WASP AND FROLIC. A. D. 1812.
On November 13th, 1812, the American 18-gun ship-sloop Wasp, Captain Jacob Jones, with a crew of 137 men, sailed from the Delaware, and ran off southeast, to get into the track of the West India traders. On the next day she encountered a heavy gale, and lost her jib-boom and two men who were upon it. On the 17th, the weather having moderated somewhat, she discovered several sail, which were part of a convoy of merchantmen from Honduras, bound for England, under convoy of the British 18-gun brig-sloop Frolic, of 19 guns and 110 men, commanded by Captain Whinyates. They had been dispersed by the gale of the 16th, in which the Frolic had lost her main yard. The Frolic had spent the next day in repairing damages, and by dark, six of her missing convoy had rejoined her. On Sunday, the 18th, which was a fine day, the convoy was discovered ahead and to leeward of the American ship, Captain Jones not choosing to close during the night, as he was ignorant of the force opposed to him.
The Wasp now sent down top-gallant yards, close reefed her top-sails, and bore down under short fighting canvas. The Frolic lashed her damaged yard on deck, and hauled by the wind, under her boom main-sail and close reefed fore-top-sail, hoisting Spanish colors to decoy the stranger down, and permit her convoy to escape. By half-past eleven the ships were close together, and running on the starboard tack, parallel, and not more than sixty yards apart. They then commenced firing, the Wasp her port, and the Frolic her starboard battery. The latter fired very rapidly, delivering three broadsides to the Wasp’s two, both crews cheering loudly as the ships wallowed through the water, abreast of each other. There was a very heavy sea running, left by the gale, which caused the vessels to roll and pitch heavily. The Americans fired as the engaged side of their ship was going down, aiming at the Frolic’s hull, while the English fired while on the crest of the seas, their shot going high.
The water flew in clouds of spray over both vessels, which rolled so that the muzzles of the guns went under, but in spite of this the firing was spirited and well directed. In five minutes the Wasp’s main-top-mast was shot away, and fell across the port fore and fore-top-sail braces, rendering her head yards unmanageable. Ten minutes after her gaff and mizzen-top-gallant mast came down, and by eleven o’clock every brace and most of her rigging was shot away, so that it was impossible to brace her yards.
But in the meantime the Frolic had suffered dreadfully in her hull and lower masts, and her gaff and head braces were also shot away. The slaughter among her crew was also very great; but the survivors kept at their work with the dogged courage of their race. At first the two vessels ran side by side, but the American gradually forged ahead, throwing in her fire from a position in which she herself received little injury. By degrees they drew so close together that the Americans struck the Frolic’s side with their rammers, in loading, and began to rake the British vessel with dreadful effect.
The Frolic then fell on board her antagonist, her jib-boom coming in between the main and mizzen-rigging of the Wasp, and passing over the heads of Captain Jones and Lieutenant Biddle, who were standing by the capstan, on the quarter-deck.
This forced the Wasp up into the wind, and she again raked the Frolic, Captain Jones trying to restrain his crew, who were anxious to board, until he could put in another broadside. But they could not be held back, and Jack Lang, a seaman from New Jersey, leaped on the Frolic’s bowsprit. Lieutenant Biddle then mounted the hammock-cloth, to board, but got his feet entangled in some rigging, and one of the midshipmen seizing his coat-tails, to help himself up, the Lieutenant tumbled back on the deck. As the ship rose to the next swell he succeeded in getting on the bowsprit, on which were one or two seamen of his ship. But there was no one to oppose them. The man at the wheel stood grim and undaunted, and there were two or three more about the deck, among them Captain Whinyates and his First Lieutenant, both so severely wounded that they could not stand without support. There could be no more resistance, and Lieutenant Biddle hauled down the flag himself, at a quarter-past twelve—just forty-three minutes after the action commenced. Almost immediately both the Frolic’s masts went by the board.
Of her crew not twenty men escaped unhurt. Every officer was wounded and two were killed. Her total loss was thus over ninety, about thirty of whom were killed outright or died of wounds.
The Wasp suffered severely in her rigging and aloft generally, but only two or three shots struck her hull. Five of her men were killed—two in her mizzen-top, and one in her main-top-mast rigging, and five were wounded, chiefly aloft.
The two vessels were practically of equal force. The loss of the Frolic’s main-yard had converted her into a brigantine, and as the roughness of the sea made it necessary to fight under very short canvas, her inferiority in men was fully compensated for by her superiority in metal. She had been desperately defended; no men could have fought more bravely than Captain Whinyates and his crew. On the other hand, the Americans had done their work with a coolness and skill that could not be surpassed. The contest had been mainly one of gunnery, and had been decided by the greatly superior judgment and accuracy with which they fired. Both officers and crew had behaved well.
The French Vice-Admiral Jurien de la Gravière, commenting on this action, says: “The American fire showed itself to be as accurate as it was rapid. On occasions, when the roughness of the seas would seem to render all aim excessively uncertain, the effects of their artillery were not less murderous than under more advantageous conditions. The corvette Wasp fought the brig Frolic in an enormous sea, under very short canvas, and yet, forty minutes after the beginning of the action, the Americans who leaped on board the brig found on the deck, covered with dead and dying, but one brave man, who had not left the wheel, and three officers, all wounded, etc., etc.”
The characteristics of the action are the practical equality of the contestants in point of force, and the enormous disparity in the damage each suffered. Numerically the Wasp was superior by five per cent., and inflicted a ninefold greater loss.
Captain Jones was not destined to bring his prize into port, for a few hours afterward the Poictiers, a British 74, hove in sight. Now appeared the value of the Frolic’s desperate defence; if she could not prevent herself from being captured, she had at least ensured her own recapture, and also the capture of her foe. When the Wasp made sail they were found to be cut into ribbons, and she could not make off with sufficient speed. The Poictiers soon overtook her, and carried both vessels into Bermuda. Captain Jones and his officers and men were soon exchanged, and Congress voted them prize money for their capture; while the Captain and Lieutenant Biddle were both deservedly promoted.