A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

The Naval War of 1812

T >> Theodore Roosevelt >> The Naval War of 1812




Of course, it would have been almost impossible for the _Macedonian_
to conquer with one third less force; but the disparity was by no
means sufficient to account for the ninefold greater loss suffered,
and the ease and impunity with which the victory was won. The
British sailors fought with their accustomed courage, but their
gunnery was exceedingly poor; and it must be remembered that though
the ship was bravely fought, still the defence was by no means so
desperate as that made by the _Essex_ or even the _Chesapeake_,
as witnessed by their respective losses. The _Macedonian_, moreover,
was surrendered when she had suffered less damage than either the
_Guerrière_ or _Java_. The chief cause of her loss lay in the fact
that Captain Carden was a poor commander. The gunnery of the _Java_,
_Guerrière_, and _Macedonian_ was equally bad; but while Captain
Lambert proved himself to be as able as he was gallant, and Captain
Dacres did nearly as well, Captain Carden, on the other hand, was
first too timid, and then too rash, and showed bad judgment at all
times. By continuing his original course he could have closed at
once; but he lost his chance by over-anxiety to keep the weather-gage,
and was censured by the court-martial accordingly. Then he tried
to remedy one error by another, and made a foolishly rash approach.
A very able and fair-minded English writer says of this action:
"As a display of courage the character of the service was nobly
upheld, but we would be deceiving ourselves were we to admit that
the comparative expertness of the crews in gunnery was equally
satisfactory. Now, taking the difference of effect as given by
Captain Carden, we must draw this conclusion--that the comparative
loss in killed and wounded (104 to 12), together with the dreadful
account he gives of the condition of his own ship, while he admits
that the enemy's vessel was in comparatively good order, must have
arisen from inferiority in gunnery as well as in force." [Footnote:
Lord Howard Douglass, "Naval Gunnery." p. 525]

On the other hand, the American crew, even according to James, were
as fine a set of men as ever were seen on shipboard. Though not one
fourth were British by birth, yet many of them had served on board
British ships of war, in some cases voluntarily, but much more
often because they were impressed. They had been trained at the
guns with the greatest care by Lieutenant Allen. And finally
Commodore Decatur handled his ship with absolute faultlessness.
To sum up: a brave and skilful crew, ably commanded, was matched
against an equally brave but unskilful one, with an incompetent
leader; and this accounts for the disparity of loss being so much
greater than the disparity in force.

At the outset of this battle the position of the parties was just
the reverse of that in the case of the _Constitution_ and _Guerrière_:
the Englishman had the advantage of the wind, but he used it in a
very different manner from that in which Captain Hull had done. The
latter at once ran down to close, but manoeuvred so cautiously that
no damage could be done him till he was within pistol shot. Captain
Carden did not try to close till after fatal indecision, and then
made the attempt so heedlessly that he was cut to pieces before he
got to close quarters. Commodore Decatur, also, manoeuvred more
skilfully than Captain Dacres, although the difference was less
marked between these two. The combat was a plain cannonade; the
_States_ derived no advantage from the superior number of her men,
for they were not needed. The marines in particular had nothing
whatever to do, while they had been of the greatest service against
the _Guerrière_. The advantage was simply in metal, as 10 is to 7.
Lord Howard Douglass' criticisms on these actions seem to me only
applicable in part. He says (p. 524): "The Americans would neither
approach nor permit us to join in close battle until they had gained
some extraordinary advantage from the superior faculties of their
long guns in distant cannonade, and from the intrepid, uncircumspect,
and often very exposed approach of assailants who had long been
accustomed to contemn all manoeuvring. Our vessels were crippled
in distant cannonade from encountering rashly the serious
disadvantage of making direct attacks; the uncircumspect
gallantry of our commanders led our ships unguardedly into the
snares which wary caution had spread."

These criticisms are very just as regards the _Macedonian_, and I
fully agree with them (possibly reserving the right to doubt Captain
Carden's gallantry, though readily admitting his uncircumspection).
But the case of the _Guerrière_ differed widely. There the American
ship made the attack, while the British at first avoided close
combat; and, so far from trying to cripple her adversary by a
distant cannonade, the _Constitution_ hardly fired a dozen times
until within pistol shot. This last point is worth mentioning,
because in a work on "Heavy Ordnance," by Captain T. F. Simmons,
R. A. (London, 1837), it is stated that the _Guerrière_ received
her injuries _before_ the closing, mentioning especially the "thirty
shot below the water-line"; whereas, by the official accounts of
both commanders, the reverse was the case. Captain Hull, in his
letter, and Lieutenant Morris, (in his autobiography) say they only
fired a few guns before closing; and Captain Dacres, in his letter,
and Captain Brenton, in his "History," say that not much injury was
received by the _Guerrière_ until about the time the mizzen-mast
fell, which was three or four minutes after close action began.

