Combat· War of 1812
USS Peacock in Straits of Sunda
The war's final shots were fired half a world away, in the East Indies, by men who would not believe it was over.
The sloop USS Peacock under Master Commandant Lewis Warrington cruised the Straits of Sunda between Sumatra and Java through June 1815, taking a string of British prizes, the Union, the Venus, and the Brio de Mar, with her Marines in each boarding. On 30 June she fell in with the East India Company brig Nautilus, whose officers told Warrington the war had ended. Suspecting a ruse, Warrington demanded the brig surrender and, when she hesitated, fired into her, killing and wounding several before the misunderstanding was sorted out. It was the last engagement of the War of 1812, fought weeks after the peace, a needless final clash that closed the war on a note of tragic confusion rather than triumph.
Podcast episodes on War of 1812
Record no. 255