Perry’s Battle Flag

On June 1, 1813, one hundred and ninety eight years ago today, the British frigate HMS Shannon defeated and captured the USS Chesapeake in single ship combat. Captain James  Lawrence on the Chesapeake was mortally wounded during the battle. His last words were, depending on the account,  “Don’t give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks,” or “Tell them to fire faster; don’t give up the ship.”  If  “don’t give up the ship” was an order, it was never carried out because the ship had already been taken by British boarders.

The slogan became famous when Oliver Hazard Perry had it sewn onto his battle flag which he flew during the Battle of Lake Erie in September of 1813.  The slogan is often incorrectly attributed to Perry rather than Lawrence.  The slogan is still highly popular with the US Navy today.

I wonder if the attribution to Perry is not more justified than it might appear solely in terms of the history.  Had not Perry won a decisive victory on Lake Erie, would the slogan have been remembered or repeated?  Perry adopted it  to honor the courage of his friend, James Lawrence, rather than to recall the fight between the Chesapeake and the Shannon, where the performance of the Chesapeake’s crew was not anything to brag about.   (During the battle 362 shots struck Chesapeake, while only 158 hit Shannon.)

The USS Chesapeake’s career was more embarrassing than glorious.  She was on the losing end of the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair in 1807 and her inexperienced crew was outfought by the British aboard HMS Shannon.   The USS Chesapeake was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Chesapeake until she was broken up in 1819.  In 1820 her timbers were used to build a mill in Wickham, England which continued to operate until 1975.  Today, the Chesapeake Mill is home to antique dealers and gift shops.

A few years ago the US Navy commissioned a “graphic novel,” (what used to be called a comic book,)  named “Bravo Zulu,” for use in recruiting.   In “Bravo Zulu” the ghost of a John Paul Jones bucks up the spirits of five discouraged midshipmen.  The final words of advice he leaves them are not his own, “I have not yet begun to fight,” but rather Lawrence’s “Don’t Give Up the Ship.”