1812: The Navy's War

by George Daughan

  415 In January the czar: Wellington to Castlereagh, March 12, 1815, in Webster, ed., British Diplomacy, 312–13.

  GLOSSARY

  Abaft: to the rear of.

  Aft: toward, or in, the stern of a vessel.

  Astern: behind a vessel.

  Ballast: any heavy substance used to maintain a vessel at its proper draft or trim, or its stability.

  Beam: the breadth of a ship at its widest part.

  Beam ends: a ship lying so far over on its side that the ends of her beams are touching the water and she is in danger of capsizing.

  Beat to quarters: a marine drummer calling a crew to its battle stations.

  Beat up: to sail in the direction from which the wind is coming.

  Bilge: the lowest point of the hull, usually containing foul water.

  Binnacle: box on the quarterdeck near the helm that houses the compass and has drawers where telescopes are kept.

  Boom: a long spar used to extend the foot (or bottom) of a specific sail.

  Bomb vessel: a small ketch used to hold mortars for hurling bombs.

  Bow: the forward part of a ship.

  Bow chasers: long guns placed on both sides of the bow to allow firing ahead.

  Bower: large anchor placed at the bows of a ship.

  Bowsprit: a spar extending forward from the bow or stem of a ship to carry a sail forward and to support the masts by stays.

  Braces: ropes attached to the end of yards that allow them to be turned.

  Brig: a two-masted, square-rigged vessel.

  Broach to: to veer a ship’s stern suddenly to windward so that her broadside is exposed to the wind and sea, putting her in danger of capsizing.

  Bulkhead: a partition separating compartments on a vessel.

  Cable’s length: six hundred feet.

  Capstan: a vertical, cleated drum used for moving heavy weights powered by capstan bars pushed by hand.

  Carronade: form of cannon used to throw heavy shot at close quarters.

  Chasers: a chase gun.

  Chevaux-de-frise: a piece of timber or an iron barrel traversed with iron-pointed spikes or spears or pointed poles, five or six feet long, hidden under water, and used to defend a passage.

  Clew: a lower corner of a square sail or after lower corner of a fore-and-aft sail.

  Clew garnets: one of the ropes by which the clews of the courses of a square-rigged ship are hauled up to the lower yards.

  Clew lines: a rope by which the clew of an upper square sail is hauled up to its yard.

  Clew up: to haul a sail by means of the clew garnets, clew lines, etc., up to a yard or mast.

  Close-hauled: sails pulled tight to allow a ship to sail close to the wind.

  Collier: ship carrying coal.

  Columbiad: a large, muzzle-loading gun for shooting at a high angle of elevation.

  Con: steer.

  Consolato del mare: the right to take enemy goods from neutral ships.

  Coppering a warship: sheathing with rolled copper.

  Corvette: warship with flush deck, slightly smaller than a frigate.

  Courses: the lowest sails on any square-rigged mast.

  Cutter: a broad, square-sterned boat for carrying stores and passengers and either rowed or sailed.

  Fall off: to steer to leeward, or away from the direction of the wind.

  Fascines: a long bundle of wooden sticks bound together.

  Fire Ship: a vessel carrying combustibles sent among enemy ships to set them on fire. Fleches: a salient outwork of two faces with an open gorge.

  Fore-and-aft rig: having, instead of square sails attached to yards, sails bent to gaffs or set on the masts or on stays in the midship line of the vessel.

  Forecastle: that part of the upper deck of a ship forward of the foremast.

  Foremast: the mast closest to the bow.

  Forereach: to gain upon.

  Frigate: a three-masted, square-rigged warship carrying a full battery of from twenty to fifty guns on the main deck and having a raised quarterdeck and forecastle.

  Gaff: the spar upon which the head, or upper edge, of a fore-and-aft sail is extended.

  Gallant: third highest sail on a square-rigged ship above the top sail and course.

  Grapeshot: small iron balls held together by a canvas bag that act like shotgun pellets.

  Halyards: a rope or tackle for hoisting and lowering sails, yards, flags, etc.

  Hawse: the bows of a ship.

  Hawser: a large rope for towing, mooring, or securing a ship.

  Headsails: sails situated forward of the foremast.

  Heel: (noun) the lower end of a mast, a boom, the bowsprit, etc.

  Heel: (verb) to tilt or incline to one side.

  Inshore: near the shore or moving toward it.

  Jib boom: a spar that serves as an extension of the bowsprit.

  Jibe: to shift a fore-and-aft sail or its boom suddenly and with force from one side of a ship to the other until the sails fill on the opposite side. A maneuver done when a vessel is running with the wind and changes direction.

