USS Chesapeake and HMS Shannon, 1June1813, paintings by ]. C. Schetky based on a design by Captain R.H King, RN. Published by Smith, Elder & Company, London, in 1830. (top) The battle begins with the exchange ofgunfire at close range. (2nd from top) USS Chesapeake is ''crippled and thrown into utter disorder" by HMS Shannon's first two broadsides. (3rd from top) Shannon continues to pound her opponent and in 15 minutes the battle was over. (bottom right) HMS Shannon is depicited "leading her prize . .. into Halifax Harbour, on the 6th June 1813," with the Royal Navy's white ensign flown above the US ensign on the Chesapeake.
\ his own self-aggrandizement, chafed ro get word got back ro England that they had problems in ro sea. The repons that two British frigates were cruising off and on the President the Pacific. The Admiralty sent two warships, Cherub Roads, just outside Boston Harbor, only fueled his passion ro, once again, prove and Phoebe, under the comhis mettle. His previous valiant performand of Captain James Hillyar, ro find this menace mance (again, in his mind) could only and deal wirh him. (More be the harbinger of a glorious future . Late in May, he sent a local fishing on that in an upcoming issue of Sea Hisrory.) boat out ro see if the British were still in Fresh from his vicrory evidence. The report returned that, yes, HMS Shannon was, in fact, still sailing off th e coast of Sou th off and on, but there was no sign of her America in February 1813, consort, HMS Tenedos. Unbeknownst Master Commandant James Lawrence returned h ome ro the Americans, Captain Philip Broke quite prepared for a glorious welcome. After . . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , in Shannon had sent all, there had been few naval victories of note the other ship away ro / and all of the commanders involved, Hull, entice Chesapeake out of the harbor and then Bainbridge, and Decatur, had been feted as sent a note into Bosron heroes. Those vicrories, however, had been won in frigates, fighting the frigates of the offering Lawren ce a most powerful navy in the world. Lawrence fair fight in singlehad won his glory in USS Hornet, a sloop ship combat. Lawrence never received the of war, which, although sh ip rigged o n invitation; h e had three mas ts, was considerably smaller and carried a much smaller crew and battery: already sailed. Certain of hi s invincibility, sixteen 9-pounders, two 12-po unders, Lawrence had rallied and some carronades as compared ro the his crew, most of which frigates' armament of forty-five to fifty 24pounders. In addition, Hornet had not faced an equal, bur a significantly smaller brig. Lawrence was indeed given a hero's welcome, but it was hardly what he considered his due. Internally, the Navy recognized his feat, promoted him to captain, and posted him to the command of the frigate USS Chesapeake. She was smaller than the famed Constitution and United States, and rated at 36 guns rather than the 44 carried by the "heavy frigates," but, nonetheless, she was a frigate . It was, in his mind, nothing less than his due, and he reported aboard his new command in Boston where the ship was undergoing repairs from a recent-and unsuccessful -cruise. His crew was short-handed, provisions were scant, and the local merchants were unwilling ro provide for the ship's needs on credit. This was New England where, by and large, the populace was decidedly against "Mister Madison's War." Lawrence, filled with
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