A Chase Under the Midnight Sun
Hunting the Archangel convoy in 1813
(Long read)
Just before midnight on July 19, 1813, at about 71 degrees north latitude, in the Barents Sea, north of Norway’s Cape North, above the Arctic Circle, the midnight sun was low and near the horizon as the United States Navy frigate, USS President, 44 guns, Commodore John Rodgers, set a northwest course, pursued by what Rodgers believed from what he and his officers saw through the fog and haze were a Royal Navy 74 gun ship of the line and an accompanying frigate.
(This story is a spinoff from my current book in progress, a story too good to pass up that unlikley will make it into the book)
The USS President and two American privateers, operating dependently from the navy, the brig Rattlesnake, 16 and a schooner, the Scourge, 16, had sailed to the Barents Sea with the aim of intercepting and capturing British ships sailing with critical supplies from Archangel (Arkhangelsk) and nearby Onega[1], in Russia.
The clashes and chases in the far north from the Norwegian Sea in the Atlantic into the Barents Sea and into the White Sea on the northwest coast of Russia, the approaches to Archangel, are likely the least known operations in both the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain.
Supplies from Archangel
The somewhat successful attempts by the Americans to intercept the British ships from Archangel were the most prominent in 1813 operations but not the only ones. The French who were at war with both Britain and Russia were also on the hunt. The Danes, with small gunboats, then at war with Britain operated in the region, searching for prizes. Russia was neutral in the war between the United States and Britain, so at times both British and American ships would be sailing and trading in Archangel.
The Royal Navy’s operations in the Baltic Sea are better known, where convoys carrying timber, including for masts, hemp, iron ore, were crucial to maintain the fleet. Admiral James de Saumarez led the Royal Navy Baltic Command from 1808-1812, escorting hundreds of merchant vessels safely across the Baltic Sea from the Baltic to Britain.
Archangel was a crucial source for other commodities essential to the Royal Navy and the British merchants for building ships: tar, pitch, linseed oil and tallow. Archangel was also a source of timber and wheat.
The southern Barents Sea near Norway’s North Cape is usually ice free due to the warm salty water from the North Atlantic Drift. The collision of warm water with cold Arctic air meant mariners had to navigate through frequent mist and fog
The approach to Archangel in the shallow White Sea is ice covered from late October to late April or early May with large flows of ice, broken up by wind and waves. If there was an early winter ships could be stuck in Archangel until the spring.
Ships from Britain wouldn’t leave for Archangel until late April at the earliest.
That meant the Royal Navy would not organize a northbound convoy until the time of the usual spring ice breakup.
Archangel was Russia’s main trading port from the sixteenth century, when the first English ships ventured north, until 1722 when Czar Peter the Great ordered all Russian export trade moved to St. Petersburg on the Baltic. Over the next decades Archangel declined as an economic hub as traffic to St. Petersburg and other Baltic ports grew. The war meant the Britain’s need for tar and other commodities made the Archangel an important alternative. In the shifting alliances of the Napoleonic Wars, 1813 marked the Sixth Coalition when Russia was allied with Britain.
On April 12, 1813, the Navy Office advertised in The Times, calling for contractors to “supply His Majesty’s Several Dockyards” with Russia tallow, Archangel tar and Archangel pitch. The navy board would pay £1,000 for the tallow, The contract was for £50 per 100 barrels for tar and £70 per 100 barrels for pitch.[2]
Two days later on April 15, at the Admiralty, the Secretary, John Wilson Croker, issued a notice “relevant to the appointment of a convoy to the Archangel trade, I have their Lordship’s command to acquaint you the Convoy will sail from Leith on 15th of May from Leith Roads, where the trade from the Thames must rendezvous.[3]”
The United States heads for the Arctic
Across the Atlantic, the Rattlesnake brig, 16, Commanded by David Moffat, (also spelled Maffit and Maffet in some histories) left Philadelphia in April 1813. Moffat had commanded two previous privateers, one named the Atlas. A second privateer, a large schooner, also departed in April 1813. the Scourge, 15, from New York, was commanded by Samuel Nicoll, who was not only the captain but an investor in the venture.
In Boston, on May 3, the US Navy frigate USS President, 44, commanded by Commodore John Rodgers escaped past the British blockade of Boston when the two closest Royal Navy frigates, HMS Shannon, 38, and HMS Tenedos, 38, were driven off station by easterly winds. The President headed into the North Atlantic with orders to disrupt as much British shipping as it could in hopes of drawing the Royal Navy away from its blockade of United States ports.[4]
On May 18, the Royal Navy sent the frigate HMS Alexandria, 32, Captain Robert Cathcart, and the sloop, HMS Spitfire,16, Commander John Ellis, north from Leith in Scotland to protect the “Greenlander” fishery, ships that combined fishing and whaling. The two ships had orders to remain on station until August 28.[5] The Spitfire, originally launched back in 1780 as an eight gun fire ship, was a sloop with a distinguished record, known for its speed.
The Scourge and the Rattlesnake began their hunt in the north of Scotland. Moffat and Nicoll then decided to sail to the northern tip of Norway, Nordkapp, Cape North, the best place to ambush British vessels bound for or returning from Archangel. The privateers would also venture into the White Sea in Russia.
The Scourge arrived at North Cape first, in late June capturing three prizes, before it was joined by the Rattlesnake, capturing another prize.
Lone British cargo vessels were vulnerable, both inbound and outbound from Archangel. easy pickings if found by the Americans, since the owners and captains had likely chosen not to wait to join a convoy and hope for better prices for early arrival.
The USS President was initially unsuccessful in capturing prizes off the Grand Banks and on the approaches to the Azores. The frigate then followed the Gulf Stream sailing on a course toward Britain, hoping to intercept an inbound West India convoy, but couldn’t find it.
