Britain, claiming the right to take from…

Britain, claiming the right to take from American merchant ships any British sailors found serving on them, frequently impresses Americans into naval service as well.

In the spring of 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars, several British naval vessels had been on duty on the North American Station, blockading two French third-rate warships in Chesapeake Bay.

A number of Royal Navy seamen had deserted from their ships and local American authorities have given  them sanctuary.

One of the deserters, a Londoner named Jenkin Ratford, has joined the crew of USS Chesapeake.

Ratford had made himself conspicuous to British officers by shouting at them on the streets of Norfolk, Virginia.

Other deserters are reported to be at the Gosport Navy Yard, commanded by Stephen Decatur.

Decatur had received a letter from the British consul ordering him to turn over three men alleged to have deserted from HMS Melampus.

The consul claims the men had enlisted in the U.S. Navy, which was recruiting a crew for Chesapeake, then at the Washington Navy Yard outfitting for a voyage to the Mediterranean.

Vice-Admiral Sir George Berkeley had dispatched his flagship, the fourth-rate warship HMS Leopard, with written orders authorizing him to board and search the United States warship to recover any deserters.

Berkeley has ordered Leopard's captain to search for deserters from HMS Belleisle, HMS Bellona, HMS Triumph, HMS Chichester, HMS Halifax, and the cutter HMS Zenobia.

Chesapeake is off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, commanded by Commodore James Barron, when Leopard, under Captain Salusbury Pryce Humphreys, encounters and hails he on June 22, 1807.

Barron is not alarmed, and receives Lieutenant John Meade on board, who presents Barron with the search warrant.

After an inconclusive discussion, Meade returns to Leopard.

Captain Humphreys, using a hailing trumpet, orders the American ship to submit.

When Chesapeake does not, Humphreys fires a round across her bow.

This is followed immediately by Leopard firing broadsides into the American ship.

Her guns unloaded and her decks cluttered with stores in preparation for a long cruise, Chesapeake manages to fire only a single gun in reply.

The humiliated Barron strikes his colors and surrenders.

Three of Chesapeake's crew have been killed and eighteen wounded, including Barron, by the attack.

However, Humphreys refuses the surrender and sends a boarding party to Chesapeake to search for deserters.

Scores of British nationals had signed on as crewmen of Chesapeake, but Humphreys seizes only the four Royal Navy deserters: Daniel Martin, John Strachan and William Ware, all from HMS Melampus, and Jenkin Ratford, formerly on HMS Halifax.

Only Ratford is British-born. The others are American citizens—two of them demonstrably non-British because they are African-Americans, but they had been serving on British warships.