uss frolick

0-12 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr Contemporary sailor-made model of Endymion, including her armed boats in the waist note the carronade in the launch, and swivel gun in another: 0-14 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr 0-6 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr Note the two additional swivels mounted on the capstan: 0-7 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

And from the same source, an account of her capture: The Prince de Neufchatel, as soon as the wind served, got under way, and easily evading the Endymion, ran into Boston Harbour, October 15th. On gaining port Captain Ordronaux retired from the command of this lucky privateer and became a part owner. Her first officer in the fight with the Endymion succeeded to the command after promising "never to surrender the craft." He is described by one of the crew as "a Jew by persuasion, a Frenchman by birth, an American for convenience, and so diminutive in stature as to make it appear ridiculous, in the eyes., of others, even for him to enforce authority among a hardy, weather-beaten crew should they do aught against his will." Her first officer is described as a man who never uttered an angry or harsh word, made no use of profane language, but was terrible, even in his mildness, when faults occurred through carelessness or neglect. He knew what each man's duty was and his capacity for fulfilling it, never putting more to the men's tasks than they were able to get through with; but every jot and tittle must be performed, and that to the very letter, without flinching, or the task would be doubled. While manoeuvring the men he would go through with the various duties without oaths, bluster, or even loud words, and do more in less time than all the other officers on board, with their harsh threatenings, profane swearings, or loud bawlings through their speaking trumpets. The men honored and obeyed him, and would have fought with any odds at his bidding." The second officer was put down as a " mere nobody." The third officer had been a warrant officer in the Constitution during her engagements with the Guerriere and Java, but was discharged for " un-officer-like conduct, and had shipped in the Prince de Neufchatel. He proved to be an indifferent officer, and his negligence was the cause of the capture of the privateer on her next cruise. On the night of December 21st the Prince de Neufchatel, in spite of the vigilance of the British blockading force off Boston, got to sea. On the fifth day out she encountered a terrific storm which lasted several days, and came near ending the career of this formidable craft. " The morning of December 28th," records one of the American crew, 'I broke with no prospect of the gale ceasing, and the brig looked more like a wreck than the stanch and proud craft of the week previous. She was stripped to her stumps, all her yards, except her fore and fore-topsail, were on deck, her rigging in disorder, and the decks lumbered and in confusion from the effects of the sea which had so often broken over them during the past night. Much of this confusion was attributable to the third officer, who had the watch from 4 A. M. to 8A. M. When he was relieved by the first officer, at 8 A. M., the latter severely reprimanded the third officer, and, among other things, asked if a sharp lookout had been maintained, and replied that the last man sent to the masthead had left his post without being relieved, and without the third officer knowing that the brig had, been without a lookout all that time. . . . I saw the fire-or what was its equal, anger-flash from the first lieutenant's eves at this remissness of duty , and he instantly gave an order for the best man on board to go to the masthead, there to remain till ordered down." This man had not been at his post ten minutes when he reported a large sail bearing down on the Prince de Neufchatel, and shortly afterward two others, apparently heavy men-of-war, making every effort to close on the privateer. These strangers were, in fact, the British frigates Leander, Newcastle, and Acasta, composing Sir George Collier's squadron, which had been off Boston, but was now hastening across the Atlantic in search of the Constitution had eluded them off Boston and was now at sea. As soon as the strangers were discovered the Prince de Neufchatel was put on her best point of sailing, but in spite of every effort-the massive frigates having a great advantage over her in the heavy seas and wind-she was soon surrounded and captured. Only a few minutes after the surrender one of the frigates lost her jib boom, fore and main topgallant roasts and broke her mizzen topsail yard in the slings, while another frigate carried away her mizzen topsail, main topgallant yard, and strained her fore-topsail yard so as to endanger it by carrying sail. Had the approach of the enemy been discovered when they made out the privateer the Prince de Neufchatel would have escaped. "At the time of our capture," said one of the privateer's crew, " there were on board five or six French and Portuguese seamen who had belonged to the brig during her former cruisings, and who appeared to be on good terms with the captain but had no intercourse with the crew. They messed by themselves and had as little to say to the Americans as the Americans manifested disposition to associate with them.. These men were overheard to say, more than once during the chase, that the brig, never would be taken by the frigates, assigning reason why only, I She shall never be under a British flag.' One of the men had been a prisoner of war ten times, and declared he would sooner go to the bottom of the ocean than again to prison. To this no one objected, provided he went without company; for he was a Frenchman by birth, a Calmuc in appearance, a savage in disposition, a cut-throat at heart, and a devil incarnate. Our first lieutenant kept a strict eye upon this coterie during the whole day that the chase continued, the idea strengthening, as the captain held on his course long after any hope remained of the chance of getting clear of the frigates, that all was not right. In the hurry of the moment [the surrender] at our rounding to, Jose, one of the men above spoken of, seized a brand from the caboose, proceeded toward the magazine, would have carried his diabolical intentions into effect only for the vigilance of our ever-watchful lieutenant, who checked him ere too