Action off James Island

Action off James Island
Part of the War of 1812

James Island from the south in 2008.
DateMay 28, 1813
Location
off James Island, Galapagos Archipelago, Pacific Ocean
Result United States victory
Belligerents
 United States United Kingdom United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
John Downes None
Strength
1 sloop 3 whaling brigs
Casualties and losses
none 2 killed
6 wounded
75 captured
3 brigs captured


  • Seventy-five prisoners were taken by the Americans and freed after the battle.

The action off James Island was a naval engagement of the War of 1812. In May 1813 an American frigate captured three British whalers off James Island in the South Pacific. Only one of the whalers resisted and the resultant single-ship action was one of the few fought in Pacific waters during the war.[1][2][3] The British later recovered all the whalers involved.

  1. ^ http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wcarr1/Lossing2/Chap.32.html[permanent dead link‍]
  2. ^ Porter (1885), p.151.
  3. ^ http://www.historynet.com/war-of-1812-commodore-david-porter-and-the-essex-in-the-south-pacific.html[permanent dead link‍]