HMS Macedonian - As HMS Macedonian

As HMS Macedonian

Macedonian first delivered a company of soldiers to Lisbon, Portugal, then remained in the area, guarding against the possibility of French naval attack. During this period, FitzRoy made personal profit by falsification of records of ships' stores, for which he was court-martialled in March 1811 and dismissed from the service (he was quietly reinstated in August, presumably due to his aristocratic rank).

FitzRoy's replacement, William Waldegrave, was an interim appointment whose command lasted for only a few weeks before he was himself replaced by John Surnam Carden. One of Carden's first actions was to hire a band, a move popular with the crew, but he did not get along with the first lieutenant David Hope.

In January 1812, Macedonian was ordered to secretly deliver some bills of exchange to Norfolk, Virginia, and to bring back an equivalent quantity of gold and silver currency, as part of a scheme to keep the Bank of England solvent. During the visit, Carden socialised with the notables of Norfolk, including then-Captain Stephen Decatur, but bungled the mission by inadvertently revealing what was planned, and had to return to Lisbon empty handed. Captain Carden dined frequently with Decatur and his wife Susan and jokingly bet a beaver hat on the outcome of a battle of their ships. They had come to consider one another friends.

In September 1812, Macedonian was ordered to accompany an East Indiaman as far as Madeira, then to cruise in search of prizes as long as his supplies permitted. The frigate left Madeira on 22 October 1812, but only a few days later, on the morning of 25 October, encountered the USS United States, commanded by his former dinner host Decatur. The United States had just declared war on the United Kingdom, and both captains were eager to achieve personal glory in a fight.

Unfortunately for Macedonian, the United States was one of the new 44-gun frigates, and her broadside was 864 pounds of metal, vs Macedonian's 528 pounds. The USS United States hove round, turning downwind and making HMS Macedonian chase her. Within a few minutes of closing, fire from the United States's 24 pounder cannons brought down all three of Macedonian's masts, and riddled the hull. The United States then pulled away temporarily, leaving Carden and Hope time to contemplate their lack of options. Finally, with the United States preparing to rake the British vessel again, Carden struck his colors, making the Macedonian the second Royal Navy vessel to surrender to the Americans during the war.