Capture of USS Chesapeake The Capture of USS " Chesapeake " , or the Battle of Boston Harbor , was fought on 1 June 1813 , between the frigate s HMS " Shannon " and USS " Chesapeake " , as part of the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom . The " Chesapeake " was captured in a brief but intense action in which over 80 men were killed . This was the only frigate action of the war in which there was no preponderance of force on either side . At Boston , Captain James Lawrence took command of " Chesapeake " on 20 May 1813 , and on 1 June , put to sea to meet the waiting HMS " Shannon " , the frigate whose written challenge had just missed " Chesapeake " s sailing . " Chesapeake " suffered early in the exchange of gunfire , having her wheel and fore topsail halyard shot away , rendering her unmanoeuvrable . Lawrence himself was mortally wounded and was carried below . The American crew struggled to carry out their captain ' s last order , " Don ' t give up the ship ! " , but the British boarding party overwhelmed them . The battle was notably intense but of short duration , lasting ten to fifteen minutes , in which time 252 men were killed or wounded . " Shannon " s Captain Philip Broke was severely injured in fighting on the forecastle . " Chesapeake " and her crew were taken to Halifax , Nova Scotia , where the sailors were imprisoned ; the ship was repaired and taken into service by the Royal Navy . She was sold at Portsmouth , England in 1819 and broken up . Surviving timbers were used to build the nearby Chesapeake Mill in Wickham and can be seen and visited to this day . Prelude . Broke ' s naval gunnery and training . During his long period in command of " Shannon " , Captain Philip Broke introduced practical refinements to his ' great guns ' , which were virtually unheard of elsewhere in contemporary naval gunnery . He had ' dispart sights ' fitted to his 18 - pounder long guns , which improved aiming as they compensated for the narrowing of the barrels from the breech to the muzzle . He had the elevating ' quoins ' ( wedge - shaped pieces of wood placed under the breech ) of his long guns grooved to mark various degrees of elevation so that his guns could be reliably levelled to fire horizontally in any state of heeling of the ship under a press of sail . The carronade s were similarly treated , but the elevating screws on these cannon were marked in paint . He also introduced a system where bearings were incised into the deck next to each gun ; fire could then be directed to any bearing independent of the ability of any particular gun crew to see the target . Fire from the whole battery could also be focused on any part of an enemy ship . Broke drilled his crew to an extremely high standard of naval gunnery ; he regularly had them fire at targets , such as floating barrels . Often these drills would be made into competitions to see which gun crew could hit the target and how fast they could do so . He even had his gun crews fire at targets ' blindfold ' to good effect ; they were only given the bearing to lay their gun on without being allowed to sight the gun on the target themselves . This constituted a very early example of ' director firing ' . In addition to these gunnery drills , Broke was fond of preparing hypothetical scenarios to test his crew . For example , after all hands had been drummed to quarters , he would inform them of a theoretical attack and see how they would act to defend the ship . Though the use of cutlasses in training was avoided a method of swordsmanship training called ' singlestick ' was regularly practised . This was a game employing roughly similar thrusts and parries as were used with the cutlass , but as it was played with wooden sticks with wicker hand guards ; hits , although painful , were not often dangerous . It soon developed quickness of eye and wrist . Many of the crew became very expert . Issuing a challenge . Eager to engage and defeat one of the American frigates that had already scored a number of victories over the Royal Navy in single ship confrontations , Broke prepared a challenge . The USS " President " had already slipped out of the harbour under the cover of fog and had evaded the British . The " Constitution " was undergoing extensive repairs and alterations and would not be ready for sea in the foreseeable future . However , the " Chesapeake " appeared to be ready to put to sea . Consequently Broke decided to challenge the " Chesapeake " , which had been refitting in Boston harbour under the command of Captain James Lawrence , offering single ship - to - ship combat . Whilst patrolling offshore , the " Shannon " had intercepted and captured a number of American ships attempting to reach the harbour . After sending two of them off to Halifax , he found that his crew was being dangerously reduced . Broke therefore resorted to burning the rest of the prizes in order to conserve his