Combat· Quasi-War with France
Enterprise vs Flambeau near Dominica
McClellan called the capture of the Flambeau near Dominica the most noteworthy engagement of the USS Enterprise's celebrated 1800 cruise, and the one in which her Marines most distinguished themselves.
The Enterprise, a fast and aggressive schooner that took a long string of prizes during the Quasi-War, ran down the French vessel and forced her surrender, with the Marine guard delivering the kind of close, accurate musketry that had become the detachment's trademark in privateer actions. The fight came near the end of a cruise that had already made the Enterprise one of the most successful American warships of the conflict. Her record of captures, and the steady performance of her small Marine guard in action after action, stood as a model of what the new Navy and the reauthorized Corps could accomplish together in the island waters of the Caribbean.
Podcast episodes on Quasi-War with France
Record no. 188