USS LYNX

In modern times, the unexplained disappearance of a vessel at sea would raise much interest, concern, news coverage, and even sensationalist speculation.  Witness the loss of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in 2014.  In the 19^th century, however, losses due to act of God were a known risk of oceanic enterprise. 

When President James Madison received from Congress a declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812, he found the US Navy woefully inadequate to the task.  Part of the subsequent build-up for that war included the creation two squadrons that could raid British shipping.  A contract was let to Mr. James Owner of Georgetown, DC, for the construction of a Baltimore Clipper-rigged schooner of 150 tons displacement and six guns.  Construction delays prevented her completion prior to the summer of 1815, six months after the end of the fighting.  Nevertheless, on 3 July 1815 she was commissioned into our Navy as USS LYNX, manned with 50 crewmen, and sent with Commodore William Bainbridge’s nine-ship squadron to the Mediterranean to police Barbary piracy.

Here, LYNX arrived too late for combat again.  Bainbridge took over command of our Mediterranean Squadron, and LYNX remained in the area for a year, showing the flag to insure Barbary peace.  Upon her return to the United States, her new skipper LT George W. Storer surveyed the northeastern coast, until piracy, that had started before the turn of the century. surfaced again along our Gulf coast.  LYNX was sent south to address this.

By 1819 LYNX had yet a new captain, LT John R. Madison, and experienced her first brush with combat.  On 24 October she overhauled and engaged two pirate schooners and two smaller boats loaded with booty off Louisiana.  LYNX departed subsequently for the coast of Texas, then part of Mexico.  Here, in Galveston Bay, she captured another pirate boat also loaded with stolen booty.

By early 1820, LYNX was operating out of St. Mary’s on Georgia’s Atlantic coast, from whence she received orders to Kingston, Jamaica.  Piracy had become rampant in the Caribbean, as newly independent former Spanish colonies such as Venezuela and Colombia commissioned privateers against Spanish shipping.  These privateers too often placed profit above patriotism and attacked ships of any nation.  American traders were falling victim, and LYNX was to be part of our Navy’s efforts against this affront.

On this day LYNX disappeared over the horizon, heading south.  Neither she nor Madison nor any of her crew were ever seen again.  The mythical Bermuda Triangle notwithstanding, a search by USS Nonsuch, 14, turned up nothing.  Months later some unidentifiable wreckage was found on Craysons Reef, off Florida, that is believed today to have been the remains of USS Lynx.  In the days before accurate weather forecasting, losses at sea were not uncommon.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  15 JAN 26

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Cooney, David M.  A Chronology of the U.S. Navy:  1775-1965.  New York, NY: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1965, p. 48.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 4 “L-M”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1969, pp. 172-73.

Silverstone, Paul H.  The Sailing Navy, 1775-1854.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2001, p. 55.

The post USS LYNX appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                              McGOWAN’S RAID

The British and American naval fleets on Lake Ontario contested that region throughout the War of 1812.  In fact, the British began the 1814 fighting season by chasing American Commodore CAPT Isaac Chauncey’s squadron from its base at Oswego and blockading him at Sackets Harbor, New York, on the southern shore near the origin of the ST. LAWRENCE River.  In August, Chauncey lifted the blockade and chased the British back to their base at Kingston, 15 miles down the ST. LAWRENCE.  Here the enemy was just completing the impressive 112-gun ship-of-the-line HMS ST. LAWRENCE, whose firepower would tip the balance to His Majesty in the coming 1815 season.  Winter closed the 1814 campaigning season with Chauncey retired to Sackets Harbor, stewing over what to do about this new British warship.

Midshipman James McGowan from the brig USS SYLPH, 18, had one bold suggestion.  At 1800 on Saturday evening 12 November, he pushed off from Sackets Harbor in an open whaleboat.  With nine sailors and Mr. Johnson, a local pilot from the frigate USS MOHAWK, 42, he rowed five hours until squalls forced an encampment on the New York shore opposite Fox Island.  Not until Monday did the weather moderate, and about 1300 the eleven were underway again.  McGowan’s plan was to enter the ST. LAWRENCE and course along the south shore of Long Island (modern Wolfe Island) 12 more miles downriver.  Rounding the island, he would circle back eight miles to the British anchorage at Kingston.  He would attach enough explosive charges, known in that day as “torpedoes,” to ST. LAWRENCE to sink her.  That evening they camped seven miles into the river at Tibbets Bay, and Tuesday night they penetrated farther.  But the bright moonlight Tuesday night risked their discovery, and they camped at Mill Creek.  Storms again on Wednesday stalled any progress, and despite continued rain on this Thursday afternoon they got underway again.

