This is the last of the 1/450 scale ships I started last May. It is an American 8 gun schooner 3D design by Turner Miniatures, modeled as the US Privateer Highflyer. The Highflyer was built in 1811. As a privateer she took several British vessels as prizes before being captured by the Royal Navy in 1813. She then participated in several raids on the Chesapeake and coastal Virginia before being recaptured by USS President later in 1813.
As a privateer, Highflyer operated out of Baltimore. She was armed with 9-pounder carronades. On July 21, 1812 she captured the British merchantman Jamaica, with seven guns and 21 men, and another ship Diana. The next day, she captured Mary Ann, with 12 guns and 18 men. On the 26th of August, she sent into Baltimore Harbor the schooner Harriet, of four guns, which had been sailing from New Providence to Havana. On her second cruise she captured the brig Porgie, sailing from Antigua, and the brig Burchall, travelling from Barbados to Demerara, plus a number of coastal vessels operating among the islands of the West Indies. She also took the brig Fernando, which was retaken. She then ended her cruise sending the ten-gun brig Active into Charleston. On her way back from the West Indies, she was captured by HMS Poictiers, assisted by HMS Acasta. The Highflyer did much more damage under British command, but since I am modeling her in her American privateer role, I will not go into that history here.
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| Brig USS Niagara, US schooner Highflyer, USS Prince De Neufchatel |
