USS Peacock ( 1813 ) USS " Peacock " was a sloop - of - war in the United States Navy during the War of 1812 . " Peacock " was authorized by Act of Congress 3 March 1813 , laid down 9 July 1813 by Noah and Adam Brown at the New York Navy Yard , and launched 19 September 1813 . She served in the War of 1812 , capturing twenty ships . Subsequently she served in the Mediterranean Squadron , and in the " Mosquito Fleet " suppressing Caribbean piracy . She patrolled the South American coast during the colonial wars of independence . She was decommissioned in 1827 and broken up in 1828 to be rebuilt as USS " Peacock " ( 1828 ) , intended as an exploration ship . She sailed as part of the United States Exploring Expedition in 1838 . " Peacock " ran aground and broke up on the Columbia Bar without loss of life in 1841 . War of 1812 . During the War of 1812 , " Peacock " made three cruises under the command of Master Commandant Lewis Warrington . Departing New York 12 March 1814 , she sailed with supplies to the naval station at St . Mary ' s , Georgia . Off Cape Canaveral , Florida 29 April , she captured her first prize , the British brig , which she sent to Savannah . " Peacock " departed Savannah on 4 June on her second cruise ; proceeding to the Grand Banks and along the coasts of Ireland and Spain , she returned via the West Indies to New York . She captured 14 enemy vessels of various sizes during this journey . " Peacock " departed New York 23 January 1815 with and and rounded the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean , where she captured three valuable prizes . On 30 June , she captured the 16 - gun brig " Nautilus " , under the command of Lieutenant Charles Boyce of the Bombay Marine of the East India Company in the Straits of Sunda , in the final naval action of the war . Boyce informed Warrington that the war had ended . Warrington suspected a ruse and ordered Boyce to surrender . When Boyce refused , Warrington opened fire , killing one seaman , two European invalids , and three lascar s , wounding Boyce severely , as well as mortally wounding the first lieutenant , and also wounding five lascars . American casualties amounted to some four or five men wounded . When Boyce provided documents proving that the Treaty of Ghent ending the war had been ratified , Warrington released the prize , though at no point did he in any way inquire about the Boyce ' s condition or that of any of the injured on " Nautilus " . " Peacock " returned to New York on 30 October . A court of inquiry in Boston a year later exonerated Warrington of all blame . In his report on the incident , Warrington reported that the British casualties had only been lascars . Post - war . " Peacock " left New York on 13 June 1816 , bound for France , with the Honorable Albert Gallatin and party aboard . After pulling into Havre de Grâce 2 July , she proceeded to join the Mediterranean Squadron . But for a year of Mediterranean – United States — and return transits , 15 November 1818 – 17 November 1819 , the sloop remained with this squadron until 8 May 1821 , when she departed for home ; she then went into ordinary at the Washington Navy Yard 10 July . Fighting pirates . Pirates were ravaging West Indian shipping in the 1820s and on 3 June 1822 , " Peacock " became flagship of Commodore David Porter ’ s West India Squadron , that rooted out the pirates . " Peacock " served in the expedition that broke up a pirate establishment at Funda Bay , 28 – 30 September , capturing several schooner s . " Peacock " captured the schooner " Pilot " 10 April 1823 and another sloop 16 April . In September , " malignant fever " necessitated a recess from activities , and " Peacock " pulled into Norfolk , Virginia 28 November . South Pacific coast , and Hawaiʻi . In July 1823 , the sloop was involved in the Battle of Lake Maracaibo and Mr . Peter Storms decided to join the Independentist cause , who won their independence on 3 August . Later , in March 1824 , the sloop proceeded to the Pacific and for some months cruised along the west coast of South America , where the colonies were struggling for independence . In September 1825 , " Peacock " sailed to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi , where a treaty of friendship , commerce and navigation was negotiated . From 24 July 1826 until 6 January 1827 , the sloop visited other Pacific islands to protect American