Battle for the Bay: Bream brings the war to the enemy.
The Bay of Fundy was considered a quiet backwater during the War of 1812. Nevertheless, smaller vessels of the British Royal Navy, such as the schooner HMS Bream, still sought to bring the Americans to battle.Military theorist Karl von Clausewitz defined "friction" in part as making the simplest things difficult, and he often referred to it as the "fog of war." This is a singularly appropriate term for the Bay of Fundy, where fogs can cling to the shoreline for weeks at a time. In his influential book, On War, Clausewitz wrote, "The great uncertainty of all data in war is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not infrequently--like the effect of a fog or moonshine--gives to things exaggerated dimensions and unnatural appearance."
The British guerre de course in the Bay of Fundy and adjacent waters achieved great success because the American foe, befuddled by the fog of war, could not perceive how minuscule was the force opposing it. Colonial privateers and British warships took advantage of the friction in spring 1813, taking the war to the enemy by capturing or destroying US shipping traveling along the Maine coast, threatening military supply lines. In one instance, the sloop-of-war Rattler captured an American supply schooner loaded with government stores for the troops at Eastport off West Quoddy Light, only a few miles from its destination. Feeding its troops should have been easy for the United States, but the fog of war left many coastal outposts in Maine on short rations.
The war in the Gulf of Maine region might have been petty, but it still had some important patterns that are informative about the nature of littoral warfare. In particular, the war fought by the tiny British naval schooner Bream (pronounced "Brim" like the species offish) reveals how small units fought this war. Bream was not a glamorous vessel by any means. Just fifty-five feet long and about seventy-two tons burthen, her one claim to fame was that she had delivered the sailors impressed from the U.S.S. Chesapeake in 1807 back to the United States in 1812--five years after the Chesapeake incident and a full month after war broke out between the United States and Britain. Otherwise, Bream was an ordinary, hardworking naval vessel, employed in numerous duties during the War of" 1812, mostly in the waters off New England and the Maritime colonies, although, by the end of 1814, she had shifted operations to Chesapeake Bay.
Bream belonged to an unfortunate class of schooners built in Bermuda that had the unhappy distinction of being named after fish. In his Naval History of Great Britain, William James repeatedly derides them, referring to them as "cock-boats" and "torn-tit cruisers." "These vessels," says James, "were a disgrace to the British navy. They were built at Bermuda, of the pencil-cedar, measured about 78 tons, mounted four 12-pounder carronades, and were manned with 20 men and boys. In point of force, three of them united were not more than a match for a single gunboat, as usually armed. Their very appearance as 'men of war1 raised a laugh at the expense of the projector. Many officers refused to take the command of them." He also notes that the "bulwark, if it deserved the name, [of these ships] consisted, with here and there a small timber, of an outside and an inside plank." Of thirty schooners in this class, twenty-seven were captured or foundered; only three, including Bream, survived to be sold out of the service. James concludes that "these 'king's schooners' were found to sail wretchedly, and proved so crank and unseaworthy that almost every one of them that escaped capture went to the bottom with the unfortunate men on board." Other authorities disparaged cedar as a shipbuilding material for warships, claiming that cedar splintered far worse than the more traditional oak or fir when hit by cannon fire, creating a shower of splinters that lacerated crewmembers.
James's comments are in a sense fortuitous, for little is known about the Royal Navy's smaller vessels during the War of 1812, and without his acerbic comments these ships might have slipped entirely into oblivion. Few writers have tried to assess their utility, contribution to British naval efforts, especially in North American waters, or James's dismissal of them as "a disgrace to the British navy."
The armament and crew were scanty as well: the official armament of this class of vessels consisted of four 12-pounder carronades and they carried a crew of twenty, although Bream seems to have carried two additional 6-pounder cannon and a crew of forty during the war. Bream was a gaff-rigged, two-masted topsail schooner [on gaff-rigged ships, the biggest sails were suspended from a yard or spar that was hoisted up by the crew. Bream had two masts with gaff-rigged sails], and, as one of its commanders commented, her "sailing qualities were of the most inferior order." Her small size and fore-and-aft rig allowed the vessel to blend in with US coastal shipping (especially with the topmasts sent down [Some ships--usually those, such as warships and privateers, that needed more speed--sometimes had smaller masts attached atop their main masts, with spars to support an additional set of small square sails. These "top masts" could be removed and sent down to the deck before a storm or if the captain wished to disguise the ship as a coasting schooner]), a potential benefit in fighting a war, but it was offset by cramped quarters, a deck constantly awash in winter weather, and limited space for provisions. In terms of size, rig, and armament, Bream was remarkably similar to her opponents, the small privateers from Salem that preyed on British and colonial shipping in the Bay of Fundy and the waters off Nova Scotia.
