Portland, Maine, in the War of 1812 and the Civil War: Two Sea Battles

I just realized that I have been writing a lot about this city in two of my blogs lately.

I have been writing about the battle between the USS Enterprise and HMS Boxer in this blog, as well as the burial of their two commanders who were both killed in the battle along with a Lt. Waters who were all buried next to each other in Portland's Eastern Cemetery.

In my Running the Blockade: The Civil War Navy blog I have been writing about Confederate Lt. Charles W. Read's successful commerce raid up the Union's coast fifty years later and his raid on Portland where he captured the U.S. Revenue Cutter Caleb Cushing.

And, most people, including myself, don't even know there was even one battle ever fought at Portland, Maine.  Like I say, learn something every day.

Small World.  I Didn't Know About Either One.--Brock-Perry

USS Porcupine-- Part 3: U.S. Coastal Survey and Revenue Cutter Service

From the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association.

In 1816, the Porcupine was commissioned as a survey vessel in the newly formed United States Coastal Survey Office, and worked the border between the United States and Canada under the command of War of 1812 hero Stephen Champlin (he commanded the USS Scorpion at the Battle of Lake Erie)..  In 1819, it entered the United States Revenue Cutter Service.

In 1825 it was sold by the government and five years later renamed the Caroline.  It had several owners over the rest of its career, including Ferry & Sons of Grand Haven, Michigan, and was used extensively in the lumber trade until she became unseaworthy.

--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

Revenue Cutter Surveyor and Samuel Travis-- Part 1

On July 1st, I wrote about Samuel Travis, while a prisoner on a British ship at the Battle of Craney Island on June 22, 1813, as reporting that an American shell had cut off the feet and legs of almost one entire British barge crew.

A follow up on him and his ship.

From the US Coast Guard site.

There is a painting of "The Capture of the [Revenue Cutter] Surveyor, 12 June 1813"; a watercolor by Irwin John Bevan at the Mariners Museum collection.  It is incorrectly, however, shown flying the national ensign where, as per Treasury Department regulations, it would have flown the Revenue ensign.

The schooner was built by Robert Parsons, in Baltimore, Maryland and was 68 feet long, 19 foot beam, 6 foot draft, 25 man crew and carried six 6-pounder cannons.  It was commissioned in 1807.

More to Come.  --Brock-Perry

British Lively-Class Frigates-- Part 4: HMS Horatio and Spartan

HMS HORATIO. Primarily used in Napoleonic Wars. Mainly guarded convoys. Launched 1807 and broken up in 1861. Was this where Forrester got his Horatio Hornblower character from or perhaps Nelson?

HMS SPARTAN: Launched 1806, broken up 1822. In July 1812, captured two American merchant ships. It and the HMS Maidstone on 3 August 1812, captured US Revenue Cutter Commodore Barry, 6 guns, and three privateer schooners: Madison, Olive and Spence (Spruce?). The crew of the Spartan received prize money for capture of Barry in 1822.

On 17 October 1812, the Spartan and Maidstone captured the privateer Rapid.

After that, the Spartan went back to Europe and was broken up in 1822.

--Brock-Perry

Revenue Cutter Thomas Jefferson

From the U.S. Coast Guard Site and the article from the last post.

The Revenue Cutter Thomas Jefferson was constructed and commissioned in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1802 and served out of Savannah until 1809 when relieved by the Revenue Cutter James Madison, then served out of Norfolk until it was decommissioned in 1817.

In May 1812 (before the war) it sailed around the Hampton Roads area with US Navy Captain Stephen Decatur to survey existing lighthouses and signal towers for a communication system. The ship was responsible for the U.S.'s first maritime victory in the war when it captured a British schooner sailing from Guadeloupe to Halifax with a cargo of sugar.

Little is known of the ship after its 1817 decommissioning.

It's War of 1812 commander was William Ham who was commissioned a 2nd mate in Norfolk, Virginia, based cutter Virginia. He served as an officer on Norfolk-based cutters through the War of 1812, after which little is known of his life.

--Brock-Perry

The War in Real Time: Vigilant Captures the Dart 200 Years Ago Today-- Part 2

On January 25, 1812, John Calhoun was commissioned as a master (captain) in Rhode Island and received command of the Vigilant.

On October 4, 1813, the Vigilant sailed out of Newport, Rhode Island, seeking the British privateer Dart. On board were 28 additional sailors. The Vigilant caught up with the Dart and opened fire. It came alongside, boarded and seized the ship. This was the last armed boarding by a revenue cutter during the Age of Sail.

Then on October 26th, the Vigilant captured a British schooner carrying a cargo of wood.

On June 2, 1814, it towed the fire-damaged brig St. Francis into Newport. It had been en route from St. Bart's with a cargo of molasses and sugar when it had been run ashore by the HMS Nimrod who then torched it.

--Brock-Perry

The War in Real Time: Vigilant Captures the Dart 200 Years Ago Today-- Part 1

From the U.S. Coast Guard site, Revenue Cutter Vigilant.

