Apparently you've got two different ways in which "fearnought" was used, both which were associated with the navy. Rhonda Houston http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Fearnought.html (Take a close look at paragraph five! Rhonda Houston Fearnought Bay colt, 1755 (Regulus - Silvertail by Henage's Whitenose). Family 32. Fearnought was the most important colonial era sire in America and the most important stallion until the arrival of Medley in 1784, some say even up to Diomed (imported in 1798). Bred in England by William Warren, Fearnought was foaled in 1755. His sire was Regulus, one of the best racing sons of the Godolphin Arabian and many times a leading sire of winners in England. His dam was a mare known as Silvertail, or Bay Silvertail, a daughter of Mr. Heneage's Whitenose (by Hall's Arabian), second dam by Rattle (by a son of Harpur's Barb), third dam by Darley's Arabian, fourth dam the Old Child Mare by Sir T. Gresley's Bay Arabian, fifth dam Mr. Cook's Vixen by the Helmsley Turk, sixth dam, a Royal Natural Barb Mare (Dodsworth's dam). Fearnought was a King's Plate winner, and won four mile heats under high weights and so was considered the most desirable of specimens for importation to improve the small, sprinting types prevalent at the time in the Virginia Colony. He was a big, bright bay horse, very nearly 16 hands high, and very strongly made. So it came to pass that when Virginian Colonel John Baylor sent a very specific order for the kind of stallion he was looking for to his agent in England, the word came back that Fearnought fit the description perfectly. Baylor had asked for "a most beautiful strong bay at least 14.3 hands high, as much higher as possible, provided he has beauty, strength and sp't with it, and one that had won some Kings plates with a pedigree at full length and cert. of age under a noblemen's hand as most of the list belong ot noble'n." The General Stud Book entry for Fearnought doesn't carry the usual comment "sent to Virginia" as it does for many other exported horses, but does note that Silvertail's next foal, an unnamed 1756 colt by Cade was sent to America in 1762. It's possible that Baylor was aware of this colt, who arrived in America two years before his older brother; Fearnought was on the list of horses to inspect which he sent to his English agents. Nine-year-old Fearnought arrived in America in March of 1764 and stood at Baylor's Newmarket Plantantion, Caroline County, Virginia until his owner's death. He was then sold and stood three more seasons in southern Virginia, dying at 21 years of age in Greenville County the autumn of 1776. ****Fearnought proved the perfect prescription for the existing horse population and he nicked extremely well with the blood of his contemporary, John Randolph's (Old) Janus, another grandson of the Godolphin Arabian whose forte was quarter-mile runners. Fearnought injected much needed size, stamina and courage. Because of these same attributes, many of his sons were favored as battle chargers and as a result, lost as casualties during the American Revolutionary War, but it was not enough to put a dent in Fearnought's his long-range influence. His fee was eight pounds (ten to insure a live foal), compared to Janus, standing for four. Fearnought's leading sons included Symmes' Wildair, Apollo, Dandridge's Fearnought, Harris' Eclipse, King Herod, Matchless, Regulus, Whynot, and Hickman's Independence. A large number of his sons followed him to stud in Virginia, and Symmes' Wildair was a particularly successful stallion, siring Highflyer, Commutation, and Chanticleer (sire of Gracchus). None of Fearnought's sons carried the male line forward more than a generation or two, but Symmes' Wildair in particular appears in the pedigrees of some of the finest American families, largely through the exploits of his daughters as broodmares. [Boston's sire and dam both trace back in female line to daughters of Symmes' Wildair (4x5 in Boston's pedigree).] In this, he followed in the footsteps of his sire, since Fearnought's daughters made him a pre-eminent broodmare sire. http://www.nwta.com/wwwboard/1199.html "fearnought", the dictionary definitions are all much the same, quoting Captain Cook, but are not enough! I want to know how it was woven, spun and finished, what weight, fleeces used, and, while suitable for coats and portholes was it practicable for sailors' trousers to be of such heavy, long-piled fabric when shinning up rigging? Miller also wore "two seamans' jackets and a long thick greatcoat". : "Fearnaught" is a heavy woolen fabric which provides protection against inclement weather (hence, "fear nothing"). During the era of the America Revolution, this material is often mentioned in the context of seamen's jackets and overcoats. : It was also a popular name for horses, but I doubt that that's what this man was wearing. : : Kirstie Buckland asked if anyone could help her out with a description of "fearnought trowsers" that are mentioned in a quote she found while researching a paper and I told her that I thought someone in the Alliance will have the answer even if the quote is a bit after our period. : : They are mentioned in a description of seamen's clothing in some correspondence from Horatio Nelson's Captain Ralph Willett Miller in 1793. : : His...."attention was so wholly occupied.....that I absolutely walked overboard...." and was reclothed:- : : " My boat's crew rigged me afresh with...a pair of worsted stockings, a pair of fearnought Trowsers, two seaman's jackets, a long thick great coat and a hairy Cap, no shirt, and such was the dress that so nearly helped to drown me." : : (He was soon overboard again in an act of legitimate bravery.) : : (The Miller Papers- Kirstie Buckland, introduction by Sir Ludovic Kennedy. ed. Stephen Howarth, published by 1805 Club 1999.) http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-7a.htm The U.S. Navy Shipwreck Inventory Project in the State of Maryland by Donald G. Shomette The geographic distribution of documented sites was found to be widely dispersed throughout Maryland. Three distinct geographic divisions of Maryland territorial waters, all recognized as composing the main physiographic components of the marine environment, have been employed: the Atlantic frontier; the Chesapeake Bay; and riverine and other tributary systems. A fourth, termed Contiguous Waters, was later added. Each of the above geo-graphic regions were temporally divided thus: (a) Colonial Period - 1631-1775; (b) Continental Navy and Confederation Period - 1776-1790; (c) Jeffersonian - 1790-181 1; (d) War of 1812 - 1812-1815; (e) Early Steam Age 1816-1860; (f) Civil War - 1861-1865; (g) Reconstruction - 1866-1897; (h) Spanish War/World War I 1898- 1918; (i) Post War - 1919-1940; 0) World War II - 1941-1945; and (k) Cold War - 1946-1986. A total of 21 vessel types were identified within Maryland waters, or in relevant contiguous areas. The following are the vessel types identified: Diesel auxiliary ships, armed military barges, transport and cargo barges, boats and scows, brigs, brigantines, diesel and sail cutters, ferry launches, frigates, diesel gunboats, sail and oar powered gunboats, steam powered gunboats, hydrographic survey vessels, ash lighters, freight lighters, schooners, sloops, submarines, row galleys, sailing transports, and yawls. (What's a yawl? The service of vessels was divided http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/philadelphia/areahistory/watson0219. txt Watson's Annals of Philadelphia http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/ 000018/html/index.html Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/html/vo lumes.html Archives of Maryland, All Volumes Maryland State Archives 350 Rowe Boulevard Annapolis, MD 21401 MD toll free (800) 235-4045 or (410) 260-6400 fax: (410) 974-2525 email: ref@mdarchives.state.md.us web site: http://mdsa.net

Excuse me, but I thought "barges" were floating armored units (barges), very useful in shelling coastal towns or cities from rivers and estuaries nearby. They could handle sizable mortars and cannon of varying sizes because of their sizable platform. The discussion is VERY interesting though. chuck lord >