Ambrose Light (ship)
{{Short description|19th-century brigantine operated by Colombian rebels}}
{{Distinguish|Lightship Ambrose}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= |Ship flag=60 px |Ship name= Ambrose Light |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Waldoborough, Maine |Ship original cost= |Ship laid down=1857 |Ship launched= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours= |Ship captured=1885 |Ship fate= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class=brigantine |Ship tons burthen=215 |Ship length= |Ship beam= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship hold depth= |Ship propulsion= |Ship sail plan= |Ship complement= |Ship armament=one 60 pound cannon |Ship notes= }} |
Ambrose Light was a brigantine, operated by Colombian rebels during the Colombian Civil War of 1885.Oppenheim, p. 435{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a/alliance.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216122856/http://www.history.navy.mil:80/danfs/a/alliance.htm|title= History of USS Alliance|archivedate=2014-12-16|website=Naval History and Heritage Command}} It was captured by the USS Alliance as a suspected pirate vessel in 1885.{{cite news |title= In Charge of a Prize Crew.; Arrival of the Supposed Pirate Captured By the Alliance |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1885/06/02/103021204.pdf |work=The New York Times |date= 1885-06-02|access-date=21 April 2009 }} The accusation of piracy was rejected by a court of law.
Capture
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=Capture of Ambrose Light
|partof=the Colombian Civil War
| image= USS Alliance screw gunboat.jpg
| image_size = 300
|caption=Watercolor of USS Alliance
|date=April 24, 1885
|place=off Colombia, Caribbean Sea
|result=Ambrose Light and Colombian rebels captured.
|combatant1={{flag|United States}}
|commander1=23px Lewis Clark
|commander2=unknown
|strength1=1 gunboat
|strength2=1 brigantine
|casualties1=none
|casualties2=60 captured
1 brigantine captured
|notes=
}}
On April 24, Commander Lewis Clark, of the South Atlantic Squadron, was sailing to Cartagena, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, when the lookouts aboard the Alliance sighted the one-gun Ambrose Light. It was flying a strange flag featuring a red cross over a white background so the Americans assumed the vessel was a pirate ship. A chase began. The Americans were preparing to fire a shot over the vessel's bow when a Colombian ensign was observed and the Ambrose Light came to a halt. Commander Clark put Lieutenant M. Fisher, and a boarding party, on the rebel ship and it was found to have been armed with one cannon and sixty heavily armed sailors. A large cache of ammunition was also discovered. The Colombians revealed their letter of marque from the rebel leader Pedro Lara, giving the men of Ambrose Light permission to blockade Cartagena. Commander Clark disregarded this and took the rebels prisoner and the brigantine as a prize. The ship was put under the command of Lieutenant Fisher with ten others and sent to be condemned in New York. After arriving on June 1, a stowaway was found, starving to death, hiding behind some casks in the cargo hold. The man immediately received medical attention.
Legal case
Following the court proceedings, it was agreed that Alliance had lawfully seized the rebels as pirates because Pedro Lara, as a rebel, had no right to commission warships.
After the legal decision of the United States District Court in New York, the ship was returned to her Colombian owners, in return for costs. Judge Brown ruled that the ship could legally be used to transport troops between Colombian ports during the Colombian Civil War.{{cite news |title= The Ambrose Light Not a Privateer |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1885/07/03/103026697.pdf |work=The New York Times |date= 1885-07-03|access-date=21 April 2009 }} When fighting broke out in Cartagena, American Secretary of State Thomas F. Bayard released Ambrose Light and her crew.
This incident was the basis for a decision in case law that defines who can be called a pirate in the United States.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}
See also
Citations
{{reflist}}
References
- {{cite book |title =International law: a treatise, Volume 1 |last =Oppenheim |first =Lassa |publisher =The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.|year =2006 |id =1584776099}}
{{Pirates}}
{{1885 shipwrecks}}
Category:Vessels captured by the United States Navy
Category:United States maritime case law
Category:United States piracy case law
Category:United States Navy in the 19th century
Category:1885 in the United States
Category:Maritime incidents in April 1885
Category:Battles and conflicts without fatalities