Otway Burns (c. 1775 – August 25, 1850) was 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 ...

during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

and later, a

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

State Senator.

Early life

Burns was born at Queen's Creek, near Swansboro, North Carolina. He became a seaman after learning the trade at the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

s in Swansboro and Beaufort, a nearby town situated in Carteret County. After acquiring the skills needed to become a merchant captain, Burns sailed along the East Coast of the United States, all the way north up to

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. After his voyage, he married his cousin, Joanna Grant, on July 6, 1809. The next year, the couple moved to Swansboro. There, Joanna gave birth to Owen, the couple's only child. Burns received financial support for his trading activities from Edward Pasteur, a physician and local political leader from

New Bern New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...

. In the summer of 1812, just a month after the War of 1812 had commenced, Burns and Pasteur purchased a vessel in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

for eight thousand

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, which Burns intended to use for

privateering 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 ...

along the coast of

The Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nor ...

.Hunter, p. 76. The 147-ton vessel, named ''Zephyr'', had been constructed four years earlier on the West River in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. ''Zephyr'' measured from

bow (ship) The bow () is the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is usually most forward when the vessel is underway. The aft end of the boat is the stern. Prow may be used as a synonym for bow or it may mean the forward-most par ...

to stern, had a beam of and a depth of almost . The vessel was armed with one

pivot gun A pivot gun was a type of cannon mounted on a fixed central emplacement which permitted it to be moved through a wide horizontal arc. They were a common weapon aboard ships and in land fortifications for several centuries but became obsolete aft ...

and between five and seven gun carriages. Also on board were a number of small arms:

cutlass A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a common naval weapon during the early Age of S ...

es, pistols, muskets, boarding pikes,

pickaxe A pickaxe, pick-axe, or pick is a generally T-shaped hand tool used for prying. Its head is typically metal, attached perpendicularly to a longer handle, traditionally made of wood, occasionally metal, and increasingly fiberglass. A stand ...

s and blunderbusses. After rechristening the vessel as ''Snap Dragon'', Burns and Pasteur obtained official letters of marque for the vessel in New York on August 27, 1812. After sailing back to New Bern, the men sold their 50 shares in the ship at a price of US$260 per share to eight other

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

s from New Bern, Tarboro and Edenton.

Privateering career

Pasteur and Burns, on ''Snap Dragon'', headed to New Bern to recruit men to join the vessel's crew. To their surprise, some of New Bern's political leaders treated privateering like piracy, and they tried to complicate matters for the two privateers. The leaders convinced new recruits to borrow money, upon which, they would be arrested for their debt. Burns twice retaliated against the politicians.Hunter, p. 77. In one incident, the crew of ''Snap Dragon'' sank a boat with constables who were planning on boarding the ship. Subsequently, a local attorney labeled the vessel as a "licensed robber". Burns responded by rowing to land and throwing the lawyer into a river. With a 25-man crew, Burns left New Bern for

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Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. On October 14, 1812, ''Snap Dragon'' and another vessel, ''Revenge'', sailed south. The vessels separated a week later. ''Snap Dragon'' encountered success early in the cruise. In one situation, she outran a British frigate and sloop. A few days later, ''Snap Dragon'' captured its first prize, a British merchant ship armed with 14 guns. Soon after, Burns and Pasteur led the vessel to St. Thomas in the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Cro ...

. To fool enemy British ships, they disguised ''Snap Dragon'' as a merchant ship by putting up old, ragged sails and moving the guns out of view. ''Snap Dragon'' ran into five British men of war. One of the ships, the frigate , fired a warning shot and signaled the other ships to chase down ''Snap Dragon''.Hunter, p. 78. For over two hours, Burns led ''Snap Dragon'' away from danger, toward Ship Rock passage, which unknowingly, was blocked by two British brigs. immediately launched an attack on ''Snap Dragon''. Burns told his crew to lie down on the deck while the vessel was being fired upon. Fortunately, Burns was able to command the vessel away from the British ships, unscathed. The next morning, Burns and his crew encountered , another British man of war, but again they successfully escaped. The crew of ''Snap Dragon'' made their way to

St. Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...

, where they made "several small captures" of coastal traders. Burns commanded ''Snap Dragon'' on her next two cruises, during which he had several encounters with British men-of-war and took numerous prizes.

Life after privateering

Months before he completed his third cruise in 1814, Burns' wife Joanna and son Owen left him to live with relatives in Jones County. In September, Joanna died, leaving her son in the custody of her family for five years before Burns obtained legal guardianship over Owen. Three months later, Burns married Jane Hall, a 20-year-old from Beaufort, North Carolina. In April 1815, Burns purchased a property in Beaufort, on which he built a house, that would be his family's residence for the next 20 years.

Business

From the wealth he gained from privateering, Burns became a

shipbuilder Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

at Swansboro, North Carolina and made investments in local businesses. In 1818, he built ''Prometheus'' at his shipyard in Swansboro near the mouth of the White Oak River (NC Historical Marker #54), the first steamboat in North Carolina, which operated on the

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...

. In 1823, he built ''Warrior'' in Beaufort, followed by the brig ''Henry'', eight years later.Hunter, p. 90. During much of the 1820s, he managed a store and

taproom Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ...

on his Beaufort property, and also had a partnership in a Taylor's Creek salt distribution company. Burns possessed a number of vessels, such as a schooner, seiner,

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

and a mullet boat. Among other things, he also co-owned brick kilns used by the federal government to build

Fort Macon A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, in the largest

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

project in the history of the area, and enslaved 11 people, whose forced labor was used for his businesses and on his plantation in Carteret County.

Political career

Burns' political career started with his 1821 election to represent Carteret County in the

North Carolina House of Commons The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North Ca ...

and his appointment to serve as the commissioner of a local canal connecting Neuse and

Newport River The Newport River is a small river in North Carolina that runs approximately twelve miles (twenty kilometers) southeast through the town of Newport with its mouth opening into Bogue Sound, between Morehead City and Beaufort. It is popular for fla ...

s. He served 11 terms in the legislature — seven in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

and four in the Senate — over a course of 14 years.

Later life

In 1835 President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

appointed him keeper of the Brant Island Shoal Light, a position he held until his death. He is buried in the Old Burying Ground at Beaufort.

Legacy

Two destroyers have been named in his honor: and , in service during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and II, respectively. In 1834, Burnsville, North Carolina was founded and named in his honor. A statue of him was placed in the town square in 1909. The town of Otway, in Carteret County, North Carolina, is also named for him. He has descendants living today in the areas of Beaufort, Swansboro and Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, and in the immediate area of his birth near Queens Creek, North Carolina. Captain Burns' life is the basis of a historical novel by Ruth P. Barbour, ''The Cruise of the Snap Dragon.''

Notes

External links

Biographical Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Otway 1775 births 1850 deaths American privateers North Carolina state senators Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives People from Carteret County, North Carolina People from Onslow County, North Carolina