late, brought him on deck, nor quit his hold till the brand was cast overboard and the dastard thrown thrice his length by an indignant thrust of the lieutenant's powerful arm." With much difficulty a small boarding party from the Leander- took possession of the privateer, but as the sea and wind remained heavy it was found to be impossible to send a second detachment aboard. Realising their advantage, the American officers, about half an hour before midnight, rallied their men, with a view of recapturing the brig, but on gaining the deck they observed that the condition of her spars and sails was such as to render such a move hopeless and the attempt was given up. On the following day the prisoners were taken aboard-the Leander, where the Americans noticed a large placard nailed to her mainmast, on which were written these words: " Reward of £100 to the man who shall first descry the American frigate Constitution provided she can be brought to, and a smaller reward should they not be enabled to come up with her." The Leander had been fitted out expressly to capture Old Ironside's, and had a picked crew of more than five hundred men. Every one [in the Leander]," continues the record, was eager in his inquiries about this far-fancied frigate, and most of the men appeared anxious to fall in with her, she being a constant theme of conversation, speculation, and curiosity. There were, however, two seamen and a marine-one of whom had had his shin sadly shattered from one of her [the Constitution's] grapeshot-who were in the frigate Java when she was captured. These I have often heard say, in return to their shipmates' boasting: If you had seen as much of the Constitution as we have, you would give her a wide berth, for she throws her shot almighty careless, tires quick, aims low, and is altogether an ugly customer."' The thoroughly American spirit of the Prince de Neufchatel's crew is well brought out in the account of one of her men. After being taken aboard the Leander. the prisoners were stowed away in the cable tier-a miserable hole at the bottom of the ship, where the anchor cables were stored. Here the Americans were compelled to remain from 4 P. m. to 8 A. m. every twenty-four hours. To while away the time they resorted to singing. " One night," says one of the men, " it was understood that some of our naval-victory songs were not well relished by the officers on deck, which only brought out others with a louder chorus than before and an extra I hurrah for the Yankee thunders.' At this half a dozen of the best English songsters were picked, with some dozen to join in their choruses. These assembled around the hatch above us for the purpose of silencing us, singing us down, or to rival us in noisy melody and patriotic verse. They were allowed to finish their songs unmolested by us, but the moment they were through we struck up with ours, each one striving to outdo his shipmate, especially in the choruses. Knowing that the character of our country was at stake and that it depended much upon our zeal and good management whether it should be upheld in the face of our enemies, we strove accordingly to do our best as its representatives. . . . The contest was kept up for some time, evidently to our advantage, not only as to the quality of the singing-for in this our opponents could not hold their own a moment-but to the number and subject of the songs, they having run out with their victories over the Yankees before our party was fairly warm with the contest. That they should not flag at the game, they took up with the First of June, the Battle of the Nile, besides many others, and we told them, in plain English, that they :were dodging the contest. This they cared far less for than they did for a home-thrust victory over them from the Yankees to each one of theirs over the French. At last our fire became so warm that they were compelled to back out, chopfallen , and they had the satisfaction of having their defeat announced to all on board by three-times-three cheers from the victors, accompanied with the clapping of hands and such other noises as each and all could invent in our zeal to outdo one another and uphold the honour of the country we hailed from, whose emblem is the Stars and Stripes. Word came from the deck that such noises could not be tolerated and that we must be quiet. This only aroused the prisoners to greater exertions. In a few minutes the officer of the deck came down with blustering threats. If the most savage tribe of Indians had at once broken loose with a terrific war whoop it could not have been louder nor more grating to the ear than the screaming that followed the termination of the watch officer's speech, who, when he could get a hearing, tried to reason as to the absurdity of the prisoners persisting, saying, " The order of the ship must and shall be maintained; if by no other means, I will order the marines to fire into the hold.' This threat also was responded to by jeers, and soon afterward a line of marines drew up at the hatchway and prepared to shoot. This menace was met with louder jeers than before. "Crackaway, my Johnny! You can make killing no murder, but you can't easily mend the shot holes in your best bower cable!' 'Hurrah for Old Ironsides! 'Three cheers for the gallant Perry!' 'Down here, you Johnny Bull, and learn manners from your betters!' were a few of the shouts that saluted the ears of the marines. The officer, not daring to fire on the prisoners, now withdrew his marines, and was followed by the derisive shouts of the prisoners. . . . The noises were kept up till morning broke, not allowing the wardroom officers a moments rest, as they were situated on the deck immediately above us." The next night the prisoners began their pandemonium again, but the officers arranged a number of 42-pound shot on the deck, just over the prisoners heads, and started them rolling. " As they passed from one side to the other, at each roll of the ship, with a low, harsh, thunder-like rumbling, as deafening as dreadful and more horrible than the booming of ten thousand Chinese gongs, intermingling with as many bell clappers, set in motion by one who is sworn to drown all else by his own noisy clatter, they made a noise little less than a discharge of artillery." This proved to be too much for our gallant tars, and they gradually gave up the contest. Arriving at Fayal, Sir George transferred his prisoners to the sloop of war Pheasant, in which they were taken to England.....

