Report of Capt. James Biddle Commanding the U.S.S. Ontario 1817-1819; National Archives Microfilm Publications Pamphlet Describing M902
Washington DC: General Services Administration, National Archives and Records Service, 1974. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Wraps. 3, [1], plus covers. The records reproduced in the microfilm publication are from Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library Record Group 45. On the single roll of this microfilm publication is reproduced Capt. James Biddle's report of a voyage aboard the U.S.S. Ontario, October 1817-April 1819. Biddle's report is a summary of the Ontario's exploratory and diplomatic voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The Ontario was ordered to the Pacific to reclaim the Columbia River territory from the British, to observe conditions on the west coast of South America, and to protect American commerce and shipping in that area. Biddle's report, which emphasizes the diplomatic aspects of his voyage, is a summary of his visits, negotiations, and conflicts with South American officials. Following the report are copies of selected letters send and received by Biddle during the voyage. The archivist responsible for the preparation of this microfilm publication was Maida Loescher. James Biddle (February 18, 1783 – October 1, 1848), of the Biddle family, brother of financier Nicholas Biddle and nephew of Capt. Nicholas Biddle, was an American commodore. His flagship was USS Columbus. During the War of 1812, Biddle was first lieutenant in USS Wasp. He was in command of the sloop USS Hornet in 1815 when she defeated HMS Penguin. In 1817, he was sent to the Columbia River in USS Ontario to formally take over the Oregon Country for the United States, which was completed in 1818. After the war, Biddle performed various duties in the Gulf of Mexico, the South Atlantic, and the Mediterranean. In 1830, Biddle and US consul David Offly negotiated and concluded a treaty with the Sublime Porte. The treaty was later used by U.S. diplomats to claim extraterritorial privileges for U.S. citizens in the Ottoman Empire. The second USS Ontario was a three-masted, wooden-hulled sloop of war in the United States Navy, bearing 16 guns, and saw service during and following the years of the War of 1812 and in the Second Barbary War. Ontario was built by Thomas Kemp, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1813; blockaded in Chesapeake Bay through the War of 1812; and sailed from New York for the Mediterranean on 20 May 1815, Master Commandant Jesse D. Elliott in command. On 4 October 1817 the Ontario, under the command of Captain James Biddle sailed to the Pacific station on a pioneer mission, stopping at Rio de Janeiro, to deliver dispatches. The sloop then sailed around Cape Horn and proceeded to Valparaíso, Chile, in early 1818. The Chilean War of Independence at this time was in full swing and a Spanish blockade of Valparaíso had been declared, with American merchantmen ships being seized. Through diplomatic negotiations with authorities at that port, Captain Biddle succeeded in achieving the release of captured U.S. ships, and then departed north, arriving off Cape Disappointment on the Columbia River on 19 August. There the ship claimed both sides of the river for the United States and next sailed south, touching at Monterey, California, for supplies, becoming the first American naval vessel to visit the three future Pacific coast states. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Naval Records, U.S.S. Ontario, James Biddle, United States Navy, Microfilm Publication. Maida Loescher, Diplomatic Mission, Voyage, Pacific Coast, Columbia River, Cape Disappointment
[Book #82134]
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