Lillebælt was a Danish 22-gun warship launched in 1801. The Danes surrendered her to the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 in 1807 and she became the 20-gun post ship

Post ship

Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the Age of Sail to describe a ship of the sixth-rate that was smaller than a frigate , but by virtue of being a rated ship , had to have as its captain a post captain rather than a lieutenant or commander...

 HMS Little Belt. The American USS President

USS President (1800)

USS President was a nominally rated 44-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was named by George Washington to reflect a principle of the United States Constitution. Forman Cheeseman was in charge of her construction, and she was launched in April 1800 from a...

 fired on her during peacetime, believing her to be , which had recently abducted a sailor from USS Spitfire, giving rise to the eponymous "Little Belt Affair". Her captain at the time, Arthur Batt Bingham

Arthur Bingham

Arthur Batt Bingham was an officer in the Royal Navy, rising to the rank of post captain. He is remembered chiefly for his command of HMS Little Belt, when the Little Belt Affair occurred, just prior to the War of 1812.-Family and early life:...

, maintained that the Americans fired first and that he had not surrendered. She was broken up in 1811.

Career

She was built in 1801 to a design by P.C. Hohlenberg as the 460-ton Danish 22-gun let fregat (light frigate or corvette) Lillebælt. She was among the vessels that the British seized after the Battle of Copenhagen

Battle of Copenhagen (1807)

The Second Battle of Copenhagen was a British preemptive attack on Copenhagen, targeting the civilian population in order to seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet and in turn originate the term to Copenhagenize.-Background:Despite the defeat and loss of many ships in the first Battle of Copenhagen in...

 on 7 September 1807. She then sailed in convoy with the to Britain, arriving on 24 October at Woolwich. She was fitted there until 14 May 1809.

She was commissioned under the anglicised version of her name, placed under the command of John Crispo and by 1808 was off the African coast. Later, she returned to Britain.

On 27 September 1810 had been in pursuit of a French brig when Rhin

French frigate Rhin (1802)

Rhin was a 44-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1802. She was present at two major battles while in French service. Then the Royal Navy captured her in 1806. Thereafter Rhin served until 1815 capturing numerous vessels. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she was laid up...

 joined the chase and after two and a half hours captured the quarry off the Lizard

Lizard Point, Cornwall

Lizard Point in Cornwall is at the southern tip of the Lizard Peninsula. It is situated half-a-mile south of Lizard village in the civil parish of Landewednack and approximately 11 miles southeast of Helston....

. The French vessel was the privateer San Joseph, of Saint Malo, under the command of a Joseph Wittevronghel, a Dane. San Joseph was one year old, about 100 tons burthen (bm), and armed with 14 guns though she was pierced for 16. She had only been out one day when the British captured her and had taken nothing. Little Belt had been in company with Wolverine during the chase.

Crispo was promoted to post-captain

Post-Captain

Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...

 on 21 October 1810; Bingham succeeded him as commander of the Little Belt in November 1810. Bingham then sailed her to Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

, to operate off the North American coast.

On 25 March 1811, Little Belt captured the Spanish vessel Empressa. At the time she was apparently under the command of Thomas Prickett. was either accompanying Little Belt or in sight of the capture and so shared in the prize money.

Little Belt Affair

By early 1811, Little Belt was in the Caribbean, where on 19 April Rear-Admiral Herbert Sawyer

Herbert Sawyer

Admiral Sir Herbert Sawyer KCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the American Revolution, the French Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars. He eventually rose to the rank of Admiral....

, based at Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, instructed Bingham to meet Captain Pechell in , who was cruising somewhere along the Atlantic seaboard between Charlestown

Charlestown, Massachusetts

Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874...

 and New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. If he was unable to make contact with Pechell, Bingham was to cruise along the coast, protecting British ships and intercepting enemy vessels and eventually return to Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

. Sawyer warned Bingham to be careful to avoid a clash with the Americans and to stay out of American ports except in the case of dire necessity. In the event, Bingham did not locate the Guerriere, and continued to cruise along the coast.

On the morning of 10 May, as the Little Belt was some 48 miles east of Cape Charles

Cape Charles

Cape Charles may refer to:*Cape Charles, Virginia, a town in Northampton County, Virginia*Cape Charles , headland or cape in Northampton County, Virginia...

 at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

, she sighted a strange sail in the distance. Bingham made signal #277, which requested the strange ship, if a British warship, to show her number. The other ship did not reply and Bingham concluded that the mystery ship was a frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. He hoisted his colours and began to round Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras is a cape on the coast of North Carolina. It is the point that protrudes the farthest to the southeast along the northeast-to-southwest line of the Atlantic coast of North America...

. The frigate followed, catching up to the Little Belt, and appeared to be trying to manoeuvre into a position to rake the sloop. Bingham veered three times to foil the American's attempts, while calling for the frigate to identify herself. Each time though the American demanded the same of Bingham. The frigate, actually the 44-gun USS President

USS President (1800)

USS President was a nominally rated 44-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was named by George Washington to reflect a principle of the United States Constitution. Forman Cheeseman was in charge of her construction, and she was launched in April 1800 from a...

 under Commodore

Commodore (rank)

Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...

 John Rodgers

John Rodgers (naval officer, War of 1812)

John Rodgers was a senior naval officer in the United States Navy who served under six Presidents for nearly four decades during its formative years in the 1790s through the late 1830s, committing the greater bulk of his adult life to his country...

, Bingham claimed, then opened fire on the Little Belt. Bingham returned fire and an engagement began, lasting three-quarters of an hour. The British observed that President had a fire onboard as she drew away.

President then returned, and asked if Bingham had struck. Bingham replied that he had not, and President again withdrew. Rodgers sent a messenger out to the damaged Little Belt the following morning, lamenting the "unfortunate affair", and insisting that he would not have fired had Little Belt not fired first. Bingham denied this, and turned down Rodger's offer of putting into an American port for repairs. Little Belt had nine killed outright, and had 23 wounded, including two mortally, who died the day after the battle. She was also badly damaged, with numerous shots between wind and water and with her masts and rigging damaged.

Bingham made for Halifax, hampered by a gale on the second day of the voyage which caused leaks. On 23 May met up with Little Belt and the two then proceeded on to Halifax, which they reached on 28 May.

Rodgers claimed that he had mistaken the British ship for a larger frigate and was adamant that Bingham had fired first. The Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 expressed their confidence in Bingham; it promoted him to post-captain

Post-Captain

Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...

on 7 February 1812.

On 4 August 1811, Little Belt captured the American ship Traveller.