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34 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
bore away for Martinico; we, being much crippled in our sails and rigging,
could not pursue her. The Nonsuch lost, during the action, one officer killed
(Mr. Wilkinson), and three seamen (Samuel Christian, Lewis Riley and David
McCarthy), they had also six seamen wounded. The British lost seven killed
and sixteen wounded*."
While Captain John Murphy, in the privateer Globe, was cruising off the
coast of Portugal, he fell in with an Algerine sloop-of-war, and a severe
engagement followed. After a short contest for a period of three hours, at
half gun-shot distance, the sloop of war was driven off.1
Great Britain, at the time the United States declared war, was straining
her powers to the utmost in her struggle with France, and her statesmen
could give but little attention or assistance to a remote and comparatively
insignificant conflict on this side of the Atlantic. Nearly seven months,
therefore, elapsed before England adopted any offensive measures. The first
notice we received of any action in that direction, was the passage of an order
in council on the 26th of December, 1812, declaring the ports and harbors of
the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays to be in a state of vigorous blockade.
British naval forces on the American coasts and stations, did not appear in
any formidable numbers, till the 4th of February, 1813, when Admiral
Cockburn entered the Virginia Capes and took possession of Hampton Roads,
with four ships of the line, six frigates and several smaller vessels of war. In
the course of the spring, this force was increased, and on the 20th of March,
1813, the whole coast of the United States was declared'to be in a state of
blockade, with the exception of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Thus was British vengeance inflicted on those States which refused to
make peace except on honorable terms, and favor shown to those who were
clamorous for peace upon almost any conditions.
In the meantime the blockading squadron under Admiral Cockburn kept
harassing the shores of the Chesapeake with marauding expeditions, plundering and burning farm houses, carrying off negroes and arming them
against their masters, capturing and destroying in every direction the light
vessels and fishing boats in their reach. The country on each side of the bay
exposed to these inroads was thinly settled, and it was difficult to concentrate
a sufficient force at one point in time to be effective against the marauders,
though in a few instances they were severely punished.
Four days after the arrival of the British fleet in Lynn Haven Bay, on
the 8th of February, the letter-of-marque schooner Lottery, Captain John
Southcomb, of Baltimore, bound for France, with six guns and twenty-eight
men, was attacked by nine boats containing two hundred and forty men from
the British squadron. Captain Southcomb with his brave companions
gallantly sustained the attack for two hours and thirty minutes, during which
time it was supposed that more Englishmen, were killed and wounded than
the whole crew of the schooner. The captain was wounded by five musket
1 Coggeshall's History of American Privateers.
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000059 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 34 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. bore away for Martinico; we, being much crippled in our sails and rigging, could not pursue her. The Nonsuch lost, during the action, one officer killed (Mr. Wilkinson), and three seamen (Samuel Christian, Lewis Riley and David McCarthy), they had also six seamen wounded. The British lost seven killed and sixteen wounded*." While Captain John Murphy, in the privateer Globe, was cruising off the coast of Portugal, he fell in with an Algerine sloop-of-war, and a severe engagement followed. After a short contest for a period of three hours, at half gun-shot distance, the sloop of war was driven off.1 Great Britain, at the time the United States declared war, was straining her powers to the utmost in her struggle with France, and her statesmen could give but little attention or assistance to a remote and comparatively insignificant conflict on this side of the Atlantic. Nearly seven months, therefore, elapsed before England adopted any offensive measures. The first notice we received of any action in that direction, was the passage of an order in council on the 26th of December, 1812, declaring the ports and harbors of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays to be in a state of vigorous blockade. British naval forces on the American coasts and stations, did not appear in any formidable numbers, till the 4th of February, 1813, when Admiral Cockburn entered the Virginia Capes and took possession of Hampton Roads, with four ships of the line, six frigates and several smaller vessels of war. In the course of the spring, this force was increased, and on the 20th of March, 1813, the whole coast of the United States was declared'to be in a state of blockade, with the exception of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Thus was British vengeance inflicted on those States which refused to make peace except on honorable terms, and favor shown to those who were clamorous for peace upon almost any conditions. In the meantime the blockading squadron under Admiral Cockburn kept harassing the shores of the Chesapeake with marauding expeditions, plundering and burning farm houses, carrying off negroes and arming them against their masters, capturing and destroying in every direction the light vessels and fishing boats in their reach. The country on each side of the bay exposed to these inroads was thinly settled, and it was difficult to concentrate a sufficient force at one point in time to be effective against the marauders, though in a few instances they were severely punished. Four days after the arrival of the British fleet in Lynn Haven Bay, on the 8th of February, the letter-of-marque schooner Lottery, Captain John Southcomb, of Baltimore, bound for France, with six guns and twenty-eight men, was attacked by nine boats containing two hundred and forty men from the British squadron. Captain Southcomb with his brave companions gallantly sustained the attack for two hours and thirty minutes, during which time it was supposed that more Englishmen, were killed and wounded than the whole crew of the schooner. The captain was wounded by five musket 1 Coggeshall's History of American Privateers. |
