The $5.00 stamp of Antigua depicts the Continental Navy sloop Ranger, a vessel built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1777. Tonnage 308. Length on gundeck 116ft. Beam 34 ft. Depth of hold 13 ft. 6in. Armed with 18 6-pounders. Crew of 140. Her first commander was the famous John Paul Jones. She sailed for France on November 1777. She carried despatches and on the crossing took two prizes. Jones was expecting to take command of the L 'Indien, but possession of this ship was delayed so Jones remained in the Ranger. He certainly made the Ranger famous on a cruise from France. In the Channel he took and sank the brigantine Dolphin and later, in the Irish Sea, he captured the Lord Chatham, sending her into Brest. He surprised the revenue cutter Hussar North of the Isle of Man, but the fast little vessel escaped. Jones sailed to Whitehaven and made a famous raid. While there he set on fire the collier Thompson; made another landing on the Scottish coast, left the Solway Firth and made back for Belfast Lough to have another attempt at capturing the Drake. He met her at sea, captured the ship, and as her masts had been shot away he took the vessel in tow. This fight had been very tough. The Drake lost 42 men, the Ranger losing eight killed and wounded. This took place on April 24, 1778. Next day, a brigantine was sighted; the Drake was cast off and the Ranger went after a second prize, capturing a vessel named Patience, which he destroyed. The Ranger and the jury-rigged Drake made for Brest, arriving early in May. The Ranger was captured in Charleston, South Carolina, when that city fell on May 12, 1780. The ship was taken into the Royal Navy and renamed Halifax. This seems to be tit-for-tat for the French capture of the sloop Halifax on August 14, 1756, at the fall of Oswego, Canada, the 22 gun sloop being the first Halifax in the Royal Navy. SG493