Jacob Jones, USN-- Part 3: A Victory Then a Loss

As the two vessels continued to close, the Wasp collided with the bowsprit of the HMS Frolic.  Jones immediately ordered his men to board the Frolic, where they overwhelmed the British crew and captured the ship.

It was all over in 45 minutes.  Out of110 sailors aboard the Frolic, 90 had been killed or seriously wounded.  The Americans suffered only five killed and five wounded.

The victory over the Frolic was complete, but just then the sails of another ship were seen, which turned out to be the HMS Poictiers, a 74-gun British ship-of-the-line, appeared on the horizon.

Under normal circumstances. Jones' ship could easily outsail the slower, more powerful Poictiers; but the rigging of the Wasp was in tatters.  After the Poictiers fired a warning shot at the smaller American vessel, Jones was forced to surrender.

Regardless of the loss of his ship, Congress presented Jones with a gold medal for his action.

The Delaware native served four more decades in the U.S. Navy.

Jones had weathered a turbulent childhood and failure in several occupations before ge found himself a home in the Navy.

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Jones, USN-- Part 2: A Short, Violent Fight Between the Wasp and the Frolic

The capture by Tripoli did not stop Jones' career in the Navy.  At the beginning of the War of 1812, he now found himself in the command of the sloop USS Wasp.  In the early months of the war, American ships aggressively  sought out British ships in the Atlantic sea lanes and along the Atlantic coast.

On this cruise, before he even found the British, the Wasp encountered a violent storm which destroyed part of the ship's rigging and killed two men.  The rigging had just barely been repaired when a small convoy of British ships was spotted being escorted by the British sloop HMS Frolic.

Both being sloops, the two ships were about evenly matched for a battle that would be short and bloody.  The Wasp and Frolic were about sixty yards apart when the first broadsides were exchanged.  According to future President Theodore Roosevelt in his book "The Naval War of 1812, "The (Frolic) fired very rapidly, delivering three broadsides to the Wasp's two, both crews cheering loudly as the ships wallowed through the water.

"There was a very heavy sea running, causing the vessels to pitch and roll heavily.  The Americans fired as the engaged side of their ship was going down aiming at their opponents hull, while the British delivered their broadsides while on the crest of the seas, the shot going high."

So, Who Won?  --Brock-Perry

Jacob Jones, USN-- Part 1: The Oldest Midshipman and Capture at Tripoli

From the August 14, 2021, Delmarva ""War of 1812 hero, Jacob Jones found a home in the United States Navy" by Michael Morgan.

Master Commandant (a rank in the early U.S. Navy, now called commander) Jacob Nicholas Jones had weathered the storm.  In October 1812, the U.S. and Britain were at war.  He had guided his 18 gun sloop USS Wasp past Cape Henlopen and out into the Atlantic in search of enemy warships.

The Delaware native and resident of Lewes was born near Smyrna, Delaware in 1768.  His mother had died when he was an infant; and his father married Penelope Holt, the granddaughter of Ryves Holt of Lewes.  When he father passed away, Penelope raised the boy in Lewes, where he lived at the Ryves-Holt House at Second and Mulberry streets.

After he completed his elementary education in Lewes, Jones studied medicine and hung out his shingle as a doctor; but had few patients.  He considered a legal career, worked as a store keeper and took up farming.  But nothing seemed to satisfy him.

In 1799, ate the age of 31, Jones joined the fledgling U.S. Navy as one of the service's oldest midshipmen.  (Midshipmen were usually in their early to mid teens).

In 1803, Jacob Jones was now a lieutenant and on board the frigate USS Philadelphia, when the ship ran aground in the harbor of Tripoli in what is now Libya.  The American crew was captured and imprisoned  for twenty months.

--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

War of 1812 Heritage Trail-- Part 3: Lightships and Commodore Jones

**  Overfalls Lightship, given to Lewes Historical Society in 1973.  The last lightship still functioning on the east coast.  In service 1892-9161.  One of only 17 lightships still afloat and there was once 179.

