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The Naval War of 1812

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The _President_ now steered southward and got into the mouth of the
Irish Channel; on August 2d she shifted her berth and almost circled
Ireland; then steered across to Newfoundland, and worked south along
the coast. On Sept. 23d, a little south of Nantucket, she decoyed
under her guns and captured the British schooner _Highflyer_, 6,
Lieut. William Hutchinson, and 45 men; and went into Newport on the
27th of the same month, having made some 12 prizes.

On May 24th Commodore Decatur in the _United States_, which had sent
ashore six carronades, and now mounted but 48 guns, accompanied by
Captain Jones in the _Macedonian_, 38, and Captain Biddle in the
_Wasp_, 20, left New York, passing through Hell Gate, as there was
a large blockading force off the Hook. Opposite Hunter's Point the
main-mast of the _States_ was struck by lightning, which cut off
the broad pendant, shot down the hatchway into the doctor's cabin,
put out his candle, ripped up the bed, and entering between the skin
and ceiling of the ship tore off two or three sheets of copper near
the waterline, and disappeared without leaving a trace! The
_Macedonian_, which was close behind, hove all aback, in expectation
of seeing the _States_ blown up.

At the end of the sound Commodore Decatur anchored to watch for a
chance of getting out. Early on June 1st he started; but in a couple
of hours met the British Captain R. D. Oliver's squadron, consisting
of a 74, a razee, and a frigate. These chased him back, and all his
three ships ran into New London. Here, in the mud of the Thames river,
the two frigates remained blockaded till the close of the war; but
the little sloop slipped out later, to the enemy's cost.

We left the _Chesapeake_, 38, being fitted out at Boston by Captain
James Lawrence, late of the _Hornet_. Most of her crew, as already
stated, their time being up, left, dissatisfied with the ship's ill
luck, and angry at not having received their due share of prize-money.
It was very hard to get sailors, most of the men preferring to ship
in some of the numerous privateers where the discipline was less
strict and the chance of prize-money much greater. In consequence
of this an unusually large number of foreigners had to be taken,
including about forty British and a number of Portuguese. The latter
were peculiarly troublesome; one of their number, a boatswain's mate,
finally almost brought about a mutiny among the crew which was only
pacified by giving the men prize-checks. A few of the _Constitution's_
old crew came aboard, and these, together with some of the men who
had been on the _Chesapeake_ during her former voyage, made an excellent
nucleus. Such men needed very little training at either guns or sails;
but the new hands were unpractised, and came on board so late that
the last draft that arrived still had their hammocks and bags lying
in the boats stowed over the booms when the ship was captured. The
officers were largely new to the ship, though the first lieutenant,
Mr. A. Ludlow, had been the third in her former cruise; the third
and fourth lieutenants were not regularly commissioned as such, but
were only midshipmen acting for the first time in higher positions.
Captain Lawrence himself was of course new to all, both officers and
crew. [Footnote: On the day on which he sailed to attack the _Shannon_,
Lawrence writes to the Secretary of the Navy as follows: "Lieutenant
Paige is so ill as to be unable to go to sea with the ship. At the
urgent request of Acting-Lieutenant Pierce I have granted him, also,
permission to go on shore; one inducement for my granting his request
was his being at variance with every officer in his mess." "Captains'
Letters," vol. 29, No. 1, in the Naval Archives at Washington. Neither
officers nor men had shaken together.] In other words, the _Chesapeake_
possessed good material, but in an exceedingly unseasoned state.

Meanwhile the British frigate _Shannon_, 38, Captain Philip Bowes
Vere Broke, was cruising off the mouth of the harbor. To give some
idea of the reason why she proved herself so much more formidable
than her British sister frigates it may be well to quote, slightly
condensing, from James:

