History
United States
NameRacer
OwnerGeorge J. Brown, John G. Brown, George P. Stephenson & William Hollins
BuilderTalbot Co., Baltimore, Maryland[1]
Launched1811
Commissioned21 July 1812 (Comm. # 452)
HomeportBaltimore, Massachusetts
FateCaptured April 1813
United Kingdom
NameHMS Racer
AcquiredBy capture, 3 April 1813
Honours and
awards		Naval General Service Medal with clasp "April & May Boat Service 1813" (as Racer)[2]
FateUnknown
General characteristics [1]
TypeSchooner
Tons burthen230 (bm)[1]
Length99 ft 7+1⁄4 in (30.359 m)[1]
Beam22 ft 4+3⁄4 in (6.826 m)[1]
Depth of hold10 ft 7+3⁄8 in (3.235 m)[1]
Sail planSchooner
Complement30[1]
Armament
  • Racer:
  • 2 × 12-pounder guns
  • 4 × 9-pounder carronades[1]
  • Shelburne:
  • 2 × 6-pounder guns
  • 10 × 12-pounder carronades

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.

Letter of Marque

Racer commissioned in August 1812, under Captain Daniel Chaytor and first lieutenant Thomas West.[1] She was a trader, and made one voyage to Bordeaux, leaving Baltimore in August 1812 and returning in January 1813 with a cargo of brandy, dry goods, and the like. She sailed for Bordeaux again in March, with a cargo of coffee, cotton, and sugar.[3]

Battle of Rappahannock River

On 13 April 1813, Sir John Borlase Warren's squadron, consisting of HMS San Domingo, Marlborough, Maidstone, Statira, Fantome, Mohawk and Highflyer pursued four schooners into the Rappahannock River in Virginia. The British sent 17 boats 15 miles upriver before capturing their prey.[4]

One of the schooners, Dolphin, had been on a privateering cruise; consequently she carried 98 men and 12 guns.[5] Under her captain, W.S. Stafford, she fought for some two hours before she struck. In the action the British reported they lost two killed and eleven wounded. American newspapers at first claimed that the British had lost 50 men, later reporting that British losses were two boats sunk with nineteen killed and forty wounded.[6] Stafford placed his losses at six killed and ten wounded.[7]

The British took at least three of the schooners into service. There was already an HMS Racer in service so Racer, of six guns and 36 men, became Shelburne.[8] Lynx became Mosquidobit. Dolphin retained her name and became a tender commanded by a Lieutenant George Hutchinson.[lower-alpha 1] Lastly, it is not clear what became of Arab, of seven guns and 45 men, which too had put up some resistance.[5] It was difficult for the British to free Arab and though they eventually succeeded, the vessel was apparently badly damaged and was not commissioned for British service. She was taken to Halifax where the Vice-Admiralty Court condemned her as a prize.[9] In July 1814, prize money remitted from Halifax for Racer, Lynx, Arab and a number of other vessels, was paid.[lower-alpha 2]

On 29 April 1813, boats from Dolphin, together with boats from Mohawk, Fantome, Highflyer and Racer, which had not yet been renamed, went up the Chesapeake Bay to Frenchtown to destroy five American ships and stores; they also purchased provisions for the squadron from the locals. This took until 3 May 1813 to complete. On the way back, a battery fired on the British from the shore; a landing party destroyed the battery. The Admiralty would later issue the clasp "April & May Boat Service 1813" for the Naval General Service Medal for the action.

British service

The Admiralty bought Racer for £1,940.11.5d (amended figure) and the British named her for the town of Shelburne, Nova Scotia, commissioning her under Lieutenant David Hope.[11] They also armed her with ten 12-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder guns.[11]

During 1813 Shelburne captured at least three merchant vessels.

  • 26 August: recaptured the Eliza.
  • 11 October: captured the Margelt.
  • 12 October: captured the Fanny.

On 4 March 1814 HMS Epervier and Shelburne sailed with a small convoy for Bermuda and the West Indies. Two days later they ran into a gale that scattered the vessels. Some, such as Monmouth were delayed in their arrival at Bermuda.[12]

After the two warships parted ways, Epervier encountered the USS Peacock. The subsequent engagement resulted in the capture of Epervier.

