HMS Shannon vs USS Chesapeake

1 June 1813, About 20 miles east of Boston Light

British victory; Chesapeake captured

Philip Broke had blockaded Boston in Shannon for weeks, and sent in a written challenge to the American frigate Chesapeake, newly under the command of James Lawrence. Lawrence came out before it arrived, with a crew partly new to the ship. Off Boston Light the two frigates came together on parallel courses late in the afternoon, and Shannon's well-drilled gunners swept Chesapeake's decks. Her wheel was shot away and she came up into the wind and fell aboard Shannon. Lawrence was mortally wounded, calling out "Don't give up the ship" as he was carried below; Broke led his boarders across and took her, but was cut down with a sword blow to the head that ended his career at sea. The whole action lasted barely a quarter of an hour and cost 48 American dead and 99 wounded, and 23 British dead and 56 wounded. Shannon took her prize into Halifax. It restored British confidence after the three frigate defeats of 1812.