H. M. Sloop FALCON
- A (very) Brief History of the FALCON -
The FALCON was launched on June 6th, 1771, at England's Portsmouth dockyard and served three years on the West Indies station before returning home in 1774. On April 16th, 1775, two days before the opening shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord, the FALCON arrived at Boston, Massachusetts, with a crew of one hundred and twenty-five men and with Captain John Linzee as Master and Commander. She was one of the first ships to fire on the rebel positions at the "Battle of Bunker Hill" and, as part of the Royal Navy's North American Squadron, was assigned to patrol the seacoast from Maine to the Leeward Islands in an attempt to halt the flow of munitions and other much-needed supplies to the American cause. The FALCON remained in service until August of 1778, when she was scuttled as a block-ship to keep a French fleet out of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay and her crew was sent to man the shore batteries at Newport. Raised for refitting in 1779, the FALCON was reported lost
in a storm soon after and disappeared into the depths of history.
WELCOME ABOARD MATE!
  We're the re-enacted crew of the FALCON, a 14-gun English sloop that was active on the American Atlantic coast from 1771 to 1778.
Our crew members hail from all over the state of Florida and, since
our founding in 1975, our intent has been to present an active
and accurate impression of the ordinary seamen of the
18th century English Royal Navy to the public.
Most of our crew are graduates of the Black Powder Safety program offered by the National Park Service and you'll often find us up on the
gun deck at the
Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments at St. Augustine, Florida, or fielding an armed shore detail at a number of private, state, and national parks and battle re-enactments throughout the southeastern United States. Most recently, we had the honor of crewing a gun at the re-enactment of the 1779 siege of Savannah, Georgia, in 2004, we stormed ashore 'under fire' at the 225th anniversary of the 1780 siege of Charleston, South Carolina, in 2005, and proudly served under arms at the commemoration of the 1781 siege of Yorktown, Virginia, in 2006. We even made our way to Puerto Rico in 2008 to take part in the "1797 Siege of San Juan". We've been known to form up as a Naval recruiting detail or "press gang" and have enacted pressings from the cobbled lanes of St. Augustine, Florida, to the broad streets of Williamsburg, Virginia. We also give presentations throughout the year on various aspects of life at sea in the "Age of Sail".
Please note that membership in our crew is by invitation only.
If you'd like to know more about the FALCON and her crew,
feel free to hoist a signal at
hmsloopfalcon@yahoo.com
We've produced a compact disk of sea shanties entitled
"A Night Out On The Shore"
that is currently available from the nice folks at www.cafepress.com/HMSFalcon
Firing one of the long six-pounders at the Castillo de San Marcos.
Photo by J. Cipriani
Morning gun drill at the Castillo
Photo courtesy of G. Haas
to our site.
Thank You!
All images are property of HM Sloop of War FALCON, unless otherwise noted. All Rights Reserved 2006.
You are Visitor Number
Captain John Linzee.
Mass.Historical Society
- Ahoy, Mates! Something's in the wind! -
Yahoo has posted notice that they'll be closing GeoCities sometime later this year.
In light of this news, this site will soon be weighing anchor and heading for a new port.
Please watch this space for more information.