Lieutenant Allen was put aboard the _Macedonian_ as prize-master;
he secured the fore- and main-masts and rigged a jury mizzen-mast,
converting the vessel into a bark. Commodore Decatur discontinued
his cruise to convoy his prize back to America; they reached New
London Dec. 4th. Had it not been for the necessity of convoying
the _Macedonian_, the _States_ would have continued her cruise,
for the damage she suffered was of the most trifling character.

Captain Garden stated (in Marshall's "Naval Biography") that the
_States_ measured 1,670 tons, was manned by 509 men, suffered so
from shot under water that she had to be pumped out every watch,
and that two eighteen-pound shot passed in a horizontal line through
her main-masts; all of which statements were highly creditable to
the vividness of his imagination. The _States_ measured but 1,576
tons (and by English measurement very much less), had 478 men aboard,
had not been touched by a shot under water-line, and her lower masts
were unwounded. James states that most of her crew were British,
which assertion I have already discussed; and that she had but one
boy aboard, and that he was seventeen years old,--in which case 29
others, some of whom (as we learn from the "Life of Decatur") were
only twelve, must have grown with truly startling rapidity during
the hour and a half that the combat lasted.

During the twenty years preceding 1812 there had been almost
incessant warfare on the ocean, and although there had been
innumerable single conflicts between French and English frigates,
there had been but one case in which the French frigate, single-handed,
was victorious. This was in the year 1805 when the _Milan_ captured
the _Cleopatra_. According to Troude, the former threw at a broadside
574 pounds (actual), the latter but 334; and the former lost 35 men
out of her crew of 350, the latter 58 out of 200. Or, the forces
being as 100 to 58, the loss inflicted was as 100 to 60; while the
_States'_ force compared to the _Macedonian's_ being as 100 to 66,
the loss she inflicted was as 100 to 11.

British ships, moreover, had often conquered against odds as great;
as, for instance, when the _Sea Horse_ captured the great Turkish
frigate _Badere-Zaffer_; when the _Astrea_ captured the French
frigate _Gloire_, which threw at a broadside 286 pounds of shot,
while she threw but 174; and when, most glorious of all, Lord
Dundonald, in the gallant little _Speedy_, actually captured the
Spanish xebec _Gamo_ of over five times her own force! Similarly,
the corvette _Comus_ captured the Danish frigate _Fredrickscoarn_,
the brig _Onyx_ captured the Dutch sloop _Manly_, the little cutter
_Thorn_ captured the French _Courier-National_, and the _Pasly_
the Spanish _Virgin_; while there had been many instances of drawn
battles between English 12-pound frigates and French or Spanish
18-pounders.

Captain Hull having resigned the command of the _Constitution_,
she was given to Captain Bainbridge, of the _Constellation_, who
was also entrusted with the command of the _Essex_ and _Hornet_.
The latter ship was in the port of Boston with the _Constitution_,
under the command of Captain Lawrence. The _Essex_ was in the
Delaware, and accordingly orders were sent to Captain Porter to
rendezvous at the Island of San Jago; if that failed several other
places were appointed, and if, after a certain time, he did not
fall in with his commodore he was to act at his own discretion.

[Illustration: Captain William Bainbridge: a portrait by John
Wesley Jarvis, circa 1814. (Courtesy U.S. Naval Academy Museum)]