On June 9, the President captured the brig Kitty, 2, from Newfoundland to Alicante in Spain with cod. On June 10, the President captured the packet Duke of Montrose from Falmouth. Captain Aaron Groub Blewett managed to dump the mail overboard before the Americans came aboard.
On June 12, the President captured the schooner Falcon from Guernsey that had sailed from Newfoundland bound for Spain with cod. Next was a dual use ship, a merchant with vessel with a letter of marque Maria, 12, that also had a cargo of cod.
The President sent the 78 prisoners on board the Duke of Montrose and permitted it to sail back to Falmouth as a cartel.
The President sailed north to Scotland hoping to intercept more of the Newfoundland cod trade. With no sightings and low on provisions, Rodgers took the frigate to Norway, stopping first at a tiny fishing village on the offshore island Utvær, where a midshipman was able to persuade two fishermen to act as pilots to bring the frigate into Bergen.
At Leith, on June 15, the Archangel convoy departed, a month later than scheduled, escorted by HMS Clio, a 16 gun-brig sloops that operated frequently in north of Scotland. A second warship, HMS Charles, a 14 gun hired schooner also departed Leith on June 3, “to protect the herring fishery.[6]”
On June 27, the President anchored at Bergen; the first American warship to visit the port. Rodgers and his officers were welcomed by the governor, the local military commander, the bishop and prominent merchants.
“Soon after anchoring,” Rodgers wrote in his journal, “the whole bay in which we lay appeared alive with boats crowded with spectators of all classes, and continued so not only the afternoon but during the whole night. Indeed it appeared as if their curiosity could never be gratified, as the only pleasure the inhabitants of the city and surrounding country appeared to take was in rowing round the ship; and this they continued to do night as well as day from the hour of our arrival until the moment of our departure.”[7]
One of the ships in Bergen harbour was a Dutch brig about to sail. That brig later met and told a fishing boat about the President. On July 8, that fishing boat met the Mary and Elizabeth, from Hull, off the Faroe Islands and passed on the news. The Mary and Elizabeth did not arrive back at Hull with the news until August 6[8].
Rodgers found the supplies he needed at Bergen were scare, reporting in his initial letter to the Secretary of the Navy, “to my surprise and disappointment was not able to obtain anything but water, there being an unusual scarcity of bread in every part of Norway, and at the time not more in Bergen, no more than a bare sufficiency for its inhabitants for four or five weeks.[9]” He was also able to get sixteen barrels of course rye meal and some cheese.
Norway’s North Cape
The President left Bergen for the Orkneys on July 2 and with no sightings, set sail for North Cape intending “for the purpose intercepting a convoy of 25 or 30 sail which it was said would leave Archangel under the protection of two brigs or sloops of war.”
It is likely that in bound British convoy from Leith to Archangel had passed the President either at sea or when it was watering at Bergen. The convoy was expected to arrive at Archangel around July 15. The Clio was then to escort a convoy back to Britain.
The President’s course took the frigate into the Norwegian Sea and then into the Barents Sea in the Arctic Ocean, in almost continuous daylight. At Cape North the midnight sun lasts from May 14 to July 31 with at its lowest point on the horizon for just ten minutes after 12:14 am.
The weather was poor, with mist, fog and occasional gales.
On July 7, at 67.7 N 8.15 in the Norwegian Sea, the President captured the brig Jean and Ann from Saltcoats in Scotland bound for Archangel in ballast. The brig was burnt.
On July 18, just after midnight, close to Cape North, the President flying false British colours intercepted the snow Daphne from Whitby bound for Archangel in ballast. An American lieutenant in a Royal Navy uniform came on board, obstinately for confirmation, then ordered the captain William Gales to go the President, where once Gales came on deck, the ship pulled down the Stars and Stripes, raised the Union Jack, and declared the Daphne its prize.
Gales was initially fooled because earlier on July 5, the Daphne had encountered the brig-sloop HMS Apelles, 14, Commander Alexander McVicar, on a northern cruise mostly to test out a new and improved compass. McVicar had told Young that the Alexandria and Spitfire were patrolling by Cape North.
The Daphne crew were told to gather their belongings to become prisoners on board the American frigate.
At 4 pm on July 18, the Scourge came alongside the President, joining the hunt. The prisoners later related that as well as the American flag, the President flew a large white flag with black letters “No Impressment” while the Scourge raised a flag reading “Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights.”
A Chase Under the Midnight Sun
On July 19, around 2 pm at 71.46 N 18.0 E the President with the Scourge still in company spotted two British men-of-war five miles away to the west south west.
“On first discovering the enemy’s ships of war, not being able, due to the haziness of the weather, to ascertain their character with precision, I stood toward them until making out what they were” After three hours, Rodgers identified the two as a 74 gun ship of the line and frigate. His officers agreed with the conclusion.
In reality the two ships were much weaker frigate Alexandria and the sloop, Spitfire.[10]
On the President, Lieutenant M. C. Perry in his journal for July 19, made the following entry: “At 7 p. m. found the two sails to be a line-of-battle ship and a frigate.”
The British account put the ships at 71.52 N 20.18 E, sailing south by east, with light winds when they spotted an unidentified schooner and frigate to the north north east. Navigation at the time wasn’t always precise, especially with uncertainties about longitude.
The Alexandria and the Spitfire hauled for a chase and at about 5:30 pm coming closer to the Americans raised both British and Russian private signals, with no response.
On the President, the commodore cleared for action, but then believing he couldn’t fight a ship of the line put about at 6:15 pm, “I hauled on the opposite tack to avoid them” and made sail to escape, with the two British ships in pursuit.
With fresh breezes and steering north west and north, President was outrunning the two British warships.
