On This Day 13 December

**Coog** · 12-12-2012, 22:29

The Action of 13 December 1814 was a naval action during the War of 1812. A flotilla of British longboats were on their way to fight the Battle of Lake Borgne. Before reaching the lake, they would encounter an American schooner of the United States Navy.

The Louisiana Campaign had begun, British ships were sailing off the American southern coast, destination New Orleans. The British landing area for the invasion of Louisiana was set for Lake Borgne but in order to land, a squadron of American gunboats and other ships, had to be destroyed. At night, on December 13, 1814, the British set course for the lake.

Alexander Cochrane, of the Royal Navy, ordered Captain Nicholas Lockyer to proceed to the lake with a force of forty-two armed longboats, armed barges, armed launches and three armed gigs. Manned by 1,000 to 1,200 sailors and marines with 8 to 24 pound guns, mounted at the bow of the longboats. The force pushed off from HMS Armide at an unknown time of evening.

American forces, on USS Sea Horse and commanded by Sailing Master William Johnson were on a mission to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi to destroy a store of weapons to prevent its possible capture by the British fleet sailing in the region. Sea Horse was armed with only one 6 pound cannon and had a crew of fourteen men.

Both sailors and artillery were sparse in the then frontier South.

USS Sea Horse had not yet made it to Bay St. Louis when spotted by Captain Lockyer's longboats late at night on December 13, somewhere in a waterway between Lake Borgne and the Bay of St. Louis along the Gulf of Mexico. As soon as Lockyer spotted Sea Horse from a distance, an unknown number of boats were sent in that direction to cut the American schooner off and capture her. At some point, Sailing Master Johnson spotted the Royal Navy boats and attacked.

A brief exchange occurred which resulted in light damage to the American schooner by a couple British shots. Two men were killed and another two wounded. William Johnson then ordered his crew to head for the nearby coastline, protected by an artillery battery. The British vessels followed.

Once drawing the British boat fleet into range of the artillery battery, Sea Horse turned and headed back into battle. The artillery on the coast began firing and the British flotilla retreated. But only for a short while. After fighting off a first British boat attack, Master Johnson felt the coastline under protection of the battery was a good place to anchor his ship until the next morning.

One member of the fourteen man U.S. crew spotted the silently approaching British boats and the alarm was raised. Immediately the crew were ordered to arm themselves with the schooner's issue of muskets, or man the sailing vessel's one gun. The British boats drew close and the Americans opened fire.

Hearing the Sea Horse's fire, the American battery commenced. Accurate fire from the American's small arsenal of weapons proved efficient and another longboat attack was driven off. Captain Lockyer decided to abandon his attempt to capture the Sea Horse and ordered his men to continue on to Lake Borgne.

The British suffered several armed longboats damaged in action and an unknown number of dead and wounded. The United States lost the said two dead and two wounded, as well as minor damage to the schooner. William Johnson, just after his encounter with the British, realized that the enemy fleet was nearby and the capture of his ship by the main Royal Navy fleet was indeed possible. So he ordered his ship to make for the nearest settlement. Once there, near a friendly location to prevent being stranded, Johnson ran his schooner aground on a beach and had her burnt.

**Coog** · 12-12-2012, 22:59

On 13 December 1809, the 40-gun frigate HMS Junon under Captain John Shortland, in company with the 16-gun brig HMS Observateur under Captain Frederick Wetherall, stopped an American merchant ship and boarded her in search of contraband. As he was engaged in the search, four sails appeared to the north. Shortland immediately gave chase, and by 16:00 realised his quarry was a squadron of four frigates. Firing warning shots in an effort to force the frigates to identify themselves, the strange ships raised Spanish colors. Initially unconvinced, Shortland raised the recognition signal for Spanish vessels and received the correct reply from the lead frigate. Closing with the ships during the afternoon, Junon was only a short distance from the lead ship at 17:30 when French colors replaced the Spanish and the ships opened fire. The French ships were the 40-gun frigates Renommée, under Commodore François Roquebert, and Clorinde, under Captain Jacques Saint-Cricq, which were escorting two old frigates, Loire and Seine. Loire and Seine were en flûte with half their guns removed and their crew reduced in order to take on board large quantities of food supplies and over 200 military reinforcements each. Command of the armed storeships was given to lieutenants Joseph-Normand Kergré and Bernard Vincent.

Roquebert had learned the correct signals for Spanish shipping from captured Spanish merchant ships and, having lured Junon within range, opened a destructive fire from Renommée that caused severe damage to Junon's rigging. Unable to maneuver away from the French due to the damage suffered in the opening broadside, Shortland returned fire as best he could while closing with Renommée to inflict maximum damage. As Junon closed with the flagship, Clorinde attacked her from the other side and the flûtes took up stations fore and aft, repeatedly raking the British ship. Observateur had been some distance behind Junon when the action began, and was thus not directly engaged by any of the French ships. Wetherall initially fired at Clorinde from extreme range, but soon recognised that he could do nothing to aid Junon in the face of overwhelming French numbers and so sailed westward to find and warn other British ships of the approaching French squadron. As Observateur escaped, Junon was pounded from all sides, Roquebert's ship coming so close to the British frigate that their rigging tangled and they collided, inflicting further damage. The French squadron was so close to Junon that the soldiers carried aboard for the garrison on Guadeloupe were able to fire their muskets at the British top deck, killing many of the sailors manning the guns.

Within ten minutes of the first shot, Junon's top deck was almost completely cleared and Shortland had been taken below, his leg broken by grapeshot and his body pierced by several large wooden splinters. Lieutenant Samuel Bartlett Deecker assumed command, and successfully beat off a boarding attack from Clorinde. Pulling Junon clear off the two full-strength French frigates, Deecker tried to escape but found his ship unresponsive. Within minutes, Roquebert and Saint-Cricq had regained their positions on either side of the British frigate and boarded simultaneously, forcing Deecker to surrender at 18:15. The British had suffered heavy losses, with 20 killed and 40 wounded, including Shortland. The prisoners were dispersed among the French squadron and rather than spare the men required to repair and crew the battered Junon, Roquebert had the frigate set on fire and abandoned. French losses were also severe, Renommée losing 15 killed and three wounded and Clorinde six killed and 15 wounded. Neither Seine, Loire nor HMS Observateur suffered any loss at all.