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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio,

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 1: show that flies the flag of history every day of

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Speaker 1: the week. I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode, we're

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Speaker 1: looking at the origin of an enduring motto of the

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Speaker 1: US Navy, including the bloody sea battle and impulsive tactical

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Speaker 1: blunder that gave rise to it. The day was June one,

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Speaker 1: eighteen thirteen. After being mortally wounded at the Battle of

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Speaker 1: Boston Harbor, Captain James Lawrence issued his final command, don't

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Speaker 1: give up the ship. The ship in question was the

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Speaker 1: USS Chesapeake, a frigate which Lawrence had taken command of

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Speaker 1: just two weeks earlier. It was in the process of

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Speaker 1: being boarded by Britainish soldiers when Lawrence issued his order,

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Speaker 1: and although his crew tried to comply, the ship was

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Speaker 1: ultimately captured just a few minutes later. By the end

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Speaker 1: of May eighteen thirteen, the fledgling American Navy was riding

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Speaker 1: high on a string of victories over British naval forces.

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Speaker 1: Captain Lawrence, for instance, had led a successful campaign in

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Speaker 1: late February which had resulted in the sinking of the

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Speaker 1: HMS Peacock. Americans were feeling pretty confident in their naval prowess,

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Speaker 1: so when the city of Boston began to swirl with

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Speaker 1: rumors of an impending ship to ship duel, the locals

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Speaker 1: turned out in droves to watch what they assumed would

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Speaker 1: be another decisive US victory. The day's combatants would be

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Speaker 1: the celebrated Captain Lawrence, who commanded the freshly repaired USS Chesapeake,

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Speaker 1: and Captain Philip B. V. Broke, the commander of a

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Speaker 1: thirty eight gun Royal frigate called the HMS Shannonon. Broke

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Speaker 1: had caught sight of the Chesapeake and the Boston Harbor

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Speaker 1: that morning, and seeing that it was being prepped to sail,

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Speaker 1: he scribbled out a letter to Captain Lawrence issuing him

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Speaker 1: a challenge to a ship to ship duel. In a

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Speaker 1: strange twist, Lawrence never received that letter because by the

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Speaker 1: time it arrived, he had already spotted broke ship and

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Speaker 1: set out to confront it. To be clear, Lawrence's official

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Speaker 1: mission was to slip through the British blockade and prey

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Speaker 1: on enemy merchant ships in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence,

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Speaker 1: engaging in a ship to ship duel a few miles

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Speaker 1: from the Boston Harbor was not in the US Navy

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Speaker 1: strategic interest. Not only was that kind of naval contest

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Speaker 1: ineffectual in the grand scheme, it was also an unnecessary risk.

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Speaker 1: At the time, the American Navy had only a limited

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Speaker 1: number of ships at its disposal and couldn't afford to

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Speaker 1: have any of them laid up for repairs thanks to

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Speaker 1: a one on one battle that could have been avoided

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Speaker 1: that dead. Captain Lawrence had taken part in such skirmish

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Speaker 1: as before and had always come out on top, so,

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Speaker 1: like the people of Boston, he fully expected to rack

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Speaker 1: up another easy victory. On June first, shortly before six pm,

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Speaker 1: the Chesapeake caught up with the Shannon, which had been

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Speaker 1: waiting almost stationary, a few miles outside of Boston. In

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Speaker 1: a bold and fairly reckless move, Captain Lawrence brought the

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Speaker 1: Chesapeake right up alongside the Shannon's starboard side, making it

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Speaker 1: easy for the ships to exchange broadsides or coordinated cannon

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Speaker 1: fire at an extremely close range. The close proximity of

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Speaker 1: the ships also put the respective crews within a pistol

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Speaker 1: shot of each other, allowing them to exchange volleys of

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Speaker 1: small arms as well. For whatever reason, be it better training,

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Speaker 1: a stronger position, or just luck of the draw, the

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Speaker 1: British sailors quickly claimed the upper hand. Out of the

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Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty men's stationed on the upper deck

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Speaker 1: of the Chesapeake, nearly a hundred of them had been

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Speaker 1: killed or wounded within the first two minutes of action,

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Speaker 1: including almost all of the officers. The constant barrage of

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Speaker 1: broadsides and musket fire also shot away the vessel's rigging

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Speaker 1: and steering wheel, causing it to drift ever closer to

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Speaker 1: the Shannon than providing an easy target for British sharpshooters.

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Speaker 1: When the ships finally did collide, Captain Broke pressed his

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Speaker 1: advantage by leading a boarding party onto the Chesapeake's quarter deck. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: Captain Lawrence, who'd been injured by a musket ball, was

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Speaker 1: taken to his cabin below deck to receive medical treatment.