“Owing to faint, variable winds, calms and the entire daylight the sun in that lat. Season, appearing several degrees above the horizon we were able to continue the chase for up to 80 hours, during which time owing to different changes of the wind in their favour, they were brought quite as near to us as was desirable,” Rodgers reported.
The midnight sun allowed the British frigate and sloop to keep sight of their enemy with no interruption.
On the 20th with the British ships gaining on the two Americans, at 4:40 pm the Scourge parted company.
“Their attention was so engrossed by the President that they permitted the Scourge to escape without appearing to take notice of her,” Rodgers reported.
The Scourge went back to its hunt for the Archangel convoy.
The faster Spitfire was closer to the President than the Alexandria.
Rodgers ordered the President to change course, sailing south south west. Close to midnight, as the sun neared the horizon with the fog thickening, the ships lost sight of each other
The British regained sight of the President about 2:15 pm on July 21 to the west south west. By 4 pm, the Spitfire was about six miles from the President.
The chase continued under the midnight sun and by 8 am on July 22 “by the most strenuous efforts” the Spitfire again came close to six miles from the faster President. The Alexandria was behind, hull down.
At 6 pm, with the President still out running the Spitfire, Rodgers raised the Stars and Stripes and his Commodore’s broad pennant and fire a gun at the sloop.
Most accounts say that at this point Alexandria far back but just in sight, Cathcart ordered the much smaller ship to pull back. (Brtish historian William James in his convoluted account of the chase says Cathcart ordered the sloop to close on the more powerful frigate, which is unlikely)
By 8 am on July 23, “the enemy from superior sailing in fresh breezes, completely ran His Majesty’s ships out of sight,” Rodgers said. With no sign of the President the British abandoned the chase at 10 am.
The British reported that the chase had continued on 19th and 20th over 187 miles until noon on 21st. The chase was abandoned[11] on July 23 after a total of 92 hours over 413 miles.
The President set course for northern Scotland.
On the morning of July 24, the weather was poor, first with strong gales, later with fog. In the morning, the President spotted what the crew thought was a man-of-war. Again it was a mistake.
Held to Ransom
A fishing and whaling ship, the Eliza Swan, from Montrose in Scotland was at 64 N 6 E, west of Trondheim, returning to Scotland with “eight fish,” meaning whales.[12] At 12:30 pm, The Eliza Swan also saw a man-0f-war came out of the fog. It was the USS President. Rodgers used the same deception as it had with the Daphne. At 1:30 pm a lieutenant came on board, claiming to be from the Alexandria and took the captain, John Young, back to the frigate, where Rodgers again revealed the ship was the President.
Rodgers threatened to destroy the Eliza Swan, then proposed to ransom the ship for £5,000 to be paid to his London agent by the ship’s owners and underwriters. Young agreed. The President’s crew took from the Eliza Swan a whale boat, guns, a whale line, two harpoons, spare sails, two butts of bread and two bags of oatmeal.
Rodger told Young he was free to leave. He transferred 28 prisoners to the Eliza Swan, including the officers and crew from the Daphne, the Jean and Ann and the Falcon.
At 6 pm, the Eliza Swan parted company with the USS President, watching the frigate sail West South West “all sails set.”
Two days later on July 26, the Eliza Swan encountered the real HMS Alexandria. Captain Cathcart confiscated the ransom letter and impressed some of the prisoners who had just been released from the President.
When they arrived at Montrose on August 9, the prisoners reported that they had been confined below decks on the President during the chase. They also noted that President had ten weeks of provisions on board but had a shortage of bread, with the ration reduced to six ounces per man.
On July 28, at Archangel, the British convoy departed for home, again escorted by HMS Clio.
Capturing prizes
Five days later on July 29, the President captured the Alert from Peterhead, captain George Shand, with a cargo of tar and pitch, which was burned. Shand later said “Many of the President’s crew are British and one man belonging to a captured Greenock ship entered the crew while the Alert were on board.”
The President’s next encounter was on August 2, with the Lion, from Liverpool, a Greenlander, with a cargo of “fish blubber” (whale blubber) and kelp. Rodgers demanded a ransom of £3,000 from the Lion, with Shand witnessing the agreement. The Americans then robbed the Lion of “fishing lines, sails and bread.”
On August 2, hearing from the prisoners that the British “had a superior force in the vicinity” and “a further portion [of stores] being expanded” Rodgers ordered “all sails set” and headed west for the Grand Banks and then the United States.
On August 5, HMS Alexandria and HMS Spitfire intercepted and boarded a Greenlander, the Perseverance from Peterhead, at 61.4 N 2 just north of the Shetlands. The Perseverance had left Greenland on July 20 with four “fish” and 40 tons of oil. Commander Dalton warned the captain, named Penny, that the President had taken and “robbed” the Eliza Swain. The Perseverance continued on its way to Aberdeen, arriving on August 5, while the two warships went back on the hunt for the Americans.[13]
In the Arctic, in August, the Rattlesnake captured nine prizes, the Scourge captured six. Only one British ship, the Britannia, 4, from Hull, fought back. The Britannia was outbound from Onega with timber on August 9. After a brief fifteen minute exchange of gun fire, the Britannia struck her colours, with no casualties on either ship.
Most prizes were taken to the larger port of Trondheim while some were sent to Hammerfest not far from Cape North.
Norway at the time was ruled ruled by Denmark, an ally of Napoleon, which had no love for the British after the destruction of its fleet at Copenhagen in 1807, a British blockade of the Norwegian coast sometimes as far north as Hammerfest and the “gunboat war’ with the Royal Navy that lasted from 1808 to late 1813. At Trondheim the prizes were to be sold, ships totaling 4505 tons and 60 guns. The prisoners were released to sail home on two of the prizes.
