The last naval battle of the American Revolutionary War took place off the coast of Cape Canaveral on March 10, 1783. It began when three British ships sighted two Continental Navy ships, the Alliance commanded by Captain John Barry and the Duc De Lauzun commanded by Captain John Green, sailing northward along the coast of Florida. The Alliance, a 36-gun frigate, and the Duc De Lauzun, a 20-gun ship, were carrying 72,000 Spanish silver dollars from Havana, Cuba, to Philadelphia to support the Continental Army. One of the British ships, HMS Sybil, a 28-gun frigate commanded by Captain James Vashon, chased the Alliance and Duc De Lauzun to the south. HMS Sybil fired first and exchanged shots with the slower Duc De Lauzun. Then Captain John Barry, aboard the Alliance, reversed course and, while under fire, waited until HMS Sybil was close. When the British ship came alongside, he answered its broadside with a greater number of cannon. In less than an hour, HMS Sybil, outgunned and badly damaged, broke off the battle and fled. The Alliance and Duc De Lauzun continued their mission at dawn on March 11, 1783.