"There was another point in which the generality of British crews,
as compared with any one American crew, were miserably deficient;
that is, skill in the art of gunnery. While the American seamen
were constantly firing at marks, the British seamen, except in
particular cases, scarcely did so once in a year; and some ships
could be named on board which not a shot had been fired in this way
for upward of three years. Nor was the fault wholly the captain's.
The instructions under which he was bound to act forbade him to use,
during the first six months after the ship had received her armament,
more shots per month than amounted to a third in number of the
upper-deck guns; and, after these six months, only half the quantity.
Many captains never put a shot in the guns till an enemy appeared;
they employed the leisure time of the men in handling the sails and
in decorating the ship. Captain Broke was not one of this kind.
From the day on which he had joined her, the 14th of September, 1806,
the _Shannon_ began to feel the effect of her captain's proficiency
as a gunner and zeal for the service. The laying of the ship's
ordnance so that it may be correctly fired in a horizontal direction
is justly deemed a most important operation, as upon it depends in
a great measure the true aim and destructive effect of the shot;
this was attended to by Captain Broke in person. By draughts from
other ships, and the usual means to which a British man-of-war is
obliged to resort, the _Shannon_ got together a crew; and in the
course of a year or two, by the paternal care and excellent regulations
of Captain Broke, the ship's company became as pleasant to command
as it was dangerous to meet." The _Shannon's_ guns were all carefully
sighted, and, moreover, "every day, for about an hour and a half
in the forenoon, when not prevented by chase or the state of the
weather, the men were exercised at training the guns, and for the
same time in the afternoon in the use of the broadsword, pike, musket,
etc. Twice a week the crew fired at targets, both with great guns
and musketry; and Captain Broke, as an additional stimulus beyond
the emulation excited, gave a pound of tobacco to every man that
put a shot through the bull's eye." He would frequently have a cask
thrown overboard and suddenly order some one gun to be manned to sink
the cask. In short, the _Shannon_ was very greatly superior, thanks
to her careful training, to the average British frigate of her rate,
while the _Chesapeake_, owing to her having a raw and inexperienced
crew, was decidedly inferior to the average American frigate of the
same strength.

In force the two frigates compared pretty equally, [Footnote: Taking
each commander's account for his own force.] the American being the
superior in just about the same proportion that the _Wasp_ was to
the _Frolic_, or, at a later date, the _Hornet_ to the _Penguin_.
The _Chesapeake_ carried 50 guns (26 in broadside), 28 long 18's
on the gun-deck, and on the spar-deck two long 12's, one long 18,
eighteen 32-pound carronades, and one 12-pound carronade (which was
not used in the fight however). Her broadside, allowing for the short
weight of metal was 542 lbs.; her complement, 379 men. The _Shannon_
earned 52 guns (26 in broadside), 28 long 18's on the gun-deck, and
on the spar-deck four long 9's, one long 6, 16 32-pound carronades,
and three 12-pound carronades (two of which were not used in the
fight). Her broadside was 550 lbs.; her crew consisted of 330 men,
30 of whom were raw hands. Early on the morning of June 1st, Captain
Broke sent in to Captain Lawrence, by an American prisoner, a letter
of challenge, which for courteousness, manliness, and candor is the
very model of what such an epistle should be. Before it reached Boston,
however, Captain Lawrence had weighed anchor, to attack the _Shannon_,
which frigate was in full sight in the offing. It has been often said
that he engaged against his judgment, but this may be doubted. His
experience with the _Bonne Citoyenne_, _Espiègle_, and _Peacock_
had not tended to give him a very high idea of the navy to which he
was opposed, and there is no doubt that he was confident of capturing
the _Shannon_. [Footnote: In his letter written just before sailing
(already quoted on p. 177) he says: An English frigate is now in
sight from our deck. * * * I am in hopes to give a good account of
her before night. My account of the action is mainly taken from
James' "Naval History" and Brighton's "Memoir of Admiral Broke"
(according to which the official letter of Captain Broke was tampered
with); see also the letter of Lieut. George Budd, June 15, 1813;
the report of the Court of Inquiry. Commodore Bainbridge presiding,
and the Court-martial held on board frigate _United States_, April 15,
1814, Commodore Decatur presiding.] It was most unfortunate that he
did not receive Broke's letter, as the latter in it expressed himself
willing to meet Lawrence in any latitude and longitude he might
appoint; and there would thus have been some chance of the American
crew having time enough to get into shape.

