Chesapeake–Leopard affair

USS Chesapeake-HMS Leopard Affair
	Part of the events leading to the War of 1812
Date	June 22, 1807
Location	off Norfolk, Virginia
Result	British victory
Commanders and leaders
Salisbury Pryce Humphreys	Commodore James Barron.
Strength
1 4th rate	1 frigate
Casualties and losses
none	1 frigate damaged; 3 KIA ; 18 WIA; 4 arrested

In the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, also referred to as the Chesapeake Affair, which occurred on June 22, 1807, the British warship HMS Leopard attacked and boarded the American frigate Chesapeake.

Background

In early 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars, a number of British Navy warships were on duty on the American Station, blockading two French Third Rate warships in Chesapeake Bay. A number of British sailors - both of British and American birth - deserted and joined the crew of the Chesapeake.^{[citation needed]}

Vice-Admiral Sir George Berkeley dispatched the fourth-rate warship Leopard to search for the frigate and recover the deserters.

The attack

The Chesapeakefucking was off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, and was under the command of Commodore James Barron. The Leopard, under the command of Salisbury Pryce Humphreys, hailed and requested to search the Chesapeake; when the Chesapeake refused, the Leopard began to fire broadsides, killing three aboard the Chesapeake and injuring another 18 including Barron. The Chesapeake, her decks cluttered with stores in preparation for a long cruise, managed to fire only a single gun in reply to the Leopard, and Barron quickly struck his colors and surrendered his ship; however, Humphreys refused the surrender, and simply sent a boarding party to search for the deserters.

HMS *Leopard* (right) fires upon the USS *Chesapeake*

The boarding party found four Royal Navy deserters among the Chesapeake crew: Daniel Martin, John Strachan, and William Ware, run from HMS Melampus; and Jenkin Ratford, run from HMS Halifax. Of the four, only Ratford was British-born; the other three sailors were American citizens who had served in the Royal Navy. Leopard carried the men to the ship HMS Halifax for trial. The British citizen, Ratford, was sentenced to death and hanged from the yardarm of HMS Halifax on August 31, 1807.^[1] The three Americans were sentenced to 500 lashes each, but the sentence was later commuted^{[citation needed]}, and the British government eventually offered to return them to the U.S. and pay reparations for damaging the Chesapeake.

Aftermath

The American public was outraged with the incident, as President Thomas Jefferson noted: "Never since the Battle of Lexington have I seen this country in such a state of exasperation." James Monroe, then a foreign minister acting under instructions from U.S. Secretary of State James Madison, demanded British disavowal of the deed, the restoration of the four seamen, the recall of Admiral Berkeley, the exclusion of British warships from U.S. territorial waters, and the abolition of impressments from vessels under the United States flag.^[2]

This event served to raise tensions between the two countries and, while not a direct cause, can be seen as one of the events leading up to the War of 1812. Indeed, many Americans demanded war following the incident, but President Jefferson initially turned to diplomacy and economic pressure in the form of the ill-fated Embargo Act of 1807.

The incident had significant repercussions for the U.S. Navy. The public was shocked that Chesapeake had put up little resistance and surrendered so quickly (even if the surrender was declined), calling into question the ability of its navy to defend the U.S. from a possible British invasion, despite its expensive and controversial frigate-building program. A court martial placed the blame on Barron, and suspended him from service for five years as punishment.

On 1 June 1813, during the War of 1812, the Chesapeake — then under the command of Captain James Lawrence — was defeated and captured by the British frigate HMS Shannon in a ship-to-ship action near Boston, and taken into service in the Royal Navy. She was sold out of the service in 1820.

References

^ Gwyn, Julian, Frigates and Foremasts: The North American Squadron in Nova Scotia Waters, 1745-1815 Vancouver, BC: UBC Press (2004) ISBN 9780774809115. OCLC 144078613, p. 178
^ Toll, Ian W (2006). Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-05847-5. OCLC 70291925. p. 303-304

External links

[1] Gwyn, Julian, Frigates and Foremasts: The North American Squadron in Nova Scotia Waters, 1745-1815 Vancouver, BC: UBC Press (2004) ISBN 9780774809115. OCLC 144078613, p. 178

[2] Toll, Ian W (2006). Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-05847-5. OCLC 70291925. p. 303-304

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