Memoirs of the Generals, Commodores and other Commanders, who distinguished themselves in the American army and navy during the wars of the Revolution and 1812, and who were presented with medals by Congress for their gallant services

by Thomas Wyatt

After being employed for some length of time on the Orleans station, he was appointed to the command of the brig Argus, stationed for the protection of our commerce on the southern maritime frontier. In this situation he acted with vigilance and fidelity, and conformed to his instructions, to the public interest and the entire satisfaction of his government. In 1811, Captain Jones was transferred to the command of the sloop of war Wasp, mounting eighteen twenty-four pound carronades, and was dispatched, in the spring of 1812, with communications to the courts of St. Cloud and St. James. During this voyage, war was declared by the United States against Great Britain.

On his return, Captain Jones refitted his ship with all possible dispatch, and repaired to sea on a cruise, in which he met with no other luck than the capture of an inconsiderable prize. He again put to sea on the 13th of October, and on the 18th of the same month, after a long and heavy gale, he fell in with a number of strongly armed merchantmen, under convoy of his Britannic majesty’s sloop of war The Frolic, Captain Whinyates.

As this engagement has been one of the most decidedly honorable to the American flag, from the superior force of the enemy, we vouch for the following account of it to be scrupulously correct:—“There was a heavy swell in the sea, and the weather was boisterous. The top-gallant yards of the Wasp were taken down, her top-sails were close reefed, and she was prepared for action. About eleven o’clock A. M., the Frolic showed Spanish colors, and the Wasp immediately displayed the American ensign and pendant. At thirty-two minutes past eleven, the Wasp came down to windward on her larboard side, within about sixty yards and hailed. The enemy hauled down the Spanish colors, hoisted the British ensign, and opened a fire of cannon and musketry. This the Wasp instantly returned, and coming nearer to the enemy, the action became close and without intermission. In four or five minutes the main-topmast of the Wasp was shot away, and falling down with the main-top sail yard across the larboard fore and fore-topsail braces, rendered her head-yards unmanageable during the rest of the action. In two or three minutes more her gaft and mizzen top-gallant sail were shot away. Still she continued a close and constant fire. The sea was so rough that the muzzles of the Wasp’s guns were frequently in the water. The Americans, therefore, fired as the ship’s side was going down, so that their shot went either on the enemy’s deck or below it, while the English fired as the vessel rose, and thus her balls chiefly touched the rigging, or were thrown away. The Wasp now shot ahead of the Frolic, raked her, and then resumed her position on her larboard bow. Her fire was now obviously attended with such success, and that of the Frolic so slackened that Captain Jones did not wish to board her, lest the roughness of the sea might endanger both vessels; but in the course of a few minutes more every brace of the Wasp was shot away, and her rigging so much torn to pieces that he was afraid that his masts, being unsupported, would go by the board and the Frolic be able to escape. He thought, therefore, the best chance of securing her was to board and decide the contest at once. With this view he wore ship, and running down upon the enemy, the vessels struck each other, the Wasp’s side rubbing along the Frolic’s bow so that her jib-boom came in between the main and mizzen rigging of the Wasp, directly over the heads of Captain Jones and the first lieutenant, Mr. Biddle, who were at that moment standing together near the capstan. The Frolic lay so fair for raking, that they decided not to board until they had given a closing broadside. Whilst they were loading for this, so near were the two vessels, that the rammers of the Wasp were pushed against the Frolic’s sides, and two of her guns went through the bow-ports of the Frolic, and swept the whole length of her deck. At this moment, Jack Lang,[A] a seaman of the Wasp, a gallant fellow, who had been once impressed by a British man-of-war, jumped on a gun with his cutlass, and was springing on board the Frolic. Captain Jones, wishing to fire again before boarding, called him down, but his impetuosity could not be restrained, and he was already on the bowsprit of the Frolic; when, seeing the ardor and enthusiasm of the Wasp’s crew, Lieutenant Biddle mounted on the hammock-cloth to board.

[A] John Lang was a native of New Brunswick, in New Jersey. This seaman is a proof that conspicuous bravery is confined to no rank in the naval service.

