HMS Dominica was the French letter of marque

Letter of marque

In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...

 schooner Duc de Wagram, which the British captured in 1809 in the Leeward Islands and took into 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...

 in 1810. The American privateer Decatur

Decatur (privateer)

The Decatur was an American schooner built in Charleston, South Carolina for privateering during the Atlantic Ocean theater of the War of 1812. She was named for the United States Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur who served with distinction in many of America's earliest conflicts...

 captured her in 1813 in a notable single-ship action

Single-ship action

A single ship action is a naval engagement fought between two warships of opposing sides, excluding submarine engagements; called so because there is a single ship on each side...

. However, recaptured her in 1814.

Origins

Dominica was originally built in the Chesapeake area as a 14-gun, three-masted schooner in around 1805. Then in 1809 she was armed at Guadeloupe as the letter of marque Duc de Wagram. the British captured her in 1809 and Admiral Lord Alexander Cochrane

Alexander Cochrane

Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...

 had her surveyed in Antigua. The results were so good that he purchased her for the Royal Navy.

British Service

Between November 1810 and June 1811 Dominica underwent refitting at Deptford. In May 1811 Lieutenant Robert Hocking commissioned her for the Irish Sea and the Channel. Then on 23 November he sailed her to the West Indies.

In August 1812 Dominica captured three merchant vessels. The first was the Indiana (7 August), which was sailing to San Juan, Porto Rico, with a cargo of flour and lard. The second was the Endeavour (26 August), which was sailing to Norfolk, Virginia, with molasses and rum. The third was the Amphitrite (also 26 August), sailing to New London with rum, coffee, sugar, and the like.

On 11 November 1812, Hocking and Dominica captured the American privateer Providence, of Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, at 19 degrees latitude and 63 degrees 15 minutes longitude after an “anxious chase of ten hours”. She had a crew of 60 men and was pierced for 12 guns but had thrown all but four overboard during the chase. She had been cruising for 30 days but had made no captures.

Capture

Lieutenant George William Barrette took command later in 1812. On 5 August 1813 Dominicawas escorting the merchant vessel Princess Charlotte when she encountered the American privateer Decatur under the command of Captain Dominique Diron.
Although Decatur was more lightly armed, though more heavily manned, she prevailed in the fight. The British lost 18 men killed, 42 wounded, and 70 captured, including the wounded, with Barrette being among the killed. (One of the wounded was an 11-year old ship's boy, wounded in three places.) The Americans had five men killed and 15 wounded. The court martial on 3 January 1815 of the surviving officers and men of Dominica acquitted them for her loss.

The British agent at Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

, wrote a letter suggesting that the cause of the loss was "to be attributed entirely to the Want of Knowledge of and Experience in the Management of a Schooner, on the part of Captain Barrette... and the Vessel herself being extremely difficult to Work." The same agent also reported that Decaturs crew was of French origin, "chiefly, if not all, Blacks, and Mulattoes" and that on boarding they had behaved with utmost cruelty, slaughtering the wounded on deck. A letter from the Judge of the District Court stated that the prisoners had been treated with the utmost humanity. The same letter described Dominica as little damaged by shot because she had been taken by boarding. Dominica then became an American letter of marque

Letter of marque

In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...

.

Recapture

On 22 May 1814 Majestic recaptured Dominica. At the time of her recapture, Dominica was sailing under a letter of marque

Letter of marque

In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...

, had a crew of 36 men under the command of Beusen, master, and was armed with four 6-pounder guns. She was carrying a cargo of rice, tobacco, wine, and naval stores. Majestic shared the prize money for the capture with (or Dotterell) and .

Fate

Lieutenant Robert Gibson recommissioned her on the 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...

station in October 1814. Lieutenant Richard Crawford replaced him in 1814. On 15 August 1815, Dominica was escorting a convoy to the West Indies when she was wrecked on the Bermuda reefs off Bermuda.