SINK OR BE SUNK!

In the bright morning light of 10 December, a great many signals were being hoisted aboard Tonnant. A number of ships were standing in that morning waiting to position themselves properly in the fleet anchorage and many of the signals were related to where they should anchor. Other signals carried the logistical trivia of any so large assembly and aboard each ship, officers strained their eyes and glasses to attend to that part of it that might be addressed to them.

Each of these flags were briskly raised, streamed for a few moments for their recipients to see and acknowledge, then lowered and new flags run up with orders for other vessels. Aboard Sophie, anchored far out on the periphery of the assembled vessels, the watch officer was startled to see among the parade of signals, one directed to Sophie's captain.

Commander Nicholas Lockyer was just sitting down for breakfast, two bird eggs brought back by a watering party from one of the islands, when one of his young midshipman burst into his quarters with word of the flag's request that Sophie's captain report immediately to the Admiral.

After Lockyer admonished the boy and told him to pass the word for his gig, he sat still, staring at his rapidly cooling breakfast. The prize eggs were unnoticed, his thoughts occupied in trying to fathom the reason for the Admiral's signal. Then, realizing he was wasting precious time, he pushed himself erect, well not quite erect for the overhead even in the captain's cabin on Sophie was very low, and hurriedly donned his best (and only) dress uniform and went to board his waiting gig.

Captain Lockyer he was and so would be called, as he commanded Sophie. However, his naval rank was actually that of “commander.” The rank of a full captain in the British Navy, or to use the proper term "post-captain," would not be the thirty-two year old commander's till he was appointed to the command of a sixth-rate ship or better, that is, a ship with the armament of thirty-two guns. Sophie, as pretty as she was to Lockyer and indeed to all of the men aboard her, had but fourteen guns.

In the naval jargon of the period, there were other conflicting terms that were related to Lockyer's rank and the extremely close association he and his rank had with his vessel. Lockyer was often officially addressed as Sophie. In fact, the signals that had requested his reporting to the Admiral had read simply, "Sophie report to flag," meaning that Sophie's captain should so report.

It was not a one-sided relationship. Sophie was enhanced, in turn, by having Commander Lockyer as her master. In strict early 19-century naval terms the two-masted, squared-rigged Sophie was a brig, but because Lockyer held the rank of commander, Sophie was elevated in distinction without so much as a touch of paint to being officially called a brig-sloop.

It was a long row to the Tonnant. Sophie was anchored well to one side of the anchorage so as to be ready for any action that might come and thus would not have to thread her way through a host of larger vessels. As he sat stiffly in the small gig trying not to get his uniform wet, he found that although the length of the ride provided him more time to contemplate his sudden call, he had no better luck in divining its reason.

The ride to the Tonnant, however, provided a period of transition from that of the cloistered world of Sophie, where he ruled in absolute supremacy, to that of the flagship and its far loftier authority. The smooth rhythm of the gig's oarsmen made the Tonnant appear to grow gradually, slowly increasing in both bulk and importance.

Lockyer had been aboard Tonnant before, but as always as he neared her, he was impressed by her sheer size. Tonnant was indeed huge in comparison to the small brig-sloop that was Sophie. The manifest of the flagship listed approximately 600 officers and men plus a contingent of approximately 120 royal marines. Sophie's small world held less than a hundred officers and men and fifteen marines.

Once at the flagship, his gig had to wait in line, as other ships' boats discharged their brightly uniformed junior officers up the side ladder to the Tonnant quarterdeck. Once aboard, he had to stand to one side as officer after officer was ushered past the two rigid marine sentries into the Admiral's chambers. He stood sweating from nervousness as well as from the hot, still air. No one, it seemed was even aware of his existence or that he had been sent for.

After what seemed an eternity, however, the admiral's secretary at last opened the door and, nodding to the commander, indicated that the Admiral would now see him.

Commander Nicholas Lockyer, captain of the Sophie, was typical of the British naval officers who had developed as a result of Britain's years of war with France. As such, he had proven himself on a number of occasions as a brave officer and a very capable ship commander. Lockyer was, however, uniquely qualified in both experience and temperament for the operation Admiral Cochrane was about to order him to conduct.

