HMS Chippeway (1812)
| Career (United States of America) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Chippewa |
| Namesake: | Ojibwe people |
| Builder: | Captain Bud Martin, Maumee, Ohio |
| Launched: | 1810 |
| Captured: | July 1812 |
| Career (UK) |  |
| Name: | HMS Chippeway |
| Builder: | Navy Island Royal Naval Shipyard, Ontario |
| Acquired: | 1812 (by capture) |
| Captured: | 10 September 1813 |
| Career (United States of America) | |
| Name: | USS Chippewa |
| Acquired: | 10 September 1813 (by capture) |
| Fate: | Grounded by storm; burned by British in December 1813 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Schooner |
| Tons burthen: | 30-70 (Records differ;[Note 1] 7975⁄94 (by calc); bm) |
| Length: | 59 ft (18 m)[Note 2] |
| Beam: | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 7 ft (2.1 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Schooner |
| Complement: | 15; 27 as HMS Chippeway[4] |
| Armament: |
British service: 1 x 9-pounder gun |
HMS Chippeway was the mercantile schooner Chippewa, launched in 1810, which the British captured Fort Michilimackinac in July 1812.[1] The British took her into service as HMS Chippeway. The Americans recaptured her at the Battle of Lake Erie and too took her into service, as USS Chippewa. A storm drove her aground in October 1813, and a British force burnt her in December.
Career
Chippewa was under the command of Captain Bud Martin, and trading on the Great Lakes. At the outbreak of the War of 1812 she was ferrying supplies and furs. The British captured Fort Michilimackinac and shortly thereafter several American vessels sailed up, unaware of the commencement of the war, or the fort's capture. The British hoisted the American flag and when the vessels tied up the pier the British captured them. In addition to Chippewa, the British captured the sloop Friends Good Will, which they took into service as HMS Little Belt, and the Mary and the Salina, which they sent to Detroit as cartels carrying the prisoners from the vessels they took and the fort.
The British armed Chippewa with one gun, renamed her Chippeway, and took her into the Royal Navy. During the one-month armistice in August 1812, Chippeway carried General Isaac Brock on Lake Erie.[6]
She was under the command of Master's Mate J. Campbell when the USS Trippe captured her during the Battle of Lake Erie on 10 September 1813.[7] The Americans concentrated their fire on the larger British vessels and Chippeway came under fire when she went to help them. The Americans then captured her and Little Belt while they were trying to escape.[2] Her only casualty was Campbell, who was slightly wounded in the action.[8]
The Americans took her into service as the USS Chippewa, under the command of Acting Midshipman Robert S. Tatem. She then carried the baggage of the 27th and 28th regiments of Infantry from Put-in-Bay.[9]
Fate
A storm on 12 October drove Chippewa ashore near Buffalo.[9] A later storm on 25–26 October drove Little Belt, Trippe, and Ariel ashore too at Buffalo. All efforts to refloat them failed, and on 30 December the British landing party that captured the Navy yard at Black Rock, New York (now a neighborhood of Buffalo, NY), during the Battle of Buffalo burnt them.[10]
Footnotes
- Notes
- Citations
- ^ a b Mansfield (1899), Vol. 1, p.184.
- ^ a b Hepper (1994), pp.147-8.
- ^ a b Silverstone (2001), p.66.
- ^ Mills (1813), p.118.
- ^ Slocum (1905), op. 351.
- ^ Mansfield (2899), p.142.
- ^ "NMM, vessel ID 382344". Warship Histories, vol v. National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ^ The London Gazette: no. 16855. pp. 330–332. 8 February 1814.
- ^ a b Mansfield (1899),Vol.1, p.585.
- ^ The London Gazette: no. 16862. p. 438. 26 February 1814.
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
- DANFS - Chippewa (I):This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
- Mansfield, John Brandt (1899) History of the Great lakes .... (J. H. Beers & co.).
- Mills, James Cooke (1913) Oliver Hazard Perry and the battle of Lake Erie. (J. Phelps).
- Silverstone, Paul H. (2001) The Sailing Navy, 1775-1854. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press) ISBN 1- 55750-893-3
- Slocum, Charles Elihu (1905) History of the Maumee River basin from the earliest account to its organization into counties. (Published by the author).
This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales License, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project
