“Don’t give up the ship!” is one of the most famous battle cries in American history and the unofficial motto of the United States Navy. The words were spoken by a dying captain in a battle America lost. Three months later, they were sewn onto a blue banner that flew over one of the Navy’s greatest victories. Here is the story of Captain James Lawrence, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and the flag that still inspires sailors today.
The War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain, which was then locked in a long war with Napoleon’s France. Americans had many grievances. The Royal Navy stopped American merchant ships at sea and forced thousands of American sailors into British service, a practice called impressment. British trade restrictions choked American commerce, and Britain armed Native American resistance on the western frontier. In June 1812, Congress declared war.
The United States Navy was tiny compared to the Royal Navy, but its frigates won several stunning single-ship victories early in the war. Then came a bitter defeat.
Captain James Lawrence and the USS Chesapeake
On June 1, 1813, Captain James Lawrence, a hero of an earlier victory over HMS Peacock, sailed the frigate USS Chesapeake out of Boston Harbor to fight the British frigate HMS Shannon, which had been blockading the port. Lawrence had only recently taken command, and many of his crew were new and untrained. The Shannon, under Captain Philip Broke, had one of the best-drilled crews in the Royal Navy.
The battle lasted only about fifteen minutes. The Shannon‘s gunners swept the Chesapeake‘s decks, and Lawrence was mortally wounded by a musket ball. As his men carried him below, he gave his final orders. Accounts of his exact words vary, but they were remembered as “Tell the men to fire faster and not to give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks.” British sailors boarded and captured the Chesapeake, and Lawrence died of his wounds a few days later.
The defeat was a blow to American pride, but Lawrence’s dying words spread across the country and turned a loss into a rallying cry.
Oliver Hazard Perry and the Lake Erie Squadron
Meanwhile, at Presque Isle on Lake Erie, near present-day Erie, Pennsylvania, a 27-year-old naval officer named Oliver Hazard Perry was racing to build a fleet from scratch. Control of the Great Lakes was vital. Whoever ruled Lake Erie controlled the supply lines to the western frontier and Detroit, which the British had captured in 1812.
Perry’s shipwrights built two 20-gun brigs and several smaller vessels out of green timber cut from the surrounding forest. Perry named his flagship the USS Lawrence in honor of his fallen friend.
Making the “Don’t Give Up the Ship” Flag
Perry wanted a special battle flag to signal his squadron when to go into action. His purser, Samuel Hambleton, suggested using Captain Lawrence’s dying words. Perry agreed, and in the summer of 1813 a group of Erie women, led by Margaret Forster Steuart along with her sister and several nieces, sewed the flag in the Steuart home.
The finished banner was a large, roughly square flag of dark blue fabric, now faded with age, with the words DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP stitched across it in bold white muslin letters. There is no apostrophe in the original, a detail faithfully reproduced on the flag at the Naval Academy and on accurate reproductions today.
The Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813
On the morning of September 10, 1813, near Put-in-Bay, Ohio, Perry’s lookouts spotted the British squadron under Commander Robert Heriot Barclay. As the fleets closed, Perry hoisted his blue battle flag to the masthead of the Lawrence, and his crew cheered.
The battle was brutal. The Lawrence took the brunt of the British fire for more than two hours while Perry’s second brig, the USS Niagara, hung back. By early afternoon, the Lawrence was a wreck. Her guns were knocked out, and most of her crew had been killed or wounded.
Perry refused to surrender. He hauled down his battle flag, climbed into a small rowboat with a handful of sailors and rowed about half a mile through heavy fire to the undamaged Niagara. Once aboard, he raised the “DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP” flag again, took command and sailed straight through the British line, firing broadsides from both sides.
Within about fifteen minutes, the battered British ships began to strike their colors. It is often noted as the first time in history that an entire British naval squadron surrendered.
“We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Ours”
Perry wrote a quick note on the back of an old letter to General William Henry Harrison, commander of American forces in the West. It became one of the most famous victory messages ever written: “We have met the enemy and they are ours: Two Ships, two Brigs, one Schooner & one Sloop.”
Why the Battle of Lake Erie Mattered
Perry’s victory gave the United States control of Lake Erie. With the British supply line cut, Harrison was able to recapture Detroit and pursue the retreating British into Canada, defeating them at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813. Perry became a national hero at 28, and the victory restored American confidence after a year of setbacks.
Where Is the “Don’t Give Up the Ship” Flag Today?
After the battle, Perry sent his battle flag and the captured British flags to Washington. Perry’s original flag is now preserved at the United States Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, and a replica hangs in Memorial Hall in Bancroft Hall, where midshipmen pass it every day. “Don’t Give Up the Ship” remains a rallying cry for American sailors more than two centuries later.
You can also visit Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, and see a reconstruction of the brig Niagara, which serves as Pennsylvania’s flagship, at the Erie Maritime Museum.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who said “Don’t give up the ship”?
Captain James Lawrence of the USS Chesapeake gave the order as he lay mortally wounded during the battle with HMS Shannon on June 1, 1813. Oliver Hazard Perry later put the words on his battle flag.
Did Oliver Hazard Perry say “Don’t give up the ship”?
No. Perry made the phrase famous by flying it on his battle flag at the Battle of Lake Erie, but the words were Captain Lawrence’s. Perry’s own famous line was “We have met the enemy and they are ours.”
What does the “Don’t Give Up the Ship” flag look like?
The original is a large, roughly square dark blue flag with “DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP” sewn across it in white letters, with no apostrophe.
Who made Perry’s battle flag?
It was sewn in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1813 by Margaret Forster Steuart and several female relatives.
Where is the original “Don’t Give Up the Ship” flag?
Perry’s original battle flag is preserved at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland. A replica is displayed in the Academy’s Memorial Hall.
Who won the Battle of Lake Erie?
The United States won. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s squadron captured the entire British squadron of six vessels on September 10, 1813.
Fly the Flag of Lake Erie
Honor Captain Lawrence, Commodore Perry and every American sailor with our Commodore Perry “Don’t Give Up the Ship” Flag. Pair it with the 15-Star Star-Spangled Banner Flag flown during the War of 1812, the First Navy Jack or our Home of the Free Because of the Brave Flag.
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