Having left Epervier, Shelburne joined the frigate Orpheus. Together, on 20 Apr 1814, they captured the 18-gun sloop USS Frolic. Outnumbered and outgunned, Frolic beat away to southward, making for the coast of Cuba. During the six-hour chase, Frolic's men labored to lighten their ship. They cut away the starboard anchor and cast overboard the guns mounted on her port side. Eventually, Hope, seeing Frolic heel and realizing that she was unarmed on her port side, came up prepared to fire a broadside on Frolic's unarmed side.

Frolic surrendered to Shelburne as Orpheus approached; by this time the vessels were about 15 miles off Matanzas. The British took Frolic into service as Florida.[lower-alpha 3] She had been armed with two long 18-pounder guns and twenty 32-pounder carronades. The 18-pounder still on her turned out to be of British make and may have come from Macedonian.

The subsequent court martial acquitted Frolic's commander, Joseph Bainbridge, his officers and his crew, of the loss of his ship.[lower-alpha 4] Hope was promoted to commander in June, but remained with Shelburne.

In October Lieutenant William Hamilton assumed command temporarily,[11] while Hope served as an aide to Admiral Alexander Cochrane in Tonnant. Thereafter, Shelburne served in the blockade of New Orleans and assisted the Creek Indians who were British allies. In 1821, under the rules of prize-money, she shared in the distribution of head-money arising from the capture of American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton at the Battle of Lake Borgne on 14 December 1814.[lower-alpha 5]

In February 1815 Shelburne and Anaconda, which was also a former American privateer, cruised off the Florida coast north of Havana.

Fate

On 22 June 1816 Shelburne arrived at Deptford. In October 1817 she was sold to Mr. Brown for £600.[11]

Notes

  1. ↑ Her service career and what became of her at the end of the war is an open question.
  2. ↑ For Racer, Lynx, Arab, and Flight, the share of a first class petty officer was £6 1s 10½d; for an able seaman it was £2 0s 7½d.[10]
  3. ↑ One quarter of Hope's share of the prize money, was worth £45 12s 4d; one quarter of a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth £1 6s 1d.[13]
  4. ↑ Joseph Bainbridge was the brother of another noted US commander, Commodore William Bainbridge. Despite the acquittal, J. Bainbridge did not serve at sea again.
  5. ↑ A first-class share was worth £34 12s 9¼d; a sixth-class share, the share of an ordinary seaman, was worth 7s 10¾d.[14]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Men of Marque website -accessed 16 March 2012
  2. ↑ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 247.
  3. ↑ Garitee (1977), p.279.
  4. ↑ "No. 16732". The London Gazette. 22 May 1813. p. 995.
  5. 1 2 Chapelle (1967), p. 214.
  6. ↑ Scott (1834), p. 95.
  7. ↑ Maclay (2004), p. 467.
  8. ↑ Dudley (1992), p. 339.
  9. ↑ Vice-Admiralty Court (1911), p. 98.
  10. ↑ "No. 16921". The London Gazette. 30 July 1814. p. 1541.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Winfield (2008), p. 368.
  12. ↑ Lloyd's List 24 May 1814.
  13. ↑ "No. 17141". The London Gazette. 1 June 1816. p. 1050.
  14. ↑ "No. 17730". The London Gazette. 28 July 1821. p. 1561.

References

  • Chapelle, Howard Irving (1967). The search for speed under sail, 1700-1855. Norton. ISBN 978-0-85177-280-6.
  • Dudley, William S. (1992). The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History. Vol. 2. Washington, DC: Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center.
  • Garitee, Jerome R. (1977) The Republic's private navy : the American privateering business as practiced by Baltimore during the War of 1812. (Middletown, Conn.: Published for Mystic Seaport by Wesleyan University Press).
  • Maclay, Edgar Stanton (2004) [1899]. A History of American Privateers. New York: D. Appleton.
  • Scott, Sir James (1834). Recollections of a naval life, Volume 3. London, England: R. Bently Publishing.
  • Vice-Admiralty Court, Halifax (1911). American vessels captured by the British during the revolution and war of 1812. Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
  • Phillips, Michael - Age of Nelson - HMS Shelburne
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