USS Torch (1814)
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USS Torch (1814)
USS ''Torch'' was a schooner—heavily armed with guns and carronades—in the United States Navy during the early years of the republic. She was built for service in the War of 1812, but did not see service until the Barbary Wars when she was sent with the American fleet to the Mediterranean to force an end to piracy of American ships. Purchased for the War of 1812 ''Torch''—a privateer schooner purchased at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1814 and initially commanded by Lt. Wolcott Chauncey—formed part of the "flying squadron" slated to cruise the West Indies to wage war on British commerce towards the end of the War of 1812. However, the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent on 18 February 1815 terminated hostilities before the squadron, then forming at New York City, could get to sea to undertake wartime operations. Assigned to the Barbary Wars The kidnapping and piratical activities of the Algerians soon dispelled the hard-won peace which had so recently come to the United S ...
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Schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schooner also has a square topsail on the foremast, to which may be added a topgallant. Differing definitions leave uncertain whether the addition of a fore course would make such a vessel a brigantine. Many schooners are gaff-rigged, but other examples include Bermuda rig and the staysail schooner. The origins of schooner rigged vessels is obscure, but there is good evidence of them from the early 17th century in paintings by Dutch marine artists. The name "schooner" first appeared in eastern North America in the early 1700s. The name may be related to a Scots word meaning to skip over water, or to skip stones. The schooner rig was used in vessels with a wide range of purposes. On a fast hull, good ability to windward was useful for priv ...
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Cape Gata
Cape Gata ( "cat cape", "falcon cape") is the south-eastern cape of the Akrotiri Peninsula on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. It is located within the British Sovereign Base Areas, and is the southernmost point of the island. However, the Sovereign Base Areas are not part of the Republic of Cyprus or the European Union, whose southernmost point lies nearby at the border between the two (34° 39’ N). Gata Davionte Ganter, known professionally as GaTa, is an American rapper and actor known for his role in the FXX TV series ''Dave'', as well as for being the hype man for rapper Lil Dicky throughout his career as well as on the show. Early life an ...
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War Of 1812 Ships Of The United States
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces. Warfare refers to the common activities and characteristics of types of war, or of wars in general. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant suffering and casualties. While some war studies scholars consider war a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, others argue it is a result of specific socio-cultural, economic or ecological circumstances. Etymology The English word ''war'' derives from the 11th-century Old English words ''wyrre'' and ''werre'', from Old French ''werre'' (also ''guerre'' as in modern French), in turn from the Frankish *''werra'', ultimately deriving from the Proto-Germanic *''we ...
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Brig
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part of the 19th century. In commercial use, they were gradually replaced by fore-and-aft rigged vessels such as schooners, as owners sought to reduce crew costs by having rigs that could be handled by fewer men. In Royal Navy use, brigs were retained for training use when the battle fleets consisted almost entirely of iron-hulled steamships. Brigs were prominent in the coasting coal trade of British waters. 4,395 voyages to London with coal were recorded in 1795. With an average of eight or nine trips per year for one vessel, that is a fleet of over 500 colliers trading to London alone. Other ports and coastal communities were also be served by colliers trading to Britain's coal ports. In the first half of the 19th century, the va ...
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USS Spark (1813)
USS ''Spark'' was a heavily armed brig in the services of the United States Navy, built for service in the War of 1812. However, she was completed too late for that war and was assigned, instead, to the Barbary Wars in the Mediterranean. After two voyages in support of that action, she was assigned to suppress pirates in the Caribbean, where she was successful in capturing a number of pirate ships and their crews. Service history The first ship to be so named by the Navy, ''Spark''—a privateer built in 1813 at the Rysam Boat Yard (est. 1797 reference Sag Harbor Historical Society) in Sag Harbor on Long Island, New York—was purchased by the Navy at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1814 for service in the war with the United Kingdom. However, the war ended before the brig could get to sea for active service against the Royal Navy. ''Spark'', commanded by Lt. Thomas Gamble, departed New York City on 20 May 1815 and sailed for the Mediterranean for operations in Commodore Stephen Deca ...
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USS Spitfire (1814)
USS ''Spitfire'' was the former Baltimore privateer ''Grampus'' that the United States Navy purchased. She was a heavily armed schooner built for service in the War of 1812, but did not see service until the Barbary Wars when she was sent with the American fleet to the Mediterranean to force an end to piracy of American ships. Privateer ''Grampus''s captain was John Murphy. She was commissioned as a privateer on 12 February 1813. As a privateer she captured or recaptured eight vessels: *''Catherine & William'', brig, lost at sea *''Eclipse'', brig, sent in *''Ceres'', brig, burnt *''Expedition'', ketch, New York *''Doris'', brig, transport, Marblehead *''Speculator'', brig, divested, given up *''Dry Harbor'', schooner, sent in *Brig, burnt Purchased for the War of 1812 The third ship to be named ''Spitfire'' by the U.S. Navy, ''Spitfire'' was purchased at Baltimore, Maryland, about 21 December 1814 for service in a squadron commanded by Commodore David Porter which was to ...
