Revenge III

Revenge III

(Sch.: l. 70'; a. 12 6-pars.)

The third Revenge was a schooner purchased bv the Navy at New Orleans in December 1806. Ordered to the Atlantic coast, the schooner, commanded by Lt. Jacob Jones was assigned to Commodore John Rodgers' New York Fiotilla which was organized soon after the Cheeapeake-Leopard incident and charged with protecting shipping near that vital port. After Jefferson's Embargo Act was passed at the close of the year, the flotilla had the unpleasant duty of blockading the U.S. coast to prevent foreign commerce.

In 1809, Lt. Oliver Hazard Perry relieved Jones in command of Revenge. With the repeal of the Embargo Act, the ship widened her operations cruising south to the tip of Florida and north to the coast of New England.

In April 1810, the schooner entered the Washington Navy Yard for repairs. The following July, while cruising off Charleston, S.C., Revenge was ordered to Amelia Island, Fla., then Spanish territory, to free an American ship, Diana. which had been seized in Spanish waters and placed under British colors. Undaunted by the presence of two British warships Perry boarded the ship, manned her with a prize crew, and sailed away.

That winter, Revenge surveyed the harbors of Newport R.I., New London, Conn., and Gardiner's Bay, Long Island N.Y. The schooner ran aground on 9 January 1811 while returning to New London and was abandoned. Perry was cleared of responsibility for loss of the ship by a court of inquiry.