On October 26th the _Constitution_ and _Hornet_ sailed, touched
at the different rendezvous, and on December 13th arrived off San
Salvador, where Captain Lawrence found the _Bonne Citoyenne_, 18,
Captain Pitt Barnaby Greene. The _Bonne Citoyenne_ was armed with
18 32-pound carronades and 2 long nines, and her crew of 150 men
was exactly equal in number to that of the _Hornet_; the latter's
short weight in metal made her antagonist superior to her in about
the same proportion that she herself was subsequently superior to
the _Penguin_, or, in other words, the ships were practically equal.
Captain Lawrence now challenged Captain Greene to single fight,
giving the usual pledges that the _Constitution_ should not
interfere. The challenge was not accepted for a variety of reasons;
among others the _Bonne Citoyenne_ was carrying home half a million
pounds in specie. [Footnote: Brenton and James both deny that
Captain Greene was blockaded by the _Hornet_, and claim that he
feared the _Constitution_. James says (p. 275) that the occurrence
was one which "the characteristic cunning of Americans turned greatly
to their advantage"; and adds that Lawrence only sent the challenge
because "it could not be accepted," and so he would "suffer no
personal risk." He states that the reason it was sent, as well as
the reason that it was refused, was because the _Constitution_ was
going to remain in the offing and capture the British ship if she
proved conqueror. It is somewhat surprising that even James should
have had the temerity to advance such arguments. According to his
own account (p. 277) the _Constitution_ left for Boston on Jan. 6th,
and the _Hornet_ remained blockading the _Bonne Citoyenne_ till the
24th, when the _Montagu_, 74, arrived. During these eighteen days
there could have been no possible chance of the _Constitution_ or
any other ship interfering, and it is ridiculous to suppose that
any such fear kept Captain Greene from sailing out to attack his
foe. No doubt Captain Greene's course was perfectly justifiable,
but it is curious that with all the assertions made by James as to
the cowardice of the Americans, this is the only instance throughout
the war in which a ship of either party declined a contest with an
antagonist of equal force (the cases of Commodore Rodgers and Sir
George Collier being evidently due simply to an overestimate of the
opposing ships.)] Leaving the _Hornet_ to blockade her, Commodore
Bainbridge ran off to the southward, keeping the land in view.

At 9 A. M., Dec. 29, 1812, while the _Constitution_ was running
along the coast of Brazil, about thirty miles offshore in latitude
13° 6' S., and longitude 31° W., two strange sail were made,
[Footnote: Official letter of Commodore Bainbridge, Jan. 3, 1813.]
inshore and to windward. These were H. B. M. frigate _Java_, Captain
Lambert, forty-eight days out of Spithead, England, with the captured
ship _William_ in company. Directing the latter to make for San
Salvador, the _Java_ bore down in chase of the _Constitution_.
[Footnote: Official letter of Lieutenant Chads, Dec. 31, 1812.] The
wind was blowing light from the N.N.E., and there was very little
sea on. At 10 the _Java_ made the private signals, English, Spanish,
and Portuguese in succession, none being answered; meanwhile the
_Constitution_ was standing up toward the _Java_ on the starboard
tack; a little after 11 she hoisted her private signal, and then,
being satisfied that the strange sail was an enemy, she wore and
stood off toward the S.E., to draw her antagonist away from the
land, [Footnote: Log of the _Constitution_.] which was plainly
visible. The _Java_ hauled up, and made sail in a parallel course,
the _Constitution_ bearing about three points on her lee bow.
The _Java_ gained rapidly, being much the swifter.

