The Action between the Shannon and the Chesapeake

Abstract

The USS Chesapeake left Boston on the June 1^st, 1813, with orders to sail for Canada. HMS Shannon was now the only blockading ship in her way. The two ships closed and opened fire in the late afternoon. Ten minutes later, the Chesapeake’s rigging was badly damaged, it could not avoid being blown onto the Shannon stern first and was carried by the Shannon’s boarders. The author exposes inaccuracies in accounts of the action, both in descriptions of the ships’ movements and in assessments of the competence of Chesapeake’s crew.

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Filed under: Atlantic | War of 1812 | Nineteenth Century
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics