Jacob Lewis & the N.Y. Flotilla-- Part 4: Torpedo Attack on HMS Ramilles

Commodore Lewis assisted a civilian  in an attempt to win that bounty as put forward by the Torpedo Act.  The civilian crew brought a small schooner loaded with foodstuffs   within range of Admiral  Hardy's flagship Ramillies.  They connected one of the barrels to a charge of gunpowder.

Lewis anticipated that the British would capture the ship and bring it alongside the Ramillies to be unloaded.  removing the barrel would trigger an explosion.

As predicted, the warship sent boats to capture the schooner.  However, winds prevented the British sailors from bring it alongside.  Instead, they unloaded  the cargo into a ship's boat.    The resulting explosion killed an officer and ten seamen.

Afterwards, British captains exercised greater caution in dealing with captured vessels.

Sneaky Americans.  --Brock-Perry

Dueling Frigates-- Part 9: A Hornet-Loup Cervier Duel of Sloops?

The British had played a bit of psychological warfare in June 1813 when HMS Loup-Cervier   (French for the Canadian lynx) joined the squadron off New London.  When the war began, she had been the U.S. sloop of war Wasp and a part of Decatur's squadron at Hampton Roads in Virginia.

At the time, it was commanded by Jacob Jones, now commander of the former British frigate Macedonian.  In October 1812, the Wasp captured the HMS Frolic, but was then captured herself and placed into British service.

Perhaps, Captain Biddle of the Wasp's former sister ship Hornet (formerly Jones' lieutenant on the Wasp) was sent to the HMS Ramilles to arrange the challenge, he met Captain William Bowen Mends of the Loup Cervier.

Perhaps a ship duel was arranged between their two ships.

--Brock-Perry

Dueling Frigates-- Part 4: Get Out With a Duel?

The day of the battle between the Chesapeake and Shannon off Boston, Captain Stephen Decatur of the 56-gun frigate USS United States, 38-gun frigate USS Macedonian (previously the HMS Macedonian) and 20-gun USS Hornet, into the Thames River, by New London, Connecticut.

They then found themselves blockaded there by British ships for the next six months.

Decatur tried various schemes to break out.  One of the first attempts were the blue light signals which caused him to cancel one attempt.  Then, he hit upon another scheme.

Captain Decatur was at Brown's tavern in New London, Ct., in January 1813, when Captain Nicholas Moran, a coasting ship commander, came to him and said that he had just been the "guest" aboard the HMS Ramillies, and that Captain Henry Hope of the 46-gun HMS Endymion had said he thought Decatur was afraid of an engagement between their two ships.

Moran also claimed that Sir Thomas Hardy had "remarked, that he should be delighted to see a match between the [HMS] Statira and [USS] Macedonian since they were sister ships."

In Other Word, "Duel."  --Brock-PerryDuel

Update on Sandwich, Massachusetts: Sir Thomas Hardy and HMS Ramilles

The Commodore Harty referred to on Tuesday was most likely Sir Thomas Hardy (1769-1839) who served off the New England coast during the War of 1812.  He fought in the Napoleonic Wars and was at the battle of Trafalgar with Nelson before being sent to North America.

A 74-gun British warship was considered a 3rd Rate Ship-of-the-Line, not a frigate which usually didn't have more than 50 guns.

After Trafalgar, Hardy commanded the 3rd rate ship-of-the-line HMS Triumph and later the 3rd rate ship-of-the-line HMS Ramillies.  Most likely the ship off Sandwich was the Ramillies.

Hardy led the fleet that escorted the Army which captured significant portions of coastal Maine, then part of Massachusetts, including Fort Sullivan, Eastport, Machias, Bangor and Castine.

On 10 August 1814, a storming party from the Ramillies was defeated at Stonington Burrough.

--Brock-Perry