A fuller account of the battle: Since the first edition of this work appeared, I have received a more particular account of the desperate battle fought between Captain John Ordronaux, of the privateer The Prince of Neufchatel, of New-York, with five British barges belonging to the English frigate Endymion, off Nantucket, on the 11th of October, 1814; by which it will be seen under all circumstances, it was the hardest fought naval engagement and the most conspicuous victory achieved during the war. It was a contest waged against a force more than three times superior numerically; advancing in separate divisions under the cover of night, and assisted by the presence of a heavy frigate, while at the same time, and as a most serious obstacle of a successful defense, Captain Ordronaux was encumbered with thirty-seven British prisoners, who were refractory and all ready for revolt. He was therefore obliged to handcuff his prisoners, and confine them in the hold just before the action. He had recently manned so many prizes that he had left only thirty-three men, including officers and marines at quarters, when simultaneously attacked by five British barges, manned with one hundred and eleven men, beside the before-mentioned thirty-seven prisoners confined below, who were striving to get loose from their manacles, and unite themselves to their fellow countrymen. Fearing that the British frigate would attack the privateer with her boats, Captain Ordronaux made the following preparation for the contest, beside the usual number of muskets, pistols, boarding-pikes and sabres, belonging to his vessel: He had made a large augmentation of fire-arms taken from sundry British prizes during the cruise, so that his gun-room was literally filled with these implements of death and destruction. He accordingly took the precaution before night to have some two or three hundred muskets and pistols loaded and placed in a position to grasp at a moment's warning. The loaded pistols were put into baskets and placed behind the bulwarks, so that when the strife should commence, it would not be necessary to reload these weapons. He had also his shot-lockers all filled with heavy shot, to throw into the enemy's boats, and stave in their bottoms, if brought to close quarters, when he could not use his carriage-guns. Being thus prepared, the brave Captain waited with the most intense anxiety for the approach of the enemy: it was about nine o'clock, the night being dark, they heard the sound of oars at a distance, silently approaching. In the obscurity they could not see the boats of the enemy; a few shot were fired from the Neufchatel in the direction of the sound, to draw a shot from his adversary, with a view to ascertain his position, and how he meant to attack, but the ruse did not succeed. Captain Ordronaux had no intention of running away from the fight, nor did he mean that the enemy should, when once engaged in the deadly strife, it being well understood by all on board that rather than surrender to the enemy the privateer should be blown up. Such was the condition of things at the commencement of the action. The Neufchatellying at anchor, was now fully prepared to receive the enemy, who approached with five barges in the following order, namely, one on each side, one on each bow, and the other under the stern. A warm action then took place with muskets, pistols, sabres and boarding-pikes. The enemy were promptly met and repulsed, and in about twenty minutes many in the boats cried out for quarters, which were granted to those amidships. The men in the two barges under the bows of the privateer, however, succeeded in gaining the forecastle, when Captain Ordronaux, with two or three of his faithful followers, discharged one of his main-deck guns, loaded with canister shot and bags of musket balls. This gun was trained upon the forecastle, which had the effect of killing and wounding great numbers of the enemy, and of driving the remainder overboard. In this discharge he unfortunately wounded several of his own men. The five barges which attacked the privateer contained at the commencement of the action one hundred and eleven men, including officers and marines. One barge was sunk with forty-three men, of whom two only were saved. Three boats drifted off from alongside, apparently with no living soul on board; one was taken possession of. She contained thirty-six men at the beginning of the action, of whom eight were killed and twenty wounded, and