  Kedge anchor: a small iron anchor used to hold a ship fast during changes of tide and to tow a ship forward during a calm by dropping the anchor forward and pulling the ship toward it.

  Knot: a unit of speed equivalent to 1 nautical mile or 6,080.2 feet an hour.

  Larboard: the left-hand side of a ship when facing toward the bow. The opposite of starboard. Also called “port.”

  Lateen sail: a triangular sail, extended by a long yard slung to the mast and usually low.

  Lee: the quarter toward which the wind blows.

  Lee shore: a shore on the lee side of a vessel, potentially dangerous in a storm.

  Letter of marque: a license granted by a government to a private person to fit out an armed vessel to cruise as a privateer.

  Lifts: chains or ropes used to hold yards to masts.

  Line-of-battle ship: see “sail of the line.”

  Luff: to turn the head of a vessel toward the wind.

  Mainmast: the large center mast of a three-masted ship.

  Maintop: the platform above the head of the mainmast in a square-rigged ship.

  Main topmast: a mast next above the mainmast.

  Merlon: one of the solid intervals between embrasures or openings of a battlement or parapet.

  Mizzenmast: the aftermost mast, usually the smallest, in a two-masted or three-masted ship. The mast closest to the stern.

  Play upon: fire at.

  Port: the left-hand side of a ship when facing toward the bow. The opposite of starboard. Also called “larboard.”

  Privateer: an armed private vessel operating under the commission of a government.

  Prow: the bow of a vessel.

  Pounders: refers to the weight of a cannonball.

  Quarter deck: that part of the upper deck abaft the mainmast reserved for officers.

  Ratlines: one of the small traverse ropes attached to the shrouds and forming the steps of a rope ladder.

  Razee: a sail of the line that has had one of its decks removed to transform it into a heavy frigate.

  Redoubt: small enclosed work of varying size used to fortify hills and passes.

  Reef: that part of a sail which is taken in or let out by means of the reef points, in order to regulate the size of a sail.

  Reef point: one of the pieces of small rope used in reefing a sail.

  Royal: a small sail immediately above the topgallant sail.

  Sail of the line: largest of the warships, carrying from 50 to 120 guns, large enough to have a place in the line of battle. Most often a 74-gun ship with three decks. Also called ship of the line.

  Scow: a large, flat-bottomed boat, having broad, square ends.

  Sheet: a rope that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind.

  Ship of the line: see “sail of the line.”

  Slow-match: a slow-burning fuse used to ignite the powder charge in a cannon.


  Spring on her cable: a line leading from a vessel’s quarter to her cable so that by hauling in or slackening it she can be made to lie in any position.

  Spring tide: a tide greater than usual, occurring at full moon and new moon.

  Stand: depart, or head toward.

  Starboard: the right-hand side of a ship when facing toward the bow. The opposite of larboard (or port).

  Starboard tack: the course of a ship when the wind is coming over the starboard side.

  Steam anchor: a small spare anchor.

  Stern: the rear end of a vessel.

  Stern Sheets: the space at the stern not occupied by the thwarts of an open boat.

  Studding sail: used in a fair wind to extend the sails on a square-rigged ship.

  Swivel: a small gun fixed on a swivel on a stanchion so that it can be rotated. Usually shoots a one-pound ball.

  Tack: to change direction by bringing the head of a vessel into the wind and then shifting the sails so that she comes up into the wind and then falls off on the other side until she is sailing at about the same angle, with the wind coming from the opposite side of the ship.

  Taffrail: the rail around a ship’s stern.

  Tender: a vessel employed to attend larger ships, to supply them with provisions, etc.

  Topgallant: a mast or sail situated above the topmast and below the royal mast.

  Topmast: The second mast from the deck, between the lower mast and the topgallant. On large ships the masts were organized in sections.

  Topsail: the sail above the course.

  Trim: to adjust sails and yards to get the best effect from the wind. Also, to arrange ballast, cargo, or passengers so that the ship will sail well.

  Veer: to alter the course of ship by turning away from the direction of the wind.

  Warp: to move a ship by hauling on a line, or warp.

  Wear: to go about or change direction by turning the head of a vessel away from the wind.

  Weather gauge: the position of a ship to the windward of another, giving an advantage in maneuvering.

  Wherry: a long light rowboat, sharp at both ends.

  Windward: the point or side from which the wind blows.

  Yard: a long, narrow, cylindrical, tapered, wooden spar that supports and extends a sail.

  Author’s Note: The majority of the above definitions are based on Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language, edited by William Allan Neilson, 2nd ed. (Springfield, MA: Merriam, 1938).

  SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

  DOCUMENTS

  Adams, Charles Francis. The Memoirs of John Quincy Adams. 12 vols. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1874–77.

