Everything about Uss Chesapeake 1799 totally explained
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
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
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." 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." 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".
Further Information
Get more info on 'Uss Chesapeake 1799'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://uss_chesapeake__1799.totallyexplained.com">USS Chesapeake (1799) Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
