The Battle of La Guaira was a naval engagement fought in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

on 11 December 1812 during the

war 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 o ...

between

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. An American

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

captured a British letter of marque at the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

port of

La Guaira La Guaira () is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of the same name (formerly named Vargas) and the country's main port. It was founded in 1577 as an outlet for Caracas, to the southeast. The town and the port were badly damaged during ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Battle

On 10 December while on a

commerce raiding Commerce raiding (french: guerre de course, "war of the chase"; german: Handelskrieg, "trade war") is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than enga ...

cruise, the American

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 schoon ...

, of 16 guns and 140 men under

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Charles Whiting Wooster anchored off La Guaira. After Wooster arrived the American

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

warned Wooster that if he remained in port, the Spanish

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

would sink his ship with their

shore batteries In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facil ...

. The Americans withdrew out of range but remained off the city. That same day ''Saratoga'' captured a British schooner and sent her as a prize back to the United States. On the following morning as a heavy fog cleared, the Americans spotted an incoming

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 ...

. After the engagement it turned out that she was the letter of marque , originally commanded by Captain N. Dalmahoy (or Dalmarhoy), of 237 tons burthen, mounting fourteen long 9-pounders with a crew of thirty-six men. She had been at sea for 57 days. Dalmahoy had died two weeks before the battle so her

first mate A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the shi ...

, named Alexander, was captain. Immediately after spotting the British, ''Saratoga'' sailed to intercept but it took two hours for her to close to firing range. The Spanish colonists expected the arrival of ''Rachel'' and so hundreds of the colonists rushed to the beaches to observe the engagement. When the range closed the two vessels began tacking towards land, ''Saratoga'' opened fire while off the port, firing her starboard bow gun. The British answered with shots from their port quarter guns until both ships were side by side. For over half an hour the two vessels dueled but the fighting ended when ''Rachel''s fire weakened. After volleys of small arms fire had driven the British sailors below decks, the Americans closed in and boarded. The British had two men killed, including Alexander, and two men wounded, one of whom died shortly thereafter; only two men from ''Saratoga'' were wounded. The next day, being short of water, Wooster released twenty-seven of the prisoners and sent them into La Guaira in a

longboat A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from ''circa'' 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest boa ...

. He kept four of the prisoners on ''Rachel'' and two on ''Saratoga''.

Aftermath

The next day , under the command of Captain Thomas Fellowes, encountered ''Rachel'' and captured her, together with the 12-man prize crew of Americans. The British took the Americans on board ''Fawn'' and put a six-man prize crew on board ''Rachel'', which they sent her into Jamaica, where the

Vice admiralty court Vice Admiralty Courts were juryless courts located in British colonies that were granted jurisdiction over local legal matters related to maritime activities, such as disputes between merchants and seamen. American Colonies American maritime ac ...

condemned her as a prize. ''Fawn'' went into La Guaira and picked up ''Rachel''s crew, all of whom agreed to serve on ''Fawn'', though some apparently deserted shortly thereafter.1812 Privateer

- accessed 19 December 2013.

Citations

References

* * {{coord, 10, 36, 0, N, 66, 55, 59, W, display=title Naval battles of the War of 1812, La Guaira Colonial Venezuela Vargas (state) History of the Caribbean Captured ships La Guaira December 1812 events