Capture of HMSPenguin
Part of theWar of 1812
An American illustration of the battle
Date March 23, 1815 Location OffTristan da Cunha,Atlantic Ocean Result American victory
Belligerents
United States	United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
James Biddle	James Dickenson †
Strength
Sloop-of-warHornet	Brig-sloopPenguin
Casualties and losses
2 killed 7 wounded	1 killed 28 wounded 90 captured Penguin captured

Thecapture of HMSPenguin was asingle-ship action which took place on March 23, 1815 as part of theWar of 1812. It occurred whenUnited States Navy brigUSSHornet under the command ofJames Biddle encountered the BritishRoyal Navy brig-sloopHMSPenguin offTristan da Cunha, and was one of several naval engagements which occurred after the conflict ended due to the signing of theTreaty of Ghent in 1815. The gunnery ofHornet proved to be far more effective thanPenguin, despite the two vessels being virtually identical in strength.

After exchanges ofbroadsides andmusket fire, the commander ofPenguin, James Dickenson, waskilled in action.Penguin rammedHornet in an attempt to board her, but the two ships were separated andPenguin was disabled shortly afterwards when the foremast fell, forcing its crew to surrender.Penguin was too badly damaged to be salvaged and was set ablaze by the crew ofHornet after its stores and surviving crew were removed.

Late in 1814, theUnited States Navy had been preparing a small squadron atNew York City, to attack British shipping in theIndian Ocean. The squadron consisted of thefrigateUSS President (CaptainStephen Decatur), thesloops of warUSS Peacock (Master CommandantLewis Warrington) andUSS Hornet (Master CommandantJames Biddle) and the brig-rigged tenderUSS Tom Bowline.

On 15 January, Decatur took advantage of a north-westerly gale to break out alone inPresident, but the frigate went aground on the bar at the harbour mouth and received damage which delayed it for two hours and slowed it. Decatur was unable to turn back as the gale was still blowing, andPresident wascaptured after being pursued by the four frigates of the blockading British squadron.^[1]

The commanders of the other American vessels were not aware of Decatur's fate. When another gale blew up on 22 January, they sailed out in broad daylight under storm canvas and evaded the blockaders through their speed and weatherliness.^[2] They made for a pre-arranged rendezvous withPresident offTristan da Cunha, which was being used by the Americans as acruiser base.^[3] During the voyage,Hornet lost touch with the other two vessels.Peacock andTom Bowline reached the rendezvous first, on 18 March, but were then driven off by a gale.Hornet reached the island on 22 March.

Biddle, commandingHornet, was about to drop anchor when a strange sail was sighted to the southeast. Biddle at once made for the stranger. This was theCruizer-classbrig-sloopHMS Penguin, commanded by Captain James Dickenson.Penguin was a new vessel, which had first sailed in September 1814. It carried roughly the same armament (sixteen 32-poundercarronades, one 12-pounder long gun and two 6-pounder guns) asHornet (eighteen 32-pounder carronades and two 12-pounder guns). Some time earlier,Penguin had been sent fromCape Town to hunt an American privateer (Young Wasp) which had been attacking homeward-boundEast Indiamen.^[4]

As soon asHornet was sighted, Dickenson steered for the sloop and prepared to engage.Penguin had theweather gage and for a time,Hornet ran beforePenguin, yawing occasionally to avoid being raked. ThenPenguin turned up-wind to port at almost the same moment asHornet turned to starboard. The two vessels exchanged broadsides for 15 minutes, with the range gradually closing from "musket shot".

Dickenson turned downwind, to close withHornet in an attempt to board and captureHornet,^[5] but was mortally wounded.Penguin's bowsprit ran acrossHornet's deck between the main and mizzen masts, badly damaging the American rigging.Penguin's crew made no attempt to boardHornet andHornet's crew prepared to board but Biddle stopped them, to continue the gunnery duel. Biddle believed that the British had surrendered at this point and prepared to step aboardPenguin but was wounded by musket balls.^[6]

As the two vessels separated,Penguin's foremast fell, breaking off the bowsprit. The brig had already been severely battered by American shot, and with the brig unable to manoeuvre, Lieutenant McDonald, now in command ofPenguin, surrendered. The British had lost 14 men killed and 28 wounded. The brig was "riddled through"^[6] and most of the starboard side carronades had been dismounted. By comparison, the Americans had lost only one man killed, one mortally wounded and seven wounded, mostly to musketry. (Penguin had embarked twelve extraRoyal Marines in Cape Town.)^[4] Strikingly, not a single British carronade shot had hit the hull ofHornet.

Penguin was too badly damaged to be repaired and put into service, so the Americans prepared to destroy the brig after removing the stores. Another sail was sighted and the Americans hastily set thePenguin on fire, but the strange sails proved to bePeacock andTom Bowline.^[7]

Tom Bowline was sent to a neutral port (Rio de Janeiro, then part of thePortuguese Empire) withPenguin's crew, where they were escorted ashore by U.S. Marines. They became the last body of British troops and sailors to be taken prisoner during the war.^[8][9]

The two American sloops of war waited in vain forPresident until 15 April, then headed for theEast Indies, as originally intended. On 27 April, they sighted a large ship, which they at first believed to be anEast Indiaman, and eagerly headed for it but then realised that their intended victim was a British ship of the line,HMS Cornwallis. The Americans split up.Peacock was the faster of the two sloops and was soon out of sight.Cornwallis had recently been completed atBombay from teak wood^[10] and proved to be very fast and weatherly.Hornet escaped only after a chase lasting two and a half days, during which Biddle had been forced to jettison his stores, ballast, anchors, cables, guns, small arms, capstan, the armourer's anvil, ship's bell and even substantial parts of the forecastle to lighten the sloop enough to outrunCornwallis.^[8]

SinceHornet no longer had any fighting strength, Biddle had to turn home. He reached theCape of Good Hope on 9 May, where he learned that the Senate had ratified theTreaty of Ghent on 18 February, ending the war more than a month before the engagement withPenguin.

• Elting, John R. (1995).Amateurs to Arms: A Military History of the War of 1812. New York: Da Capo Press.ISBN 0-306-80653-3.
• Forester, C.S. (1956).The Age of Fighting Sail. New English Library.ISBN 0-939218-06-2.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Roosevelt, Theodore (1882).The Naval War of 1812 Or the History of the United States Navy during the Last War with Great Britain to Which Is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans. New York: Modern Library.ISBN 0-375-75419-9.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

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