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HMS Epervier (1812)
HMS ''Epervier'' was an 18-gun of the Royal Navy, built by Ross at Rochester, England, and launched on 2 December 1812. captured her in 1814 and took her into service. USS ''Epervier'' disappeared in 1815 while carrying dispatches reporting the signing of a treaty with the Dey of Algiers. War of 1812 ''Epervier'' was commissioned in January 1813 under Commander Richard Walter Wales. On 20 August 1813, ''Epervier'' captured the schooner ''Lively'', which was sailing from St. Thomas to Halifax, Nova Scotia.''London Gazette'', Issue 16837, 1 January 1814, p.20-1 Then one month later, on 20 September, she captured ''Active''. Under her master, E. Altberg, ''Active'', of 390 tons (bm), was sailing from Gottenburg to Boston with a cargo of iron. Three days later, ''Epervier'', and captured ''Resolution''. On 5 October ''Epervier'' and captured the American privateer, ''Portsmouth Packet''. She had previously been ''Liverpool Packet'', a noted Nova Scotian privateer, and return ...
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Battle Off Cape Palos
The Battle of Cape Palos was the last battle of the Second Barbary War. The battle began when an American squadron under Stephen Decatur attacked and captured an Algerine brig. Background After capturing the Algerine flagship ''Meshuda'' and sending her to Cartagena under the escort of USS ''Macedonian'', Stephen Decatur and his squadron continued on their way towards Algiers. On June 19, 1815, they sighted the 22-gun Algerine brig ''Estedio''. Battle Decatur began pursuit of ''Estedio'' and chased her into shoal waters near the coast of Spain off Cape Palos. Fearing that his larger vessels might get beached, he sent the smaller vessels in his squadron the USS ''Epervier'', USS ''Spark'', USS ''Torch'', and USS ''Spitfire'' to deal with the brig. Here the vessels fought a short engagement lasting a half an hour before the Algerines began to abandon their vessel and surrender. As ''Estedio''s crew members began to flee towards the cape in her boats, the American ve ...
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USS Macedonian (1810)
HMS ''Macedonian'' was a 38-gun fifth-rate in the Royal Navy, later captured by the during the War of 1812. Construction and commissioning ''Macedonian'' was built at Woolwich Dockyard, England in 1809, launched 2 June 1810, and commissioned the same month. She was commanded by Captain Lord William FitzRoy. Among the original crew was the 13-year-old Samuel Leech, who later wrote a memoir of his experiences. As HMS ''Macedonian'' ''Macedonian'' first delivered a company of soldiers to Lisbon, Portugal, then remained in the area, guarding against the possibility of French naval attack. On 20 February 1811, she collided with ''Ives'' – a British merchant ship bound from Demerara on the north coast of South America to Greenock, Scotland – in the Atlantic Ocean off Lisbon, and ''Ives'' was so severely damaged that she was set afire and ''Macedonian'' took her crew aboard. While ''Macedonian'' operated off Portugal, FitzRoy made personal profit by falsification of records o ...
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Cartagena, Spain
Cartagena () is a Spanish city and a major naval station on the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Iberia. As of January 2018, it has a population of 218,943 inhabitants, being the region's second-largest municipality and the country's sixth-largest non-provincial-capital city. The metropolitan area of Cartagena, known as '' Campo de Cartagena'', has a population of 409,586 inhabitants. Cartagena has been inhabited for over two millennia, being founded around 227 BC by the Carthaginian Hasdrubal the Fair as ''Qart Hadasht'' ( phn, 𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕 QRT𐤟ḤDŠT; meaning "New Town"), the same name as the original city of Carthage. The city had its heyday during the Roman Empire, when it was known as ''Carthago Nova'' (the New Carthage) and ''Carthago Spartaria'', capital of the province of Carthaginensis. Much of the historical significance of Cartagena stemmed from its coveted defensive port, one of the most important in the western Mediterranean. Cartagena has ...
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Battle Off Cape Gata
The Battle off Cape Gata, which took place June 17, 1815, off the south-east coast of Spain, was the first battle of the Second Barbary War. A squadron of vessels, under the command of Stephen Decatur, Jr., met and engaged the flagship of the Algerine Navy, the frigate under Admiral Hamidou. After a sharp action, Decatur's squadron was able to capture the Algerine frigate and win a decisive victory over the Algerines. Panzac, 2005 pp.270-271 Background Stephen Decatur's squadron had left New York on May 20, 1815, with orders to destroy Algerine vessels and bring the Dey of Algiers to terms for attacking American shipping. He reached the Strait of Gibraltar on June 15, 1815, and began his mission. After learning that several Algerine cruisers had crossed the Strait of Gibraltar shortly before he did, Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr. decided to give them chase and cut them off before they could reach Algiers. Battle Commanding a fleet of nine vessels, he encountered the Algerine f ...
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