Two hundred years ago today, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Vigilant captured the British privateer Dart off Rhode Island.

The U.S. Revenue Service, the forerunner of the U.S. Coast Guard, was just 22 years old when the War of 1812 began. The revenue cutter Vigilant was one of its newest ships and the third ship to carry the name.

It was built and equipped by shipbuilder Benjamin Marble of Newport, Rhode Island, for $8,500.

The revenue service bought it August 21, 1812, and the ship was noted for its quickness, maneuverability and was lightly manned with just a crew of seventeen.

--Brock-Perry

Bits of War: Surveyor-- Craney Island

Bits of War--  New News About an Old War.


1.  SURVEYOR--  Waterman's Museum in Yorktown will be commemorating the bicentennial of of the June 12, 1813, battle between the U.S. Revenue Cutter Surveyor and the Royal Navy in the York River, Virginia.


2.  CRANEY ISLAND--  Also, Portsmouth and Norfolk, Virginia, will be commemorating the bicentennial of the War of 1812's Battle of Craney island (by Norfolk).  It took place on June 22, 1813, when a British assault on the island that was driven off by American artillery fire. 

It will be held at Fort Norfolk tomorrow, June 22nd.

Just Some News.  --Brock-Perry

North Carolina in the War of 1812-- Part 1

From the August 28, 2012, Elizabeth City (NC) Daily Advance" by Robert Kelly-Goss.

The Museum of the Albemarle has a new War of 1812 exhibit.  The state did have some history in the war, but not much.  According to historian George Converse, "For North Carolina the War of 1812 was a non-event."

The state did help to build the U.S. Navy and establish what eventually became the U.S. Coast Guard as a protective force for waterways.

Most of the war's action was farther north, but the British had a blockade of the whole U.S. coast.  The Revenue Cutter Service helped battle the British. 

Also, privateers left North Carolina ports, usually armed with one or two guns. They'd go out and legally plunder Britsih and Canadian shipping armed with their Letters of Marque.

More to Come.  --Brock-Perry

Looking For Charleston's Revenue Cutter Gallatin

From the April 4, 2013, Charleston (SC) Post and Courier "Search for War of 1812 ship in Charleston Harbor ongoing."

Searchers have found some promising sites, but nothing definitive of the U.S. revenue Cutter Gallatin which exploded on the morning of April 1, 1813.  An official investigation of the incident determined it to be accidental.

News 4, ABC, says searchers are looking in the Ashley River and using a magnetometer. The ship had been tied up off a pier that no longer exists when it blew up.  They think a crew man was cleaning a musket and set off a spark that set off the ship's gunpowder.  The Gallatin had just returned from a five-day voyage when it happened.

Searchers hope to find the ship's cannons.

Hope They Find It.  --Brock-Perry

Coast Guard Roots Found in War of 1812

From the August 28th Elizabeth City (NC) Daily Advance.

The war was a major event for the U.S. Department of Treasury Revenue Cutter Service which eventually became the Coast Cuard.  These ships essentially provided the only coastal defense as the Navy had been disbanded.  (I beg to contradict that there was no Navy.)

Revenue cutters engaged Royal Navy ships on many occasions.  One of the first times was the Commodore Barry fighting off a British ship.  It was escorting five ships it had caught smuggling when word reached the ship that the British had captured an American ship. 

The crew beached the Commodore Barry at Little River in Maine and set up a shore battery, but the British prevailed and the crew taken prisoner to Canada.

The Norfolk-based cutter Thomas Jefferson engaged the British in Hampton Roads in the Chesapeake Bay in April 1813 and also saw action in the James River.

In May 1813, cutter Mercury anchored with other American vessels at Ocracoke, NC when a British privateer attempted an attack on the village after being warned by locals.  Another attack on the same place was thwarted in July of that year.

Later, 15 armed British barges with 1000 troops tried to capture the Mercury, but it escaped to New Bern and warned the citizens of an impending attack.  The local militia was called up and the British called off the attack.

I recently posted about the revenue cutter Louisiana that was sunk in the August 1812 hurricane at New Orleans.

Birth of the Coast Guard.  --Brock-Perry

The Revenue Cutter Louisiana

From the Louisiana Military Heritage Site.

I was still wondering about this USS Louisiana.  If it was such a major Navy vessel, why would they not mention its sinking in the 1812 hurricane?

After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the government needed a revenue cutter in newly acquired New Orleans.  On June 18, 1804, the Collector at Baltimore, Md., was authorized by Congress to build a 60-foot cutter, about 60 tons with a six-foot draft.

It was named the Louisiana and set sail for New Orleans December 16, 1804,  in a voyage that took twenty days.  Its first commander was Revenue Captain Joseph Newcomb and, on his first voyage out of New Orleans, ignored his orders and went to Pascagoula (in still-disputed territory and occupied by the Spanish) and confiscated large quantities of coffee.  To avoid a diplomatic incident, the Port Collector ordered the coffee returned.

On April 16, 1805,the Louisiana captured the schooner Felicity which had been privateering.
\
More to Come.  --Brock-Perry