USS Asp (1813)

Last updated

History
US flag 15 stars.svg
NameAdeline
Acquired1813, by purchase
RenamedUSS Asp
FateSold 1824, [1] or 1826 [2]
General characteristics
Type Schooner
Tons burthen54, [1] or 56 [2] (bm)
Complement20, [2] or 21 [1]
Armament1 × 12-pounder gun + 2 × 12-pounder carronades [2]

The second USS Asp, was a three-gun schooner that the US Navy purchased on 17 February 1813 at Alexandria, D.C. (now Virginia). She cruised the Chesapeake Bay until in July the Royal Navy captured her. The British failed to scuttle her and her crew was able to recover her. The US Navy sold her in 1826.

Contents

Career

In 1813, the US Navy purchased the schooner Adeline, [2] for $2600. [1] The Washington Navy Yard outfitted her as a warship. [2]

American account: On 14 July, Asp, under the command of Midshipman James Butler Sigourney, and another small warship, USS Scorpion, got underway from the Yeocomico River, Virginia, and entered Chesapeake Bay. They soon encountered the British sloop HMS Contest and brig HMS Mohawk, which immediately gave chase. Scorpion escaped up the Chesapeake, but Asp's poor sailing qualities forced her to put back into the Yeocomico River. The two British ships anchored off the bar and prepared a cutting-out expedition. At the sight of oncoming British boats, Asp cut her cable and tried to escape farther up the river. At that point, the Americans repelled an attack by three of the British boats. Then two other British boats joined the first three for a second attempt, which proved successful. The Americans fought valiantly in spite of the lopsided odds. Midshipman Sigourney and nine of his 20-man crew were killed, wounded, or missing defending their ship; the remainder escaped ashore. Sigourney was one of those killed. The British set fire to Asp and retired. At that point, Midshipman H. McClintock, Asp's second in command, led the survivors of Asp's crew back on board, extinguished the flames, and took control of her. For whatever reason, the British declined to renew the combat. [2]

British account: The schooner Asp was armed with one long 18-pounder gun and two 18-pounder carronades, plus swivel guns. She had a crew of 25 men under the command of a lieutenant. The Americans had hauled the schooner close to the beach, where she was under the protection of a large body of militia. Lieutenant Curry, of Contest, and Lieutenant Hutchinson, of Mohawk, advanced under heavy fire from schooner and shore and were able to capture the schooner in a few minutes. British casualties amounted to two men killed and six wounded, Lieutenant Curry among them. [3]

Subsequent career and fate: After her recovery, Asp served on the southern coast until 1815. [4] She finished out her Navy career at Baltimore, Maryland. She initially served as tender to the frigate USS Java, then under construction. Asp later became a receiving ship at Baltimore. The US Navy sold her in 1826. [2] (Another source states that she was sold at Baltimore, but in 1824. [1]

Citations-

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Emmons (1853), p. 12.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DANFS.
  3. ↑ "No. 16771". The London Gazette . 7 September 1813. p. 1767.
  4. ↑ Silverstone (2001), p. 54.

Related Research Articles

James Butler Sigourney was an officer in the United States Navy who was killed during the War of 1812.

USS Nonsuch was a moderately successful privateer built in 1812 and then an armed schooner in the United States Navy during the War of 1812. She was sold for breaking up in 1826.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chesapeake Bay Flotilla</span> Military unit

The Chesapeake Bay Flotilla was a motley collection of barges and gunboats that the United States assembled under the command of Joshua Barney, an 1812 privateer captain, to stall British attacks in the Chesapeake Bay which came to be known as the "Chesapeake Campaign" during the War of 1812. The Flotilla engaged the Royal Navy in several inconclusive battles before Barney was forced to scuttle the vessels themselves on August 22, 1814. The men of the Flotilla then served onshore in the defense of Washington, DC and Baltimore. It was disbanded on February 15, 1815, after the end of the war.

HMS <i>Fantome</i> (1810)

HMS Fantome was an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was originally a French privateer brig named Fantôme, which the British captured in 1810 and commissioned into British service. Fantome saw extensive action in the War of 1812 until she was lost in a shipwreck at Prospect, Nova Scotia, near Halifax in 1814.

HMS <i>Poictiers</i> (1809) Vengeur-class ship of the line

HMS Poictiers was a 74-gun Royal Navy third rate. This ship of the line was launched on 9 December 1809 at Upnor. During the War of 1812 she was part of blockade of the United States. She was broken up in 1857.

