The River Meon rises at South Farm in the
shadow of Butser Hill, flowing over 20 miles
before entering the Solent. After East and
West Meon, it turns south past Warnford,
Exton, Corhampton and Droxford to Wickham,
then through Titchfield into the sea.
Chesapeake Mill is on the west bank of the
Meon in Wickham, a few miles north of
Fareham,
about 300 yards north of the church and near
the disused railway bridge. Below the
mill, on the opposite side of the road,
there was a brewery, also a foundry
manufacturing edge tools, but both have long
since closed.
One may wonder what this quiet market town
in Hampshire has to do with Britain’s war
with the United States. Nothing really,
but the mill does contain timbers from an
American warship.
In 1782, Thomas Prior insured his corn mill
and dwelling house at Wickham for £800, it
being brick built & tiled, and his stock for
£500, but nine years later he was insuring
the mill and machinery alone for £1,000.
In 1801, the Royal Exchange Insurance
Company were still insuring the mill and the
machinery for the same amount, but the
dwelling house, now leased to a miller
called Parkin.
Obviously a very profitable
business and Thomas himself was living in
Bishops Waltham.
As a result of the Naval encounter in 1813
between U.S.S. Chesapeake and HMS Shannon
outside Boston harbour, the American
frigate was captured and sent first to
Halifax and thence to England where it, the
prize of H.M.S. Shannon, was added to the
Royal Navy by an Admiralty order of 10
November 1814.
She was sold out of service on 18 August
1819 to Mr Joshua Holmes for £3,450 and he
advertised the sale of timbers from the ship
and it was in 1820 that Thomas Prior’s son
John demolished the old mill at Wickham and
purchased some of the Chesapeake’s timbers
which he used to erect the present
building. A stone plaque on the front of
the mill records this - “Erected AD 1820 I
Prior”.
The Mill House, built at the same
time, is on the west side of the main
building, on the opposite side of the river
and is connected by a foot bridge.
By 1826 the mill was being advertised for
sale with a pair of breast shot water wheels
on the west side, driving five pairs of
stones, two flour machines, and a bolting
mill, together with smutt and winnowing
machines, capable of cleaning and grinding
forty loads of wheat a week.
The Clark family purchased the mill from
John Prior in 1831, selling it to Goodrichs
nine years later. They milled there until
1866 when Garniers purchased it. It seems
they then leased the mill out, for in 1877,
the Hampshire Chronicle reported that
Phillip Bell, a miller & biscuit
manufacturer of Wickham and Hurst Mills was
bankrupt.
Edward Edney became the miller in 1878 and
in 1919, T. E. & J. H. Edney purchased the
mill from Garniers, who had been the owners
for the past 53 years. It remained in the
Edney family through marriage until it
closed in 1991.
During the 20th century flour
milling at the smaller mills stopped due to
the import of cheap American and Canadian
wheat and the dominance of the large steam
mills at the ports. Like so many other
mills, Chesapeake changed to milling animal
feed, but with the supply of electricity
reaching farms, farmers began to do their
milling themselves, reducing the
profitability of the mill.
The last of the
mill stones was removed in 1948, and
by the 1970s, the mill was only used to
produce animal feedstuffs, using electricity
to power the roller and crusher plant and
the turbine to power the mixer and hoist.
Later the mill was only used
for storage and as the distribution centre
for seed grain and fertilisers.
In 1986
Bruce
Tappenden, the last miller,
issued an invitation to friends, including
one to the American Ambassador,
"You are hereby invited to attend
celebration to commemorate the One hundred
and Seventy Third anniversary of the taking
in battle of the American frigate
`Chesapeake’ by His Britannic Majesty King
George the Third's ship `Shannon' on the
first day of June in the Fifty Third year of
his reign anno domini One Thousand Eight
Hundred and Thirteen.
The
aforementioned celebration to be held in
those premises now known as - The Chesapeake
Mill- situate in the Parish of Wickham and
now in the tenure of Sylvia and Bruce
Tappenden of the said Parish. Commencing
at twelve noon. The
herin-referedto-abovementioned event will
take place on the First day of June in the
year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighty
Six. Long live the Queen".