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Speaker 1: As he lay there grappling with his wounds, he exhorted

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Speaker 1: his men to fight on in the face of defeat,

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Speaker 1: reportedly saying, don't give up the ship. Fight her till

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Speaker 1: she sinks despite the crew's best effort. Though that's not

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Speaker 1: what happened. Instead, they were overwhelmed by brokes Fie, losing

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Speaker 1: control of the Chesapeake within minutes of its boarding. Technically,

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Speaker 1: the Americans never formally surrendered, but that's only because there

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Speaker 1: were no officers left alive on deck to make that call.

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Speaker 1: Not only did the Americans lose the Battle of Boston Harbor,

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Speaker 1: it was one of the quickest and bloodiest naval battles

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Speaker 1: of the War of eighteen twelve. The fighting lasted less

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Speaker 1: than fifteen minutes in total, but by the end of

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Speaker 1: it more than two hundred men were killed or wounded,

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Speaker 1: mostly Americans. To make their victory official, the crew of

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Speaker 1: the Shannon lowered the Chesapeake's American flag and replaced it

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Speaker 1: with the white ensign of Saint George, a crushing site

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Speaker 1: not only for the surviving crew, but for the crowds

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Speaker 1: of Bostonians who had gathered on coastal hills and city

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Speaker 1: rooftops to get a glimpse of the fight. Instead, if

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Speaker 1: they saw anything at all, it was only the defeated

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Speaker 1: and captured crew being borne away to a British naval

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Speaker 1: base in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Captain Lawrence succumbed to his

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Speaker 1: wounds during the five day journey, and was laid to

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Speaker 1: rest with full military honors when they reached Halifax. His

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Speaker 1: remaining crew members were imprisoned, and their ship, after being repaired,

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Speaker 1: was taken into service by the Royal Navy, becoming the

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Speaker 1: HMS Chesapeake. In death, Captain Lawrence became even more of

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Speaker 1: a hero in the eyes of the American public. His

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Speaker 1: deathbed command, don't give up the Ship was first reported

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Speaker 1: in late June in a Baltimore newspaper. The notion that

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Speaker 1: Lawrence had died bravely was readily accepted by the American public,

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Speaker 1: with the narrative helping to ease the sting of a

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Speaker 1: largely unexpected defeat. For the remainder of the war, Lawrence's

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Speaker 1: dying words became a kind of rallying cry for American forces.

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Speaker 1: In fact, just a few months after the battle, a

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Speaker 1: banner emblazoned with don't give up the Ship was flown

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Speaker 1: from the masthead of a namesake vessel, the USS Lawrence.

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Speaker 1: The ship's captain, commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, was a friend

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Speaker 1: of Lawrence and a war hero in his own right.

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Speaker 1: Perry had commissioned Margaret Forster Stewart to make the memorial

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Speaker 1: flag for him by stitching the phrase in bold white

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Speaker 1: letters onto his blue battle ensign. Then, on September tenth,

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Speaker 1: eighteen thirteen, Perry won a decisive victory over British naval

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Speaker 1: forces in the Battle of Lake Erie, with Lawrence's final

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Speaker 1: command flying proudly above the ship that bore his name.

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Speaker 1: From then on, Perry's flag and the phrase inscribed on

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Speaker 1: it became an indelible part of Navy culture. The original

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Speaker 1: flag is now on display at the US Naval Academy

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Speaker 1: Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, and a large replica of it

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Speaker 1: presides over the school's Memorial Hall. All these years later,

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Speaker 1: Don't give up the Ship is still something of an

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Speaker 1: unofficial motto for the US Navy, and even today, you'll

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Speaker 1: still hear the battle cry at every Navy football game,

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Speaker 1: and you might even spot those five memorable words flying

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Speaker 1: high on the masts of naval ships. Captain Lawrence made

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Speaker 1: some foolhardy choices at the Battle of Boston Harbor, ones

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Speaker 1: that ultimately cost him his ship, his crew, and his life,

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Speaker 1: but nonetheless, his last order and the fighting spirit it

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Speaker 1: represents still resonates with enlisted sailors today. A legacy, made

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Speaker 1: all the more poignant by the fact the order went unfulfilled.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know a little

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Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you

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Speaker 1: have a second and you're so inclined, consider following us

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Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show. You

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Speaker 1: or you can send your feedback directly by writing to

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Speaker 1: This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler, Mays

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Speaker 1: and Hackett for producing the show, and thank you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day

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Speaker 1: in History class.