In the War of 1812 between the United Kingdom and the United States, American CaptainDavid Porter, in the thirty-six gun frigateUSSEssex, led a fleet of armed vessels in the South Pacific in a commerce raiding operation. At the time of the action, Essex was accompanied by two smaller vessels, recently captured from the British and classified as sloops-of-war by Captain Porter. They were the 10-gun Greenwich of 338 tons burthen and the 8-gun Georgiana of 280 tons burthen. Porter had sent the rest of his fleet to Valparaiso, Chile, to be sold while he and the remaining vessels patrolled for British whalers between Tumbes, Peru and the Galapagos.[2][3][4]
Because Porter had entered the Pacific with no more than 350 American servicemen under his command, when he took prizes he could only place small skeleton crews in most of his ships. Georgiana had a complement of forty-two men under Mr. Adams, the Essex's chaplain, and Greenwich held only fourteen men under the command of Lieutenant Gamble, USMC.
Action
John M. Gamble
There is some confusion as to the date of the battle; in later memoirs, Lieutenant Gamble recalled that it was fought on 12 or 13 July, while Captain Porter's memoir, and letters from Porter to Gamble, stated that it occurred on 14 July. Either way, at about 11:00 AM the Americans were sailing west from Tumbes, Peru, off Banks Bay (Bahia de Bancos) in the Galapagos, when they sighted three sets of sails on the horizon. Commodore Porter signaled his ships to prepare for action and a chase began. At the time, the majority of British ships cruising in the South Pacific were whalers sailing under letters of marque, legally permitting them to act as privateers should the opportunity arise.[Note 1]
The first British vessel Porter captured was the brigCharlton of ten guns. Charlton was sailing in the center of the three ships, and she surrendered to Essex without a fight as Greenwich and Georgiana went after Seringapatam.[2]
Seringapatam had made several whaling and sealing voyages to the South Atlantic and this area since 1800. She had a 41-man crew under the command of Captain William Stavers and was armed with fourteen 9-pounder guns. On this voyage she captured one American whaler on the way to the whaling grounds.
When escape seemed unlikely, Seringapatam changed course and appeared to be sailing to engage Greenwich. Still, the latter came to a halt and waited for Georgiana to come up and provide assistance. At this point, as four men were transferred from Georgiana to Greenwich, Captain Stavers chose to break off the attack and flee. Lieutenant Gamble closed the distance between the two ships and he first demanded that the British surrender. But when the Americans came within pistol range, Seringapatam raised her colors and fired a powerful broadside.[2]
Greenwich immediately returned fire with small arms and cannon, and for several moments the two vessels exchanged fire. American fire proved to be more accurate, and after taking heavy damage the British struck their colors and Greenwich ceased her firing. Just as Lieutenant Gamble was preparing to board the enemy, Seringapatam attempted another escape. Gamble ordered his men to resume shooting at the sails of the British vessel and eventually brought her to a halt. Meanwhile, Essex had finished pursuing the small 8-gun New Zealander and captured her without difficulty. Captain Porter then assisted in chasing down Seringapatam.[2]
Aftermath
Captain Porter's fleet off Nuku Hiva in October of 1813
American sources make no mention of casualties on either side, though Greenwich sustained some damage and Seringapatam was crippled. Porter took 89 prisoners in all, and the American ships were already filled with captives, so the Americans disarmed Charlton, loaded her with 48 of the prisoners, and sent her to Rio de Janeiro as a cartel with the prisoners under parole with orders to surrender to the first American authority they encountered. Lloyd's List reported that Essex had captured Seringapatam, Stavers, master; New Zealander, Donneman, master; and Charlton, Halcrow, master.[5]
Captain Stavers, when asked to surrender his privateer's commission, revealed that though he had applied for a letter of marque, he had not yet received one, but that it was probably waiting for him in Lima.[Note 2] Captain Porter announced that Stavers would be taken to the United States and be tried as a pirate, and ordered him and his crew to be put in irons. They were given more freedom after some liberated American whalers told Porter that the British had treated them well during their time as prisoners aboard Seringapatam.[2]
The American press declared Seringapatam to have been a formidable threat to American commerce in the Pacific, making Lieutenant Gamble famous, with the consequence that he received many letters of congratulations from naval officers. Seringapatam was found to have carried up to 30,000 dollars worth of armaments and provisions. Gamble was promoted to captain and died in 1836 as a lieutenant colonel. However, despite a petition to the U.S. Congress, he never received any prize money for the capture or his subsequent service.[7] Following the engagement, Captain Porter made for Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas where he built America's first base in the Pacific and repaired his ships. He then sailed off, leaving Greenwich, Seringapatam, and another prize, Sir Andrew Hammond, behind. It was after his departure that the Seringapatam Mutiny occurred.[8] The mutineers and British prisoners-of-war recaptured Seringapatam and sailed her to Australia, from where she was returned to her owners. Gamble burned Greenwich before leaving Nuka Hiva in Sir Andrew Hammond.
↑ All the vessels that Porter captured had crews whose size was more consistent with their being letters of marque than privateers. Vessels intending to engage in privateering had large crews, larger even than those of similarly-sized naval vessels, in order to be able to put prize crews on board their captures, while continuing to hunt for more prey. Porter himself suffered from having too few men to man adequately all his prizes.
↑ Hearn, G. Chester (2007). Marines: An Illustrated History: the United States Marine Corps from 1775 to the 21st Century. MBI Publishing Company. p.21.
