HMS Boxer (1812)

	Enterprise and Boxer
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Boxer
Ordered	16 November 1811
Builder	Hobbs & Hellyer, Redbridge, Hampshire
Launched	25 July 1812
Commissioned	August 1812
Captured	5 September 1813 by USS Enterprise near Portland, Maine
United States
Name	Boxer
Route	North Atlantic, West Indies
Fate	Sold as a Portuguese mail packet in 1818
Portugal
Fate	Possibly lost on the coast of Brazil
General characteristics
Class and type	gun-brig
Tons burthen	181 67⁄94 (bm)
Length	84 ft 3 in (25.7 m) (overall); 70 ft 0+5⁄8 in (21.4 m) (keel);
Beam	22 ft 1 in (6.7 m)
Depth of hold	11 ft (3.35 m)
Sail plan	Brig
Crew	60
Armament	10 x 18-pounder carronades + 2 x 6-pounder bow chasers

HMS Boxer was a 12-gun

gun-brig built and launched in July 1812. The ship had a short service history with the British Royal Navy before the 16-gun USS Enterprise captured her near Portland, Maine

, in September 1813. She then went on to have at least a decade-long commercial career.

Design and construction

The Bold class were a revival of Sir William Rule's

Redbridge, Hampshire

, she was launched on 25 July 1812.

Royal Navy service off Maine

Commander

Halifax and service in the squadron of Sir John Borlase Warren.^[1]

In Halifax, Blyth added two extra carronades to her armament. She therefore actually carried fourteen guns: twelve 18-pounder carronades and two long 6-pounders.

While coming down from New Brunswick and off the coast of Lubec, Maine, Blyth sighted and captured a small sailing craft crewed by a group of women out for a sail. He brought the women aboard and politely suggested that in the future they sail closer to the shore; he then released them. One of the women was married to the local militia commander who, impressed with Blyth’s courtesy, placed advertisements in local newspapers praising his chivalry.

In Boxer Lieutenant Blyth captured seven small vessels, most of them coasting:

6 July, the schooner Two Brothers, of 89 tons, from Tanfield, bound to Eastport;
6 July, the sloop Friendship, of 100 tons, from Blackrock bound to Eastport;
25 July, the sloop Fairplay;
27 July, the schooner Rebecca, of 86 tons, from New York and bound for Cadiz or Halifax;
28 July, the schooner Nancy, of 14 tons, taken in the harbour at Little River;
3 August, the schooner Rebecca, of 117 tons, from Townsend, bound to Boston;
31 August, the schooner Fortune.^[3]^[4]

Capture by USS Enterprise

Samuel Blyth, ca. 1814, from *The Naval Chronicle*

On 5 September 1813, Boxer engaged the American brig

strike. Enterprise carried two more guns, had a heavier broadside, and had almost twice the number of men. However, the key factor was the dismasting of the Boxer, which allowed Enterprise to maneuver to rake her. Furthermore, a court martial later found that a number of British seamen had deserted their quarters during the action.^[6]

Blyth was buried in Portland with full military honours at the same time and next to Burrows, who had also died in the action. The surviving officers placed a tombstone over Blyth's grave. He was 29 years old; Burrows was 28.

Mercantile service

Boxer was sold at auction in Portland, Maine, to Thomas Merrill, Jr., for US$5,600. Her guns and ballast were sold at the same time, the whole proceeds amounting to US$9,755. Burrow's heirs received US$1,115; each seaman's share of the prize money was US$55.^[7] Some of her spare spars and rigging went to equip the Mercator.

Boxer's guns went to arm the Maine privateer Hyder Ali.^[8] Hyder Ali did not have much luck either. She captured two prizes that the British retook before they could reach Maine and was herself then captured in May 1814 near the Nicobar Islands by Owen Glendower.

Initially Boxer was pressed into service to defend Portland harbour. After the war she went on to sail as a merchantman for several years. Her first voyage was in April 1815. Under Captain

mail packet between Portuguese Cape Verde and Lisbon. Merrill reported that in 1825 he passed Boxer leaving Praia at dusk as he entered the harbour on his vessel John. It is suggested that Boxer was finally lost on the coast of Brazil.^[9]

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c Winfield (2008), p.346.
^ "NMM, vessel ID 381295" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol v. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
^ "No. 16837". The London Gazette. 1 January 1814. pp. 20–21.
^ Dill (2006), 103.
^ Smith (2011), p.81.
^ Lohnes (1973), p.326.
^ Goold (1886), 490.
^ Goold (1886), 467.
^ Maine Historical Society (1890-1899), 176-7.