USS Growler (1812 sloop)

USS Growler was a 112-ton sloop-of-war, armed with ten 18-pounders and one 6-pounder, during the War of 1812. Growler was purchased on Lake Champlain in 1812. The British captured her in 1813 and renamed her HMS Chub or Chubb.[Note 1] The Americans recaptured her at the Battle of Lake Champlain. She was sold in 1815.

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

History
United States
Name: USS Growler
Acquired: Purchased, 1812
Fate: Captured by the British, 3 June 1813
United Kingdom
Name:
  • HMS Shannon
  • HMS Chub
Acquired: 3 June 1813
Fate: Re-captured by the Americans, 11 September 1814
United States
Name: USS Growler
Acquired: 11 September 1814
Fate: Sold, July 1815
General characteristics
Type: Sloop-of-war
Displacement: 112 long tons (114 t)
Length: 64 ft (20 m)
Beam: 20 ft 4 in (6.20 m)
Draft: 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Propulsion: Sail
Armament: 10 × 18-pounder carronades + 1 × 6-pounder gun

American service and capture

Growler cruised under the command of Lieutenant Sidney Smith as part of Commodore Thomas Macdonough's squadron. Major George Taylor of the 100th Regiment captured Growler on 3 June 1813 on the Sorrell River near Ile aux Noix on the Canadian side of the lake and took her into the Royal Navy as HMS Shannon.[Note 2] They later renamed her HMS Chubb or Chub.[4]

British service and recapture
View from Cumberland Head, on Lake Champlain at the Battle of Plattsburg on 11 September 1814

Chub was under the command of Lieutenant James McGhie on 11 September 1814 at the Battle of Lake Champlain. McGhie was ordered to support HMS Linnet in her attack on USS Eagle. Chub reached her station relatively unscathed and anchored. In the engagement Chub lost her main boom and bowsprit, and had her anchor cable severed. She drifted into the American line where she struck her colors to USS Saratoga. She had lost six men killed and 16 wounded.[5] At McGhie's court martial for the loss of his ship, the board severely reprimanded him for not coming into action properly and for failing to anchor properly.[1]

Fate

After the Americans recaptured the vessel, the sloop-of-war saw no further service. The Americans sold her at Whitehall, New York, in July 1815.

Notes
  1. This is the history per DANFS and the NMM. Hepper has Growler becoming Finch, and USS Eagle becoming Chub.[1] Winfield has no mention of Finch, and agrees with Hepper re Eagle/Chubb.[2]
  2. Taylor also captured another American vessel, Eagle, also a 10-gun brig. She was initially named Broke, and later Finch.[3]

Citations
  1. Hepper (1994), p.151.
  2. Winfield (2008), p.371.
  3. Anon. (1908), p.224.
  4. "NMM, vessel ID 382365" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol. v. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  5. "No. 16960". The London Gazette. 26 November 1814. pp. 2335–2337.

Bibliography
  • Anon. (1908) Officers of the British Forces in Canada During the War of 1812-15. (Welland Tribune Print).
  • Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.
  • This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  • 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.
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