David Jewett

{{Short description|American naval officer (1772–1842)}} {{About|David Jewett, a 19th-century naval commander|the professor of astronomy|David C. Jewitt}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Admiral | name = David Jewett | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | image = David Jewett circa 1825.jpg | alt = | caption = David Jewett in Brazilian Navy uniform, {{circa|1825}} | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1772|06|17}} | birth_place = New London (North Parish), Connecticut Colony | death_date = {{Death date and age|1842|07|26|1772|06|17}}<ref>{{cite book | title=David Jewett; una biografía para la historia de las Malvinas | publisher=Sudamericana-Planeta | author=Da Fonseca Figueira, José Antonio | year=1985 | page=180 | isbn=950-37-0168-6}}</ref> | death_place = Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | monuments = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Sailor | years_active = | employer = | organization = | known_for = Commander of the USS ''Trumbull'' in the Quasi-War with France. Claiming the Falkland Islands for the Republic of Buenos Aires in 1820. Service in the Brazilian Navy. | notable_works = | style = | height =  | television = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge =  | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = Eliza Lawrence (Mactier) | partner =  | children = Augustine David Lawrence Jewett | parents = | relatives = | callsign = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | honorific_prefix = | name = David Jewett | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | allegiance = {{flag|United States of America|1795|name=United States}} {{flag|United Provinces of the Río de la Plata|1816|name=United Provinces}} {{flag|Empire of Brazil}} | branch = {{flagicon image|US Naval Jack 15 stars.svg}} United States Navy {{navy|Argentina}} {{naval|Empire of Brazil}} | service_years = | rank = Master Commandant (US) Colonel (Argentina) Admiral (Brazil) | service_number =  | commands = USS ''Trumbull'' ''Invincible'' ''Heroína'' ''Pedro I'' ''Piranga''<ref name=piranga>{{cite web|url=https://www.naval.com.br/ngb/P/P088/P088.htm|title=Fragata Piranga|publisher=Poder Naval|language=pt}}</ref> | battles = *Quasi-War *War of 1812 *Argentine War of Independence *Brazilian War of Independence *Cisplatine War *Uruguayan Civil War | awards = | other_work = | signature = David Jewett's signature 1.png | website =  | module = }} }}

'''David Jewett''' (June 17, 1772 – July 26, 1842) was an American-born Brazilian naval officer known for his role in the sovereignty dispute between the United Kingdom and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (the predecessor state of Argentina) over the Falkland Islands. He was a naval commander in the Quasi-War with France and following the end of that conflict he offered his services as a mercenary in both the United Provinces and the Empire of Brazil. Licensed as a privateer by the United Provinces to seize Spanish ships, he was later accused of piracy following the seizure of American and Portuguese flagged vessels. Jewett finished his career in the Imperial Brazilian Navy, serving under Lord Cochrane and died in Rio de Janeiro in 1842.

==Early life== Jewett was born in New London (North Parish), in what was then the Connecticut Colony (presently the town of Montville, Connecticut in the United States), on 17 June 1772, son of Patience Bulkley and captain David Hibbard Jewett. He studied for a career in law, but after the experience of a sailing trip to Europe he changed his mind. Jewett joined the United States Navy in 1791, at age 19.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

==Early career==

Jewett, with the rank of Master Commandant, commanded the 18 gun sloop-of-war USS ''Trumbull'' in the Quasi-War with France. Following fitting out, ''Trumbull'' departed New London, Connecticut in March 1800 under his command. Its first mission was to escort the provisions ship ''Charlotte'' from New York to the West Indies, replenishing the American Squadron operating against the French. ''Trumbull'' later joined the American Squadron commanded by Silas Talbot<ref>{{cite web | url=http://library.mysticseaport.org/manuscripts/coll/coll018.cfm | title=Silas Talbot Collection (Coll. 18) | date=20 May 2016 | publisher=Mystic Seaport | access-date=22 January 2014 | archive-date=9 June 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130609193353/http://library.mysticseaport.org/manuscripts/coll/coll018.cfm | url-status=dead }}</ref> in the {{USS|Constitution}}, where the main duties in the area were protection of American shipping and the interception of French privateers and merchantmen.

