But time has dimmed the memory of the man who has been called "Father of the American Navy." Who knows that he held the record for the fastest known 24 hours logged at sea in the 18th century? That he fought the first and last successful battles at sea for the Continental Navy?
Who knows that he manned an artillery battery with the Continental Army at Princeton (while his ship was in dry dock), and helped guarantee a quorum for Pennsylvania's ratification of the Constitution by seizing a couple of state assemblymen?
Barry's life and times have been expertly brought together in the first comprehensive biography in generations: John Barry: An American Hero in the Age of Sail. This very readable and exhaustively researched work was taken from primary source documents around the world.
And that wasn't easy. Barry was neither a prolific writer nor a self promoter like better-known contemporaries, such as naval hero John Paul Jones, and founding father and future President John Adams - each of whom also has been called the "Father of the American Navy."
But author Tim McGrath, an executive and avid sailor who lives outside Philadelphia, followed the limited paper trail left by the man some historians dub "Silent John" to produce a compelling portrait that goes a long way toward restoring Barry to a deserved place of honor in the nation's history.
One of the last good biographies of Barry - William Bell Clark's Gallant John Barry - was produced in 1938. The time for another was long overdue.