The Scourge and Rattlesnake refitted at Trondheim. The two privateers then resumed their Russian cruises to the north but with little success.
On September 2, the British were still hunting for the two privateers. That day, the merchant ship, the Margaret, bound for the Thames from Archangel, was intercepted by HMS Alexandria, along with HMS Spitfire and the corvette, HMS Bonne Citoyenne, 20, (that corvette had been captured from the French in 1796). The Alexandria stopped the Margaret at 67.49 N 8.3 E west of Norway’s Lofoten Peninsula. The three warships were then “standing towards the North Cape with a strong west wind.”
HMS Clio and 20 ships of the Archangel Convoy arrived safely at Leith Roads on Saturday night, September 18, with three ships home at Leith, the others for later bound for Shields, Hull and London having successfully avoided “Several of the enemies privateers cruizing off North Cape.[14]”
Another ship in the convoy, the Spring, from Liverpool, made better time, docking at Yarmouth on September 13.[15]
One lone ship, the Will from Liverpool from Archangel, arrived at Hull on October 19. Its captain named Harrison claimed to have beaten off one privateer and out sailed another near North Cape on September 10.
The privateers missed more lone ships leaving Archangel after the convoy departed. A brig, the Pearl, arrived in Aberdeen on October 19. The Pearl had left Archangel 27 days earlier, on September 28, in company with “six or eight” ships, including two from Scotland and one from Russia, that had been scattered by a gale in the White Sea. The Pearl saw no other ships on its voyage.[16]
The French and the Danes
Other British ships weren’t so lucky. Three sailing from Archangel, the Anna from Plymouth, the Hercules from Ayr and Endeavour from North Shields were captured around the same time by a Danish privateer and taken to Trondheim.[17]
At the same time, on September 30, two new French 44 gun frigates, the Weser, Captain de Vaisseau Cantzlaat, launched Dec.12, 1812 and La Trave, captain Jacob Van Maren, launched Dec. 5, 1812, built in Amsterdam, had departed the island of Texel in the Netherlands bound for a planned three month cruise north of Scotland to prey on British shipping.[18]
On October 1, the French frigates captured the Russian ship Alexander from Archangel bound to London with cordage and timber. The Alexander was burnt. On October 2, off Shield’s Bar at the mouth of the river Tyne, the French took a Swedish ship, Sophia Elizabeth from Boston vis Cork bound for Gottenburgh. That too was burnt.
On October 12, both ships were were damaged in a gale. The Weser lost her main and mizzen masts, La Trave the main topmast. The two frigates lost sight of each other.
The Weser tried to make its slow way south to the French base at Brest when. on October 17, “sixty leagues west of Ushant” the Weser with jury-rigged masts was spotted by the sloop HMS Scylla, 16, Commander Colin Macdonald, who approached believing it was a ship in distress. The Weser fired a broadside wounding two on the Scylla.
The sloop pulled back, keeping the Weser in sight as best it could in severe weather, firing signal guns, for three days until when on October 20, the Scylla was joined by the sloop HMS Royalist, 16, Commander J.J. Gordon Bremer. That afternoon, the two sloops approached and fired at the Weser for about 90 minutes but were outgunned by the frigate.
MacDonald, captain of the Scylla reported “when our sails and rigging being- very much cut, and mainmast severely wounded, the Royalist nearly in the same predicament, we hauled off to repair the damage, the weather being very squally, so as to endanger our masts.”
They saw a man of war appearing to the northward,” which turned out to be the third rate ship of the line HMS Rippon, 74, captain Sir Christopher Cole.
At dawn on October 21, there were fresh breezes and led by the Rippon, the three ships moved to attack. Weser fired two broadsides at the leading sloops and then hauled down her colours and surrendered. The Weser was in such poor shape that the Rippon towed it into Falmouth, accompanied by the Scylla and Royalist.
La Trave was also trying to make it to Brest. On October 21, it encountered the brig, HMS Achates, 16. There was a brief exchange of fire that saw two men on the Achantes wounded.
On October 23, Le Trave was spotted by the frigate, HMS Androchome, 38, Captain George Cole, northwest of the Isles of Scilly. Le Trave fired at the Androchome with the stern guns. The Androchome did not reply until, Cole reported, “position was taken on her weather quarter, when, after a feeble resistance of about fifteen minutes, she struck her colours; indeed such was the disabled state of their masts previously ‘to our meeting, that any further opposition woul have been the extreme of rashness.”
The Androchome took Le Trave into Cawsand Bay in Cornwall where Admiral George Elphinstone, Viscount Lord Keith’s then flagship, HMS Sultan, 74,was anchored.
Winter is coming
With the winter coming on, the two American privateers switched to the north coast of Scotland and into the Irish Sea and the English Channel. The Rattlesnake captured one of its most valuable prizes, the new copper bottomed brig Elizabeth outbound from London for the West Indies with a cargo valued at £6,000, which was taken to Trondheim.
Although reports and later histories said the privateers gained prizes worth one million dollars at the time about $18,400,000 today, the privateers soon found that Trondheim was not as welcoming as they once expected. The Scourge left on March 10, 1814. “Only four of the prizes had been sold when the Scourge left Norway. They would be disposed of at great sacrifice.” The political winds were changing. Sweden had invaded Holstein in Germany in December 1813. Denmark-Norway negotiated the Treaty of Kiel in January 1814, where Denmark handed Norway over to the King of Sweden. That trigged a Norwegian insurrection that broke out into war in July 1814.
The Rattlesnake left Trondheim sailed south and based at La Rochelle to operate off the coast of Portugal and Spain.
