Skip to main content

Naval History and Heritage Command

USN 902975 USS PEACOCK and HMS L'EPERVIER, April 1814

USS PEACOCK and HMS L'EPERVIER, April 1814
Download Image:
Low (PNG, 319x319px, 61KB)
Med (JPEG, 1280x1280px, 303KB)
High (TIFF, 5476x3428px, 18MB)
Title: USS PEACOCK and HMS L'EPERVIER, April 1814
Caption: On 29 April 1814, the United States sloop USS PEACOCK of 22 guns, Captain Lewis Warrington, when not far from Cape Canaveral, Florida, sighted the British brig sloop HMS L'EPERVIER of 18 guns, Captain Richard W. Wales, with a convoy of two merchantmen. The PEACOCK made chase, the wind shifting to the southward, the merchantmen made sail away and L'EPERVIER stood towards PEACOCK. Soon after 11 o'clock, the two ships arrived within gun shot. Captain Warrington fired his starboard as he passed L'EPERVIER, then ordered his men to load with barshot and bundles of scrap iron (called langrage) in order to cripple the British brig aloft. The main topmast and main boom of L'EPERVIER were shot away so that she was, for the time, helpless and every gun on the port side was dismounted. Captain Wales, seeing that his men were rather disinclined for the adventure, hauled down his flag. L'EPERVIER carried $120,000 in coin.
Description:
Catalog #: USN 902975
Copyright Owner:
Original Creator: Artist, Warren (attributed)
After this Year: 1812
Before this Year: 1815
Original Medium: Watercolor Painting, BW Photo
Related Content
Topic
Document Type
  • Photograph
Wars & Conflicts
  • War of 1812 1812-1815
Navy Communities
File Formats
  • Image (gif, jpg, tiff)
Location of Archival Materials
Author Name
Place of Event
Recipient Name