USS Syren (1803)

A typical brig sail plan
History
United States
Name:	USS Syren
Builder:	Nathaniel Hutton
Cost:	$32,522
Laid down:	1803
Launched:	6 August 1803
Commissioned:	1 September 1803
Renamed:	Siren, 1809
Fate:	Captured at sea, 12 July 1814
History
United Kingdom
Name:	Siren
Acquired:	12 July 1814 by capture
Commissioned:	Not commissioned
Fate:	Not listed after 1815
General characteristics [1]
Type:	Brig
Displacement:	240 long tons (244 t)
Tons burthen:	298 (bm)
Length:	94 ft 3 1⁄2 in (28.7 m) (overall); c,75 ft 0 in (22.9 m)
Beam:	27 ft 0 in (8.23 m)
Depth of hold:	12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	120 officers and enlisted
Armament:	16 × 24-pounder carronades

USS Syren (later Siren) was a brig of the United States Navy during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812 until the Royal Navy captured her in 1814. The British never commissioned her but apparently used her for a year or so as a lazaretto. She then disappears from records.

Syren was built for the Navy in 1803 at Philadelphia by shipwright Nathaniel Hutton and launched on 6 August 1803. She was commissioned in September and Lieutenant Charles Stewart was appointed in command.^[2]

Service history

First Barbary War

The brig departed Philadelphia on 27 August 1803 and reached Gibraltar on 1 October. A fortnight later, she sailed via Livorno to Algiers carrying presents and money to the Dey of Algiers. She then sailed to Syracuse, Sicily, where she arrived early in January 1804.^[2]

The first action Syren was involved in was an attack with the intention of destroying USS Philadelphia, a frigate which had run aground and had been captured by Tripolitan gunboats the previous autumn. To prevent Philadelphia from opposing his planned operations against Tripoli, the commander of the American squadron in the Mediterranean, Commodore Edward Preble, decided to destroy her. To achieve this, Syren and ketch Intrepid sailed from Syracuse on 3 February 1804 and proceeded to Tripoli which they reached on 7 February. However, before the American ships could launch their attack, they were driven off by a violent gale and did not get back off Tripoli until 16 February. Before the attack Syren tied up alongside Intrepid to transfer some of her crew for the assault on Philadelphia. Aboard Intrepid, under the command of Stephen Decatur sailors from both Intrepid and Syren succeeded in burning Philadelphia. Also present during the assault was Thomas Macdonough of Syren.^[2][3]

Syren returned to Syracuse on the morning of 19 February. On 9 March, she and Nautilus sailed for Tripoli. Soon after their arrival, Syren captured a polacca named Madona Catapolcana and sent her to Malta. Toward the end of the month, she captured the armed brig Transfer belonging to the Pasha. Stewart took Transfer into US service and renamed her USS Scourge. She then served in the American squadron.^[2] Operations in the Mediterranean during the spring and summer of 1804 and participated in the attacks on Tripoli in August and September 1804. The ship continued to support the squadron's operation against Tripoli which forced the Pasha to accede to American demands. After a peace treaty with Tripoli was signed on 10 June 1805, the brig remained in the Mediterranean for almost a year helping to establish and maintain satisfactory relations with other Barbary states.^[2]

The ship returned to America in May 1806 and reached the Washington Navy Yard in August. She was laid up in ordinary there until recommissioned in 1807 and subsequently carried dispatches to France in 1809.^[2] The following year, her name was changed to Siren.^[4]

War of 1812

Little record has been found of the brig's service during the War of 1812, however small news items appeared in the Salem Gazette and the Boston Gazette.

In May 1813 it was reported that within the space of two days a merchant vessel, Pilgrim, was boarded, first by HMS Herald which was searching for Syren, and then by Syren, which was searching for Herald. Syren was now commanded by Lieutenant Joseph Bainbridge.^[5] The following month Syren left Belize and proceeded to Cuba where after three weeks searching for a Royal Navy sloop, probably Herald, she sailed for the coast of Florida putting in at New Orleans before departing on 9 May 1813. No prizes were taken during this voyage and the ship needed repairs.^[6]

By January 1814 Syren was in Massachusetts and was now commanded by Lieutenant Parker,^[7] In February she sailed along with a privateer, Grand Turk.^[8] Not long after sailing Parker died and command transferred to Lieutenant N.J. Nicholson.^[9]

On 12 July 1814 Syren encountered the British ship HMS Medway a 74-gun third rate ship of the line under the command of Captain Augustus Brine. Heavily outgunned, Syren attempted to run. After an 11-hour chase Medway captured her despite Syren having lightening her load by throwing overboard her guns, anchors and boats.^[10] During her last voyage she had captured or sunk several British merchantmen.^[9][11] Among the prisoners was Samuel Leech, who later wrote an account of his experiences.

According to Samuel Leech, after being captured the crew of Syren were taken to the Cape of Good Hope, and after landing at Simonstown, marched to a jail in Cape Town. Here they were held until transferred to England when the war was over. On arriving at Simonstown, other American prisoners were seen to be leaving the jail and being shipped off to Dartmoor. The Syren crew met these again in England while waiting for transfer to the United States. Some had been present at 'The Massacre'.

British service

Used as a lazaretto. No longer listed after 1815.^[1]

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

Bibliography

• Skaggs, David Curtis (2003). Thomas Macdonough: Master of command in the early U.S. Navy. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. p. 257. ISBN 1-55750-839-9.  Url