How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

“Bombs and Frigates weigh and stand in...commenced a tremendous heavy fire on the batteries near Baltimore...Midnight squally with rain Bombs &c keeping up a heavy bombardment on Fort McHenry...AM squally with rain Bomb &c keeping up a heavy fire..." 

Locations vary, ca. May 3, 1814-May 30, 1816. Unpaginated (approx. 185 leaves). 4to. Manuscript logbook kept by British midshipman Charles Robert Malden of the Royal Navy and signed by him at conclusion, detailing daily or hourly entries of the ship's bearings, latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, weather conditions, and other notes while serving on the HMS Trave. Later 19th-century three-quarter brown calf over cloth covered boards, extremities worn, boards soiled; speckled edges; front gutter split but still holding; book-plate of descendant John Malden on front paste-down; partial near-contemporary manuscript biography of Malden on front endleaves; scattered light foxing to interior.

Voluminous manuscript log detailing naval movements of the British fleet under Admiral Alexander Cochrane (1758-1832), at the height of the Chesapeake Campaign during the War of 1812. Included in the reports is a remarkable survival, one of the only known eyewitness accounts of the British bombing of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore, the inspiration of Francis Scott Key's "Star-Spangled Banner."

The Trave was a Pallas-class French frigate built in 1812, captured by the Royal Navy in a Napoleonic War engagement, and repurposed as the HMS Trave in April of 1814. The author, Charles Robert Malden (1797-1855) was a midshipman while writing the present account, but would rise to the rank of First Lieutenant. He later became an accomplished explorer and surveyor, assisting in the construction of harbors in the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands in the mid-1820s, and discovering his eponymous Malden Island in the central Pacific. After retiring from the navy, Malden founded a preparatory school in Newport, England, living out the rest of his days as an educator until his death in 1855.

Malden's log provides a fascinating narrative of events, as well as day-to-day commentary on maritime life and duties. Among other things, he records the names of punished seamen for various crimes or infractions; lists the names of those who've died, deserted, or been impressed into British service; and tracks salutes for holidays or celebration of victories, some from the Napoleonic conflicts. His narrative of events follows the Trave crossing the Atlantic, anchoring at Bermuda, heading to the Chesapeake Bay, landing at Benedict, Maryland, sailing up and down the Potomac, crossing the Gulf of Mexico, the Battle of New Orleans, sailing to Mobile Bay, returning to England, and much more.

During the first two years of the War of 1812 with the United States, Britain was engaged in hostilities with Napoleonic France, limiting its capabilities and manpower in North America. As a result most skirmishes were centered around the Great Lakes regions of Upper and Lower Canada with the British fighting from a defensive position. This ended however in April 1814, with Napoleon's abdication and banishment, which in turn freed thousands of British forces to join the war across the Atlantic. A large brigade under Major General Robert Ross (1766-1814) set sail for Bermuda in July (which the HMS Trave was attached to), and by the time they arrived on the eastern seaboard, the Royal Navy took complete control of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. On August 24, being ferried by the ships of Admiral George Cockburn, the British engaged American forces at Bladensburg, Maryland, and the latter's subsequent defeat resulted in the burning of the nearby capital, Washington, D.C.

The British then turned their attention to Baltimore, with Admiral Alexander Cochrane anchoring his ships in the Patapsco River on September 12. After the initial British landing force was repulsed at North Point, with General Robert Ross himself being killed, and American forces holding ground at Hampstead Hill, Cochrane withdrew his fleet from range and resorted to a heavy bombardment of the nearby Fort McHenry. On the 13th, the 19 ships in the British fleet began a 25-hour barrage of cannonballs, mortars, and "Congreve" rockets, with minimal effective damage. The following morning, the garrison at Fort McHenry lowered the battle-torn flag that was flying over it, and raised a massive, oversized "star-spangled banner" in its place, a testament to the Americans' resolve.

Maryland lawyer Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) was aboard the HMS Tonnant anchored in the harbor when the Battle of Baltimore commenced, pleading for the release of a friend who had been captured by the British. Not allowed to return to shore, Key witnessed the shelling of the Fort from the ship's deck. Inspired by the large American flag raised the next morning, he began writing a poem on the back of a letter he had in his pocket. It was published the next day under the title "Defence of Fort M'Henry" and meant to be sung to the popular tune "Anachreon in Heaven." Subsequent newspapers in Baltimore and across the country coined its now famous name "The Star-Spangled Banner". It was adopted as the American National Anthem in 1931.

Very rare. We have been able to locate only two other contemporary manuscript accounts of the shelling of Fort McHenry: Key's original handwritten one, now at the Maryland Historical Society), and Fort Commander George Armistead's official account sent to the Secretary of War, in the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The present log is presumably the only contemporary English account that has come to market.