time being only 6 miles to leeward, making short tacks. Our crew, 8 in number, got on the side, holding fast by the stanchions; a tremendous sea running, expected every moment to be washed off. After she upset rhe Herald lost sight of us till the third tack, when she put out two boats, the first lieut. in one of them, and at an imminent hazard of foundering succeeded in raking us off the wreck. We remained on board the Herald till the Tuesday following, when we were set ashore at the Balize under a flag of truce. Could the Mardi Gras shipwreck be the remains of Rapid? The MMS immediately launched a search for records related to Rapid and her loss. Several key documents in the National Archives in Washingcorr; DC, included the vessel's registration with the port of New Orleans, dated 23 November 1813. The owner of the vessel was listed as Harvey Elkins and James Sandford was master, the same names that appear in the New York Evening Post article. Rapids registration describes the ship as a two-masted schooner with one deck with a length of 52 feet, a breadth of 14 feet 9 inches, and a depth of hold of 5 feet 8 inches. Her tonnage was rated at 43 11 / 95 . Rapid was built in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1812 and first registered in Charleston on 12June 1812, with Certificate of Registry number 25. The Charleston record have not survived; however, the original owner and master of Rapid can be deduced from an application made in Charleston for a Letter of Marque and Reprisal dared 15 August 1812. This document names the vessel's captain as Charles Francis Broguet and her owner as Francis Tite Duboc, likely the Fran<;ois Tire Duboc identified as a merchant from Havre de Grace, France, whose wedding to Sophie Leroy of St. Domingo was announced in the 30 April 1806 edition of the Charleston Times. More importantly, the document identifies Rapid as a pilot schooner carrying one sixpounder cannon, muskets and side-arms. Her crew of fifty comprised "Frenchmen, Negroes, etc." Rapid's early history is somewhat obscure. She was, nonetheless, among the
SEA HISTORY 142, SPRJNG 2013
9o·w
a9·w
aa·w
N
30°N
30°
La Balize
•
0
HMS Herald
29°N
29°
X Mardi Gras .....~ J,..
0 1
1
1
1
25 s~, I 4
Nautical Miles
9o·w
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Data Source Credits: Sources: GEBCO, NOAA, Natklnal Geographic, Delorme, and Esri
a9•w
88°W
Approximate positions ofthe engagement between Rapid and HMS Herald. Note: the 1812 location of La Balize shown is bas"5:n r:urrent geographical data (2013). The shoreline in this region has shifted considerably ir. 1;;e last two centuries.
first privateering schooners to sail o ut of Charleston on 18 August 1812, just two months after the United States declared war on Great Britain on 18 June. Within a few days of sailing, Rapid fought a British privateer in the Bahamas, which she boarded, took, and burned. On 10October1812, the privateers Rossie and Globe overtook Rapid in Mona Passage, between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, and recorded that "they had been out 32 days, that they had captured a New Providence privateer of one gun and 19 men, that they had landed all but six Negroes which they intended to sell." Rapid had also captured the two-gun schooner Comet, which was sent to Savannah with a prize crew; the brig Victoria, captured with 250 hogsheads of Jamaican rum; and the schooner Mary, which was ransomed back on account of not having enough men to sail it. Rapids career as a privateer was intended to continue under a new owner,
Harvey Elkins of New Orleans, who petitioned to "cruise against the enemies of the United States ofAmerica'' o n 20 November 1813. Elkins's petition noted that Rapid was manned by eight men (as opposed to her original complement of fifty) and still carried the six-pounder cannon. Elkins's career as a privateer was brief. After his 20 November petition and subsequent enrollment at Customs on the 23rc1, he sailed from New Orleans two days later to the outpost of"the Balize" at the mouth of the river. From there, Rapid departed for Havana on the28'h. 1heschooner had hardly left the safety of the river when she was spotted by the British sloop-of-war HMS Herald, armed with sixteen 32-pounder carronades, six 18-pounders, and two sixpounders and carrying a crew of 121 men. Herald was one of several British warships enforcing a blockade of Gulf pores, which included the 18-gun cruizer-class HMS Forester and the 14-gun brig HMS Contest. 25