“At this signal, the crew followed, but Lieutenant Biddle’s feet got entangled in the rigging of the enemy’s bowsprit, and Midshipman Baker, in his ardor to get on board, laying hold of his coat, he fell back on the Wasp’s deck. He sprang up, and as the next swell of the sea brought the Frolic nearer, he got on her bowsprit where Lang and another seaman were already. He passed them on the forecastle, and was surprised at not seeing a single man alive on the Frolic’s deck, except the seaman at the wheel and three officers. The deck was slippery with blood and strewed with the bodies of the dead. As he went forward, the Captain of the Frolic, with two other officers, who were standing on the quarter-deck, threw down their swords, with an inclination of their bodies, denoting that they had surrendered. At this moment the colors were still flying; Lieutenant Biddle, therefore, jumped into the rigging himself and hauled down the British ensign, and possession was taken of the Frolic in forty-three minutes after the first fire. She was in a shocking condition; the birth-deck, particularly, was crowded with dead, wounded and dying; there being but a small portion of the Frolic’s crew who had escaped.

“Captain Jones instantly sent on board his surgeon’s mate, and all the blankets of the Frolic were brought from her slop room for the comfort of the wounded. To increase this confusion, both the Frolic’s masts soon fell, covering the dead and everything on deck, and she lay a complete wreck.

“It now appeared that the Frolic mounted sixteen thirty-two pound carronades, four twelve pounders on the maindeck, and two twelve pound carronades.

“She was, therefore, superior to the Wasp, by exactly four twelve pounders. The number of men on board, as stated by the officers of the Frolic, was one hundred and ten; the number of seamen on board the Wasp, was one hundred and two; but it could not be ascertained, whether in this one hundred and ten, were included the marines and officers, for the Wasp had besides her one hundred and two men, officers and marines, making the whole crew about one hundred and thirty-five. What is, however, decisive, as to their comparative force is, that the officers of the Frolic acknowledged that they had as many men as they knew what to do with, and in fact the Wasp could have spared fifteen men. There was, therefore, on the most favorable view, at least an equality of men, and an inequality of guns. The disparity of loss was much greater. The exact number of killed and wounded on board the Frolic, could not be precisely determined, but from the observation of our officers, and the declarations of those of the Frolic, the number could not have been less than about thirty killed, including two officers, and of the wounded between forty and fifty, the captain and second lieutenant being of the number. The Wasp had five men killed and five slightly wounded. All hands were now employed in clearing the deck, burying the dead, and taking care of the wounded, when Captain Jones sent orders to Lieutenant Biddle to proceed to Charleston, or any southern port of the United States; and, as there was a suspicious sail to windward, the Wasp would continue her cruise. The ships then parted. The suspicious sail was now coming down very fast. At first it was supposed that she was one of the convoy, who had fled during the engagement, and who now came for the purpose of attacking the prize. The guns of the Frolic were therefore loaded, and the ship cleared for action; but the enemy, as she advanced, proved to be a seventy-four, the Poictiers, Captain Beresford. She fired a shot over the Frolic, passed her, overtook the Wasp, the disabled state of whose rigging prevented her from escaping; and then returned to the Frolic, who could, of course, make no resistance. The Wasp and Frolic were both carried into Bermuda.”

On the return of Captain Jones to the United States, he was everywhere received with the utmost demonstrations of gratitude and admiration. Brilliant fêtes were given him in the cities through which he passed. The legislature of his native state appointed a committee to wait on him with their thanks, and to express the “pride and pleasure” they felt in recognizing him as a native of their state; in the same resolution they voted him an elegant piece of plate, embellished with appropriate designs.

The Congress of the United States appropriated twenty-five thousand dollars, as a compensation to Captain Jones and his crew for the loss they sustained by the recapture of the Frolic. They also ordered a gold medal (see [Plate X.]) to be presented to the Captain, and a silver one to each of his officers. Various other marks of honor have been paid by the legislatures and citizens of different states, but the most substantial testimony of approbation which he received, was the appointment to the command of the frigate Macedonian, captured from the British.