Action off Charles Island

Action off Charles Island
Part of War of 1812
USS Essex off Galapagos.
Date July 14, 1813 Location off Banks' Bay, Charles Island, Galapagos Archipelago, Pacific Ocean Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States	United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
David Porter	William Stavers
Strength
1 frigate 2 sloops-of-war	3 armed whaling brigs
Casualties and losses
1 sloop-of-war damaged	89 men captured, of which 48 were released on parole after the battle 3 brigs captured

The Action off Charles Island was a naval battle fought during the War of 1812 in the summer of 1813 off Charles Island in the Galapagos. An American squadron of three vessels attacked three British armed whalers, and captured them. The engagement was notable for being one of the few to occur in the Pacific Ocean during the war and involved United States Marine Lieutenant John M. Gamble, the first marine to command an American warship.

In the war between the United Kingdom and the United States, American Captain David Porter, in the thirty-six gun frigate USS Essex, led a fleet of armed vessels in the South Pacific in one of the first commerce raiding operations in history. At the time of the action, Essex was accompanied by two smaller vessels, recently captured from the British and classified as sloops-of-war by Captain Porter. They were the 10-gun Greenwich of 338 tons burthen and the 10-gun Georgiana of 280 tons burthen. Porter had sent the rest of his fleet to Valparaiso to be sold while he and the remaining vessels patrolled for British whalers between Tumbes, Peru and the Galapagos.

Because Porter had entered the Pacific with no more than 350 American servicemen under his command, when he took prizes he could only place small skeleton crews in most of his ships. Georgiana had a complement of forty-two men under Mr. Adams, the Essex's chaplain, and Greenwich held only fourteen men under the command of Lieutenant Gamble.

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