''Rover'' was a

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 ...

brig out of Liverpool, Nova Scotia known for several bold battles in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. She was built in Brooklyn,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

(then known as Herring Cove) over the winter of 1799-1800. ''Rover '' was owned by a group of merchants from Liverpool, Nova Scotia led by

Simeon Perkins Colonel Simeon Perkins (February 24, 1735 – May 9, 1812) was a Nova Scotia militia leader, merchant, diarist and politician. Perkins led the defence of Liverpool from attacks during the American Revolution, French Revolutionary Wars and the Nap ...

and Snow Parker. ''Rover''s captain was Alexander Godfrey, and she sailed under a letter of marque. Her crew were mainly fishermen.

Career

''Rover'' was built at Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, then called Herring Cove, across the harbour from Liverpool, Nova Scotia. She was one of five privateers commissioned from Liverpool to follow the success of the ship ''Charles Mary Wentworth''. ''Rover'' won fame with several bold engagements, including a single handed attack on a French convoy, but she is most famous for a battle off

Spanish Main During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to di ...

with the Spanish naval schooner '' Santa Rita'', and three accompanying gunboats. On 10 September 1800 on the coast of

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 ...

, ''Rover'' captured ''Santa Rita'', a schooner fitted out in Puerto Cabello, which had ten 6-pounder guns and two 12-pounder carronades, and having 125 men. ''Rover'' did not lose a single man of her crew of 45; Godfrey reported that he had captured 71 men, including the wounded, and that the ''Santa Rita'' had lost 54 men killed.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 5, pp.176-7. The capture made Godfrey a hero in British naval circles. He was celebrated in the British journal, the ''Naval Chronicle'', and offered a commission in the

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 ...

, which he declined. He returned to trading and died a few years later of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

in Jamaica. Later cruises by ''Rover'' were less successful. A subsequent captain, Benjamin Collins, lost his letter of marque and created trouble for ''Rover's'' owners with the illegal capture of several merchant vessels.

Fate

After 1803, she was sold to Halifax owners who employed her as a merchant vessel. She later capsized and sank in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

Legacy

In the 20th century the Mersey Paper Company in ''Rover's'' old home port of Liverpool, Nova Scotia named one of its pulp and paper steamships after the privateer brig. Nova Scotian writer Thomas H. Raddall wrote a history of ''Rover'' and based his 1948 novel ''Pride's Fancy'' on the brig. The privateer also inspired the "Ballad of the Rover", a song written in the 1920s by Nova Scotian writer

Archibald MacMechan Archibald McKellar MacMechan (June 21, 1862 – 7 August 1933) was a Canadian academic at Dalhousie University and writer. His works deal mainly with Nova Scotia and its history. ''The Halifax Disaster (Explosion)'' was an official history of th ...

Citations

References

*Raddall, Thomas H. (1958). ''The Rover: The Story of a Canadian Privateer.'' Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. *Conlin, Daniel. "A Private War in the Caribbean: Nova Scotian Privateering 1793-1805, ''The Northern Mariner'', Vol. VI, No. 4, p. 29-48.
Archibald MacMechan. "Godfrey of the 'Rover'". In ''Tales of the Sea''. McClelland & Stewart Limited. 1947. pp. 91-103
(Also re-printed in MacMechan's ''Old Province Tales'')
Privateers and privateering by Statham, Edward Phillips. 1910. pp.336-340Naval Chronicles. Vol. 5, pp.176-7

External links

* ttp://www.cindyvallar.com/canprivateers.html Pirates & Privateers: Canadian Privateersbr>Queens County Internet Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rover (privateering ship), The Brigs Maritime history of Canada Tall ships of Canada Individual sailing vessels Ships built in Nova Scotia Sailing ships of Canada Privateer ships 1800 ships