitious, fearless, intelligent, and persevering, he had all the qualities of a great naval captain, and, though possessing some local family influence perhaps, he rose to the station he filled at so early an age, by personal merit. For so short a career, scarcely any other had been so brilliant; for though no victories over regular cruisers accompanied his exertions, he had ever been successful until the fatal moment when he so gloriously fell. " - Cooper