HISTORY OF AMERICAN PRIVATEERS AND CAPTAIN GEORGE COGGESHALL

[Cmmdre]

Another free e-book and interesting history of it's author.

History of the American privateers: and letters-of-marque, during our war with England in the years 1812, '13, and '14. Interspersed with several naval battles between American and British ships-of-war. George Coggeshall

http://books.google.com/books?id=x6wAAAAAYAAJ&hl=en

Captain George Coggeshall: Commander of Letter of Marque Schooners
Captain George Henry Coggeshall’s antipathy for the English developed at a young age. His father, William Coggeshall, was a Revolutionary War veteran who was a sailing master’s mate on the brig New Defence. In late 1779, the New Defence, after an extensive engagement with a larger British brig, was forced to surrender and the crew was transferred to the prison-ship Jersey, which was lying in Wallabout Bay on the East River off New York City. During this time, William Coggeshall not only lacked for food and clothing, but eventually contracted smallpox.

Surviving the imprisonment and after the conclusion of the war, William Coggeshall became a captain and owner of commercial vessels that carried cargo from Connecticut to the West Indies. On one such trip, one of William Coggeshall’s vessels, the Laura, was leaving Martinique and was captured by a British cruiser for trading at a French island. Its cargo, sugar and coffee, and the vessel were condemned. As George writes, "These [types of] losses soon stripped my father of his fortune, and threw those dependent on him almost penniless upon the world, to gain their bread the best way they could."

George, born in Milford, Connecticut, came from a seafaring family and, in 1799, at the age of fifteen, began his life at sea as a cabin boy. By the time of the War of 1812, George was a commercial vessel captain. He writes, "there were but three ways for captains of merchant ships to find employment in their ordinary vocations: namely, enter the United States Navy as sailing masters, go privateering, or command a letter of marquee -- carry a cargo and as it were, force trade and fight their way or run, as the case may be; and as an alternative, I chose that of letter of marque."

George first commanded, and was half owner of the letter of marque schooner David Porter. His voyage originated on October 1813 from Providence, Rhode Island, initially to Charleston, South Carolina, and then to France. The schooner had been outfitted, "having a long 18-pounder on pivot amidships, four 6-pounders, with muskets, pistols, etc." The David Porter, under command of Captain Coggeshall, left Providence to Newport, Rhode Island, and under cover of night and a snowstorm, departed Newport avoiding the British blockade. Ten days out, off Cape Romain, South Carolina, a British man-of-war brig, Dotterall, initiated chase. As the David Porter neared Charleston, Captain Coggeshall engaged the enemy and shortly thereafter, two schooners, the privateer, Decatur, and the letter of marque, Adaline, came over the Charleston Bar bearing down on the brig who "squared his yards and ran away to leeward." Captain Coggeshall traded his cargo in Charleston and then embarked for the western coast of France as near to Bordeaux as possible; a voyage he successfully concluded with a landing at La Teste.

Due to the La Teste’s vulnerability to the English advance (a portion of Lord Wellington’s army was nearing Bordeaux), Captain Coggeshall set sail and was soon being chased by a British frigate. He eventually came upon a group of British merchant ships, which he took as prizes and, subsequently, during the night had them hoist their lanterns, which he used to cover his escape. He landed the David Porter at l’Île d’Yeu, an island near the mouth of the Loire River. At the end of March 1814, Captain Coggeshall decided to turn the command of the David Porter over to his first officer for the return voyage to the United States, with the cargo from the prizes. Captain Coggeshall spent the next few months in Paris and Bordeaux attending to his commercial affairs.

In November 1814, Captain Coggeshall took command of the Leo, an American owned letter of marque schooner that was lying in L’Orient, France. The intent was to capture a few British prizes and then proceed to Charleston for a cargo of cotton. The schooner was outfitted with one 12-pounder and four small 4-pounders and some 50-60 old muskets. All but the 12-pounder was required to be removed by the public authorities, but Captain Coggeshall had another 20-30 muskets smuggled on board during the night.

Over the next few weeks, Captain Coggeshall took a number of British prizes, which he ordered his prize masters to sail to the United States. He also engaged an English brig-of-war of sixteen guns using his ‘long twelve.’ The Leo received thirty or forty shot, only one of which hulled the schooner; passing through the bends amid-ships and lodging in the hold.

Without a long, well-mounted center gun, Captain Coggeshall chose to haul off from the engagement. Less than two weeks later, the Leo encountered a strong wind in squally weather, suddenly pitched, and a defective foremast broke, making the ship vulnerable. To avoid capture, Captain Coggeshall decided to go to Lisbon under the cover of night. Four miles short of the port, the 38-gun British frigate, Granicus, captured the Leo, and the schooner was taken in tow to Gibraltar.

The officers and men were sent to England, except Captain Coggeshall and his first and second lieutenants. The latter officers were to undergo examination at the admiralty court at Gibraltar. An attempt to obtain parole from the governor was unsuccessful even after Captain Coggeshall explained the numerous paroles he had provided to their countrymen. The officers of the Leo were to be shipped to England; thereby, necessitating an attempt at escape.

Under guard and waiting questioning at the admiralty office, Captain Coggeshall asked the sergeant whether he “would go a short distance up the street to take a glass of wine.“ The sergeant complied; Captain Coggeshall hastily drank the wine and slipped out of the shop. Removing the eagle from his black cockade, Captain Coggeshall gave the appearance of an English naval officer and successfully passed the sentinel at the gate. He made his way to a Norwegian ship in port at Gibraltar and asked the captain if he “was willing to befriend a man in distress.” After Captain Coggeshall explained his story, the Norwegian captain, having at one time been imprisoned in England, came to Captain Coggeshall’s aid. The captain coordinated with a group of smugglers to take Captain Coggeshall to Algeciras, Spain. Thereafter, Captain Coggeshall made his way to Cadiz; two months later, he sailed to Lisbon and returned to the United States aboard a Portuguese brig in May 1815.

Captain Coggeshall continued to command and own commercial vessels after the War of 1812. By 1841, he began writing books of his voyages and published other books on naval and maritime history. He writes that with the War of 1812 "British invincibility and British supremacy were at an end. The stars and stripes were no longer a theme of ridicule-our commerce was no longer at the mercy and conducted by the permission and sufferance of England." Captain George Coggeshall died in Brooklyn, NY, on 23 August 1861. He was an American patriot in a family of patriots.

Compatriot Henry Coggeshall Howells IV
Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Virginia
from War Cry 2009

More at this link:
http://www.1812ct.org/index.htm
http://www.1812ct.org/veterans.htm

[Killick]

Thanks for that Paul. I will have to get the book