In 1989, Bruce sent a sample of the timber
to the
United States Forestry Service laboratory
and they
confirmed that this was
southern long leaf yellow pine, as used in
the construction of the Chesapeake.
The mill timbers form one of the largest and
most significant groups of an 18th
century ship timbers surviving in Britain
today.
Two years later, the mill closed, Bruce
Tappenden retired and the
RCHM completed a survey of the building
which was published the following year.
A local charity was formed in 1996 to apply
for a Lottery grant to purchase Chesapeake
mill for a Heritage Centre, but in
1998 the
Hampshire County Council completed
arrangements to buy the Chesapeake Mill for
£115,000 and place it on the
buildings-at-risk register. It had been
hoped that it would be restored and
available as an interpretation centre for
the Meon valley, but this was not to be.
Bruce died on 18th March 2002.
He was related to the Edneys who started
milling here in 1889 and was also a founder
member of the Hampshire Mills Group in 1975.
The mill was upgraded from two to two star
rating, thus giving it extra protection and
a
new 125 year lease was granted to Tony
Taylor of the Chesapeake Mill Ltd. This
company began to trade in retail and
wholesale antique furniture from the
property in November 2004. Major repairs
to the roof have been carried out and the
property is wind and water tight.
The whole Mill is its own museum, available
for public access, with the Chesapeake beams
fully visible, along with the remaining
milling equipment which will be restored by
the Hampshire Mills Group.
The lease includes a 'museum' area' which
will be an interpretation and meeting area
which can tell the story of the ship, the
battle, the subsequent construction of the
mill, its history and the village history.
The members of the
Hampshire Mills Group have been closely
associated with the mill for many years,
meetings have been held there as well as
parties and lectures. Now they have got
the turbine working and have connected it to
the lay shaft which transfers power to the
floor above. Among the items still present
are an "Armfield Seed Separator", an "Armfield
Oat Clippper and Separator" and a weighing
machine by Locke Bros of Portsmouth
The timbers in the mill, from the Frigate
Chesapeake, form one of the largest and most
significant groups of an 18th
century ship timbers surviving in Britain
today.
This has been the story of the mill, but now
follows more details of the naval encounter
in 1813.
The War of 1812
In
1812, while Britain was still fighting
Napoleon’s France, the Americans objected to
the blockading of the European ports which
denied them the right to trade and the
boarding of American merchants ships in the
open seas: so they declared war on
England.
During the 1790s, the Americans had built
some very large 44-gun frigates and when the
war broke out, these ships won
a series of single‑ship actions in which the
American frigates Constitution and United
States captured the British frigates
Guerriere, Macedonian and Java.
The British public,
accustomed to naval victories regardless of
the odds, was incensed, when,
after twelve months at war, the Royal Navy
had still not gained a victory in a
single‑ship frigate action and a British
victory was desperately needed to redress
the balance of American successes at sea.
The growing concern about the war among both
the Admiralty and the British public led to
an even closer blockade of American ports.
Since the 1750s, the term frigate had
described the smaller, faster types of
warship used for commerce protection or
raiding, or scouting for the main fleet. The
Royal Navy’s largest type of frigate at this
time was the Shannon, completed in 1806.
She was a Fifth Rate ‘Leda’ class, mounting
thirty-eight 18-pounder guns on the upper
one of its two decks, but the Admiralty
decided that numbers of ships were more
important than increasing the amount of
firepower on them.
While patrolling the coast of the United
States, HMS Shannon was commanded by Captain
Philip Broke. He was 36 and
a great gunnery enthusiast, who during
his seven years in charge had worked up his
ship to a peak of fighting efficiency with
the best gunnery drill of any vessel in the
Royal Navy. They had been trained to fire
into the hull of the enemy ship to kill the
crew instead of shooting down the masts.
Throughout his career, Broke had prepared
for a single-ship action. He even refused
to capture American merchant ships, as this
would require him to put crews on board and
reduce the Shannon’s efficiency.
He was keen to put these meticulous
preparations to the test by engaging an
American frigate in a single‑ship action.
