History
United States
Name	USS Sea Horse
Acquired	1812 by purchase
Homeport	New Orleans
Fate	Scuttled; December 13, 1814
General characteristics
Type	Schooner
Complement	14 officers and crew
Armament	1 × 6-pounder gun[1]

The first USS Sea Horse was a one-gun schooner that the Navy purchased in 1812 for service on Lake Borgne, near New Orleans, Louisiana. It is claimed she was one of 15 vessels^{[citation needed]} available to Commodore Daniel Todd Patterson in New Orleans at the outbreak of war with Britain in 1812. The Sea Horse and USS Alligator accompanied a squadron of five gunboats at the end of 1814. In addition to these vessels, there was also a further gunboat at Fort St. Philip, as well as the USS Carolina (1812) and USS Louisiana (1812).^[2]

She saw action as a tender to a squadron of gunboats, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones, that in December 1814 opposed the British advance on New Orleans.^{[3][self-published source]} On the afternoon of December 13, 1814, at 2:00pm Jones despatched Sea Horse to a store house, to remove its contents, to prevent capture by the British. ^[4]

At 3:45pm, Sea Horse was moored at Bay St Louis next to a store house and a battery of two 6–pounder cannons. The schooner, with assisted by the battery,^[5] fired on three approaching launches with grapeshot, forcing them to retire out of range. Sea Horse faced a subsequent attack by four more launches as reinforcements, commanded by Captain Samuel Roberts of HMS Meteor.^[6] This renewed attack was "repulsed after sustaining for nearly half an hour a very destructive fire."^[7] In the face of superior numbers, Sea Horse was scuttled and the store was set alight, an explosion occurring at 7:30pm with a large fire being visible thereafter.^[5][8] Jones subsequently confirmed that he had permitted Sailing Master William Johnson, her commanding officer, to destroy Sea Horse to prevent her being captured.^[9]

• USS Tickler
• USS Alligator (1813)
• Battle of Lake Borgne

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Brannan, John, ed. (1823). Official letters of the military and naval officers of the United States : during the war with Great Britain in the years 1812, 13, 14, & 15. Washington, D.C.: Way & Gideon. OCLC 1083481275.
• Brown, Wilburt S (1969). The Amphibious Campaign for West Florida and Louisiana, 1814–1815. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-5100-0.
• Daughan, George C. (2011). 1812: The Navy's War. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02046-1.
• Reilly, Robin (1974), The British at the gates – the New Orleans campaign in the War of 1812, New York: Putnam, OCLC 839952
• Roosevelt, Theodore (1900). The Naval War of 1812. Vol. II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.

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