A Staffordshire creamware jug, early 19th century, with copper lustre collar and handle, the body transfer printed with portraits of Captains Lawrence and Decatur

The present jug commemorates the first single-ship action of the War of 1812 between English and American sloops of war: the sinking of the British ship Peacock by the United States ship Hornet commanded by Captain Lawrence on 24 February 1813. For a similar larger jug in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see J. Biddle, ‘American History on English Jugs’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, p.305 (https://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/bulletins/1/pdf/3258222.pdf.bannered.pdf).