| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Gallatin |
| Laid down | c 1807 |
| Launched | c 1807 |
| Commissioned | c 1812 |
| Fate | Sank, 1 April 1813 |
| General characteristics | |
| Length | 100 ft (30 m) |
USS Gallatin was a post-Revolutionary War sailing vessel that the U.S. Department of the Treasury purchased at Norfolk, Virginia, for the United States Revenue-Marine in December 1807. An explosion on board destroyed her in 1813.
On 5 December 1807, in Norfolk, Daniel McNeil paid US$9,432.93 for Gallatin. He was her first master and he sailed her to Charleston, South Caroline to assume revenue cutter services. His master's commission for the State of South Carolina bears the same date. [1] In February 1808, Gallatin arrested the schooner Kitty for violating the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of March 1807. She had 32 slaves on board and the seizure gave rise to a court case. The court voided the seizure on the grounds that the law was passed after Kitty had left the United States and her captain could not have known of its passage. [2]
America's declaration of war, in mid-June 1812, was followed shortly by the Enemy Trade Act of 1812 on 6 July, which employed similar restrictions as previous legislation such as the Embargo Act of 1807, including prohibiting all trade with Great Britain; the 1812 Act was as ineffective as prior acts. On 7 July 1812, Norfolk native and experienced merchant Edward Herbert, of Norfolk, and an experienced merchant captain, replaced McNeil as master of Gallatin. Then in August 1812, the Treasury transferred Gallatin from Charleston back to Norfolk. [1]
On 1 August 1812, Gallatin, under the command of Daniel McNeil, captured the brig General Blake, which was sailing from London to Amelia Island. General Blake was flying the Spanish flag and carried an illegal cargo, including African slaves. The capture was adjudicated in Charleston, South Carolina. A French privateer captured General Blake as she departed Charleston in January 1813. [1] According to a newspaper report, Gallatin captured a British letter of marque on 6 August as the British vessel was sailing to Jamaica. However, the New York Evening Post later declared the report false, and likely referencing the capture of the General Blake. [1]
On 12 August, Gallatin escorted the British schooner HMS Whiting out of American waters at Hampton Roads. The Norfolk privateer Dash had captured Whiting, which had been bringing official dispatches to the US government from Britain and which was unaware of the outbreak of war. The US government ordered the release of Whiting. Unfortunately for the schooner, the French privateer Diligent or Diligence captured Whiting shortly after she was released. [1] On 2 September Gallatin escorted the ship Tom Hazard into Norfolk. The privateer Comet had captured her and the master of Comet had kept the ship's papers and manifest before releasing her. As far as McNeil was concerned, Tom Hazard was carrying an illegal cargo of British goods. [1] [lower-alpha 1]
Then on 10 October, Gallatin detained Active, of London, and Georgiana, of Liverpool, for violation of the Enemy Trade Act. Nine days later, while on a cruise, Gallatin sighted a British warship near Savannah, Georgia. [1] John Hubbard Silliman replaced Herbert as master after Gallatin returned to Charleston. His commission as a revenue cutter master in the State of South Carolina is dated 22 October 1812. [1] On 7 November, Silliman sailed Gallatin in company with the privateer Saucy Jack to attempt to intercept the British privateer Caledonia. They were unsuccessful. [1] [lower-alpha 2] In the new year, on 27 March 1813, the captain of the schooner Malaparte published a letter thanking Silliman and his men for helping to save his schooner's cargo after she went ashore near Savannah. [1]
Gallatin sank on 1 April in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina. The cause of the sinking was an explosion that killed three men and seriously wounded five more. [1] Gallatin had returned from a cruise the day before and Silliman had gone ashore, leaving orders that the crew clean the muskets and pistols. They were engaged on this task when the ship's powder room exploded. The cause of the explosion was never determined. [5] On 31 March 1814 a Charleston newspaper reported that salvors had built a diving bell to retrieve ordnance and equipment from the sunken cutter. [1]
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.
Chasseur was a Baltimore Clipper commanded by Captains Pearl Durkee, William Wade (1813) and Thomas Boyle (1814-1815). She was one of the best equipped and crewed American privateers during the War of 1812.