highly trained crew in anticipation of the battle with the " Chesapeake " . The boats from the burnt prizes were sent into Boston , carrying Broke ' s oral invitation to Lawrence to come out and engage him . Broke had already sent the " Tenedos " away in the hope that the more favourable odds would entice the American out , but eventually began to despair that the " Chesapeake " would ever come out of the harbour . He finally decided to send a written challenge . In this he was copying his adversary . Lawrence had earlier in the war , when captain of the sloop of war " Hornet " , sent a written invitation to the captain of the British sloop of war " Bonne Citoyenne " to a single - ship contest . Lawrence ' s offer had been declined . Captain Lawrence did not in fact receive Broke ' s letter and , according to author Ian W . Toll , it would not have made the slightest difference ; Lawrence intended to sail USS " Chesapeake " at the first day of favorable weather . The fact that it was not in his nation ' s interests at this point in the war to be challenging British frigates seems to have not entered into his reasoning . When USS " President " had slipped out of harbor , it was to embark on a commerce - raiding mission , which was deemed in the U . S . national interest . Half of the officers and up to one quarter of the crew were new to the ship . In the short time he was in command of the " Chesapeake " Lawrence had twice exercised his crew at the great guns , walking the decks and personally supervising the drill . He also instigated a signal , a bugle call , to call on his crew to board an enemy vessel . Unfortunately the only crewmember able to produce a note on the bugle was a " dull - witted " ' loblolly boy ' ( surgeon ' s assistant ) called William Brown . Lawrence believed that he would win the battle and wrote two quick notes , one to the Secretary of the Navy pronouncing his intentions , and another to his brother in - law asking him to look after Lawrence ' s wife and children in event of his death . By now the " Shannon " had been off Boston for 56 days and was running short of provisions , whilst the extended period at sea was wearing the ship down . She would be at a disadvantage facing the " Chesapeake " , fresh from harbour and a refit . A boat was despatched carrying the invitation , manned by a Mr Slocum , a discharged American prisoner . The boat had not reached the shore when the " Chesapeake " was seen underway , sailing out of the harbour . She was flying three American ensigns and a large white flag at the foremast inscribed ' Free Trade and Sailor ' s Rights ' . " Shannon " carried 276 officers , seamen and marines of her proper complement , eight recaptured seamen , 22 Irish labourers who had been 48 hours in the ship , of whom only four could speak English , and 24 boys , of whom about 13 were under 12 years of age . Broke had trained his gun crews to fire accurate broadsides into the hulls of enemy vessels , with the aim of killing their gun crews , rather than shooting down the masts . Lawrence meanwhile was confident in his ship , especially since she carried a substantially larger crew . Previous American victories over Royal Navy ships left him expectant of success . Just before the engagement , the American crew gave three cheers . The two ships had in one another about as close a match in size and force as was possible , given the variations in ship design and armament existing between contemporary navies . The USS " Chesapeake ' s " ( rated at 38 guns ) armament of 28 18 - pounder long guns was an exact match for HMS " Shannon " . Measurements proved the ships to be about the same deck length , the only major difference being the ships ' complements : " Chesapeake " s 379 against the " Shannon " s 330 . Comparison of combatant vessels Battle . Gunnery duel . As the American ship approached , Broke spoke to his crew , ending with a description of his philosophy of gunnery , " Throw no shot away . Aim every one . Keep cool . Work steadily . Fire into her quarters – maindeck to maindeck , quarterdeck to quarterdeck . Don ' t try to dismast her . Kill the men and the ship is yours . " The two ships met at half past five in the afternoon , east of the Boston Light , between Cape Ann and Cape Cod . " Shannon " was flying a weather - worn blue ensign , and her dilapidated outside appearance after a long period at sea suggested that she would be an easy opponent . Observing the " Chesapeake " ' s many flags , a sailor had questioned Broke : " Mayn ' t we have three ensigns , sir , like she has ? " " No , " said Broke , " we ' ve always been an unassuming ship . " HMS " Shannon " refused to fire upon USS " Chesapeake " as she bore down , nor would USS " Chesapeake " rake HMS " Shannon " despite having the weather gage . Lawrence ' s behavior that day earned him praise from the British officers for gallantry . The two ships opened fire