|
I revere that long line of expert seamen
who by their devotion to duty and sacrifice of self have made it
possible for me to be a member of a service honored and respected,
in peace and in war, throughout the world. Creed of the United
States Coast Guardsman
The passage above taken from the Coast Guardsman's Creed reflects
the sort of actions taken by a long forgotten cutterman and his crew
over 200 years ago during the War of 1812.
On June 18, 1812, President James Madison signed a declaration of
war against Great Britain, officially starting the War of 1812. That
same day, Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin sent a circular to the
customs collector at Newport, Rhode Island, with the sentence: “Sir,
I hasten to inform you that War was this day declared against Great
Britain.”
Two months before Madison signed the declaration,
Newport shipbuilder Benjamin Marble had signed a contract and
received $1 to start building a revenue cutter to be named
“Vigilant.” On August 21, the Newport customs collector paid Marble
the balance of $8,499 for completing the new topsail schooner-rigged
cutter. Similar to other cutters of the day, she measured 60 feet on
deck, 19 feet wide and drew nearly 10 feet. Vigilant displaced 65
tons and had a coppered hull for less drag and added speed. For
armament, she carried muskets, cutlasses and flintlock pistols, and
a main armament of six cannon mounted on gun carriages with three
guns to each side of the cutter.
 The
Vigilant was the third Revenue Cutter Service vessel to bear the
name and she carried a crew of 17, including Master John Cahoone
(left - 1829 portrait). Born in 1757, Cahoone came from a prominent
shipping family located in Newport. A man of decisiveness, command
presence and initiative, he was a recognized leader in Newport and
senior to local naval hero Oliver Hazard Perry. On Jan. 25, 1812, at
the age of 55, Cahoone had received a revenue cutter master's
commission from the State of Rhode Island. Like Perry, he would earn
fame in combat during the War of 1812.
At the start of the
war, the U.S. faced the Royal Navy's 600 ships with 16 U.S. Navy
ships, 14 revenue cutters, and a fleet of small Navy gunboats. Navy
warships and American privateers battled British ships on the high
seas; however, America's domestic naval force of revenue cutters,
and gunboats had to defend the East Coast against a close blockade
by the Royal Navy. Cutters protected coastal shipping and had to
fight Royal Navy warships and barges deployed for shallow water
operations.
Revenue cutters also fought British privateers
hovering off east coast ports to prey on coasters and small craft.
The engagement between Vigilant and British privateer Dart stands as
probably the most impressive engagement between a cutter and a
privateer during the war. It pitted Vigilant against the 47-ton
sloop Dart, formerly the American merchantman Actress captured by
the British and converted into a privateer.
Dart held certain
advantages over the war's armed merchantmen and revenue cutters.
Like most privateers, it carried a large crew necessary for manning
its guns, boarding vessels and sailing home captured prize vessels.
Its crew of 25 included Capt. James Ross and his officers and men
from Saint John, New Brunswick. Like most privateers, Dart boasted
greater firepower than any ship its size. The heavily armed raider
carried one 12-pound and two 9-pound carronades, guns that could
kill resistant ship crews like huge shotguns. It also carried two
long-barreled 6-pound cannon that could pierce wooden hulls, four
smaller swivel guns, and small arms of muskets, flintlock pistols
and cutlasses.
Dart began its second privateering cruise in July 1813. By the
end of the summer, the crew had robbed or captured nearly a dozen
American coasters. In early October 1813, Dart took up station near
the mouth of Narragansett Bay to take American coasters down-bound
from Maine and Massachusetts to New York. On Monday, October 4,
lookouts in the hills above Newport observed Dart stopping
merchantmen and coasters off the Rhode Island coast. The observers
notified local authorities and, according to the newspapers, “Capt.
John Cahoone, commanding the Revenue Cutter Vigilant, immediately
made preparations to go out and capture this daring marauder.”
Cahoone also conscripted an extra 25 men with muskets from the naval
militia to supplement his small crew.
At 4:00 p.m. on the
October 4, Vigilant set sail from Newport in search of the enemy
cruiser. By 10:00 p.m. on a clear moonlit night, Cahoone spotted
Dart near the east end of Block Island and the chase was on. With
her copper bottom and topsail schooner rig, Vigilant proved the
swifter of the two ships. Once they came within range of their deck
guns, the opposing vessels exchanged cannon fire. On small warships
of about 60 feet, the gun crews had to fight from an exposed
position. Unlike larger warships, there were no covered gun decks.
