#i feel very bad for poor midshipman nichols

[clove-pinks]

The "Decatur" and "Dominica" in moderate gale (port view) by Worden Wood (American, 1880–1943) (Yale Art Gallery)

Happy War of 1812 Wednesday to those who celebrate: here's a painting of a single ship action that is surprisingly overlooked in many accounts of the naval War of 1812, despite being an American victory. HMS Dominica was a small British schooner commanded by Lieutenant Barrett. In the summer of 1813, Dominica encountered the American privateer Decatur off Bermuda.

Rather than try to run, as most privateers would when chased by a Royal Navy vessel, Decatur's commander decided he would engage. He was Dominique Diron, an experienced French privateersman, as bold as he was cocky. The two engaged in a fierce, close-quarters action, and by the end 'not more than three men' in fighting shape were left on the British schooner. Her lieutenant was killed and the midshipman next in command, Nichols, was badly wounded. The losses on board were so horrific, and the command team so thoroughly destroyed, that the crew had not even managed to throw their secret signal code book overboard before capture. Charles Simpson, a British official who worked to secure parole for Nichols and the surviving crewmen, blamed Lieutenant Barrett's inexperience with schooners (coupled with Diron's long privateering experience) for the embarrassing defeat.

— Nicholas James Kaizer, Revenge in the Name of Honour: The Royal Navy’s Quest for Vengeance in the Single Ship Actions of the War of 1812

I have not been able to find much more information about Captain Diron, despite the wonderful description of him "as bold as he was cocky." The battle between Dominica and Decatur is also described in the 1907 book The Free Lances: Stories of the Sea Fighters of All Nations in Their Long Cruising and Desperate Battling for Honor and Treasure by Captain Jack Brand (Google Books), which confirms that Diron was basically a Freelance Professional British-Hater:

A French-American privateer captain was the hero of another fight which was one of the most ferocious actions on the high seas, the loss in killed and wounded being greater than in eight of the famous sloop-of-war duels in which the American navy was so successful in this war. [...] Captain Diron himself was a noted privateer who had enjoyed a brilliant and successful career as a French privateer during the long wars with England, and who found the American service extremely congenial.

Victory at Bermuda, the Capture of HMS Dominica by American Privateer Decatur, by Maarten Platje, 2018.