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Historical person

William Bainbridge

1774–1833

William Bainbridge was an American naval officer whose long career encompassed the Quasi-War with France, the Barbary conflicts and the War of 1812. Born in New Jersey in 1774 and first employed in merchant shipping, he entered the United States Navy in 1798. His early service included difficult episodes in the Mediterranean, most famously the loss of the frigate Philadelphia after it grounded near Tripoli in 1803, leaving Bainbridge and his crew prisoners for more than a year.

Released after peace with Tripoli, Bainbridge continued in senior naval service and rebuilt his reputation during the War of 1812. Commanding USS Constitution, he defeated and captured HMS Java off Brazil in December 1812, though Bainbridge himself was wounded. He later commanded naval stations and served on the Board of Navy Commissioners, contributing to the professional development of the service. He died in Philadelphia in 1833 after more than three decades as one of the early republic’s best-known naval officers.

Patrick O’Brian’s The Fortune of War places Commodore William Bainbridge in the War of 1812 action surrounding HMS Java and USS Constitution. Bainbridge’s command of the American frigate gives Aubrey and Maturin’s capture a firm historical setting before the story moves on to Boston and the later confrontation between HMS Shannon and USS Chesapeake.

Periods

Periods linked to William Bainbridge

War of 18121812–1815 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring William Bainbridge (1 series)

Aubrey–Maturin Novels in Order

by Patrick O’Brian 21 books 4.5(73,173)

The Aubrey–Maturin novels follow Royal Navy officer Jack Aubrey and surgeon, naturalist and intelligence agent Stephen Maturin from the wars against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France through the War of 1812 and the first years after Waterloo. Across twenty completed novels, their friendship links shipboard command, espionage, science, domestic…

All books in this series