A highly commended naval action off San Domingo illustrates this. As second in command of three boats, he and his men had rowed into a strong sea breeze under a heavy fire of grape and musketry from a privateer armed with ten 4-pounders and a crew of fifty men. In the fierce battle that ensued, they had succeeded in boarding and carrying the privateer. In the final tally of killed and wounded, Lockyer's group reported two men hurt to their opponent's total of nine killed and six wounded.

Another of Lockyer's qualification was that he was no stranger to the general arena of action along the American Gulf Coast. He had already been involved in two critical, if unsuccessful chapters of the British invasion efforts. In September, he had sailed Sophie along the southern coast of Louisiana and entered Barrataria Bay, the stronghold of the privateer, Jean Lafitte. Moving his ship into a conspicuous part of the bay, he had anchored and raised a flag of truce from his masthead. His arrival created a great deal of confusion among the astounded privateers and it was some time before he was allowed to come ashore. Once there, Lockyer had asked to speak directly with Lafitte. This produced a great deal of arguments among the assembled Barratarians before Lafitte stepped out from among the men standing in front of Lockyer.

Lockyer handed Lafitte sealed letters, which, when opened by Lafitte, proved to be official navy letters offering a large amount of money as well as a full pardon for his previous acts if he would join with the British Navy against the American regional forces. To add to this enticement, a British Navy commission of commander was also offered. Lafitte accepted the letters and asked that he be given time to consider them while the British officers stayed as his guest

After a day and a half of rather spirited discussions among the privateers, Lafitte sent a letter to Lockyer asking that he be given two weeks to consider the British offer.

Lafitte used the two-week period to secretly send a message through a friendly emissary to Governor Claiborne in New Orleans. The message told of the British offer and stated that he, Lafitte, was loyal to the United States and did not wish to associate himself, nor his men with its enemies. He stated that he would refuse the offer asking only in return that he and his group be given a full pardon for their past actions. Governor Claiborne, thinking the letter was a ruse, stalled, and then finally told the emissary that he could not accept the offer. Lafitte, truly not wishing to join with the British, but fearing British reprisals for his duplicity, fled Barrataria.

Meanwhile Commander Lockyer had returned to his ship. After a wait that exceeded the two-week time period that Lafitte had requested, he realized that Lafitte was stalling and that he was not going to receive an answer no matter how long he waited. Reluctantly, he picked up his anchor from the murky bottom of Barateria Bay and sailed away to report that he had failed in his mission to convince Lafitte to join with the British forces.

An interesting side note to this incident is that one of the reasons Governor Claiborne did not accept Lafitte's offer was because of the strong objection of Commandant Daniel Todd Patterson. As senior navy commander in the area, he had for some time been waging a fierce campaign to eradicate the Barrataria privateers. Now put before him for consideration by the Louisiana Governor was a letter asking for a full pardon for Lafitte and all of the privateers! Patterson voiced his strong opinion that Lafitte's letter was a ruse to get a pardon and he was against granting one. He formulated his own reply to Lafitte and it was as extreme in its bluntness as it was in its persuasiveness.

Patterson acting in his role as commandant of the New Orleans Station assembled almost all of the ships he had in his command and sent them to attack and destroy the Barrataria camp.

The ships had no difficulty in doing this, overcoming an almost negligible resistance and setting fire to storage buildings as well as much of the camp. With this single, swift, concentrated action, Patterson ended once and for all, the reign of the Barrataria privateers. Of particular interest is the fact that the gunboats that took part in destroying the privateer stronghold were the same gunboats that Lockyer was now about to be ordered to destroy and that the commanding officer of one of the gunboats, No. 156, in the Barrataria raid was a young navy officer, Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones.

But the greater concern to Lockyer than the incident with Lafitte was the failure he had experienced in the Fort Bowyer action, an action in which the British navy had suffered a humiliating defeat and he, in command of Sophie, had been forced to play a major role. Fort Bowyer was strategically built at the extreme end of a long spit that jutted east-west across the entrance of Mobile Bay. Any ship desiring passage to Mobile had to go past the fort's guns. The capture of this fort was a must on the agenda of anyone desiring to capture Mobile and thus control the southern coast of the United States.