The US frigate Chesapeake
was a 44gun frigate built at Gosport,
Virginia, in 1799 and in the Spring of 1813,
Captain James Lawrence was appointed to
command her, joining his new ship at Boston,
where she was undergoing a refit. Aged 31,
the new commander of the Chesapeake had
already achieved fame for his capture of the
British sloop of war, Peacock. However,
many of her officers had been replaced and a
large percentage of her crew was newly
enlisted. Though the ship was a good one,
with a well-seasoned Captain, time would be
necessary to work her men into a capable and
disciplined combat team. .
After a long patrol
blockading off Boston in June 1818, Broke
had seen the Chesapeake in harbour. Worried
that she might not go to sea before a
shortage of food and water necessitated the
Shannon's return to the dockyard at Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Broke composed a letter to
Lawrence and sent it into Boston Harbour.
“Sir, as the Chesapeake appears now ready
for sea, I request that you will do me the
favour to meet the Shannon with her, ship to
ship, to try the fortunes of our respective
flags.
I entreat you, sir, not to
imagine that I am urged by mere personal
vanity to the wish of meeting the
Chesapeake, or that I depend upon your
personal ambition for your acceding to this
invitation; we both have nobler motives.
“I will send all other ships beyond the
power of interfering with us, and meet you
whenever it is most agreeable to you. I will
warn you should any of my friends be too
nigh, or I would sail with you, under a flag
of truce, to any place you think safest from
our cruisers, hauling it down when fair to
begin hostilities. You will feel it as a
compliment if I say that the result of our
meeting may be the most grateful service I
can render to my country; and I doubt not
that you, equally confident of success, will
feel convinced that it is only by repeated
triumphs, in even combats, that your little
navy can now hope to console your country
for the loss of that trade it can no longer
protect.
Favour me with a speedy reply. We
are short of provisions and water, and
cannot stay long here”.
This was certainly a cold-blooded challenge,
but a most fair and gallant one. It was
unfortunate that
Lawrence,
whose previous experience with British
warships had convinced him that they were
not likely to be formidable opponents,
never received the challenge as the
Chesapeake had sailed the morning the letter
was sent - the
sight of a British frigate in the offing had
proved an irresistible spur to action and
she left her moorings in President Roads,
Boston, and sailed out, intending to meet
the Shannon off the coast between Cape Ann
and Cape Cod. . The ships were of
virtually identical strength, though the
American ship's crew was rather larger, and
a duel between the two was attractive to
both captains.
They sailed several miles offshore, where
Shannon slowed to await her opponent, who
approached flying a special flag proclaiming
"Free Trade and Sailors' Rights" in
recognition of America's pre-war grievances
against British policies.
The “Chesapeake” bore away for the Britisher,
and when within pistol-shot, swung into the
wind and then ensued one of the bloodiest
and most terrific combats between two
ships-of-war.
As
the Chesapeake approached, both
ships opened fire, but
the Shannon’s first devastating broadside at
a range of about 35 metres (38yds)
did more damage and produced crippling
casualties on Chesapeake's quarterdeck.
Lawrence was wounded, but ordered the
Chesapeake to slow down to enable her to
return fire. This did not give the American
gunners time to adjust their aim and as the
carronades of the British ship swept the
Chesapeake’s quarter and upper decks,
two-thirds of the gun crews were already
casualties. Then at a crucial moment, the
Chesapeake’s wheel was destroyed by a
9-pounder gun which Broke had installed on
Shannon’s quarterdeck for that purpose.
The American ship became out of control and
her
vulnerable stern was exposed to raking
British fire. In desperation, Lawrence
ordered his men to board as the Chesapeake
drifted stern first towards the Shannon.
Instead, it was Broke who seized the moment
and led the boarding party in person onto
the Chesapeake's
quarterdeck, where
terrific hand-to-hand fighting occurred. Assisted
by cannon and small arms fire from on board
Shannon, they soon gained control above
decks and
many of the “Chesapeake’s” crew were finally
driven into the hold.
Three American sailors, probably from the
rigging, attacked
Captain Broke.
He killed the first, but the second hit him
with a musket and the third sliced open his
skull before being overwhelmed;
propped up against the gunwale, he watched
the remainder of the fight.
