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John Downes (naval Officer)
Commodore John Downes (December 23, 1784August 11, 1854) was an officer in the United States Navy, whose service covered the first half of the 19th century. Early life and career John Downes was born in Canton, Massachusetts on December 23, 1784. He served as acting midshipman from September 9, 1800, and was appointed midshipman June 1, 1802. He rendered distinguished service during the First Barbary War in 1804 in the frigate , and distinguished himself again while a midshipman on the frigate ''New York'' in a boat attack upon Tripolitan feluccas. In March 1807, he was made a lieutenant, and served as executive officer for Captain David Porter in during her cruise in the Pacific in the War of 1812. In the action off James Island, Downes was in command of the sloop ''Georgiana'' during the capture of three British whalers. He also participated in the action off Charles Island before sailing to Nuku Hiva to assist in building America's first military base in the Pacific. Amo ...
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Canton, Massachusetts
Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,370 at the 2020 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of downtown Boston. History The area that would become Canton was inhabited for tens of thousands of years prior to European colonization. The Paleo-Indian site Wamsutta, radiocarbon dated to 12,140 years before present, is located within the bounds of modern day Canton at Signal Hill. At the time of the Puritan migration to New England in the early 1600s, Canton was seasonally inhabited by the Neponset band of Massachusett under the leadership of sachem Chickatawbut. From the 1630s to the 1670s, increasing encroachment by year-round English settlers on lands traditionally inhabited only part of the year, devastating virgin soil epidemics, and English colonial policy pushed native people in to Praying Towns, a precursor to modern day Indian reservations. The modern town of Canton was ...
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Battle Of Valparaiso
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force commitment. An engagement with only limited commitment between the forces and without decisive results is sometimes called a skirmish. The word "battle" can also be used infrequently to refer to an entire operational campaign, although this usage greatly diverges from its conventional or customary meaning. Generally, the word "battle" is used for such campaigns if referring to a protracted combat encounter in which either one or both of the combatants had the same methods, resources, and strategic objectives throughout the encounter. Some prominent examples of this would be the Battle of the Atlantic, Battle of Britain, and Battle of Stalingrad, all in World War II. Wars and military campaigns are guided by military strategy, wher ...
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David Porter (naval Officer)
David Porter (February 1, 1780 – March 3, 1843) was an officer in the United States Navy in the rank of captain and the honorary title of commodore. Porter commanded a number of U.S. naval ships. He saw service in the First Barbary War, the War of 1812 and in the West Indies. On July 2, 1812, Porter hoisted the banner "Free trade and sailors' rights" as captain of USS ''Essex''.Gilje, Paul A. Free Trade and Sailors' Rights in the War of 1812', Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013, , p. 1. The phrase resonated with many Americans. Porter was later court martialed; he resigned and then joined and became commander-in-chief of the Mexican Navy. Porter County, Indiana was named after him. Early life and education Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Porter served in the Quasi-War with France first as midshipman aboard , participating in the capture of '' L'Insurgente'' on February 9, 1799; then as 1st lieutenant of ; and finally in command of USS ''Amphitheatre''. During the ...
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Felucca
A felucca ( ar, فلوكة, falawaka, possibly originally from Greek , ) is a traditional wooden sailing boat used in the eastern Mediterranean—including around Malta and Tunisia—in Egypt and Sudan (particularly along the Nile and in protected waters of the Red Sea), and also in Iraq. Its rig consists of one or two lateen sails. They are usually able to board ten passengers and the crew consists of two or three people. Egypt Despite the availability of motorboats and ferries, feluccas are still in active use as a means of transport in Nile-adjacent cities like Aswan or Luxor. They are especially popular among tourists who can enjoy a quieter and calmer mood than motorboats have to offer. Feluccas were photographed by writer Göran Schildt's travels on the Nile in 1954-55 as part of his Mediterranean sea travels. Schildt documented them as being called "Ajasor". San Francisco A large fleet of lateen-rigged feluccas thronged San Francisco's docks before and after the ...
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First Battle Of Tripoli Harbor
The First Battle of Tripoli Harbor was a naval battle fought on May 16, 1802, in Tripoli Harbor between a combined force consisting of the American frigate and two Swedish Navy frigates against several Tripolitan Barbary corsairs. The Swedish-American force was enforcing the blockade when an engagement broke out between it and Tripolitan forces. The Allied fleet damaged the Tripolitan squadron as well as the harbor fortifications before withdrawing and resuming the blockade. Background USS ''Boston'' under Captain McNeill had been sent to Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in t ... to blockade the port and prevent any ships from entering or leaving. Leaving for Tripoli in January she discovered that four Swedish ships had already begun a blockade of the port. A ...
