THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9605310624
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GEORGE TUCKER
LENGTH: 69 lines
By an ironic quirk of fate the timbers of the USS frigate Chesapeake, launched at Gosport Navy Yard (now the Norfolk Naval Shipyard) in 1799, wound up being used as building materials for houses in Portsmouth, England, and a mill in the village of Wickham in nearly Hampshire.
Enraged by depredations of Barbary pirates on American Mediterranean shipping, Congress passed ``An Act to Provide a Naval Armament'' providing for six frigates in March 1794. The Chesapeake was one of these. In order to build her on Virginia soil, Congress borrowed the Gosport yard from the State of Virginia.
The Chesapeake, designed and built by Josiah Fox, a naturalized English shipbuilder, was constructed of live oak and cedar timbers from forests in the State of Georgia. After several delays, she was finally ``launched into her element'' on Dec. 30, 1799, ``in the presence of a great concourse of people.'' Even so, tragedy was present at the ceremony, for one of the workmen was killed. This caused the Chesapeake to be later referred to by superstitious seafarers as an ``unlucky ship.''
After routine service for a few years, the Chesapeake became the principal in a ``Day of Shame'' on June 22, 1807, when she sailed from Norfolk to transport Capt. James Barron, Commodore of the Mediterranean Squadron, to his post of duty. Under the command of Commodore Charles Gordon, the ship cleared the Virginia capes without incident.
Shortly thereafter, the Chesapeake, which was far from ready for sea duty, was overhauled by HMS Leopard, one of the British ships then patrolling American waters in search of deserters from the British Navy. Met by a refusal to permit a searching party to apprehend supposed deserters among the Chesapeake's crew, the Leopard fired three broadsides into the practically helpless American ship, killing three men and wounding 18 others. Once the Chesapeake had surrendered, a search was conducted and three alleged deserters were taken prisoner. After that, the Chesapeake limped back into Hampton Roads.
The incident, which was later deplored by the British Admiralty, came near causing a war between the United States and Great Britain. One year later Barron and Gordon were court-martialed. Barron was found guilty of ``neglecting on the possibility of engagement to clear the ship for action'' and was suspended from the Navy for five years. Gordon only received a ``severe reprimand'' from the Secretary of the Navy.
At the outbreak of the War of 1812, the Chesapeake, then under the command of Capt. James Lawrence, was being repaired at Boston, Mass. When he was challenged by Capt. Philip Bowes Vere Broke, the commanding officer of HMS Shannon, to come out of Boston harbor and fight, Lawrence accepted. The ensuing battle was a calamity. The Chesapeake had 61 men killed and 85 wounded, while the Shannon lost 23 men and had 55 wounded.
Capt. Broke's injuries were so severe he never saw sea duty again. As for Capt. Lawrence, he died the night after the battle ``in a makeshift bunk in the ward room of the Chesapeake, piteously moaning `Don't give up the ship.' ''
His words were challenging. In September 1813, Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry, a close friend of Lawrence's, fought and won the Battle of Lake Erie against a British squadron while flying a bunting banner bearing the slogan ``DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP'' at one of his mastheads.
After her defeat by the Shannon, the Chesapeake was taken as a prize of war to Halifax, Nova Scotia. From there she was sailed by her captors across the Atlantic to Portsmouth, England, where she was finally broken up, and much of her wood was used to construct houses. But parts of the historic ship were used for another purpose.
In closing his well-documented book ``The Chesapeake: A Biography of a Ship,'' the late Charles B. Cross, Jr., wrote: ``Most of her oaken beams, keel and planks, however, were utilized in the construction of a mill on the River Meon in the village of Wickham, near Southampton. There her battle scarred timbers, still seamed and pitted with marks of gunfire, have for more than a century been engaged in the peaceful mission of grinding corn.'' by CNB