eight uninjured. The Second Lieutenant of the frigate, (F. Ormond, who was not injured,) three midshipmen, two of whom were severely wounded, with one master's mate also wounded, were permitted to come on board. The remainder of the prisoners, (fifteen seamen and marines) were kept astern all night in the launch after taking out the arms, oars, etc., the commander being afraid to trust them on board, having only eight men fit for duty. After the battle was over, it was found that six of the privateer's crew were killed, and nineteen wounded, beside Mr. Charles Hilburn, a Nantucket pilot who was stationed at the helm during the action ; it is stated that he was several times wounded, and finally killed by the enemy. The British in this action acknowledge a lose of thirty-three killed, thirty-seven wounded, and thirty prisoners. During the hottest part of the engagement the prisoners in the hold were loudly cheering their countrymen to continue the fight, and constantly striving to break loose, while Captain Ordronaux and his First Lieutenant, Mr. Millen, were obliged to watch their prisoners, and guard every point to prevent a recapture from the enemy. The brave Captain, though wounded, could not be attended by the surgeon, for this gentleman was also wounded in the fight, and unable to assist those who were suffering; so that through this long and dreary night, Captain Ordronaux and his First Lieutenant, Mr. Millen, were obliged to keep guard at each hatchway, with pistol in hand, to prevent the prisoners from breaking loose, while his own poor fellows were lying about the deck, suffering, from their wounds, with no one to attend them, or even to give them a drink of cold water. Thus passed this awful night of painful anxiety. I will leave the reader to imagine the anxious feelings of Captain Ordronaux, and his faithful followers, during the long and sleepless night, surrounded by the dead and wounded, with mingled sounds of groans and curses of those who were wallowing about the deck, while the frigate at a distance was seen burning port fires, and sending up signal rockets for her barges to return. He also feared that at the break of day the frigate would bear down upon them, and thus defeat all that he had gained in this eventful struggle. At last the morning dawned upon these weary, battle-stained watchers, who had passed the dreary night without once leaving their posts. The colors of the Neufchatel were still flying, though her decks were in an awful condition. Some thirty or forty men lay dead and wounded in every condition of mutilation, while the broken arms and implements of warfare scattered around told how desperate had been the struggle on that blood- stained deck ; and now had arrived the most difficult part of Captain Ordronaux's duty. As has been stated, he had but eight men fit for duty after the termination of the action; all his prisoners were to be paroled and landed under the eye of a numerous enemy. He was, therefore, obliged to employ five or six of his men in a large launch, and at the same time to keep up an appearance of strength to deceive his adversaries. He was, therefore, obliged to resort to stratagem to carry out his plan. Accordingly, he had a sail hung up abaft the main hatches, to serve as a screen, wherewith to conceal the quarter-deck. After this was done, he kept two boys there, one beating the drum, the other blowing the fife, and tramping heavily about the deck, to make the enemy believe that a large number of men were stationed there at quarters, to enforce his orders. Thus while the attention of the enemy was drawn off from his enfeebled state, sixty-seven of the prisoners were passed over the side into the launch, and transported to the shore, where they were placed in the possession of the United States Marshal. He also landed his own wounded men, that they might be better attended to, and receive more medical assistance than could be given them on board of the privateer. And thus after having landed all his prisoners, except some five or six, who had been paroled, these being young and active he retained on board to assist his crew in weighing the anchor, and navigating his vessel to Boston. In this adroit management, Captain Ordronaux displayed a vast deal of cool, deliberate judgment, as well as uncommon tact in disposing of his numerous prisoners, and hiding his own weakness in point of numbers. He showed himself a great tactician, and, like General Jackson, he knew