''Liverpool Packet'' was a

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

from

Liverpool, Nova Scotia Liverpool is a Canadian community and former town located along the Atlantic Ocean of the Province of Nova Scotia's South Shore. It is situated within the Region of Queens Municipality which is the local governmental unit that comprises all ...

, that captured 50 American vessels in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...

. American privateers captured ''Liverpool Packet'' in 1813, but she failed to take any prizes during the four months before she was recaptured. She was repurchased by her original Nova Scotia owners and returned to raiding American commerce. ''Liverpool Packet'' was the most successful privateer vessel ever to sail out of a Canadian port.

Canadian privateer

''Liverpool Packet'' was originally the American

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast i ...

''Severn'', built at

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and rigged as a

Baltimore Clipper A Baltimore Clipper is a fast sailing ship historically built on the mid-Atlantic seaboard of the United States of America, especially at the port of Baltimore, Maryland. An early form of clipper, the name is most commonly applied to two-masted ...

style schooner. captured the schooner in August 1811. The Halifax Vice Admiralty Court, under Chief Justice

Alexander Croke Sir Alexander Croke (July 22, 1758 – December 27, 1842) was a British judge, colonial administrator and author influential in Nova Scotia of the early nineteenth century. Life Croke was born in Aylesbury, England, to a wealthy family and a ...

, condemned ''Severn'' as an illegal slave ship as both Britain and the United States had recently outlawed the

Transatlantic Slave Trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

.Stewart (1814), pp.284–6. The court then ordered her sold at auction and

Enos Collins Enos Collins (5 September 1774 – 18 November 1871) was a merchant, shipowner, banker and privateer from Nova Scotia, Canada. He is the founder of the Halifax Banking Company, which eventually was merged with the Canadian Bank of Commerce i ...

and other investors purchased her in October 1811. They renamed her ''Liverpool Packet'', although she sometimes bore the nickname ''The Black Joke'', a name of several infamous slave ships. At first her owners used the small and fast schooner as a

packet ship Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed for domestic mail, passenger, and freight transportation in European countries and in North American rivers and canals, some of them steam driven. They were used extensively during the 18th and 19th ...

carrying mail and passengers between Halifax and Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

War of 1812

Upon the outbreak of the

, the owners of ''Liverpool Packet'' quickly converted her to a privateer. Under the command of

Joseph Barss Joseph Barss (21 February 1776 – 3 August 1824) was a sea captain of the schooner ''Liverpool Packet'' and was one of the most successful privateers on the North American Atlantic coast during the War of 1812. Background Born 21 Februa ...

Jnr, she captured at least 33 American vessels during the first year of the war. His strategy was to lie in wait off Cape Cod, snapping up American ships headed to Boston or New York.

Captive

She was a menace to New England shipping until the Americans captured her in 1813. On 10 June the privateer schooner ''Thomas'' of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Captain Shaw, master, mounting twelve guns and manned with a crew of one hundred men, encountered ''Packet''. ''Thomas'' chased her for about five hours but light winds prevented ''Liverpool Packet'' from escaping. ''Liverpool Packet'' struck her colours but then as the Americans came alongside the two vessels ran into each other. As the British ran up to push the vessels apart, the Americans, fearing they were going to be boarded, boarded ''Liverpool Packet''. Firing broke out that killed three Americans. American anger over their earlier losses to the ''Packet'' resulted in poor treatment of Barss, who languished in jail for months on a diet of bread and water until he was exchanged for American prisoners held in Halifax. In American hands she was briefly renamed ''Young Teaser's Ghost'', after the recently destroyed American privateer ''

Young Teazer Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an American ro ...

''. Failing to take any British prizes, she was renamed again as ''Portsmouth Packet''. Under this name and under the command of Captain John Perkins, she had a short, unsuccessful career failing to capture a single prize for the Americans.

Recaptured

On 5 October 1813, and recaptured ''Liverpool Packet'', then sailing under the name ''Portsmouth Packet'', off

Mount Desert Island Mount Desert Island (MDI; french: Île des Monts Déserts) in Hancock County, Maine, Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the List of islands of the United States by area, 52nd-largest islan ...

, Maine, after a chase of thirteen hours. At the time, the privateer schooner was armed with five guns, carried a crew of 45, and had sailed from Portsmouth the previous day. The recaptured schooner was brought into Halifax where her original owners repurchased her and restored the name of ''Liverpool Packet''. She was registered there in 1813.Library and Archives Canada – Ship registrations 1787–1966: Item 38624: LIVERPOOL PACKET.
/ref> Under a new captain named Caleb Seeley, she captured fourteen prizes before the year ended. In 1814, she captured additional prizes in May and June. Then in August, she took two prizes while acting in concert with while they were sailing off of Bridgeport and New York. ''Liverpool Packet'' continued to work often with British naval vessels right to the war's end.

Fate

Her owners registered ''Liverpool Packet'' at Nova Scotia on 6 January 1816. At some point thereafter, her owners sold her in Kingston, Jamaica; her subsequent fate is not known. A ''Liverpool Packet'', Steven Singleton, master, is mentioned carrying emigrants to the United States from England in 1817 in the ''Memorials of the Clarke Family''. However, as the privateer schooner ''Liverpool Packet'' was too small for emigrant trade, this reference is likely one of several packet ships operating out of

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

which also bore the name ''Liverpool Packet''. 41 members of the vegetarian Bible Christian Church led by Reverent William Metcalfe, immigrated to the United States in 1817 on a ''Liverpool Packet'' operating out of England seeking religious freedom, eventually forming the first national vegetarian organization and the American vegetarian movement. The

was the last time the British allowed privateering. The practice was coming to be seen as politically inexpedient and of diminishing value in maintaining Britain's naval supremacy. The Treaty of Paris in 1856 banned privateering. However, the United States did not sign the treaty because the Americans saw their large merchant marine as a potential source of privateers in case of war.

Post script

In all, ''Liverpool Packet'' had taken 50 prizes in her brief but successful career. Her captures helped launch the great fortune of Enos Collins. Two steamships from her old homeport of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, were named in her honour in the 20th century.

Notes

Citations

References

*Conlin, Dan (1999) "A Slave Ship Made Captive: The Schooner Severn", ''Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society'', Vol. 2, pp. 203–212. *Kert, Faye. ''Prize and Prejudice''. *Leefe, John. (1978) ''The Atlantic Privateers: their story – 1749-1815''. (Petheric Press; Nimbus Publishing). *Snider, C.F.J. (1928) ''Under the Red Jack:Privateers of the Maritime Provinces of Canada in the War of 1812''. (London: Martin Hopkinson & Co.) *Stewart, James (1814) ''Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Vice-Admiralty at Halifax, in Nova Scotia: From the Commencement of the War in 1803 to the End of the Year 1813, in the Time of Alexander Croke, Judge of that Court''. (J. Butterworth).

External links

Dan Conlin Profile of the privateer schooner ''Liverpool Packet''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liverpool Packet Packet (sea transport) Ships built in Baltimore War of 1812 ships of Canada Tall ships of Canada Individual sailing vessels Schooners Privateer ships Conflicts in Nova Scotia Military history of Nova Scotia Baltimore Clipper Slave ships