Silver and glass brooch, 1814

Rear Admiral Cockburn gave this brooch to a Mrs. Outerbridge to commemorate her husband’s daring feat of piloting the Royal Naval fleet through the difficult North Rock Passage during the War of 1812. The fleet carried the troops responsible for the attack on Washington in August 1814, when the British occupied the city and set fire to many public buildings, including the White House and the Capitol. Pilot Outerbridge was likely a King’s Pilot, one of a select few entrusted with bringing the Royal Navy’s valuable and vulnerable warships through Bermuda’s treacherous reefs.