HMS ''Severn'' was an of the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, launched in 1813 as one of five heavy frigates built to match the powerful
American frigates. The shortage of oak meant that she was built of "fir" (actually
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
), which meant a considerably shortened lifespan. Nonetheless, the ship saw useful service, especially at the bombardment of Algiers in 1816, before being broken up in 1825.
Background
''Severn'' was ordered as a of 38 guns, and was to have borne the name ''Tagus''. Relative to her prototype, she received two more guns forward. ''Tagus'' was renamed ''Severn'' on 7 January 1813, i.e., well before her launching.
War of 1812
Initially commissioned under the command of Captain Joseph Nourse, ''Severn'' served in the North Atlantic. On 18 January 1814 she was escorting a convoy from England to Bermuda when she encountered the French 40-gun frigates ''Sultane'' and
''Étoile''. ''Severn'' drew them away from the convoy, saving it. After a long chase, the French frigates gave up and sailed away.
Later the same year, on 1 May, she captured the American privateer schooner ''Yankee Lass'', armed with nine guns and carrying a crew of 80 men. She was 20 days out of Rhode Island and had not made any captures.
At the time, ''Severn'' was in company with .
''Severn'' was among the several British warships that shared in the proceeds of the capture on 10 July of the American schooners ''William'', ''Eliza'', ''Union'', and ''Emmeline'', and the capture on 2 July of the schooner ''Little Tom''.
In the late summer and autumn of 1814, ''Severn'' was an important participant in the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
, as she was stationed in
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...
to blockade the
Patuxent River
The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast ...
. It was from this point that the British launched their invasion of Maryland, which led to the
Battle of Bladensburg
The Battle of Bladensburg was a battle of the Chesapeake campaign of the War of 1812, fought on 24 August 1814 at Bladensburg, Maryland, northeast of Washington, D.C.
Called "the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms," a British force ...
and then the subsequent
burning of Washington D.C. On 2 July ''Severn'' and
''Loire'' captured two schooners, two gun-boats, and a sloop. They also destroyed a large store of tobacco.
On 20 August ''Severn'', the
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
, and the
gun-brig
A gun-brig was a small brig-rigged warship that enjoyed popularity in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, during which large numbers were purchased or built. In general these were vessels of under 200 tons burthen, and thus smaller than ...
sailed up the Patuxent to follow the boats as far as possible. Admiral
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral of the Blue Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admiral.
He had previously captain ...
and his force of marines and seamen entered
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
on the night of 24 August. The British then burnt the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
, the Treasury, and the War Office. They left at 9 o'clock on the evening of the next day and returned to
Nottingham, Maryland, on the Patuxent where Cochrane boarded ''Manly''. The campaign cost the Navy one man killed and six wounded, including one man of the
Corps of Colonial Marines
The Corps of Colonial Marines were two different British Marine units raised from former black slaves for service in the Americas, at the behest of Alexander Cochrane. The units were created at two separate periods: 1808-1810 during the Napol ...
killed and three wounded.
The draught of this class of frigate was too deep to permit ''Severn'' and her sister ships from sailing into the harbour at Baltimore. Her sailors had to kedge rafts holding small cannon and rocket launchers seven miles up the river to
Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point, now a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. It is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack b ...
. During the attack on Baltimore
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
Sir
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
George Cockburn
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, (22 April 1772 – 19 August 1853) was a British Royal Navy officer. As a captain he was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars an ...
raised his flag on ''Severn''. Although the navy contributed seamen and marines to the land attack, and took casualties, ''Severn'' did not suffer any losses.
Between 1 October 1814 and 25 March 1815, ''Severn'' captured thirteen mostly small American merchant vessels, but with several armed vessels among them. These were:
* schooner ''Speedwell'', of five men and 34 tons;
* brig ''May Flower'', of 8 men 60 tons;
* ship ''Anna Marie'', of six men and 120 tons;
* ship ''Betsy'';
* ship ''Virginia'';
* schooner ''Nonsuch'', of five men and 65 tons;
* ship ''Buonaparte'';
* ship ''Anna'';
* schooner ''Virginia'';
* schooner ''Brant'';
* ship ''Necessity'', of four guns, 12 men, and 309 tons;
* schooner ''Amelia'', of 40 tons;
* schooner ''Resolution''; and
* privateer brig ''Ino'', of nine guns, 130 men, and 250 tons.
