sentences:  Having failed, he returned a few days later and challenged "Drake" to a fight out in the North Channel which the Americans won decisively.During the 1790s there was considerable support in the Carrickfergus area for the United Irishmen.On 14 October 1797 William Orr was hanged in the town following what was widely regarded as a show trial held in Carrickfergus Courthouse (now the Town Hall) and in 1798 United Irish founder Henry Joy McCracken was captured on the outskirts of the town while trying to escape to America.