the Caribbean. They landed twice in Nassau, in the Bahamas, to capture naval supplies from the British. The first landing, named the Battle of Nassau, led by Captain Samuel Nicholas, consisted of 250 marines and sailors who landed in New Providence and marched to Nassau Town. There, they wrought havoc and seized naval stores of shells, shot, and cannon, but failed to capture any of the desperately needed gunpowder. The second landing, led by a Lieutenant Trevet, landed at night and captured several ships along with the naval stores. Sailing back to Rhode Island, the squadron captured four small prize ships. The squadron finally returned on 8 April 1776, with 7 dead marines and four wounded. Though Hopkins was disgraced for failing to obey orders, Nicholas was promoted to major on 25 June and tasked with raising 4 new companies of Marines for 4 new frigates then under construction. In December 1776, the Continental Marines were tasked to join Washington's army at Trenton to slow the progress of British troops southward through New Jersey. Unsure what to do with the Marines, Washington added the Marines to a brigade of Philadelphia militia, also dressed in green. Though they were unable to arrive in time to meaningfully affect the Battle of Trenton, they were able to fight at the Battle of Princeton. Continental Marines landed and captured Nautilus Island and the Majabagaduce peninsula in the Penobscot Expedition, but withdrew with heavy losses when Commodore Dudley Saltonstall's force failed to capture the nearby fort. A group under Navy Captain James Willing left Pittsburgh, traveled down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, captured a ship, and in conjunction with other Continental Marines, brought by ship from the Gulf of Mexico raided British Loyalists on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The last official act of the Continental Marines was to escort a stash of silver crowns, on loan from Louis XVI of France, from Boston to Philadelphia to enable the opening of the Bank of North America. At the end of the Revolutionary War, both the Continental Navy and Marines were disbanded in April 1783. Although individual marines stayed on for the few U.S. naval vessels left, the last Continental Marine was discharged in September. In all, there were 131 Colonial marine officers and probably no more than 2,000 enlisted Colonial marines. Though individual marines were enlisted for the few U.S. naval vessels, the organization would