Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v2p1.djvu/390

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

378

POST-CAPTAINS OF 1801.

wounded. Among the former were her fourth Lieutenant, a Lieutenant of Marines, the Master, and many other officers. Captain Lawrence is since dead of his wounds^[1] . The enemy came into action with a complement of 440 men; the Shannon, having picked up some recaptured seamen, had 330^[2]. The Chesapeake is a fine frigate, and mounts 49 guns, eighteens on her main-deck, two-and-thirties on her quarterdeck and forecastle. Both ships came out of action in the most beautiful order, their rigging appearing as perfect as if they had only been exchanging a salute. I have the honor to be, &c.

(Signed)“P. B. V. Broke.”

“To Captain the Hon. T. Bladen Capel.”

The foregoing letter was immediately transmitted to the Board of Admiralty, and replied to by their Secretary in the following terms:

↑ Lieutenant Augustus C. Ludlow was also mortally wounded. Lieutenant George Budd, the senior surviving officer of the Chesapeake, in his official letter to the Secretary of the American navy, reporting that ship’s capture, only acknowledged a loss of 47 killed, and 99 wounded. The total that reported themselves, including several slightly wounded, to the Shannon’s Surgeon, three days after the action, were 115. The American Surgeon, writing from Halifax, and most probably omitting those who were very slightly hurt, estimated the whole number of killed and wounded at from 160 to 170.
↑ Two muster-rolls were found on board the Chesapeake, one of which, written up to the morning of the action, contained 391 names; and some of the petty-officers confessed that 30 or 40 hands, principally from the Constitution, joined her as she was getting under way; but whose names, owing to the hurry and confusion, were not entered in the purser’s books. Even 440, the number given as the complement of the Chesapeake in Captain Broke’s letter, was not founded on mere surmise. That number was known to have been her complement on a former occasion; and several weeks after her capture, a letter was found dated in 1811, from the American Secretary of State, directing houses of rendezvous to be opened at Boston for the purpose of completing her crew to 443. This, too, was in a time of profound peace, when no Shannon was cruising, in defiance, off the harbour. See James’s Naval Occurrences, pp. 235 and 236. The Shannon went into action with 276 officers, seamen, and marines, of her proper complement; 8 recaptured seamen; 22 Irish labourers, who had been but forty-eight hours in the ship, and only four of whom could speak English; and 24 boys, of whom about 13 were under twelve years of age. See id. p. 228.

[1] Lieutenant Augustus C. Ludlow was also mortally wounded. Lieutenant George Budd, the senior surviving officer of the Chesapeake, in his official letter to the Secretary of the American navy, reporting that ship’s capture, only acknowledged a loss of 47 killed, and 99 wounded. The total that reported themselves, including several slightly wounded, to the Shannon’s Surgeon, three days after the action, were 115. The American Surgeon, writing from Halifax, and most probably omitting those who were very slightly hurt, estimated the whole number of killed and wounded at from 160 to 170.

[2] Two muster-rolls were found on board the Chesapeake, one of which, written up to the morning of the action, contained 391 names; and some of the petty-officers confessed that 30 or 40 hands, principally from the Constitution, joined her as she was getting under way; but whose names, owing to the hurry and confusion, were not entered in the purser’s books. Even 440, the number given as the complement of the Chesapeake in Captain Broke’s letter, was not founded on mere surmise. That number was known to have been her complement on a former occasion; and several weeks after her capture, a letter was found dated in 1811, from the American Secretary of State, directing houses of rendezvous to be opened at Boston for the purpose of completing her crew to 443. This, too, was in a time of profound peace, when no Shannon was cruising, in defiance, off the harbour. See James’s Naval Occurrences, pp. 235 and 236. The Shannon went into action with 276 officers, seamen, and marines, of her proper complement; 8 recaptured seamen; 22 Irish labourers, who had been but forty-eight hours in the ship, and only four of whom could speak English; and 24 boys, of whom about 13 were under twelve years of age. See id. p. 228.

[1]

[2]