- Naval battle off Halifax
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Battle off Halifax Part of the American Revolutionary War
Battle off HalifaxDate 28-29 May 1782 Location off Halifax, Nova Scotia Result Tactical British victory; strategically inconsequential Belligerents United Colonies
Kingdom of Great Britain
Commanders and leaders John Ropes †
John Crymes
Strength 1 brig 1 privateer Casualties and losses 7 killed
13 wounded3 killed
5 wounded- 1st Machias
- Gloucester
- Falmouth
- Block Island
- Fort Cumberland
- Ridgefield
- Sag Harbor
- St. John River
- 2nd Machias
- Setauket
- Taunton River
- Newport
- Grey's raid
- Chestnut Neck
- Little Egg Harbor
- Tryon's raid
- Penobscot Expedition
- Fort St. George
- Cape Breton
- Groton Heights
- Fort Slongo
- Halifax
- Lunenburg
American
Revolutionary War:
North American Waters- 1st Machias
- Gloucester
- Falmouth
- Block Island
- 2nd Machias
- Grey's raid
- Newport
- Chesapeake raid
- Tryon's raid
- Penobscot
- Cape Henry
- Cape Breton
- Capture of USS Trumbull
- 1st Chesapeake Bay
- Capture of HMS Savage
- Delaware Bay
- Halifax
- Lunenburg
- Hudson Bay
- 2nd Chesapeake Bay
The Battle off Halifax took place during the American Revolutionary War involving the American privateer Jack[1] and a Royal Naval brig Observer off Halifax, Nova Scotia. The American privateer was commanded by Captain John Ropes and the Observer by John Crymes. The battle was described as "a long and severe engagement."[2]
Contents
Background
During the American Revolution, Nova Scotia was invaded regularly by American forces by land and sea. Throughout the war, American privateers devastated the maritime economy by raiding many of the coastal communities,[3] such as the numerous raids on Liverpool and on Annapolis Royal.[4] There was also a naval engagement with a French fleet at Spanish River, near Cape Breton Island in 1781.[5]
On 17 November 1775, George Washington's Marblehead Regiment aboard the Hancock and Franklin made an unopposed landing at Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. Three days later, they expedited to Nova Scotia and raided Canso. In 1779, American privateers returned to Canso and destroyed the fisheries, which were worth ₤50,000 a year to Britain.[6]
The 84th Regiment, led by Captain John MacDonald, had been defending Nova Scotia. One of its exploits was an attack on an American privateer off Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1775. They boarded the warship when some of its crew were ashore seeking plunder, captured the shore party, and sailed the prize into Halifax.[7] Patriot attacks threatened Nova Scotia by land, as evidenced by the Battle of Fort Cumberland and the Siege of Saint John (1777), which created a constant threat that American Patriots would also attack Halifax.
On 10 July 1780, the British privateer brig Resolution (16 guns) under the command of Thomas Ross engaged the American Privateer Viper (22 guns and 130 men) off of Halifax at Sambro Light. Described as “one of the bloodiest battles in the history of privateering”, the two privateers began a “severe engagement”[8] during which both pounded each other with cannon fire for about 90 minutes.[9] During the action the death toll was 18 British and 33 Americans.[10]
Battle
The Royal Navy vessel Observer was returning to Halifax, having rescued ten members of the HMS Blonde after a shipwreck on Seal Island off Cape Sable Island.[11] On May 28, 1782, upon the Observer's arrival at the Sambro Island Light near the mouth of Halifax Harbour, the American privateer Jack approached the HMS Observer. When Jack discovered the ship was a war vessel, the Americans tried to escape. The Observer chased the Jack for two hours before overtaking it. The ships were of evenly matched firepower. The commander of the Jack, John Ropes, was killed immediately by cannon fire from the Observer. Both ships had numerous holes shot through their sails, and the British sailors attempted to climb the rigging of their ship in an effort to board the American privateer. The initial boarding attempt was repulsed by the Americans but the British were ultimately successful. The Jack was surrendered on the afternoon of May 29. [12] American pivateers remained a threat to Nova Scotia ports for the rest of the war. The following month, after a failed attempt to raid Chester, Nova Scotia, American Privateers struck again in the Raid on Lunenburg in 1782.
Links
Notes
- ^ The Jack was the first American Privateer vessel. Shortly after it was commissioned, the vessel was captured by the British. Later the Jack became an American privateer vessel again after it was captured by the French-American alliance in the Naval battle off Cape Breton.
- ^ [." (Salem Gazette, July 11, 18, 1782; Boston Post, June 15, 1782; Hunt's Mag., February, 1857.) as cited by Gardner W. Allen, A NAVAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (Boston, 1913), Chapter 17..
- ^ Benjamin Franklin also engaged France in the war, which meant that many of the privateers were also from France.
- ^ Roger Marsters (2004). Bold Privateers: Terror, Plunder and Profit on Canada's Atlantic Coast" , p. 87-89
- ^ Thomas B. Akins. (1895) History of Halifax. Dartmouth: Brook House Press, p. 82
- ^ Lieutenant Governor Sir Richard Hughes stated in a dispatch to Lord Germaine that "rebel cruisers" made the attack.
- ^ Craig, C. (1989). The Young Emigrants: Craigs of the Magaguadavic, p. 53
- ^ Simeon Perkins Diary. 13 July Thur. 1780
- ^ Bandits and Privateers: Canada in the Age of Gunpowder; Beamish Murdoch A history of Nova-Scotia, or Acadie, Volume 2. p. 608
- ^ There are varying reports on the causualities. Another source indicates that the Americans reported between 3 died (British reporting 30 American died), while British reported 8 killed and 10 wounded.
- ^ [Gwyn, p. 75)
- ^ [." (Salem Gazette, July 11, 18, 1782; Boston Post, June 15, 1782; Hunt's Mag., February, 1857.) as cited by Gardner W. Allen, A NAVAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (Boston, 1913), Chapter 17..
References
Secondary Sources
- Gardner W. Allen, A NAVAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (Boston, 1913), Chapter 17.
- Gwyn, Julian, Ashore and afloat
- Gwyn, Julian (2004), Frigates and Foremasts: The North American Squadron in Nova Scotia. Waters, 1745–1815, UBC Press.
- Murdoch, Beamish, A History of Nova-Scotia, or Acadie.
Primary Sources
- Nova Scotia Gazette of June 4, 1782
Categories:- Naval battles involving France
- Naval battles involving Great Britain
- Naval battles of the American Revolutionary War
- History of the French Navy
- Conflicts in 1782
- History of Nova Scotia
- Conflicts in Nova Scotia
- Maritime history of Canada
- Conflicts in Canada
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