Nugget Hog said:
The one thing that I can't find anything on is the ship that sunk him the "Enterprise".
Enterprise
Boldness, energy, and invention in practical affairs.
III
(Sch: t. 135; l. 84'7"; b. 22'6"; dph 10'; cpl. 70; a. 12 6 pdr.)
The third Enterprise, a schooner, was built by Henry Spencer at
Baltimore, Md., in 1799, and placed under the command of Lieutenant
John Shaw.
On 17 December 1799, Enterprise departed the Delaware Capes for the
Caribbean to protect United States merchantmen from the depredations
of French privateers during the Quasi-War with France. Within the
following year, Enterprise captured 8 privateers and liberated 11
American vessels from captivity, achievements which assured her
inclusion in the 14 ships retained in the Navy after the Quasi-War.
Enterprise next sailed to the Mediterranean, raising Gibraltar on 26
June 1801, where she was to join other U.S. warships in writing a
bright and enduring page in American naval history. Enterprise's first
action came on 1 August 1801 when, just west of Malta, she defeated
the 14-gun Tripolitan corsair Tripoli, after a fierce but one-sided
battle. Unscathed, Enterprise sent the battered pirate into port since
the schooner's orders prohibited taking prizes. Her next victories
came in 1803 after months of carrying despatches, convoying
merchantmen, and patrolling the Mediterranean. On 17 January, she
captured Paulina, a Tunisian ship under charter to the Bashaw of
Tripoli, and on 22 May, she ran a 30-ton craft ashore on the coast of
Tripoli. For the next month, Enterprise and other ships of the
squadron cruised inshore bombarding the coast and sending landing
parties to destroy enemy small craft.
On 23 December 1803, after a quiet interval of cruising Enterprise
joined with the frigate Constitution to capture the Tripolitan ketch
Mastico. Refitted and renamed Intrepid, the ketch was given to
Enterprise's commanding officer, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, Jr., for
use in a daring expedition to burn frigate Philadelphia, captured by
the Tripolitans and anchored in the harbor of Tripoli. Decatur and his
volunteer crew carried out their mission perfectly, destroying the
frigate and depriving Tripoli of a powerful warship. Enterprise
continued to patrol the Barbary Coast until July 1804 when she joined
the other ships of the squadron in general attacks on the city of
Tripoli over a period of several weeks.
Enterprise passed the winter in Venice, where she was practically
rebuilt by May 1805. She rejoined her squadron in July, and resumed
patrol and convoy duty until August of 1807. During that period she
fought (15 August 1806) a brief engagement off Gibraltar with a group
of Spanish gunboats who attacked her but were driven off. Enterprise
returned to the United States in late 1807, and cruised coastal waters
until June 1809. After a brief tour of the Mediterranean, she sailed
to New York, where she was laid up for nearly a year.
Repaired at the Washington Navy Yard, Enterprise was recommissioned
there in April 1811, then sailed for operations out of Savannah, Ga.,
and Charleston, S.C. She returned to Washington for extensive repairs
and modifications; when she saied on 20 May 1812, she had been
refitted as a brig. At sea when war was declared on Great Britain, she
cruised along the east coast during the first year of hostilities. On
5 September 1813, Enterprise sighted and chased HBM Brig Boxer. The
brigs opened fire on each other, and in a closely fought, fierce and
gallant action which took the lives of both commanding officers,
Enterprise captured Boxer and took her into nearby Portland, Maine.
Here, a common funeral was held for Lieutenant William Burrows,
Enterprise, and Captain Samuel Blyth, Boxer, both well known and
highly respected in their services.
After repairing at Portland, Enterprise sailed in company with the
brig Rattlesnake, for the Caribbean. The two ships took three prizes
before bing forced to separate by a heavily armed ship on 25 February
1814. Enterprise was compelled to jettison most of her guns in order
to outsail her superior antagonist. The brig reached Wilmington, N.C.,
on 9 March 1814, then passed the remainder of the war as a guardship
off Charleston, S.C.
Enterprise served one more short tour in the Mediterranean
(July-November 1815), then cruised the northeastern seaboard until
November 1817. From that time on, she sailed the Caribbean and the
Gulf of Mexico, suppressing pirates, smugglers, and slaves; in this
duty she took 13 prizes. Her long career ended on 9 July 1823, when,
without injury to her crew, she stranded and broke up on Little
Curacao Island in the West Indies.
Transcribed by David R. Wells