how to avail himself of every advantage for enabling a small force to compete successfully with a large one. A near relative of Captain Ordronaux has furnished the writer of these pages with the brave Captain's journal, the original parole given by the English in their own handwriting, and many other valuable papers and documents, which clearly establish the truth of this unparalleled victory. I shall therefore, make no apology for thus discharging my duty to the memory of a distinguished fellow citizen, by communicating these facts in full. I think it will be conceded on all hands that Captain Ordronaux evinced as much bravery and tact in disposing of his prisoners after the battle, as in defending his vessel against the enemy during the severe conflict. There are many men who can fight bravely, but few who can manage as well as he did, to profit by and secure the fruits of a glorious victory. On his arrival at Boston, a large number of patriotic merchants and other citizens proposed presenting the brave Captain with a sword and a vote of thanks for his gallantry, but the unsparing modesty of the heroic Ordronaux begged through his friends that it should not be done. For, so far from coveting applause, his unassuming, retiring disposition, led him to shun publicity of every kind, and often prevented him from receiving that just share of public approbation which his merit so richly deserved; so that the world knows but little of the gallant deeds of this distinguished nautical hero. Source: privateer1812.org. Taken in turn from from: History of the American Privateers and Letters Of Marque By George Coggeshall Third Edition, Revised, Corrected And Enlarged. Printed 1861 Her privateering career: The Prince de Neufchatel was built in New York in 1812-13 by the firm of Adam & Noah Brown. Her design is attributed to Christian Bergh. She measured 110 ft. 8 in. long on deck, had an extreme beam of 25 ft. 8 in., and was of 320 tons burthen. She had a hermaphrodite rig and was thus a combination schooner and brigantine. She carried four sails on the foremast, one square sail on the main, and a large fore-and-aft sail with gaff abaft the fore, with large staysails over and three jibs. Her spanker boom projected far beyond the stern. Eleven gun ports were cut in each side of her high bulwarks and two in her stern. Besides a couple of long chase guns, her main armament consisted of 12-pound carronades. Following completion, the Neufchatel for some unknown reason lay inactive in New York for many months. It was not until October 28, 1813 that a commission was issued with Ordronaux as master and one Le Compte as lieutenant. Sureties for her bond were Madame Charreton, J. Ordronaux, C. G. Fontaine, and Stephen Perpignon, probably all French-Americans. Captain Ordronaux took the vessel to sea virtually unarmed, and sailed to Cherbourg, France, arriving January 27, 1814. There she was fitted out as a privateer over the winter. Papers filed with the District Court at Boston indicate that she captured the Hazard, Capt. John Anderson, from Rio de Janeiro for Greenock, with a cargo of barrels of beer on January 18th. This would indicate that the capture was made on the way over. However, the first war cruise against they British originated from Cherbourg in early March 1814. Sailing into the English Channel six British vessels were captured, some of which were sent into French ports, and the others, not deemed valuable enough, were burned. Lloyd's of London on May 2 reported- The Achilles, 74 and Sybille frigate returned to Spithead --- The A. chased the American privateer Prince of Neufchatel (she had been several days cruising in the Channel) into Cherbourg on, Saturday the 23d ult. and we understand our new friends there immediately employed themselves in preventing her from breaking the peace in the Channel in future; they took out her guns, dismantled her, and released a prize which she had. sent into the port. Despite the above report, the Prince de Neufchatel next sailed in early July 1814, first down the coast of Portugal, and then, about the 1st of August, back to the English Channel. It proved to be a very successful raid. The Baltimore Patriot of October 24, 1814 gave extracts from her log: Boston, Oct. 15, Saturday Evening Arrived, the privateer brig Prince of Neufchatel, Ordonaux, commander, of N. York, of 310 tons and 17 guns from a cruize, the particulars of which are taken from her journal, and follow, viz. Sailed from