But at Long Island’s tip they were spotted by two British rowboats on a plundering mission.  McGowan’s men pulled hard at their oars and rushed the British boats, capturing both at 1630 without firing a shot.  Several British gunboats lay a short distance away, and all hoped the twilight commotion had not triggered an alarm.  Worse, McGowan was now saddled with a dozen prisoners.  He could not let the prisoners go and guarding them would tie-up sailors critical to his mission.  Having no reasonable alternative, a disappointed McGowan slid his torpedoes into the river between himself and the gunboats, then turned back toward Sackets Harbor.  The mission had failed, but the War of 1812 ended a month later, before Commodore Chauncey could stage another attempt.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  24 NOV 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Cooper, James Fenimore.  History of the Navy of the United States of America, Vol. II.  Philadelphia, PA: Lea & Blanchard, 1840, pp. 338.

Crawford, Michael J.  The Naval War of 1812:  A Documentary History  Vol III, 1814-1815 Chesapeake Bay, Northern Lakes, and Pacific Ocean.  Washington, DC: GPO, 2002, pp. 665-66.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 6 “R-S”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1976, p. 704.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History:  An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3^rd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, pp. 30-33.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812 was signed 24 December 1814.

          HMS ST. LAWRENCE was launched in September 1814 and made a cruise around Lake Ontario in October.  Her construction cannibalized three other warships and drained British resources in Lower Canada.  She never fired her guns in anger.  After the war she remained in Kingston, her deep draft preventing her movement down river.  She was sold in deteriorating condition in 1832 for a mere £25.  Used for storage at the end of a brewery’s pier, she rotted there and sank.  Her wreck is a Canadian National Historic Site.

Wolfe Island is the largest of about 1000 islands in the Canadian waters of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence.  It was originally named “Ganounkovesnot” by the Indians, meaning “Long Island Standing Up.”  It was renamed by the British in 1792, after Royal Army General James Wolfe of Revolutionary War fame, but the former name persisted on American charts.

Three Navy destroyers have been named in honor of Isaac Chauncey, DD-3, DD-296 and DD-667.  Midshipman McGowan is not remembered today.  The WWII Fletcher-class destroyer McGOWAN (DD-678) commemorates WWI RADM Samuel McGowan.

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                               THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR (cont.)

Watching the British advance, Villeneuve ordered his fleet into a traditional line-ahead (historians suspect a lack-luster execution was made in spite of Villeneuve’s suspicion that Nelson might break his line).  The vacillating Villeneuve then made a last-minute attempt to reverse course back to Cadiz, turning his line to the north, still in the lee of the English.  This deteriorated the French line into an arc, concave to Nelson’s approach.  In a masterful tactical stroke, Nelson now directed his 11-ship column against the center of the French line while Collingwood led his 16 toward the windward end.  The nine men-o-war of the French van, to the leeward, were thus held out of the action by the wind.  At 1135 Nelson hoisted the immortal signal to his men, “England expects every that every man will do his duty,” followed around noon with his last, “Engage the enemy more closely.”  Moments later HMS ROYAL SOVEREIGN, 100, came within range, and FOUGUEUX’s, 74, broadside opened the battle.

ROYAL SOVEREIGN pierced the enemy line between SANTA ANA, 112, and FOUGUEUX, raking both with double-shotted broadsides, then fell upon the heavier SANTA ANA.  Collingwood’s division intentionally cut out the last 17 enemy ships to his 16, banking on superior British gun accuracy and a 2:1 greater rate of fire.  Over the next two hours of heated battle his confidence proved meritorious.

Meanwhile, Nelson kept his column charging headforemost against the full weight of the Franco-Spanish broadside.  Aboard VICTORY Nelson’s officers pleaded with him to cover his uniform and medals with a coat, making him less a target.  He dissented however, owning that his officers and men would be greatly encouraged to see him plainly.  VICTORY forced the center of the enemy line between Villeneuve’s flagship BUCENTAURE, 80, and REDOUTABLE, 74.  She was followed closely by HMS TRÉMÉRAIRE, 98, whose raking broadside left 200 dead aboard REDOUTABLE.  VICTORY fell in with REDOUTABLE and BUCENTAURE, and in the height of the ensuing carnage, a sharpshooter in REDOUTABLE’s fighting tops recognized Nelson, striking him with a musket ball that tore through his right lung and lodged in his spine.  He was carried below where he lingered several hours, long enough to learn of the total English Victory.

By robbing Napoleon of his fleet, Trafalgar completely thwarted the Corsican’s designs on England.  The success understandably propelled Nelson to immortality, while completely shaking the Admiralty’s confidence in the century-old Permanent Fighting Instructions.  As a result, Trafalgar is hailed today as the greatest victory in 500 years of Royal Navy history and the culminating battle of the Age of Sail.

Watch the POD for more “Today in Naval History”

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Rehabilitation Medicine

Bennett, Geoffrey.  Nelson the Commander.  New York, NY: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1972, pp. 85, 250-82.

