USS Merrimack (1798)

While researching the upcoming Gardner Beacon issue on the War of 1812, I ran across the Merrimack which has quite a story. Not only was she built in record time for the era (74 days), and the location (Newburyport), once the ship was at sea, she saw quite a lot of action during the Quasi-War which raged on the seas and was between the newly-fledged U.S. with its Navy and France (see XYZ Affair at the State Department).

The time was in the late 1790s. As we cover in the Beacon, there were, as well, a lot of troubles that led up a follow-up war (with Britain) to the American Revolution. In 1798, the populace was outraged by the continuing harassment. The Merrimack was funded by people in the area and, then, offered to the U.S. Navy (which was still in the process of being born).

Essentially, New Englanders were quite successful in their seafaring ways. And, seafaring covered a lot of ground, from construction and outfitting all the way to the many ways that one deals with the sea. In fact, New England was so different from the rest of the country that talk of succession was heard from time to time (see Timothy Pickering, for example).

Events leading up to the War of 1812 carried on a long time, perhaps from the end of the American Revolution. And, there were many losses to personal wealth in New England (see Gardner-Pingree).

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Our next issue of Gardner's Beacon will be out by June 18, 2012 (200 years post President Madison's signing of the declaration of war).

Remarks:

03/09/2019 -- Added image to allow an index to be built at our portal to truth. Too, the USS Merrimack came up in researching the War of 1812, however she was lost before then having served in the Quasi-War. A record of her service has been documented at 3decks - Naval Sailing Warfare History. She is noted to have been with the USS constitution, USS Pickering (out off Newburyport, too -- Timothy Pickering was Secretary of State), USS Ganges, and more.

USS Constitution
(Quasi-war)

06/17/2012 -- Gardner's Beacon looks at the War of 1812.

06/11/2012 -- All the sides can be seen in this war, just as we've seen within our lifetimes. There were arguments, pro and con. England sort of stumbled into war as they took too long to straighten up. Then, once war was declared, things progressed slowly. In fact, neither side was actually up to the task. Things went back and forth; they even looked more gloomy than during the War of Independence. All sorts of lessons to learn lurk here.

Modified: 03/09/2019