."Father of the American Navy" Born 1745 - Our Lady's Island, Co. Wexford. Few people are well acquainted with the gallantry and heroic exploits of America's Wexford born naval commander, Commodore John Barry. Obscured by his contemporary, naval commander John Paul Jones, Barry remains to this day an unsung hero of the young American Republic. John Barry was born in a modest thatched cottage in 1745 at Ballysampson, Our Lady's Island, County Wexford, an area with a strong maritime tradition. Yet Barry's father was a poor tenant farmer who was evicted by his British landlord. The family was then forced to relocate to the village of Rosslare. At Rosslare, the youth's uncle, Nicholas Barry, was captain of a fishing skiff, and the young man determined at an early age to follow his uncle to sea. Barry started out as a ship's cabin boy, and graduated from seaman to able seaman and ultimately achieved Mate's rating. Statue of Commodore John Barry Crescent Quay, Wexford. Barry grew to become a tall, muscular, and well respected seaman. In the space of 58 years, he rose from humble cabin boy to senior commander of the entire United States fleet. Intrepid in battle, he was humane to his men as well as adversaries and prisoners.
