Young Anaconda
Privateer · United States · Lost 1814 · Long Island Sound & the Connecticut Shore
A newly built American privateer brig captured and burned by a British raiding party during the 1814 attack on the Essex shipyards.
Become Captain of Record
The Vessel and Her Loss
Young Anaconda was one of several new privateer vessels built at Pettipaug (Essex), Connecticut, to prey on British shipping during the War of 1812. In April 1814 a British raiding force rowed up the Connecticut River by night and burned 27 American vessels in the largest single maritime loss of the war for the United States. The British took Young Anaconda and the schooner Eagle downriver as they withdrew, but Young Anaconda ran aground about a mile below Essex and was burned by her captors rather than left behind.
Vessel
- Not established
- Not established
- Essex (Pettipaug), Connecticut
- Wood
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- Sail, brig rig
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Loss
- April 8, 1814
- Enemy action
- Connecticut River, near Essex, Connecticut
- Connecticut River
- Essex, Connecticut
- Stolen naval stores and rum from the raid
- Not established
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The Wreck Today
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Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Essex, Connecticut
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (65/100)
Her dimensions, builder, and exact final resting position in the river are not established in the sources reviewed.
Connecticut Explored / Connecticut River Museum (Jerry Roberts)
Narrative of the raid, vessel names, and the grounding and burning of Young Anaconda
Wesleyan University Press, The British Raid on Essex by Jerry Roberts
Confirmation of the raid, burned vessels, and its scale