USS <i>Viper</i> (1806)

USS Viper – commissioned as USS Ferret – was a brig serving the United States Navy during the early days of the republic. Viper was assigned to enforce the Embargo Act of 1807 along the U.S. East Coast. During the War of 1812, while cruising in the Caribbean, she was captured by the more heavily armed British warships. She then served the Royal Navy as HMS Mohawk until the Navy sold her in 1814. While in British service she served in several actions that earned her crew the Naval General Service Medal,

HMS Highflyer was originally an American privateer schooner built in 1811. As a privateer she took several British vessels as prizes. The Royal Navy captured her in 1813. She then participated in several raids on the Chesapeake and coastal Virginia before the Americans recaptured her later in 1813.

HMS Anaconda was an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy during the War of 1812. She was cruising as an American privateer until sailors from HMS Sceptre captured her in 1813. She served briefly in the Royal Navy during the later stages of the War of 1812, especially at the Battle of New Orleans, before being sold in Jamaica in 1815.

HMS <i>Sophie</i> (1809) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Sophie was an 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She served during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. During the War of 1812 Sophie participated in the economic war against American trade, capturing or destroying numerous small merchant vessels, and in an unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer, Alabama. Later, she moved to the East Indies where she served in the First Anglo-Burmese War. The Admiralty sold Sophie in 1825.

HMS <i>Mosquidobit</i> (1813)

HMS Mosquidobit was the Chesapeake-built six-gun schooner Lynx that the British Royal Navy captured and took into service in 1813. She was sold into commercial service in 1820 and nothing is known of her subsequent fate.

HMS Whiting was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1805. She was a participant at the Battle of Basque Roads. A French privateer captured her at the beginning of the War of 1812, shortly after the Americans had captured and released her in the first naval incident of the war.

HMS Shelburne was the American letter of marque schooner Racer, built in Baltimore in 1811 and captured by the British in 1813. She served on the American coast, capturing the American brig Frolic. She also captured some merchantmen and was sold in Britain in 1817.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 9 November 1822</span> Naval battle between the United States Navy and pirates off the coast of Cuba

The action of 9 November 1822 was a naval battle fought between the United States Navy schooner USS Alligator and a squadron of three pirate schooners off the coast of Cuba during the Navy's West Indies anti-piracy operation. Fifteen leagues from Matanzas, Cuba, a large band of pirates captured several vessels and held them for ransom. Upon hearing of the pirate attacks, Alligator under Lieutenant William Howard Allen rushed to the scene to rescue the vessels and seize the pirates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Rappahannock River</span>

The Battle of Rappahannock River was fought in 1813 during the War of 1812. A British force blockading the Rappahannock River of Virginia sent several hundred men in boats to attack four American privateers. Ultimately the British were victorious and the American ships were captured.

HMS Ambush, or Ambush No. 5, was the American Gunboat No. 5, launched in 1805. She served in the Mediterranean later that year. The Royal Navy captured her at the Battle of Lake Borgne on 14 December 1814. She was sold in 1815.

HMS Pictou was the American letter of marque schooner Zebra that the Royal Navy captured in 1813. The Admiralty purchased her in 1814 and she served on the North America station during the War of 1812 before the navy sold her in 1818.

Tartar was an unsuccessful American privateer schooner during the War of 1812. She was launched in 1813 and was driven ashore and destroyed on her maiden voyage at the end of the year, not having captured anything.

USS <i>Mosquito</i> (1775) Sloops-of-war of the United States Navy

The first USS Mosquito was believed to have been purchased at Philadelphia late in 1775 for the new Continental Navy. She patrolled the Delaware River until destroyed during the British conquest of Philadelphia led by the Howe brothers and completed by them in October 1777. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS) has identified this ship as a sloop, yet records from the period which are believed to refer to the ship have consistently identified her as being a schooner. These records also provide a bit more detail of her fate, indicating she was burned after capture in July 1777 during Royal Navy operations along the Delaware River.

HMS Plumper was launched in 1807. She captured three small American privateers early in the War of 1812 but was wrecked in December 1812.

HMS <i>Barrosa</i> (1812) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Barrosa was launched in 1812 for the Royal Navy and served during the War of 1812 during which she captured several prices. After the war she spent a decade or so (1823–1833) on harbour duties. The navy sold Barrosa in 1841.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.