Combat· War of 1812
President vs HMS Belvidera
The first naval action of the War of 1812, fought within days of the declaration.
Commodore John Rodgers took a squadron led by the frigate President to sea hunting British shipping and fell in with HMS Belvidera off the New Jersey coast. In the long stern chase that followed, the President's Marines stood ready and added their fire, but the action turned on a disaster aboard the American ship: one of her bow chase guns burst, killing and wounding several men, including Rodgers himself, whose leg was broken. The accident threw the chase into confusion and let the Belvidera escape to Halifax, where she carried the first firm word that war had begun. It was an inauspicious opening, the squadron's cruise netted little, but it signaled that the United States Navy meant to take the fight to the Royal Navy at sea.
Podcast episodes on War of 1812
Record no. 217