Ships wage high-seas war, for fun

Andrew Edwards

The sound of cannon fire roared across the water and blasts of fire

lighted up the gray skies Sunday as two tall ships engaged each other

in the waves just beyond Newport Beach.

Battle began after Doug Leasure, captain of the Newport

Harbor-based Lynx, ordered his crew to make a hard turn toward its

rival, the Spirit of Dana Point. The Lynx’s two port guns were

loaded, and Leasure gave the order to open fire as soon his ship

passed the Spirit.

But it was the Spirit that fired the battle’s opening salvo after

the Lynx’s guns misfired. The Spirit’s batteries boomed and sent

forth billowing clouds of smoke. The fight was on, and Leasure

ordered his crew to turn around and make another pass at the Spirit.

On the second approach, two of the Lynx’s guns erupted, and the

sounds of war were followed by cheers from those onboard the ship.

Most on the Lynx were not crew members but spectators who came to

brave the rough waves and chilling rain to watch the Lynx and the

Spirit duel in a reenactment of naval warfare, as waged during the

Age of Sail. About 30 watched the battle unfold from both ships, and

those aboard the Lynx cheered after the cannonades and the ship’s

pitches through choppy waves.

“This was exhilarating,” San Diego resident and spectator Darlene

Nelson, 47, said. “I love when it’s high seas.”

Members of the Lynx’s crew said the water was rougher than usual

during the reenactment, but for some of the younger spectators, big

swells meant big fun.

“I thought it was great, and my favorite subject is that I

survived the waves,” 8-year-old Ryan La Moure of Newport Beach said.

The Lynx was built to resemble a privateer’s schooner from the War

of 1812, and the day’s events were designed to mirror the history of

the United States’ second war with the British. During the War of

1812, the British were the world’s supreme naval power, and the

United States had only a small fleet. The U.S. government tried to

offset its disadvantage by hiring privateers, who were given licenses

to arm their vessels and capture British merchant ships. Privateers

did not try to sink their opponents.

“The idea behind it was to harm, or just basically intimidate,”

explained Jeffrey Woods, the Lynx’s director of operations. “If you

could intimidate the ship and capture the vessel, that’s your prize.”

Before spectators embarked aboard the Lynx, Woods was part of a

dockside reenactment that illustrated the tensions between the United

States and Britain that led to the war. Woods played an American

officer who unsuccessfully tried to defend one of his crew members

from being forcefully recruited, or impressed, by British sailors.

During the scene, a British lieutenant, played by Jim Swinden, the

Lynx’s director of historical programs, orders his crew to fire on an

American captain who refuses to let his crew member be impressed.

Americans return fire, killing the British midshipman, played by

Swinden’s 12-year-old son, Jace.

Woods’ character is killed in the scene after he refuses to yield

in a swordfight against a British sailor, and Swinden shoots him at

close range.

During the 1812 era, boys of Jace’s age who aspired for an

officer’s life served as midshipmen and had authority over adult

sailors, Jace said.

“We try to get the children involved and teach them living

history,” Jim Swinden said.

* ANDREW EDWARDS is the news assistant. He can be reached at (714)

966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards@latimes.com.