Artist & Historical Notes
“Take It Back!:
WILLIAM ROBBINS on Matagorda Bay November 20, 1835”
Artist: Peter Rindlisbacher *
Historians: Dallam Masterson, Diana Compton, & Beth Fisher
Early in November 1835, Matagordians learned their coast was being blockaded by Mexican armed vessels.
The Permanent Council at San Felipe had recently advised that merchant Thomas McKinney had been engaged to purchase vessels for the Texians, and the Council had issued a blank Letter of Marque dated October 31, 1835 in order to recruit vessels. i
The various Committees of Safety were sent word by the Council to take whatever measures necessary to protect themselves and Texas.
When the William Robbins sailed into port at Matagorda, the local Committee of Safety, chaired by Samuel Rhoads Fisher, immediately sought to negotiate the hire or purchase of the William Robbins for the Public.ii
A purchase was arranged based on representations from McKinney that a draft on his house would be accepted on behalf of the Public.
However, the Seller also required the personal guarantees by Fisher and others that they would pay for the vessel.iii
Captain Hurd was given command of the William Robbins and he then sailed her to the wrecked schooner San Felipe to recover guns to arm the William Robbins. iv
This was “just in time,” since on the evening of November 19th , 1835, Matagordians received word that the American merchant schooner Hannah Elizabeth, carrying munitions to the Texian Army, had been captured by the Mexican Schooner of War Bravo, and that a prize crew was holding her at Pass Cavallo, at the entrance to Matagorda Bay.
This image portrays the scene on Matagorda Bay early the next morning when 23 volunteer residents commanded by Samuel Rhoads Fisher and Captain Hurd cracked on all sail to “take back” the Hannah Elizabeth.
The crew on the William Robbins recaptured the Hannah Elizabeth that had gone aground and was breaking up.
They recovered most of her cargo and auctioned it on the beach. v
The depicted time in the painting is 8:00 AM; the NOAA website indicates that the sun at that moment in 1835 was bearing 122 degrees on the compass and 13 degrees elevation off the horizon.
Matagorda is visible in the distance to the left, with Dog Island a little nearer.
A small schooner is seen loading cargo onto “lighters”, shallow draft barges able to pull up to the town shoreline.
The Bay was unbroken water at that time from end to end.
The Texas Navy began with the purchase of the William Robbins for the government at Matagorda by Fisher and the Matagorda Committee of Safety.
The Provisional government finalized the purchase in January 1836 when William Robbins was renamed Liberty, and it became the first war ship of the new Texas Navy.
Liberty set sail earlier than the other Texas Navy government-owned vessels and played a key role in preventing supplies and reinforcements from reaching Santa Anna’s army and ultimately proved to be of great strategic importance to the victory at San Jacinto.
i Council at San Felipe to Thomas McKinney, October 27, 1835; Council at San Felipe to Master Commanders, October 31, 1835, both in Barker, Eugene C. “Journal of the Permanent Council (October 11-27, 1835).”
The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, vol. 7, no. 4, 1904, pp. 249-78.
JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27784973.
Accessed 5 Jan. 2024.
ii Samuel Rhoads Fisher to Provisional Government, December 17, 1835.
Mirabeau B. Lamar Papers #278, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Fannin to Smith, December 11, 1835, as published in S. Rhoads Fisher, “To The People of Texas”, January 12, 1836, in Dienst, Alex. “The Navy of the Republic of Texas: I. The First Navy of Texas.”
The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, vol. 12, no. 3, 1909, pp 165-203. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30242951. Accessed 5 Jan, 2024.
iii San Felipe de Austin, Title document for William Robbins, December 5, 1835.
Papers of the Texas Revolution, Edited by John H. Jenkins. Vol. 3, pp. 98. Austin: Presidial Press, 1973. archive.texashistorytrust.org/view/360874145/ accessed 5 Jan. 2024.
iv Hall to Austin, Brazoria, November 23, 1835. Papers of the Texas Revolution, Edited by John H. Jenkins. Vol. 2, pp. 493. Austin: Presidial Press, 1973. archive.texashistorytrust.org/view/361364095/ accessed 5 Jan. 2024.
v Samuel Rhoads Fisher to Provisional Government, December 17, 1835. Mirabeau B. Lamar Papers #278, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
