The Holy Terror: Captain William Nichols

Book excerpt: CAPTAIN WILLIAM NICHOLS Captain Nichols was a naval war hero in the War of 1812. He has been seldom mentioned in history books. He was a bold and daring privateer sea captain from Newburyport, MA, who was known as a man to be feared by the British who faced him on the sea. His story needs to be brought out of the shadows of history. “During the War, he captured 28 British Prizes, although one-half of the time he was in prison earning for himself the name of ‘The Holy Terror’ wherever seamen gathered”. H.W. Bartlett Upon his capture in the privateer Decatur, he was held in a cage constructed for him on the deck of a British frigate and deprived of communication with others for a month. He was then held in chains on a prison-ship in Chatham Harbor, England for a year and a half. President Madison ordered two British officers held in close confinement in the United States in response to Nichols’ cruel and inhumane treatment. Nichols was eventually exchanged for the two officers and returned to the United States. Following his imprisonment, he continued his naval battles against the British, completing two successful cruises on the fast-sailing privateer Harpy by the end of the war. His story rivals the tales of swashbuckling pirates that have inspired the minds of the greatest fiction writers.