FAMOUS SEA FIGHT

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 March 1933, Page 3

FAMOUS SEA FIGHT

SHANNON AND CHESAPEAKE

I happened recently to overhaul an old pistol which had lain packed away for over 18 years, (writes Flinders Barr, in the “Sydney Morning Herald”). It is a short, heavy, pocket pistol, with a flint lock, an octagonal barrel, a very heavy bore, and was made by W. Trulock, of Dublin, somewhere about the latter end of the eighteenth century. There is nothing particularly remarkable about it, and I was going to nut if aside, when I happened to notice, wedged in the barrel, a slip of paper, which I. managed to extract, untorn, ami which turns out to be an extremely interesting document from an historical and naval point of view. The paper, which measures 10.1x41 inches, bears upon it in faded writing the following inscription:—

Pistol found on board the American frigate Chesapeake after her capture by his Majesty’s frigate Shannon, June 1, 1813.

And. as the war they did provoke; We’ll pay them with our cannon; The first to do it will be Broke, In the gallant ship the Shannon. T. B. Halifax, June 15, 1813.

The weapon, therefore, is a memento of one of the most famous sea fights ever won by a ship of liis Majesty s Navy, and one which created an enormous impression at the lime, and for reasons to he recounted. In 1733 England declared war on the newly-formed French Republic, and in the following year the United States, feeling an interest in (he success of their sister republic, pushed various complaints they had against England to an extremity bordering upon war, and ordered that two 36-gun frigates, one 44-gun frigate, and two 74-gun ships should be immediately constructed for the Government. Scarcely had the keels of these ships been laid down when Mr. Jay, by his treaty, restored amicable relations between Britain and America. The ships were not forgotten, however, and were proceeded with; but. although begun as 74-gun ships, it was decided to finish the two large vessels as frigates, and these two enormous “frigates,” although intended to mount 62 guns, were to rate only as carrying 44, whilst the actual 44-gun frigate laid down should be called a 36. In all but name these two ships, the United States and the Constitution, were true battleships, whilst the other vessels were vastly superior in size, armament, and crews to anything called <i frigate which Great Britain possessed. Napoleon having arrived upon the scene, the whole of Europe was plunged into warfare, but whilst the belligerents opposed to England had tbeii commerce swept from the ocean by her armed ships, and as James says, “when there was every probability that Bonaparte would soon be compelled to curb his ambitious temper and restore to Europe the blessings of peace, neutral America stepped forward and hired herself to be the carrier between the French colonies and the parent State.” Consequently, in a short time, although not a single French or Dutch merchant ship crossed the Atlantic or doubled the Cape of Good Hope, the products of the East and West Indies sold cheaper in the French markets than they did in those of England, who had the command of the seas. Thus relieved, France" pushed on the war vigorously, and neutral America prospered by fanning the flames. This moral and religious people actually grew rich and great, commercially at least, out of that which depopulated Europe, which robbed the wife of her husband, and the child of its father.

WAR DECLARED When England at length began her attempts to check this intercourse between France and neutral America, the latter grumbled, and, resorting to new subterfuges, went on again. On May 16, 1806, England declared the ports of France in a state of blockade, to which Napoleon replied on the following November’ 21 with a wholesale blockade against the British Empire. This was an extinguisher upon all neutral nations, as England had taken the French colonies, or most of them, but neutral America blamed England for it, and not her dear France. These decrees were followed by others, including Napoleon’s Milan decree of December 17, 1807, by which every vessel of foreign nationality which submitted to a search by an English man-of-war, became, if caught, "a lawful French prize. The neutral ''trade being extinct, and all her ships lying rotting at their moorings in her grass-grown seaports, America boldly cast off her neutral disguise, and resolved “in the language of the noble race she had displaced, to take up the hatchet and go to war, ’ and finding there was a certainty of more to gain from a. war with England than with France, war was declared on the toimcr country on June 18, 1812.

At first the American disguised battleships, masquerading as fiigates, were very successful, and seveial genuine English men-of-war, all inferioi to them in every respect, 101 l into their hands, the world being told that (he British were the more powerful vessels, and that at last the haughty islanders were being taught a lesson. Although nothing but bombast, this was very trying to British naval officers, to none more than to Captain Philip Bowes Vere Broke, of his Majesty’s 38-gun frigate Shannon, which was on the North American Station at the time. He had joined his ship on September 14, 1806, and during the period of his command he had brought the crew to an extraordinary pitch of perfection. 11l fact, so well-known was his desire to get alongside one of the American ships in action, that in the year 1812 the song appeared, a verse of which appears on the paper found with the old pistol.

On June 1, 1813, I he Shannon lay outside Boston Harbour, waiting and hoping that the U.S. frigate Chesapeake would come out and fight her, and to the great joy of all on board the British ship, at 10 a.m. the Chesapeake rounded the lighthouse in full sail, being accompanied by many pleasure boats, which went out to see Captain Lawrence, of the American ship, “whip a Britisher." The Chesapeake had three large American ensigns flying, and also, at the fore, a large white flag, inscribed, “Sailor’s Rights and Free Trade,” assuming perhaps that

this favourite American motto would damp the energy or paralyse the efforts of the Shannon’s men. I VICTORY SHARP AND COMPLETE There is no space for an account of the engagement, but it was one of the shortest on record: the first, gun was fired by the Shannon at 5.50 p.m., the Chesapeake was beaten in eleven minutes, and captured in three more, a quarter of an hour being sufficient lime in which to hoist the Union Jack over the Stars and Stripes. The Shan non had 24 men killed and 59 wound ed. her first lieutenant being among the former, and her captain among the latter. The losses of Ibe Chesapeake are not clearly stated, bi if the ship's surgeon estimated at from 160 io 170 killed ami wounded, Iter captain being amongst, the former. The ships each carried 25 guns on a broadside, the total weight being: Shannon 5381 b. Chesapeake 5901 b. The crew of the Shannon, men only, was 306, and of the Chesapeake 376, whilst the tonnage of the British ship was 1066, against the American’s 1135. Thus, the United States ship was superior in force in every way, and it is interesting to note that, there being a possibility of the American crew trying to regain possession of their ship on the night following the engagement, it was found advisable to put them into the handcuffs, which to the number of 360 pairs, they had carefully provided for the Shannon’s crew, so sure was the Chesapeake of victory. A large cask of unslaked lime to throw in the eyes of the British seamen, when they boarded, was placed mi (he Chesapeake’s forecastle, luil one of the Shannons shot seal its contents Ilyins amongst the Aineri can crew: though wo need not dwell on this, or on the terrible star and chain shot afterwards found on board. This affair made a great noise at the time, and quite restored the prestige of the British Navy, as it had been a fair fight between two combatant vessels, more or less equally matched. When the American officers arrived on board the Shannon and some of them were finding reasons for being “taken so unaccountably,” their first lieutenant, Mr. Ludlow, who appears to have been a sportsman, candidly acknowledged that the Shannon had beaten them heartily and fairly. Thus the prophecy came true and the first “to do it” was Broke, “In the gallant ship the Shannon.”