Greenwich Academic Literature Archive (GALA) – the University of Greenwich open access repository http://gala.gre.ac.uk __________________________________________________________________________________________ Citation: Arthur, Brian (2009) The Royal Navy and economic warfare in North America, 1812-1815. PhD thesis, University of Greenwich. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Please note that the full text version provided on GALA is the final published version awarded by the university. “I certify that this work has not been accepted in substance for any degree, and is not concurrently being submitted for any degree other than that of (name of research degree) being studied at the University of Greenwich. I also declare that this work is the result of my own investigations except where otherwise identified by references and that I have not plagiarised the work of others”. Arthur, Brian (2009) The Royal Navy and economic warfare in North America, 1812-1815. ##thesis _type## , ##institution## Available at: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/5708/ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Contact: [email protected] LIBRARY FOR REFERENCE USE ONLY University of Greenwich Greenwich Maritime Institute Dissertation submitted towards the degree of Ph D in Maritime History The Royal Navy and Economic Warfare in North America, 1812-1815 Brian Arthur Parti February 2009 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this work has not been previously accepted in substance for any degree, and is not being concurrently submitted by another candidate for any degree. I further declare that this dissertation is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph D in Maritime History of the Greenwich Maritime Institute of the University of Greenwich. I also declare that this work is result of my own independent work except where otherwise stated, and that I have not plagiarised another's work. Other sources are acknowledged by endnotes giving explicit references. Some statistical evidence, several quotations and an Appendix concerning the difficulty of obtaining accurate and reliable United States import statistics before 1821, have been used before in my own unpublished dissertation, 'The Role of Blockade in the Anglo-American Naval War of 1812-14', submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the MA in Maritime History of the University of Greenwich, October 2002, Finally, I hereby give consent for my dissertation to be available for photocopying and for inter library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed; Student. Dated -^* <JLA~^ f Signed; Supervisor Dated. Signed; Supervisor. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere thanks go to those without whose help this dissertation would have remained unrealised, especially to Dr Ned Wilmott and Dr Clive Wilkinson for their early suggestions and enthusiasm, and to my friend Chris Ware for his encouragement throughout, including the loan of essential and often valuable books. Also to Professor Roger Knight, my first Supervisor, for his experience and advice, patiently recounted, and to my second Supervisor, Professor Sarah Palmer, Director of the Greenwich Maritime Institute, for her sagacity, skills, and sacrificed lunch-breaks. I am grateful to Faye Kert, who kindly sent me from Canada a copy of her list of British prizes sent into Halifax, Nova Scotia during the war, now in her Prize and Prejudice: Privateering and Naval Prize in Atlantic Canada in the War of 1812, published in 1997. Her findings, duly acknowledged, were then selectively compared with earlier lists to measure the efficiency of the Royal Navy's blockades in North America. I am also grateful to Clair York for her help with computer technology, and to Nicola Lidgett and Suzanne Bowles for their advice on maps. My thanks are also due to Reginald Stafford-Smith, 'former naval person', friend and neighbour, who read early drafts and references with his relentless eye for detail. I am grateful to the staff of the Dreadnought Library of the University of Greenwich, especially for the early help of Karen Richardson, and for the professional help given by the staffs of the Caird Library of the National Maritime Museum, the Institute of Historical Research in London, and The National Archives at Kew. I was impressed with the help provided by the British Library at both Euston and Colindale, and by the library staff of the London School of Economics. I remain particularly grateful to the staff of the Brynmor Jones Library of the University of Hull, at the time wrestling with the consequences of a serious flood, and to Mary Robertson of the Huntingdon Library in San Marino, California, in the throes of re-housing their entire collection, who still found time to help me. I am grateful to Mr Charles Consolvo, former student of the Greenwich Maritime Institute at the University of Greenwich, and to the Admiral Sir John Chambers White Bursary for its funding of an important week's work in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. I am grateful also to Dr Julian Gwyn for sharing his knowledge of New World resources. The opportunity to see vital American primary sources, manuscript and printed, was made possible with the help of Dr Nigel Rigby, Head of Research, and of Janet Norton at the National Maritime Museum in London, by the award of the Caird North America Research Fellowship, which generously provided the travel, subsistence and accommodation funds for a three-month research visit to the United States. The dissertation could not have been completed without access to the extensive Brown and Ives Correspondence held in the John Carter Brown Library on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. I was particularly grateful for the help of Mrs Sylvia Brown, a member of the Brown family of Providence and London, who took time from her own research to point me in the right direction. Memories of profitable time spent in the MacMillan Reading Room of the JCBL will be lifelong. The friendly help, not only of Director Dr Ted Widmer and the staff, notably that of Rick Ring, Reference Librarian, but 4 also from the international group of other Research Fellows, is still greatly appreciated. The whole visit was very productive, and hugely enjoyable. My wife and I remain grateful for the generous hospitality of the people we met in Providence, R.I., especially that of Rick and Roxanne Sasse, for much transport, including sailing from Newport into Buzzard's Bay, and some unforgettable meals. My thanks are due to the staff of the Rockerfeller and John Hay libraries in Providence, and especially to Philip Weimerskirk, keeper of Special Collections in Providence Public Library, for his help and flexible closing times. Also, to those of the New York Historical Society, Washington's Library of Congress, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Library in New London, Connecticut, and the Research Library of the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Such willing help and hospitality made the War of 1812 seem even more regrettable. I am grateful for the patient forbearance of each generation of my family, who have borne my obsession with stoicism. Most of all, however, my thanks are due to my wife, without whose active encouragement and support this dissertation would have remained an ambition. ABSTRACT This study examines the evolution of offensive and defensive maritime economic warfare, and the Royal Navy's use of commercial and naval blockades and mercantile convoys during successive wars, particularly its successful use by Britain in the Anglo-American war of 1812-15. Its legality, tactical and strategic development and contemporary government policy, including impressment are studied. Comparison is made of the nature and development of the British and American economies, their vulnerability to economic warfare and the expediency of its use by Britain against the United States discussed. Legal and practical constraints upon British convoys and blockades are studied and practical solutions reviewed. Economic aspects of the causes, conduct and effects of the war are surveyed, including the impact of Britain's commercial blockade on American commercial, fiscal, financial, economic and political infrastructures, and therefore the United States ability and preparedness to continue fighting. The effectiveness of the naval blockade supplementing Britain's commercial blockade of the United States, is also assessed. The long-standing problem of the relative effects of British commercial blockade and the at times contemporaneous American legislative 'restrictive system', is resolved by comparison of current New England commodity prices at specific times. Prices before the repeal of Madison's second Embargo are compared with subsequent prices, and with those after the British blockades are later extended to neutral trade with New England. The effectiveness of British economic warfare on the American economy under two successive commanders is evaluated. An objective assessment of the strategy's eventual impact on the war's outcome and later policies is made, and of how far each belligerent's war aims were met by the negotiated peace. The effectiveness of Britain's use of economic warfare against the United States has long been seriously under-estimated. CONTENTS Contents Page Declaration 2 Acknowledgements 3 Abstract 6 List of Tables 9 Map 1: The Atlantic, Eastern Seaboard, Gulf of Mexico & 11