Navigating the Lower Saint Lawrence in the 19th Century.
|
In 18O6, Captain Salisbury Pryce Humphreys was appointed to
Leander but shortly after removed to Leopard, the flagship of Vice
Admiral G. Berkeley at Halifax. Since the Admiral usually lived on
shore, Leopard was employed as a private ship. (i.e. not a
flagship). While the squadron, Bellona, Bellise, Triumph, Leopard,
Halifax and Zenobia, were at anchor in the Chesapeake in the summer
of 18O7, a large number of seamen deserted ashore where they came
under the protection of American law, and many were recruited into
the U.S. frigate Chesapeake. Admiral Berkely ordered that the
frigate was to be stopped and searched if she ventured out of
American waters. On 22 June, Captain Humphreys encountered the
Chesapeake about 12 to 15 miles off Cape Henry and sent over an
officer with his admiral's order and requested permission to search
for deserters. The American Commodore Barron rejected the request
and Captain Humphreys, after repeated hailing, first directed that
a shot be fired across her bows and then that several shots should
be fired into her. Ten minutes later, the Chesapeake surrendered
and four men belonging to Melampus and Halifax were seized as
deserters. One, Jenkin Radford (or Rutford), was found in the coal
hole and recognised by the purser of Leopard as a man who had been
discharged from her to the Halifax. The Americans had three men
killed and 18 wounded, 8 of them badly, and her hull, masts and
sails were damaged. Chesapeake returned to Hampton roads and the
affair had immediate repercussions when President Jefferson ordered
all armed British vessels to leave American harbours and waters. Captain Humphreys returned to England with his admiral in 18O8. Commodore Barron was court martialled and dismissed from the United States Navy for five years. Her next captain was Captain James Johnstone. She sailed with a convoy to the Cape of Good Hope on 6 May 1808 and was then the flag ship of Vice Admiral Bertie in the East Indies. She returned home in the summer of 181O. In the spring of 1811, she was fitted out as a trooper at Chatham. Later in the year, armed en flute, Captain William Henry Dillon, to Leith. In 1812 she went to the Mediterranean. Leopard was stationed for some time at Lisbon and also employed on the south coast of Spain. Rear Admiral Hallowell gave Captain Dillon the command of a small squadron assisting the British troops stationed at Carthagena. On 28 June 1812, while commanded by Captain Edward Lowther Crofton, she was wrecked on Anticosti in the St Lawrence River. |
||
| G. R. Bossé©2001-05 | Page 6 | Chapter 1812 |
 |
 |
 |