HMS Epervier was an 18-gun
Cruizer-classThe Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging...
brig-sloop of the
Royal NavyThe 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...
built by Ross at Rochester,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and launched on 2 December 1812. The
USS PeacockThe first USS Peacock was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.Peacock was authorized by Act of Congress 3 March 1813, laid down 9 July 1813 by Adam & Noah Brown at the New York Navy Yard, and launched 19 September 1813. She served in the War of 1812, capturing twenty ships...
captured her in 1814 and took her into service. The USS Epervier disappeared in 1815 while carrying dispatches reporting the signing of a treaty with the Dey of Algiers.
War of 1812
Epervier was commissioned in January 1813 under Commander Richard Walter Wales. On 20 August 1813, Epervier captured the schooner Lively, which was sailing from St. Thomas to Halifax.. Then one month later, on 20 September, she captured the Active. Under her master, E. Altberg, Active, of 390 tons (bm), was sailing from Gottenburg to Boston with a cargo of iron. Three days later, Epervier, and captured the Resolution.
On 5 October Epervier and captured the American privateer, Portsmouth Packet. She had been the
Liverpool PacketLiverpool Packet was a privateer schooner from Liverpool, Nova Scotia, which captured 50 American vessels in the War of 1812. During the war the privateer ship was briefly captured by American privateers, eventually being recaptured by the British...
, a noted Nova Scotian privateer, and returned to successful privateering under the Liverpool Packet name after the British recaptured her. At the time time of her capture, Portsmouth Packet was armed with five guns, carried a crew of 45, and had sailed from Portsmouth the previous day. Almost a month later, on 3 November, Epervier and Fantome captured the Peggy of 91 tons (bm), W. O. Fuller, master, which was sailing from George's River to Boston with a cargo of timber and wood..
On 23 February 1814 Epervier was cruising off Cape Sable, when she captured the American privateer-brig Alfred, of
SalemSalem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
. Alfred, which mounted 16 long 9-pounders and had a crew, variously described, as being of 94 or 108 men, surrendered without a fight. (The British 38-gun frigate , under the command of Captain Clotworthy Upton, was in sight about 10 miles to leeward.)
While returning to
HalifaxHalifax 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...
with Alfred, Wales found out that some of his crew were plotting with the prisoners from Alfred to take over one or both vessels and escape to America. Wales continued on to Halifax, where he arrived two days later, having sailed through a gale to do so. There he notified his uncle, Admiral Sir
John Borlase WarrenSir 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...
, the commanding officer of the station, that he didn't trust his crew. Warren dismissed Wales' concerns and she sailed on 3 March with the same crew. She and the schooner
ShelburneHMS 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...
sailed with a small convoy bound to Bermuda and the West Indies. Before she left Halifax, Wales exchanged her two 6-pounder bow chasers and the carronade for her launch for two 18-pounder carronades.
Capture
On 14 April Epervier sailed from
Port RoyalPort Royal was a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century...
, Jamaica, calling at Havana, where she took on board $118,000 in specie. She left Havana on 25 April bound for Halifax. The 22-gun
sloop-of-warIn the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
USS PeacockThe first USS Peacock was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.Peacock was authorized by Act of Congress 3 March 1813, laid down 9 July 1813 by Adam & Noah Brown at the New York Navy Yard, and launched 19 September 1813. She served in the War of 1812, capturing twenty ships...
captured Epervier off
Cape CanaveralCape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...
,
FloridaFlorida 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...
, on 29 April, during the
War of 1812The 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...
. Eperviers' crew consisted mainly of invalids from the hospital, giving her the worst crew of any ship on her station. In the engagement Epervier suffered eight killed and 15 wounded, as well as extensive damage.
US service
Despite the extensive damage
inflicted in this engagementThe capture of HMS Epervier was a naval action fought off the coast of Florida near Cape Canaveral on 28 April 1814, between the ship-rigged sloop of war USS Peacock, commanded by Master Commandant Lewis Warrington, and the Epervier under Commander Richard Wales...
,
John B. NicolsonJohn B. Nicolson was an officer in the United States Navy in the first half of the 19th century.Nicolson was a native of Richmond, Virginia. He entered the Navy as a midshipman on July 4, 1805. He served in the brig USS Hornet, commanded by Master Commandant Isaac Chauncey...
, Peacock's
First LieutenantFirst 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...
, was able to sail sail her to
Savannah, GeorgiaSavannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
. Following repairs, the US Navy took her into service as the USS Epervier.
Epervier, under Master Commandant
John DownesCommodore John Downes was an officer in the United States Navy, whose service covered the first half of the 19th century.-Early life and career:...
, sailed to join the Mediterranean Squadron under Commodore
Stephen DecaturStephen Decatur, Jr. , was an American naval officer notable for his many naval victories in the early 19th century. He was born on the eastern shore of Maryland, Worcester county, the son of a U.S. Naval Officer who served during the American Revolution. Shortly after attending college Decatur...
, Jr., whose mission was to stop the harassment of American shipping by the Dey of Algiers. Epervier joined with
GuerrierThe first USS Guerriere was the first frigate built in the United States since 1801. The name came from a fast 49-gun British frigate captured and destroyed in a half-hour battle by 19 August 1812. This victory was the United States' first success in the War of 1812.She was built at the...
,
ConstelationUSS Constellation was a 38-gun frigate, one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. She was distinguished as the first U.S. Navy vessel to put to sea and the first U.S. Navy vessel to engage and defeat an enemy vessel...
, and
OntarioThe second USS Ontario was a three-masted, wooden-hulled sloop of war in the United States Navy, bearing 16 guns, and saw service during and following the years of the War of 1812 and in the Second Barbary War...
in the
Battle off Cape GataThe Battle off Cape Gata, which took place June 17, 1815, was the first battle of the Second Barbary War. A squadron of vessels under the command of Stephen Decatur met and engaged the flagship of the Algerian Navy, the frigate Meshuda under Admiral Hamidou...
on 17 June 1815, which led to the capture of the 44 (or 46)-gun frigate Meshuda (or Mashuda). Epervier fired nine broadsides into Meshuda to induce her to surrender, after Guerrier had already crippled the Algerian vessel.
Two days later the Epervier and three of the smaller vessels of the squadron captured the Algerine brig of war Estedio, of twenty-two guns and 180 men, at the
Battle off Cape PalosThe Battle off Cape Palos was the last battle of the Second Barbary War. The battle began when an American squadron under Stephen Decatur attacked and captured an Algerian brig.-Background:...
. After the conclusion of peace with Algiers, Decatur transferred Downes to Guerriere.
Loss
After the Dey signed a treaty, Decatur chose Epervier, under Lieutenant John T. Shubrick, Guerriere's former
first lieutenantFirst 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...
, to carry a copy of the treaty and some captured flags to the United States. Captain Lewis, and Lieutenants Neale and
John YarnallJohn Joliffe Yarnall was an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812 and the Second Barbary War.Born in Wheeling, Virginia , Yarnall was appointed midshipman in the Navy on 11 January 1809...
, came on board as passengers. Epervier sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar on 14 July 1815 and was never heard from again. She may have encountered a hurricane reported in the Atlantic on 9 August 1815. In all, she was carrying 132 sailors and 2 marines.