Jewett was authorized as commander of the ''Trumbull'' to capture any vessel sailing under the flag of France. On April 24, 1800, it came upon the French schooner ''Peggy'' and captured it. The ''Peggy'' was returned to Connecticut where the local courts ruled her a prize of war in September 1800. The owners of the ''Peggy'' appealed for her return in the US Supreme Court case ''United States v. Schooner Peggy''.<ref name="decision">{{cite court|litigants = United States v. Schooner Peggy|vol = 5|reporter = U.S.|opinion = 103|pinpoint = |court = |year = 1801|url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/5/103/case.html}}</ref>

On August 3, while off Jérémie in Haiti, ''Trumbull'' captured the French schooner ''Vengeance'', armed with eight or ten guns (not, as is sometimes found, the 38-gun frigate ''Vengeance'' that tangled with the USS ''Constellation'' and was later taken into the Royal Navy).<ref>DANFS</ref> The ship had fled Haiti with 130 people aboard, crew and refugees together, as Toussaint's troops took possession of the island. Talbot ordered Jewett home with ''Vengeance'' as a prize, ''Trumbull'' arriving back at New London in late summer. The ''Vengeance'' was later condemned as a national vessel and was returned to France under the treaty soon afterwards concluded with that country.<ref name="Allen2">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/ournavalwarwith02allegoog | title=Our naval war with France | publisher=Houghton Mifflin | author=Allen, Gardner Weld | year=1909 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/ournavalwarwith02allegoog/page/n234 190]}}</ref>

''Trumbull'' then returned to patrol off Santo Domingo, before later transporting Navy Agent Thomas T. Gantt to St. Kitts to relieve Thomas Clarkson. Following the end of hostilities with France as a result of the Treaty of Mortefontaine, ''Trumbull'' returned to the United States in the spring of 1801, was sold later that year and her crew discharged. Jewett left the Navy but rejoined during the War of 1812 against Britain, when he acted as a privateer. Jewett had earlier crossed the line between privateer and pirate after taking the Portuguese ship Carlota as a prize.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

==Service to the United Provinces==

On June 22, 1815, Jewett arrived in the port of Buenos Aires, aboard his own ship the ''Invincible''. He offered his services to the newly independent United Provinces of the River Plate (later Argentina), which accepted his proposal and authorized his corsair activities against the Spanish. From 1815 to 1817 the ''Invincible'' made use of the letter of marque issued for her and Jewett, and four ships were captured: the polacca ''Tita'', the frigate ''Santander'', the brigantines ''Jupiter'' and ''San Antonio'', all of them deemed lawful prize by the Government of the United Provinces.<ref name="dafonseca">{{cite book | title=David Jewett; una biografía para la historia de las Malvinas | publisher=Sudamericana-Planeta | author=Da Fonseca Figueira, José Antonio | year=1985 | pages=58 | isbn=950-37-0168-6}}</ref>

In January 1820 he was appointed a Colonel in the Argentine Navy. He was given command of the frigate ''Heroína'', a ship owned by Patrick Lynch, acting as a privateer. Jewett's activities were licensed by letter of marque that Lynch obtained from the Buenos Aires Supreme Director José Rondeau.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

In March 1820 he set out on a voyage marked by misfortune, a mutiny, scurvy and piracy against Portuguese and American ships. Some 80 of his crew of 200 were either sick or dead by the time he arrived on 27 October 1820 at Puerto Soledad (later renamed Puerto Luis by Argentine settlers, it was the one-time Spanish capital of the Falkland Islands). At anchor there he found some 50 British and US sealing ships.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Captain Jewett chose to rest and recover in the islands seeking assistance from the British explorer James Weddell of the British brig ''Jane''. Weddell reports only 30 seamen and 40 soldiers out of a crew of 200 fit for duty, and how Jewett slept with pistols over his head following an attempted mutiny for which he had executed 6 members of his crew.<ref name="Weddell">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_tuIBAAAAYAAJ_2 | title=A Voyage Towards the South Pole | publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green | last=Weddell | first=James | authorlink=James Weddell | year=1827 | location=London}}</ref>