Callo, Joseph F.  “Lasting Lessons of Trafalgar.”  Naval History, Vol 19 (5), October 2005, pp. 16-22.

Herman, Arthur.  To Rule the Waves:  How the British Navy Shaped the World.  New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2004, pp. 360-94.

Nicolson, Adam.  Seize the Fire:  Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar.  New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2005.

Potter, E.B.  Sea Power: A Naval History, 2^nd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1981, pp. 79-80.

Ross, Steven T. European Diplomatic History 1789-1815:  France Against Europe.  Malabar, FL: Robert E. Krieger, 1981, pp. 247-48.

Whipple, A.B.C.  The Seafarers:  Fighting Sail. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1979, pp. 135-70.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The Battle of Cape Trafalgar serves to illustrate how minor a player was the American Navy during the Age of Sail.  Never did we possess a fleet of the size and scope of that of England, France, or Spain, and even our largest sail warship, PENNSYLVANIA, 120, was eclipsed by larger at Trafalgar.  The nearest we came to a “fleet” action occurred at the outset of the Revolutionary War, when an eight-ship squadron led by the 24-gun ALFRED (a converted merchantman) raided British shore stations in the Bahamas.

The post The Battle of Trafalgar (cont.) appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                    THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR

It was the fifth year of Napoleon Bonaparte’s fifteen-year empire-building reign in France.  Having already conquered Belgium, the Low Countries, Spain, and much of Italy, Napoleon’s next target was England.  He planned a cross-channel invasion and by 1805 had assembled a 150,000-man army at Boulogne in Northern France.  Blocking his way was the impenetrable “wooden wall” of the Royal Navy, whose grip on the English Channel Napoleon hoped to weaken by stirring up trouble in the British West Indies.

In March of 1805, French ADM Pierre Villeneuve slipped past the British blockade of Toulon and proceeded with 14 ships of the line to Martinique.  As the French hoped, British ADM Lord Horatio Nelson followed, thus taking his fleet out of Continental waters.  But when one of Nelson’s supply ships accidentally stumbled onto the French fleet escaping back to Europe, the British discerned the ruse.  Thus, when Villeneuve scurried back across the Atlantic to support Napoleon’s Channel crossing, he was met by ADM Sir Robert Calder off Ferrol, Spain, and was forced to turn south to Vigo.  Disheartened, Villeneuve abandoned the Channel operation on his own initiative and headed for the Mediterranean, landing on the way at Cadiz in southern Spain.  Nelson, who had pressed sail and recrossed the Atlantic, took up a position off Cadiz and waited.

Napoleon was furious and relieved Villeneuve!  Having been forewarned however, the French admiral put to sea on October 19^th, ahead of Napoleon’s message, with a combined French/Spanish fleet numbering 33 of the line.  This was the opportunity for which Nelson had long waited.  Though he could muster only 26 of the line, he put his faith in superior English gunnery and set off in pursuit.  By daylight on this day off Cape Trafalgar, Spain, the two fleets closed to within nine miles.

The Royal Navy of this day inviolately operated according to the “Permanent Fighting Instructions” that prescribed, without exception, how fleet commanders were to deploy their forces in battle.  These Instructions were considered by the Admiralty as the surest means to victory, and captains who had deviated from them in the past had been court-martialed and executed.  The Instructions required a “line-ahead” attack, cruising broadside-to-broadside with the enemy’s line.  In actuality, this tactic usually served to bring opposing fleets to a sort of parity, ordaining that many engagements of this era ended as draws.  Nelson, to his credit, appreciated the flaws of these Permanent Fighting Instructions and ordered his ships into two parallel columns that approached the French line perpendicularly, head-on.  Nelson’s bows were vulnerable to French broadsides during the critical early moments of their approach.  Regardless, Nelson led the northern column in HMS VICTORY, 100, while VADM Cuthbert Collingwood led the other in HMS ROYAL SOVEREIGN, 100. 

Continued tomorrow…

Bennett, Geoffrey.  Nelson the Commander.  New York, NY: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1972, pp. 209-59.

Callo, Joseph F.  “Lasting Lessons of Trafalgar.”  Naval History, Vol 19 (5), October 2005, pp. 16-22.

Herman, Arthur.  To Rule the Waves:  How the British Navy Shaped the World.  New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2004, pp. 360-94.

Nicolson, Adam.  Seize the Fire:  Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar.  New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2005.

Potter, E.B.  Sea Power: A Naval History,2^nd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1981, pp. 74-79.

Ross, Steven T.  European Diplomatic History 1789-1815:  France Against Europe.  Malabar, FL: Robert E. Krieger, 1981, pp. 244-48.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The modern term “line Navy” originates from the classic line-ahead formation.  Like a chain, the line-ahead formation is only as strong as its weakest warship.  Should an enemy break the line, a general melee would ensue, for which the outcome was unpredictable.  Thus, only the strongest and most powerful warships were granted a position in the line-ahead formation, with only the best crews manning them.  The “line” Navy was the “business end” of an 18^th century navy, separate and distinct from naval administration, that later became known as the “staff Navy.”