Cherbourg, France, 4th July. [July] 9th, captured sloop Jane, Bowen, (John Brown) of Cardigan, from St. Jean de Lux for Falmouth, cargo lumber, 70 tons burthen, 5 men -- burnt her. [July] 11th, captured brig Steady, (Richard) Bulley, of Hull, from Bordeaux for St. Johns, NF cargo provisions (barley, pork, hams) and bale goods (9 bales), took out the latter and some of the former articles and burnt her--107 tons burthen, 11 men and 4 guns. [July] 22nd, captured brig Triton, (James) Blance, of Peter Head, 127 tons, 8 men, 2 guns, from Cadiz for London, cargo coffee and wine, took out part of the cargo and then scuttled her. (Ed. Note: subsequently fallen in with off Cape St. Vincents by the Tuscan sloop of war, almost under water, and towed to Gibraltar with about 65 pipes of wine still on board) [July] 24th, captured transport brig Aaron, (Jacob) Pindall, of Scarborough, 142 tons, 8 men, 4 guns, from Gibraltar for Lisbon, in ballast, and scuttled her. July 26th, spoke under English colors, (and kept in co. for some time) an English brig of 8 guns. and 30 men, from Lisbon for Gibraltar, in ballast, and ascertaining from her that she had parted a short time before with several men of war, which were looking after several American privateers said to be in the neighborhood, and knowing we should have to put all our prisoners on board and let her go, by which the enemy might get information of us, let her proceed undeceived of our being an American. [July] 27th, captured brig Apollo, (William) Hardy, of Hull, 135 tons, 7 men, from St. Ubes for Riga, cargo salt, and burnt her. August 9th, captured the cutter General Doyle, (Henry) Simpson, of Bristol, from Leghorn for Bristol, 83 tons, 7 men, 6 guns, coppered, cargo oil, took out most of the cargo, and burnt her. [August] 14th, captured brig Barwick Packet, Crosby, from Cork, of and for Bristol, coppered, 94 tons, 7 men, 4 guns, with 50 passengers, and ballast, put on board a number of prisoners and gave her up. Same day captured sloop George, (William) Barber, of Ramsgate, 50 tons, 5 men, from Milford Haven for Plymouth, cargo coals, scuttled her. [August] 16th, captured brig Sibson, (Michael) Clark, of Whitehaven, 200 tons, 4 men, 4 guns, from Greencock for Cork, in ballast, scuttled her. [August] 18th, captured brig Nymphe, (James) Hutchinson, of Whitehaven, 150 tons, 10 men, from St. Jean de Luz for Cork, cargo whiskey and dry goods (350 cases), took out the latter, threw overboard the former, put on board a number of prisoners and gave her up. Same day, captured brig Albion, (John) Farquar, of Whitehaven, 185 tons, 8 men, 4 guns, from Greencock for Cork, cargo wine, gin, brandy and dry goods, took out the latter, and then burnt her. [August] 20th, captured brig Harmony, (John) Wilson, of Greencock, 295 tons, 8 men, 4 guns, from Greencock for Cork, cargo dry goods, rum, and an assortment of other articles, took out part of the cargo, manned her, kept co. till the 24th, and saw her recaptured on that day by a sloop of war, then 8 leagues south of the Land's End. (Ed. Note: Ordronaux now turned southwestwards, for his next capture was made far north of the Azores, on his way home) August 30th, lat. 45.12, lon 27 captured brig Charlotte, (William) Edwards, of London, 9 men, 8 guns, 190 tons, from Rio Janeiro for Greencock, cargo hides (100 dozen; removed) and brazil wood, burnt her. -- Same day boarded Russian ship Austrian fr. Havana--. Sept. 2d, lat. 44, lon. 35.12 (far off Nfld.) spoke and boarded brig William, prize to the York of Baltimore, and supplied her with bread. Sept. 6th, lat. 41.12, long 45, (off Nfld.) captured ship Douglas, (Duncan) Cameron, of and for Liverpool, fr. Demerara with a cargo of 421 hhds sugar, 190 puncheons of rum, 6 hhds molasses, 254 bales cotton, 412 bags coffee, 3 bags ginger and 28 logs of mahogany, Of 420 tons, 21 men, and 4 guns, manned her to keep company. All of the goods taken from the above captured vessels were libeled by the owners of the Neufchatel and Ordronaux in the District Court of Boston in early November. The decree was in favor of the libellants, and on December 2nd James Prince, agent for the owners, acknowledged receipt of $8,436, being one half of the proceeds of the sale of the various goods, the other half going to the officers and crew of the Neufchatel. With the prize Douglas still in company, on the 10th of September he ran into the British 40-gun frigate Endymion, off the southeastern tip of Martha's Vineyard.