OPERATIONS IN 1813
In spring 1813, British warships and colonial privateers went on the offensive, ravaging US maritime trade in the Gulf of Maine. There were no American naval ships in the region--in March the US Navy had withdrawn its sole active gunboat that operated out of Portland. Newspaper editors in Maine bemoaned the depredations of the British navy and asked why the US Navy did nothing to protect coastal commerce. Tiny Bream played her part in riling the newspapermen, capturing dozens of small fishing boats and coasting craft--some as small as canoes. Bream's diminutive size often deceived US ships, which assumed she was just a fishing vessel. An American newspaper described Bream and her activities as she lay at anchor off the coast:
A gentleman who arrived in town last evening, informs us he was on Monhegan-island April 18th, and saw from hence that day, a British armed [schooner] of 8 guns, lying close under the island, with her sails down, and main topmast launched. In the morning her armed barge captured a coasting sloop, which after passing and repassing of boats, was dismantled, scuttled and sunk. Saw the same [schooner] soon after, on the same day, capture and burn two coasting [schooners] and | chase] two others, but which made their escape. As he came out the next morning, saw the same armed vessel close into the island, with her sails down as before, having in co. a sloop, supposed to have been captured during the night.--She was afterwards seen to bring to a sloop to windward.
The prizes Bream captured reveal coastal trade patterns, whereby high-bulk, low- value cargoes, such as timber or plaster or cordwood, were carried westward to commercial centres such as Boston, while foodstuffs and West India goods, such as rum and molasses, headed east. As Table 3 and the accompanying map reveal, the waters between Monhegan and Seguin Islands and Boothbay were a chokepoint that even a tiny patrol vessel such as Bream could throttle. The value of many of these cargoes and vessels often was nominal, especially of those in ballast, but for the fragile communities of downeast Maine, these craft carried life's essentials, especially provisions such as flour and corn that would get them through the spring "starving time." Bream might have been small, but she squeezed the already precarious food supply of thousands of Mainers, who were not self-sufficient in food and had to import many provisions. A letter writer in Buckstown, on the Penobscot River, complained that, in late April, a British vessel, almost certainly Bream, "burnt a sloop belonging to this town--previous to burning her they threw overboard several bags of corn, her anchors, & c." The unknown correspondent concluded, "The scarcity of grain, and provisions generally, is very great. Starvation is commencing. It is stated that a woman and two children starved during the winter in one of the back, settlements." Similar statements were common in other New England newspapers.
TABLE 3: PRIZES CAPTURED BY BREAM IN MAINE WATERS. MARCH-JULY 1813
DATE PRIZE NAME RIG TONNAGE LOCATION CARGO
1 March Cranberry schooner Bass provisions
27 * Harbor
2 March Two schooner 131 Bass cordwood
27 * Brothers Harbor
3 March 31 Neptune schooner 98 off timber,
Boothbay cordwood
4 March 31 Defiance schooner 113 off cordwood
Boothbay
5 April Alexander ship 308 Kennebunk privateer
12* Beach
6 April 19 Lark sloop 70 off mixed
Boothbay
7 April 20 Susannah sloop 89 Off cordwood
Monhegan
8 April 23 Semerimes sloop 85 off timber,
Monhegan cordwood
island
9 April 26 Branch schooner 78 off ballast
Monhegan
Island
10 April 27 Pilgrim Boat 25 West mixed
Quoddy
11 May 13 Salty schooner 74 off Little plaister,
River salt
12 July 12 Jefferson schooner 99 Georges ballast
Island
13 July 14 Betsy schooner 117 west of rum
Seguin
Island
14 July 14 Triton schooner 122 west of rum
Seguin
Island
* Taken in conjunction with H.M. sloop Hauler.
Source: Author's compilation from the newspaper Eastern Argus
(Portland, ME).
Tables and maps, however, cannot tell the full story--Table 3 reveals only those prizes that made it to the Maritime colonies and successfully underwent the arduous prize adjudication system of the Vice-Admiralty Courts. For example, Bream captured the schooner Cranberry, which was empty, at the same time as the dilapidated old schooner Dolphin, with a cargo of provisions. Bream's crew then placed the Dolphin's cargo on board the Cranberry and released the older vessel. This seems to have been a common practice; a Saint John newspaper reported that, of six vessels Bream captured in late April, five were burnt "after stripping them of their most valuable materials." A prisoner on board Bream reported his melancholy on seeing so many vessels in flames.
Like many small vessels, Bream was incapable of sustained operations on her own: she was a "short-legged" vessel that operated best when she had access to a hospital, fresh beef, and vegetables. Thus, operating on short cruises out of Saint John was ideal for this craft. A close analysis of her logbook reveals how Bream operated in 1813. She was under way for approximately 157 days, at anchor for 189, and undergoing substantial repairs for about nineteen. She was under way longer than at anchor only during the peak shipping months of April through July and again in October; August and September were very foggy, which is typical of the Bay of Fundy in late summer, so that the vessel had to remain at anchor or proceed with shortened sail and frequent soundings.
