Capture of USS Chesapeake

The Capture of USS Chesapeake, or the Battle of Boston Harbor, was fought on 1 June 1813, between HMS Shannon and the USS Chesapeake, as part of the War of 1812. Shannon won the battle, and Chesapeake was captured, in a pitched battle in which over 80 men were killed.

At Boston, Captain James Lawrence took command of Chesapeake on 20 May 1813, and on 1 June, put to sea to meet the waiting HMS Shannon, the frigate whose written challenge had just missed Chesapeake's sailing. During six minutes of firing, the vessels fired two full broadsides; 362 shots struck Chesapeake, while 258 struck Shannon. Chesapeake suffered early in the exchange of broadsides, having her wheel shot away, costing her her maneuverability. Lawrence himself was mortally wounded and was carried below. The crew struggled to carry out their captain's last order, "Don't give up the ship!", but the British boarding party overwhelmed them. The battle lasted thirteen minutes, killing or wounding 252 men. Shannon's Captain Broke was severely injured in fighting on the forecastle. Chesapeake and her crew were taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia where the sailors were imprisoned; the ship was repaired and taken into service by the Royal Navy. She was sold at Portsmouth, England in 1820 and broken up. Surviving timbers were used to build the nearby Chesapeake Mill in Wickham and can be seen and visited to this day.

Issuing a challenge

During his long period in command of Shannon, Broke had drilled his crew to an extremely high standard of naval gunnery.

The weekly routine at sea was for the watch on deck to be exercised at the great guns on Monday and Tuesday afternoons, and in the afternoons the first division of the watch was exercised at small arms. Wednesday and Thursday forenoons saw the watch on deck at the carronades, and in the afternoons the second division of the watch at small arms. Friday was reserved for the Midshipmen – great guns in the morning, small arms in the afternoon. Thus each man had one morning at the 18-pounders, one morning at the carronades and two afternoons with musquets in every week. Saturdays were reserved for washing clothes and scrubbing the berth deck in the afternoon. Sunday, apart from Church service and any necessary evolutions with the sails, was free

—Padfield, Broke and the Shannon^[2]

In addition to these gunnery drills, Broke was fond of preparing hypothetical scenarios to test his crew. For example, after all hands had been drummed to quarters, he would inform them of a theoretical attack and see how they would act to defend the ship. He would also arrange on occasion for a wooden cask to be sent over the side so competitions could be held to see which crew could hit it and how fast they could do so. A game called 'singlestick' was also devised and practised. "This was a game employing roughly similar thrusts and parries as were used with cutlass, but as it was played with blunt sticks, hits, although painful, were not often dangerous. It soon developed quickness of eye and wrist."^[3]

Eager to engage and defeat one of the American frigates that had already scored a number of victories over the Royal Navy in single ship confrontations, Broke prepared a challenge. The USS President had already slipped out of the harbour under the cover of fog and had evaded the British. The Constitution was undergoing extensive repairs and alterations and would not be ready for sea in the foreseeable future. However, the Chesapeake appeared to be ready to put to sea. Consequently Broke decided to send his challenge to the USS Chesapeake, which had been refitting in Boston harbour under the command of Captain James Lawrence, offering single ship combat. Whilst patrolling offshore, the Shannon had intercepted and captured a number of American ships attempting to reach the harbour. After sending two of them off to Halifax, he found that his crew was being dangerously reduced. Broke therefore resorted to burning the rest of the prizes in order to conserve his highly trained crew in anticipation of the battle with the Chesapeake. The boats from the burnt prizes were sent into Boston, carrying Broke's oral invitation to Lawrence to come out and engage him. He had already sent the Tenedos away in the hope that the more favourable odds would entice the American out, but eventually began to despair that the Chesapeake would ever come out of the harbour. He finally decided to send a written challenge.

As the Chesapeake appears now ready for sea, I request you will do me the favour to meet the Shannon with her, ship to ship, to try the fortune of our respective flags. The Shannon mounts twenty-four guns upon her broadside and one light boat-gun; 18 pounders upon her main deck, and 32-pounder carronades upon her quarter-deck and forecastle; and is manned with a complement of 300 men and boys, beside thirty seamen, boys, and passengers, who were taken out of recaptured vessels lately. I entreat you, sir, not to imagine that I am urged by mere personal vanity to the wish of meeting the Chesapeake, or that I depend only upon your personal ambition for your acceding to this invitation. We have both noble motives. You will feel it as a compliment if I say that the result of our meeting may be the most grateful service I can render to my country; and I doubt not that you, equally confident of success, will feel convinced that it is only by repeated triumphs in even combats that your little navy can now hope to console your country for the loss of that trade it can no longer protect. Favour me with a speedy reply. We are short of provisions and water, and cannot stay long here