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                                    THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH

Royal Navy North American theater commander, VADM Samuel Graves, took a hardline against the rebellious activities of Patriots in New England’s coastal towns.  He ordered Royal Navy LT Henry Mowat in HMS CANCEAUX, 6, to, “lay waste, burn and destroy” the seaports of Marblehead, Salem, Newbury, Cape Ann, Portsmouth, Ipswich, Saco, and Falmouth—seaports that had been the sites of anti-British stirrings.  Mowat saw this as revenge for an embarrassment he suffered five months earlier when CANCEAUX had been forced to flee Falmouth (modern Portland, Maine) under threat of numerically superior rebel militia (see story of 9 May).  Falmouth became the first target for Mowat’s squadron comprised of CANCEAUX, HMS HALIFAX, 12, HMS SPITFIRE (bomb barge), HMS SYMMETRY, and the privateer CAT, 20.  From Falmouth’s outer harbor on 16 October, Mowat sent a LT ashore with word that in two hours Mowat would “execute a just punishment” against their town “guilty of the most unpardonable rebellion.”  Negotiations subsequently granted a delay if the townspeople would swear loyalty to King George III and surrender small arms and gun carriages.  No oath was forthcoming, and only a few small arms were handed over.  At 0900 on this day the deadline passed.

At 0940 Mowat ran up the Red Ensign to begin the bombardment.  For eight hours British ships hurled 3000 projectiles–solid shot, grape, shell, bombs, carcasses, and musket shot.  As evening fell, Royal Marines were sent ashore to torch what remained.  They encountered scant resistance.  The earlier pause had given many residents the chance to flee.  Only one citizen was killed and one wounded.  Falmouth’s 400 structures were laid utterly waste, leaving 1000 homeless as winter approached.  Fifteen small vessels in Falmouth harbor were burned or captured.  Mowat moved next to Boothbay but had to call off that attack as the decks of his ships proved too weak for the recoil of guns in a prolonged bombardment.  In the four months that followed, Graves similarly struck: Stonington, Connecticut; Bristol, Rhode Island; and on 1 January 1776, Norfolk, Virginia.

 International condemnation ensued as the Continental Congress authorized, on 30 October, the purchase of two additional warships.  The French Foreign Minister proclaimed, “I can hardly believe this absurd and barbaric procedure on the part of an enlightened and civilized nation.”  Even the British home office was alarmed at the brutality unleashed on those who were still British citizens.  VADM Graves was relieved two months later, in part from the backlash over this raid.  Mowat, too, was repeatedly passed over for promotion.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  21-22 OCT 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Leamon. James S.  Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in Maine.  Amherst, MA: Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1993, pp. 70-74.

“Letter from Rev. Jacob Bailey.” IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 2  1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1966, p. 500.

“Master’s Log of H.M. Armed Vessel CANCEAUX.” IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 2  1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1966, pp. 501-02.

“Narrative of Daniel Tucker of Falmouth.” IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 2  1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1966, pp. 500-01.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History:  An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3^rd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 1.

“Vice Admiral Samuel Graves to Lieutenant Henry Mowat, H.M. Armed Vessel, CANCEAUX.”  IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 2  1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1966, pp. 324-26.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  “Carcasses” are hollow balls filled with flammable material and holed so the firing from a howitzer would ignite the incendiary.  Upon impact the projectile shatters, spreading the flames.

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                                     SECOND FIJIAN EXPEDITION

American traders plying the Pacific in the 19^th century occasionally ran afoul of angry natives.  Such was the case in the summer of 1859 with two sailors from a US merchant freighter.  They were captured by disciples of Chief Sera Esenisa Cakobau on the Fijian island of Wayia Teegee.  The two were killed and cannibalized.  News of the event reached CDR Arthur Sinclair, Jr., of our Pacific Squadron aboard the sloop-of-war USS VANDALIA, 18.  Sinclair had completed his mission to rescue 40 merchant seamen from the shipwrecked trader Wild Wave marooned on nearby Oena Island.  He wasted no time this day in setting a course for Fiji.  There Chief Cakobau left no doubt, confirming what Sinclair had heard, “…we killed them and we have eaten them.  We are great warriors and we delight in war.”

Sinclair could not allow such an affront to pass.  He chartered the American merchant schooner Mechanic and placed aboard LT Charles Caldwell and a force of ten Marines and 40 tars.  Wild Wave’s skipper, Capt. Josiah Knowles, joined the expedition as well.  From MECHANIC, at 0300 on 9 October, Caldwell led his party ashore.  They hauled a 12-pounder howitzer on a trek inland across hilly and jungled terrain.  After manhandling the howitzer up a 2300-foot precipice the weapon accidentally broke loose, plummeting the entire height.  The party pressed onward and left the gun.  It was after dawn when they reached Somatii, the village of the offending Chief.

