USS Chesapeake (1799)

USS Chesapeake (1799)

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USS Chesapeake (1799)

USS Chesapeake was a 38-gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France and the War of 1812. Chesapeake was one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. The ship was at the center of the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, when she was attacked and boarded by HMS Leopard in 1807.

Early service
Chesapeake?Leopard Affair
War of 1812
See also
References
External links

Early service

She was launched 2 December 1799 by Gosport Navy Yard, where Josiah Fox had served as her Master Constructor, and commissioned early in the following year, Captain James Barron in command.

Chesapeake sailed from Norfolk, Virginia 6 June 1800 to join the squadron patrolling off the southern coast of the United States and in the West Indies during the Quasi-War with France. During this cruise, she took as prize the French privateer La Jeune Creole on 1 January 1801. One of the handful of ships retained in the Navy at the close of the war, Chesapeake was in ordinary (out of commission) at Norfolk during most of 1801, then was readied for her departure from Hampton Roads on 27 April 1802, bound for the Mediterranean as flagship for Commodore Richard V. Morris. Here she led in the Blockade of Tripoli and convoyed American merchantmen until 6 April 1803, when she departed Gibraltar for America. Arriving at Washington Navy Yard 1 June, Chesapeake was placed in ordinary.

Chesapeake?Leopard Affair

HMS Leopard (right) fires upon USS Chesapeake

As tension mounted over both the violations of American neutrality and the practice of impressment of American seamen by the British, the Chesapeake was prepared for patrol and convoy duty. She was commanded by Commodore James Barron, described as "a mediocre sailor with a gift for ingratiating himself with influential Republicans."^[1] On 21 June 1807 the Chesapeake stood out of Hampton Roads, passing a British squadron operating in the area to intercept French ships then at Annapolis. One of the squadron, HMS Leopard, followed Chesapeake to sea. There the master of the Leopard hailed the Chesapeake and demanded the surrender of various Royal Navy deserters. When Barron refused, the Leopard fired a quick succession of broadsides, killing three men and wounding 18 (including Barron). Barron struck his colors and the British boarded and carried off four crewmen, and "disdainfully refused Barron's offer that the Chesapeake be taken as a prize of war." ^[1]

The Chesapeake affair caused the Jefferson administration to order James Monroe, its chief representative in London, to demand the British government denounce the actions of the Leopard; punish her captain; compensate the United States for her losses; plus send a special envoy to Washington to publicly apologize, and announce the British government would no longer impress American sailors on either merchant or naval vessels.

As for the Chesapeake herself, the frigate returned to Norfolk for repairs, and then with Captain Stephen Decatur in command, cruised off the New England coast enforcing the embargo laws.

War of 1812

An 1830 representation of HMS Shannon leading the captured American Frigate Chesapeake into Halifax Harbour in June 1813.

With the outbreak of the War of 1812, for which Chesapeakes encounter with HMS Leopard was one of a number of emotional preparations, Chesapeake was outfitted at Boston for a lengthy Atlantic cruise. Between 13 December 1812 and 9 April 1813, she ranged from the West Indies to Africa, taking as prizes five British merchantmen, and through skillful seamanship, evading the pursuit of a British 74. At Boston, Captain James Lawrence took command of Chesapeake 20 May 1813, and on 1 June, put to sea to meet the waiting HMS Shannon (38), the crack frigate whose written challenge had just missed Chesapeake's sailing. During six minutes of firing, two full broadsides were fired. The Chesapeake was struck by 362 shots, while the Shannon was hit by 258. Chesapeake suffered early in the exchange of broadsides, having her wheel shot away so she lost maneuverability. Lawrence himself was mortally wounded and was carried below. The crew struggled to carry out their captain's last order, "Don't give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks.", but were overwhelmed.^[2] The battle lasted thirteen minutes, killing or wounding 252 men. Shannon's Captain Broke was severely injured in fighting on the forecastle. Chesapeake and her crew were taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia where the sailors were imprisoned; the ship was repaired and taken into service by the Royal Navy. She was sold at Portsmouth, England in 1820 and broken up. Surviving timbers were used to build the nearby Chesapeake Mill in Wickham and can be seen and visited to this day. Her mess kettle and an officer's chest may be seen at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The figurehead for Chesapeake was formerly located outside the main administration offices of Olau Line in the old Royal Naval Dockyard of Sheerness, but was damaged by the Medway Ports Authority during a move in 1991. Fictionalized accounts of the battle appear in the novel The Fortune of War by Patrick O'Brian, and The Key to Honor by Ron Wattanja. It is discussed briefly, with reference to the court martial of Third Lieutenant William Sitgreaves Cox, in Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers. This engagement also became the subject of a well-known British sea shanty, "The Chesapeke and the Shannon".