—Poolman, Battles of the British Navy^{[4][5][Note 1]}

Captain Lawrence did not in fact receive Broke's letter and according to author Ian W. Toll, would it have made the slightest difference, he would sail USS Chesapeake at the 1st day of favorable weather.^[6] The fact that it wasn't in his nation's interests at this point in the war to be challenging British frigates seems to have not entered into his reasoning either, USS President had in fact slipped out of harbor in foul weather to commerce raid which was deemed in the US national self interest.^[7] Half of the officers and up to one quarter of the crew were new to the ship. No practice at small arms nor of the main battery been exercised. Despite this Lawrence believed that he would win the battle and wrote 2 quick notes one to the Secretary of the Navy pronouncing his intentions and another to his brother in-law asking him to look after his wife and children in event of his death.^[8]

By now the Shannon had been off Boston for 56 days and was running short of provisions, whilst the extended period at sea was wearing the ship down. She would be even more at a disadvantage facing the Chesapeake, fresh from harbour and a refit. A boat was despatched carrying the invitation, manned by a Mr Slocum, a discharged American prisoner. The boat had not reached the shore when the Chesapeake was seen underway, sailing out of the harbour.^[9] She was flying three American ensigns and a large white flag at the foremast inscribed 'Free Trade and Sailor's Rights'.^[10] Shannon carried 276 officers, seamen and marines of her proper complement; eight recaptured seamen; 22 Irish labourers who had been 48 hours in the ship, and of whom only four could speak English, and 24 boys, of whom about 13 were under 12 years of age. Broke had trained his gun crews to fire accurate broadsides into the hulls of enemy vessels, with the aim of killing their gun crews, rather than shooting down the masts. Lawrence meanwhile was confident in his ship, especially since she carried a substantially larger crew. Meanwhile the previous American victories over Royal Navy ships left him expectant of success. Just before the engagement, the American crew gave three cheers.

The two ships therefore had in one another about as close a match as could exist in a state of war. The USS Chesapeake's (rated at 38 guns) armament of 28 18 lb'r long guns was an exact match for HMS Shannon. Measurements proved the ships to be about the same deck length and in fact the only difference being the ships complements Chesapeake's 379 against the Shannon's 330.^[11]

Initial engagement

The two ships met at half past five in the afternoon, 20 nautical miles (37 km) east of Boston lighthouse, between Cape Ann and Cape Cod. Shannon was flying a rusty blue ensign and her dilapidated outside appearance after a long period at sea suggested that she would be an easy opponent. Observing the Chesapeake’s many flags, a sailor had questioned Broke: "Mayn't we have three ensigns, sir, like she has?" "No," said Broke, "we've always been an unassuming ship."^[12] HMS Shannon refused to fire upon USS Chesapeake as she bore down, nor would USS Chesapeake rake HMS Shannon despite having the weather gauge.^[13] Lawrence's behavior that day earned him praise from the British officers for gallantry. The two ships opened fire just before 18:00 at a range of about 35 metres, with Shannon scoring the first hit, striking the Chesapeake on one of her gunports with two round shot and a bag of musket balls fired by William Mindham, the gun captain of one of Shannon’s starboard 18-pounders. Two or three further broadsides followed which swept the Chesapeake’s decks with grape and roundshot from Shannon’s 32-pounder carronades. The Chesapeake fell on board Shannon, lying athwart her starboard bow, trapped by one of Shannon’s anchors.

Shannon now opened fire on the Chesapeake’s maindeck with her after guns firing through the Chesapeake’s port holes. The Chesapeake’s wheel was then shot away and her helmsman killed by a 9-pounder gun that Broke had ordered installed on the quarter deck for that very purpose. Trapped against the Shannon and unable to manoeuvre away, the stern now became exposed and was swept by raking British fire. Her situation worsened when a small open cask of musket cartridges abaft the mizzen-mast blew up. When the smoke cleared, Captain Broke judged the time was right and gave the order to board. Captain Lawrence also gave the order to board but the frightened bugler aboard the Chesapeake failed to sound the call, and only those near Lawrence heard his command. Lawrence was mortally wounded directly after issuing the order. The few Americans who heard him fell back from their cannon to arm themselves for hand-to-hand combat, but the British interpreted this as disorderly retreat, and gained courage.^[14]

The British board

Mr Stevens, the boatswain attempted to lash the two ships together to prevent the Chesapeake from disengaging and escaping, and lost an arm as he did so. A party of small-arm men rushed aboard the Chesapeake, led by Broke and including the purser, Mr G. Aldham, and the clerk, Mr John Dunn. Aldham and Dunn were killed as they crossed the gangway, but the rest of the party made it onto the Chesapeake.

"Captain Broke, at the head of not more that [sic?] twenty men, stepped from the rail of the waist-hammock netting to the muzzle of the after-carronade of the Chesapeake, and sprang from thence upon her quarterdeck."^[15]

The main-deck was found to be empty, having been swept clear by Shannon’s broadsides. Broke and his men quickly advanced forward along the deck, whilst more British reinforcements leapt aboard.