Speaking of wounded P-de-N privateersmen, I recall reading in an older history of the Island of Nantucket, about two local men who were seriously wounded in the action, but survived. I can't find the copy now, but it went something like this: One man had lost his right arm, and the other had his jaw shot away. They became old friends and looked out after each other. The one-armed man would say "You carve for me, mate, and I'll chew for you!"

If Alexander had been killed or wounded in battle on board an American privateer, then his widow or he himself would have been eligible for a pension. If anyone had applied for a pension , then there would still be a file. But there are no Wederburgs listed in “The Index to War of 1812 Pension Files “, by Virgil White. Had there been, then all family letters would have survived and could be copied for you. I checked all possible variations of spelling. There was an Alexander Weed, but he was a private in the US 23rd Infantry Regiment.

The list of casualties were of the British dead and wounded only.

Sadly, I no longer have the original that I transcribed six years ago. It was difficult to read from, that I remember, due to bad handwriting, fading and ink bleed-through from the opposite side. I do have the logbook entry of the Endymion from those dates. It mentions one man brought back wounded, who died from his wounds a few days later. He was Law. [Lawrence?] Roberts. Tell us about your ancestor!

So the Chesapeake project morphed into the US Sloop or War Frolick of 1813. Here are her guns, twenty 32-pounder carronades plus two long 18-pounders, the latter possibly taken off the blockaded and laid-up prize Frigate Macedonian. These big guns would go on to sink a large 'pirate' schooner (actually a Colombian privateer), during the course of a 45-minute running fight, but were later tossed overboard to try to prevent capture, and lie somewhere off the northern coast of Cuba to this day : 0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr Six extra carronades (I wish I had gotten more) for a possible, additional Frolickie cross-section ... 0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr Frolick was taken into the RN as HMS Florida, and here is an 1816 drawing of her replacement battery: 0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr Pirates! Beware the Frolick! 0-9 by St 0-4 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr Frolick! Beware the Orpheus! 0-13 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

He charged me for a bulk order, if I remember correctly, $4 per barrel, which was a good deal considering the quality of his castings. Pewter doesn't oxidize like white metal (neither does Bluejacket Brittania castings). As far as safety goes, well they did used to make plates and tankards out of it ... The fumes might be dangerous when casting, but I wasn't around for that.

About a dozen years ago, there used to be in my town, a local artist who specialized in custom art and figurines made of traditional pewter. A really cool old hippie dude, I asked him if he could make custom pewter casting s of a some cannon barrels that I had much earlier lathed out of brass. There were two types, a long 18-pounder - British pattern - 'hung by thirds', of course - and a 32-pounder carronade barrel. His results were astonishingly good, as seen below. These were not finished in any way or cleaned up . The seams are barely noticeable, and the barrel cross sections are round, not squished, as I am told is often the case. The pewter finish is lovely by itself, before any chemical darkening or painting is applied. Here are the long guns. the master above in brass and a cast gun below: 0-2 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr Here are the carronades. Note I had the trunnion and the fighting bolt cast into it as one piece: 0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr Together with a scale: 0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr For comparative purposes, I have shown the long gun with Bluejacket's two large 1/4" scale cannon, what I believe to be a medium US Navy 32-pounder and an 8" shell gun, and carriage, from the antebellum period. Bluejacket's guns are cast from their own pewter-like metal with they call "Britannia", and have obviously not been cleaned up, and show a bit of flash: 0-5 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr My two barrels sitting on top of Bluejacket's carriages: 0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr And I cast a lot of these barrels too. I had initially wanted to build an 18-pounder USN frigate, the Chesapeake, which sailed in 1811-12, when under Captain Evans, no fewer than thirty 18-pounders, and twenty-four 32-pounder carronades, 54 guns total. These were soon reduced under Captain Lawrence in 1813 to 49 guns. 0-4 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr My barrels compared to Bluejacket's large carronade, certainly a 32 or a 42 pounder and carriage slide: 0-7 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr A pile of guns ... 0-6 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

Thanks Kerry! What is the spacing between the frames, what they used to call "room and space", or what is the width of the space between each 1/4 inch pair?

An amazing kit, to be sure! They sure built a lot of ships to this plan. One quick question. What is the thickness of your frames? Do they follow the scantlings and dimensions of the framing plan, or are they thinner, simplified frame pairs like Harold Hahn's?