Trapped in France
On December 12, the Rattlesnake captured a schooner the Liberty, based in Southampton out of Lisbon bound for London, on December 13, the snow Ann Elizabeth based in Sunderland bound from London to Cayenne, in South America, then part of the Portuguese Empire, (today French Guiana); on December 27, the Bachelor, based in Dartmouth, out of Newfoundland bound for Poole, the ship Lee was trying to sell three months later; January 5, the brig Zephyr from Cadiz to London, the schooner Alert from Cork to Lisbon. The Liberty was burnt. The Alert threw most of her cargo overboard, so the Rattlesnake transferred her prisoners to the Alert as a cartel. The ship sailed into A Coruña in Galcia, Spain, which had successfully expelled the French back in 1809.[19]
The Zephyr, with its cargo of wine. was quickly recaptured by the frigate HMS Surveillante, 38, part of the Channel Fleet. The Zephyr arrived home at Plymouth on January 29, In Spain, the Alert was not fit to sail, so the prisoners were transferred to a cartel schooner, the Amity which arrived home at Dartmouth on January 29.[20]
On its way to La Rochelle, the Rattlesnake encountered the armed transport, Mary, from Sicily bound for England. On board were 62 French officers, prisoners of war, guarded by English army officers and a detachment of soldiers. After a twenty minute battle, where the captain and two men were killed, the Mary struck her colours and was taken into La Rochelle. One of the Rattlesnake’s marine officers was wounded in the leg. He was taken to a hospital by the Sisters of Charity. He refused to have his leg amputated and died a few weeks later.
Escaping from La Rochelle
There were four United States privateers, some dual use as merchants, that had arrived La Rochelle in February for refit, resupply and “refresh the officers and crew.” When not hunting for prizes, the ships loaded valuable cargo to take back to the United States, including wine, brandy and silk.[21] The privateers preferred La Rochelle to Bordeaux and La Teste because they believed the harbour had stronger fortifications.
Selling the prizes in France was no easier than it was in Norway. The man responsible was the United States Consul in Bordeaux, William Lee, who had to travel to La Rochelle and to Britanny to facilitate the sales. He was in La Rohelle in March when part of Lord Wellington’s army occupied Bordeaux, to the cheers of many of the inhabitants who ditched the French tricolour for the white flag of the Bourbons.
Lee, reported in a letter written on March 20 from La Rochelle to Secretary of State James Munroe, “This state of things is distressing and the public mind is greatly agitated between doubts and fears.[22]
Lee’s dispatch said he left his family in Bordeaux to facilitate the sale of a British prize, the Bachelor, taken by the Rattlesnake.
A letter to the Raleigh Register from an American living in Bordeaux claimed the Rattlesnake’s prize was “worth a million” likely an exaggeration, adding that six other prizes had been sent into French ports in Brittany and that Lee was in charge of them. “The court grants great indulgences to our prizes and leaves them to the whole direction of them to the consul of the United States.[23]”
In that era, the consuls, whether British or American, without other “private income” were dependent on the fees they charged for various consular duties and assistance.
On the prizes, Lee complained in the letter to Monroe about “the difficulty our consuls experience from the agents of prizes, who oppose our administration thereof and plunder the owners, officers, and crews in the most lawless manner. The minister [US ambassador William Crawford] thus far has given me every support, except in the question of commissions or emoluments, which will regularly come before you and I hope that consideration of its merits and from the penury of the consuls we are entitled to. By the operation of the law, in prize cases, and the Imperial decree, we are judges, marshals, agents, administrators and liquidators. Surely we are entitled to more than a marshal’s commission, who besides his fees of office, the clerks of the courts their fees and the judge his salary; we have none of these, nor our traveling expenses, which the marshal’s commission of one percent would not pay.”
Lee, who had arrived for his appointment as consul in 1801, wasn’t entirely penniless. As well as his income from consular fees and prize commissions, he was a silent partner in merchant ships both French and American trading from Bordeaux to the United States.[24]
With Lord Wellington’s army on the march through southern France and the Sixth Coalition soon to occupy Paris, the prizes were now worthless.
The privateer captains met at the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs to plan what they could do next. As well as Moffat, the captains were Jeremiah Mantor, of the Boston privateer brig Ida, 8, George Coggeshall of the David Porter from New York (who would later write a history of American privateering)[25] and E. Brown, of the schooner Decatur, from Portsmouth Maine, that had hunted mostly on the coast of Spain. The Decatur earlier under the command of S. N. Lane had left Maine pierced for sixteen guns but initially had only four, due to lack of investment. The Decatur picked up more guns from prizes it captured.
The ships seemed trapped. British forces in Bordeaux. A Royal Navy squadron was in the Girdone estuary leading to Bordeaux. Off shore was the Channel Fleet. The Americans believed that there were four ships of the line, several frigates, brigs and sloops off La Rochelle.
On April 8, Rattlesnake, Decatur and the Ida attempted to escape, leaving La Rochelle “with a fair wind,” sailing in the passage between Île de Ré and Oléron,
At the northern tip of Île de Ré they spotted the first two close in ships of the British blockade. Rattlesnake and Decatur turned back to their anchorage.
Mantor, determined to escape hauled the wind, back to the east end of Île de Ré and stopped briefly to discharge his pilot.
“I determined at once to make a bold push, discharged my pilot , and made all sail to pass the south end of the Island . I saw in a moment several of the men – of – war under way upon my lee quarter . I was looking out for ships ahead , and as I opened the Island , a schooner came down on my starboard side within musket – shot ; she gave me a broadside and three cheers , shot away my studding – sail boom and main – stay , and some small rigging . I soon passed her , but the men- of – war were coming up under my lee , and the shot flew thick.”
