AH-WR-1454

USS Revenge

Naval Schooner · United States · Lost 1811 · Narragansett Bay & the Rhode Island Coast

The schooner Oliver Hazard Perry ran aground on a Rhode Island reef in 1811, three years before his War of 1812 fame at Lake Erie.

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Originally built as the merchant schooner Ranger, this vessel was purchased by the U.S. Navy in 1806 and renamed Revenge. Under the command of a young Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry, she struck a reef off Watch Hill, Rhode Island, on January 9, 1811, while returning to New London, and was wrecked. A probable wreck site was located by recreational divers in 2005 and has since been surveyed jointly with the Naval History and Heritage Command's Underwater Archaeology Branch.

Vessel

Built: 1805
Builder: William Price
Yard: Baltimore, Maryland
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail, schooner rig
Owners: United States Navy

Loss

Date: January 9, 1811
Cause: Grounding
Location: Off Watch Hill, Rhode Island, near the Connecticut border
Water: Block Island Sound / Narragansett Bay approach
Voyage: New London, Connecticut
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: No deaths are recorded in the grounding
Master: Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Site includes a cannon, carronade, anchor, and other concreted artifacts, surveyed in place
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: August 2005
Protection: As a sunken U.S. Navy vessel, subject to U.S. government ownership under the Sunken Military Craft Act

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position withheld to protect the site
Nearest: Watch Hill, Westerly, Rhode Island
Region: Narragansett Bay & the Rhode Island Coast

Naval History and Heritage Command does not publish exact coordinates for this Navy shipwreck site

Evidence

Overall confidence: Partially documented (70/100)

The wreck's identification as USS Revenge remains tentative pending further archaeological confirmation, and exact coordinates are withheld by the surveying agency.

Naval History and Heritage Command, "Revenge Wreck Site (1811)"
Vessel history, prior name Ranger, Perry's command, and grounding date and location
Department of the Navy CHIPS Articles, "NHHC Participates in Archaeological Survey of Suspected USS Revenge Site"
Discovery details, survey participants, and artifact description
What's Up Newp, "Bob Cembrola: USS Revenge and Oliver Hazard Perry"
First-person account of diving the site and description of the wreck's condition and artifacts