At the outset of the War of 1812, the American Navy wasn’t considered much of a match for the British Navy. And the USS Enterprise was hardly anyone’s idea of a state-of-the-art warship. But she stunned and gladdened the nation with her capture of the H.M.S. Boxer.
Print Commemorating the Enterprise and Boxer Battle
At 85 feet in length, Enterprise carried just over 100 seamen, 14 cannon and two long guns.
As Teddy Roosevelt wrote in his history of the naval war, American brigs “carried far too many guns and men for their size, and not enough to give them a chance with any respectable opponent; and they were almost all ignominiously captured. The single exception was the brig Enterprise.”
On the morning of Sept. 5, 1813, Enterprise happened upon the H.M.S. Boxer, a similarly-sized British vessel that had been harassing ships off the coast of Maine and Canada. She hadanchored near Pemaquid Point. For the next several hours, the two vessels maneuvered in the waters off Monhegan Island, readying themselves for the battle to come.
Monhegan’s rocky shore
Along the shoreline, citizens gathered to see what they could as they became aware of the battle shaping up. By 3 p.m. Lieutenant William Burrows had Enterprise bearing down on Boxer. On the British ship, Commander Samuel Blyth ordered the ship’s flags nailed to the mast, demonstrating that he had no intention of striking his colors and surrendering, come what may.
Boxer vs. Enterprise
The overloaded Enterprise had one striking advantage. Boxer had only a crew of 66 on board, leaving her with far fewer men to operate the guns and keep the vessel under control.
At 3 p.m., with superior aiming, Enterprise damaged Boxer badly. She lost a mast. And, she lost Commander Blyth, killed by a cannon shot.
Burrows, too, was mortally wounded, though he would live on to see the end of the fight. As the fighting progressed, four British sailors would abandon their posts. That gave Enterprise an even greater advantage. Within a half hour, the battle had ended.
Boxer Surrenders
Shot through the hull multiple times and unable to maneuver, Boxer surrendered. Blyth’s sword was then taken to the American ship and presented to Burrows, who ordered it returned to Blyth’s family.
On shore, it wasn’t immediately obvious who had won. Though Henry Wadsworth Longfellow would later make the battle famous in a poem, he likely saw very little of it, as it was so far distant.
When H.M.S. Boxer was finally brought in to Portland Harbor by Enterprise, the town learned the outcome. On September 9, both captains were laid to rest in Portland, side by side in a funeral that celebrated the heroism of both.
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This story updated in 2026.
1 comment
Pemaquid Point — where my Blasdel/Blaisdell ancestors landed in 1635. But later in the 1600s they moved to the Boston area, so weren’t near Pemaquid Pt in 1813.
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