Biddle, Nicholas

Related Category: U.S. History: Biographies

1750–78, American naval officer, b. Philadelphia. Biddle left the British navy in 1773. In the American Revolution he became captain in the patriot navy and daringly raided British shipping off the American coast. After receiving command (1777) of the ship Randolph, Biddle was killed and his ship destroyed in an encounter (1778) with the British warship Yarmouth off the coast of Barbados.