Combat· War of 1812
President vs HMS Endymion / Pomone / Tenedos / Majestic
The last major American frigate lost in the war, and a fight against hopeless odds.
Trying to slip out of New York through the blockade, Commodore Stephen Decatur's frigate USS President grounded on the bar leaving the harbor and was badly strained before she even reached open water. At dawn she ran into a British squadron of four warships. The fast frigate HMS Endymion caught her first, and the two fought a running duel in which the President's Marines added their fire as the ships exchanged broadsides; Decatur crippled the Endymion but could not shake the pursuit. As the heavier Pomone and Tenedos closed in, Decatur, his ship battered and many of his crew down, struck his colors. The President was carried into Bermuda as a prize. Outnumbered four to one, Decatur was honorably acquitted for her loss.
Podcast episodes on War of 1812
Record no. 245