Combat· Quasi-War with France
Experiment vs picaroons
On New Year's Day 1800, the schooner USS Experiment lay becalmed with a convoy in the channel between Gonaïve and Trou Covert, near St.
Marc on Saint-Domingue, when ten barges flying the tricolor and carrying some five hundred of Rigaud's picaroons, armed with muskets, sabres, and boarding pikes, swept out and attacked. The Marines, under Second Lieutenant Nathan Sheredine, opened a steady musketry that took a heavy toll through a fight of nearly three hours, and the well-served guns and Marine fire together drove the barges off. A passenger, Consul General Edward Stevens, praised the Marines' steadiness. The Americans lost one killed and one wounded; the picaroons captured several convoy vessels and murdered one captain. The Experiment fired off all her ammunition, and Toussaint Louverture later replenished her magazines and gave her a long six-pounder for a stern chase.
Podcast episodes on Quasi-War with France
Record no. 177