1 2 3 4 5 Gamble, M. John (1828). The memorial of Lieut. Colonel J.M. Gamble, of the United States' Marine Corps, to Congress, 1828. Geo. F. Hopkins & Son. pp.3–9.
Brevet Lieutenant Colonel John Marshall Gamble was an officer in the United States Marine Corps during the early 19th century. He was the first, and remains the only known, U.S. Marine to command a U.S. Navy ship, commanding the prize ships Greenwich and Sir Andrew Hammond during naval actions in the Pacific during the War of 1812.
Te Iʻi is a traditional province of Nuku Hiva, in the Marquesas Islands. The province covers slightly more than the western two-thirds of the island. The western coast is characterized by steep slopes which plunge directly into the sea, indented occasionally by small bays leading to short deep valleys leading to the interior.
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HMS Cherub was an 18-gun Royal Navy Cormorant-class sloop built in Dover in 1806. She participated in two major campaigns in the West Indies during the Napoleonic Wars, and one major engagement in the Pacific during the War of 1812, all each of which earned her crews clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. The Navy sold her in 1820.
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The action off James Island was a naval engagement of the War of 1812. In May 1813 an American frigate captured three British whalers off James Island in the South Pacific. Only one of the whalers resisted and the resultant single-ship action was one of the few fought in Pacific waters during the war. The British later recovered all the whalers involved.
The sloop Essex Junior was a French prize that the British whaling firm of Samuel Enderby and Sons purchased and used as a whaler under the name Atlantic. In 1813, on her second whaling voyage, the frigate USS Essex captured her off the Galapagos Islands. The Americans named her Essex Junior. The British recaptured her on 28 March 1814 when they captured Essex. They then sent Essex Junior to New York as a cartel. There the Americans seized her and sold her.
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Seringapatam was built in 1799, of teak, as a warship for Tippu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore. However, the British stormed his citadel at Seringapatam that year and he was killed in the action. The vessel was sailed to England in the hopes that the Admiralty would buy it. The Admiralty did not, and British merchants bought her to use as a whaler. She made six voyages to the Southern Atlantic and the Pacific until 1813, on her sixth voyage, when during the War of 1812, a US frigate captured her. She served briefly as a tender to the frigate before mutineers and British prisoners recaptured her and sailed to Australia. After her return to her owners, she returned to whaling until 1846, making another nine voyages. She then sailed between London and New South Wales until 1850. In the 1850s and 1860s she sailed to Aden and Hamburg, ending her years trading between Shields and Quebec. She is no longer listed in 1870.
Vautour was a French privateer launched in 1797 at Nantes that made three privateering voyages. The Royal Navy captured her in 1800 during her fourth cruise. Private owners acquired her prior to late 1801 and employed her as the whaler Vulture in the South Seas whale fisheries between 1801 and 1809. A Spanish privateer captured her in 1809.
Éole was an 18-gun corvette of the French Navy, launched, captured, and later commissioned in the Royal Navy in 1799 as HMS Nimrod after her capture by HMS Solebay. She was then "the finest and most handsome ship-sloop in the British navy". She was sold in 1811. Nimrod made three whaling voyages between 1811 and 1819. On her first she captured several American whalers. Nimrod was last listed in 1820.
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HMS Barrosa was a frigate launched in 1812 for the Royal Navy. During the War of 1812 she captured several prizes. After the war she spent a decade or so (1823–1833) on harbour duties. The navy sold Barrosa in 1841.
Hector was a 19th-century ship that the British captured around 1809. She became a West Indiaman, making at least one voyage to Hayti. New owners in 1811 sent her off to the Pacific to engage in whale hunting. There the Spanish detained her, but then released her. Next, the United States Navy captured her in an engagement. Her captors took her into Valparaiso, where they burnt her in February 1814.
Sir Andrew Hammond was launched at Bermuda in 1800. She spent almost a dozen years as a West Indiaman. From 1812 on she was a whaler. On her first whaling voyage she sailed to the Pacific where the United States Navy captured her. She then served briefly in the United States Navy before the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She returned to whaling and made a further eight whaling voyages. She was lost in 1841 on her tenth whaling voyage.
Charlton, was built in America. She first appeared in British-origin online records in 1803. She made three complete voyages as a whaler. She was on her fourth voyage when the U.S. Navy captured her. After her captors released her she returned to England and then disappears from easily accessible online records.
Catharine first appeared in the registers in 1809 as American-built and having undergone repairs in that year. In 1811 she became a whaler and sailed to the Pacific where the United States Navy captured her. Her captors sailed her to Valparaiso to sell her but when they were unable to do so they took her out to sea and burned her in February 1814.
Policy was launched at Dartmouth in 1801. She was a whaler that made seven whaling voyages between 1803 and 1823. On her second whaling voyage, in 1804, she was able to capture two Dutch vessels. On her fourth voyage the United States Navy captured her, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She was lost at Tahiti in 1824 on her eighth whaling voyage.
Greenwich was launched on the Thames in 1800. Between 1800 and 1813 Samuel Enderby & Sons employed her as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery, and she made four whaling voyages for them. In 1813 the United States Navy captured her in the Pacific and for about a year she served there as USS Greenwich. Her captors scuttled her in 1814.
Rose was launched at Liverpool in 1806. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Following the abolition of the slave trade new owners sailed her to South America, to New South Wales, and then to the South Seas as a whaler. While Rose was off Peru the U.S. Navy captured her, but released her as a cartel. She returned to England and began trading with Savannah. She was last listed in 1823.
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