British Indian River Invasion June 1814

On June 20, 1814 the British frigate "Nieman" sent two barges with sixty men into Indian River, burning two or three coasters and shallops loaded with lumber, and securing a ransom for two others since they were hard pressed for food and water. Governor Daniel Rodney, (A Lewes Merchant) ordered a company of fifty men to Lewes and the British withdrew.

NOTES:
British Fifth Rate frigate 'Nieman' (1809) was a 38 gun ship that had been captured from France and put into service in the Royal Navy. It was broken up in 1815.

A barge was an open boat about about eighty feet long, carrying sixteen oars and a swivel gun.

A shallop referred to an open wooden workboat such as a barge, dory, or rowboat. Shallops were small enough to row but also had one or two sails.

Coastal trading vessels, also known as coasters, are shallow-hulled ships used for trade between locations where their shallow hulls can get through reefs where deeper-hulled sea-going ships usually cannot.