Action of 1 January 1800 The Action of 1 January 1800 was a naval battle of the Quasi - War that took place off the coast of present - day Haiti , near the island of Gonâve in the Bight of Léogâne . The battle was fought between an American convoy of four merchant vessels escorted by the United States naval schooner , and a squadron of armed barges manned by Haitians known as picaroons . A French - aligned Haitian general , André Rigaud , had instructed his forces to attack all foreign shipping within their range of operations . Accordingly , once " Experiment " and her convoy of merchant ships neared Gonâve , the picaroons attacked them , capturing two of the American merchant ships before withdrawing . " Experiment " managed to save the other two ships in her convoy , and escorted them to a friendly port . On the American side , only the captain of the schooner " Mary " was killed . Though the picaroons took heavy losses during this engagement , they remained strong enough to continue wreaking havoc among American shipping in the region . Only after Rigaud was forced out of power by the forces of Toussaint L ' Ouverture , leader of the 1791 Haitian Revolution , did the picaroon attacks cease . Background . With the dawn of the Haitian Revolution in 1791 , a successful slave rebellion on the French colony , then known as Saint - Domingue , allowed the local population to gain control over the government . Despite their success in removing the French colonial authorities , the various political factions that had seized control of the colony were fractious , and fighting soon broke out among them . By 1800 , the War of Knives between the pro - French André Rigaud and the pro - autonomy Toussaint L ' Ouverture was in full swing and Saint - Domingue was divided in two . Rigaud controlled part of the southern portion of Saint - Domingue while L ' Ouverture controlled the rest of the French colony . In need of supplies and materiel , Rigaud ' s forces attacked any non - French ship that passed them . Concurrently with the War of Knives , the United States and France were engaged in a bout of limited naval warfare in the Caribbean as part of the Quasi - War . In late December 1799 the American armed schooner " Experiment " was escorting under convoy the brig " Daniel and Mary " and the schooners " Sea Flower " , " Mary " , and " Washington " to prevent their capture by French privateer s . On 1 January 1800 , the convoy was caught in a dead calm off the north side of the present day Haitian island of Gonâve , in the Bight of Leogane . Seeing the convoy becalmed , Rigaud sent eleven armed barges out to attack and seize the American vessels . The crews of the American merchant vessels possessed only small arms , but their escort , " Experiment " , was a much more powerful vessel . Commanded by William Maley , the 135 - ton " Experiment " was armed with 12 six - pounder guns and had a complement of 70 men . In comparison , Rigaud ' s initial attack force consisted of eleven barges crewed by 40 to 50 men each in the smaller ones , and 60 or 70 in the larger vessels . These barges were primarily propelled by oars , with 26 per vessel . The Haitian craft were each equipped with a mix of swivel gun s and four - pounder cannon , with most vessels armed with two or three guns as well as small arms . In addition to the vessels that set out to attack the convoy , there were more barges and men nearby that the Haitians could call upon if reinforcements were needed . In total some 37 barges and 1500 men were at Rigaud ' s immediate disposal , though the Americans did not know this during the attack . Individually the Haitian barges presented only a small threat to the convoy , but when attacking " en masse " they could easily overwhelm and capture the American ships if they managed to board them . Battle . " Experiment " kept her gunports closed and passed herself off as a merchantman , while the Haitians sailed closer to the convoy with the intent of boarding and capturing all five vessels . Once the Haitians were in musket range of the American vessels they opened fire on them , and " Experiment " returned the fire . Grapeshot from the Americans wreaked havoc among the Haitian barges and they were forced to withdraw . They stood off the American convoy for thirty minutes before beaching at the nearby island of Gonâve to land their wounded and gather reinforcements . With three more barges and fresh crews , the picaroons set off to assault the American convoy once more . They divided themselves into three squadrons of four barges each and set course to attack " Experiment " . The lead and centermost divisions attacked the sides of the American warship while the rear division assaulted the stern . During the lull in fighting " Experiment " had readied herself for the picaroons ' next assault by positioning musketeer s in defensive positions , loading her main guns , and raising boarding nets . Thus , when the Haitians attacked the American warship again she was well prepared to repulse any attempt at boarding her . For three hours , " Experiment " battled the barges , sinking two and killing a great many of the picaroons . During this time two of the barges left the warship and attacked the merchant ships . These barges managed to protect themselves from " Experiment " by sailing behind the schooner " Mary " , which was between the two barges and the warship . The Haitians boarded " Mary " and killed the captain . Many of the crew jumped into the sea , and the rest hid in the hold . The second barge attempted to take " Daniel and Mary " but was sunk by fire from " Experiment " . Once the Haitians had boarded " Mary " , " Experiment " opened fire upon her with grapeshot , driving the picaroons off . The entire flotilla of Haitians once more retired to Gonâve and replaced their wounded crewmembers with fresh ones . Seeing that " Daniel and Mary " and " Washington " had drifted away from the convoy , the Haitians set out to attack them . The two civilian vessels , having drifted too far from the protection of " Experiment " guns , were abandoned by their crews and passengers who fled to the American warship . The Haitians boarded and plundered these two vessels , carrying them further away from " Experiment " . " Experiment " managed to get close enough to the barges to attack them with her cannon but could not pursue them , as two barges had broken away from the main flotilla and were positioned to take " Mary " and " Sea Flower " if " Experiment " left them . Eventually the remnants of the convoy managed to make it to Léogâne , where they were looked after by the American consul . Aftermath . USS " Experiment " had succeeded in protecting two of the convoy , but the other two ships were taken by the picaroons . On the American side , only the captain of the schooner " Mary " had been killed . The Americans also suffered two wounded : one civilian , and " Experiment " second in command David Porter , who had been shot in the arm during the action . In exchange the Haitians had lost two of their barges and a great many casualties . Rigaud ' s picaroons attacked another American convoy later in the year and continued to harass American shipping until Rigaud was ousted from Saint - Domingue at the end of the War of Knives . After fleeing to Guadeloupe , he left for France on the schooner " Diane " , but was captured and taken to Saint Kitts when " Experiment " intercepted her on 1 October 1800 . The action would prove controversial in the United States as several officers ' reports suggested that Lieutenant Maley , commander of " Experiment " , had shown cowardice during the engagement . Lieutenant Porter stated that Maley had tried to insist on surrendering to the picaroons immediately upon their arrival . It was alleged that Maley thought the situation was hopeless due to the sheer number of pro - French Haitians who were attacking the convoy , and he had attempted to strike the colors . The officers ' reports also commended Porter , stating that he had saved " Experiment " and her convoy by acting on his own initiative to ignore Maley ' s defeatism , urging the crew to fight . Other American officials , such as the American consul at Leonge , disagreed with Porter ' s accusations and instead lauded Maley for his bravery . Threats of court - martial were made against Maley , but no formal charges regarding the incident were ever brought . On 16 July 1800 he was replaced as commander of " Experiment " by Charles Stewart . The incident haunted his career until his retirement .