serviceyears branch death_date birth_place unit battles birth_date rank article_title name
1810 & ndash ; 1816 royal navy us navy yes 1848 -lrb- aged 49-50 -rrb- wanstead , essex , england hms '' boxer '' '' macedonian '' uss '' syren '' uss napoleonic wars war of 1812 yes 1798 seaman samuel leech
 samuel leech
samuel leech

samuel leech -lrb- 1798 -- 1848 -rrb- was a young sailor in the royal navy and the united states navy during the war of 1812 .
he became notable as one of very few who wrote an account of his experiences , titled , in the manner of the time , `` thirty years from home , or a voice from the main deck ; being the experience of samuel leech , who was six years in the british and american navies : was captured in the british frigate `` macedonian '' : afterwards entered the american navy , and was taken in the united states brig `` syren '' , by the british ship `` medway .
leech 's nautical career began in 1810 , at the age of thirteen , when lord william fitzroy agreed to take samuel into his frigate , as a favor to fitzroy 's sister frances , the wife of francis spencer , 1st baron churchill , leech being the son of one of her servants .
he was a powder monkey during `` macedonian 's '' duel with the in 1812 , and would later vividly describe the carnage on board the british ship before she struck her colors .
as a prisoner of war , he was due to be exchanged at some point , but when `` macedonian '' was brought into new york city , leech jumped ship .
soon after he joined the us navy , where he compared his treatment favorably vs the royal navy , and was serving in the when she was captured by in 1814 .
his imprisonment seems not to have been too uncomfortable , and did not last long in any case , since the war ended the following year .
he was in subsequently .
around 1816 he went ashore , where he worked at various jobs and joined the methodist church .
he eventually accumulated enough money to go into business for himself , and became a merchant living in wilbraham , massachusetts with a wife and three children .
many years later he revisited , now a us ship , when it was in port in new york -lrb- probably 1840 -rrb- , and reminisced with the sailors there .
perhaps this encounter inspired his book , which was published by tappen & dennet in 1843 .
