Combat· War of 1812
Chesapeake vs HMS Shannon
The bloodiest single action for Marines in the war, fought in barely fifteen minutes off Boston.
Captain James Lawrence took the frigate Chesapeake out to meet Captain Philip Broke's HMS Shannon, a ship as well-drilled as any in the Royal Navy. The two frigates closed and tore into each other at point-blank range; Lawrence was mortally wounded and carried below giving his famous order, "Don't give up the ship." The Marine Guard was annihilated. Of its original forty-four men, fourteen were killed, including its commander Lieutenant James Broom and Corporal Dixon, and twenty were wounded, including Sergeants Twiss and Harris, leaving only a corporal and nine men on their feet. The Shannon's crew boarded and carried the Chesapeake, taking her into Halifax. It was a stunning British victory and a catastrophe for the Chesapeake's Marines.
Podcast episodes on War of 1812
Record no. 88