Admiral Cochrane knew this and so did General Jackson. Jackson, however, acted the more swiftly of the two. Jackson sent Major William Lawrence and a force of 160 army regulars with firm orders to restore the dilapidated old Spanish fort into battle-ready condition.

Map 4. The Battle areas for Mobile.

Within the space of two weeks, under the inspired leadership of Major Lawrence and despite extremely arduous conditions, the infantrymen returned the fort to an acceptable level of defense.

The result was not a great fortress of stone parapets, large guns and trained gunners. It was mostly parapets of dirt and wood, a few guns (less than 20) of intermediate caliber and condition, and gunners, many of who had never fired guns of this caliber before, but who with their commander, were determined to give all they had to its defense.

It turned out that this was enough. On September 12, a British force of 225 marines, 600 Creek Indians, and several pieces of artillery were put ashore a few miles east of the fort. They were to press an attack on the rear of the fort while a naval squadron consisting of the Hermes, Carron, Sophie, and Childers would attack the fort at its front, with Hermes, as flag, leading the attack.

The action from the very start was intense. The Americans had placed cannon in strategic positions on the land side of the fort and these quickly stopped the British ground attack. The capture of the fort now became the sole responsibility of the British warships.

The ships had entered the engagement firing broadsides from their combined arsenal of ninety 32-pound carronades. As the action heated up, Hermes and Sophie moved in closer to the fort in an attempt to better use their heavier guns.

However, closer in this case meant the ships had to enter an extremely shallow estuary. The dangerous shoals in the estuary combined with the dying onshore wind made it impossible for the two ships to properly maneuver and still maintain a steady fire on the American fort.

In a determined effort to control their fire under these conditions, Hermes signaled Sophie to follow and the two ships moved in and with great deliberateness anchored. Now in a more established position from which to fire, the two ships began to pour concentrated volleys directly on the defenders and their earthworks.

The early fire of the British guns as they approached, had prepared the Americans for the effects of the heavy broadsides that came when Hermes and Sophie anchored. Once the two vessels had positioned themselves close to the fort and began their measured concentrated fire, the American defenders had no difficulty in answering in kind. In minutes the two forces were exchanging shot for shot.

The British guns were carronades and, operating much like shotguns, produced a cruelly effective fire in close engagements such as that which the two ships had placed themselves. The American guns, however, were long cannon and their shot hurled from these heavy guns with tremendous force was devastating to the wooden structure of the British ships.

Major Lawrence had his guns concentrate almost exclusively on Hermes, the lead ship, and the American fire began to gradually take its toll. In the middle of the action after a particularly vicious series of fire from the American guns, Hermes’ ensign was blown away and the cannons on both sides stopped in confusion as to whether Hermes had surrendered. Then when the British firing was renewed and the flag replaced, the American guns renewed firing, again concentrating on Hermes.

Within a few hours of heavy action, Hermes’ anchor cable was cut and, with her sails shredded and her rigging shot away, she started to drift helplessly out of control while under the continuing raking fire of the fort’s guns. Lockyer, seeing what was taking place, redoubled Sophie’s firing in hopes of drawing off some of the pounding that the Hermes was receiving. However, his efforts were of no avail as the fort continued its concentration on the helpless Hermes.

Hermes drifted, spinning slowly with the current for about a half-mile before running hard aground on a sandbar. Now, no more than a wreck, her crew, after setting her afire, abandoned her. With Hermes aground, Sophie, already heavily damaged, began receiving the full brunt of the heavy fire from the fort’s guns.

Knowing that Sophie could not continue to take the punishment she was receiving, Lockyer with great difficulty, weighed anchor and grasping what little of the evening wind there was available, withdrew Sophie beyond the range of the fort’s murderous gunfire.

Finally, in the late afternoon after gathering what survivors they could from Hermes, the battered Sophie and the remaining ships retired from the area and set their course for Pensacola. It was impossible to recover the troops that had been placed ashore and these had to ignobly withdraw and march by land to Pensacola.

Hermes burned.

At eleven that night, the flames reached the magazine and the ship exploded with a roar that could be heard by both General Jackson in Mobile and the British forces in Pensacola.

In the engagement, Hermes suffered fifty percent casualties to her crew; of these, twenty-two were killed and twenty seriously wounded. Sophie had been only slightly luckier, suffering nine killed and thirteen wounded, or approximately a quarter of her crew. Carron, having had the least part in the action, had the fewest casualties, one killed and four wounded.