**  Blockhouse Pond--  site of an American encampment during most of the War of 1812.

**  Ryves-Holt House-- believed to be the oldest house in Delaware.  Dating to 16685, was once a colonial inn.  Commodore Jacob N. Jones once lived here.  He received much acclamation for his defeat of the HMS Frolic in his ship, the USS Wasp.  (He is buried in Wilmington, Delaware's Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery.)

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Nicholas Jones

From Together We Served site.  List of and dates of U.S. Navy Service.

1799-1801   USS United States
1801-1803   USS Philadelphia
1801-1805   Prisoner of War, Algeria

1805-1810   U.S. Navy
1810-1812   USS Wasp
1813-1814   USS Macedonian

1815   USS Macedonian
1816-1818   USS Guerriere
1818-1821   U.S. Navy

1821-1823   Mediterranean Squadron
1823-1826   U.S. Navy Board of Commissioners
1826-1827   Pacific Squadron

1829-1847   U.S. Navy
1847-1850  U.S. Naval Asylum

Not sure about the last place he was.  Did he command it or was he in it?

--Brock-Perry

Did the Cape Fear Region Play Any Significant Role in the War of 1812?

From the April 30, 2010, Wilmington (NC) Star-News "My Reporter" by Meston Vanoe.

No battles were fought in North Carolina, but the British did occupy Ocracoke and Portsmouth islands in the Outer Banks from July 12-16, 1813.  This scared the state and the militia was called out, some going to Wilmington.

Johnston Blakely was a naval hero from Wilmington who commanded the sloop USS Wasp that captured the HMS Reindeer

Captain Otway Burns was from Onslow County and was a leading privateer.  he is buried in Beaufort in a tomb topped with cannons from his ship, the Snap Dragon.  His desk and a model of his ship are at the North Carolina Maritime Museum.

Brunswick County raised a company of volunteers for the North Carolina Militia.

After the war, the government increased the size of the Navy.  Seven ships-of-the-line, the most powerful ships of their day, were built.  One was the USS North Carolina which was launched in 1820 and commissioned in 1824.

--Brock-Perry

USS Wasp (1807)/HMS Loup Cervier

From Wikipedia.

The USS Wasp was constructed in the Washington Navy Yard and commissioned in 1807.  During the War of 1812, it captured the HMS Frolic, but was immediately afterwards captured and taken into British service as the HMS Loup Cervier and then the HMS Peacock.

It was lost with all hands, presumably foundered, on July 23, 1814, off tge Virginia Capes.

--Brock-Perry

Ships By the Name USS Wasp

From Wikipedia.

There have been eleven ships serving in the U.S, Navy by the name USS Wasp.  One is still serving.  Four of them were in the War of 1812.

**  First USS Wasp (1775)--  merchant schooner purchased by the Continental Navy in late 1775.  destroyed in 1777.

The USS Wasps of the War of 1812:

**  Second USS Wasp (1807)--  Sloop constructed in 1806 and captured by the British.

**  Third USS Wasp (1810)--  Schooner built in 1810 and sold in 1814.

**  Fourth USS Wasp (1813)  Sloop chartered in 1813 and returned to her owners in 1814.

**  Fifth USS Wasp (1814)  Rigged Sloop-of-War constructed in 1813 and lost at sea in a storm.  This is the one I'll be writing about next week.

There have been six USS Wasps since the War of 1812, including two famous aorcraft carriers and there is one still serving.

Altogether, there have been eleven ships in the I.S. Navy to bear the illustrious name.

--Brock-Perry

USS Wasp (1814)-- Part 2

The USS Wasp was constructed in 1813 in Newburyport, Massachusetts by Cross & Merrill and commissioned in early 1814, commanded by Master Commandant Johnston Blakely.

The ship remained at Portsmouth, New Hampshire until late spring then put to sea May 1, 1814, to cruise to the western approaches to the English Channel to attack British shipping.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: USS Wasp (1814) Lost at Sea-- Part 1

Canada's historic places site put the Wasp's disappearance at this date, although know one knows for sure when it happened.

From Wikipedia.

