FLASH. The Flash, a privateer, was fitted out for Texas in the spring of 1836; the crew was sworn in and Luke A. Falvel was commissioned captain on March 12, 1836. With the cannons known as the "Twin Sisters"^qv on board, the ship was ordered to proceed to the Brazos River to pick up victims of the Runaway Scrape,^qv take them to Morgan's Point, and defend that place in case of a Mexican attack. At Morgan's Point the "Twin Sisters" were sent to Harrisburg on the Opie, and the Flash picked up members of the ad interim government^qv and took them to Galveston Island. She proceeded to Fort Point on April 20, 1836, and on April 26 was prepared to sail for New Orleans when news was received of the battle of San Jacinto.^qv The vessel was stranded on shore in May 1837, when her pilot mistook San Luis Pass for the entrance to Galveston harbor, and lost. The Tenth Texas Legislature made an appropriation to pay Falvel for his services as sailing master in the Texas Navy.^qv

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Alex Dienst, "The Navy of the Republic of Texas," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 12-13 (January-October 1909; rpt., Fort Collins, Colorado: Old Army Press, 1987).

A. L. Weinberger