Canadian Museum Gets Funding for 1812 Privateer Exhibit

[Thagarr]

Sometimes I am guilty of getting tunnel vision when I look for news stories to post here, part of that is a lack of time, but it does mean that I miss quite a bit that should be posted here. I ran across this one tonight that I normally might have overlooked. The Queens County Museum, located in Liverpool, Nova Scotia; has recently received a funding grant through the Canadian Heritage’s 1812 Commemoration Fund. The fund will be used for expanding the museums privateer display to include a partial replica of the Liverpool Packet, a Canadian privateer schooner during the war of 1812. The replica will be large enough for people to walk through.

According to Wikipedia, she was quite successful and captured 50 American ships during the war :

The Liverpool Packet was originally the American slave ship Severn, which HMS Tartarus captured in August 1811. The Halifax Vice Admiralty Court condemned Severn as an illegal slave ship as both Britain and the United States had recently outlawed the Transatlantic Slave Trade.[4] The court then ordered her sold at auction. Enos Collins and other investors then purchased her in October 1811. They renamed her Liverpool Packet, although she sometimes bore the nickname The Black Joke, a name of several infamous slave ships. At first her owners used the small and fast schooner as a packet ship carrying mail and passengers between Halifax and Liverpool, Nova Scotia.[Note 2]

The schooner was captained by Joseph Barss, who had quite a distinguished career as a privateer, even before he took command of the Liverpool Packet :

Barss gained experience as a privateer against the French in the 1790s, serving as an officer in several privateer vessels and commanding the schooner Lord Spencer. The schooner sank after striking a reef in the West Indies but Barss and his entire crew survived to be rescued by other Nova Scotian privateer vessels. Barss briefly served as commander of the brig Rover, a noted privateer vessel from Liverpool, Nova Scotia famous for its voyages commanded by Alexander Godfrey, another colonial Nova Scotian privateer.

The Queens County Museum is a small museum, and from having a quick look at their website, they apparently mainly focus on genealogical research. According to the video on their main page however, they do have quite a few physical exhibits as well, including one on pirates. In the article I found over at the Queens County Advance, the museums directory had this to say :

“This is a fantastic move forward for the Queens County Museum,” said George Mitchell, Chairman, Queens County Museum. “Our objective has been to recognize the achievement of one of the most successful privateers, Captain Joseph Barss, and his privateer vessel, the Liverpool Packet. This funding approval leads the way to seeing this dream come to fruition."

 

[Post Captain]

Good to hear. Not as good as if they were building a functioning replica, but good nonetheless.