HMS Chippeway (1812)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Chippewa.

HMS Chippawa, or Chippeway (slang var.), was the mercantile schooner Chippawa, built and launched in 1810. The British brought her into service as HM Schooner Chippawa,^[6] sometimes recorded as Chippeway.

History
Great Britain / Upper Canada
Name	Chippawa
Namesake	Chippawa Creek
Builder	Anderson Martin, Chippawa, Ontario Canada
Launched	1810
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Chippawa
Acquired	1812
Captured	10 September 1813
United States
Name	USS Chippewa
Acquired	10 September 1813 (by capture)
Fate	Grounded by storm; burned by British in December 1813
General characteristics
Type	Schooner
Tons burthen	30-70[lower-alpha 1] 7975⁄95 (by calc; bm)
Length	59 ft (18.0 m)[lower-alpha 2]
Beam	16 ft (4.9 m)
Depth of hold	7 ft (2.1 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Schooner
Complement	15; 27 as HMS Chippeway[4]
Armament	British service: 1 × 9-pounder gun American service: 1 × 12-pounder gun + 2 × swivels,[5] or 1 × 18-pounder gun + 2 swivels[3]

The United States later captured her at the Battle of Lake Erie, and brought her into service, as USS Chippewa. A storm drove her aground in October 1813, where a British force burned her in December.

Career

The small merchant schooner Chippawa, built in Chippawa, Ontario, Canada,^[7][8] in 1810, was under the command of her builder Captain Anderson Martin^[7][8] or perhaps his brother Capt. Budd Martin,^[9][10] and trading on the Great Lakes. At the outbreak of the War of 1812 she was ferrying supplies and furs. The British initially armed Chippawa with two guns, and brought her into the Provincial Marine under the command of Lieutenant Rollette. During the one-month armistice in August 1812, Chippawa carried General Isaac Brock on Lake Erie.^[9]

Battle of Lake Erie, Ballou's Pictorial 1856

She was armed with only one gun and under the command of Master's Mate J. Campbell when on 10 September 1813 the American sloop Trippe captured her during the Battle of Lake Erie.^[11] The Americans concentrated their fire on the larger British vessels and Chippawa came under fire when she went to help them. The Americans then captured her and Little Belt while they were trying to escape.^[2] Her only casualty was Campbell, who was slightly wounded in the action.^[12]

The Americans took her into service as USS Chippewa, under the command of Acting Midshipman Robert S. Tatem. She then carried the baggage of the 27th and 28th regiments of Infantry from Put-in-Bay, Ohio.^[13]

Fate

A storm on 12 October drove Chippewa ashore near Buffalo.^[13] A later storm on 25–26 October drove Little Belt, Trippe, and Ariel ashore too at Buffalo. All efforts to refloat them failed, and on 30 December the British landing party that captured the Navy yard at Black Rock, New York (now a neighborhood of Buffalo), burned them during the Battle of Buffalo.^[14]

Notes

1. Records differ. Mansfield reports her burthen as 30 tons.^[1] Hepper says 32 tons.^[2] DANFS says 70.
2. All dimensions are from Silverstone.^[3]

Citations

1. Mansfield (1899), Vol. 1, p.184.
2. Hepper (1994), p. 147-8.
3. Silverstone (2001), p. 66.
4. Mills (1813), p.118.
5. Slocum (1905), op. 351.
6. Gen. Brock, military memo, 2 June 1813, to Provl.Lieut. Rolette, Commr. of "H.M.Schooner Chippawa"[sic].
7. History of the City of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio; 1888, Munsell & Co., New York.
8. Early History of the Maumee Valley; L. Hosmer 1858
9. Mansfield (1899), p.184
10. Dobbins papers; Buffalo (NY) Historical Society
11. "NMM, vessel ID 382344" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol V. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
12. "No. 16855". The London Gazette. 8 February 1814. pp. 330–332.
13. Mansfield (1899), Vol.1, p.585.
14. "No. 16862". The London Gazette. 26 February 1814. p. 438.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• DANFS - Chippewa (I): This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
• Mansfield, John Brandt (1899) History of the Great lakes .... (J. H. Beers & co.) {note; Mansfield errs in several details about the schooner 'Chippawa'.}
• Mills, James Cooke (1913) Oliver Hazard Perry and the battle of Lake Erie. (J. Phelps).
• Silverstone, Paul H. (2001). The Sailing Navy, 1775-1854. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1- 55750-893-3.
• Slocum, Charles Elihu (1905) History of the Maumee River basin from the earliest account to its organization into counties. (Published by the author).

This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.