The American commander, Captain James
Lawrence, was mortally wounded. His friend,
Samuel Livermore of Boston, who accompanied
him during this fight, attempted to avenge
the wounding of his commander by shooting
Captain Broke, but the shot just missed the
mark. As he was carried from the deck he
issued his final rallying cry to his crew,
"Don't give up the ship", a phrase,
which has become a cherished part of Unites
States naval lore.
Some fifteen minutes after the battle began,
it
was effectively over
and Chesapeake was in British hands.
Casualties were heavy: more than sixty
killed on Chesapeake but only about half
that many on Shannon. The latter's cannon
had made more than twice as many hits, and
her boarding party had demonstrated the
decisive superiority in hand-to-hand
fighting. The action, which greatly boosted
British morale, provided another of the War
of 1812's many convincing examples of the
vital importance of superior training and
discipline in combat at sea.
Despite the short time for which the two
ships were engaged, this battle resulted in
more casualties than in any other
single‑ship action in the history of both
navies. In the short space of fifteen
minutes the Yankee vessel had been hit 362
times and
148
of her crew had been killed or wounded,
while the English vessel had been struck by
158 shot, and 83 of her seamen were dead or
disabled. The First Lieutenants of both
vessels were killed.
All the Chesapeake’s officers were
casualties and Lawrence died of his wounds
three days later, in spite of the attentions
of the
surgeon Broke sent to take care of him.
The Bostonians had been so sure of a victory
that they had prepared a banquet, intending
to include the defeated Broke and his
officers. Many people had assembled on
the shores of Hull, Nahant and Marble-head
on the ill-fated day, 11 June1813, to
witness the conflict between the British
“Shannon” and the American “Chesapeake”.
Instead they had to watch their ship being
carried away within sight of Boston Light,
with the English flag at the masthead, and
those who had come out in their vessels had
to steer their way sadly back to Boston.
The two ships then started to return to
Halifax, their decks strewn with the dead
and dying - the commander of one unconscious
and the other dying. On arrival at Halifax
Captain Broke, severely wounded, was taken
to the Governor's Residence, where careful
nursing set him upon the road to a partial
recovery. Broke
returned to England where he received a
hero’s welcome for restoring the pride of
the Royal Navy and
was knighted. But ill health, the
consequences of the wound received during
the battle, prevented him from taking
command of another ship and he retired to
his countryseat near Ipswich in Suffolk
where he died in 1841, having been under the
care of a physician for the rest of his
life.
News of the Shannon's victory was sent to
England as swiftly as possible, where it was
received with jubilation by the public and
relief by the Admiralty. The action greatly
boosted British morale.
The battle damage to the Chesapeake was
repaired in the dockyard at Halifax, after
which she was sailed to England. The
Admiralty was pleased at last to have
captured an American frigate and she was
taken into the Royal Navy under the same
name and Captain Francis Newcombe commanded
her at Plymouth during 1815. This meant
they were able to assess the characteristics
and construction of the hitherto successful
American frigates by serving naval
officers. She then sailed on convoy escort
duties to the Cape of Good Hope and back and
later was used as a stores ship. Finally,
in 1819, she was sold out of the Service and
was broken up at a commercial shipyard in
Portsmouth.
And so it was that in 1820, Thomas Prior son
demolished the old mill at Wickham and
purchased some of the Chesapeake’s timbers
which he used to erect the present building.
HMS Shannon was placed in the reserve in
1831. She was renamed the St Lawrence in
1844 and became a receiving ship at
Sheerness, before finally being broken up in
November 1859.
Tony & Mary Yoward
SOURCES
Bruce Tappenden
Hampshire Record Office
Simmons Collection - Science Museum Library
Britannia Nautical Research Association
Local newspapers
Hampshire Magazine
Fire Insurances - Guildhall Library
Internet - various sources
Naval Historical centre, Washington
Water & Windmills of Hampshire - Monica
Ellis - Suiag
SPAB
R.C.H.M.
Etc
________________________________________________________________________
ARMFIELD DRAWINGS for CHESAPEAKE MILL
1892