commerce and the whaling industry . Returning to South America from Hawaii , the ship was struck by a whale , suffering serious damage . Nevertheless , she reached Callao , from which she departed 25 June for New York . USS " Peacock " ( 1828 ) . " Peacock " returned to New York in October 1827 to be decommissioned , broken up and rebuilt in 1828 for a planned expedition of exploration . Her size and configuration stayed about the same , but her guns were reduced to ten : eight long 24 - pounders and two long 9 - pounders . When plans for the exploratory voyage stalled in Congress , she re - entered regular service in the West Indies from 1829 – 31 . Following refit , both " Peacock " and the newly commissioned " Boxer " , a 10 - gun schooner , were ordered to assist the frigate " Potomac " , which had just sailed on the first Sumatran Expedition . The two ships were also charged with diplomatic missions . " Boxer " left Boston Harbor about the middle of February 1832 , with orders to proceed to Liberia and from thence to join the " Peacock " off the coast of Brazil ; " Peacock " sailed on 8 March 1832 under Commander David Geisinger . Diplomatic missions . " Peacock " conveyed Mr . Francis Baylies and family to the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata ( Argentina ) to assume the post of United States chargé d ’ affaires in the wake of the USS " Lexington " raid on the Falkland Islands in 1831 . After arrival at la Plata , both the British line - of - battle ship " Plantagenet " and H . B . M . frigate " Druid " complimented her flag by playing " Hail , Columbia " . Also aboard was President Andrew Jackson ' s " special confidential agent " Edmund Roberts in the official status of Captain ' s clerk . 25 June 1832 , having left orders for " Boxer " to follow to Bencoolen , " Peacock " departed war - stricken Montevideo for the Cape of Good Hope . After taking water at Tristan da Cunha and rounding the Cape , then trying to keep about latitude 38° or 39° , on 9 or 10 August a sea of uncommon height and volume struck the ship , and threw her nearly on her beam ends , completely overwhelmed the gig in the starboard - quarter , crushed it into atoms in a moment , and buried the first three ratlines of the mizen - shroud s under water . Picking up the southeast trade wind in the latitude of 16° and longitude 102° ( , ) on 28 August 1832 she makes Bencoolen where the Dutch Resident reports " Potomac " has completed her mission . Under orders to gather information before going to Cochin - China , " Peacock " sails for Manila by way of Long Island and ' Crokatoa ' ( Krakatoa ) , where hot spring s found on the eastern side of the islands one hundred and fifty feet from the shore boiled furiously up , through many fathoms of water . Her chronometer s proving useless , she threads the Sunda Strait by dead reckoning . and dysentery prevail among the crew from Angier to Manila ; after a fortnight there , cholera strikes despite overall cleanliness of the ship ; she loses 7 crewmen , and many who do recover die later in the voyage of other diseases . No new case of cholera occur after 2 November 1833 while under way for Macao . Within two league s of the Lemma or Ladrone islands , she takes aboard a pilot after settling on a fee of thirteen dollars and a bottle of rum . After six weeks in the vicinity of Canton City , China , with the onset of the winter northeast monsoon and no sign of " Boxer " , " Peacock " sails from Lintin for the bay of Turan ( modern Danang ) as best for access to Hué , capitol of Cochin - China . Contrary winds from the northwest rather than the expected northeast quarter coupled with a strong southward current cause her to lose ground on every tack until , on 6 January 1833 , she enters what enquiries disclose to be the Vung - lam harbour of Phu Yen province . On 8 February , Roberts having failed to gain permission to proceed to Hué due to miscommunication , " Peacock " weighs anchor for the gulf of Siam where on the 18th she anchors about 15 miles from the mouth of the river Menam in latitude 13° 26 ' N . and longitude 100° 33 ' E . ( ) — as was ascertained by frequent lunar observations and by four chronometers . On 20 March 1833 , Roberts concludes the Siamese - American Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the minister representing King Rama III , and " Peacock " departs 5 April to call on