USS Spitfire on Patrol

24" x 36" — oil on canvas

The USS Spitfire was a type of schooner known as a Baltimore clipper. Built in Baltimore in the early 1800s, these topsail-schooners were famous for their speed, making them good vessels for privateers and for the U.S. Navy. Spitfirebegan her career as a privateer, preying on British ships during the War of 1812. The US Navy bought her in 1814 and renamed her Spitfire. When the US declared war on the Barbary pirates, and Spitfire was dispatched to the Mediterranean to help end the depredations of the pirates sailing from the Barbary Coast of Africa.