On 20 December ''Severn'' also captured the American
letter of marque schooner ''Banyer''. ''Banyer'' was armed with four guns and carried a crew of 31 men.
On 10 January 1815, Cockburn landed on
Cumberland Island
Cumberland Island, in the southeastern United States, is the largest of the Sea Islands of Georgia. The long-staple Sea Island cotton was first grown here by a local family, the Millers, who helped Eli Whitney develop the cotton gin. With its ...
in an effort to tie up American forces and keep them from joining other American forces to help defend
,
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, and the
Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...
. The naval squadron consisted of (74-guns), ''Regulus'' (44 guns;
en flute
En or EN may refer to:
Businesses
* Bouygues (stock symbol EN)
* Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway (reporting mark EN, but now known as Southern Railway of Vancouver Island)
* Euronews, a news television and internet channel
Language and writing
* ...
), ''Brune'' (56 guns; en flute), ''Severn'', ''Hebrus'' (36 guns), ''Rota'' (38 guns), ''Primrose'' (18 guns), and (both
bomb vessels
A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons ( long guns or carronades) – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – but mortars mounted ...
of 8 guns), and the schooners ''Canso'' (10 guns) and (12 guns).
Five days later a British force first bombarded and then landed near Fort Peter on Point Peter by the town of St. Marys. The British attacked and took the fort without suffering any casualties. They then headed for St. Marys along the St. Mary's River and captured it after skirmishing with a small American force. The British captured two American gunboats and 12 merchantmen, including the
East Indiaman
East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...
''Countess of Harcourt'', which an American privateer had captured on her way from India to London. The British ended their occupation of St. Marys after about a week and withdrew to Cumberland Island.
On 26 February 1815, ''Severn'' recaptured the merchantman ''Adventure'', which she sent in to Bermuda. This earned ''Severn'' salvage money for the vessel and her cargo.
Lastly, on 3 March, ''Severn'' destroyed the American privateer ''Ino'' (see above). American accounts report that ''Ino'' grounded outside of Charleston on 7 March. As her crew was attempting to free ''Ino'', ''Severn'' came on the scene and launched her boats to board ''Ino''. ''Ino''s crew, unaware that the war had ended on 15 February 1815, fired grapeshot and small arms at the British boats, causing them to shear off. ''Ino''s crew then set fire to her and took to their boats and some improvised rafts. A schooner that came out from Charleston rescued almost all. ''Ino''s crew believed that Captain Nourse of ''Severn'' had known for some days that the war had ended. The delay of payment of the head money may have been due to the need to adjudicate the case.
Post-war
''Severn'' was fitted at Chatham for foreign service between February and July 1816. In February the
Hon. Frederick W. Aylmer assumed command of ''Severn''. He then sailed her to Gibraltar and then took part in the
bombardment of Algiers on 27 August.
British casualties were heavy, though those of the Algerines were much heavier. ''Severn'' herself had three men killed and 34 wounded. As a result of the attack, the Dey agreed to abolish the enslavement of Christians in perpetuity, and to free all slaves whatsoever then in Algiers. The British also destroyed four large frigates, five large corvettes, numerous gunboats, and numerous merchant vessels. King
Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies bestowed on Aylmer the cross of a Commander of the Royal Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand and of Merit. Other captains and officers received similar awards. In May 1818 the participants in the battle were granted an award of £100,000. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Algiers" to the 1328 surviving claimants from the battle.
''Severn'' initially remained in the Mediterranean, first under Captain James Gordon and then under Captain Robert Spencer. From May 1817 ''Severn'' saw service off the Kent and Sussex coasts in the Royal Naval Coast Blockade for the Prevention of Smuggling. under the command of Captain William ("Flogging Joey") McCulloch, scourge of the smugglers.
On 6 August 1817 she seized a boat with foreign spirits and five empty boats. Three weeks later she seized ''Mary'', with four smugglers and a quantity of tea, and also seized two empty boats.
On 15 December ''Severn'' seized ''Po'', which was carrying a cargo of foreign spirits.
On 29 March 1818 ''Severn'' seized ''Linot'', which was carrying foreign spirits, and two smugglers.
Fate
''Severn'' was in
ordinary at Portsmouth in 1822, but by 1824 was at Deptford.
She was put up for sale in June 1825 at Deptford,
and sold to John Small Sedger, Rotherhithe, for £3,610 on 20 July.
Notes
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Severn (1813)
1813 ships
Ships built by the Blackwall Yard
Age of Sail frigates of the United Kingdom
War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom