in New England for Continental service. She arrived on 3 December and was immediately taken into Continental service and renamed Providence. Captain Whipple assumed command of , a larger ship, and Captain John Hazard was placed in command of Providence, formalized by a commission from the Continental Congress dated 9 January 1776. The ships joined a squadron being formed by Congress under the command of Esek Hopkins, who was Commander in Chief of the Fleet of the United Colonies; they ordered him to sail for Chesapeake Bay on 5 January 1776 and to clear waters there of a fleet organized the previous autumn by Governor Dunmore of Virginia. These English and Tory ships had ravaged the shores of the bay and the rivers which empty into it. Once Whipple's ships had completed this task, they were to move south and clear the Carolina coast of enemy shipping, then sail North to Rhode Island to perform a similar service. Providence and her consorts departed Philadelphia early in January but were delayed by ice and did not get to sea until 17 February. Hopkins deemed it unwise to cruise along the southern coast and led his little fleet to the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas, which they reached on 1 March and staged for a raid on New Providence. The next day, they seized two sloops on which Hopkins placed a landing party of 200 marines and 50 sailors. The Americans went ashore unopposed on the eastern end of New Providence at mid-morning of the 3rd, under cover of the guns of Providence and . They advanced toward Fort Montagu which opened fire, interrupting the invaders' progress. The defenders spiked their guns and retreated to Fort Nassau. The next day, Nassau surrendered and gave the Americans the keys to the Fort. Hopkins then brought his ships into the harbor and spent two weeks loading captured munitions before heading home on 17 March. Hopkins’ ships captured the schooner off Block Island on 4 April, belonging to the British fleet at Newport, Rhode Island, and they took the brig Bolton at dawn the next day. That evening, the Americans added a brigantine and a sloop to their list of prizes, both from New York. About 1 a.m. on 6 April, sighted , a 20-gun sloop carrying dispatches from Newport to Charleston, South Carolina. The American fleet engaged the enemy ship for 1.5 hours before