Singapore , 1 – 11 May . On 29 August in the Red Sea while bound to Mocha , " Peacock " encounters the " Nautilus " , the same brig mistakenly attacked after the termination of the late war with Great Britain – bound to Surat convoying four brigs , very much crowded with good mussulmans returning from Mecca . Arriving 13 September off Muscat , Roberts concludes a treaty with Sultan Said bin Sultan , and departs 7 October 1833 . On the voyage from Muscat to Mozambique , Roberts omits the particulars of each day , but states that what he has written serves " to show the absolute necessity of having first - rate chronometers , or the lunar observations carefully attended to ; and never omitted to be taken when practicable . " " Peacock " returns Roberts to Rio de Janeiro on 17 January 1834 , where on 1 March 1834 he boards " Lexington " for return to Boston harbor . Return mission . On 23 April 1835 , " Peacock " departs New York Harbor , once again with Roberts aboard , now under the command of C . K . Stribling and accompanied by the U . S . Schooner " Enterprise " , Lieutenant Commanding A . S . Campbell , both under the command of Commodore Edmund P . Kennedy , going first to Brazil , then round the Cape of Good Hope to Zanzibar , for Roberts to return ratifications of the two treaties . Masirah incident . On 21 September 1835 at 2 am southeast of Masirah Island about four hundred miles from Muscat , " Peacock " grounded on a coral reef in about 2 1 / 4 fathoms . Mr . Roberts , and six men under the command of Passed Midshipman William Rogers , left in a small boat to effect a rescue . The crew hove overboard 11 of 22 guns , re - floated the ship the 23rd and repelled Arab marauders before making sail the 24th . On the 28th off Muscat , " Peacock " encountered the sloop - of - war " Sultan " under the Muscat flag , and under the command of Mr . Taylor . ( For a full account of the Masirah incident , see Coupland , " East Africa and Its Invaders : From the Earliest Times to the Death of Seyyid Said in 1856 , 370 – 72 " . Said bin Sultan later recovered the guns that had been thrown overboard and shipped them to Roberts free of charge . " Peacock " later obtained this letter : I certify that during the period I have navigated the Arabian coast , and been employed in the trigonometrical survey of the same , now executing by order of the Bombay government , that I have ever found it necessary to be careful to take nocturnal as well as diurnal observations , as frequent as possible , owing to the rapidity and fickleness of the currents , which , in some parts , I have found running at the rate of three and four knots an hour , and I have known the " Palinurus " set between forty and fifty miles dead in shore , in a dead calm , during the night . It is owing to such currents , that I conceive the United States ship of war " Peacock " run aground , as have many British ships in previous years , on and near the same spot ; when at the changes of the monsoons , and sometimes at the full and change , you have such thick weather , as to prevent the necessary observations being taken with accuracy and the navigator standing on with confidence as to his position , and with no land in sight , finds himself to his sorrow , often wrong , owing to a deceitful and imperceptible current , which has set him with rapidity upon it . The position of Mazeira Island , is laid down by Owen many miles too much to the westward . Given under my hand this 10th day of November , 1835 . S . B . Haines . Commander of the Honourable East India Company ' s surveying brig " Palinurus . " To sailing master , John Weems , U . S . Navy . A second attempt at negotiation with Cochin - China fails as Roberts falls desperately ill of dysentery , withdrawing to Macao where he dies 12 June 1836 . William Ruschenberger , M . D . , ( 1807 – 1895 ) commissioned on this voyage , and gives an account of it up until 27 October 1837 when the " Peacock " anchors opposite the city of Norfolk , Virginia , after an absence of more than two years and a half . Exploration expedition and fate . " Peacock " joins the United States Exploring Expedition in 1838 , where she did good service before getting stuck on a bar of the Columbia River in Oregon . She broke up on 17 – 19 July 1841 after all the crew and much of the scientific data had been taken off ( though most of Titian Peale ' s notes were lost ) .