The Sinking of HMS ''Avon'' was a single ship action fought during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, and took place on 1 September 1814. In the battle, the ship-rigged

sloop of war During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all ...

forced the to surrender. The Americans could not take possession of the prize as other British brig-sloops appeared and prepared to engage. ''Avon'' sank shortly after the battle.

Prelude

The heavy sloop of war USS ''Wasp'' had spent seven weeks in

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

in France, making repairs after an earlier hard-fought action against HMS ''Reindeer'', and replacing casualties from the crews of American

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 ...

s in the port. ''Wasp'' sortied on 27 August, and almost immediately was involved in action. Early on 1 September, a convoy of ten merchant ships escorted by the

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

was encountered. ''Wasp'' made repeated attacks and succeeded in capturing one ship loaded with iron, brass and arms. Later that day, as night was falling, Master Commandant Johnston Blakely, commanding ''Wasp'', spotted four other unknown sail, and made for the nearest.

Battle

The unknown vessel was the , mounting sixteen 32-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder long guns. ''Wasp'' carried twenty-two 32-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, two 12-pounder chase guns and a 12-pounder boat carronade removed from ''Reindeer''. As ''Wasp'' approached ''Avon''s quarter, the two vessels exchanged several hails, in which the Americans demanded that the British vessel heave to, and also exchanged shots from their bow and stern chase guns. Blakely eventually drew up alongside ''Avon'', deliberately selecting the leeward position to prevent ''Avon'' escaping downwind. It was fully dark by this time, the wind was fresh and the sea was fairly rough. Nevertheless, the American gunners were very accurate. After half an hour, ''Avon'' had been partly dismasted, one third of her crew were casualties and her guns had been silenced, many of the broadside carronades being dismounted. By contrast, although the battle took place at such short range that one American sailor was struck by wadding from a British carronade, only four shot struck the hull of ''Wasp'' and only three American sailors were wounded.Roosevelt, p.182 Three quarters of an hour after the start of the battle, ''Avon'' surrendered. While the crew of ''Wasp'' were lowering a boat to take possession, another unknown vessel was seen approaching, followed by two more. ''Wasp'' made away downwind while the braces which had been shot away were replaced. The nearest pursuer was the British brig-sloop . The brig got close enough to fire an inaccurate broadside over ''Wasp''s quarter, but ''Avon'' had been making repeated distress signals, and ''Castilian'' broke off to help. ''Avon''s crew was taken off, and the shattered brig sank soon afterwards.

Aftermath

''Wasp'' continued to cruise west of the mouth of the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. On 21 September, it met with a neutral Swedish merchant vessel, on board of which were two officers from the frigate , which had been captured the previous year off the coast of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Some of the officers from the prizes taken earlier by ''Wasp'' were put aboard the Swedish ship. After the two vessels parted, ''Wasp'' vanished, and was presumed lost to bad weather south of the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

. The released prisoners brought news of the one-sided nature of the action between ''Wasp'' and ''Avon'' to Britain. This caused calls to be made for larger, better-armed sloops and brigs to be built, without taking into consideration the far more effective American gunnery.Forester, p.171

Notes

References

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External links

{{coord missing, Atlantic Ocean Avon Conflicts in 1814 1814 in the United Kingdom 19th-century history of the Royal Navy Maritime incidents in 1814 September 1814 Military history of the English Channel