During the War of 1812, President James Madison attempted to offset the small size of the U.S. Navy by issuing Letters of Marque and Reprisal to private ship owners. This document granted its holder the right to arm his vessel and act as a privateer.
Many American privateers sailed out of the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore Clippers built in Fells Point. During two-and-a-half years of the war, Baltimore privateers captured 556 British ships, of which 169 made it to port for resale.
One of the most famous of the American privateers was Captain Thomas Boyle, of Fells Point.
In 1814, he sailed from Fells Point on the Chasseur to Great Britain, where he relentlessly pestered the British merchant fleet.
Boyle sent a notice to the king from a captured ship that placed the British Isles under naval blockade. Proclaiming a one-ship blockade, Boyle broadcasted, “I do therefore, by virtue of the power and authority in me vested (possessing sufficient force), declare all the ports, harbors, bays, creeks, rivers, inlets, outlets, islands and seacoast of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in a state of strict and rigorous blockade.”
This affront created hysteria among the shipping community and caused the admiralty to call vessels home from the American war to protect convoys of merchant ships.
The Chasseur captured or sank 18 British merchant ships before heading back to home port.
On March 25, 1815, as Chasseur triumphantly sailed to Fells Point, the Niles Weekly Register dubbed the ship, her captain and crew the “pride of Baltimore” for their intrepid achievements.
After the war, local shipbuilders didn?t build another Baltimore Clipper until 1977, when the Pride of Baltimore was launched in honor of the Chasseur. In 1986, the Pride capsized and sank during a freak squall near Puerto Rico. Baltimoreans mourned the loss of the captain and three of 11 crew members.
Today the Pride of Baltimore II plies the seas as goodwill ambassador for the city of Baltimore.
A longtime export analyst and consultant, Joseph R. Hughes? maritime-related articles have appeared in numerous publications. He is a native Baltimorean. E-mail your questions to him at [email protected]
