Patriot Nicholas Biddle, with his extensive naval experience, was appointed captain of the Randolph on 11 July; he formally assumed command of the frigate in mid-October.

In desperation, captured British seamen were pressed into service at Philadelphia; the resulting riot forced the soldiers assigned to escort the sailors to fire into the prison windows.

Biddle also had to deal with a failed uprising by the British captives on his ship[1] before reaching Charleston, South Carolina, on the afternoon of 11 March.

Recruiting was stimulated by the issuing of bounties, and Randolph was finally readied for sea - this time with her masts protected by lightning rods.

Two days later, a party from the frigate boarded a departing merchantman, Fair American, and took back into its service a pair of deserters among the ship's crew.

The two brigs, Charming Peggy, a French privateer on escort duty, and L’Assomption, laden with salt, had also been captured by True Briton while plying their way from Martinique to Charleston.

While the frigate was in port having her hull scraped, the president of South Carolina's General Assembly, John Rutledge, suggested to Biddle that Randolph should join forces with the State Navy and break the British naval blockade of Charleston.

Biddle accepted temporary command of the fleet, which, besides Randolph, included General Moultrie, Notre Dame, the converted Fair American, and Polly.

The Randolph then hoisted American colors and fired a broadside into the British ship after Biddle and his officers gambled that they were challenging an inferior sloop-of-war.

[1][2] The damage caused to Yarmouth's sails and rigging prevented her from pursuing the remaining South Carolina ships as they slipped away in the darkness.