CHAPTER III
HEADING FOR THE NEw WORLD

have been much worse as the next few years would present

monumental challenges. It’s unlikely that Vere would have
left England if he had had any idea of what lay ahead. They were fa-
cing war, pestilence and famine.

As they set sail for the new world, the first challenge was war. The
War of 1812 started in June of that year, but it didn’t end until 1815.
The headlines in the papers would have only dealt with the major
battles and most of them were along the border between the United
States and the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. There seemed to be
little action on the east coast, but that was misleading. A number of
American privateers were active in the area and many merchant ves-
sels were captured or sunk. But such incidents probably never made
it into the British newspapers.

American privateers were very active in the North Atlantic poun-
cing on any unprotected British ships they could find. For instance
the schooner Rossie, out of Baltimore, was commissioned on July 11,

[i= say that timing is everything! But their timing couldn't

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