Today, the James Madison Presidential Dollar Coin remembers the privateer Saucy Jack and her Captain J. P. Chazel.
On June 29, 1813, in a skirmish with the Saucy Jack, the British sloop-of-war Persian ran aground off the Silver Keys near Haiti.
But the Saucy Jack out of Charleston had many successful adventures during the War of 1812.
From A History of American Privateers by Edgar Stanton Maclay, published in 1900:
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By far the most successful of the privateers that sailed for Charleston in this war was the 6-gun schooner Saucy Jack, Captain J. P. Chazel.
This vessel was painted black, with a white streak along her side to distinguish her.
While lying in Charleston harbor, August, 1812, preparatory to getting to sea, some person or persons spiked her guns.
A reward of three hundred dollars was offered for the apprehension of the perpetrators of the act, but without avail.
This craft took in all six ships, six brigs, nine schooners, and two sloops.
In September she arrived in the St. Mary’s from her third cruise, in which she had captured the Three Sisters and the ship Eliza, of ten guns, laden with flour and beef.
On August 17th she took the ship Laura, laden with coffee, and the Three Brothers, each mounting ten guns.
Shortly after the Laura had been taken possession of by the American prize crew she was chased by the British sloop of war Persian. To prevent their prize from falling into the hands of the enemy the American fired the Laura and took to their boats, ultimately arriving in the United States.
The Persian subsequently was wrecked on Silver Keys.
In December, 1813, the Saucy Jack made a short cruise, in which she captured the brig Agnes and the sloop John, the privateer arriving at Charleston December 20th of the same year.
Early in 1814 this boat got to sea on her fourth venture, in which she made her most valuable-prize, the Pelham, the following account of which was forwarded to the Secretary of the Navy:
“Charleston, May 21, 1814. — Arrived at this port yesterday the large and elegant ship Pelham (late Captain Boyd), Alexander Taylor, prize master, prize to the privateer Saucy Jack, Captain Chazel, of this port.
“The Pelham was captured on the 30th of April off Cape Nocola Mole after a well-contested action of upward of two hours. She was finally carried by boarding, after her crew had made a stout and gallant resistance of from ten to fifteen minutes on her own decks.
“We learnt on board that the officers and crew of the Pelham behaved throughout the action in the most heroic manner, and did not yield until actually overpowered by numbers. The Saucy Jack had her first officer and one man killed and the second officer, captain of arms, and seven men wounded.
“On board the Pelham were four killed and eleven wounded; among the latter was Captain Boyd, dangerously, in the breast. He, with the passengers, was landed at Port-au-Prince.
“The Pelham was from London bound to Port-au-Prince, and sailed from Portsmouth on the 9th of March with the same convoy, of which we have already had accounts from as having arrived at Halifax and bringing London dates to the 7th of March.
“Of course she brings nothing new. The day previous to her capture she had an engagement with two Carthaginian privateers, which she succeeded in beating off, but the courage and perseverance of the officers and crew of the Saucy Jack were not so easily overcome. This is another honorable specimen of the bravery and good conduct of American seamen.
“We hardly recollect to have seen a finer ship than the Pelham. She is five hundred and forty tons, coppered to the bends, mounts ten 12-pounders and 6-pounders and had a complement of from thirty-five to forty men, exclusive of several passengers.
“She is almost new, this being her second voyage, and is in every way fitted the most complete of any merchant ship that has entered our port for a long time. Her cabin is hung round with a great variety of large and elegant colored naval prints in rich gilt frames, among which was a representation of the engagement between the Chesapeake and the Shannon in two views.
“During her skirmish with the Saucy Jack, an 18-pound shot from the long tom found its way through the ship’s side and demolished one of its views, with several others.”
On the 31st of October, 1814, the British bomb ship Volcano, Lieutenant Price, and the transports Golden Fleece and Balahoo, with some two hundred and fifty English soldiers on board, fell in with this doughty privateer of Charleston.
At that time the vessels were off the west end of San Domingo.
Captain Chazel had been cruising in this vicinity with a little tender called the Packet when he discovered the English vessels.
He gave chase, and, under the impression that they were merchant men, he fired, about one o’clock on the following morning, three shots from his long tom, which fire the Volcano returned, at the same time shortening sail with her consorts so as to allow the audacious American to come up.
The wind was light and the darkness rendered it difficult to make out the exact force of the strangers.
At six o’clock in the morning the vessels were within half gunshot.
It was then that Captain Chazel discovered that one of the ships mounted sixteen guns and the other eighteen; but, as they did not appear to be well manned, he determined upon an attack.
At seven o’clock he showed his colors and began an action with the Volcano, that craft being nearest to him.
Following the favorite tactics of American privateersmen, Captain Chazel lost no time in getting alongside the enemy, and prepared to board on her port beam.
Just as the Americans were about to spring to the enemy’s decks Captain Chazel suddenly discovered that the stranger was full of soldiers.
The order recalling boarders was promptly given, and the Saucy Jack sheered off and made all sail to escape.
Two of the English ships, the Volcano and the Golden Fleece, gave chase, and maintained a spirited fire for nearly an hour, when, finding that they were losing ground, they desisted.
When the Saucy Jack was close to them the British soldiers poured in a destructive fire of musketry, killing eight and wounding fifteen of the Americans.
The privateer also was somewhat cut up in her hull, spars, and rigging.
The enemy had three men killed, including Lieutenant W. P. Futzen, and two men wounded.
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The James Madison Presidential Dollar Coin shows with an artist’s image of the HMS Persian grounded on the Silver Keys in 1813.
