Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.
Issue link: https://uscgproceedings.epubxp.com/i/57858
One of the more noteworthy actions was the capture of the British privateer Dart in a night engagement on October 4, 1813. Dart, formerly an American vessel out of New Haven, Conn., had successfully cruised along the coast and captured 20 to 30 small American merchantmen. Late on October 4, the captain of the privateer mistakenly appeared at Newport, R.I., with two prizes. Captain John Cahoone of the cutter Vigilant placed extra men aboard and immediately set sail after sunset. He located the enemy sloop off the east end of Block Island. Vigilant fired broadside and then boarded Dart. During the fight, the first officer of Dart was killed and two crewmen were wounded. Much as they had in the undeclared war against France, the cutters distinguished themselves against the British. The night action between the revenue cutter Vigilant and the British privateer Dart. USCG Bicentennial painting. Revenue Cutter Active From 1816 to 1819, the aptly named revenue cutter Active was involved in a half-dozen actions requiring seizing a vessel acting as a pirate or privateer without legal standing. On August 22, 1816, the Active crew seized the Spanish brig Servia near the Patuxent River, as it was about to be carried off by a new crew. On June 23, 1817, Active chased from the Chesapeake Bay two South American armed merchantmen cleared from Galveston (then Mexican territory). A couple of months later, on August 12, the cutter fired a few shots across the bow of the Margaret. When the ship hove to, she was found to be armed with munitions of war and her crew was sallying to join a group of pirates. On July 18, 1818, Active overtook India Libre, a Venezuelan brig in the Chesapeake. Captained by a boatswains mate, her crew had mutinied and intended to embark on a voyage of piracy. On April 25, 1819, crew from Active seized the highly successful pirate brig Irresistable off New Point Comfort in the Chesapeake Bay. At the same time Active was operating in the Chesapeake, so too was the cutter Monroe, which seized the armed brig Columbia on October 23, 1818, and the privateer General Artigas off the Severn River on March 16, 1819. www.uscg.mil/proceedings Spring 2012 Proceedings 9 Dallas Meanwhile Dallas, out of Savannah, seized the pirate ship Young Spartan along with a prize, the sloop Pastora, as she was loitering off Port Royal, S.C., on June 17, 1818. Just over three weeks later, on July 11, Dallas seized the Venezuelan privateer, Cerony, also known as Felix. Just about a year later, on July 11, 1820, Dallas captured the brig General Ramirez with a cargo of 280 slaves off St. Augustine, Fla. The ship's American captain was sub- sequently tried and imprisoned.