Johnston Blakeley


Johnston Blakeley was a United States Navy officer who served during the Quasi-War and the War of 1812. He is considered to be one of the most successful American naval officers of the period.

Early life

Blakeley was born near Seaforde, County Down, Ireland. Brought to the United States as a child in 1783, he graduated from the University of [North Carolina at Chapel Hill], where he was a member of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, in 1800, then joined the Navy and was appointed a Midshipman in 1800.
After service in during the Quasi-War with France and command of early in the War of 1812, Master Commandant Blakeley was appointed to command of the newly built sloop-of-war.
In 1814, he made a very successful cruise which in June included the sinking of HMS Reindeer. In September, in a similar action, Blakeley sunk. That month he also captured the mercantile brig Atalanta. Wasp was last heard of 9 October 1814 and is believed to have foundered in a gale. Blakeley received the Thanks of Congress, a gold medal, and posthumous advancement to the rank of Captain for his last cruise.
Captain Blakeley was married, in December, 1813, to Miss Jane Hoope, the daughter of his father's old friend, Mr. Hoope, of New York; and has left an only daughter, who received one of the most noble and substantial and affecting tributes of national gratitude which has occurred in the history of this country. The legislature of North Carolina, on 27 December 1816, after prescribing the destination of the sword they had voted to Captain Blakeley, "Resolved, unanimously, That Captain Blakeley's child be educated at the expense of this State; and that Mrs. Jane Blakeley be requested to draw on the Treasurer of this State, from time to time, for such sums of money as shall be required for the education of the said child."

Honors

Ships

Three ships have been named in Captain Blakeley's honor:

Places

Also part of the San Juan Islands chain are a group of islands to which Wilkes bestowed the name "Wasp Islands" after the Wasp. Their namesake, however, was not the same vessel commanded by Blakely, but an earlier, also a sloop-of-war, which was commissioned in 1807 and captured by the British in the early months of the War of 1812.

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