On October 13, 1776, the three-day battle at Valcour Island ended when Benedict Arnold ordered his remaining ships run aground and set them on fire to keep them from falling into British hands. The Americans lost that battle, but Arnold bought George Washington time and prevented the British from attacking him on two fronts. In the summer before the battle, Arnold directed the construction of a scrappy fleet to defend Lake Champlain. A historical marker in Skenesborough, now Whitehall, New York, commemorates that fleet as the “Birthplace of the United States Navy.” Though much has changed about the American Navy since those days, some scrappiness still seems essential to building its vessels. Because our trade schools have struggled to train people in the specialized skills required to build those ships, shipbuilders have established their own apprenticeship programs. Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, #Mississippi, for example, offers such a program and graduated some 70 apprentices in March of this year. Read my latest:

.@Keith_Whitaker_ has written a lovely essay on Nathan Hale—on youth, promise, failure, memory, and the strange way a few final words can give meaning to an otherwise unsuccessful deed. Well worth reading.