Hurricanes: 1813 St. Marys, Georgia-- Part 5: Fernadina, Fla. Hit Too

"Gunboats ashore shouldn't be too damaged, a few new boats, 3 or 4 cables and anchors-- some canvas and carpenter work.

"The Gun Vessels and almost every Vessel on shore lay in the street.

"No. 6 lost rudder and channels.

"Nos 160 and 165 the ironwork of their rudder.

"The Saucy Jack, Privateer of Charleston, Laying Ready to sail is now laying high and dry on a marsh that must be at least five feet above the line of Low Tide.  She draws 14 feet, seven feet being the Common Rise.

"The town has suffered much.   Seven inhabited houses blown down but no lives lost.

"Fernadina has 20 houses blown down and every vessel in port drove on shore except a Swedish brig.  Considerable amount of mercantile property destroyed."

It Was Sure a Bad One.  --Brock-Perry

Hurricanes: 1813 St. Marys, Georgia-- Part 3: Damage to Gunboats

Commodore Hugh Campbell continued with his damage report:

"(Gunboats) Nos. 160, 158, 63 and 165 are on shore above high water mark and should be gotten off with little damage.

"160 and 158 in ordinary.

"No. 3 Hospital Vessel parted her cable and drifted over a body of marsh about three miles and is now on Florida shore and hope to get her off.

"No. 168, John Hulbert, cmdr, is laying off the south end of Cumberland when hit ran for harbor at Fernandina and anchored above it but driven over a marsh about 7-7 miles from this place with loss of its mainmast."

And, There Was Still More to report.  --Brock-Perry

Hurricanes: St. Marys, Georgia-- Part 2: Fate of the Gunboats

Commodore Hugh Campbell continued his report:

"Gun Vessel No. 164, Jno. R. Grayson, cmdr. had just returned from convoying troops to Beaufort, sunk at anchor-- 20 died of 26.Mr. Grayson and 2 others reached a marsh on the Florida side and survived the night.

"Mr. Lecompt, midshipman and 2 others were rescued from an old wreck 2 1/2 miles down the river.

"No. 161 in ordinary lies sunk above the harbor and hope to be able to raise it.

"No. 62, condemned at anchor and had men from vessels in ordinary, sank at anchor but no lives lost."

--Brock-Perry

Hurricanes in the War of 1812: 1813 Hurricane at St. Marys, Georgia-- Part 1

From the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Commodore Hugh G. Campbell wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy Jones from St. Marys, Georgia,  on 18 September 1813:

"We had yesterday morning and night proceeding one of the most severe Gales I have ever witnessed--  It commenced about 6 p.m. at NNE and veered to NNW when it blew with the greatest force and continued until about 1 A.M. at which time the Tide, which had Risen to an uncommon hight ceased to flow, and for about one hour we were favored with a calm--

"About two o'clock the Gale recommenced, every Vessel in the harbor drove on shore or sunk at their moorings."

More to Come.  Brock-Perry

Fla-Ga. Sept. 16-17 Hurricane-- Part 3

It is possibly the same storm described by Tannehill hitting the Leeward Islands 7-8 September 1813.

SUMMARY:  Based on storm tides at St. Marys and reports from St. Simons Island, the storm is considered a major hurricane for lower Georgia and adjacent coastal waters and as hurricane for Upper Georgia and Northeast Florida.

There was also another hurricane on August 27, 1813, some three weeks earlier.  This was was rated as a hurricane for Upper Georgia coastal waters, Lower Georgia coastal waters and Northeast Florida.

Its  landfall point was in South Carolina.

The folks along this stretch of U.S. coast must have been wondering "what the hey?"

Fla.-Ga. Sept. 16-17 Hurricane-- Part 2" A Major Hurricane and the Saucy Jack

The descriptions of the damage, storm surge and wind directions make it clear that this was what has to be classified as a major hurricane, not just a regular one.

It made landfall at St. Marys River and proceeded some distance inland.  Its fury was also felt along the Georgia coast.

A letter from Commodore Hugh Campbell, commanding the naval forces at St. Marys to the Secretary of the Navy included: "The Saucy Jack privateer of Charleston, lying ready to sail, is now lying high and dry on a marsh that must be at least five feet above the level of low tide.  She draws 14 feet, seven feet being the common rise."  This would indicate a storm surge of at least 19 feet above Mean Low Water.

--Brock-Perry

The Florida-Georgia September 16-17, 1813, Hurricane-- Part 1

From the Chronological Listing of Tropical Cyclones Affecting North Florida and Coastal Georgia 1565-1899 site.

This storm would be classified as a hurricane in North Florida and Upper Georgia.  In Lower Georgia, it was a major hurricane.

Its landfall points were at Cumberland Island, Georgia, Amelia Island, Florida, and St. Marys.

Sections of three letters from these areas describe the storm.  They were by Mr. Phineas Miller Nightingale of Cumberland Island, Dr. William Baldwin on Amelia Island and Commodore Hugh Campbell.  They all described the passage of the eye over their locations.

