HMS Shanno n Leads her prize, USS C hesapeake, into Halifax, 6 June 1813. N ote the Royal Navy's white ensign flying above the US ensign onboard C hesapeake. James Lawrence died en route to Halifax from his wounds and was buried there with fa ll honors. H is body was Later exhumed and reinterred in New York City, along with that of his Acting First Lieutenant, Augustus Ludlow. Watercolor by j. C. Schetky the bleeding, weakened Law rence to th e hatch, th e captain summ o ned his strength and cried o ut his last command. "Don't give up the ship, lads. Figh t her as long as she swi ms!" It is repo rted that Lawrence, des perately wo unded, continued to cry our the order as hi s strength ebbed. Ludlow yelled at the crew to fire, bur not a gun on the fr igate wo uld bear, while the fo rward guns on Shannon continued to pour ro und after ro und into the stri cken vessel. The decks and scuppers literally ran red with the blood of the dead and wo unded . H e yelled, cal ling away the boa rders; nor a man moved . Caprain Broke personally led his own boarding parry imo th e crippled Am erican ship with th e cry, "Follow me who can!" They fo und American sailo rs dead and dying; the few still able put up a weak resistance, bur th ere was lirrl e to be do ne. Ludlow, now incapabl e of leadin g his beaten crew, co ll apsed o n the quarrerd eck, weak fro m a cu dass stro ke that split hi s head open. H e was carried below and laid on the deck next to his cap tain. In just thirteen minutes since the first gun was fired, Chesapeake had becom e
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for brilliant victo ry is achi eved at the risk of disastrous defeat, and those laurels are ever b ri ghter that are gathered in the very track of dange r." In Naval circles, however, a different sto ry linge red. Might Law rence have raken a different course than the hasty o ne that brought him alongs ide the one ship in the Royal Navy most renowned fo r its gunnery? Did nor anyo ne realize that Lawrence was no t in the same league as Hull , Bainbridge, and D ecatur, each a naval genius in his own right? H e was over-co nfident and consumed with the need for another glo rious victory, bo th to satisfy his own appetite and to prove to the Navy D epanmem that he was wo rthy of th eir respect. Years later, opinio n (in the Navy) held that, had Lawrence survived the disaster, he should have been courtmarri aled and sho t. Rumo rs that Bro ke had dispatched a letter to Lawrence challenging him to co me o ut and meet him in combat were part ially substantiated . Broke did send the letter, but Lawrence was already underway a nd never received it; it was his own decisio n, in th e face of overwhelmin g advers ity, to m eet Broke and his fr iga te in single-ship combat. Lawrence's need for self-g ratification cos t the lives of 150 of his m en (not to mentio n his own) and a fri gate. In the minds of citizens franti c fo r heroes, however, Lawrence's dreadful error was turned in to an act of des perate heroism , making him a symbol of Am eri can streng th and independence. His final uttera nce becam e a li ving icon of th at sam e des pe rate hero ism. "D o n't give up the ship, lads!"
a British prize; the America n crew was locked below or taken to Shannon, and the ship was repaired and sailed to Halifax. Both Ludlow and Lawrence died en route and were buried with full ho no rs in that city. Subsequently, George Crowninshield, a Salem , Massachusens, m erchant and privateer, petitio ned the W hite H o use for a "pass" and sailed under a fl ag of truce to H ali fax to retrieve the heroes' bodies. Both Lawrence and Ludlow were re-interred in Salem , only to be moved therea fter to Trinity C hurch at th e foo t of Broadway in New Yo rk City, where they remain today. Fo r som e time, Lawrence was hailed as 1 Joh n Rod ge rs was Constitution's captain, an "unlucky" hero o n a jinxed ship. There but, as commodo re of a squad ro n and we re scapegoats who took the blam e fo r also in charge of laying up 52 Jeffersonian the disaster, no t Lawrence. Willi am Cox gunboats, he was absent a good part of the was court m anialed and found guil ty of tim e Lawrence served onboard. .t abando ning his post durin g battle (he had carri ed Lawrence below). Survivo rs d rank William H. White is a maritime historian spefor half a century o n their story, bo th in cializing in American naval events during the E ngland and in America. No body men- Age ofFighting Sail. He has written four novtio ned Lawrence's blunder. His image re- els of naval fiction and is a trustee of NMH S, mained un rarnished, at least in the minds USS Constitution Museum, and a consultant of the Am erican populace. Washington to the J 8 12 reproduction p rivateer Lynx. FurIrving wro te what becam e the traditional ther imformation on the author and his books attirnde towa rd the fall en Lawrence, " . .. may bte found at: www.seafiction.net.
S> EAHlSTORY 114, SPRING 2006