just before 18 : 00 at a range of about 35 metres , with " Shannon " scoring the first hit , striking the " Chesapeake " on one of her forward gunports with two round shot and a bag of musket balls fired by William Mindham , the gun captain of the aftmost of " Shannon " ' s starboard 18 - pounders . " Chesapeake " was moving faster than the " Shannon " , and as she ranged down the side of the British ship , the destruction inflicted by the precise and methodical gunnery of the British crew moved aft with the American ' s forward gun crews suffering the heaviest losses . However , the American crew were well drilled and , despite their losses , returned fire briskly . As " Chesapeake " was heeling , many of their hits on " Shannon " struck the water or waterline of " Shannon " causing little damage but American carronade fire caused serious damage to " Shannon " ' s rigging . In particular , a 32 pounder carronade ball struck the piled shot for the " Shannon ' s " 12 pounder gun that was stowed in the main chains ; the shot was propelled through the timbers to scatter like hail across the gundeck . Captain Lawrence realised that his ship ' s speed would take it past the " Shannon " and ordered a ' pilot ' s luff ' . This was a small and brief turn to windward which would make the sails shiver and reduce the ship ' s speed . Just after the " Chesapeake " began this limited turn away from the " Shannon " , she had her means of manoeuvring entirely disabled as a second round of accurate British fire caused more losses , most critically on the men and officers manning " Chesapeake " ' s quarterdeck where the helmsmen were killed by a 9 - pounder gun that Broke had ordered installed on the quarter deck for that very purpose , and the same gun shortly afterwards shot away the wheel itself . Surviving American gun crews did land hits on " Shannon " in their second round of fire , especially American carronade fire which swept " Shannon " ' s forecastle , killing three men , wounding others and disabling " Shannon " ' s nine pounder bow gun while one round shot demolished " Shannon " ' s ship ' s bell . At almost the same time as " Chesapeake " lost control of her helm , her fore - topsail halyard was shot away , her fore - topsail yard then dropped , and she ' luffed up ' . Losing her forward momentum , she yawed further into the wind until she was ' in irons ' , her sails were pressed back against her masts and she then made sternway ( went backwards ) . Her port stern quarter ( rear left corner ) made contact with the Shannon ' s starboard side , level with the fifth gunport from the bow , and the " Chesapeake " was caught by the projecting fluke of one of " Shannon " ' s anchors , which had been stowed on the gangway . The Chesapeake ' s spanker boom then swung over the deck of the British ship . Mr Stevens , Broke ' s boatswain , lashed the boom inboard to keep the two ships together , and lost an arm as he did so . Trapped against the " Shannon " at an angle in which few of her guns could fire on the British ship , and unable to manoeuvre away , the " Chesapeake " ' s stern now became exposed and was swept by raking fire . Earlier in the action the " Shannon ' s " gunnery had devastated the " Chesapeake ' s " forward gun crews ; this destruction was now inflicted on the gun crews in the aft part of the ship . The American ship ' s situation worsened when a small open cask of musket cartridges abaft the mizzen - mast blew up . When the smoke cleared , Broke judged the time was right and gave the order to board . Captain Lawrence also gave the order to board , but the frightened bugler aboard the " Chesapeake " , William Brown , failed to sound the call , and only those near Lawrence heard his command . Lawrence was mortally wounded by smallarms fire directly after issuing the order . The few Americans who heard him fell back from their cannon to arm themselves for hand - to - hand combat , but the British interpreted this as disorderly retreat , and gained courage . The British board . A party of small - arms men rushed aboard the " Chesapeake " , led by Broke , including the purser , Mr G . Aldham , and the clerk , Mr John Dunn . Aldham and Dunn were killed as they crossed the gangway , but the rest of the party made it onto the " Chesapeake " . Captain Broke , at the head of not more than twenty men , stepped from the rail of the waist - hammock netting onto the muzzle of the after - carronade of the Chesapeake , and from there he jumped down to her quarterdeck . The maindeck of the " Chesapeake " was almost deserted , having been swept by " Shannon " ' s gunfire ; the surviving gun crews had either responded to the call for boarders or had taken refuge below . Two American officers , Lieutenant Cox ( who had returned from carrying Captain Lawrence down to the surgeon ) and Midshipman Russell saw that the aftmost 18 - pounders on the port side , still bore on