.gif)
HMS Anaconda (1813)
Encyclopedia
HMS Anaconda was an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. She was cruising as an American privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
until sailors from HMS Sceptre
HMS Sceptre (1802)
HMS Sceptre was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, built by Dudman of Deptford after a design by Sir William Rule, and launched in December 1802 at Deptford. She served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 before being broken up in 1821....
captured her in 1813. She served briefly in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
during the later stages of the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, especially at the Battle of New Orleans
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...
, before being sold in Jamaica in 1815.
American career
Anaconda was built in Middleton, Connecticut in 1812. In late 1812, Captain Nathanial Shaler took command of Anaconda in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
On 16 January 1812, while Captain Shaler was ashore on business, Anaconda's first lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
, George W. Burbank, encountered the American schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Commodore Hull and fired a broadside into her, seriously wounding her commander, before realizing his mistake. A court martial, however, absolved Burbank from blame.
On 14 May 1813, while in the latitude of the Cape Verde Islands, he was able to capture the British packet ship Express, an 8, 11, or 12-gun brig with a crew of 38, sailing from Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
to England.
After a fight lasting over half-an-hour, the Express struck. In June, Anaconda took the 8-gun brig Mary, sailing from Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
. Later that month, Anaconda took the brig Harriet, sailing from Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, delivering her to New Bedford
New Bedford
-Places:*New Bedford, Illinois*New Bedford, Massachusetts, the most populous New Bedford**New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park*New Bedford, New Jersey *New Bedford, Ohio*New Bedford, Pennsylvania...
. However, in early July Captain Shaler took refuge in Ocracoke Inlet.
Capture
On the 11th (or 12th) July 1813, Lieutenant George Augustus Westphal, first lieutenantFirst Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
of , led a group of boats into Ocracoke Inlet during Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn
George Cockburn
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet GCB was a British naval commander of the late 18th through the mid-19th centuries. He held important commands during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 and eventually rose to become Admiral of the Fleet and First Sea Lord.-Naval...
's campaign against Portsmouth and Ocracoke Island in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. Their targets were Anaconda and a second privateer, the 13-gun schooner Atlas under Captain David Mafitt, as well as a revenue cutter. As the British boats approached, the Americans opened fire. Captain Russel, (R.A.
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
, returned fire with his rocket battery while Westphal's division, covered by rockets, attacked and captured both privateers. However, the revenue cutter escaped up the Neuse River
Neuse River
The Neuse River is a river rising in the Piedmont of North Carolina and emptying into Pamlico Sound below New Bern. Its total length is approximately , making it the longest river entirely contained in North Carolina. The Trent River joins it at New Bern. Its drainage basin, measuring in area,...
to New Bern
New Bern, North Carolina
New Bern is a city in Craven County, North Carolina with a population of 29,524 as of the 2010 census.. It is located at the confluence of the Trent and the Neuse rivers...
, where she gave warning of the British forces, permitting the preparation of defences that forestalled the Royal Navy from any further advance. Captain Shaler escaped with his crew. The British took both the privateers into service, Anaconda under her name, and Atlas as HMS St Lawrence
HMS St Lawrence (1813)
HMS St Lawrence was a 14-gun schooner of the Royal Navy. She had been built in 1808 in St. Michels, Talbot County, Maryland for Thomas Tennant and sold to Philadelphians in 1810. During the War of 1812 she was the American privateer Atlas. The British captured her in 1813 and renamed her St Lawrence...
. Anaconda was purchased in September for £
£sd
£sd was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies used in the Kingdom of England, later the United Kingdom, and ultimately in much of the British Empire...
3,879 2s
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
2d and commissioned under her captor, Commander George Westphal.
British career
Anaconda refitted at Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
and Westphal received a crew of 60 men, most of whom were the dregs of the fleet, offered by their captains when Admiral John Borlase Warren
John Borlase Warren
Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Baronet , was an English admiral, politician and diplomat. Born in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, he was the son and heir of John Borlase Warren of Stapleford and Little Marlow...
asked for drafts. Her first task was to escort a convoy of twelve merchant vessels from there to the West Indies. While doing so she fought off an attack by two large American privateers. One of the privateers surrendered after losing her jib-boom and fore-top-mast but then escaped when Anaconda lost her own fore-top-mast chasing after the second privateer. Warren then transferred Anaconda to the Jamaica station.