The Americans had four killed and five wounded.

If it was a costly defeat in British material and manpower, it was a much greater defeat in pride. The blame for this debacle could simply be traced to the fact that Admiral Cochrane had decided that the fort was in poor shape and did not require a large force to subdue it.

But Commander Lockyer had been there and helplessly watched the slow death turnings of the Hermes as she drifted under the fort’s relentless fire. It was Commander Lockyer, not Cochrane, who had felt the savage hammering blows of the fort’s guns on his ship and it was his men who had fallen and it was his ship that had to retire.

In the wake of the action, Lockyer knew he had done his best and had still been defeated by the deadly force of the fort’s guns. He felt strongly that in some way, part of the overall blame for what had happened in the shallow waters in front of that fort was his.

As the door to the admiral’s quarters was opened by the Admirals secretary, Lockyer stepped into a cabin that bespoke not just the trappings of the rank of admiral but of the immense power that went with that rank.

He was impressed. He was not fooled by the thinly concealed guns; he knew they were there. Nor for one minute did he think he was anywhere else but aboard a ship of the line, a ship prepared for battle. But the broad scope of the cabin and its rich décor in comparison to his small, sparse captain’s quarters aboard Sophie took him aback. He knew that the man who occupied this large room had power.

As he entered, Admiral Cochrane stood up from behind a large desk, wished him a good morning, and asked about the Sophie’s condition and whether he was satisfied with the repairs that he had been able to make on her since the Fort Bowyer action. The admiral listened attentively as Lockyer tried to put a good face on the work his men had done, while still trying to reveal that Sophie badly needed materials to complete her refitting.

“Very good work Captain Lockyer. You and your men are to be commended.” Cochrane turned and indicated the portion of the fleet that could be seen out the stern windows. “There will be several supply ships joining us tomorrow morning, if not this evening. Have your first lieutenant requisition materials to complete the repairs to Sophie. See what needs to be done, sir, and have it done. I want her restored to proper operational condition.”

Cochrane then sat down and directed Lockyer to sit also in a chair in front of the huge desk. “However, that is not why I asked you to visit me this morning. I have been told that you have had a certain success in the past in small boat operations. That incident off San Domingo with the privateer was handled very nicely. I have an operation in mind along these lines that I think will be best handled by a person of your ability.”

The admiral’s voice, while modulated in tone, was crisp and precise. Lockyer sat primly in his seat as the admiral talked, mesmerized by what he was being told.

The light from the stern windows outlined the vice admiral’s head in the indirect glow of the morning sun. In the relative quiet that had settled on the large cabin, Lockyer could hear the soft pacing of a watch stander on the deck above him.

Admiral Cochrane explained briefly the tactical situation facing the British forces, emphasizing the danger the gunboats presented to the troops being ferried to attack New Orleans. He then stated that he wanted Lockyer to organize a volunteer force of marines and sailors and use them to modify the invasion barges into an assault force. He gave Lockyer two days to organize such a force. Once organized, Lockyer was to take this force and use it “to attack and destroy the gunboats, whatever the cost!”

The admiral paused and, satisfied that the emphasis of his direct tone as well as his words had been impressed on the young commander, he went on in a less heavy manner.

“Now then, Captain Lockyer, You will need help in this. I have sent orders to Captain Montressor of the Manly and Captain Roberts of the Meteor to report to you. I am sure you know these gentlemen, sir, and know they are excellent officers.”

“Captain Montressor you may remember was Captain Kerr’s lieutenant on the Revenge when they made the attack on the French squadron in the Aix Roads. Montressor’s command of a fireship in that action showed him to be an excellent officer under extremely stressful conditions. He will be of great use to you in the action you are to undertake.”

“Both officers have been told to assist you in the organization and direction of this formidable force. Use them to help you plan and carry out this enterprise.”

“Other than these two officers, the people you use to make up your force is completely at to your discretion and approval. You have my consent to take them and the guns as well as whatever else you will need from any of the ships present. There is plenty of material on hand and you will have no problems. I am sure that there will be more than enough very capable men that will come forward to join you once the word has been put out concerning your enterprise.”