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USS New York (1800)
USS ''New York'' was a three-masted, wooden-hulled sailing frigate in the United States Navy that saw service during the Quasi-War with France. ''New York'' was built by public subscription by the citizens of New York for the United States Government; laid down in August 1798 by Peck and Carpenter, New York City; launched 24 April 1800; and commissioned in October 1800, Captain Richard Valentine Morris in command. The ''New York'' was one of the group of five frigates built by the States for the Federal Government to supplement the original six provided for by the Naval Act of 1794, 'The ship entered the Navy when the Quasi-War with France was being fought in the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans where French warships preyed on American shipping interests. Service history Caribbean The ''New York'' departed New York on 22 October 1800, and sailed for the Caribbean, convoying the brig ''Amazon'' and her cargo to Martinique and then sailing to St. Kitts, arriving on 6 December to m ...
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Frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuverability, intended to be used in scouting, escort and patrol roles. The term was applied loosely to ships varying greatly in design. In the second quarter of the 18th century, the 'true frigate' was developed in France. This type of vessel was characterised by possessing only one armed deck, with an unarmed deck below it used for berthing the crew. Late in the 19th century (British and French prototypes were constructed in 1858), armoured frigates were developed as powerful ironclad warships, the term frigate was used because of their single gun deck. Later developments in ironclad ships rendered the frigate designation obsolete and the term fell out of favour. During the Second World War the name 'frigate' was reintroduced to ...
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Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. In the 17th century, a midshipman was a rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where he worked on the ship, or where he was berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era (1793–1815), a midshipman was an apprentice officer who had previously served at least three years as a volunteer, officer's servant or able seaman, and was roughly equivalent to a present-day petty officer in rank and responsibilities. After serving at least three years as a midshipman or master's mate, he was eligible to take ...
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US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of its active battle fleet alone exceeding the next 13 navies combined, including 11 allies or partner nations of the United States as of 2015. It has the highest combined battle fleet tonnage (4,635,628 tonnes as of 2019) and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, two new carriers under construction, and five other carriers planned. With 336,978 personnel on active duty and 101,583 in the Ready Reserve, the United States Navy is the third largest of the United States military service branches in terms of personnel. It has 290 deployable combat vessels and more than 2,623 operational aircraft . The United States Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American R ...
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Callao Affair
The Callao affair occurred in November 1820, during the Peruvian War of Independence. It began when a Spanish fort opened fire on the United States warship USS ''Macedonian''. Though the ship was damaged, the Americans did not violate their neutrality by counterattacking. On the following day, a boat filled with United States Navy sailors was attacked, resulting in the deaths of two seamen and the wounding of eight others. Two days after that, an American merchant ship was attacked and her crew had to abandon ship. Ultimately, there was no significant response by the United States to the attacks on their shipping and their citizens, though the Spanish government vowed to punish the perpetrators. Affair Inspired by the French revolution in 1789, and the Peruvian revolution, the people of Chile joined forces with the rebel Peruvians and revolted against Spanish authority in 1820. As result, a rebel First Chilean Navy Squadron under Scottish Captain Thomas Cochrane attacked ...
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Peruvian War Of Independence
The Peruvian War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia del Perú, links=no) consisted in a series of military conflicts in Peru beginning with viceroy Abascal military victories in the south frontier in 1809, in La Paz revolution and 1811 in the Battle of Guaqui, continuing with the definitive defeat of the Spanish Army in 1824 in the Battle of Ayacucho, and culminating in 1826 with the Siege of Callao. The wars of independence took place with the background of the 1780–1781 uprising by indigenous leader Túpac Amaru II and the earlier removal of Upper Peru and the Río de la Plata regions from the Viceroyalty of Peru. Because of this the viceroy often had the support of the "Lima Oligarchy", who saw their elite interests threatened by popular rebellion and were opposed to the new commercial class in Buenos Aires. During the first decade of the 1800s Peru had been a stronghold for royalists, who fought those in favor of independence in Peru, Bolivia, Quito and Ch ...
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First Sumatran Expedition
The First Sumatran expedition, which featured the Battle of Quallah Battoo (Aceh: Kuala Batèë, Indonesian: Kuala Batu) in 1832, was a punitive expedition by the United States Navy against the village of Kuala Batee, presently a subdistrict in Southwest Aceh Regency. The reprisal was in response to the massacre of the crew of the merchantman ''Friendship'' a year earlier. The frigate and its crew defeated the local uleëbalang (ruler)'s forces and bombed the settlement. The expedition was successful in stopping Sumatran attacks on U.S. shipping for six years until another vessel was plundered under different circumstances, resulting in a Second Sumatran expedition in 1838. Background The island of Sumatra is renowned as an excellent source of pepper, and throughout history ships have come to the island to trade for it. In 1831, the American merchantman ''Friendship'' under Captain Charles Endicott had arrived off the chiefdom of Kuala Batu in order to secure a cargo of pe ...
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