Privateer Governor Thompkins

GOVERNOR THOMKINS  (named for New York governor during the war and future U.S. vice president)

Captain:  Joseph Skinner, Lewis Smith, Nathaniel Shaler

Commissioned:  8 November 1813

Captured

Out of New York, N.Y.

Owners:  Charles Bulkeley, then Frederick Jenkins and lastly Nathaniel Shaler, Peter Schenck, Martin Brett and Christopher Deshon.

Schooner, 250 tons

Crew:  120  Later 140

14 and then 15 guns

21 Prizes  (5)

--Brock-Perry

Another Source on the Privateer Anaconda

From Jhup books  "American Privateers and Letters of Marque."

ANACONDA

Captain Nathaniel Shaler

Commissioned  24 December 1812

Captured 12 July 1813

Out of New York, N.Y.

Owner:  Nathaniel Shaler.  Later Peter A. Schenk, Francis H. Nicoll

Schooner  383 tons

Crew:  120

Guns 19

4 prizes  (3)

--Brock-Perry

American Privateer Anaconda-- Part 6: After the Battle

The privateer (the Anaconda)  is one of the finest brigs ever seen -- the officers treated us with great politeness -- were bona fide Americans -- but the crew, I am sorry to say, , who were mostly Englishman, were the greatest blackguards ever seen, and  I verily believe would have given us no quarter.

Captain Quick (the commander of the Express) observes,  that the greatest bravery was displayed by his handful of men.  Upwards of 200  shot struck the Express; five 12-pound shot went through one side, and lodged in the other.

Indeed, Capt. Shaler of the Anaconda, says in his letter to the Agent  for American prisoners in Plymouth:  "Captain Quick had his ship almost shot away from under him, my vessel being so superior to his, mounting 18 long nines and twelves, and manned by 120 men."

--Brock-Perry

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

Privateer Nathaniel Shaler-- Part 2

From the New London Historical Society "Connecticut Privateers in the War of 1812."

Connecticut  masters and vessels figured as prominent privateers for New York as well.    The Middleton-built Anaconda, commanded by Connecticut-born Nathaniel Shaler took a number of prizes before she was captured off the North Carolina coast in 1813.  (It was later taken into British service as the HMS Anaconda.)

Shaler then commanded the New York privateer Governor Thompkins until he was lost overboard in 1814.

Reporting on an engagement  between the Governor Thompkins and a British frigate in 1813, Nathaniel Shaler  memorialized two of his black sailors who, though mortally wounded as before mentioned in my posts.

--Brock-Perry

Nathaniel Shaler, American Privateer Captain-- Part 1

From the New London County Historical Society "Privateers."

Nathaniel Shaler (1775-1814)

He was the commander of the Governor Tompkins who wrote about the two valiant black sailors under his command in the previous two posts.

Was born in Bridgeport, New Hampshire, although his family was from Bolton and the Connecticut River Valley.  he and his brother William (who became a prominent mariner and diplomat)  were quite young when they went to sea.

Nathaniel was master of the brig Aurora when she was seized  for trading in violation of Portuguese regulations in Para, Brazil, in 1803.  He replaced the wounded Guy Champlin of the New York privateer brig  General Armstrong, making a successful cruise in 1813.

He then took command of the New York privateer Governor Tompkins in 1814 and was lost at sea  during her cruise.

--Brock-Perry

The Story of Two Heroic Black Privateers-- Part 2: Even Dying, They Were Brave

Nathaniel Shaler had this to say about two of his sailors in that battle:

"The name of one of my poor fellows who was killed ought to be registered in the book of fame, and remembered with reverence as long as bravery is considered a virtue.

"He was a black man, by the name of John Johnson.  A twenty-four pound shot struck him in the hip, and took away all the lower part of his body.  In this state, the poor fellow lay on the deck, and several times exclaimed to his shipmates, 'Fire away, my boy: no haul a color down.'

"The other was also a black man, by the name of John Davis,  and was struck in much the same way.  he fell near me, and several times requested to be thrown overboard, saying he was only in the way of others.

"When America has such tars [sailors were often referred to as Tars back then], she has little to fear from the tyrants of the ocean."

--Brock-Perry

The Story of Two Heroic Black Privateers-- Part 1

From the U.S. Merchant Marine site "American Merchant Marine and Privateers in War of 1812.  This is the same site I used for the last six entries.

In a January 1, 1813. letter from Nathaniel Shaler of the privateer schooner General Tompkins,  to his agent:

"Before I could get our light sails in, and almost before I could turn round, I was under guns , not of a transport, but of a frigate! and not more than a quarter of a mile from her.... Her first  broadside killed two men, and wounded six others...  My officers conducted themselves in a way that would have done honor to a more permanent service...."

--Brock-Perry