Meanwhile, the First lieutenant, Mr George T. L. Watt, had attempted to hoist the British colours over the Chesapeake, but was hit in the forehead by grapeshot as he did so. Fighting had now broken out along the top-masts of the ships as rival sharpshooters fired upon their opponents in their rival's masts, and on the sailors on the exposed decks. The British marksmen, led by midshipman William Smith, who had command of the fore-top, stormed the Chesapeake’s fore-top over the yard-arm and had killed all the Americans there. Captain Broke himself led a charge against a number of the Americans who had managed to rally on the forecastle. After four minutes of fierce fighting, the Americans called for quarter, but finding themselves superior in numbers to the British, they rallied and counter attacked. Three American sailors, probably from the rigging, descended and attacked Captain Broke. Taken by surprise, he killed the first, but the second hit him with a musket which stunned him, whilst the third sliced open his skull with his sabre, knocking him to the deck. Before he could finish Broke off, he was cut down by William Mindham, and the Shannon’s crew rallied to the defence of their captain and carried the forecastle, killing the remaining Americans.

Broke handed over command of the Shannon to Lieutenant Wallis. Though wounded, Broke was able to save the life of a young American midshipman who had slid down a rope from the fore-top. With American resistance weakening, Lieutenant Charles Leslie Falkiner who had commanded the boarders who had rushed the main-deck, took command of the prize. Whilst the two yard-arms had been locked together, Mr Cosnaham, who had commanded the main-top, had crawled out on the main yard-arm where he could fire down onto the Chesapeake, killing three of her men.

The Chesapeake is taken

The British then secured the ship and took her surrender. The engagement had lasted just eleven minutes. Shannon had lost 23 killed, and had 56 wounded. Chesapeake had about 48 killed, including her four lieutenants, the master and many other of her officers, and 99 wounded.^[16] Captain Lawrence had been mortally wounded by fire from Shannon’s fore-top and was carried below before the Chesapeake was boarded. His last order upon being wounded was "Don't give up the ship!" A large cask of un-slaked lime was found open on Chesapeake’s forecastle and another bag of lime was discovered in the fore-top. British sailors alleged the intention was to throw handfuls into the eyes of Shannon’s men in an unfair and dishonourable manner as they attempted to board, though that was never done by the Chesapeake’s crew, and the historian Albert Gleaves has called the allegation "absurd," noting, "Lime is always carried in ship's stores as a disinfectant, and the fact that it was left on the deck after the ship was cleared for action was probably due to the neglect of some subordinate, or petty officer."^[17] Shannon’s midshipmen during the action were Messers. Smith, Leake, Clavering, Raymond, Littlejohn and Samwell. Samwell was the only other officer to be wounded in the action. Mr Etough was the acting master, and conned the ship into the action. Shortly after the frigate had been secured, Broke fainted from loss of blood and was rowed back to the Shannon to be attended to by the ship's surgeon. After the victory, a prize crew was put aboard the Chesapeake and the Shannon escorted her and her crew into Halifax, arriving there on 6 June. There the sailors were imprisoned and the ship was repaired and taken into service by the Royal Navy. The Chesapeake was sold at Portsmouth, England in 1820 and broken up.

Aftermath

As the first major victory in the naval war for the British, the capture raised the shaken morale of the Royal Navy. After setting out on 5 September for a brief cruise under a Captain Teahouse, the Shannon departed for England on 4 October, carrying the recovering Captain Broke. They arrived at Portsmouth on 2 November. After the successful action Lieutenants Wallis and Falkiner were promoted to the rank of commander, and Messrs. Etough and Smith were made lieutenants. Captain Broke was made a Baronet that September.^[18][19] The Court of Common Council of London awarded him the freedom of the city, and a sword worth 100 guineas. He also received a piece of plate worth 750 pounds and a cup worth 100 guineas. Captain Lawrence was buried in Halifax with full military honors with six British Naval Officers serving as pall bearers. Captain Broke never again commanded a ship, his head wound from a cutlass stroke had been pronounced fatal by the ship's surgeon though he survived it.^[20] The casualties were heavy. The British lost 23 killed and 56 wounded. The Americans lost 48 killed and 99 wounded.^[21] 228 dead or wounded between the 2 ship's companies, and another 23 would die of wounds in the next two weeks. In ratio this was one of the bloodiest ship to ship actions of the age of sail.^[22] By comparison, HMS Victory suffered fewer casualties during the whole of the Battle of Trafalgar. The entire action lasted a total of 15 minutes speaking to the ferocity of the fighting.^[23]

In fiction

A fictionalized account of the battle appears in the novel The Fortune of War by Patrick O'Brian. It is discussed briefly, with reference to the court martial of Third Lieutenant William Sitgreaves Cox, in Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers. This engagement also became the subject of a well-known British sea shanty, "The Chesapeke and the Shannon".

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Fowler, William M. (1984). Jack Tars and Commodores: The American Navy, 1783-1815. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-39535314-9. OCLC 10277756. 
• Poolman, Kenneth (1962). Guns Off Cape Ann; The Story of the Shannon and the Chesapeake. Chicago: Rand McNally. OCLC 1384754. 
• Roosevelt, Theodore (1882). The Naval War of 1812 or The History of the United States Navy during the Last War with Great Britain. OCLC 133902576. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/9104. 
• Toll, Ian (2006). New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-05847-5 Six Frigates The Epic History of the U.S. Navy.