In October 1781, Yorktown was the site of the last major land battle of the Revolutionary War between the Americans and the British, although there seemingly were more French (allied with the Americans) involved in the battle than either Americans or British, and there were Germans fighting on both sides. According to one of the interpretive panels at the Battlefield, this led to some confusion in the heat of battle as some Germans couldn't tell whose orders were intended for whom. Tough to know what to do when one is surrounded by bayonets and smoke, and one hears "Charge!" and then "Run away!" but does not know which side issued what order....time to break out the Schnapps and call it a day, vot?
After our short battlefield tour, we reprovisioned, took on water, diesel, gas and propane, and pumped out the holding tank. While filling our diesel tank, I couldn't help but notice that the adjacent pump had been used, to the tune of 300 gallons and US$990 ($900 Cdn and dropping)...now I know why we have a sailboat...! In the afternoon we moved on to Hampton, arriving at sunset and anchoring just off the public dock. Tomorrow we plan to head to Norfolk and the entrance to the Intracoastal Waterway. However, a 178-foot cruise ship has run aground just 25 miles into the ICW (passengers and crew evacuated without incident), and the Coast Guard has closed the canal in that vicinity while salvage operations are carried out. Hopefully this will be cleared up soon, as the thought of having to sail 60+ miles down the coast to the next access point into the ICW is not very appealling at the moment.