the " Shannon " and working between them managed to fire both . Lieutenant Ludlow had been slightly wounded and had gone down to " Chesapeake ' s " cockpit for treatment , but now returned to the upper decks , rallying some of the American crew as he did so . He led them in a counterattack which pushed the British back as far as the binnacle . However , a wave of British reinforcements arrived , Ludlow received a mortal wound from a cutlass , and the Americans were again thrown back . Lacking officers to lead them ( Lieutenant Budd had also been wounded by a cutlass ) and lacking support from below , the Americans were driven back by the boarders . American resistance then fell apart , with the exception of a band of men on the forecastle and those in the tops . Fighting had now broken out along the top - masts of the ships as rival sharpshooters fired upon their opponents and upon sailors on the exposed decks below . The British marksmen , led by midshipman William Smith , who had command of the fore - top , stormed the " Chesapeake " ' s fore - top over the yard - arm and killed all the Americans there . At this point , the wind tore the two ships apart , and " Chesapeake " was blown around the bows of the " Shannon . " This left the British boarders , about fifty - strong , stranded . However , organised resistance aboard the American ship had almost ceased by this time . Broke himself led a charge against a number of the Americans who had managed to rally on the forecastle . Three American sailors , probably from the rigging , descended and attacked him . Taken by surprise , he killed the first , but the second hit him with a musket which stunned him , whilst the third sliced open his skull with his sabre , knocking him to the deck . Before the sailor could finish Broke off , the American was bayoneted by a British Marine named John Hill . The " Shannon " s crew rallied to the defence of their captain and carried the forecastle , killing the remaining Americans . Broke sat , dizzied and weak , on a carronade slide , and his head was bound up by William Mindham , who used his own neckerchief . Meanwhile , the " Shannon " ' s First Lieutenant , Mr George T . L . Watt , had attempted to hoist the British colours over the " Chesapeake ' s " , but this was misinterpreted aboard the " Shannon , " and he was hit in the forehead by grapeshot and killed as he did so . " Chesapeake " is taken . The British had cleared the upper decks of American resistance , and most of the " Chesapeake ' s " crew had taken refuge on the berth deck . A musket or pistol shot from the berth deck killed a British marine , William Young , who was guarding the main hatchway . The furious British crewmen then began firing through the hatchway at the Americans crowded below . Lieutenant Charles Leslie Falkiner of the " Shannon " , who had commanded the boarders that rushed the maindeck , restored order by threatening to blow out the brains of the next person to fire . He then demanded that the Americans send up the man who had killed Young , adding that the " Chesapeake " was taken and " We have three hundred men aboard . If there is another act of hostility you will be called up on deck one by one – and shot . " Falkiner was given command of the " Chesapeake " as a British prize - vessel . " Shannon " ' s midshipmen during the action were Messers . Smith , Leake , Clavering , Raymond , Littlejohn and Samwell . Samwell was the only British officer other than Broke to be wounded in the action ; he was to die from an infection of his wounds some weeks later . Mr Etough was the acting master , and conned the ship into the action . Shortly after the " Chesapeake " had been secured , Broke fainted from loss of blood and was rowed back to the " Shannon " to be attended to by the ship ' s surgeon . The engagement had lasted just ten minutes according to " Shannon ' s " log , or eleven minutes by Lieutenant Wallis ' watch . Broke more modestly claimed fifteen minutes in his official despatch . " Shannon " had lost 23 men killed , and had 56 wounded . " Chesapeake " had about 48 killed , including four lieutenants , the master and many other of her officers , and 99 wounded . " Shannon " had been hit by a total of 158 projectiles , " Chesapeake " by 362 . In the time the batteries of both ships were firing , the Americans had been exposed to 44 roundshot , whilst the British had received 10 or 11 in reply ( these are figures for shot which would have produced casualties or material damage ; some of the " Chesapeake ' s " shot was fired low , bouncing off the " Shannon ' s " side at waterline level ) . Even before being boarded , " Chesapeake " had lost the gunnery duel by a considerable margin . Captain Lawrence had been mortally wounded by fire from " Shannon ' s " fore - top and was carried below before the " Chesapeake " was boarded . His last order upon being wounded was " Don ' t give up the