Hopkins, Esek

Hopkins, Esek, 1718–1802, American Revolutionary naval hero, b. Scituate, R.I.; brother of Stephen Hopkins. He commanded a privateer in the French and Indian War, and in Dec., 1775, he was appointed commander in chief of the newly established Continental navy. In 1776 he made a successful raid on New Providence in the Bahamas. After a dispute with the Continental Congress, he was suspended from command in 1777 and then dismissed from the service in 1778. Hopkins is known as the “first admiral of the American Navy.”

See biography by E. Field (1898, repr. 1972).

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