Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project

Verses in Vogue with the Vulgar

Commodore Rodgers. The United States frigate Commodore Rodgers [i.e., the President, commanded by Commodore John Rodgers] arrived within Sandy Hook Feb. 21 The revenue cutter Active, Capt. Cahoone, came up from the President, last evening, and informed us that Com. Rodgers fell in with two French frigates, and has captured three British merchant vessels, which he sunk, after taking out their cargoes, and has brought in thirty prisoners

This poem is another text on Commodore John Rodgers’s cruises in President (see A Happy New Year to Commodore Rodgers), but has an irregular metrical pattern. The author quotes Oliver Perry’s famous “Don’t give up the ship” (see Brilliant Naval Victory) but his main topic is “free trade and sailors’ rights,” the watchwords of the Democratic-Republicans in the War of 1812.

Minor changes are visible when comparing this broadside to an earlier edition. Here, the third line of the second verse (earlier, “They all keep clear from the PRESIDENT”) is “They strive to clear the PRESIDENT” and a new verse 8 (beginning “But Ah! had she come up”) is present at the top of the second column and the rest moved down in the form. With the additional verse, there was no room for Coverly’s imprint.

Additional Metadata

Date

1814

Place of Publication

Boston.

Publisher

Coverly, Nathaniel, 1775?-1824, printer.

Subjects

Rodgers, John, 1773-1838
Naval battles
Sailors
Ships

First Line

Our commodore's return'd again.

Identifiers

BIB ID: 294827
OCLC Control No.: (OCoLC)ocm78478096
OCLC Control No.: (OCoLC)ocn191480483
AAS General Catalog URL: http://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=294827
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Physical Dimensions

28 x 20 cm.

Transcriptions

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Related Items

Woodcut for Commodore Rodgers : The United States frigate Commodore Rodgers [i.e., the President, commanded by Commodore John Rodgers] arrived within Sandy Hook Feb. 21. The revenue cutter Active, Capt. Cahoone, came up from the President, last evening, and informed us that Com. Rodgers fell in with two French frigates, and has captured three British merchant vessels, which he sunk, after taking out their cargoes, and has brought in thirty prisoners

Citation

“Commodore Rodgers. The United States frigate Commodore Rodgers [i.e., the President, commanded by Commodore John Rodgers] arrived within Sandy Hook Feb. 21 The revenue cutter Active, Capt. Cahoone, came up from the President, last evening, and informed us that Com. Rodgers fell in with two French frigates, and has captured three British merchant vessels, which he sunk, after taking out their cargoes, and has brought in thirty prisoners,” Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project, accessed December 1, 2023, https://www.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/items/show/286.