At 1.30 the _Constitution_ luffed up, shortened her canvas to
top-sails, top-gallant sails, jib, and spanker, and ran easily off
on the port tack, heading toward the southeast; she carried her
commodore's pendant at the main, national ensigns at the mizzenpeak
and main top-gallant mast-head, and a Jack at the fore. The _Java_
also had taken in the main-sail and royals, and came down in a
lasking course on her adversary's weather-quarter, [Footnote:
Lieutenant Chads' Address to the Court-martial, April 23, 1813.]
hoisting her ensign at the mizzen-peak, a union Jack at the mizzen
top-gallant mast-head, and another lashed to the main-rigging. At
2 P. M., the _Constitution_ fired a shot ahead of her, following
it quickly by a broadside, [Footnote: Commodore Bainbridge's
letter.] and the two ships began at long bowls, the English firing
the lee or starboard battery while the Americans replied with their
port guns. The cannonade was very spirited on both sides, the ships
suffering about equally. The first broadside of the _Java_ was very
destructive, killing and wounding several of the _Constitution's_
crew. The _Java_ kept edging down, and the action continued, with
grape and musketry in addition; the swifter British ship soon
forereached and kept away, intending to wear across her slower
antagonist's bow and rake her; but the latter wore in the smoke,
and the two combatants ran off to the westward, the Englishman
still a-weather and steering freer than the _Constitution_, which
had luffed to close. [Footnote: Log of the _Constitution_.] The
action went on at pistol-shot distance. In a few minutes, however,
the _Java_ again forged ahead, out of the weight of her adversary's
fire, and then kept off, as before, to cross her bows; and, as
before, the _Constitution_ avoided this by wearing, both ships
again coming round with their heads to the east, the American
still to leeward. The Java kept the weather-gage tenaciously,
forereaching a little, and whenever the __Constitution_ luffed
up to close, [Footnote: Log of _Constitution_.] the former tried
to rake her. But her gunnery was now poor, little damage being
done by it; most of the loss the Americans suffered was early in
the action. By setting her foresail and main-sail the _Constitution_
got up close on the enemy's lee beam, her fire being very heavy
and carrying away the end of the _Java's_ bowsprit and her jib-boom.
[Footnote: Lieutenant Chads' letter.] The _Constitution_ forged
ahead and repeated her former manoeuvre, wearing in the smoke. The
_Java_ at once hove in stays, but owing to the loss of head-sail
fell off very slowly, and the American frigate poured a heavy raking
broadside into her stern, at about two cables' length distance. The
_Java_ replied with her port guns as she fell off. [Footnote:
Lieutenant Chads' letter.] Both vessels then bore up and ran off
free, with the wind on the port quarter; the _Java_ being abreast
and to windward of her antagonist, both with their heads a little
east of south. The ships were less than a cable's length apart, and
the _Constitution_ inflicted great damage while suffering very little
herself. The British lost many men by the musketry of the American
topmen, and suffered still more from the round and grape, especially
on the forecastle, [Footnote: Testimony of Christopher Speedy, in
minutes of the Court-martial on board H. M. S. _Gladiator_, at
Portsmouth, April 23, 1813] many marked instances of valor being
shown on both sides. The _Java's_ masts were wounded and her rigging
cut to pieces, and Captain Lambert then ordered her to be laid
aboard the enemy, who was on her lee beam. The helm was put a-weather,
and the _Java_ came down for the _Constitution's_ main-chains. The
boarders and marines gathered in the gangways and on the forecastle,
the boatswain having been ordered to cheer them up with his pipe
that they might make a clean spring. [Footnote: Testimony of James
Humble, in _do., do._] The Americans, however, raked the British
with terrible effect, cutting off their main top-mast above the cap,
and their foremast near the cat harpings. [Footnote: Log of
_Constitution_.] The stump of the _Java's_ bowsprit got caught in
the _Constitution's_ mizzen-rigging, and before it got clear the
British suffered still more.

[Illustration: _Constitution_ vs. _Java_: a comptemporary American
engraving done under the supervision of a witness to the action.
(Courtesy Beverley R. Robinson Collection, U.S. Naval Academy Museum)]

Finally the ships separated, the _Java's_ bowsprit passing over the
taffrail of the _Constitution_; the latter at once kept away to
avoid being raked. The ships again got nearly abreast, but the
_Constitution_, in her turn, forereached; whereupon Commodore
Bainbridge wore, passed his antagonist, luffed up under his quarter,
raked him with the starboard guns, then wore, and recommenced the
action with his port broadside at about 3.10. Again the vessels
were abreast, and the action went on as furiously as ever. The wreck
of the top hamper on the _Java_ lay over her starboard side, so that
every discharge of her guns set her on fire, [Footnote: Lieut. Chads'
Address.] and in a few minutes her able and gallant commander was
mortally wounded by a ball fired by one of the American main-top-men.
[Footnote: Surgeon J. C. Jones' Report.] The command then devolved
on the first lieutenant, Chads, himself painfully wounded. The
slaughter had been terrible, yet the British fought on with stubborn
resolution, cheering lustily. But success was now hopeless, for
nothing could stand against the cool precision of the Yankee fire.
The stump of the _Java's_ foremast was carried away by a double-headed
shot, the mizzen-mast fell, the gaff and spanker boom were shot away,
also the main-yard, and finally the ensign was cut down by a shot,
and all her guns absolutely silenced; when at 4.05 the _Constitution_,
thinking her adversary had struck, [Footnote: Log of the _Constitution_
(as given in Bainbridge's letter).] ceased firing, hauled aboard
her racks, and passed across her adversary's bows to windward, with
her top-sails, jib, and spanker set. A few minutes afterward the
_Java's_ main-mast fell, leaving her a sheer hulk. The _Constitution_
assumed a weatherly position, and spent an hour in repairing damages
and securing her masts; then she wore and stood toward her enemy,
whose flag was again flying, but only for bravado, for as soon as
the _Constitution_ stood across her forefoot she struck. At 5.25
she was taken possession of by Lieutenant Parker, 1st of the
_Constitution_, in one of the latter's only two remaining boats.

The American ship had suffered comparatively little. But a few round
shot had struck her hull, one of which carried away the wheel; one
18-pounder went through the mizzen-mast; the fore-mast, main-top-mast,
and a few other spars were slightly wounded, and the running rigging
and shrouds were a good deal cut; but in an hour she was again in
good fighting trim. Her loss amounted to 8 seamen and 1 marine
killed; the 5th lieutenant, John C. Alwyn, and 2 seamen, mortally,
Commodore Bainbridge and 12 seamen, severely, and 7 seamen and 2
marines, slightly wounded; in all 12 killed and mortally wounded,
and 22 wounded severely and slightly. [Footnote: Report of Surgeon
Amos A. Evans.]

