page_title: Chesapeake–Leopard affair
section_title: Attack and search
hierarchical_section_title: Chesapeake–Leopard affair / Attack and search
caption_attribution_description: English: Daniel Martin is listed as born in West Port, Massachusetts; he is described as age 24, 5’ 5’’ and ½ inches high with woolly hair, black eyes and dark yellow complexion with a small scar over his right eyebrow. certificate issued 6 Oct 1804.On 22 June 1807 an incident took place altered Martin's life. This was the impressment of American seamen from the USS Chesapeake. The British vessel HMS Leopard seized four men Daniel Martin, John Strachan, William Ware and Jenkin Radford, claiming three were from HMS Melampus, and Jenkin Ratford, formerly on the HMS Halifax.
context_page_description: The Chesapeake–Leopard affair was a naval engagement that occurred off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, on Monday, June 22, 1807, between the British warship HMS Leopard and the American frigate USS Chesapeake. The crew of Leopard pursued, attacked, and boarded the American frigate, looking for deserters from the Royal Navy. Chesapeake was caught unprepared and after a short battle involving broadsides received from Leopard, the commander of Chesapeake, James Barron, surrendered his vessel to the British. Chesapeake had fired only one shot.
  Four crew members were removed from the American vessel and were tried for desertion, one of whom was subsequently hanged. Chesapeake was allowed to return home, where James Barron was court martialed and relieved of command.
  The Chesapeake–Leopard affair created an uproar among Americans. There were strident calls for war with Great Britain, but these quickly subsided. President Thomas Jefferson initially attempted to use this widespread bellicosity to diplomatically threaten the British government into settling the matter.
context_section_description: Chesapeake was off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, commanded by Commodore James Barron, when Leopard, under Captain Salusbury Pryce Humphreys, encountered and hailed her. Barron was not alarmed, and received Lieutenant John Meade on board, who presented Barron with the search warrant. After an inconclusive discussion, Meade returned to Leopard. Captain Humphreys, using a hailing trumpet, ordered the American ship to submit. When Chesapeake did not, Humphreys fired a round across her bow. This was followed immediately by Leopard firing broadsides into the American ship. Her guns unloaded and her decks cluttered with stores in preparation for a long cruise, Chesapeake managed to fire only a single gun in reply. The humiliated Barron struck his colors and surrendered. Three of Chesapeake's crew had been killed and 18 wounded, including Barron, by the attack. However, Humphreys refused the surrender and sent a boarding party to Chesapeake to search for deserters.
  Scores of British nationals had signed on as crewmen of Chesapeake, but Humphreys seized only the four Royal Navy deserters: Daniel Martin, John Strachan and William Ware, all from HMS Melampus, and Jenkin Ratford, formerly on HMS Halifax. Only Ratford was British-born. The others were American residents, but had been serving on British warships. Daniel Martin for instance claimed he was born in West Port, Massachusetts; he is described as age 24, 5 feet 5 ¹⁄₂ inches (1.664 m) high with "woolly hair", black eyes and dark yellow complexion and a small scar over his right eyebrow. Prior to Chesapeake, Martin served on the merchant vessel Caledonia and is described as "a colored man." Newspaper accounts of the time state Martin was not born in the United States but brought to Massachusetts, (possibly enslaved) when he was six years old by mariner William Howland, from Buenos Aires.
  The brig Columbine brought the first dispatches to Halifax in early July. Leopard followed with her prisoners for trial. Jenkin Ratford, the sole British citizen, was sentenced to death and was hanged from the yardarm of Halifax on August 31, 1807. The three American deserters received sentences of 500 lashes each, but the sentences were later commuted.
  The bloody encounter caused a storm of protest from the United States government, and the British government eventually offered to return the three American residents and to pay reparations for the damage to Chesapeake. The schooner HMS Bream returned the last two British deserters to Boston, Massachusetts, one month after the outbreak of the War of 1812.
caption: Seaman's protection certificate issued in New Orleans,  to  Daniel Martin on 6 Oct. 1804
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