Three hundred native warriors met them, grouping themselves in front of the village.  Dressed in white robes and carrying clubs, spears, rocks, bows, and a few muskets, the Fijians posed a daunting threat.  Caldwell ordered a portion of his force to outflank the defenders, and a volley of Navy minié balls from this flank position startled the natives.  They broke from their lines, fleeing into the village and the surrounding jungle.  Master’s Mate John K. Barton now led his men in a boisterous chorus of the song “Red, White, and Blue,” then with three hearty cheers, charged.  The 12-pounder gun crew, having no better employment, fired the 115 huts of the village from leeward to windward.  After ninety minutes of work, Caldwell’s Marines repelled a native counterattack and withdrew.

Fourteen native warriors, including Chief Cakobau and another subordinate lay dead, and 36 others were wounded.  Two of Caldwell’s sailors had been hit with rocks, another suffered an arrow to his thigh, and two Marines were injured.  Caldwell lingered on the island for a week, insuring that further aggression by the natives was not forthcoming.  He re-embarked MECHANIC on October 16, having asserted American might and successfully avenged an attack on our sovereignty.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  12 OCT 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Cooney, David M.  A Chronology of the U.S. Navy:  1775-1965.  New York, NY: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1965, p. 74.

Naval History and Heritage Command.  “Irregular Warfare and the Vandalia Expedition in Fiji, 1859.”  AT: https://www.navalhistory.org/2010/10/09/irregular-warfare-and-the-vandalia-expedition-in-fiji-1859, retrieved 29 August 2016.

Sinclair, Arthur.  “Cruise of the U.S. Sloop-of-War Vandalia in the Pacific in 1858, under the Command of Commander Arthur Sinclair, U.S.N.”  Proceedings of the US Naval Institute, April 1889.  AT: http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1889-04/cruise-u-s-sloop-war-vandalia-pacific-1859-under-command-commander-art, retrieved 29 August 2016.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The first Fijian expedition was launched in 1855 to avenge an attack on an American commercial agent in Fiji, an attack perpetrated as well, by Chief Sera Esenisa Cakobau.

Charles Henry Bromedge Caldwell went on to command Union gunboats in the Civil War, rising to rank of CAPT shortly after the war’s end.  He died in 1877.  (USS CALDWELL (DD-605) remembers a different sailor, LT James R. Caldwell of the Barbary Wars).

Wild Wave had been shipwrecked on 4 March 1859 on the tiny island of Oena, in the Pitcairn Island group.  An attempt by several crewmen to sail for help failed when their raft wrecked on nearby Pitcairn Island.  Sinclair rescued them all on 5 August.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” was adopted by Congress as our official national anthem on 3 March 1931.  Prior to that a variety of songs praising our nation and our people were used ceremonially.  “Red, White, and Blue” above is one such song from the 19^th century.

Arthur Sinclair above was one of three sons of the better-known US Navy officer CAPT Arthur Sinclair of the War of 1812.  All three Sinclair sons “went South” to the Confederacy at the outset of the Civil War.  It is the elder Sinclair who is the namesake of SINCLAIR (DD-275) and the great-grandfather of novelist Upton Sinclair.

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                                            BOMBSHIP INTREPID

One of the first missions assigned to our fledgling Navy around the turn of the 19^th century was the protection of US merchant shipping from the piracy of the southern Mediterranean Barbary States of Tripoli, Algeria, and Morocco.  In October of 1803, CAPT William Bainbridge in the frigate USS PHILADELPHIA, 36, ran aground while chasing a corsair near Tripoli.  His ship and crew were captured; the Tripolitans anchored the frigate in that city’s harbor, under the guns of the fort.

When CDORE Edward Preble, in command of President Jefferson’s Mediterranean Squadron, learned of PHILADELPHIA’s capture he set out for Tripoli with the rest of his Squadron.  On the way, Preble encountered the Tripolitan ketch Mastico, one of the vessels that had participated in the capture of PHILADELPHIA.  Preble seized the ketch and on 23 December 1803, assumed her into the US Navy under the new name INTREPID.  Her Mediterranean rigging allowed INTREPID to blend unnoticed with the local sea traffic, a virtue that was to prove invaluable to Preble.  Unable to negotiate the release of the frigate, Preble sent LT Stephen Decatur on a daring raid to destroy her.  On the evening of 16 February 1804 Decatur dressed his crew in Arab garb and used INTREPID to slip into the harbor unobserved.  Here his crew massed upon PHILADELPHIA and set her ablaze.  She burned to the waterline.