HMS Bulwark was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 April 1807 at Portsmouth. She was designed by Sir William Rule as one of the large class 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught. She was built at Portsmouth Dockyard by Nicholas Diddams.
HMS Reindeer was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, built by Samuel & Daniel Brent at Rotherhithe and was launched in 1804. She was built of fir, which made for more rapid construction at the expense of durability. Reindeer fought in the Napoleonic Wars before succumbing in 1814 to the guns of USS Wasp during the War of 1812.
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 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.
Two vessels served the British Royal Navy as His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Hero. Under the command of Lieutenant John Reynolds, the second hired armed cutter Hero captured some 30 merchantmen during the Gunboat War before the Royal Navy returned her to her owners. She was so successful that the Norwegian merchants offered a considerable reward for Hero's capture.
HMS Laura was an Adonis-class schooner of the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Bermuda. Laura served during the Napoleonic Wars before a French privateer captured her at the beginning of the War of 1812. She was briefly an American letter of marque before the British recaptured her in 1813. Despite having recaptured her, the British did not return Laura to service.
The Battle of La Guaira was a naval engagement fought in the Caribbean Sea on 11 December 1812 during the war between Britain and the United States. An American privateer captured a British letter of marque at the Spanish port of La Guaira in Venezuela.
HMS Dominica was the French letter of marque schooner Duc de Wagram, which the British captured in 1809 in the Leeward Islands and took into the Royal Navy in 1810. The American privateer Decatur captured her in 1813 in a notable single-ship action. However, Majestic recaptured her in 1814. She was wrecked in 1815
HMS Canso was the American letter of marque schooner Lottery, launched in 1811, that a British squadron captured in 1813. The Royal Navy took Lottery into service as HMS Canso and she served during the War of 1812 and briefly thereafter. The navy sold her in 1816.
The USRC James Madison was a schooner named for Founding Father James Madison and launched in 1807 at Baltimore for service with the United States Revenue-Marine. During the first months of the War of 1812 she captured several merchant vessels, but in August 1812 HMS Barbadoes captured her. Lord Belmore, of Enniskillen, bought her and converted her to a privateer brig named Osprey. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 she became a yacht for a family trip to the eastern Mediterranean. In 1819, at the end of the trip, Bellmore sold her to Ferdinand I, King of Naples; her ultimate fate is unknown.
Invincible Napoleon was a three-masted French privateer commissioned in Bayonne in Spring 1804. She made numerous cruises until 1813–1814 when the British and the Americans repeatedly captured her. In her brief career as an American privateer she captured some 14 vessels. She finally ended up in British hands and was taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia as a prize.
Comet, an American schooner, was built in 1810 at Baltimore, Maryland. She was owned by "a group of wealthy Baltimore investors." Under Captain Thomas Boyle, who was a part owner of the schooner, Comet sailed from July 1812 to March 1814 as a privateer, which was a type of ships licensed by the United States during the War of 1812 to harass the British merchant vessels and divest their cargoes.
HMS Redbridge was the French schooner Aristotle, built in America. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Redbridge in 1807 and renamed her HMS Variable in 1808. She was sold in 1814.
Baltimore was launched in Maryland in 1810. She was commissioned at Baltimore as a letter of marque on 26 August 1812. Captain Edward Veasey sailed on 12 September with a cargo for Bordeaux.
Sarah Ann was a United States privateer commissioned at Baltimore in 1812. She captured a British merchantman in a single-ship action before HMS Rhodian captured Sarah Ann on 16 September 1812.
Benson was launched in 1794 in Liverpool as a West Indiaman. She sailed under a letter of marque and in December 1798 engaged in a notable single-ship action in which she repelled an attack by a French naval corvette of superior force. Benson was wrecked on 23 March 1811.
Vittoria was a schooner launched at Baltimore in 1811 under another name. British owners acquired her in 1813, probably as a prize, and renamed her. She became a privateer sailing out of Guernsey and captured at least three vessels trading between the United States and France. She disappeared from online records circa 1814, though she remains listed to 1818 with data unchanged from 1813. A French privateer may have captured her in 1814.