===Declaration of Possession of the Islands===

On November 6, 1820, Col Jewett raised the flag of the United Provinces of the River Plate<ref name="Weddell"/>{{rp|111}}<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Act of Sovereignty delivered to Captain W. B. Orne by Colonel David Jewett, Falkland Islands, 1820 |last=Jewett |first=David |year=1820}}</ref> and claimed possession of the islands. Weddell reports the letter he received from Jewett as:

<blockquote>Sir, I have the honour to inform you of the circumstance of my arrival at this port, commissioned by the supreme government of the United Provinces of South America to take possession of these islands in the name of the country to which they naturally appertain. In the performance of this duty, it is my desire to act towards all friendly flags with the most distinguished justice and politeness. A principal object is to prevent the wanton destruction of the sources of supply to those whose necessities compel or invite them to visit the islands, and to aid and assist such as require it to obtain a supply with the least trouble and expense. As your views do not enter into contravention or competition with these orders, and as I think mutual advantage may result from a personal interview, I invite you to pay me a visit on board my ship, where I shall be happy to accommodate you during your pleasure. I would also beg you, so far as comes within your sphere, to communicate this information to other British subjects in this vicinity. I have the honour to be, Sir Your most obedient humble Servant, ''Signed, Jewett, Colonel of the Navy of the United Provinces of South America and commander of the frigate'' Heroína.<ref name="Weddell"/></blockquote>

Many modern authors report this letter as the declaration issued by Jewett.<ref name="Destefani">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sGAJSfxqd7oC | title=The Malvinas, the South Georgias, and the South Sandwich Islands, the conflict with Britain | publisher=Edipress | author=Destéfani, Laurio Hedelvio | year=1982 | isbn=978-950-01-6904-2}}</ref> Jewett's ship received Weddell's assistance in obtaining anchorage off of Port Louis, and, according to Weddell, "In a few days, he took formal possession of these islands for the patriot government of Buenos Ayres, read a declaration under their colours, planted on a port in ruins, and fired a salute of twenty-one guns."<ref name="Weddell"/> Weddell also linked the ceremony to Jewett's claim to the wreck of the ''Uranie'' and comments that it was calculated to make an impression on the masters of ships in the area.<ref name="Cawkell2001">{{cite book|author=Mary Cawkell|title=The History of the Falkland Islands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YG8VAAAACAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Nelson|isbn=978-0-904614-55-8}}</ref> Weddell stated that some ship-masters were alarmed by Jewett's appearance, fearing being robbed or captured and said that one contemplated an armed response.<ref name="Cawkell2001"/> Weddell was able to convince him Jewett was no danger and after being introduced to Jewett, he overcame his fears.<ref name="Cawkell2001"/>

Based upon Jewett's statements in 1820, some researchers assert that he was ordered to claim the islands by Argentine authorities;<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i39pAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA186 | title=Historia argentina: Unitarios y federales (1826-1841) | publisher=Editorial Oriente | author=Rosa, Jose Maria | year=1841 | quote=''Durante nueve años no hubo autoridad en las islas, hasta el 27 de octubre de 1820 en que el comandante David Jewett del corsario argentino Heroína, cumpliendo ordenes dadas en marzo por el gobierno de Sarratea, entró en el abandonado Puerto Soledad, tomando posesión en nombre del gobierno de Buenos Aires.'' |accessdate=9 July 2016}}</ref> others assert there is no documentary evidence to support a specific order.<ref name="Cawkell2001"/> Jewett did not mention the claim in his 13-page request for resignation to the government of Buenos Aires,<ref name="Jewitt Report">Jewett’s report of 1 February 1821 in Archivo General de la Nación, Buenos Aires, Marina Corsarios 1820-1831, 10-5-1-3.</ref><ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Report of Col. David Jewett, Commander of the privateer Heroina, to the Supreme Director of Buenos Aires, February 1st, 1821 |last=Jewett |first=David |year=1821}}</ref> nor did the government gazette the sovereignty claim in the Gazeta de Buenos Ayres. 1820 was one of the most anarchical years in Argentine history, where there was twenty-four Governments in one year; three in one day.<ref name="Cawkell2001"/> Other factors cited include the roundabout route Jewett took to the islands (he was eight months into the voyage when he arrived)<ref name="Cawkell2001"/> and the fact that the declaration was only reported in Argentina as a foreign news story after being reported in the Salem Gazette in 1821.<ref name="Cawkell2001"/> The article was also reproduced in The Times of 3 August 1821.