Throughout the Summer of 1804 Preble made other efforts to force the release of Bainbridge, including several naval bombardments of Tripoli.  The Pasha, however, proved unrelenting, and with the approaching end of the good weather season, Preble approved one more daring plan.  INTREPID was packed to the gunwales with five tons of gunpowder, converting her to a floating bomb.  She would once again slip into the harbor after nightfall, where her crew would light the fuses and escape.  Her detonation would potentially breach the seaside wall of the Pasha’s fortification.  Ten volunteers led by Master Commandant Richard Somers, LT Henry Wadsworth and Midshipman Joseph Israel quietly sailed INTREPID toward the harbor on the evening of September 3^rd.

We will never know for certain what happened, but something went seriously amiss.  Before she had gained the inner harbor, INTREPID ignited prematurely in a fantastic blast.  All her hands were lost.  Her demise may have been accidental, or historians have suggested the crew may have intentionally detonated the ship when her capture seemed evident, an obvious act of selfless sacrifice.  The gallant memory of this brave ship and her 13 sailors has been perpetuated with the naming of five US Navy warships, most recently the planned Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, DDG-145

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  9 SEP 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Beach, Edward L.  The United States Navy:  200 Years.  New York, NY: Henry Holt Co., 1986, p. 47-48.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 6 “R-S”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1976, p. 548.

Maclay, Edgar Stanton.  A History of the United States Navy:  From 1775-1893, Vol I.  New York, NY: D. Appleton and Co., 1893, pp. 286-93.

Miller, Nathan.  The U.S. Navy:  An Illustrated History.  Annapolis, MD: American Heritage and USNI Press, 1977, p. 60.

Potter, E.B. and Chester W. Nimitz.  Sea Power:  A Naval History.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1960, pp. 202-03.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 2^nd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1991, pp. 22-23.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Somers was the author of the bombship scheme.  A Decatur protégé, at the time Somers was commanding the schooner NAUTILUS, 12.  His conduct earlier in the Tripolitan campaign earned him the promotion from Lieutenant to Master Commandant in May of 1804.  The heroism of the 13 men lost with INTREPID has been a continuing source of honor within the US Navy.  A total of six Navy warships have borne the name SOMERS, most recently the Hull-class destroyer DD-947, who saw significant action in the Vietnam War.

About this same time, Henry Wadsworth’s sister, Zilpah, married Stephen Longfellow of what is now Portland, Maine.  Their second child of eight, born in 1807, was named for his uncle—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Ironically the INTREPID ploy backfired.  Nothing in the harbor of consequence was damaged, and loss of the ketch weakened Preble’s blockading fleet.  No less damaging, the failed attempt caused Preble to lose “face” with the Pasha, who hardened his position and upped the ransom demand for Bainbridge’s release.

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                               USS ASP vs. OVERWHELMING ODDS

In February of 1813 our nation was struggling once again against the naval superpower of the day, Britain, and fears of a British incursion into the Chesapeake were real.  Our Navy was no match for His Majesty’s, but we nevertheless purchased the 79-ton bay schooner Adeline in Alexandria and outfitted her at the Washington Navy Yard as the 3-gun sloop-of-war USS ASP.  This day found her cruising with the 4-gun sloop USS SCORPION in the Yeocomico River, a tributary of the Potomac.  Exiting the tributary to the Potomac proper, the pair were sighted by the British cruisers HMS CONTEST, 14, and HMS MOHAWK, 18, about 1000 this morning.  ASP, being a bit ungainly, ducked back into the Yeocomico and anchored up one of her creeks.  Her skipper, Midshipman James B. Sigourney, correctly surmised that the British cruisers drew too much water to enter the creek.  But the British launched three small boats that were shortly seen rowing toward ASP, led by LT Curry of CONTEST and LT Hutchinson of MOHAWK.

ASP beat to quarters, and without time to raise her anchors, she cut her cables and turned further up the creek.  But shallowing water halted the Sigourney’s escape with the enemy still in relentless pursuit.  The Midshipman ordered his 21-man crew to the guns, and three 18-pounders flashed in anger.  These, and muskets, kept up a steady fire against the advancing enemy boats.  For moments it looked like the British would prevail despite the intense fire–until American iron and lead took its toll.  The cruel volleys that tore through their ranks convinced LT Curry to opt for discretion.

About an hour later, the enemy was reinforced with two more boatloads of attackers.  This time the American fire could not turn them back.  They swarmed aboard ASP with a vengeance, cutting down ten of the American crewmen including Midshipman Sigourney.  Upwards of 50 British possessed the deck, and against those odds the eleven surviving Americans scattered into the Virginia woods.  Here, second in command Midshipman Henry M. McLintock rallied the men.  The British set fire to ASP and quit both her and the creek–too soon, it would prove.  McLintock regained the deck and after a difficult struggle, stemmed the fires aboard the schooner.  ASP was able to get underway and return to Washington.  She was repaired and continued in service in the defense of Baltimore for the remainder of the War of 1812.  She finally left naval service over a decade later, in 1826.