In March 1814, Anaconda was stationed off the Mississippi delta
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...
under the orders of Capt. Clement Milward of HMS Herald
HMS Herald (1806)
HMS Herald was an 18-gun ship-sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Littlehampton. In 1810 she was reclassed as a 20-gun sixth rate ship , and again re-rated as 24 guns in 1817, just before she was broken up.-Adriatic:Herald was commissioned in March 1806 under Captain...
. On September 15, Captain William H. Percy took HMS Hermes
HMS Hermes (1811)
HMS Hermes was a 20-gun Hermes-class sixth-rate post ship built in Milford Dockyard. She was destroyed in 1814 to prevent her falling into American hands after grounding during her unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point outside Mobile, Alabama.-Napoleonic Wars:Her first commander was...
(22 guns), HMS Sophie
HMS Sophie (1809)
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...
(18 guns), HMS Carron (20 guns), and Anaconda or (accounts differ), to bombard Fort Bowyer
Fort Bowyer
Fort Bowyer was a short-lived earthen and stockade fortification erected by the United States Army on Mobile Point, near the mouth of Mobile Bay in Baldwin County, Alabama. Built during the War of 1812, the fort was the site of two attacks by the British. The first, unsuccessful, attack led to the...
on Mobile Point
Mobile Point
Mobile Point is a peninsula in Baldwin County, Alabama that partially encloses Mobile Bay. At its western tip is Fort Morgan, which faces Fort Gaines sitting across the inlet to the Mobile Bay, on Dauphin Island. Along the point is the unincorporated community of Fort Morgan, Alabama....
in support of a land attack. The British attack was unsuccessful, with Hermes running aground and blowing up after being set on fire and abandoned by Percy and her crew. The British lost 162 men killed (including six on Sophie and 17, plus five mortally wounded, on Hermes), while the Americans lost only four dead.
The defeat at Fort Bowyer led the British to turn their attention to an attack on New Orleans. In the run-up to battle, Captain Nicholas Lockyer captured an American flotilla, consisting primarily of five gunboats, in the Battle of Lake Borgne
Battle of Lake Borgne
The Battle of Lake Borgne was a naval battle between the Royal Navy and the United States Navy in the American South theatre of the War of 1812. It occurred on 14 December 1814 on Lake Borgne and was part of the British advance on New Orleans.-Background:...
. Anaconda did not contribute her boats and crew to the battle, but evacuated the 77 men who had been wounded there.
During Sir Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
's expedition against New Orleans in December, Westphal took Anaconda with great difficulty over shoals into Lake Borgne
Lake Borgne
Lake Borgne is a lagoon in eastern Louisiana of the Gulf of Mexico. Due to coastal erosion, it is no longer actually a lake but rather an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Its name comes from the French word borgne, which means "one-eyed".-Geography:...
. Anaconda, gun-vessels and hired craft then moved the advance guard up the bayou in preparation for the New Orleans
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...
. Cochrane had ordered Westphal to lighten Anaconda and to get her into Lake Borgne. By forcing Anaconda over a bank five miles wide that was only eight feet under water, Westphal was able to get her into position 20 miles ahead of the other British warships where she could protect the boats bringing up supplies and troops. Captain Thomas Hardy of wrote in a letter that Anacondas protection surely saved many of the boats from capture by the Americans.
Westphal later landed with the greater part of Anacondas crew, who then fought in the naval brigade under Captain Edward Troubridge. At the battle
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...
they helped man the batteries.
In February 1815, Anaconda, the schooner Shelburne
HMS Shelburne (1813)
HMS Shelburne was the American privateer 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...
under Westphal's orders, cruised off the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
coast north of Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
.
Fate
Anaconda was paid off in April 1815. She underwent a survey at Jamaica that found that she had sustained too much damage in the New Orleans campaign to merit retention in service. Anaconda was condemned and then sold on 5 May 1815.
External links
- Phillips, Michael - Ships of the Old Navy - HMS Anaconda (1813):http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=0161