At midday of June 1, 1813, the _Chesapeake_ weighed anchor, stood
out of Boston Harbor, and at 1 P.M. rounded the Light-house. The
_Shannon_ stood off under easy sail, and at 3.40 _Shannon_ up and
reefed top-sails. At 4 P.M. she again bore away with her foresail
brailed up, and her main top-sail braced flat and shivering, that
the _Chesapeake_ might overtake her. An hour later, Boston Light-house
bearing west distant about six leagues, she again hauled up, with
her head to the southeast and lay to under top-sails, top-gallant
sails, jib, and spanker. Meanwhile, as the breeze freshened the
_Chesapeake_ took in her studding-sails, top-gallant sails, and
royals, got her royal yards on deck, and came down very fast under
top-sails and jib. At 5.30, to keep under command and be able to
wear if necessary, the _Shannon_ filled her main top-sail and kept
a close luff, and then again let the sail shiver. At 5.25 the
_Chesapeake_ hauled up her foresail, and, with three ensigns flying,
steered straight for the _Shannon's_ starboard quarter. Broke was
afraid that Lawrence would pass under the _Shannon's_ stern, rake
her, and engage her on the quarter; but either overlooking or waiving
this advantage, the American captain luffed up within 50 yards upon
the _Shannon's_ starboard quarter, and squared his main-yard. On
board the _Shannon_ the captain of the 14th gun, William Mindham,
had been ordered not to fire till it bore into the second main-deck
port forward; at 5.50 it was fired, and then the other guns in quick
succession from aft forward, the _Chesapeake_ replying with her
whole broadside. At 5.53 Lawrence, finding he was forging ahead,
hauled up a little. The _Chesapeake's_ broadsides were doing great
damage, but she herself was suffering even more than her foe; the
men in the _Shannon's_ tops could hardly see the deck of the
American frigate through the cloud of splinters, hammocks, and other
wreck that was flying across it. Man after man was killed at the
wheel; the fourth lieutenant, the master, and the boatswain were
slain; and at 5.56, having had her jib sheet and foretop-sail tie
shot away, and her spanker brails loosened so that the sail blew
out, the _Chesapeake_ came up into the wind somewhat, so as to expose
her quarter to her antagonist's broadside, which beat in her
stern-ports and swept the men from the after guns. One of the arm
chests on the quarter-deck was blown up by a hand-grenade thrown
from the _Shannon_. [Footnote: This explosion may have had more effect
than is commonly supposed in the capture of the _Chesapeake_.
Commodore Bainbridge, writing from Charleston, Mass., on June 2,
1813 (see "Captains' Letters," vol. xxix. No. 10), says: "Mr. Knox,
the pilot on board, left the _Chesapeake_ at 5 P.M. * * * At 6 P.M.,
Mr. Knox informs me, the fire opened, and at 12 minutes past six
both ships were laying alongside one another as if in the act of
boarding; at that moment an explosion took place on board the
_Chesapeake_, which spread a fire on her upper deck from the foremast
to the mizzen-mast, as high as her tops, and enveloped both ships
in smoke for several minutes. After it cleared away they were seen
separate, with the British flag hoisted on board the _Chesapeake_
over the American." James denies that the explosion was caused by
a hand-grenade, though he says there were some of these aboard the
_Shannon_. It is a point of no interest.] The _Chesapeake_ was now
seen to have stern-way on and to be paying slowly off; so the
_Shannon_ put her helm a-starboard and shivered her mizzen top-sail,
so as to keep off the wind and delay the boarding. But at that moment
her jib stay was shot away, and her head-sails becoming becalmed, she
went off very slowly. In consequence, at 6 P.M. the two frigates fell
aboard, the _Chesapeake's_ quarter pressing upon the _Shannon's_ side
just forward the starboard main-chains, and the frigates were kept
in this position by the fluke of the _Shannon's_ anchor catching
in the _Chesapeake's_ quarter port.