==Brazilian Navy career and later life== Jewett arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1822 in command of the ''Maipu'' of 284-tons and armed with 18 cannons. The ship, originally named ''Vicuña'' when flying under Chilean flag had been captured by the Spanish, and subsequently by the ''Heroina''. Jewett acquired her and in 1822 sold her to Emperor Dom Pedro I, to serve as the ''Caboclo''. Jewett then offered to join the Brazilian Navy and was appointed commander of the frigate ''União'' on October 6, 1822.<ref>{{cite book |title=David Jewett; una biografía para la historia de las Malvinas | author=Da Fonseca Figueira, José Antonio | page=147}}</ref>

In 1823, while under the command of Lord Cochrane (the ''Sea Wolf''), Jewett held the rank of “Chefe de Divisão” and fought in the northern provinces of Brazil, then still sympathetic to Portugal.<ref name="Naval Review (London)">{{cite journal | title=One of Cochrane's Captains | author=Naval Society | journal=Naval Review (London) |date=August 1951 | volume=XXXIX | issue=3}}</ref>

Jewett was accused of misconduct, whilst in command of the ship ''Pedro I'', and sentenced by the Supreme Military Court to 2 years of imprisonment, on May 20, 1824. He was pardoned two months later by the Emperor Pedro I.<ref>{{cite book |title=David Jewett; una biografía para la historia de las Malvinas | author=Da Fonseca Figueira, José Antonio | page=160}}</ref>

In 1824, Jewett fought in the revolt in Pernambuco, against the rebel forces of Manuel de Carvalho Pais de Andrade. Cochrane's forces, including Jewett, took an active role in the restoration of public order.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

When the Cisplatine War began in the early 1826, it was announced on April 10 that Jewett was to replace the second in command of the Imperial Navy of the Rio de la Plata, Rear Admiral Diego de Brito. However, two days later he asked for a medical licence, and the appointment never took effect.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Whilst on a trip to New York on Brazilian navy matters in 1826, Jewett married Eliza Lawrence Mactier, daughter of NYC Alderman Augustine H. Lawrence. They had a son, Augustine David Lawrence Jewett.<ref>{{cite news | title=Wedding announcement | work=The New-York Mirror, and Ladies' Literary Gazette | date=9 December 1826 | location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FNPoVchaehwC&pg=PA92 | title=Their Gilded Cage: The Jekyll Island Club Members | publisher=Henchard Press, Ltd. | author=Hutto, Richard Jay | year=2005 | isbn=9780977091225}}</ref>

Jewett had recurring health issues in his last years of service, and was on a medical licence from 1828 to 1830, and for two years in 1834-1835. His last mission was carried out in 1836. He was awarded the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross for service in the Imperial Navy of Brazil.<ref>{{cite book | title=David Jewett; una biografía para la historia de las Malvinas | author=Da Fonseca Figueira, José Antonio | page=179}}</ref>

Jewett died 26 July 1842 in Rio de Janeiro. He was interred the day after in the São Francisco de Paula church; his wife Eliza died a few months later. In 1850 his remains were relocated to the new cemetery of the Order of the Minims, in Catumbí.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

==References==

==Bibliography==

*Child, Jack. ''Geopolitics and Conflict in South America: Quarrels Among Neighbors''. New York; Praeger, 1985, pp. 112–115. {{ISBN|978-0-03-001453-6}}. *Gough, Barry. ''The Falkland Islands/Malvinas: The Contest for Empire in the South Atlantic''. London: Athlone Press, 1992, pp. 55–59. *Strange, Ian J. ''The Falkland Islands''. London: David & Charles Press, 1983, p. 194.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jewett, David}} Category:History of the Falkland Islands Category:Maritime history of Argentina Category:American emigrants to Argentina Category:Naturalized citizens of Argentina Category:Naturalized citizens of Brazil Category:1772 births Category:1842 deaths Category:Brazilian admirals Category:American emigrants to Brazil