USS Macedonian (1810)

HMS Macedonian versus USS United States By Thomas Birch
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Macedonian
Ordered:	28 September 1808
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	May 1809
Launched:	2 June 1810
Out of service:	25 October 1812
Fate:	Captured
United States
Name:	USS Macedonian
Acquired:	25 October 1812
Commissioned:	April 1813
Decommissioned:	1828
Fate:	Broken up, 1834
General characteristics
Class and type:	Lively-class frigate
Tons burthen:	1082 bm
Length:	156 ft (48 m)
Beam:	38 ft 9 in (11.81 m)
Draft:	18 ft 4 in (5.59 m)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	306 officers and enlisted
Armament:	rated as 38 guns 28 × 18-pounder guns 14 × 32-pounder carronades

rated as 38 guns

HMS Macedonian was a 38-gun fifth rate Lively-class frigate in the Royal Navy, later captured by USS United States during the War of 1812. She was built at Woolwich Dockyard, England in 1809, launched 2 June 1810 and commissioned the same month. She was commanded by Captain Lord William FitzRoy. Among the original crew was the 13-year-old Samuel Leech, who later wrote a memoir of his experiences.

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 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.