Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Isaac Wilmer
MSA SC 5496-51747
War of 1812 Prisoner of War, Rock Hall, Kent County, Maryland, 1812

Biography:

Isaac Wilmer was one of nearly 200 African-American sailors from Maryland  to serve as a prisoner of war during the War of 1812. He sailed as a member of the crew for the letter of marque schooner Baltimore under Captain Edward Veasey. Letter of marques were merchant vessels that transported trade goods from port to port, but like privateers could also take prize ships if an opportunity arose. Whereas privateer crews were paid only by the prizes they captured, letter of marque crews received a regular wage and whatever prizes they took were an extra bonus.1 

The Baltimore actually began the war as a merchant vessel. The schooner was at sea completeing a thirty-two-day voyage from Bordeaux when the war formally began, and returned to Baltimore on July 13, 1812 after several privately armed vessels had already set out from the port.2 A few weeks after the Baltimore returned, its owner Peter Arnold Karthaus advertised the sale of the ship's cargo as well as "a quantity of cutlasses, just the right kind for privateers and armed merchantmen".3 Karthaus wasted no time preparing his own vessel for combat, as he armed the Baltimore with four four-pounders and four carronades, and the schooner was commissioned as a letter of marque on August 26, 1812.4

In early September, Captain Veasey led the schooner on another voyage to Bordeaux. On September 16, the Baltimore took its only prize the British brig Point Shares at latitude 37º longitude 40º 30º. The Point Shares had departed from St. Johns, Nova Scotia, en route to Barbados with a cargo of 1578 quintels of dried codfish. Veasey sent the prize back to Baltimore where it arrived on October 19. A signed affidavit from Edward Veasey confirms that Isaac Wilmer was a member of the Baltimore's crew when the schooner captured the Point Shares prize.5 Prior to taking the Point Shares, the Baltimore itself had almost been captured as the Federal Gazette reported "The Baltimore was chased on soundings by a sloop of war, and escaped by using her sweeps, being to leeward would probably have been taken without them."6Operating in the shallower waters of the bay, the Baltimore managed to row away from the superior sailing British sloop of war. 

The Baltimore, however, had less success maneuvering in the deeper waters off the coast of northern Spain. In early October, four British frigates began pursuing the schooner. Captain Veasey attempted to evade capture by sailing for the neutral port Santander, but the frigates managed to catch the Baltimore within a mile of the Spanish harbor. Once captured, Isaac Wilmer and the rest of the Baltimore's crew were sent to England.7 

After being captured by the H.M.S. Diadem on October 7, Wilmer arrived at Portsmouth Prison on November 3. The Portsmouth Prison record describes him as a "dark mulatto, 27 years old, 5"10 ¾ tall with a sear over his left eye." The prison record also lists Wilmer's place of nativity as Rock Hall, Maryland. Wilmer spent over three months at Portmsouth before being discharged to Chatham Prison via the H.M.S. Dunndary on February 19, 1813.8

Wilmer arrived at Chatham Prison on February 23, 1813, and remained there for another four months until he was discharged on June 8, 1813 to the Rodrigo cartel ship.9  The Rodrigo departed from England on June 12 and arrived at the Port of Boston on July 29 with 150 prisoners.10 Just over a month later on September 10, admiralty records for the U.S. District Court of Maryland list Isaac Wilmer as receving his share of $84.46 from the Point Shares prize, nearly a year after the prize ship had been taken by the Baltimore.11 It is unclear what became of Wilmer after he received his prize money, but it is clear that the sailor survived imprisonment abroad and managed to profit from his war-time tribulations.  
 


1.  John Philip Cranwell and William Bowers Crane. Men of Marque: A History of Private Armed Vessels out of Baltimore During the War of 1812 (New York, NY: W.W. Norton and           Company, Inc., 1940) 22.

2.    "The Latest from France" The American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia, PA) July 15, 1812.

3.    "Peter Arnold Karthaus" American and Commerical Daily Advertiser (Baltimore, MD) August 6, 1812.

4.    Cranwell and Crane, 374.

5.    United States District Court, Maryland (Admiralty Records) Record Group 21, Box 24 -M-2-2.7 National Archives, Philadelphia. 

6.    "Federal Gazette Marine List" Federal Gazette (Baltimore, MD) October 20, 1812.   

7.    Cranwell and Crane, 271.   

8.    "Portsmouth Prison Records" UKNA: ADM 103/342       

9.    "Chatham Prison Records" UKNA: ADM 103/56 

10.    "Ship News" Essex Register (Salem, MA) July 31, 1813.

11.    United States District Court, Maryland (Admiralty Records) Record Group 21, Box 24 -M-2-2.7 National Archives, Philadelphia.   

  

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