''Rover'' was a

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding 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 o ...

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

out of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, known for several bold battles in the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. She was built in Brooklyn,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

(then known as Herring Cove) over the winter of 1799–1800. ''Rover '' was owned by a group of merchants from Liverpool, Nova Scotia, led by Simeon Perkins and Snow Parker. ''Rover''s captain was Alexander Godfrey, and she sailed under a

letter of marque A letter of marque and reprisal () was a Sovereign state, government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or French corsairs, corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with t ...

. Her crew were mainly fishermen.

Career

''Rover'' was built at Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, then called Herring Cove, across the harbour from Liverpool, Nova Scotia. She was one of five privateers commissioned from Liverpool to follow the success of the ship ''Charles Mary Wentworth''. ''Rover'' won fame with several bold engagements, including a single handed attack on a French convoy, but she is most famous for a battle off Spanish Main with the Spanish naval

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

'' Santa Rita'', and three accompanying gunboats. On 10 September 1800 on the coast of

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, ''Rover'' captured ''Santa Rita'', a schooner fitted out in Puerto Cabello, which had ten 6-pounder guns and two 12-pounder

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the last quarter of the 18th century to the mid-19th cen ...

s, and having 125 men. ''Rover'' did not lose a single man of her crew of 45; Godfrey reported that he had captured 71 men, including the wounded, and that the ''Santa Rita'' had lost 54 men killed.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 5, pp.176-7. The capture made Godfrey a hero in British naval circles. He was celebrated in the British journal, the ''Naval Chronicle'', and offered a commission in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, which he declined. He returned to trading and died a few years later of yellow fever in Jamaica. Later cruises by ''Rover'' were less successful. A subsequent captain, Benjamin Collins, lost his letter of marque and created trouble for ''Rover's'' owners with the illegal capture of several merchant vessels.

Fate

After 1803, she was sold to Halifax owners who employed her as a merchant vessel. She later capsized and sank in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Legacy

In the 20th century the Mersey Paper Company in ''Rover's'' old home port of Liverpool, Nova Scotia named one of its pulp and paper steamships after the privateer brig. Nova Scotian writer Thomas H. Raddall wrote a history of ''Rover'' and based his 1948 novel ''Pride's Fancy'' on the brig. The privateer also inspired the "Ballad of the Rover", a song written in the 1920s by Nova Scotian writer Archibald MacMechan.

Citations

References

*Raddall, Thomas H. (1958). ''The Rover: The Story of a Canadian Privateer.'' Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. *Conlin, Daniel. "A Private War in the Caribbean: Nova Scotian Privateering 1793-1805, ''The Northern Mariner'', Vol. VI, No. 4, p. 29-48.
Archibald MacMechan. "Godfrey of the 'Rover'". In ''Tales of the Sea''. McClelland & Stewart Limited. 1947. pp. 91-103
(Also re-printed in MacMechan's ''Old Province Tales'')
Privateers and privateering by Statham, Edward Phillips. 1910. pp.336-340Naval Chronicles. Vol. 5, pp.176-7

External links

* ttp://www.cindyvallar.com/canprivateers.html Pirates & Privateers: Canadian Privateersbr>Queens County Internet Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rover (privateering ship), The Brigs Maritime history of Canada Tall ships of Canada Individual sailing vessels Ships built in Nova Scotia Sailing ships of Canada Privateer ships of the United Kingdom 1800 ships