“I soon saw another ship bearing down upon my star- board side . There was but one way to escape , which was , up helm , and bring all astern , or sink ; this was quickly done and we crossed the bows of the head ship so near that I could hear them halloo on board plainly . The shot went most of it over me : one thirty – two pounder raked my deck and lodged in the bows , one cut my anchor off the bows and cut the chains at the same moment . I cut the cable and let the anchor go.”
The British ships were two brigs and a schooner close in with at least two ships of the line further out. Mantor hoped that his fast, maneuverable ship and the element of surprise would aid in his escape. The schooner was close by and fired a broadside, hitting a boom and a mainstay. Mantor maneuvered to cross the bow of the next pursuer, which fired the shot hit the Ida’s anchor. One report said one of the ships of the line fired a broadside which was out of range.
The Ida had the wind and outpaced a total of possibly “eight or ten” chasing ships.
When darkness fell, at about eleven o’clock, the Ida lost sight of the British ships. Mantor ordered his crew to lighten the ship, dumping six nine pounder guns and most of the ballast overboard, which meant the Ida was in danger of capsizing.
At dawn the next morning, in the Bay of Biscay, Mantor spotted two frigates “right ahead.” The chase resumed, with one frigate astern and the second on the Ira’s lee quarter.
At nightfall, the Ida was about five miles ahead of the pursuing frigates. Mantor darkened the ship, with only necessary light on board. The instability undid the precautions, when the shield of the binnacle, fell, revealing the Ida to the two frigates, one astern and a second on the lee quarter. Mantor reshielded the binnacle in the dark, added a full press of sail. At dawn on April 10, the frigates were hull down, far behind and the Ida made it to Boston in 26 days.[26]
The Rattlesnake and Decatur remained at anchor at La Rochelle, watched by a brig and schooner within gunshot of the harbour. Coggeshall later related both ships were still at anchor at La Rochelle on April 9, three days after Napoleon’s abdication on April 6. The armistice between the Sixth Coalition and France was signed on April 23 and the peace treaty on May 30. The United States and Britain were still at war.
The Rattlesnake and Decatur escaped from La Rochelle in late June, with the Channel blockade now diminished with peace.
Rattlesnake, Decatur and Scourge
Moffat decided to take the Rattlesnake back to the hunt as a privateer. Brown, the captain of the Decatur opted to head home for the United States.
On June 24, the Rattlesnake came upon two merchant vessels, the Wasp from Guernsey and the Dover from London, bound for Lisbon with grain. With no safe port for the prizes, Moffat burned both vessels.
On June 26, the Rattlesnake was captured by the frigate HMS Hyperion, 32, while it was on patrol in the English Channel. The captain, William Pryce Cumby. Cumby described the Rattlesnake as “uncommonly fine brig, of two hundred and eight tons burden, and from her extraordinary fine sailing was likely to have done great injury to His Majesty’s subjects in the bay.[27]” The officers and men were taken as prisoners of war to Dartmoor.
The Decatur made it back to the United States in 28 days, making land fall at Castine, Maine in late July. The privateer’s supercargo then traveled to Boston, where he gave the newspaper the Boston-Gazette a scoop, published on July 26. He brought the first French newspaper, dated June 4, with the text of the peace treaty between France and the Coalition.[28]
The Decatur was refitted and was about to resume its campaign as privateer, when a British expedition under the command of Captain Robert Barrie as commodore, in HMS Dragon, 74, raided the coast of Maine, along with frigates HMS Endymion, 44, and HMS Bacchante, 38, and the sloop HMS Sylph,18, plus the troopship Harmony. The expedition was later joined by HMS Rifleman, 18, HMS Bulwark, 74, HMS Tenedos, 38, HMS Peruvian, 18 and HMS Pictou, 14.
The British captured every town along the coast from Hamden to Bangor.
One of the objectives at Hamden was the frigate USS Adams, 28, which had been damaged when it ran aground at Isle Haute on Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy and had gone to Hamden for repairs. Sailors, marines and soldiers raided Hamden on September 3. The American blew up the Adams and two other armed ships.
The Decatur was captured on September 3, at Bangor along with the Victory a “copper bottomed brig.” The British put the powder and wine captured at Hamden on both vessels.
The British reports on the action say that the Decatur and two other ships were “lost since our possession,” and American histories “lost at sea”.[29]
In Trondheim that spring the Scourge was still berthed. The first officer, J. R. Perry took over command. Captain Nicoll remained in Trondheim to supervise the sale of his prizes, “rather than leave it in the hands of dishonest and incompetent persons.”
Forty members of the Scourge’s crew were given permission to return home to the United States and took passage on a ship called the Liberty, which ran into severe storm damage. That forced the Liberty to seek a safe harbour at Stormness in the Orkney Islands of Scotland and the men were taken prisoner.
That April, Scourge with a reduced crew, continued to prowl off northern Scotland around Cape Wrath. It first captured three British ships in a convoy bound for Longhope in the Orkneys and burned them. The Scourge boarded a Swedish vessel that was part of the convoy and transferred its prisoners. It next captured the merchant barque Brothers, also bound for Longhope, with a valuable cargo of salt, raisins, coffee and cheese. A prize crew was put on the Brothers to sail it to New York. On April 7, the Scourge fired a broadside at a Greenland whale ship, sinking it. That attracted the attention of nearby a Royal Navy sloop of war which gave chase for the next six hours, giving up when the sloop came too close to a shoal. The Scourge continued on with a damaged topmast.
The Scourge continued on its hunt, capturing one ship to give up prisoners, sinking a second. Then it captured a brig from Dublin sailing to Quebec with women and children as passengers. The Scourge took part of the brig’s sails and rigging, transferred more prisoners and “gave her up.” It then captured brig from Dublin sailing for Newfoundland with cordage, duck and fishing gear, put a prize crew on board and sailed the brig for New York.
