The Squadron Commander's Share: Decatur v. Chew and the Prize Money for the Chesapeake's First War of 1812 Cruise

In the age of sail, every maritime power offered prize money as an incentive for the officers and crews of their naval vessels and their privateers to capture, and to bring home, enemy ships with their cargoes. During the War of 1812, the U.S. frigate Chesapeake captured a valuable English merchant vessel in January 1813, and the resulting litigation, a prize case called Decatur v. Chew, laid bare the tensions between ranking officers over their contrasting views of their appropriate shares.