American Privateer Anaconda-- Part 2: Capture of the British Ship Express

I am not sure if the Anaconda captured a ship named the Express or Express Packet, packet being the name of a particular kind of a ship.  I now find out the ship's name was just the Express.

The site says the capture took place on January 4, 1813.

This account is taken from the Glasgow Herald from 31 May 1813.

The following account of the action between the Express packet and the American privateer Anaconda, has been transmitted by an officer of the packet:

The Express packet sailed from Rio de Janeiro on the 23rd of March, and on the 1st of April was chased by a brig of war.  When she first hove in sight she was on our weather beam, with studding sails out,  running down on us.  She continued the chase a few hours, when, the wind freshening, she dropped a little a-stern, hauling her wind on the other tack, hoisting English colours, and firing a gun, which we were not long in answering, as we had one primed in readiness.

During the chase, we made the private signal, which the privateer could not answer.

(The April 1, 1813 date the two ships encountered would make the site's date incorrect. Private signals must have been a ploy used so British ships could determine if another ship was friend or foe, especially since American privateers might, as in this case, hoist an English flag to fool them.)

--Brock-Perry