Gale, Navy Gun Boat No. 164 Sinks, St. Marys, GA– 20

lornajarrettblanchard September 16, 1813

–20 Lettens, Jan. “USS Gun Boat no. 164 (+1813).” Wreck Site.
–20 NWS FO, Philadelphia/Mount Holly. “Historical Weather Facts…,” Oct 17, 2005.
–20 US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”
–20 US Dept. Navy. “Hurricanes…the War of 1812, Charleston, SC, Hurricanes Aug & Sep”
–20 US Dept. Navy. “U.S. Navy Ships Lost in Selected Storm…’

Blanchard note on type of event: The loss is variously attributed by sources below to a gale (Lettens; Commodore Campbell in US Dept. of the Navy), squall (NWS Philadelphia WFO; Navy, “Casualties”), storm (Lettens) or hurricane (Naval Historical Center, US Dept. of the Navy). The letters to the Secretary of the Navy transcribed below persuade us that this event could well have been a hurricane or tropical storm.

Narrative Information

Lettens/Wreck Site:
Nationality: American
Type: frigate
Propulsion: sailing ship
Cause lost: gale/storm
Date Lost: 16/09/1813
….
History “Gun Boat #164 sank in a squall at St. Mary’s Georgia, 20
drowned.”

(Lettens, Jan. “USS Gun Boat no. 164 (+1813).” Wreck Site.)

National Weather Service, Philadelphia/Mt. Holly Weather Forecast Office:
“….Sep 16…1813… Navy Gun Boat #164 sank during a squall in the Chesapeake Bay, 20 drowned. (N) [United States Navy.”

US Dept. of the Navy, Casualties: “Gun Boat #164 sank in a squall in Chesapeake Bay. 20 drowned. 16 Sep. 1813.” (U.S. Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”)

US Dept. of the Navy Naval Historical Center: Hurricane Damage to the Southeastern Stations.
“Over a three-week period in August and September 1813, in the middle of a war against Great Britain, two successive hurricanes rocked the naval stations at Charleston, South Carolina, and St. Marys, Georgia.. Damage these gales caused would hamper naval operations along the southeastern coast well into the new year.

Commodore Hugh G. Campbell to Secretary of the Navy Jones
St Mary’s 18 Sept. 1813

Sir

We had yesterday morning and night proceeding one of the most severe Gales I have ever witnessed–It commenced about 6 PM at NNE and veered to NBW when it blew with the greatest force and continued until about 1 A,M, at which time the tide, which had risen to an uncommon height ceased to flow, and for about one hour we were favored with a calm–About two o’clock the Gale recommenced at SW and blew until daybreak with equal, indeed I think increased violence–here the destruction commenced, every Vessel in harbor drove on shore or sunk at their moorings–Gun Vessel No. 164 Jno. R Grayson commander, that had just returned from convoying troops to Beaufort, upset at an anchor and of 26 souls on board at the time she went down only six were saved — Mr. Grayson and two men reached the marsh on the Florida side and with great difficulty supported themselves through the night and until 11 o’clock next day, when they were discovered and taken off….No. 161 in ordinary lies sunk a little above the harbor, I am in hopes she will be got up–No 62 the Vessel which was reported as condemnable, which lay off the Town, having on board the men attached to vessels in ordinary, sunk at her anchors, but fortunately no lives were lost — Nos. 160, 158, 63 and 165 are on shore above high water mark, they will be got off with little damage the two former are in ordinary– No. 3 Hospital Vessel parted her cables and drifted over a body of marsh about 3 miles, and is now on the Florida shore have sent her assistance and hope she will be got off….The Gun Vessels and almost every Vessel on shore lay in the street — No. 63 has lost her rudder and channels, Nos. 160 and 165 the Iron work of their rudders–the saucy Jack, Privateer of Charleston laying ready to sail is now laying high and dry on a marsh that must be at least 5 feet above the line of Low Tide. She draws 14 feet, seven feet being the common Rise.

“This town has suffered much. Seven inhabited houses blown down and several in frame, but no lives lost,–much more fortunate than its neighboring town Fernandina, where I am told by a gentleman just from that place, that 20 houses are blown down every Vessel in port drove on shore, except a Swedish Brig, and a considerable amount of Mercantile property destroyed I have the honor to be With Great Respect Sir your obedient servant

Hugh G Campbell

(US Navy, Naval Historical Center. Hurricanes and the War of 1812: Documents on Selected Storms Affecting Naval Operations; cites Dudley, William S., et al. The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Vol. II, 1813 (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1992): 399-408.)

Sources

Dudley, William S. (Editor). The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History Volume II, 1813. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, Dept. of the Navy, 1992. Accessed 8-16-2022 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Naval_War_of_1812/18l6dGT15DUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22captain%20john%20h.%20dent%22

Lettens, Jan. “USS Gun Boat no. 164 (+1813).” Wreck Site. Posted 12-11-2007. Accessed 8-16-2022 at: https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?15873

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Philadelphia/Mount Holly. “Historical Weather Facts for the Philadelphia/Mt. Holly, NJ Forecast Area.” Mount Holly, NJ: NWS FO, Oct 17, 2005 update. Accessed 1-4-2018 at: https://www.weather.gov/phi/hist_phi

United States Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center. “Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected Accidents and Other Incidents Not Directly the Result of Enemy Action.” Washington, DC: Washington Navy Yard. Accessed at: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/NHC/accidents.htm

United States Department of the Navy. Hurricanes and the War of 1812: Documents on Selected Storms Affecting Naval Operations. “Charleston, South Carolina, Hurricanes of August and September 1813.” Letter of Commodore Hugh G. Campbell to Secretary of the Navy Jones, dated September 18, 1813, at St. Mary’s, SC. Washington., DC: Navy Department Library, Naval Historical Center, Washington. Navy Yard, September 13, 2005 entry. Accessed at: http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/hurricane_1812.htm