Shortages in Patriot gunpowder led Congress to authorize an expedition against the Bahamas in the British West Indies to secure additional ordnance there. On March 3, 1776, the Americans landed and engaged the British at the Raid of Nassau, but the local militia offered no resistance. The expedition confiscated what supplies they could and sailed for home on March 17. A month later after a brief skirmish at the Battle of Block Island with the Royal Navy frigate , the squadron returned to the base of American naval operations during the Revolution at New London, Connecticut.