“Chesapeake was seized by HMS Shannon in June 1813. Captain Lawrence was killed in the engagement. The ship was brought to Halifax, Nova Scotia, repaired and later integrated into the Royal Navy. The American sailors were brought to England and were confined on English hulks or in prisons like Dartmoor, like their fellow countryman Benjamin Waterhouse.Waterhouse writes in his “Journal of a young man of Massachusetts”: “Some of our countrymen worked very neatly in bone, out of which material they built ships, …” He may have known the builder of our Chesapeake. According to the literature, the model was built by American prisoners who were confined in English prisons around 1814.
When the French prisoners of war left Dartmoor in July 1815, a great deal of equipment was taken over by the Americans. Benjamin Palmer noted in his diary that on February 1st 1815 his fellow convicts in Dartmoor were building model bone ships. Perhaps the builders of the Chesapeake were among the prisoners of war in Dartmoor.”
With these historic facts – based upon published literature – I should like to come back to the discussion on “The Chesapeake and Bonhomme Richard being two products from this time?” There is no doubt that American prisoners in Dartmoor built bone ship models. I have, however, never heard that British prisoners had produced any bone ship models while in captivity.
So, as Alan indicates, the bone ship model Bonhomme Richard is pure speculation.