Battle of Boca Teacapan

Battle of Boca Teacapan
Part of Piracy in North America
Boca Teacapan from the Teacapan Estuary.
Date June 17, 1870 Location Boca Teacapan, Sinaloa, Teacapan Estuary Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States	Mexican Pirates
Commanders and leaders
Willard H. Brownson Jonathan Wainwright †	Plácido Vega y Da
Strength
Land: ≈25 marines ≈50 sailors River: 6 armed boats	Land: ≈160 pirates 4 artillery pieces 1 shore battery River: 1 steamer
Casualties and losses
2 killed 8 wounded 3 armed boats damaged	6–8 captured 1 steamer captured

The Battle of Boca Teacapan was the result of a United States Navy boat expedition to destroy a Mexican pirate ship which was attacking targets in the Pacific Ocean. United States sailors and marines in several small boats pursued the pirates to the Boca Teacapan, in Sinaloa and up the Teacapan Estuary for forty-two miles over several days before defeating them at their hideout. The battle ended with the destruction of the pirate ship.

In the Pacific Ocean, piracy continued into the 1870s off the coasts of both Asia and North America. In the summer of 1870, the Mexican pirate gunboat Forward, with about 120 to 200 men of several nationalities, was attacking primarily Mexican and American shipping off Sinaloa. Pirates of Forward had also attacked Guaymas in June 1870. They occupied the customs house and then robbed the foreign residents. The pirates then forced the United States consulate in Guaymas to supply the steamer with 200 pounds of coal. These attacks led to the involvement of the Pacific Squadron. In May 1870 USS Mohican was newly assigned to the station and sent to destroy the pirate threat off Mazatlan. On June 15 about seventy-five United States marines and sailors in one launch, armed with a howitzer and five boats rigged as cutters were sent on an expedition to find the Forward.

American forces under Executive Officer Lieutenant Willard H. Brownson proceeded along the coast from Mazaltan to San Blas and arrived the following day. There the force discovered that the pirates had steamed a day or so earlier into the Teacapan River (Teacapan Estuary) for the village of Boca Teacapan; the Americans sailed further in pursuit. When the Americans reached the river, they stopped their boats at the mouth and prepared for battle. Master Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright III was a professional sailor among the party, his father Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright II and brother Robert Powell Page Wainwright both served the United States military with distinction. Lieutenant Brownson commanded the launch, Wainwright and four other masters commanded the other boats.

...
Wikipedia