USS Chesapeake - Naval Battles of 1812 (1812-1815)

Off Castle Island

With newer, faster, and heavily armed ships, the Americans were able to inflict a series of defeats their first year of the war. Overall Americans won 16 out of 19 oceanic naval battles with Britain during this war. This is rather shocking as during the war of 1812 the US had only 16 warships, 62 gunboats, and 1,000 officers and men to the Royal Navy which had 600 ships in service and 130,000 men. Early on the US was able to win a number of single-ship naval battles leading the British to group together instead of fight one-on-one. Britain also dominated any land campaigns leading to a draw. Both sides could claim victory, the British because they held on to Canada and their maritime rights, and the United States because in causing a draw they earned the respect of Europe.

The war laid the foundations for the emergence of Canada as an independent nation. The real losers in the war were the indigenous nations of North America who were defeated in two wars connected to the War of 1812 – Tecumseh’s War and Creek War. American success in those battles opened the door for westward expansion and threatened the indigenous peoples and their ways of life east of the Mississippi River.

The USS Chesapeake started as one of the preliminary conflicts leading to the war of 1812 and ended up losing a battle outside of Boston Harbor then being captured and sold. Scrap parts remain in a museum in the UK.

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In the spring of 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars, several British naval vessels from the North American Station were blockading French ships in the Chesapeake Bay. A number of Royal Navy seamen had deserted from these ships and local American authorities gave them sanctuary. The British consul sent a letter to the Gosport Navy Yard (Norfolk Naval Shipyard) ordering them to be turned over. The consul claimed the men had enlisted in the U.S. Navy, which was recruiting a crew for Chesapeake, then at the Washington Navy Yard. They dispatched HMS Leopard under the command of Captain Salusbury Pryce Humphreys with written orders authorizing boarding and searching of the USS Chesapeake to recover any of the deserters. They found the USS Chesapeake off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia commanded by Commodore James Barron.

The discussion between the captains proved inconclusive, so Captain Humphreys ordered the American ship to submit, firing a round across the bow, and when they refused to surrender, then fired broadsides. Unprepared and loaded Chesapeake only managed to fire a single fun in return and then struck her colors and surrendered. Three crew were killed and 18 wounded. Still unsatisfied Humphreys refused the surrender and sent a boarding party to search again. Humphreys seized four Royal Navy deserters: Daniel Martin, John Strachan and William Ware and Jenkin Ratford. Only Ratford was British-born. The others were American residents. Jenkin Ratford, the sole British citizen, was sentenced to death and was hanged from the yardarm of Halifax on August 31, 1807. The three American deserters received sentences of 500 lashes each.

The encounter caused a storm of protest from the United States government, and the British government eventually offered to return the three American residents and to pay reparations for the damage to Chesapeake. This helped lead to the war of 1812 (1812-1815).

… Battle of Boston Harbor …

In what became known as the Battle of Boston Harbor, Captain Philip Broke, commander of the HMS Shannon, issued a challenge to Chesapeake's commander (Captain James Lawrence). Shannon’s goal was to lure the inexperienced Chesapeake into open ocean where it had tactical advantage and didn’t have to maneuver the notorious shoals of the harbor. It worked.

Chesapeake fared poorly in the early exchange of gunfire, having her wheel and part of her rigging shot away, rendering her unmanoeuvrable. Lawrence was killed and carried below while issuing his last order “Tell the men to fire faster and don’t give up the ship!” British Marines and sailors board the vessel and overwhelm them. The battle was intense and lasted ten to fifteen minutes, in which time 252 men were killed or wounded including the Shannon's captain who was seriously injured. “Don’t give up the ship!” becomes a powerful rallying cry for the U.S. Navy that persists even today.

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 1819 and broken up. Surviving timbers are included in the Chesapeake Mill in Wickham UK.

-Source Links-

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/war-1812-timeline

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/brief-overview-war-1812

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/art/exhibits/conflicts-and-operations/the-war-of-1812/uss-chesapeake-vs-hms-shannon.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/art/exhibits/conflicts-and-operations/the-war-of-1812/uss-chesapeake--hms-leopard-affair.html

https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/major-events/war-of-1812-chronology/

https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/1812.html

https://hmhps.ca/sites/shannon-vs-chesapeake

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cartoko/4493623734