Capture of USS President - Prelude

Prelude

At the time of the battle Commodore Stephen Decatur commanded President. In 1812, while in command of the frigate USS United States, he had captured the British frigate HMS Macedonian in a famous action. After his return, the British instituted a strict blockade of the American coast.

In 1813, Decatur tried to break out of New York in the United States and USS Macedonian (which had been taken into the United States Navy), but encountered a powerful British squadron which drove him into New London, Connecticut. To lighten the two frigates sufficiently to tow them far enough up-river to be safe from British cutting-out expeditions, they were effectively hulked, or demilitarized.

Decatur tried to break out in the United States in early 1814, but turned back when he feared that pro-British local civilians (the so-called Blue light federalists) were burning lights to alert the blockaders. Decatur and the crew of the United States were transferred to the President, which had been refitted in New York. (The crew of the Macedonian were transferred to the Great Lakes.)

On 13 December 1814, the President and some smaller warships (the sloops-of-war USS Peacock and USS Hornet, and the schooner-rigged tender USS Tom Bowline) were in New York Harbor, preparing to break out past the British blockade to embark on cruises against British merchant shipping. The British squadron blockading New York consisted of the former ship of the line Majestic which had been razeed i.e. cut down to a single deck to create a heavy frigate, and the frigates HMS Endymion, HMS Pomone and HMS Tenedos. They were under the overall command of Commodore John Hayes, who was captain of the Majestic.

On 13 January, a blizzard blew up from the north-west. The British ships were blown off their station, to the south-east. Decatur determined to take advantage of the situation by breaking out with the 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 harbor pilots to anchor boats to mark the safe passage across the bar at the mouth of the harbor, but they failed to do so properly. The President grounded on the bar and remained stuck there for almost two hours, enduring a pounding from the wind and heavy sea. By the time the frigate worked free it was heavily damaged. Some copper had been stripped away from the hull; the masts were twisted and some of them were "sprung" i.e. had developed long cracks; the hull was also twisted and "hogged" i.e. the bow and stern had sagged. Nevertheless, it was impossible for Decatur to return to port as the gale was still blowing and he was forced to put to sea. He headed east, keeping close to the Long Island shore before heading south-east.