"The _Java_ sustained unequalled injuries beyond the _Constitution_,"
says the British account. [Footnote: "Naval Chronicle," xxix. 452.]
These have already been given in detail; she was a riddled and
entirely dismasted hulk. Her loss (for discussion of which see
farther on) was 48 killed (including Captain Henry Lambert, who
died soon after the close of the action, and five midshipmen),
and 102 wounded, among them Lieutenant Henry Ducie Chads, Lieutenant
of Marines David Davies, Commander John Marshall, Lieut. James
Saunders, the boatswain. James Humble, master, Batty Robinson, and
four midshipmen.

In this action both ships displayed equal gallantry and seamanship.
"The _Java_," says Commodore Bainbridge, "was exceedingly well
handled and bravely fought. Poor Captain Lambert was a distinguished
and gallant officer, and a most worthy man, whose death I sincerely
regret." The manoeuvring on both sides was excellent; Captain
Lambert used the advantage which his ship possessed in her superior
speed most skilfully, always endeavoring to run across his adversary's
bows and rake him when he had forereached, and it was only owing
to the equal skill which his antagonist displayed that he was foiled,
the length of the combat being due to the number of evolutions. The
great superiority of the Americans was in their gunnery. The fire
of the _Java_ was both less rapid and less well directed than that
of her antagonist; the difference of force against her was not
heavy, being about as ten is to nine, and was by no means enough
to account for the almost fivefold greater loss she suffered.

[Illustration: This differs somewhat from the English diagram:
the American officers distinctly assert that the Java kept the
weather-gage in every position.]

The foregoing is a diagram of the battle. It differs from both of
the official accounts, as these conflict greatly both as to time
and as regards some of the evolutions. I generally take the mean
in cases of difference; for example, Commodore Bainbridge's report
makes the fight endure but 1 hour and 55 minutes, Lieutenant Chads'
2 hours and 25 minutes: I have made it 2 hours and 10 minutes, etc.,
etc.

The tonnage and weight of metal of the combatants have already
been stated; I will give the complements shortly. The following is
the

COMPARATIVE FORCE AND LOSS.
Relative
Weight No. Relative Loss
Tons. Metal. Men. Loss. Force. Inflicted.
_Constitution_ 1576 654 475 34 100 100
_Java_ 1340 576 426 150 89 23

In hardly another action the war do the accounts of the respective
forces differ so widely; the official British letter makes their
total of men at the beginning of the action 377, of whom Commodore
Bainbridge officially reports that he paroled 378! The British
state their loss in killed and mortally wounded at 24; Commodore
Bainbridge reports that the dead alone amounted to nearly 60!
Usually I have taken each commander's account of his own force
and loss, and I should do so now if it were not that the British
accounts differ among themselves, and whenever they relate to the
Americans, are flatly contradicted by the affidavits of the latter's
officers. The British first handicap themselves by the statement
that the surgeon of the _Constitution_ was an Irishman and lately
an assistant surgeon in the British navy ("Naval Chronicle," xxix,
452); which draws from Surgeon Amos A. Evans a solemn statement in
the Boston _Gazette_ that he was born in Maryland and was never in
the British navy in his life. Then Surgeon Jones of the _Java_, in
his official report, after giving his own killed and mortally wounded
at 24, says that the Americans lost in all about 60, and that 4 of
their amputations perished under his own eyes; whereupon Surgeon
Evans makes the statement (_Niles' Register_, vi, p. 35), backed
up by affidavits of his brother officers, that in all he had but
five amputations, of whom only one died, and that one, a month
after Surgeon Jones had left the ship. To meet the assertions of
Lieutenant Chads that he began action with but 377 men, the
_Constitution's_ officers produced the _Java's_ muster-roll, dated
Nov. 17th, or five days after she had sailed, which showed 446
persons, of whom 20 had been put on board a prize. The presence of
this large number of supernumeraries on board is explained by the
fact that the _Java_ was carrying out Lieutenant-General Hislop,
the newly-appointed Governor of Bombay, and his suite, together
with part of the crews for the _Cornwallis_, 74, and gun-sloops
_Chameleon_ and _Icarus_; she also contained stores for those two ships.

Copyright (c) 2007. famouswriterz.com. All rights reserved.