 Two of these, the sloop "Rebecca" and the watering brig "Hatter", were private vessels under contract to the Royal Navy; the other two, the frigate and sloop , were Royal Navy ships.For defense, Elbert had the galleys of the Georgia State Navy; four of these, "Washington", "Lee", "Congress", and "Bulloch", had been underwritten by the Continental Congress and constructed in Savannah between 1776 and 1777.All four were under the command of Commodore Oliver Bowen.