The _Shannon's_ crew had suffered severely, but not the least panic
or disorder existed among them. Broke ran forward, and seeing his
foes flinching from the quarter-deck guns, he ordered the ships to
be lashed together, the great guns to cease firing, and the boarders
to be called. The boatswain, who had fought in Rodney's action, set
about fastening the vessels together, which the grim veteran succeeded
in doing, though his right arm was literally hacked off by a blow
from a cutlass. All was confusion and dismay on board the _Chesapeake_.
Lieutenant Ludlow had been mortally wounded and carried below;
Lawrence himself, while standing on the quarterdeck, fatally conspicuous
by his full-dress uniform and commanding stature, was shot down, as
the vessels closed, by Lieutenant Law of the British marines. He fell
dying, and was carried below, exclaiming: "Don't give up the ship"--a
phrase that has since become proverbial among his countrymen. The
third lieutenant, Mr. W. S. Cox, came on deck, but, utterly demoralized
by the aspect of affairs, he basely ran below without staying to
rally the men, and was court-martialled afterward for so doing. At
6.02 Captain Broke stepped from the _Shannon's_ gangway rail on to
the muzzle of the _Chesapeake's_ aftermost carronade, and thence over
the bulwark on to her quarter-deck, followed by about 20 men. As they
came aboard, the _Chesapeake's_ foreign mercenaries and the raw natives
of the crew deserted their quarters; the Portuguese boatswain's mate
removed the gratings of the berth-deck, and he ran below, followed
by many of the crew, among them one of the midshipmen named Deforest.
On the quarter-deck almost the only man that made any resistance was
the chaplain, Mr. Livermore, who advanced, firing his pistol at Broke,
and in return nearly had his arm hewed off by a stroke from the latter's
broad Toledo blade. On the upper deck the only men who behaved well
were the marines, but of their original number of 44 men, 14, including
Lieutenant James Broom and Corporal Dixon, were dead, and 20, including
Sergeants Twin and Harris, wounded, so that there were left but one
corporal and nine men, several of whom had been knocked down and
bruised, though reported unwounded. There was thus hardly any resistance,
Captain Broke stopping his men for a moment till they were joined by
the rest of the boarders under Lieutenants Watt and Falkiner. The
_Chesapeake's_ mizzen-topmen began firing at the boarders, mortally
wounding a midshipman, Mr. Samwell, and killing Lieutenant Watt; but
one of the _Shannon's_ long nines was pointed at the top and cleared
it out, being assisted by the English main-topmen, under Midshipman
Coshnahan. At the same time the men in the _Chesapeake's_ main-top
were driven out of it by the fire of the _Shannon's_ foretopmen,
under Midshipman Smith. Lieutenant George Budd, who was on the
main-deck, now for the first time learned that the English had boarded,
as the upper-deck men came crowding down, and at once called on his
people to follow him; but the foreigners and novices held back, and
only a few of the veterans followed him up. As soon as he reached
the spar-deck, Budd, followed by only a dozen men, attacked the
British as they came along the gangways, repulsing them for a moment,
and killing the British purser, Aldham, and captain's clerk, Dunn;
but the handful of Americans were at once cut down or dispersed,
Lieutenant Budd being wounded and knocked down the main hatchway.
"The enemy," writes Captain Broke, "fought desperately, but in
disorder." Lieutenant Ludlow, already mortally wounded, struggled
up on deck followed by two or three men, but was at once disabled
by a sabre cut. On the forecastle a few seamen and marines turned
to bay. Captain Broke was still leading his men with the same
brilliant personal courage he had all along shown. Attacking the
first American, who was armed with a pike, he parried a blow from
it, and cut down the man; attacking another he was himself cut down,
and only saved by the seaman Mindham, already mentioned, who slew
his assailant. One of the American marines, using his clubbed musket,
killed an Englishman, and so stubborn was the resistance of the little
group that for a moment the assailants gave back, having lost several
killed and wounded; but immediately afterward they closed in and slew
their foes to the last man. The British fired a volley or two down
the hatchway, in response to a couple of shots fired up; all resistance
was at an end, and at 6.05, just fifteen minutes after the first gun
had been fired, and not five after Captain Broke had come aboard, the
colors of the _Chesapeake_ were struck. Of her crew of 379 men, 61
were killed or mortally wounded, including her captain, her first
and fourth lieutenants, the lieutenant of marines, the master (White),
boatswain (Adams), and three midshipmen, and 85 severely and slightly
wounded, including both her other lieutenants, five midshipmen, and
the chaplain; total, 148; the loss falling almost entirely upon the
American portion of the crew.

[Illustration: Chesapeake vs. _Shannon_: an engraving published in
London in or before 1815 from a painting done under the supervision
of the _Shannon's_ first lieutenant. (Courtesy Beverly R. Robinson
Collection, U.S. Naval Academy Museum)]

Of the _Shannon's_ men, 33 were killed outright or died of their
wounds, including her first lieutenant, purser, captain's clerk,
and one midshipman, and 50 wounded, including the captain himself
and the boatswain; total, 83.

The _Chesapeake_ was taken into Halifax, where Captain Lawrence and
Lieutenant Ludlow were both buried with military honors. Captain
Broke was made a baronet, very deservedly, and Lieutenants Wallis
and Falkiner were both made commanders.

The British writers accuse some of the American crew of treachery;
the Americans, in turn, accuse the British of revolting brutality.
Of course in such a fight things are not managed with urbane courtesy,
and, moreover, writers are prejudiced. Those who would like to hear
one side are referred to James; if they wish to hear the other, to
the various letters from officers published in "Niles' Register,"
especially vol. v, p. 142.

[Illustration of _Chesapeake_ and _Shannon_ action from 5.50 to 6.04.]

"CHESAPEAKE" STRUCK BY "SHANNON" STRUCK BY
29 eighteen-pound shot, 12 eighteen-pound shot,
25 thirty-two-pound shot, 13 thirty-two pound shot,
2 nine-pound shot, 14 bar shot,
306 grape, 119 grape,
---------- ----------
362-shot. 158 shot.

