Захват американской шхуны "Президент" в 1812 году.

1812 US–British naval battle

The capture of USS President was one of many naval actions fought at the end of the War of 1812. The frigate President tried to break out of New York Harbor but was intercepted by a British squadron of four warships and forced to surrender.

USS President was a prime target of the Royal Navy during the War of 1812 as it was seen to have insulted British honor after the Little Belt Affair. By 1815, Commodore Stephen Decatur commanded President, he had captured the smaller British frigate in a famous action in 1812, while in command of the frigate United States. Napoleon's failed attempt at invading Russia in 1812 would relieve many British ships from European waters allowing them to impose a strict blockade on the United States. On 1 June 1813, Decatur tried to break out of New York in USS United States and Macedonian (which had been taken into the United States Navy), but he encountered a powerful British squadron which drove him into New London, Connecticut. The two frigates were effectively hulked or demilitarized in order to tow them far enough upriver to be safe from British cutting out expeditions. Coincidentally, this was the same day of the capture of USS Chesapeake which meant that in one day, nearly half of the United States frigates were incapacitated by British forces. By 1814, the US Navy was entirely contained with the exception of a few sloops. The frigate Essex was captured, the frigates Columbia, Boston, Adams and New York had been destroyed, and United States, Macedonian, Constitution, Congress, Constellation were blockaded. Decatur tried to break out of New London in United States in early 1814, but turned back when he feared that pro British local civilians were burning blue lights to alert the blockaders. He and his crew of United States were transferred to the faster President, which had been refitted in New York. Meanwhile, the British squadron blockading New York consisted of the former ship of the line which had been razeed (cut down) to create a 32 pounder frigate, the 24 pounder frigate HMS Forth, and the 18 pounder frigates HMS Pomone and HMS Tenedos. Commodore John Hayes was in overall command as the captain of Majestic. The 24 pounder frigate had attempted to cut out (send the boats to board and capture) the privateer Prince de Neufchatel and had lost many of her crew, and Captain Henry Hope had expected to be sent back to Britain as Endymion by that time was an old ship (built in 1797) and her crew had been weakened by the battle. Unlike the other five of the six frigates, President was not fastened with diagonal riders which caused her hull to be prone to hogging and twisting. A blizzard blew up from the northwest on 13 January, and the British ships were blown off their station to the southeast. Decatur determined to take advantage of the situation by breaking out with President alone. (He may have been accompanied by a merchant brig, also named Macedonian, carrying extra rations as a tender, but the brig does not feature in any subsequent events.) The plan was that the smaller warships would break out later and rendezvous with President off Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. Decatur immediately met with disaster. He had ordered gunboats as harbor pilots to mark the safe passage across the shoal with anchored boats at the mouth of the harbor, but they failed to do so properly and President grounded on the bar and remained stuck there for almost two hours, enduring a pounding from the wind and heavy sea. The frigate was damaged by the time that it was worked free: some copper was stripped away from the hull, the masts were twisted and some of them had developed long cracks. Decatur claimed the hull was twisted, and the bow and stern hogged on the sand bar, although it is likely that this was the case before President had even left port as she was already overdue for repairs. While President and her crew were struggling to float off the sand bar, the British blockading squadron was fighting to return to their blockading station. and Hayes' Majestic gained on President, as they were similar in length but Majestic was considerably heavier. The winds became more moderate at noon. After Majestic had fired some ranging shots which fell short, Pomone overtook Majestic and led the pursuit, but Tenedos appeared unexpectedly to the south and Hayes sent Pomone to investigate From this position, Hope engaged President with Endymions single brass 18 pounder bow chaser. Decatur made several attempts to close on Endymion, but he discovered that Presidents damage limited her maneuverability and exaggerated the advantage in maneuverability of the smaller Endymion. Faced with this new dilemma, Decatur ordered bar and chain shot to be fired to disable Endymions sails and rigging. But President was trapped; Decatur could not escape to the north, as he would have reached the Long Island shore and been forced to the east once more; nor could he escape to the south, as Endymion would most likely slow President enough that the rest of the British squadron would catch up. Hope then yawed Endymion to rake Presidents hull, then quickly returned to position on Presidents quarter where Presidents guns would not bear. Hope repeated the yawing maneuver three times and did considerable damage. At 7 pm, President brailed up her spanker and wore downwind with Endymion imitating the maneuver. Decatur had hoped to put Endymion out of the chase and escape, but Endymion aimed into Presidents hull, specifically targeting the gun ports. Many members of Presidents gun crews were cut down, significantly reducing Presidents ability to fire back at Endymion. By contrast, President primarily directed her fire at Endymions rigging in order to slow her down. President ceased fire at 7:58 pm and hoisted a light in her rigging, indicating that she had surrendered. Presidents rigging was in a crippled state, and she was slowed to the point that she could not escape from the rest of the British squadron which would soon be in sight. The damage to her hull, however, was far more severe and she had taken on 6 feet (2 m) of water in the hold. President had a crew of 480 and a broadside of 816 pounds; Endymion had a crew of 346 and a broadside of 641 pounds. [[File:HMS Endymion with USS President captured. jpg|thumb|300px|right|USS President (left foreground) having surrendered, HMS Endymion (right foreground) is shown with her fore topmast struck in order to replace the damaged topmast shrouds but both reached safety. Official notification came soon afterwards that the war had ended. Endymion and President arrived at Spithead on 28 March 1815 to a crowd of onlookers who witnessed the disparity in force between the two vessels, and the size of the American 44 gun frigates that had been victorious earlier in the war. On 18 January 1815 aboard HMS Endymion, Commodore Decatur took time to report to the Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Crowninshield his losses and difficulty in providing exact figures "Of our loss in killed & wounded I am unable to present you a correct statement, the attention of our Surgeon [Dr. Samuel R. Trevett USN] being so on the wounded that he was unable to make a correct return the enclosed list with the exception I fear of its being short of the [dying] will be found correct." The British took President briefly into the Royal Navy as the 50 gun (later 60 gun) fourth rate but broke up the dilapidated ship in 1818. They later built a 60 gun frigate which they also named to the exact lines of the captured ship in 1829, despite some elements of the design (countered stern) being obsolete. This ship was used as a political statement as it was commanded by George Cockburn (who led the Burning of Washington) and made flagship of the North American station to remind the United States of its greatest losses during the War of 1812. thumb|S. Decatur to Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Crowninshield 18 Jan 1815 List of the killed and wounded partial

The smaller American ships still in New York sortied before hearing of the capture of President, and reached the rendezvous off Tristan da Cunha. Hornet managed to sink the brig sloop , after which Peacock joined forces with her. The two American ships then mistook the British ship of the line for an East Indiaman. Hornet narrowly escaped after jettisoning all her guns and most of her stores. Peacock subsequently captured several merchant ships in the Indian Ocean until receiving confirmation that the war had ended.