United States Coast Guard Academy - Tide Rips Yearbook (New London, CT)

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W TIDE RIPS MADISON HEN war was declared against Great Britain on June 18, 1812, the Revenue Cutters were fully prepared and standing by at their stations ready to defend the coast and commerce of the country. At the commencement of the hostilities, sixteen Cutters, each of about one hundred and twenty-five tons, carrying six to ten light guns and a complement of flfteen to thirty men, were ready for service. The vessels kept their previous assigned stations, always ready to sail in pursuit of any British vessel that was seen or reported in the vicinity. The cutters were always outnumbered, both in men and guns, in every engage- ment in which they took part. In spite of this handicap, their captures were many and their losses few. On June 15, 1813, the cutter SURVEYOR was captured by a surprise boarding party from the British ship NARCISSUS. The barges containing the boarders were discovered so close by that the deck guns could not be brought to bear on them, and a hand-to-hand encounter ensued on board the cutter. After a terriflc .battle in which both both sides suffered rriany casualties, the Revenue cutter captain was forced to surrender. His sword was refused by the British captain because of the gallant flght put up by the American crew against such superior odds. The cutter VIGILANT of Newport, sighted the British privateer DART off the harbor before sunset, and the captain called for a volunteer crew and set out in pursuit. After a short chase, the privateer was overtaken and captured by boarding after a short encounter on the decks of the DART. The Revenue cutter MADISON, one hundred and twelve tons, equipped with six twelve pound riHes and a crew of thirty men, made many captures during the war. Some of her many seizures were: the SNOW, mounting six heavy guns and a quantity of smaller pieces; the schooner WADE arid the privateer brig SHAMROCK of three hundred tons, mounting six guns and carrying sixteen men. The MADISON was captured, however, by a superior force of the enemy in 1813. The compactness of the cutters and the Yankee ingenuity of their othcers and crews were the reasons for such a notable record as they made against the British ships. The abilities of the men can best be brought out by the words of a British privateer captain who said, uYou fight vessels three times your size, having guns outnumbering you flve to one, and crews that are not even comparable in number; yet you carry on and we suffer untold casualties. I am at a loss whether to admire your many victories, or the manner in which you dispute the command of your deck, inch by inch.

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