Battle of New Orleans.

Friday, February 14, 2014

This Date 200 Years Ago: USS Constitution Captures and Destroys HMS Pictou

From Wikipedia.

FEBRUARY 14TH, 1814: The HMS Pictou was an 83-foot longschooner with a crew of 57 that served on the Royal Navy's North American Station during the War of 1812. How it came to be in the British Navy is somewhat unknown. It might have been the American privateer Syrion (or Syren) or it might have originally been the American privateer Bonne Foi.

Either way, Admiralty records show that in October 1813, they purchased the Syrion and renamed it HMS Pictou.

It captured one or two American merchant ships before being destroyed 14 February 1814 when it was unfortunate to come up against the USS Constitution while escorting the armed merchant ship Lovely Ann from Bermuda to Surinam. The Constitution spotted the ships to the windward of Barbados.

After capturing the Lovely Ann, the Constitution fired one shot through the Pictou's sails and the ship promptly surrendered. It was decided to keep the Lovely Ann and the Pictou was destroyed.

The Pictou was one of five ships the USS Constitution captured or destroyed during the War of 1812.

No Valentines For You!! --Brock-Perry

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