Sam Jennings, Plymouth 358, Chatham 1433, Dartmoor 5951
MSA SC 5496-51743
War of 1812 Prisoner of War, Baltimore, Maryland, 1813
Biography:
Sam Jennings was an African-American sailor from Baltimore who had the
misfortune of being incarcerated in England on two seperate occasions
during the War of 1812. Jennings' first incarceration occured in 1813.
His Plymouth prison record indicates he was taken from the Louisa prize to the Decatur privateer by H.M.S. Andromache on January 11, 1813. He was then received at Plymouth on February 4, 1813 from H.M.S. Cornwall. The Plymouth register describes Jennings as a stout Black seaman, age forty, with a 5”9 ½ stature. He remained at Plymouth for about two months until he was discharged on March 29, 1813 to H.M.S. Barkham for a passage to Chatham.1
He was received at Chatham on April 5, 1813 and remained there until July 24, 1813 when he was discharged to the Hoffnung Cartel.2 After half a year in captivity, Jennings returned to America. On August 13, 1813, the Hoffnung Cartel sailed from Plymouth to New Bedford with 450 prisoners.3 It is not certain what Jennings did initially upon his return, but he probably ventured to one of the district admiralty courts to claim whatever prize money he could from his previous privateering exploits. Barely a year after leaving England, Jennings resumed the life of a privateer, which soon put him back in prison.
Jennings joined the crew of the privateer schooner Harlequin, Captain Brown, which sailed out of Portsmouth with ten guns and 115 men. Four days into a cruize, the Harlequin was captured off George's Shoal by the Bulwark on Ocotber 23, 1814.4 Mistaking the Bulwark for a merchant vessel, the Harlequin approached the British vessel, and when it discovered the ship's true identity was too close to escape.5 Once detained, the Harlequin's crew were forced under the latchway in the lower hold of the Bulwark, and then had their bags, hammocks, and other supplies dumped on them: killing one crew member.6
Two months after being captured by the Bulwark, and only three days after diplomats had signed the Treaty of Ghent, Sam Jennings and the Harlequin's crew arrived at Dartmoor Prison on December 27, 1814. Matching the Plymouth and Chatham registers, the Dartmoor register describes Jennings as a stout Black seaman, age forty-one, with a 5”9 ½ stature. It also lists his place of nativity as Baltimore. Jennings was joined on the Harlequin and at Dartmoor by George Thomas, an African-American sailor from Annapolis. The two men were not released from Dartmoor until July 3, 1815.7
They were released nearly five months after Congress had ratified the Treaty of Ghent on February 16, 1815 thereby formally ending the war. Despite the war's conclusion, prisoners remained at Dartmoor because American and British officials initially could not agree on which country should pay to transport the prisoners back to America. After the infamous Dartmoor Massacre on April 6, the countries quickly resolved their dispute and began transporting prisoners back home that month. Many African-american prisoners waited even longer because they would only travel on ships bound for northern ports, fearing they would be sold into slavery at southern ports.8 Jennings would have been especially protective of his freedom, considering he had already lost it twice.
Citations:
1. "Plymouth Prison Register" UKNA: ADM 103/268.
2. "Chatham Prison Register" UKNA: ADM 103/57.
3. "Boston, Sept. 23, Late from France" Norfolk and Portsmouth Herald (Norfolk, VA) October 5, 1813.
4. Emmons, George Foster. The Navy of the United States from the Commencement, 1775 to 1853 (Washington: Gideon & Co., 1853).
5. "Late from Halifax" Newburyport Herald (Newburyport, MA) November 11, 1814.
6. "More of the Bulwark's Kindness!" New Hampshire Gazette (Portland, NH) May 9, 1815.
7. "Dartmoor Prison Register" UKNA: ADM 103/91.
8. Horsman, Reginald, "The Paradox of Dartmoor Prison" American Heritage (February, 1975) volume 26 issue 2.
researched and writen by Charles Weisenberger
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