Much of Bream's time under way was spent cruising, actively patrolling the Bay of Fundy and the Maine coast in search of American privateers. The number of days she was under way correlates to the number of prizes she took: out often prizes successfully prosecuted in the Vice-Admiralty' Courts, Bream captured eight between April and July--five in April alone, the month Bream was under way most. More significantly, Bream spent the most time in enemy waters in April, closely patrolling the Maine coast as far west as the Kennebunk River. Notably, Bream never ventured further west than Seguin Island unless accompanied by the sloop-of-war Rattler. Besides cruising. Bream sometimes spent her time under way transporting soldiers to outposts such as St. Andrews or convoying cargo vessels.
Things did not always go well for Bream when she pushed too far west, however, even when in the company of Rattler. In particular, going so far made it much more difficult to bring prize vessels back to port. In March 1813, for example, American soldiers stationed at Boothbay in mid-coast Maine manned three fishing boats and recaptured a schooner Bream had taken, along with her prize crew of two sailors. The British prisoners revealed that their schooner would anchor in Boothbay harbour that night, joined by the much larger and more powerful Rattler. Forewarned, the Yankees prepared for a raid and called for reinforcements. When a landing party from Rattler came ashore, the Americans easily repulsed it in a bloodless skirmish.
Bream saw combat several times. One of the harder-fought actions was in capturing the American privateer sloop Wasp near Brier Island in the Bay of Fundy in August 1813. Built in Salem, the Wasp carried two 6-pounders and twenty-five men. Upon her first cruise, after taking a few prizes, she encountered Bream and ran. For nine hours, the Salem captain tried every trick he knew to shake the Royal Navy schooner, which remained within musket range almost the entire time. Finally, Bream closed with the privateer and a fierce half-hour battle ensued that resulted in the Wasp's surrender. Brought to Saint John, the American commander and his crew were treated with surprising kindness. On parole and thus free to walk the streets, the Yankee commander was pointed out by Saint John residents as the Salem captain who had defended his vessel with heroism.
The one tactic most likely to outfox Bream was for the intended prey to beach herself and for the crew to fight from shore. This would force the British vessel to send her boats after the quarry, almost completely negating the advantage the schooner's cannon might bestow. Two logbooks now preserved at the Maine Historical Society illustrate this point. For example, in December 1812, to evade Bream, the crew of the tiny American privateer Lilly ran their ship onshore and took shelter, "and then we histed English collers under American cullars and took the trumpet and told them to come in and take them downe we was so near we could hear them talk." In October 1813, Bream pursued the privateer Holker, which, according to her logbook, ran into "Starbord Crik we then got on all our arms on shore 8c prepared to give them a warm reception but she bore away & went to their old anchorage." Discretion being the better part of valour, these boat parties carefully appraised the situation before coming within gunshot. If militia collected to defend a beached vessel, the boat parties usually called off their attack.
In the last week of April 1813, incensed by Bream's, destruction of US shipping, Maine residents gathered under the leadership of Captain Samuel Tucker to capture the British schooner. Tucker, a veteran of the Continental Navy, was no longer a young man but was well qualified to lead such an expedition. The coasting schooner Increase was outfitted with a crew of forty-seven, each of whom agreed to bring his own musket, ammunition, and provisions for a week-long cruise. Tucker used his reputation and political clout to procure a privateering commission that allowed the Increase legally to seize enemy ships. He also borrowed some small cannon and ammunition from the US Army garrison at Fort Edgecomb, near Wiscasset. Tucker and his men patrolled the Maine coast for two days seeking the elusive Bream, but failed to find her.
Anxious to resume their spring ploughing, the crew returned the borrowed cannon and sailed home. On rounding Pemaquid Point, they spied a suspicious vessel. In a sharp battle, Tucker and his men overwhelmed the enemy ship with small-arms fire and then boarded her. After the battle, the commander of the British ship marvelled that "there is above 300 balls in our hull and spars, the sails and rigging of both vessels wonderfully cut to pieces, a number of balls through our hats and cloaths, yet there is not a man cither killed or wounded on either side." The Americans discovered, however, that their captured vessel was not Bream, but the tiny privateer Crown out of Halifax. Captain Tucker landed the prisoners and marched them to Wiscasset, where he handed them over to federal authorities.
The defeat and capture of Crown must have provided at least a moment of relief for the citizens and soldiers of the area, even if it was not the bothersome Bream. The local US deputy marshal granted Crown's Captain Jennings parole to wander the streets of Wiscasset if he pledged, on his honour, to not attempt to escape; his officers and men were confined in the Wiscasset jail before being transferred to the blockhouse at Fort Edgecomb. Jennings absconded, however, after sixty-four days in captivity; local tradition has it that he escaped dressed as a woman. After a brush with US soldiers in Eastport, he slipped across the border into New Brunswick and safety.
An excerpt from the book Battle for the Bay: The Naval War of 1812 [c] 2011, by Joshua M. Smith, published by Goose Lane Editions as part of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Project. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
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| Title Annotation: | FEATURE |
|---|---|
| Author: | Smith, Joshua M. |
| Publication: | Esprit de Corps |
| Article Type: | Reprint |
| Geographic Code: | 4EUUK |
| Date: | Jul 1, 2011 |
| Words: | 2900 |
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