The Scourge sailed for the Grand Banks. On the way the Scourge boarded a Swedish ship bound for Gottenburg.
On May 12, 1814 southeast of St. John’s at 46 N 46 W, the Scourge came upon and captured the British schooner Brilliant, 9. The Brilliant was on a dual use voyage. Recently it was privateer from New Providence, the Little Charles, captured and sold at Nassau, on a dual use voyage with a letter of marque, passengers, twelve prisoners from New Providence and a cargo of sperm whale oil, cotton and timber. In the fight with the Scourge the Brilliant had to jury rig the topmasts and sail with a damaged rudder. The Brilliant arrived at Boston on May 30, The Scourge docked at New York a few days later.[30]
George Coggeshall remained in France and returned to the United States in the summer of 1815, after Britain and the United Sates concluded the peace treaty.
The captured privateer Rattlesnake was sold. The London Gazette reported on May 27, 1815 the crew would receive prize money from the hull, stores, furniture and head money for 43 men. The first class received £581 one shilling and five and three quarter pence for Captain Cumby which he would have had to share with Admiral Lord Keith, commander of the Channel Fleet while the eighth class, each man on the lower decks, received £1, 13 shillings and one and a half pence.[31]
A note on other privateers
There were two other Rattlesnakes operating at the time, the United States Navy brig US Rattlesnake, 14, captured by George Collier in HMS Leander off Cape Sable in July 1814 and bought by the Royal Navy. There was a second United States privateer a Rattlesnake brig, 14, which may have been operated at the same time in North American and Caribbean waters. During the American revolution there were three American privateers active, one was captured by the British and became HMS Rattlesnake in 1786, it was succeeded by a new sloop HMS Rattlesnake, 16, in 1791
There were two other American privateers called Decatur during the conflict. One Decatur out of Newbury, 14, was only moderately successful, capturing four ships early in the war. On August 18, 1812, that Decatur was mistakenly chased for two hours by the USS Constitution. That Decatur was captured on January 16, 1813 by HMS Surprise and taken to Barbados. The third and most successful Decatur, was based in Charleston. It had six 12 pounders along the hull and an 18 pounder on a pivot amidships. It was successful in capturing prizes and engaged a couple of epic battles.
Prizes taken by the Rattlesnake and Scourge
Bark Concord, 187 tons, two guns, in ballast from London for Archangel
Liberty, 253 tons, and 8 guns, in ballast from Liverpool for Archangel
Brig Jolly Bachelor, 119 tons, with tar from Archangel for Aberdeen,
Brig Ruby, of 4 guns, 138 tons, taken by the Rattlesnake, given back to crew.
Hartford, 260 tons, from Sunderland bound for London
Sutherland, bound for Archangel in ballast by the Rattlesnake.
Brig Brunswick, from Lewis, 249 tons, 4 guns, from Dublin for Archangel, by the Rattlesnake and returned to crew.
Latona, of Shields, from Archangel to Portsmouth. by the Scourge .
Experiment, of Aberdeen, by the Scourge.
Brig Nottingham, 266 tons and 4 guns, with deals from Onega for Hull,
Britannia, 4 guns, with lumber from Onega for Hull; after an action of fifteen minutes no lives lost – taken by the Scourge .
Prosperous, 260 tons and 4 guns, in ballast, from Newcastle; given up to dispose of the prisoners , by the Scourge .
Brutus, by the Scourge and Rattesnake; given up to dispose of the prisoners Westmoreland, from London to Archangel, with sugars and “colonial produce” by the Scourge
The Brothers , of 126 tons, from Lancaster; by the Scourge
Brig Betsey, 186 tons and 4 guns from Hull to Archangel by the Rattlesnake
Brig Pax, of 200 tons; London to Archangel with “colonial produce” by the Rattlesnake
Galliot Perseverance, from Yarmouth, 167 tons and 4 guns; by the Rattlesnake
Fame, 94 tons; tar, from Archangel to Sunderland, by the Rattlesnake
Brig Burton, of 266 tons and 4 guns, with deals from Onega for Hull by the Scourge
Brig Thetis, 114 tons from Lynn for Archangel by the Rattlesnake
Diligence (Diligent) 250 tons and 4 guns; with tar by the Rattlesnake
Friend’s Adventure, 245 tons and 4 guns with tar by the Rattlesnake
Brig Hope, 260 tons, 4 guns, linseed; from Archangel to Hull
Economy, 181 tons , and 2 guns, with tar from Archangel for Chatham by the Scourge[32]
Deal is an old term for pale, soft wood of a pine or fir tree, mainly for making furniture
Rodger’s list of prizes taken by USS President
9th June Brig Kitty, Robert Love Master, of 2 guns and 11 men from Newfoundland
bound to Alicant with a cargo of fish. (ordered to Spain)
10th of June Packet Brig, Duke of Montrose. A. G. Blewitt commander of 12 guns and 34 men from Falmouth bound to Halifax Sent to England as a cartel with 78 prisoners
11th June, Letter of Marque big Maria, of Port Glasgow, (Scotland)
John Bald Master, oi 14 guns and 35 men, from Newfoundland bound to Spain, with a cargo of cod fish : Ordered her for France.
12th of June, Schooner Falcon, of Guernsey, John Mauger Master, of 2 guns and 10 men, from Newfoundland bound to Spain, with a cargo of codfish: ordered her for France.
July 12, Brig Jean and Ann, of Salt Coats, Robert Caldwell, master, from Cork bound to Archangel, in ballast took out her crew & burnt her.
July 18, Brig Daphne, of Whitby, William Gales master, of 2 guns and 9 men, from South Shields bound to Archangel, in ballast, took out her crew and sunk her.
