On This Day 5 September

[Coog]

On 5 September 1813, the USS Enterprise of 16 guns with 102 men sighted HMS Boxer of 14 guns with 66 men off Pemaquid Point, Maine, and closed on the enemy brig. Interestingly, the Boxer was in the area having for a fee escorted an American merchantman with Swedish papers from New Brunswick to the Kennebec River. British Captain Samuel Blyth prepared for a fight to the finish, nailing one's flag to the foremast. In the Enterprise, Lieutenant William Burrows demonstrated similar resolve. He moved one of his two long 9-pounders from the bow to a stern port, declaring: " We are going to fight both ends and both sides of this ship as long as the ends and the sides hold together."

The two brigs opened fire. Captain Blyth was killed during the initial fusillade, and Captain Burrows suffered a mortal wound moments later. The fierce contest ended in 30 minutes with HMS Boxer in ruins. Command of the Enterprise passed to Lieutenant Edward McCall, while Lieutenant David McGrery assumed command of the battered HMS Boxer. The dying Lieutenant Burrows declined to accept Captain Blyth's sword, directing it be sent to the family of the dead British captain. "I am satisfied, I die contented," Lieutenant Burrows exclaimed. McCall went into nearby Portland, Maine with the two ships and the casualties.

A British court martial later exhonerated Boxer's officers but found that some seamen had deserted their quarters during the action.

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The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American War of Independence that took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 1781, between a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves and a French fleet led by Rear Admiral François Joseph Paul, comte de Grasse.

The battle was tactically inconclusive but strategically a major defeat for the British, since it prevented the Royal Navy from reinforcing or evacuating the blockaded forces of Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. It also prevented British interference with the transport of French and Continental Army troops and provisions to Yorktown via Chesapeake Bay. As a result, Cornwallis surrendered his army after the Siege of Yorktown. The major consequence of Cornwallis's surrender was the beginning of negotiations that eventually resulted in peace and British recognition of the independent United States of America.

Presented in July 1781 with the options of attacking British forces in either New York or Virginia, Admiral de Grasse opted for the latter, arriving at the Chesapeake at the end of August. Upon learning that de Grasse had sailed from the West Indies for North America, and that French Admiral de Barras had also sailed from Newport, Rhode Island, Admiral Graves concluded that they were going to join forces at the Chesapeake. Sailing south from New York with 19 ships of the line, Graves arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake early on 5 September to see de Grasse's fleet at anchor in the bay. De Grasse hastily prepared most of his fleet, 24 ships of the line, for battle and sailed out to meet Graves. In a two-hour engagement that took place after hours of manoeuvring, the lines of the two fleets did not completely meet, with only the forward and center sections of the lines fully engaging. The battle was consequently fairly evenly matched, although the British suffered more casualties and ship damage. The battle broke off when the sun set. British tactics in the battle have been a subject of contemporary and historic debate.

For several days the two fleets sailed within view of each other, with de Grasse preferring to lure the British away from the bay, where de Barras was expected to arrive carrying vital siege equipment. On 13 September de Grasse broke away from the British and returned to the Chesapeake, where de Barras had arrived. Graves returned to New York to organize a larger relief effort; this did not sail until 19 October, two days after Cornwallis surrendered.

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The Battle of Hudson's Bay, also known as the Battle of York Factory, was a naval battle fought during the War of the Grand Alliance (known in England's North American colonies as "King William's War"). The battle took place on 5 September 1697, when a French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron commanded by Captain John Fletcher. As a result of this battle, the French took York Factory, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company. For other fighting in the region see Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay.

D'Iberville's flagship, the 44-gun Pélican, was part of a larger French squadron dispatched to contest English control of Hudson Bay. Before the battle, the Pélican became separated from the rest of the French squadron in heavy fog, but D'Iberville elected to forge ahead. This set the stage for a little-known but spectacular single-ship action against heavy odds.

As the Pélican sailed south into clearer weather, she approached the trading post of York Factory, and a group of soldiers went ashore to scout out the fort. Captain D'Iberville remained on board the Pélican. While the shore party was scouting the fort, D'Iberville saw the sails and masts of approaching ships. Thinking the rest of his squadron had arrived, he set off to meet them. D'Iberville realized that the ships were not French, but was an English squadron when a shot was fired across the bow of Pélican.

The English squadron comprised the 50-gun HMS Hampshire, under Captain Fletcher, the 32-gun HBC Hudson’s Bay, commanded by Capt. Nicholas Smithsend, and the 36-gun HBC Dering, Capt. Michael Grimington.

D'Iberville, his shore party out of reach, elected to give battle. The battle began as a running fight, but after two and a half hours, D'Iberville closed with the English and a brutal broadside-to-broadside engagement took place between the Pélican and the Hampshire. The English seemed to be gaining the upper hand with blood running from the scuppers of the Pélican into the water. Captain Fletcher demanded that D'Iberville surrender, but D'Iberville refused. Fletcher is reported to have raised a glass of wine to toast D'Iberville's bravery when the next broadside from the Pélican detonated the Hampshire's powder magazine. The Hampshire exploded and sank.

The Royal Hudson's Bay and the Dering seem to have played only a limited supporting role in the final stage of the engagement. The Hudson's Bay was damaged and struck its colors to Pélican after the Hampshire blew up. Dering broke off the engagement and fled, but the Pélican was too badly damaged to pursue.

The Pélican was also fatally damaged in the battle. Holed below the waterline, the Pélican had to be abandoned, but the arrival of the remainder of the French squadron shortly thereafter led to the surrender of York Factory on September 13, 1697, and the continuation of D'Iberville's remarkable career.