HMS Anaconda was an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy during the War of 1812. She was cruising as an American privateer until sailors from captured her in 1813. She served briefly in the Royal Navy during the later stages of the War of 1812, especially at the Battle of New Orleans, before being sold in Jamaica in 1815.
American career
Anaconda was built in Middleton, Connecticut in 1812. In late 1812, Captain Nathanial Shaler took command of Anaconda in New York City.
On 16 January 1813, while Captain Shaler was ashore on business, Anaconda's first lieutenant, George W. Burbank, encountered the American schooner Commodore Hull and fired a broadside into her, seriously wounding her commander, before realizing his mistake. A court martial, however, absolved Burbank from blame.
On 14 May 1813, while in the latitude of the Cape Verde Islands, Burbank was able to capture the British packet ship , an 8, 11, or 12-gun brig with a crew of 38, sailing from Rio de Janeiro to England. After a fight lasting over half-an-hour, Express struck. Shaler took out $75,000 in specie and then divested the packet after ransoming her for $8000.
U.S. sources reported that the bullion was worth $80,000. A later report stated that Express Packet had been armed with 12 guns and had had a crew of 38 men. She had engaged for 18 minutes before striking.
In June, Anaconda took the 8-gun brig Mary, sailing from Gibraltar. Later that month, Anaconda took the brig Harriet, sailing from Buenos Aires to London with a cargo of hides and tallow. Anaconda, delivered Harriet to New Bedford. Some records indicate that Harriet may have been armed with 12 guns, and that Shaler converted one of the brigs to a cartel. In all, his prizes were worth $250,000.
However, in early July Captain Shaler took refuge in Ocracoke Inlet.
Capture
On 11 (or 12) July 1813, Lieutenant George Augustus Westphal, first lieutenant of , led a group of boats into Ocracoke Inlet during Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn's campaign against Portsmouth and Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. Their targets were Anaconda and a second privateer, the 13-gun schooner Atlas under Captain David Mafitt, as well as a revenue cutter. As the British boats approached, the Americans opened fire. Westphal's division, covered by rockets, (as directed by a Captain Russell and overseen by Lieutenant John Harvey Stevens) attacked and captured both privateers. However, the revenue cutter escaped up the Neuse River to New Bern, where she gave warning of the British forces, permitting the preparation of defences that forestalled the Royal Navy from any further advance. Captain Shaler escaped with his crew. Both privateers were condemned at Halifax and the British took them into service, Anaconda under her name, and Atlas as HMS St Lawrence. Anaconda was purchased in September for £3,879 2s 2d and commissioned under her captor, Commander George Westphal.
British career
Anaconda refitted at Halifax and Westphal received a crew of 60 men, most of whom were the dregs of the fleet, offered by their captains when Admiral John Borlase Warren asked for drafts. Her first task was to escort a convoy of twelve merchant vessels from there to the West Indies. While doing so she fought off an attack by two large American privateers. One of the privateers surrendered after losing her jib-boom and fore-top-mast but escaped when Anaconda lost her own fore-top-mast chasing after the second privateer. Warren then transferred Anaconda to the Jamaica station.
In March 1814, Anaconda was stationed off the Mississippi delta under the orders of Capt. Clement Milward of . Arsene Latour mistakenly named Anaconda as the fourth vessel present during the Battle of Fort Bowyer, and this error has persisted. At the time of the battle, Anacondas log places her in the Bay of Campeche.
The defeat at Fort Bowyer led the British to turn their attention to an attack on New Orleans. In the run-up to battle, Captain Nicholas Lockyer captured an American flotilla, consisting primarily of five gunboats, in the Battle of Lake Borgne. Anaconda did not contribute her boats and crew to the battle, but evacuated the 77 men who had been wounded there.