Consequently, crews either fought from the main deck behind flimsy
wooden bulwarks, or took cover below decks–there was no other way.
It was during this exchange of cannon fire that one of Vigilant's
round shots killed Dart's first officer.
|
U.S. Cutter Vigilant attacks and captures the enemy British
privateer Dart off the shores of Block Island, Rhode Island on
October 4, 1813. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)
|
After trading cannon fire with Dart, Cahoone knew he was
outgunned by the privateer. Rather than risk severe damage from
Dart's guns, he decided to close within small arms range of the
privateer. He sailed closer to Dart and ordered his men and the
naval militiamen to loose a fusillade of musket fire at Dart, which
wounded still more of the privateers. Next, Cahoone steered the
cutter alongside the enemy vessel so his men could climb onto the
enemy ship. Cahoone's boarding party made the deck of the privateer,
but it suffered two wounded members and one lost overboard and
drowned. The Americans finally drove the British defenders below
decks and captured the Dart. Of this fight, the newspaper Columbian
Patriot would write, “Captain Cahoone, with the volunteers under his
command, deserve the highest credit for the spirit and promptitude
with which this affair was conducted . . .”
After the battle, Cahoone selected a prize crew and assigned them
to sail the Dart and its prisoners in consort with Vigilant. The
revenue cutter and its prize vessel sailed into Newport Harbor at
2:00 a.m., Tuesday morning. The Columbian Patriot reported, “. . .
it is of the utmost importance, as it is probable she [Dart] would,
but for this, have been almost a constant visitor during the ensuing
season, when the mischief she would have done is incalculable.”
Back in Newport, Cahoone sent the British prisoners to Navy
officials for incarceration. After sunrise the next day, Cahoone
fired a cannon salute to celebrate the victory. Meanwhile his crew
exchanged Vigilant's inferior weapons for those found onboard Dart,
including its cannon and cutlasses. Dart would not be the last
vessel taken by Vigilant during the war; however, it was the last
enemy vessel taken in combat by a revenue cutter through the use of
boarding.
|
Photograph of living history interpreters in vintage-style revenue
cutter uniforms during the War of 1812. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by
Petty Officer 2nd Class Walter Shinn)
|
Cahoone and his crew remained active for the remainder of
the war. On October 26, Vigilant captured a British prize
schooner that carried a cargo of wood and sought the shelter
of Newport Harbor after a storm had damaged its sails and
rigging. The British crew escaped in the ship's boat, but
later surrendered to authorities in Connecticut. On June 4,
1814, Vigilant towed into Newport the damaged brig Little
Francis, bound from St. Barts to New England with molasses
and sugar. The merchant vessel had been run aground and set
on fire by a Royal Navy brig.
In early August 1814,
peace negotiations began in Europe and, on Christmas Eve,
1814, representatives of the United States and Great Britain
negotiated the peace treaty. On Feb. 11, 1815, a Royal Navy
sloop delivered the treaty to New York and the president
signed it five days later. President Madison's signature had
started the conflict and it ended it as well.
After
the War of 1812, Vigilant remained in service for nearly 30
years, an incredible lifespan for a wooden sailing ship.
During this time, the crews enforced federal laws and
assisted vessels in distress. In 1817 and 1818, Vigilant
pursued and captured the armed brigs “B” and Belle Corunnes,
respectively. The ships had set sail from New England with
foreign crews to engage in piracy in the Caribbean. The
Revenue Cutter Service finally decommissioned and sold
Vigilant in 1842. Vigilant was the third of 10 cutters to
bear the name “Vigilant,” which holds the record for the
number of Coast Guard cutters to bear the same name.
Cahoone and his heroic crew proved over 200 years ago the
value of cutters in a combat role. In September 1836, after
serving for over 20 years, he died at the age of 79 and was
laid to rest in Newport's common burial ground. He was one
of the longest serving cutter captains in the early history
of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Service named a medium
endurance cutter for him 100 years after his death. Cahoone
and his men were a few of the many brave cuttermen of the
long blue line who have gone in harm's way to defend the
nation in time of war.
By William H. Thiesen, Atlantic Area Historian, USCG
Provided
through
Coast
Guard
Copyright 2016
Comment on this article |
