Tartar
Privateer Schooner · United States · Lost 1813 · Chesapeake Bay
A brand-new Baltimore privateer never took a single prize before a December blizzard drove her ashore near Cape Henry and the British burned the wreck.
Become Captain of Record
The Vessel and Her Loss
Tartar was a Baltimore-owned privateer schooner built in 1813 and commissioned that December under Captain Edward Veazy. On her maiden cruise, attempting to slip past the British blockade during a fierce winter storm, she was driven onto a bank near Cape Henry, Virginia, on 20 December 1813. Six of her crew froze to death before the rest reached shore. British warships arrived within days and burned the grounded wreck under fire from Virginia militia.
Vessel
- 1813
- Privateer commission no. 921
- Not established
- Talbot County, Maryland
- Wood
- 102.5 ft
- 25 ft
- 276
- Sail, schooner-rigged
- James and William Bosley of New York
Loss
- December 20, 1813
- Storm
- An offshore bank near Cape Henry, Virginia
- Mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Atlantic Ocean
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Not established
- 47
- 6
- Edward Veazy (also recorded as Veasey or Veazey)
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Destroyed by fire after grounding; no known surviving remains documented.
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Cape Henry, Virginia
Described only as an offshore bank near Cape Henry; no coordinates are documented in the sources reviewed.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (75/100)
Wikipedia: Tartar (1813 privateer), citing period American and British naval records
Build details, ownership, commission date, loss narrative, and casualty figures.
