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USS Syren (1803)
*** Shopping-Tip: USS Syren (1803)
{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="300" style="margin: 0 0 1em 0.5em"
|colspan="2"|
Image:IIH.png 300px|InsertAltTextHere InsertCaptionHere
|-
! style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy;"| Career
! style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy;"|
Image:USN-Jack.png 48px|USN Jack
|-
|Built:
|
1803
|-
|Launched:
|
6 August 1803
|-
|Commissioned:
|September 1803
|-
|Fate:
|Captured at sea,
12 July 1814
|-
!colspan="2" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy;"| General Characteristics
|-
|Displacement:
|240 tons
|-
|Length:
|94 ft 3 1/2 in (28.7 m)
|-
|Beam:
|27 ft 9 in (8.5 m)
|-
|Draft:
|12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
|-
|Propulsion:
|Sail
|-
|Speed:
|
|-
|Complement:
|120 officers and enlisted
|-
|Armament:
|16 x 24 pounder (11 kg)
carronades
|}
'''USS ''Syren''''' (later ''Siren'') was a
brig in the
United States Navy during the
First Barbary War and the
War of 1812.
''Syren'' was built for the Navy in
1803 at
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia by
Nathaniel Hutton and launched on
6 August 1803. She was commissioned some time later in the month of September, Lieutenant
Charles Stewart (1778-1869) Charles Stewart in command.
The brig departed Philadelphia on
27 August 1803 and reached
Gibraltar on
1 October. A fortnight later, she sailed via
Livorno to
Algiers carrying presents and money to the
Dey of Algiers. She then sailed to
Syracuse, Italy Syracuse, Sicily, where she arrived early in January 1804.
Meanwhile, the previous autumn, American
frigate USS Philadelphia (1799) ''Philadelphia'' had run aground off
Tripoli and had been captured by Tripolitan gunboats. To prevent the frigate from opposing his planned operations against Tripoli, the commander of the American squadron in the
Mediterranean,
Commodore (rank) Commodore Edward Preble, decided to destroy her. To achieve this end, ''Syren'' and
ketch USS Intrepid (1798) ''Intrepid'' got underway from Syracuse on
3 February 1804 and proceeded to Tripoli which they reached on the 7th. However, before the American ships could launch their attack, they were driven off by a violent gale and did not get back off Tripoli until the 16th, when sailors from the Intrepid succeeded in burning the Philadelphia.
''Syren'' returned to Syracuse on the morning of
19 February. On
9 March, she and
USS Nautilus (1799) ''Nautilus'' sailed for Tripoli. Soon after their arrival, ''Syren'' captured a
polacca called ''Madona Catapolcana'' and sent her to Malta. Toward the end of the month, she cast off and captured the armed brig ''Transfer'' belonging to the
Pasha. Stewart named her
USS Scourge (1804) ''Scourge'', and she served the American squadron under that name.
''Syren'' cruised in the Mediterranean during the spring and summer of 1804 and participated in the attacks on Tripoli in August and September 1804.
''Syren'' continued to support the squadron's operation against Tripoli which forced the Pasha to accede to American demands. After a treaty of peace with Tripoli was signed on
10 June 1805, the brig remained in the Mediterranean for almost a year helping to establish and maintain satisfactory relations with other Barbary states.
''Syren'' departed Gibraltar on
28 May 1806 and reached the
Washington Navy Yard on or about
1 August. She was laid up in ordinary there until reactivated in
1807, and carried dispatches to France in 1809. The following year, her name was changed to ''Siren''.
Little record has been found of the brig's service during the
War of 1812, but we do know that she was captured at sea by the 74-gun
ship of the line HMS Medway (1812) HMS ''Medway'' on
12 July 1814 after an 11-hour chase during which ''Siren'' jettisoned her guns, anchors, cables, boats, and spare spars in a valiant but futile effort to escape from the British vessel. Among the prisoners was
Samuel Leech, who later wrote an account of his experiences.
As of 2005, no other ship has been named ''Syren''.
{{DANFS}}
*** Shopping-Tip: USS Syren (1803)