With this, the admiral stood and Lockyer, scrambling also to stand, found that the admiral was leaning across his vast desk to shake his hand and that he was being dismissed.

“Choose your men carefully, sir.” The Admiral said holding his hand in his hand a moment longer for emphasize. “Take care, plan well, and I have full confidence you will succeed.”

In seconds, the same aide that had motioned him in, with practiced ease escorted Lockyer to the door and quietly out.

Once in the outside passage, the aide briefly wished him a courteous good day and turning, motioned to another officer who had been waiting to see the admiral. As the two entered the cabin, the aide called for the steward to bring coffee immediately and closed the door.

Lockyer moved out of the passage and found himself standing dazed, on the Tonnant’s busy quarterdeck. He stood there as if alone amid all the bustle swirling indifferently about him, wondering at the unexpected opportunity that had just been given him, and of the immensity of the task of gathering the group needed to make that opportunity succeed.

As he stood, he realized that the officer of the deck was speaking to him.

“Would you care to have your gig brought alongside, Captain Lockyer?”

Lockyer nodded vaguely and stood dimly hearing the word passed for the Sophie’s gig to come alongside. As he stood there waiting, he noticed that one of the Tonnant’s lieutenants was standing a short distance away, smiling at him, actually, he realized, nodding.

He had noticed the same junior officer standing there earlier when he had enter the admiral’s quarters. It was evident that he had stayed there the whole time he had been inside with the admiral, patiently waiting for him to reemerge. Now, it appeared that the officer was trying to get his attention.

He returned the officer’s nod and the officer quickly stepped forward and introduced himself.

“I am Lieutenant Tatnall, Captain Lockyer, sir,” the officer said brightly. “At your service, sir. I wonder, sir.... No, No, please allow me to rephrase that. I would very much appreciate it exceedingly, sir, if you might be so extremely kind as to consider my perhaps, that is if you, ah, will allow me to, ah, join, in some small way, your coming action.”

Lockyer stared at the young officer, amazed. How could word of what he was being ordered to do have reached this officer’s ears when he had been told about it for the first time only moments earlier. But even as he thought this, he realized that he knew the officer, or at least he had heard of him. If this was the same officer, and it appeared that it was, then his reputation for being quick thinking and innovative was fairly well known.

Lieutenant Tatnall’s story was one that was a delight to tell in the officer’s mess and, told and retold, it had quickly spread around the fleet. Tatnall’s story began where many other British officer’s stories ended. He had been taken prisoner by the French in the aftermath of a bloody naval battle a few years before. After the action, he had been placed in a French prison in Verdun.

There, with other British naval officers, he began what appeared to be a long imprisonment. The quarters were sparse and mean and his only hope for relief would be the end of the war or a transfer of prisoners, neither of which appeared likely to occur any time within that or the next year. He had quickly decided that he did not wish to wait and had proceeded on a plan of escape.

It was the simple, yet ingenious, method of his escape that was the real source of Tatnall’s reputation, and Lockyer had to agree, well earned. Despite being in a closely guarded prison, Tatnall had somehow managed to adapt the guise of a monk and had simply walked out of the prison under the very noses of his guards! Once out of prison, he had continued to show his mercurial adaptability by making his way alone and unaided by anything beyond his wits to the French Coast.

Some of the stories elaborated on his escapades in getting there; inserting the fact that he did not speak French or even worse, spoke abominable French, according to who was telling the story. Once on the coast, he had succeeded in stealing a small skiff and, rowing it out into the English Channel, managed to attract the attention of a ship of the blockading English fleet.

Now this quick thinking officer was standing before him, asking to become a part of the enterprise that Lockyer was asked to begin. Lockyer quickly shook off his amazement, smiled and warmly shook the officer’s hand.

“I will be most happy to have your assistance, sir. I have heard very nice things about you. Please see what needs to be done for Tonnant to temporarily release you to me and then join me on the Sophie at your pleasure.”

“Thank you, Captain Lockyer. As to my being relieved of my duties from Tonnant, why that has already been taken care of, sir. If you will have me, I can immediately accompany you back to your ship.” He turned and looking back at the several seamen that had been watching the exchange, signaled to one who came running forward after hoisting a small bag on his shoulder.