Neither ship had lost a spar, but all the lower masts, especially
the two mizzen-masts, were badly wounded. The Americans at that
period were fond of using bar shot, which were of very questionable
benefit, being useless against a ship's hull, though said to be
sometimes of great help in unrigging an antagonist from whom one
was desirous of escaping, as in the case of the _President_ and
_Endymion_.

It is thus seen that the _Shannon_ received from shot alone only
about half the damage the _Chesapeake_ did; the latter was thoroughly
beaten at the guns, in spite of what some American authors say to
the contrary. And her victory was not in the slightest degree to be
attributed to, though it may have been slightly hastened by, accident.
Training and discipline won the victory, as often before; only in
this instance the training and discipline were against us.

It is interesting to notice that the _Chesapeake_ battered the
_Shannon's_ hull far more than either the _Java_, _Guerrière_, or
_Macedonian_ did the hulls of their opponents, and that she suffered
less in return (not in _loss_ but in _damage_) than they did. The
_Chesapeake_ was a better fighter than either the _Java_, _Guerrière_,
or _Macedonian_, and could have captured any one of them. The
_Shannon_ of course did less damage than any of the American 44's,
probably just about in the proportion of the difference in force.

Almost all American writers have treated the capture of the
_Chesapeake_ as if it was due simply to a succession of unfortunate
accidents; for example, Cooper, with his usual cheerful optimism,
says that the incidents of the battle, excepting its short duration,
are "altogether the results of the chances of war," and that it was
mainly decided by "fortuitous events as unconnected with any particular
merit on the one side as they are with any particular demerit on the
other." [Footnote: The worth of such an explanation is very aptly
gauged in General Alexander S. Webb's "The Peninsula; McClellan's
Campaign of 1862" (New York, 1881), p. 35, where he speaks of "those
unforeseen or uncontrollable agencies which are vaguely described
as the 'fortune of war,' but which usually prove to be the superior
ability or resources of the antagonist."] Most naval men consider
it a species of treason to regard the defeat as due to any thing
but extraordinary ill fortune. And yet no disinterested reader can
help acknowledging that the true reason of the defeat was the very
simple one that the _Shannon_ fought better than the _Chesapeake_.
It has often been said that up to the moment when the ships came
together the loss and damage suffered by each were about the same.
This is not true, and even if it was, would not affect the question.
The heavy loss on board the _Shannon_ did not confuse or terrify
the thoroughly trained men with their implicit reliance on their
leaders; and the experienced officers were ready to defend any point
that was menaced. An equal or greater amount of loss aboard the
_Chesapeake_ disheartened and confused the raw crew, who simply had
not had the time or chance to become well disciplined. Many of the
old hands, of course, kept their wits and their pluck, but the novices
and the disaffected did not. Similarly with the officers; some, as
the Court of Inquiry found, had not kept to their posts, and all
being new to each other and the ship, could not show to their best.
There is no doubt that the _Chesapeake_ was beaten at the guns before
she was boarded. Had the ships not come together, the fight would have
been longer, the loss greater, and more nearly equal; but the result
would have been the same. Cooper says that the enemy entered with
great caution, and so slowly that twenty resolute men could have
repulsed him. It was no proof of caution for Captain Broke and his
few followers to leap on board, unsupported, and then they only
waited for the main body to come up; and no twenty men could have
repulsed such boarders as followed Broke. The fight was another
lesson, with the parties reversed, to the effect that want of
training and discipline is a bad handicap. Had the _Chesapeake's_
crew been in service as many months as the _Shannon's_ had been years,
such a captain as Lawrence would have had his men perfectly in hand;
they would not have been cowed by their losses, nor some of the
officers too demoralized to act properly, and the material advantages
which the _Chesapeake_ possessed, although not very great, would
probably have been enough to give her a good chance of victory. It
is well worth noticing that the only thoroughly disciplined set of
men aboard (all, according to James himself, by the way, native
Americans), namely, the marines, did excellently, as shown by the
fact that three fourths of their number were among the killed and
wounded. The foreigners aboard the _Chesapeake_ did not do as well
as the Americans, but it is nonsense to ascribe the defeat in any
way to them; it was only rendered rather more disastrous by their
actions. Most of the English authors give very fair accounts of the
battle, except that they hardly allude to the peculiar disadvantages
under which the _Chesapeake_ suffered when she entered into it. Thus,
James thinks the _Java_ was unprepared because she had only been to
sea six weeks; but does not lay any weight on the fact that the
_Chesapeake_ had been out only as many hours.

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