In modern times two destroyers, the WWI Wickes-class SIGOURNEY (DD-81) and the WWII Fletcher-class DD-643, remember Midshipman James B. Sigourney.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  19 JUL 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Cooper, James Fenimore.  History of the Navy of the United States of America, Vol. II.  Philadelphia, PA: Lea & Blanchard, 1840, pp. 186-87.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 1 “A”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1991, p. 430.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 6 “R-S”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1976, p. 502.

Letter of Midshipman Henry McLintock to Secretary of the Navy, dtd. 19 July 1813.  IN:  Dudley, William S. (ed).  The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History  Vol II.  Department of the Navy, Navy Historical Center, Washington, DC: GPO, 1992, p. 368.

Roosevelt, Theodore.  The Naval War of 1812.  New York, NY: Da Capo, 1999, pp. 196-97.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  USS SCORPION escaped up the Chesapeake Bay toward Harve de Grace, Maryland.  SCORPION would be burned 14 months later in the Patuxent River to prevent her capture by a British force advancing on Washington, DC.

One of the curiosities in our early Navy was the coexistence of two warships named, USS ASP.  Communications being what they were during the War of 1812, the name given to one of the warships operating on Great Lakes was not known in Washington DC at the time the small schooner above was commissioned.

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250^th ANNIVERSARY

                                      UNITY vs. HMS MARGARETTA

In June 1775 civilian Ichabod Jones, captain of the schooner Unity, requested clearance from British ADM Samuel Graves to carry a load of provisions from Boston to the far-flung town of Machias in what was then the colony of Massachusetts (now Maine).  Graves approval was contingent upon Unity returning with a load of much-needed lumber to build barracks for the British troops in Boston.  It had only been two months since the skirmishes we know as the battles of Lexington and Concord, and the seeds of rebellion were spreading throughout New England.  Thus, Graves sent Royal Navy Midshipman James Moore in the tender HMS MARGARETTA, 4, to insure Machias’ compliance.  Jones and Moore arrived to find the town in dire need.  Despite this, some of the townspeople resisted loading British lumber.  Jones responded with a refusal to sell provisions to the protesting citizens, but Moore’s threat to bombard the town with MARGARETTA’s 3-pounders won reluctant cooperation.  Resentment simmered over the subsequent days until Sunday, June 11th, when a band of irritated citizens tried to grab Moore and Jones as they left church services.  Both escaped, and Moore prudently moved his ships out of musket range.

Then early this morning, 40 lumbermen led by merchant captain Jeremiah O’Brien and his five brothers overpowered the crew of Unity.  Twenty more got Benjamin Foster’s nearby schooner Falmouth Packet underway.  Sensing the rage of the angry colonials, Moore hastily cut MARGARETTA’s lines in an effort to hail any stronger British warship that might be in the area.  The ungainly tender was quickly overhauled however, near Round Island at the mouth of the Machias River.  A lucky shot from Unity’s swivel killed MARGARETTA’s helmsman, sending the Briton into irons.  O’Brien now brought Unity alongside, and incensed lumbermen stormed across with handspikes, axes, and pitchforks.  Moore fell mortally wounded and British resistance quickly faded.  Both ships were taken back to Machias.

The schooner’s 3-pounders were transferred to the smaller, swifter Unity, whom O’Brien rechristened MACHIAS LIBERTY.  Under his capable hands and the sanction of the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts, Liberty harassed British vessels along the New England coast until October 1776.  In that month, in the Bay of Fundy, O’Brien and his plucky sloop were finally captured.  Following his release in 1780 O’Brien returned to the independence effort as captain of registered privateers.  His contribution to the naval War of Independence continues to be remembered in the naming of five modern warships, most recently the Spruance-class O’BRIEN (DD-975). 

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  16 JUN 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 5 “N-Q”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1979, pp. 131-32.

Fowler, William M., Jr.  Rebels Under Sail:  The American Navy during the Revolution.  New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976, pp. 26-28.

Giambattista, M.D.  “Captain Jeremiah O’Brien and Machias Liberty.”  Proceedings, February 1970, pp. 85-87.

Miller, Nathan.  Sea of Glory:  A Naval History of the American Revolution.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1974, pp. 29-35.

Pratt, Fletcher.  The Compact History of the United States Navy, 3rd ed.  New York, NY: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1967, pp. 18-19.

Site visit, Fort O’Brien State Historical Site, Machiasport, ME, 21 August 2004.

Site visit, San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, CA, August 1998.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 2^nd  ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1991, p. 1.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  It is important to note that this first naval action in defense of our soon-to-be nation was taken by the freedom-minded citizens of the British colony of Massachusetts before we had a Declaration of Independence or a Continental Navy.  Following this action the colonists of the region erected two protective earthenwork forts near the mouth of the Machias River, several miles downstream from the town.  However, Fort O’Brien and Fort Foster were overrun by the British without firing a shot later in the war.  Ft. O’Brien proved the more lasting, having been manned by American artillery batteries during the War of 1812 and later during the Civil War.  Ft. O’Brien is now a Maine State Historical Site.

