Existing comment:
George Roberts:
In the fall of 1812, the African-American sailor George Roberts served onboard Captain Richard Moon's privateer Sarah Ann and was among six American seaman accused of being British subjects and taken prisoner when the Sarah Ann was captured by HMS Statira off the Bahamas on September 13, 1812. Captain Moon denied that Roberts was British "I know him to be native born of the United States and of which he had every sufficient document, together with his free papers. He entered on board the Sarah Ann at Baltimore where he is married." Eventually, Roberts and the other American seamen were released.
Later in the war, Roberts served as a gunner on board Captain Thomas Boyle's privateer Chasseur and was with Captain Boyle when they engaged the British schooner St. Lawrence in February, 1815. In this battle, in the words of a writer decades later, Roberts "displayed the most intrepid courage and daring." |