Liverpool Packet
Encyclopedia
Liverpool Packet was a privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
from Liverpool, Nova Scotia
Liverpool, Nova Scotia
Liverpool is a Canadian community and former town located along the Atlantic Ocean of the Province of Nova Scotia's South Shore. It is situated within the Region of Queens Municipality which is the local governmental unit that comprises all of Queens County, Nova Scotia...
, which captured 50 American vessels in the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. During the war the privateer ship was briefly captured by American privateers, eventually being recaptured by the British. The Liverpool Packet was the most successful privateer vessel ever to sail out of a Canadian port.
Canadian privateer
The Liverpool Packet was originally the American slave shipSlave ship
Slave ships were large cargo ships specially converted for the purpose of transporting slaves, especially newly purchased African slaves to Americas....
Severn, captured by HMS Tartarus in August 1811. The American schooner was condemned as an illegal slave ship by the Halifax Vice Admiralty Court as both Britain and the United States had recently outlawed the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The ship was ordered sold at auction by the Court, she was purchased by Enos Collins
Enos Collins
Enos Collins was a merchant, shipowner, banker and privateer from Nova Scotia, Canada. Upon his death he was acclaimed as the richest man in Canada. He was born to a merchant family in Liverpool, Nova Scotia...
and other investors in October 1811. They renamed her Liverpool Packet, although she was sometimes bore the nickname The Black Joke, a name of several infamous slave ships. At first, her owners used the small and fast schooner as packet ship
Packet ship
A "packet ship" was originally a vessel employed to carry post office mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. In sea transport, a packet service is a regular, scheduled service, carrying freight and passengers...
carrying mail and passengers between Halifax and Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
War of 1812
Upon the outbreak of the War of 1812War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, the owners of the Liverpool Packet quickly converted her to a privateer. Under the command of Joseph Barss
Joseph Barss
Joseph Barss was a sea captain of the schooner Liverpool Packet and was one of the most successful privateers on the North American Atlantic coast during the War of 1812.-Early life:...
Jnr, she captured at least 33 American vessels during the first year of the war. His strategy was to lie in wait off Cape Cod, snapping up American ships headed to Boston or New York.
Captive
She was a menace to New England shipping until the Americans captured her in 1813. On 10 June the privateer schooner Thomas of Portsmouth, New HampshirePortsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
, Captain Shaw, master, mounting twelve guns and manned with a crew of one hundred men encountered Packet. Thomas chased her for about five hours but light winds prevented Liverpool Packet from escaping.
Liverpool packet struck her colours but then as the Americans came alongside the two vessels ran into each other. As the British ran up to push the vessels apart the Americans, fearing they were going to be boarded, boarded Liverpool Packet. Firing broke out that killed three Americans. American anger over their earlier losses to the Packet resulted in poor treatment of Barss, who languished in jail for months on a diet of bread and water until he was exchanged for American prisoners held in Halifax.
In American hands she was briefly renamed Young Teaser's Ghost and then Portsmouth Packet. Under the name Portsmouth Packet, Captain John Perkins, she had a short, unsuccessful career failing to capture a single prize for the Americans
Recaptured
HMS Fantome and HMS EpervierHMS Epervier (1812)
HMS Epervier was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy built by Ross at Rochester, England, and launched on 2 December 1812. The USS Peacock captured her in 1814 and took her into service...
recaptured Liverpool Packet, then sailing under the name Portsmouth Packet, off Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island , in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 6th largest island in the contiguous United States. Though it is often claimed to be the third largest island on the eastern seaboard of the United States, it is actually second...
, Maine, after a chase of thirteen hours. At the time, the privateer schooner was armed with five guns, carried a crew of 45, and had sailed from Portsmouth the previous day.
The recaptured schooner was brought into Halifax where her original owners repurchased her and restored the name of Liverpool Packet. Under a new captain named Caleb Seeley, she captured fourteen prizes before the year ended. In 1814, she captured additional prizes in May and June. Then in August, she took two prizes while acting in concert with HMS Shannon
HMS Shannon (1806)
HMS Shannon was a 38-gun Leda-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1806 and served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812...
while they were sailing off of Bridgeport and New York. Liverpool Packet continued to work often with British naval vessels right to the war's end.