The virtues of the citizen-soldier are prominent in the history of the American Revolution, but less attention has been given to the citizen-sailor. Under the leadership of Commodore Alexander Gillon, a prominent and colorful Charleston merchant, the South Carolina navy secured the services of the largest warship under any American's command, the frigate South Carolina. Built in Holland and designed to combine speed with firepower, this frigate is best known for its capture of the British Bahamas in 1782 in the only American military manuever to seize and hold foreign territory outside the borders of the Thirteen Colonies.