July 24, Eliza Swan, of Montrose, John Young, master of 8 guns and 48 men from a Greenland, whaling voyage, bound to Montrose with fish blubber, ransomed her for 5000 pounds sterling.
July 29, Brig Alert, of Peterhead George Shand master, from Archangel bound- to Oporto (via England) with a cargo of pitch and tar: took out the crew and burnt her.
August 2, Barque Lion, of Liverpool, Thomas Hawkins master, of 8 guns and 52 men, from Greenland whaling voyage with fish blubber ransomed her for 3000 pounds sterling
August 30, Hermophrodite brig Shannon of St Kitts, John Parkin master, bound to London, cargo of rum, sugar and molasses. ordered her for the United States
Sept 9 Brig Fly of Bermuda, Bowey master of 6 guns and 9 men from Jamaica bound for London with coffee. ordered to the United Sates.
Sept 23 British Schooner Highflyer, Lt. Hutchinson, 3 officers and 34 men[33]
[1] Edgar Stanton MacLay, A History of American Privateers (Appleton & Company, 1899).
[2] Navy Office, “Contracts for Tallow, Pitch and Tar,” The Times (London), April 13, 1813.
[3] “Intelligence Extra,” Leeds Intelligencer (Leeds), April 19, 1813.
[4] “Services of Commodore John Rodgers in the War of 1812 (1812-1815),” U.S. Naval Institute, June 1, 1909, https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1909/june/services-commodore-john-rodgers-war-1812-1812-1815.
[5] “Ship News,” The Times (London), May 22, 1813.
[6] “Ship News,” The Times (London), June 3, 1813. “Archangel Convoy,” Hull Packet (Hull), June 15, 1813.
[7] Charles Oscar Pullin, “Services of Commodore John Rodgers in the War of 1812 (1812-1815),” U.S. Naval Institute, June 1, 1909, https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1909/june/services-commodore-john-rodgers-war-1812-1812-1815.
[8] “Hull,” Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), August 21, 1813.
[9] John Rodgers, “Rodger’s Cruise,” National Intelligencer (Washington), October 5, 1813.
[10] Theodore Roosevelt, The Naval War of 1812 or The History of the United States Navy during the Last War with Great Britain, 3rd ed. (G. P. Putman’s Sons, 1883). William James, The Naval History of Great Britain from the Declaration of War by France in February 1793 to the Accession of George IV in January 1820, New Edition, vol. 6 (Harding, Leopard & Co., 1826).
[11] “The Alexandria and the President,” Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), August 21, 1813. “Greenland Fishery,” Aberdeen Journal (Aberdeen), August 11, 1813.
[12] The identification of whales had been debated at least since Aristotle. Carl Linnaeus had classified them as mammals in 1758. But the idea was slow to be known by the public.
[13] “Greenland Fishery,” Aberdeen Journal, August 11, 1815.
[14] “Lloyd’s Marine List,” Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), October 1, 1813.
[15] “Ship News,” The Times (London), September 15, 1813.
[16] “Untitled,” Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), October 25, 1813. .
[17] “Ship News,” Hull Packet (Hull), October 19, 1813.
[18] “Capture of the French Frigate Weser,” Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), October 18, 1813. The London Gazette 23 October 1813 Issue: 16793 Page:2101; 30 October 1813 Issue: 16795 Page:2137-2138; 25 June 1814 Issue: 16911 Page:1301; 12 July 1814 Issue: 16916 Page:1421
[19] “Lloyd’s Marine LIst Jan 31 1814,” Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), February 5, 1814.
[20] “Ship News,” Morning Post (London), February 1, 1814. Anonymous, “Ship News,” The Times (London), February 1, 1814.
[21] “From France,” Providence Patriot (Providence), March 26, 1814.
[22] Mary Lee Mann, ed., A Yankee Jeffersonian Selections from the Diary and Letters of William Lee of Massachusetts, Written from 1796 to 1840 (Harvard University Press, 1958). 164
[23] Anonymous, “Letter to the Editor of the Chronicle, Received by Rambler. Bordeaux, January 29.,” Raleigh Register (Raleigh), April 8, 1814.”
[24] Silvia Marzagalli, “Establishing Transatlantic Trade Networks in Time of War: Bordeaux and the United States 1793-1815,” Business History Review (Cambridge) 79, no. Winter 2005 (2005).
[25] George Coggeshall, American Privateers and Letters-of-Marque, during the War with England, in the Years 1812, ’13 and ’14 (George Putnam, 1861).
[26] American Nautical Skills, National Intelligencer, (Washington), May 20, 1814.
[27] “From the London Gazette,” Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), July 16, 1814.
[28] “Important from France,” National Geographic News (Washington), August 1, 1814.
[29] “From the London Gazette of October 8,” Hull Packet (Hull), October 18, 1814.“Lloyd’s Marine List,” Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), October 15, 1814. “Royal Naval Biography/Barrie, Robert – Wikisource, the Free Online Library,” accessed March 18, 2026, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Biography/Barrie,_Robert. Robert Fraser, “The Battle of Maine and Its Aftermath,” Maine History 43, no. 1 (2007).
[30] “Captures by the Scourge and the Rattlesnake,” National Intelligencer (Washington), n.d.
[31] The London Gazette 27 May 1815 Issue:17016 Page:1002; 30 May 1815 Issue:17017 Page:1024
[32] “Lloyd’s Marine List September 13,” Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), September 27, 1813. George Coggeshall, American Privateers and Letters-of-Marque, during the War with England, in the Years 1812, ’13 and ’14 (George Putnam, 1861)“American Privateers,” Stamford Mecury (Stamford), September 24, 1813..
[33] John Rodgers, List of Vessels Captured and Destroyed, Raleigh Register (Raleigh), October 15, 1813.
