Julian E. Endsley, 32°, K.C.C.H.
1299 Briarwood Drive #319, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-5967

In the War of 1812, Bro. James Lawrence bravely commanded the Chesapeake in its famous battle against the British frigate Shannon.

Photo collage courtesy of U.S. Navy Public Affairs Office

When the War Of 1812 was almost a year in official conflict, an American frigate, the Chesapeake, a 50-cannon gunship, sailed into Boston Harbor to replace its very ill Captain Evans who went immediately to the hospital. Another naval officer, young, brilliant, and hailed as a national hero because of a long record of victories at sea, was in Boston at that time. Brother James Lawrence, because of the excellence of his record, was promoted to Captain on March 3, 1813, at age 31. The Chesapeake arrived in Boston on April 9, and he was asked to take command of the ship.

He opposed the assignment not out of fear, but for a greater worry. The officers and crew were very lacking in experience, untrained and more concerned about spoils than about developing skill in the use of cannons to defeat an enemy. With realistic concern, Lawrence had little time in which to train the crew, but, feeling the mounting public pressure and a sense of duty to his countrymen, he acquiesced.

On May 18, 1813, he reluctantly accepted command of the Chesapeake. He selected a capable man, Augustus Ludlow, a native of Delaware and another Mason, as his First Lieutenant. Together, they now faced a more serious problem. The 52-gun British frigate Shannon, commanded by Sir Philip Broke, now blockaded Boston Harbor, and Broke tauntingly sent messages to Lawrence to leave the harbor and meet him in a duel on the open sea. He knew Lawrence's reputation, and he knew the ships were almost exactly matched in guns and crew. Broke even sent his ship's escort, the Tenedos, out of battle range to "level the playing field."

Lawrence knew the equal armament and manpower of both ships, but he also knew an unfavorable difference. Broke's officers and crew had trained and worked together for years, had come to know and trust each other, and had become very skilled in artillery and with their other weaponry. They were a highly disciplined fighting force, and his crew was not. Nevertheless, on June 1, 1813, Lawrence left the harbor under sail to meet the Shannon. The two ships engaged in battle at 5:30 pm. Before this battle, Lawrence's record was a textbook example of professional skill, cunning, and courage. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1798 and was commissioned Lieutenant in 1802. Assigned to the Enterprise, he sailed to Tripoli to join Commodore Edward Preble's squadron headquartered at Malta. Regarded as the center of the Tripolitan War, 1801-1805, Tripoli had long been a haven for pirates who constantly blackmailed England, France, America and several other nations conducting merchant business in the area of the Mediterranean sea.

Lawrence distinguished himself as a gunboat commander there. When the American frigate, the Philadelphia, struck and became trapped on an uncharted ledge while pursuing a Moorish pirate ship into Tripoli Harbor, Lawrence was made second in command in the boldest and most daring exploit of the war. Commodore Preble assigned Stephen Decatur, Jr., to take a ketch and slip into the harbor at night and burn the Philadelphia to prevent the Tripolitans from using the ship, which they had managed to float off the ledge and tow into harbor.

Brother James Lawrence *This engraving of Bro. James Lawrence is from National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Americans from Original Paintings by Alonzo Chappel with Biographies by E. A. Duyckinck (NY: Johnson, Fry & Co., vol. II, page 74, 1862), courtesy of Tom Savini, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library and Museum, New York, N.Y.

On February 15, 1804, 74 volunteers including Lawrence reached the Philadelphia, sprang aboard it, and, after expelling the occupants, set fire to the ship in four strategic places. Their mission accomplished, they fled and, though fired upon by shore batteries and pursuing Tripolitan vessels, escaped unharmed. The Philadelphia burned beyond repair and sank.

Lawrence served on the Barbary Coast five years and became the First Lieutenant aboard the Constitution, often referred to as "Old Ironsides." Preserved today in Boston Harbor, it was the flagship of Commodore Preble and took part in five bombardments of Tripoli in 1804. Lawrence was promoted and, in turn, commanded the Argus, the Vixen, the Wasp and, as Master Commandant, the Hornet in the War Of 1812. During December and January, 1812-1813, he cruised the Brazilian Coast to curtail Britain's use of ports for merchandise and military supplies. He successfully blockaded the English sloop Bonne Citoyenne in Bahia Harbor until surprised by the appearance of a British 74-cannon ship and was himself obliged to sail into the harbor.

The English ship now blockaded him but didn't attack. With abundant experience in nighttime maneuvers, Lawrence evaded the ship under cover of darkness and escaped. En route to safety, he ran within firing range of the English sloop-of-war, Peacock. Lawrence's Hornet and the Peacock were evenly matched with 20 guns each. But, this time, Lawrence had an experienced and disciplined crew. In 11 minutes the Peacock was sinking and surrendered.

But four months later when, on June 1, 1813, Lawrence sailed out of Boston Harbor on the Chesapeake to duel Sir Philip Broke's Shannon, he had an untrained and undisciplined crew. The ships began firing, but soon the Chesapeake's stays were shot away leaving her unable to control sail. The quarterdeck sailors, including the men at the wheel, were decimated. The ship drifted helplessly astern, directly at Broke's Shannon. Lawrence assembled a party to board the Shannon as soon as the vessels struck, but, as he gave the order, a musket ball mortally wounded him. As crewmen were carrying him below, Brother Lawrence uttered his famous words, "Don't give up the ship!"

English sailors rushed aboard the Chesapeake, and a fierce hand-to-hand battle ensued. Ludlow and Broke were both killed. Between the cannonade and the fighting aboard the ship, the Chesapeake lost 61 killed and 85 wounded (one source says 47 killed and 99 wounded). The Shannon had 33 dead and 50 wounded. Unable to sail, the Chesapeake was towed into Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was later turned into a British warship.

The British treated the prisoners humanely. The wounded received medical attention, and the dead were returned to their people when possible. Lieutenant Ludlow's body was returned and buried with Masonic honors by the Grand Lodge of Delaware.

Under medical care, Brother Captain James Lawrence lived three days at Halifax and died there June 6, 1813. Buried with military honors by the British at Halifax, his remains were later returned to Salem, Massachusetts, and, finally, to Trinity Churchyard, New York City, where he was buried with both Grand Lodge and military honors on September 16, 1813, two weeks before his 32nd birthday.

Julian E. Endsley is a Past Master and Past Wise Master, both at Santa Barbara, Calif. He directed the Chapter Degrees for 12 years, was Chairman of the Scottish Rite's Tri-Counties Speakers Bureau, Chairman of the Scottish Rite Library Committee, and Cochairman of the Tri-Counties Bicentennial Commission. After service in the Army Medical Corps, he studied engineering, was President of the Engineers' Club of Santa Barbara, and retired in 1991. He is well known as a cast member of the play "A Rose upon the Altar" which has attracted many new Masons and Scottish Rite members to the Fraternity. He had the honor of raising Ill. Burl Ives, 33°, G.C., as a Master Mason in 1976.