USS Wasp (1807)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Wasp.

USS Wasp captures the HMS Frolic USS Wasp captures the HMS Frolic
Career
Name:	USS Wasp
Builder:	Washington Navy Yard
Launched:	1806
Commissioned:	1807
Fate:	Captured, 15 October 1812 As HMS Peacock, lost off Virginia Capes, 1813
Career (UK)
Name:	HMS Peacock
Acquired:	18 December 1812 (by capture)
Commissioned:	1813
Fate:	Foundered July 1814
General characteristics
Type:	Sloop-of-war
Displacement:	450 long tons (460 t)
Length:	105 ft 7 in (32.18 m)
Beam:	30 ft 1 in (9.17 m)
Draft:	14 ft 2 in (4.32 m)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	US Service:140 officers and enlisted British service:121 officers and enlisted
Armament:	US service:16 × 32-pounder carronades + 2 × 12-pounder guns British service: 14 x 32-pounder carronades + 2 x 6-pounder chase guns

The second USS Wasp of the United States Navy was a sailing sloop of war captured by the British in the early months of the War of 1812. She was constructed in 1806 at the Washington Navy Yard, was commissioned sometime in 1807, Master Commandant John Smith in command.

US Service

Wasp's movements in 1807 and 1808 remain unrecorded; but, by 1809, she was cruising the eastern seaboard of the United States. By the close of 1810, she was operating from the ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, presumably concentrating on the waters along the southern portion of the country's eastern coast. In 1811, she moved to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she and brig Nautilus joined frigates United States and Congress in forming a squadron commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur.

File:NavalMonument byAbelBowen 1838.png

Engraving by Abel Bowen

Wasp continued to operate along the coast of the middle states after the United States went to war with Britain in June 1812. Her single action of that war came in October 1812. On the 13th, she exited the mouth of the Delaware River and, two days later, encountered a heavy gale which carried away her jib boom and washed two crewmen overboard. The following evening, Wasp came upon a squadron of ships and, in spite of the fact that two of their number appeared to be large men-of-war, made for them straight away. She finally caught the enemy convoy the following morning and discovered six merchantmen under the protection of a 22-gun sloop-of-war, HMS Frolic.

Main article: Capture of HMS Frolic

At half past eleven in the morning of 15 October, Wasp and Frolic closed to do battle, commencing fire at a distance of 50 to 60 yards. In a short, but sharp, fight, both ships sustained heavy damage to masts and rigging, but Wasp prevailed over her adversary by boarding her. Unfortunately for the Wasp, a British 74-gun ship-of-the-line, HMS Poictiers, appeared on the scene. The Frolic was crippled and the Wasp rigging and sails were badly damaged. Wasp's commanding officer, Master Commandant Jacob Jones, had to surrender his small ship to the new adversary because he could neither run nor hope to fight such an overwhelming opponent.

British service

Wasp was briefly given the name Loup Cervier on her capture. She was commissioned in 1813 on the Halifax station in 1813, under Capt. Charles Gill. At this point she was renamed HMS Peacock, the Cruizer class brig-sloop Peacock having just been lost to capture by the USS Hornet. Peacock was lost off the Virginia Capes in July 1814.

Other information

The Wasp Islands, part of the San Juan Islands of Washington state, were named after the USS Wasp.

References

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.