  The USS Wasp was a sloop-of-war and the 5th ship in the US Navy to bear the name.  In the summer of 1814 it had two very successful raids on British shipping and fought and defeated three British warships.

It was lost in the Atlantic Ocean in early autumn 1814, cause unknown.  It just never showed up anywhere.

Stats: 509 tons, 117.8 feet long, 31.6 beam, 173 crew.  Armament: two long 12-pdr. gins and twenty 32-pdr. carronades.

--Brock-Perry

USS Wasp vs. HMS Avon

On September 1, 1814, three was a battle off the coast of England between the sloop USS Wasp and sloop HMS Avon.  The Wasp won, but was unable to take the Avon as a prize because of the arrival of other British warships.

However, the badly battered Avon sank before the British could secure it.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: USS Wasp Captures HMS Avon, British Plattsburg Campaign Begins

SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1814:

The USS Wasp captures the HMS Avon.

The British capture Castine, Maine.

The British Army, with a force of over 10,000 men and led by Governor General Sir George Prevost, begin crossing the border into New York on their way to Plattsburg.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago-- June 28th 1814: USS Wasp Captures HMS Reindeer

JUNE 28TH, 1814:  The USS Wasp captured the HMS Reindeer in the English Channel.

During a failed American raid on Odelltown, Lower Canada, Lt.Col. Benjamin Forsyth is shot and killed, his body returned to Champlain, NY, for burial.

JUNE 28TH AND JULY 7TH, 1814:  Americans intercept contraband on Lake Champlain destined for the navy yard at Ile aux Noix, Lower Canada.

JUNE 29TH, 1814:  Lt.Col. Joseph Bouchette, Surveyor general of Lower Canada, gives land grants along the Grand Portage between Lake Temiscouata and the St. Lawrence River to disbanded soldiers of the 10th Royal Veterans Battalion, "for the purpose of facilitating the Communication between Lower Canada and New Brunswick.

JUNE and JULY, 1814:  Arrival at Quebec City, Lower Canada, of materials and pieces of frigates-in-frame for the naval forces on the Great Lakes.

--Brock-Perry

The Short Career of the Sloop of War USS Frolic

From Wikipedia. 

One of a three-class group of sloops of war that also included the USS Peacock and USS Wasp, the Frolic cost $72,095 and was built at Charlestown, Massachusetts. Launched 11 September 1813, 509 tons, 119 feet long, 170 crew and carried 22 guns. 

On 18 February 1814, set out to sea under Cmdr. Joseph Bainbridge (younger brother of Commodore William Bainbridge) and cruised to the West Indies. On March 20th, it destroyed a British merchant ship and a Spanish-American privateer. On April 3rd, it sank another British merchant ship. 

On April 20th, while in the Florida Strait it was spotted by the 36-gun frigate HMS Orpheus and 12-gun schooner HMS Shelburne, who gave chase. The Frolic lightened ship by throwing guns and other items overboard, but was still captured after a six hour chase about 15 miles from Cuba. 

The British Admiralty purchased it and it became the HMS Florida until broken up in 1819. 

One Ship, Two Navies. --Brock-Perry

No Part 2 For Jacob Jones

If you're interested in reading the rest of Saturday's account on Jacob Nicholas Jones, click on the label below.

It turns out, I had written about him in connection with the USS Wasp capturing the HMS Frolic (not exactly a very warlike name if you ask me).  I was writing Saturday in connection to the destroyer named after him and sunk by a German U-boat off New Jersey during World War II.

Brock-Perry

Commodore Jacob Nicholas Jones, USN

From Wikipedia.

(March 1768-August 3, 1850.  An American officer in the Quasi-War with France, the Barbary Wars and War of 1812.  Born in Kent County, Delaware.

He was definitely involved with some of the ships I wrote about last month on their 200th anniversaries.

Strangely, however, he didn't join the Navy as a midshipman until he was 31, that when some midshipmen were as young as 10.  Some think the death of his wife prompted him to do it.  During the Quasi War, he served on the USS United States under Commodore John Barry and was promoted to 2nd Lt. in 1801.

On Oct. 31, 1803, during the Barbary War, he was taken prisoner on the USS Philadelphia in the Bay of Tripoli, but freed in 1805.

