Capture of USS President


The capture of USS President was one of many naval actions fought at the end of the War of 1812. The frigate tried to break out of New York Harbor but was intercepted by a British squadron of four warships and forced to surrender. The battle took place several weeks after the Treaty of Ghent, but there is no evidence that the combatants were aware that the war had officially ended.

Prelude

USS President was a prime target of the Royal Navy during the War of 1812 as it was seen to have insulted British honor after the Little Belt Affair. By 1815, Commodore Stephen Decatur commanded President, he had captured the smaller British frigate in a famous action in 1812, while in command of the frigate.
Napoleon's failed attempt at invading Russia in 1812 would relieve many British ships from European waters allowing them to impose a strict blockade on the United States. On June 1, 1813, Decatur tried to break out of New York in USS United States and , but he encountered a powerful British squadron which drove him into New London, Connecticut. The two frigates were effectively hulked or demilitarized in order to tow them far enough upriver to be safe from British cutting-out expeditions. Coincidentally, this was the same day of the capture of USS Chesapeake which meant that in one day, nearly half of the United States frigates were incapacitated by British forces. By 1814, the US Navy was entirely contained with the exception of a few sloops. The frigate was captured, the frigates,, and had been destroyed, and United States, Macedonian,,, were blockaded. There was no chance of sailing in good weather, the only hope for escape was in the dangerous winter gales when the British forces would be blown offshore. Decatur would try to break out of New London in United States in early 1814, but turned back when he feared that pro-British local civilians were burning blue lights to alert the blockaders. He and his crew of United States were transferred to the faster President, which had been refitted in New York.
Meanwhile, the British squadron blockading New York consisted of the former ship of the line which had been razeed to create a 32-pounder frigate, the 24-pounder frigate HMS Forth, and the 18-pounder frigates HMS Pomone and HMS Tenedos. Commodore John Hayes was in overall command as the captain of Majestic. The 24-pounder frigate had attempted to cut out the privateer and had lost many of her crew, and Captain Henry Hope had expected to be sent back to Britain as Endymion by that time was an old ship and her crew had been weakened by the battle. To his surprise, however, Admiral Henry Hotham ordered Endymion to remain on the North American Station as Endymion was the fastest ship in the Royal Navy, and he ordered some replacement crew to be drafted from the 56-gun razee. Hope went to unusual lengths to train his new crew in anticipation of imminent combat using the same methods as were used by Philip Broke on. The combination of Endymions handling, speed, 24-pounder armament and the crew's training meant that she was better prepared for battle than most other frigates. Endymion relieved her newer softwood sister ship Forth from the New York blockade, and Hayes' squadron now consisted of Majestic, Endymion, Pomone, and Tenedos.

''President''s breakout

President was in New York Harbor with the sloops-of-war and, and the schooner-rigged tender. By 1815 President was overdue for repairs. Unlike the other six frigates, President was not fastened with diagonal riders which caused her hull to be prone to hogging and twisting. They were preparing to break out past the British blockade to embark on cruises against British merchant shipping. A blizzard blew up from the northwest on 13 January, and the British ships were blown off their station to the southeast. Decatur determined to take advantage of the situation by breaking out with President alone. The plan was that the smaller warships would break out later and rendezvous with President off Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic.
Decatur immediately met with disaster. He had ordered gunboats as harbor pilots to mark the safe passage across the shoal with anchored boats at the mouth of the harbor, but they failed to do so properly and President grounded on the bar and remained stuck there for almost two hours, enduring a pounding from the wind and heavy sea. The frigate was damaged by the time that it was worked free: some copper was stripped away from the hull, the masts were twisted and some of them had developed long cracks. Decatur claimed the hull was twisted, and the bow and stern hogged on the sand bar, although it is likely that this was the case before President had even left port as she was already overdue for repairs. Decatur decided that it was impossible for President to return to port, the wind was still strong. The logs from the British squadron claimed that the gale had stopped, though strong winds persisted. Decatur headed east, keeping close to the Long Island shore before heading southeast.
While President and her crew were struggling to float off the sand bar, the British blockading squadron was fighting to return to their blockading station. As the winds slowed, the British regrouped. Hayes realized that American ships might have taken the opportunity to leave port unobserved, so he left Tenedos to watch the Sandy Hook passage and headed north to watch the Long Island passage, rather than heading back to the harbor entrance.

