Teazer (privateer) explained

-- age of sail -->	+Teazer Ship Country: United States Ship Owner: Samuel Adams Ship Fate: Burned January 1813 Ship Sail Plan: Schooner

Teazer was an American privateer schooner in the War of 1812 that the British captured and destroyed in January 1813. She is best known as the predecessor of the ill-fated schooner .

A small schooner based out of New York, Teazer was one of the first American privateers to put to sea in the war. On her first voyage she quickly captured six brigs and six schooners that she sent in to US ports as prizes. However, her career was short-lived. On 17 January 1813, captured her. British sailors then boarded Teazer and set her afire.

The British allowed Teazers officers to go home on parole: that is, they were freed upon their promising that they would not sail against Great Britain until an equivalent British prisoner had been exchanged. One of the privateer officers was Lieutenant Frederick Johnson. Teazers owner, Samuel Adams of New York, quickly built a larger replacement schooner named Young Teazer, and Johnson joined Young Teazer, breaking his parole.

When the British cornered Young Teazer at Mahone Bay on 27 June 1813, Johnson was serving as her first lieutenant. Known for his violent temper, and vowing to avoid capture, he set off an explosion that killed almost the entire crew of Young Teazer.

Prizes

Date	Vessel	Outcome
1812, 12 August		Sold Portland, Maine
	Venus
	Osborne

References

• Book: Maclay, Edgar Stanton . Edgar Stanton Maclay

. Edgar Stanton Maclay . 1899 . A History of American Privateers . New York . D. Appleton and Company . 446–448 .

• Book: Snider, C.F.J. . 1928 . Under the Red Jack: Privateers of the Maritime Provinces of Canada in the War of 1812 . London . Martin Hopkinson & Co..