Naval Officers Dueling: An "Honorable" Way to Die? The End of Hassard Stackpoole

From New London County Historical Society "Dueling Frigates."

The last ten posts were about ship-to-ship duels.  This one is about man-to-man duels and how two naval officers, one British and one American, lost their lives in duels.

Two of the officers mentioned in the earlier posts this month, not only lived by the dueling code of honor, but also died by it.

Captain Hassard Stackpoole of the Royal Navy's HMS Statira held a four year grudge against Lieutenant Thomas Cecil of the HMS Argo, who had said that Stackpoole "drew a long bow" (lied or exaggerated).  Three months after the frigate, sloop-of-war challenge at New London,  Stackpoole and Cecil met on a beach in Port Royal, Jamaica, in April 1814, and the crack shot Stackpoole was felled by Cecil.

--Brock-Perry