I represent Peter Albourn. I held the rank of Seaman aboard the U.S. Sloop of War HORNET. I reported on board for the first time on June 1, 1820, in New York. Not only did the HORNET participate in the changing of the flag ceremony on July 17, 1821, gaily decked out in Pensacola Bay for the festivities, we brought James G. Forbes from Havana to Pensacola with the official orders from the Captain General of Cuba authorizing the transfer. We were also one of the vessels that evacuated Spanish officers and citizens who were leaving Pensacola when it became American.
Before I served on the Hornet, I briefly served as a Seaman on the Independence (the first ship of the line to be commissioned by the U.S. Navy) in December 1819, then on the Washington from December 1819 to May 1820, also as a Seaman.