USS Hornet vs HMS Peacock

The action between USS Hornet and HMS Peacock, fought off the coast of Demerara (present-day Guyana) on 24 February 1813, was one of the swiftest single-ship actions of the war. Captain James Lawrence — who would later die aboard USS Chesapeake with the words ‘Don’t give up the ship’ — destroyed a British brig-sloop in approximately fifteen minutes, demonstrating that American naval competence extended beyond the heavy frigate class to the smaller warships.

Hornet was an 18-gun sloop-of-war, competently handled and well maintained. Peacock, also rated at 18 guns, was in a markedly different condition. Her commander, William Peake, had reportedly focused on the appearance of his ship — polished brass, immaculate paintwork — at the expense of gunnery training and the maintenance of his guns. The contrast between a vessel prepared for fighting and one prepared for inspection would prove fatal.

The engagement was brief and one-sided. Lawrence closed to within half a pistol shot and delivered rapid, accurate broadsides that riddled Peacock’s hull below the waterline. The British vessel began to sink almost immediately. Peake was killed early in the action by a musket ball. After approximately fifteen minutes, Peacock struck her colours and hoisted a signal of distress.

The situation then became desperate. Peacock was sinking so rapidly that Lawrence had to send boats across immediately to rescue the surviving crew. Despite these efforts, several American prize crew members and a number of British sailors drowned when the vessel went down. The speed of the sinking — within minutes of the surrender — testified to the severity of the hull damage inflicted by Hornet’s gunnery.

American casualties were remarkably light: one killed and two wounded. British losses were 5 killed, 33 wounded, and several drowned — approximately one-third of the crew. Lawrence was promoted and given command of the frigate Chesapeake, where he would meet Philip Broke’s Shannon three months later in a very different outcome.