Sadly, in this current PC, Woke culture we find ourselves in, few lawyers or companies are going to want anything to do with the Confederacy on open display.

Cottage Industry Models offers a 1/8th scale upgrade in resin of the guns of Alabama and Kearsarge for the respective Revell Kits. The site hasn't been updated in years, so I don't know if they are still taking orders, but the site is still there: http://cottageindustrymodels.com/?page_id=289 You might want to try to contact them.

Blue jackets metal is an alloy they call “Britannia “, of which they are rather proud, since it will not oxidize or “cauliflower “, like other lead based metal fittings do over time. It is much like pewter, hence the expense. Wooden blocks can look kind of clunky in 1/8 scale, especially those supplied in foreign kits. (Not Chuck’s of course)

This modern painting is fun!

Everything that you would want to know about boarding nets, you will find in William Gilkerson's two volumes of "Boarders Away". But they are rare, and as seen here, expensive, but well worth it. This is a good deal, considering: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gilkerson-BOARDERS-AWAY-Volumes-1-and-2-SIGNED-BY-AUTHOR/114141642314?hash=item1a935f3e4a:g:QxUAAOSwqqJeYom3 The price of just Volume 1 on amazon is insane! https://www.amazon.com/Boarders-Away-Steel-Edged-Weapons-Polearms/dp/0917218507/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=gilkerson+BOARDERS+AWAY&qid=1592879666&sr=8-7

HMS Gannet survives from that period. Her restoration may be of help: https://thedockyard.co.uk/explore/three-historic-warships/hms-gannet/

There are no surviving deck plans of the Chesapeake to compare the model with. The outboard profile is different with respect to the number and position of the spar deck ports. But this could just be put down to not having a plan in prison to work off of, and not remembering exactly how the ports were positioned, so they just placed them between the gun deck ports as was traditional practice. Not a bad reconstruction given that the crew had been together at sea for only six hours when they were taken. I wonder where the the Mrs. Lawrence provenance story came from, and how the model ended up in Germany.

During that period, the smallest class of 'frigate' was a 28-gun ship, displacing a minimum of about 600-700 tons, mounting nothing smaller than nine-pounders on her main deck. Even a merchant ship could be called 'frigate-built', (like Oliver Cromwell, ex-Juno) meaning that her guns are mostly on one covered deck, with the captain's cabin/stern gallery also on that deck. Little Pegasus was also 'frigate-built' by her deck arrangements, but she was only rated as a sloop. I think the 20 gun ships were called "post ships", smaller than a frigate, but large enough so that a captain could still be 'posted' to command her.

One of the least-efficient ways to cool your shed is the totally-awesome Kung Foo Fan Method. But it is a green, planet-friendly, small-carbon-footprint solution, and I know how eco-woke you are. Make sure your pajamas have secure elastic waist bands though ...

This is the very first of her class, HMS Hermes of 1810, shown here ramming a French privateer. HMS Carron was launched in 1813 to essentially her plans, but built of pine instead of oak. Both fought together at the battle off Mobile Bay, Alabama in 1814 against American land fortifications, where Hermes went aground and was destroyed, but Carron survived, albeit badly damaged. Both were flush decked ship rigged sloops of about 115 feet on the gun deck. Both were armed with 20 guns, viz., eighteen 32-pounder carronades and two long nine-pounders. This is best image of the Hermes portrait that I can find: 0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flick Here is the Wiki page on Carron. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Carron_(1813) Here is the lines plan of the revised 1812 sub-class to which HMS Carron was built:

As opposed to a regular man of war built hull, with sharp lines for speed. It refers to a fat-hulled merchantman, with a round midship section and a bluff bow, whose main concern was carrying as much cargo as possible from A to B, and as such, rather slow, usually used for British coastal trade. But they were strong, and they didn't draw as much water as even a regular merchantman, and so they were perfect for exploration, where speed didn't matter, and a shallow draught, in the remoter oceans, might mean the difference between life and death. Patrick O'Brien novel fan will be familiar with their type, by the uncomplimentary phrase, "A fat-arsed dutch-built bugger". Bounty fits the type well.

A single punched-tin, whale-oil lantern, swinging from an overhead beam, would make your ship-model lighting historically more authentic!🕯🤓

Peace love and grooviness