Lockyer smiled again, and hearing from the officer of the deck that his gig was alongside, let Lieutenant Tatnall precede him down the gangway.

He felt that he had made a good choice and, as things turned out in the actions that would take place over the next few days, it was a choice that he would not regret.

In “Sink or be Sunk,” La Violette has brought to life the events that preceded and surrounded the Battle of New Orleans, the 1815 battle in which Gen. Andrew Jackson defeated the British, thus halting their efforts to contain the United States and thwart its ability to expand westward.

La Violette has focused his work on the naval battle in the Mississippi Sound between U.S. gunboats and British barges in mid-December 1814. The battle “does not follow the usual setting of such actions: large warships yards apart, battering one another with each one’s cannons at point blank range, with the falling of spars and immense wooden masts crashing down, and uniformed officers standing almost remotely on quarterdecks shouting orders,” he writes. “The ships in this battle are too small to even be called ships in the approved nautical definition of the early 1800s. But don’t be put off, there were bloody actions, there were exploding and sinking boasts, and there were the cries and screams of desperate, determined men.”

Unlike many historical books that concentrate on one side of a war, he gives readers a careful, unbiased look at both sides of the battle. He takes readers through the massive, physically demanding preparations that both sides underwent. Then he follows the battle from both the American and English perspectives. Readers will come to feel that they feel they know the principal officers on both sides quite well. Purists may object to La Violette’s use of dialogue in the book, saying that putting undocumented words into the mouths of real people is wrong. But La Violette makes it work, and work well. And there is not question that he has researched his subject thoroughly, not only through a variety of written resources but also going as far as to prevail upon the Naval Oceanographic Office to provide a research vessel and underwater instrumentation so that he could explore the debris field remaining on the sea bottom from the actions in the Bay of St .Louis and St. Joe Pass.

The well-drawn maps by artist Sarah Foster contribute significantly to the reader’s ability to visualize and understand the historical events of the book, and the ink sketches by Patricia Rigney, who has illustrated several of La Violette’s other books, also brings this story of the sea to life. The book also contains a chronology of events, beginning with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, plus copies of Lt. Thomas AP Catesby Jones’ and Commander Nicholas Lockyer’s official reports of the battle. La Violette reminds readers that both reports undoubtedly put the most positive light on their respective sides.

La Violette, a professional oceanographer who lives in Waveland, Miss., has years of experience conducting marine research in almost all of the world’s oceans. He has written three books of vignettes about life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast: “View from a Front Porch,” “Waiting for the White Pelicans,” and “Where the Blue Herons Dance.”

“Sink or be Sunk” adds a new chapter to La Violette’s life as a writer and should garner a new set of readers who are avid history buffs. .....................

It is the last months of 1814.

Great Britain has been at war with the United States for two years. In a determined effort to end the war to her advantage, Great Britain has sent an armada of 65 warships and 10,000 seasoned troops to invade the United States’ newly acquired Gulf Coast territories. The aim of the invasion fleet is to capture New Orleans and ultimately gain control of the Mississippi River. It is an audacious move that if successful will separate the fledgling nation from its newly acquired Louisiana territories.

Despite initial repulses at Fort Bowyer and Pensacola, the British commander, Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, is determined to succeed. Bringing his vast fleet to anchor off the barrier island chain off the coast off what is now the state of Mississippi, he prepares to embark the troops in large barges and row them sixty miles to an attack point just below New Orleans. Timing is crucial. Admiral Cochrane must land his troops before General Andrew Jackson can organize an adequate defense.

However, in the shallow waters inside the barrier islands stand five American gunboats. Commanding this tiny flotilla is a stubborn young naval officer, Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones. The orders given him are concise: to observe, to delay the enemy, and when forced to do so, to stand and “sink the enemy or be sunk.”

Faced with the danger posed by the gunboats, Admiral Cochrane orders one of his most able naval officers, Commander Nicholas Lockyer, to re-arm the invasion barges with cannon, load them with British sailors and Royal Marines and “destroy the gunboats, whatever the cost”.

What followed in the next crucial five days is a wide ranging little-known naval battle between a stubborn Lieutenant Jones and a determined Commander Lockyer that occupies of the Mississippi Sound with bloody actions, exploding and sinking boats, and the cries of desperate, determined men.