Perhaps the best-known namesake of O’Brien is one of only two preserved WWII Liberty ships, SS Jeremiah O’Brien, currently part of San Francisco’s Maritime Museum.  (SS John W. Brown is the other in Baltimore.)  “Liberty” ships were mass produced in WWII to help counter losses to German U-boats.  A second series, the “Victory” ships, was similarly mass-produced, and the sole surviving member from that class is SS Lane Victory berthed today in San Pedro, California.

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                                       PINE TREE NAVAL ENSIGN

Samuel Thompson was a Brunswick (modern Maine) tavern owner appointed to command the Brunswick Militia in 1774.  The seeds of revolution were starting to sprout in New England in 1774, and Thompson was ordered by the Continental Congress to boycott all British goods.  His resolve was tested on 2 March 1775, when the sloop John and Mary arrived in Falmouth (modern Portland, Maine) having carried a shipment of spars, line, and rigging across the Atlantic.  The shipment was bound to Thomas Coulson, a Falmouth Loyalist and shipbuilder.  Thompson acted, halting the off-loading of the cargo and demanding the ship leave Falmouth harbor.  Coulson negotiated that the ship be allowed, at least, to make repairs after her trans-Atlantic crossing.  And while those repairs were proceeding, Coulson quietly sent word to the British in Boston.

HMS CANCEAUX was dispatched from Boston under command of LT Henry Mowat, RN.  She arrived in Falmouth on March 29, turning the tables in favor of His Majesty.  CANCEAUX was an 80-foot sloop built for charting and hydrographic surveying, but she mounted eight 1/2-pounders and six larger guns.  She had been used as a warship in situations calling only for moderate force.  Under her protective guns Coulson resumed the lightering of the naval stores.  Then word reached Falmouth of the Revolution’s start the previous month at the battles of Lexington and Concord outside Boston.

The news prompted Thompson.  Fifty patriot militiamen had arrived in Falmouth by then, each with a sprig of spruce tucked in his hat for identification.  A plan began to form for a small boat mass attack on CANCEAUX as more militia collected in town.  Indeed, their growing boat flotilla was led by one bearing a spruce tree with its bottom branches removed as an ensign tied to the transom.  By early May, nearly 600 patriot militia had gathered, whose goal was to capture His Majesty’s warship.

But events overtook the plan on May 9 when Mowat came ashore to arrange church services for his crew.  He was fallen upon and captured.  CANCEAUX’s 1^st LT fired two blank charges in the direction of the town and threatened an actual bombardment if Mowat was not released.  Though the British were vastly outnumbered, cooler heads did prevail.  Mowat was released, and CANCEAUX and the stores ship weighed anchor and departed on 15 May.  The Patriot militia, frustrated at missing a fight, loosed their venom by ransacking the homes of Coulson and another loyalist, Sheriff Tyng.

A spruce tree as a naval ensign is thought to have inspired the Pine Tree Flag used in several forms during the Revolution.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  12 MAY 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

“Colonel Samuel Thompson to the President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.” dtd. 29 April 1775. IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 1  1774-1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1964, p. 244.

“Falmouth Customs Officers to Commissioners of the Customs.” dtd. 29 April 1775. IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 1  1774-1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1964, p. 245.

“Jedidiah Preble to Massachusetts Provincial Congress.”  dtd. 14 May 1775. IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 1  1774-1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1964, pp. 327-29.

“Journal of His Majesty’s Ship Canceaux, Henry Mowat, Commanding.” dtd. 15 May 1775. IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 1  1774-1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1964, p. 333.

Leamon, James.  Revolution Downeast: The American Revolution in Maine.  Amhearst, MA: Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1993, pp. 60-67.

“Lieutenant Henry Mowat, R.N., to Edward Parry.”  dtd. 29 April 1775. IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 1  1774-1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1964, pp. 244-45.

“Minutes of the Committee of Inspection of Falmouth, Maine Province,” dtd. 10 Apr 1775. IN: Clark, William Bell, (ed.), Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol 1  1774-1775.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1964, pp. 174-75.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Mowat would exact his revenge that same year.  Under orders to bombard coastal towns thought to be aiding the rebels, Mowat returned to Falmouth in mid-October and burned most of the town to the ground.  He commanded British forces at the disastrous Patriot defeat at Penobscot Bay in 1779.  He rose to the rank of CAPT in the Royal Navy and died of natural causes while on deployment in 1798.

Thompson was promoted to BGEN of the Cumberland County Militia the following year.  He survived the war and went on to serve in public office for the State of Massachusetts.  He was a major benefactor of Bowdoin College.

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