The men on board were kept close, to avoid being picked off by a party of riflemen posted on the river bank. The ships fired grapeshot as they passed, but without effecting any injury. Unfortunately, apassage had been left open in the obstructions on which General Putnam had calculated so sanguinely; it was to have been closed in the course of a day or two. Through this they made their way, guided by a deserter; which alone, in Putnam's opinion, saved them from being checked in their career, and utterly destroyed by the batteries.

We have noticed these actions particularly, because they were among the very first marine engagements recorded in our national history. Only a few months after the excitement caused by this "eruption of the Phoenix and the Rose into the quiet waters of the Hudson ' ' had begun to subside in a measure, we find the war-ships again brushing past the American defences at Fort Washington. The new vessels designed for obstruction, the sloop with Bushnell's submarine engine on board, a schooner, and several scows were driven ashore, captured, or sunk. The galleys made strenuous efforts to escape, some by darting into convenient bays and others by trusting to their speed and ability to sail over shallows where the British must have grounded. But two of them ran ashore, and the crew took to the boat and made for land with aU possible speed, their vessels falling into the hands of the British.

All was hurry and alarm at Spuyten Du>^vil, Yonkers, and other places along the lower river shores,