  Adams, John. The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. Edited by Lester J. Cappon. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988.

  Andrews, Charles. The Prisoners’ Memoirs or Dartmoor Prison. . . . New York: Printed for the Author, 1815.

  Bourchier, Lady, ed. Memoir of the Life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green, 1873.

  Brannan, John. Official Letters of the Military and Naval Officers of the United States During the War with Great Britain, in the Years 1812–1815. Washington City: Way and Gideon, 1823.

  Carden, John Surman. A Curtail’d Memoir of Incidents and Occurrences in the Life of John Surman Carden. 1850. Reprint, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912.

  Castlereagh, Robert Stewart. Correspondence, Despatches, and Other Papers of Viscount Castlereagh, Second Marquess of Londonderry. 12 vols. London: H. Colburn, 1848–53.

  Cooper, James Fenimore. Ned Myers; or Life Before the Mast. 1843. Reprint, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989.

  Crawford, Michael, ed. The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History. Vol. 3. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 2002.

  Cruikshank, Ernest A. The Documentary History of the Campaign Upon the Niagara Frontier, 1812–1814. 9 vols. Welland, Ontario: Lundy’s Lane Historical Society, 1896–1908.

  ———. Documents Relating to the Invasion of Canada and the Surrender of Detroit, 1812. Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau, 1912.

  Cutts, Lucia Beverly. Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1896.

  Dudley, William S. The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History. Vol. 1. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1985.

  ———. The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History. Vol. 2. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1992.

  Evan, Amos A. “Journal Kept on Board the United States Frigate Constitution, 1812. . . .” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 19, no. 1 (1895).

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  Graves, Donald E., ed. Soldiers of 1814: American Enlisted Men’s Memoirs of the Niagara Campaign. Youngstown, OH: Old Fort Niagara Press, 1995.

  Hamton, Stanislaus Murray, ed. The Writings of James Monroe. . . . 7 vols. New York: Putnam, 1901–2.

  Hawthorne, Nathaniel, ed. The Yarn of a Yankee Privateer. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1926.

  Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1960.

  Hopkins, James F., ed. The Papers of Henry Clay: Volume I, The Rising Statesman, 1797–1814. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1959.

  King, Dean, and John B. Hattendorf. Every Man Will Do His Duty: An Anthology of Firsthand Accounts from the Age of Nelson, 1793–1815. New York: Henry Holt, 1997.

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  Leech, Samuel. Thirty Years from Home: A Seaman’s View of the War of 1812. Boston: Tappan & Dennet, 1843. Reprint, Tucson, AZ: Fireship Press, 2008.

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  Martin, Tyrone G., ed. The USS Constitution’s Finest Fight, 1815: The Journal of Acting Chaplain Assheton Humphreys, US Navy. Mount Pleasant, SC: Nautical and Aviation Publishing, 2000.

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  Peterson, Merrill D., ed. Thomas Jefferson, Writings. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, 1984.

  Porter, David. Journal of a Cruise. Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep, 1815. Reprint, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1986.

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  Smith, Moses. Naval Scenes in the Last War; or, Three Years on Board the Frigate Constitution, and the Adams; Including Capture of the Guerriere. Boston: Gleason’s Publishing Hall, 1846.

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  Van Rensselaer, Solomon. A Narrative of the Affair of Queenston: In the War of 1812. New York: Leavitt, Lord, 1836.

  Webster, Charles. K., ed. Britain and the Independence of Latin America. 2 vols. London: G. Bell & Sons, 1938.

  ———, ed. British Diplomacy, 1813–1815: Select Documents Dealing with the Reconstruction of Europe. London: G. Bell & Sons, 1921.

  Wellesley, Arthur R., ed. Supplementary Despatches, Correspondence, and Memoranda of Field Marshall Arthur, Duke of Wellington, K. G. London: John Murray, 1862.

  White, Samuel. History of the American Troops in the Late War, Under the Commands of Cols. Fenton and Campbell. 1829. Reprint, Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2008.

  Wood, William Charles Henry, ed. Select British Documents of the Canadian War of 1812. 3 vols. Toronto: Publications of the Champlain Society, 1920–23.

  SECONDARY WORKS

  Abernethy, Thomas Perkins. The South in the New Nation, 1789–1918. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1961.

  Adams, Henry. History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison. New York: Library of America, 1986.

  Allgor, Catharine. A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation. New York: Henry Holt, 2006.

  Allison, Robert J. Stephen Decatur: American Naval Hero, 1779–1820. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005.

  Altoff, Gerard T. Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie. Rev. ed. Put-in-Bay, OH: Perry Group, 1999.

  Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1990.