In 1810, he was given command of the USS Wasp and during the War of 1812, on Oct. 18, 1812, captured the HMS Frolic and that same day he was again captured, this time by the HMS Poictiers.

He was widely acclaimed after his prisoner exchange despite losing his ship.  He then was given command of the USS Macedonian, a captured British ship before getting bottled up with the USS United States in New London, CT. in 1814.  He was then transferred to Lake Ontario and given command of the USS Mohawk during the last year of the war..

During the Second Barbary War, he again commanded the USS Macedonian and later captained the USS Guerriere, another captured British ship.  From 1821-1823, he commanded the Mediterranean Squadron, then the Pacific Squadron 1826-1829 and then was Navy Commissioner in Washington, DC. 

He commanded the Philadelphia Navy Yard from 1847 until his death.

So here was a guy captured twice and then who commanded two captured ships.

Must Have Been In His Blood.  --Brock-Perry

HMS Poictiers

From Wikipedia.

This was the ship that arrived on the scene after the USS Wasp had defeated the HMS Frolic and then recaptured the British ship and captured the USS Wasp on Oct. 18, 2012, 200 years ago.

It was a 74-gun ship of the line launched in 1809, and most of its war record involved capturing some 20 merchant ships of the U.S. coast  It also captured three U.S. armed privateers: Herald, 10 guns; Highflyer, 5 guns and Yorktown, 20 guns.

On March 16, 1813, the ship's commander demanded that the town of Lewes, Delaware give him 20 live bulls, vegetables and hay, to which he would pay a fair price.  If not, he would destroy the town.  The town refused and on April 6th and 7th, the town was shelled with the killing of a chicken and wounding of a pig.

There is a cannonball fired from the Poictiers lodged in the stone foundation of the Lewes Marine Museum.

In 1857, the Poictiers was sold and broken up.

Brock-Perry

The USS Wasp/HMS Peacock

From Wikipedia.

The USS Wasp was a sloop of war commissioned in 1807.  After its capture yesterday, 200 years ago, it served in the British Navy, first as the HMS Loup Cervier and then the HMS Peacock.  It was lost in 1814, presumably with all hands.

While part of the US Navy, it operated off the coast of the middle states in 1812 and had also been damaged by the gale that had battered the HMS Frolic.  Shortly after the battle with the Frolic, the 74-gun ship of the line Poictiers appeared on the scene and the Wasp, damaged from the gale and battle, was in no condition to fight ar run and forced to surrender the same day it captured the Frolic.

It taken into British service as the HMS Loup Cervier, but had its name changed to the HMS Peacock after the USS Hornet captured and sank the original HMS Peacock in Feb. 1813.  From April to May it captured two Swedish ships and one from Russia.  It sank off the Virginia Capes in 1814 with all its crew.

The Story of a Ship.  --Brock-Perry

The 200th Anniversary of the HMS Frolic, USS Wasp, HMS Poictiers Battle

From Wikipedia.

Two hundred years ago, there was a naval action off the coast of Virginia involving the capture of the HMS Frolic by the USS Wasp and subsequent recapture of the Frolic and capture of the Wasp by the HMS Poictiers.

The HMS Frolic was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop with a 121-man crew. In October 1812, it was on the North American Station protecting a convoy of six merchantmen off Virgina.  A gale had dispersed the fleet and damaged the Frolic's sails and masts.  On October 18th, the USS Wasp hove into view an opened an engagement.  The Frolic fired more shots, but inaccurately. 

Unfortunately for her, the gale damage had made her unmanageable and after being raked fore-aft for 40 minutes, she was boarded and captured.  Out of her crew, 15 were killed and 43 wounded.  American losses were put at 5 killed and 5 wounded.

Later that day, the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Poictiers appeared and easily recaptured the Wasp as well, which had been damaged by the aforementioned gale and the battle.

Later, the HMS Frolic was one of four British ships that captured the American ship Fame.  The Frolic was broken up in Portsmouth in November 1813.

A Little-Known Battle.  --Brock-Perry