Action

The British squadron sighted President at dawn on 14 January. Decatur immediately turned downwind and tried to gain speed by lightening his ship. The winds had waned but they were still strong. In heavy seas and high winds, the largest ship will have the advantage in speed, and Hayes' Majestic gained on President, as they were similar in length but Majestic was considerably heavier. The winds became more moderate at noon. After Majestic had fired some ranging shots which fell short, Pomone overtook Majestic and led the pursuit, but Tenedos appeared unexpectedly to the south and Hayes sent Pomone to investigate in case the sighting was another American ship. HMS Endymion overtook the rest of the British squadron. Endymion was regarded as the fastest ship in the Royal Navy, as she recorded speeds that were faster than clipper ships.
In the afternoon, Endymion and President began exchanging fire using their bow and stern-chase cannon. At 2 pm, Captain Henry Hope took Endymion into position on Presidents starboard quarter so that none of Presidents stern chasers could bear. From this position, Hope engaged President with Endymions single brass 18-pounder bow chaser. Decatur made several attempts to close on Endymion, but he discovered that Presidents damage limited her maneuverability and exaggerated the advantage in maneuverability of the smaller Endymion.
Faced with this new dilemma, Decatur ordered bar and chain-shot to be fired to disable Endymions sails and rigging. But President was trapped; Decatur could not escape to the north, as he would have reached the Long Island shore and been forced to the east once more; nor could he escape to the south, as Endymion would most likely slow President enough that the rest of the British squadron would catch up.
Hope then Endymion to rake Presidents hull, then quickly returned to position on Presidents quarter where Presidents guns would not bear. The first broadside sent splinters flying in the Presidents spar deck where Decatur was standing. A large splinter hit him in the chest and knocked him over, while another cut his forehead. His First Lieutenant was standing next to him and had his leg cut off by a splinter, and he was knocked down and through the wardroom hatch. Another splinter fatally fractured the skull of a lieutenant next to him too. The 24-pounder cannon from Endymion was more effective than the traditional 18-pounder shot that could not pierce the thick live oak sides of the United States' frigates, and three shots pierced President all the way through to the after powder room which was located beneath her mizzen step.
Hope repeated the yawing maneuver three times and did considerable damage. At 7 pm, President brailed up her spanker and wore downwind with Endymion imitating the maneuver. Decatur had hoped to put Endymion out of the chase and escape, but Endymion aimed into Presidents hull, specifically targeting the gun ports. Many members of Presidents gun crews were cut down, significantly reducing Presidents ability to fire back at Endymion. By contrast, President primarily directed her fire at Endymions rigging in order to slow her down.
President ceased fire at 7:58 pm and hoisted a light in her rigging, indicating that she had surrendered. Presidents rigging was in a crippled state, and she was slowed to the point that she could not escape from the rest of the British squadron which would soon be in sight. The damage to her hull, however, was far more severe and she had taken on of water in the hold. Her magazine had also been hit; 10 of Presidents 15 starboard gun ports were hit by shot, and six of the guns were dismounted or damaged.
Following the standard practice, Endymion ceased fire and hove to for repairs once President had surrendered. Endymion could not immediately take possession of her prize, as she had no usable boats; Decatur took advantage of the situation, despite having struck, and made off to escape at 8:30 pm. Endymion hastily completed repairs and resumed the chase at 8:52 pm. At 9:05, Pomone and Tenedos came up with the heavily damaged President, unaware that she had already struck. Pomone fired two ineffective broadsides into her, following which Decatur hailed to say that he had surrendered. Shortly afterwards, Captain Lumley of Pomone took possession of President. Decatur ordered his sword to be sent to the captain of the "black ship" a reference to Captain Hope of Endymion. According to British accounts, President had lost 35 men killed and 70 wounded, including Decatur; American sources give the losses at 24 killed and 55 wounded. British accounts claimed that Endymion had 11 killed and 14 wounded. President had a crew of 480 and a broadside of 816 pounds; Endymion had a crew of 346 and a broadside of 641 pounds.
Comparison of force
HMS EndymionUSS President
Length
Beam
Tonnage1277 tons 1533 tons
Complement346 menat least 458 men
Armament26 × 24-pounder,
20 × 32-pounder carronades
1 × 18-pounder		32 × 24-pounder
20 × 42-pounder carronades
1 × 24-pounder howitzer
Broadside weight

Aftermath

The damaged Endymion and President sailed in company to Bermuda. They encountered a violent storm that dismasted both, but both reached safety. Official notification came soon afterwards that the war had ended. Endymion and President arrived at Spithead on 28 March 1815 to a crowd of onlookers who witnessed the disparity in force between the two vessels, and the size of the American 44-gun frigates that had been victorious earlier in the war.
On 18 January 1815 aboard HMS Emdymion, Commodore Decatur took time to report to the Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Crowninshield his losses and difficulty in providing exact figures "Of our loss in killed & wounded I am unable to present you a correct statement, the attention of our Surgeon being so on the wounded that he was unable to make a correct return... the enclosed list with the exception I fear of its being short of the will be found correct."
The British took President briefly into the Royal Navy as the 50-gun fourth-rate but broke up the dilapidated ship in 1818. They later built a 60-gun frigate which they also named to the exact lines of the captured ship in 1829, despite some elements of the design being obsolete. This ship was used as a political statement as it was commanded by George Cockburn and made flagship of the North American station to remind the United States of its greatest losses during the War of 1812.
The smaller American ships still in New York sortied before hearing of the capture of President, and reached the rendezvous off Tristan da Cunha. Hornet managed to sink the brig-sloop, after which Peacock joined forces with her. The two American ships then mistook the British ship of the line for an East Indiaman. Hornet narrowly escaped after jettisoning all her guns and most of her stores. Peacock subsequently captured several merchant ships in the Indian Ocean until receiving confirmation that the war had ended.