The first USS Cabot of the United States was a 14-gun brig, one of the first ships of the Continental Navy, and the first to be captured in the American Revolutionary War in the Battle off Yarmouth (1777).

By this bold stroke, men of the fleet seized large quantities of desperately needed military supplies which they carried back to the Continental Army.

[3] The vastly more powerful British ship chased Cabot and forced her ashore near the mouth of the Chebogue, Nova Scotia.

[4][5] While Cabot's captain and crew escaped into the woods unharmed, the British were later able to get the brig off, and refitted her for service in the Royal Navy.

According to Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons' research, the act was initiated by a Continental Marine in the tops of the Cabot throwing a hand grenade at the feet of the British officer, who at that point was still waiting for a reply from the American vessel.