U.S. gunboats protecting St. Marys were sunk or scattered.  Twenty members of the crew of Gunboat No. 164 drowned along with two more on the Revenue Cutter.  (I haven't been able to find out the name of the revenue cutter.)

At Stallings it was reported that twenty-eight persons perished.

--Brock-Perry

American Privateer Saucy Jack-- Part 5: First Two Cruises and St. Marys Hurricane

The Saucy Jack's first impressive capture was the brig William Rathbone which had 14 guns anda 40,000 pound cargo.  Another capture was the sloop Brothers.  On its first cruise, under Capt. Thos. Jervey, the Saucy Jack captured three ships.

The second cruise was under Captain Peter Sicard who took over on October 31st.  It captured four vessels on that cruise.  In December 1812, with the privateer Two Brothers out of New Orleans, it captured the brig Antrim.  Then on January 19, 1813 they captured the Mentor.  Both prizes reached New Orleans safely and were reportedly worth $150,000.

Money in the pocket for the Saucy Jack's crew.

In September 1812 (might be 1813), Capt. Sicard and the Saucy Jack entered the St. Marys River and were at St. Marys, Georgia, with two prizes.  This might have been when I read that the Saucy Jack was driven ashore by the Georgia-Florida Hurricane of 1813 (September 17th) struck.  It then headed for Charleston, which it reached April 12, 1813.

Along the way home, it encountered the Spanish ship La Vincinte with ten long guns and 40 men.  A fight ensued and two men were wounded.

Again, these are confusing dates.

--Brock-Perry

American Privateer Saucy Jack-- Part 1: Charleston-Based

In the last entry I mentioned that the HMS Sappho, which captured a prize of the Saucy Jack and also engaged Gunboat No. 168 at Fernadina, Florida, before war was declared and also was at St. Marys when the Hurricane of September 17, 1813 struck and was run aground by the surge.

I decided it was time to find out some more about this, what turns out, was one of the more successful privateers in American service.

From Foundery site "The Saucy Jack -- American Pirate Ship."  Most likely calling the Saucy Jack a pirate ship would indicate a British source.

The Saucy Jack was owned by the Chazal family and operated out of Charleston, South Carolina.  It was one of dozens of privateers operating from that port.  The Chazals were from Santo Domingo and were refugees to Charleston in 1794 because of the slave rebellion there.

Jean Pierre Chazal captained the Saucy Jack.

A Pirate's Life for Me.  --Brock-Perry

HMS Sappho Takes Saucy Jack's Prize

I missed this bit of information on the Sappho.

On July 17, 1813, the Sappho recaptured the Eliza, which had been captured three days earlier by the American privateer Saucy Jack.  It took the Eliza to Jamaica.

This is the privateer that was wrecked at St. Marys by the September 17, 1813 hurricane that did so much damage.

The Sappho also captured the Sisters near Totugas.

--Brock-Perry

Gunboats 161 and 164

From the St. Marys Gunboat Project site.

GUNBOAT NO..161 was built at Charleston, South Carolina, by J. marsh in 1810.  It mounted one long 32-pdr and two 18-pdrs.  It was first sent to St. Simons and then to St. Marys in 1811 and again in March 1813.  It was sunk by the September 17, 1813 hurricane and all hands were saved.

GUNBOAT NO. 164 was built in Beaufort, South Carolina, by F. Saltus in 1810.  It mounted one long 32-pdr. and two 12-pdrs.  Sent to St. Marys in 1811 and sunk there by the September 17, 1813 hurricane with only 6 of the 26-man crew saved.

--Brock-Perry

The Georgia-Florida Hurricane of 1813-- Part 2

The 16-17 September 1813 hurricane was part of an especially bad hurricane season in 1813.  Hurricanes were particularly active along the North Atlantic and two really bad storms hit the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.  The other one hit 27 August of that year.

The Hurricane of 16-17 approached landfall from the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea and pounded north Florida and south Georgia.

The renowned Charleston privateer Saucy Jack was at St. Marys, Georgia, with the gunboats and was in the process of preparing to sail.  It was hit and driven into the marsh and left high and dry five feet above the low water mark..  And, it had a draft of 14 feet.

--Brock-Perry

The Georgia-Florida Hurricane of 1813-- Part 1

From My Home Page War of 1812 in Georgia "The Hurricane of 1813"

The hurricane that his the Georgia-Florida Line (hey, that band played at the Indy 500 this past Saturday) on September 16-17, 1813 was a major meteorological event and would most likely be rated a Category 3 hurricane by today's modern standards.

It cause at least a 17-foot storm surge up the St. Marys River and hit the port of St. Marys, Georgia, and Camden County where Gunboat No. 168 and five other gunboats were stationed.  It pretty well destroyed the small American flotilla.

Three gunboats were sunk in the harbor, two others run ashore and, as I have already said, No. 168 was driven ashore seven miles inland, where it came to rest in the marsh at the foot of Harriet's Bluff.

--Brock-Perry