Johnston Blakely was born in October 1781, near the village of Seaford in the County of Down, Ireland, whence, when he was two years old, his father, John Blakely, emigrated with his family to America, settling at Wilmington, North Carolina.
Johnston was prepared for college at a school in Flatbush, Long Island. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1800.
On February 5, 1800, Blakely accepted the appointment of midshipman in the Navy. Serving in the Mediterranean squadron on the President, John Adams, and Congress, he took part in the operations of the squadron before Tripoli. On February 10, 1807, he became a lieutenant. In 1811-1813 he commanded the brig Enterprise, in which he cruised off the coast of the United States, capturing the armed schooner Fly. On July 24, 1813, he was commissioned mastercommandant and given command of the sloop-of-war Wasp. On May 1, 1814, he sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the Wasp, and after capturing a number of enemy vessels, fell in with the British brig Reindeer on June 28 in the English Channel. In the ensuing close-quarters battle, the Reindeer, gallantly fought by her commander, Capt. William Manners, and his crew, was badly worsted by the superior gun power of the Wasp, and hauled down her flag when her captain was shot dead in a vain attempt to board the American vessel. The Reindeer was burnt, and Blakely proceeded to L'Orient, France, in order to land his numerous prisoners and to refit. Here he remained seven weeks, resuming his cruise on August 27, and taking three more enemy vessels by September 1, one of which was cut out from a convoy and burnt under the eyes of the convoying 74-gun ship.
In the late afternoon of September 1, he fell in with four sails, one of which proved to be the British brig Avon, slightly inferior in force to the Wasp. Blakely at once attacked, even surrendering the weather position in order to force the enemy to fight before her consorts could close. After an hour's combat the Avon answered Blakely's hail with the announcement that she had struck, but, before possession of the prize could be taken, a second enemy brig was observed approaching with two more coming up in the offing, and Blakely was obliged to abandon his prize. In this fight the Wasp was much damaged in sails and rigging, while the Avon sank two hours after the engagement.
"The course of the Wasp after this event, " says Mahan, "is traced by her captures. The meeting with the Avon was within a hundred miles of that with the Reindeer. On September 12 and 14, having run south three hundred and sixty miles, she took two vessels; being then about two hundred and fifty miles west from Lisbon. On the 216t, having made four degrees more southing, she seized the British brig Atalanta, a hundred miles east of Madeira. This prize being of exceptional value, Blakely decided to send her in, and she arrived safely at Savannah on November 4, in charge of Midshipman David Geisinger, who lived to become a captain in the navy. She brought with her Blakely's official dispatches, including the report of the affair with the Avon. " Three weeks after the capture of the Atalanta, the Wasp is known to have been nine hundred miles farther south but nothing more was ever heard of her.
Johnston Blakely was one of the most successful American naval officers durinf the War of 1812. For his service Blakely was commissioned captain on November 24, 1814, before the loss of the Wasp was known and was also tendered the thanks of Congress and a gold medal for his victory over the Reindeer. North Carolina's General Assembly presented a sword and tea service to Blakely's widow and voted to pay for education of his infant daughter. At least three U. S. Navy vessels, including a Knox-class destroyer escort, were named for him, as was Blakeley Island off the coast of Washington state and the town of Blakely, Georgia.
In December 1813 Blakely married Jane Ann Hoope (or Hooper), daughter of a New York merchant.