ship ! " A large cask of un - slaked lime was found open on " Chesapeake ' s " forecastle , and another bag of lime was discovered in the fore - top . British sailors alleged the intention was to throw handfuls into the eyes of " Shannon ' s " men in an unfair and dishonourable manner as they attempted to board , though that was never done by the " Chesapeake " ' s crew . Historian Albert Gleaves has called the allegation " absurd , " noting , " Lime is always carried in ship ' s stores as a disinfectant , and the fact that it was left on the deck after the ship was cleared for action was probably due to the neglect of a junior , or petty , officer . " Aftermath . After the victory , a prize crew was put aboard the " Chesapeake " . The commander of the prize , Lieutenant Falkiner , had a good deal of trouble from the restive Americans , who outnumbered his own men . He had some of the leaders of the unrest transferred to the " Shannon " in the leg - irons that had , ironically , been shipped aboard the " Chesapeake " to deal with expected British prisoners . The rest of the American crew were rendered docile by the expedient of a carpenter cutting scuttles ( holes ) in the maindeck through which two 18 - pounder cannon , loaded with grapeshot , were pointed at them . The " Shannon " , commanded by Provo Wallis , escorted her prize into Halifax , arriving there on 6 June . On the entry of the two frigates into the harbour , the naval ships already at anchor manned their yards , bands played martial music and each ship " Shannon " passed greeted her with cheers . The 320 American survivors of the battle were interned on Melville Island ( Nova Scotia ) in 1813 , and their ship , taken into British service and renamed the HMS " Chesapeake " , was used to ferry prisoners from Melville to England ' s Dartmoor Prison . Many officers were paroled to Halifax , but some began a riot at a performance of a patriotic song about the " Chesapeake " ' s defeat . Parole restrictions were tightened : beginning in 1814 , paroled officers were required to attend a monthly muster on Melville Island , and those who violated their parole were confined to the prison . As the first major victory in the naval war for the British , the capture raised the shaken morale of the Royal Navy . After setting out on 5 September for a brief cruise under a Captain Teahouse , the " Shannon " departed for England on 4 October , carrying the recovering Broke . They arrived at Portsmouth on 2 November . After the successful action Lieutenants Wallis and Falkiner were promoted to the rank of commander , and Messrs . Etough and Smith were made lieutenants . Broke was made a Baronet that September . The Court of Common Council of London awarded him the freedom of the city and a sword worth 100 guineas . He also received a piece of plate worth 750 pounds and a cup worth 100 guineas . Captain Lawrence was buried in Halifax with full military honors with six British Naval Officers serving as pall bearers . The " Chesapeake " , after active service in the Royal Navy , was eventually sold at Portsmouth , England , for £500 in 1819 and broken up . Some of the timbers of the " Chesapeake " were used in the construction of the Chesapeake Mill in Wickham , Hampshire . The " Shannon " was reduced to a receiving ship in 1831 , and broken up in 1859 . In the US , the capture was seen as a humiliation , and contributed to popular sentiment against the war . Many New Englanders , now calling the conflict " Madison ' s war " after James Madison , demanded that he resign the presidency . Broke never again commanded a ship . The head wound from a cutlass blow , which had exposed the brain , had been so severe that it was initially pronounced fatal by the ship ' s surgeon . However , Broke survived the wound into moderate old age ( 64 years ) , though he was debilitated . He suffered , to a greater or lesser extent , from headaches and other neurological problems for the rest of his life . The casualties were heavy . The British lost 23 killed and 56 wounded . The Americans lost 48 killed and 99 wounded . Between the wounded of the ships ' two companies , another 23 died of their wounds in the two weeks following the action . Relative to the total number of men participating , this was one of the bloodiest ship - to - ship actions of the age of sail . By comparison , suffered fewer casualties during the whole of the Battle of Trafalgar . The entire action had lasted , at most , for 15 minutes , speaking to the ferocity of the fighting . A sister ship of HMS Shannon has been restored and preserved , HMS Trincomalee of the Leda class ; she can be seen in a dock at Hartlepool in the North East of England and is the oldest British warship afloat . In Fiction . The capture of the USS " Chesapeake " by the HMS " Shannon " features prominently in the sixth Aubrey - Maturin novel , " The Fortune of War , " by Patrick O ' Brian .