USS Trumbull (1799)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | USS Trumbull |
| Laid down: | 1799 |
| Launched: | 1800 |
| Commissioned: | March, 1800 |
| Fate: | Sold, 1801 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Sloop-of-war |
| Displacement: | 400 long tons (406 t) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: | 220 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 18 × 12-pounder guns |
USS Trumbull, the third US Navy ship to bear the name, was an 18-gun sloop-of-war that took part of the so-called Quasi-War between the United States and France, between 1800 and 1801.
US Congress authorized the construction of naval ships and expansion of the US Navy in response to large losses of merchant ships to French privateers throughout the Atlantic coasts. On 30 March 1799, Benjamin Stoddert ordered Howland & Allyn Naval Agency from New London, Connecticut, the construction of a 360-ton ship with no more than 18 guns, but big enough to carry supplies for 6-months of sailing and a crew of 120 men. The Trumbull was launched in Norwich, on the morning of 26 November of that same year.
Following fitting out, it departed New London in March 1800 under the command of Master Commandant David Jewett. Its first mission was to escort the provisions ship Charlotte from New York to the West Indies, replenishing the American Squadron operating against the French.
Trumbull joined the American Squadron commanded by Silas Talbot in the USS Constitution. Trumbull's main duties in the area were protection of American shipping and the interception of French privateers and merchantmen.
In early May 1800, the armed French schooner Peggie was captured. On 3 August, while off Jeremie in Saint-Domingue (future Haiti), Captain David Jewett on the Trumbull captured the French schooner Vengeance, armed with eight or ten guns (not, as is sometimes found, the 38-gun frigate Vengeance that tangled with the USS Constellation and was later taken into the Royal Navy). The ship was fleeing Saint-Domingue with 130 people aboard, crew and refugees together. The refugees were mostly gens de couleur libres (also known as mulattos) escaping the forces of Toussaint Louverture who had defeated André Rigaud's army in the War of Knives. Talbot ordered Jewett home with Trumbull and Vengeance as a prize. Both ships arrived at New London late that summer. For a little less than a year, those aboard the Vengeance were stationed in Norwich, Connecticut as prisoners of war, and among them was Jean-Pierre Boyer, future president of Haiti. The Vengeance was later condemned as a national vessel and was returned to France under the treaty soon afterwards concluded with that country.
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