Reuben James, a hero of the forecastleCyrus Townsend Brady











REUBEN JAMES


YOUNG HEROES OF OUR NAVY.
Uniform Edition. Each, 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
Reuben James.
A Hero of the Forecastle. By CYRUS T. BRADY.
Illustrated by George Gibbs and Others.
The Hero of Manila.
Dewey on the Mississippi and the Pacific. By RossITER
JOHNSON, author of “Phaeton Rogers," " A History of
the War of Secession,” etc. Illustrated by B. West
Clinedinst and Others.
The Hero of Erie (Commodore Perry).
By JAMES BARNES, author of “Midshipman Farragut,"
“Commodore Bainbridge,” etc. With 10 full-page
Illustrations.
Commodore Bainbridge. From the Gunroom to
the Quarter-deck.
By JAMES BARNES. Illustrated by George Gibbs and
Others.
Midshipman Farragut.
By JAMES BARNES. Illustrated by Carlton T. Chapman.
Decatur and Somers.
By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL, author of “Paul Jones,”
“Little Jarvis,” etc. With 6 full-page Illustrations by
J. O. Davidson and Others.
Paul Jones.
By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. With 8 full-page Illus-
trations.
Midshipman Paulding.
A True Story of the War of 1812. By MOLLY ELLIOT
SEAWELL. With 6 full-page Illustrations.
Little Jarvis.
The Story of the Heroic Midshipman of the Frigate
Constellation. By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. With
6 full-page Illustrations.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.


THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.


REUBEN JAMES
A HERO OF THE FORECASTLE
BY
CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY
AUTHOR OF
COMMODORE PAUL JONES, FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY, FOR
THE FREEDOM OF THE SEA, STEPHEN DECATUR, ETC.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY GEORGE GIBBS AND OTHERS

zbiy
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1900


THENTIOK
PUBLIC LIBLARY
184348
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOLINDATIONS.
1901
COPYRIGHT, 1900,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.


TO MY BOYS,
CYRUS TOWNSEND, JR.,
SIDNEY GUTHRIE, AND
ESMOND BARRETT,
THIS BOOK
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THEIR FATHER.





PREFACE.
Among the famous characters treated of in The
Young Heroes of our Navy series, the plain name of
REUBEN JAMES may seem at first glance sadly out of
place. He was nothing but a common sailor; a common
sailor he was born, a common sailor he remained, a
common sailor he died. He never even learned to write
his own name. He had all the faults and failings of his
rude class, and most of its virtues as well. I dare not
claim that in any sense he ever became an uncommon
sailor. No; he was just a type of the plain American
blue jacket of the beginning of our navy.
Though better known than most of his class in
that he almost alone, among the many brave sailors who
fought our battles on the sea, is mentioned in the pages
of history, I am sure there were many others like him,
equally brave, equally devoted, equally skillful. When
he saved the life of his great commander by his heroic
sacrifice, he preserved to his country an officer who lived
to render her splendid service. Therefore the victories
and achievements of that officer belong as well to
Reuben James as to himself.
Nearly all individual greatness stands out against a
vii


viii
REUBEN JAMES.
bright background of high endeavor on the part of
unknown men, and rests upon a vast, if forgotten,
amount of popular effort. In other words, the man on
the quarter-deck can do little without the aid and co-
operation of the man before the mast. It seemed good
to me, therefore, when I was asked to write a sketch
of some naval worthy, to include among the officers and
gentlemen of this series the story of the man behind
the gun, REUBEN JAMES, A HERO OF THE FORE-
CASTLE.
He belongs with them all, for the sailor made them
all.
CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY.
PHILADELPHIA, PA., April, 1900.


LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.
FACING PAGE
“ You knows we allus shakes hands afore we git
into a fight” . . . . . . .
Frontispiece
Reuben leaped upon the man
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
30
He struck at one of the monsters with his oar .
.
.
.
.
.
.
. •79
The Constellation raking the Insurgente .
The Constellation and the Vengeance . .
·
.
.
.
. 107
Captain Decatur wounded
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
145
The publishers desire to acknowledge the courtesy of Edgar Stanton Maclay, Esq.,
who has consented to the use of certain cuts and diagrams from his well-known History
of the United States Navy.
ix





REUBEN JAMES.
CHAPTER I.
UPON a summer evening near the close of the last
century, a sturdy, fair-haired lad, about sixteen years
of age, dressed in a soiled and tattered suit of home-
spun, without coat or shoes, was walking down the river
front of the city of Philadelphia, near the wharves. In
his left hand he carried a small bundle; with his right
he held a piece of coarse bread, begged from a house
on Market Street a few moments before, which he was
eating ravenously. His face and hands were grimy and
soiled. He looked altogether friendless and lonely, as
he shambled along with the awkward gait of a coun-
tryman. He had walked from Wilmington, Delaware,
during the past two days, sleeping in the fields, and
subsisting on scanty charity by the way. It was evi-
dent that he was very tired and very hungry. There
were marks of tears around his dull eyes, and his whole
appearance was utterly forlorn.
His uncouth, rude aspect attracted the attention
of some of the ruffians from the purlieus of the little
city, who were accustomed to congregate on the


REUBEN JAMES.
wharves on the river front in the cool of the evening,
and as he continued his aimless saunter he was met
here and there by jibes and sneers. Presently one or
two of the boys about his own age, or older, fell in
line and walked along with him, mimicking his awk-
ward gait and ravenous eating, and creating great
laughter among the idle bystanders. To all the re-
marks he vouchsafed no answer, nor did he deign to
notice the antics of his tormentors, until one of the larg-
est lads, grown bolder by a fancied immunity, by a
quick motion knocked the crust of bread from his hand.
It fell into the street. The boy's face flushed and his
eyes filled. Stooping, he picked up the bread, wiped
it off carefully, and stowed it away in the pocket
of his tattered breeches. The act was greeted with
roars of laughter, and cries of “Pig! pig! Gutter
picker!” etc., rang in the air.
The boy clinched his hand in the most deliberate
manner, and then, with a quickness not expected in
one of his loose-jointed appearance, he struck the lad
who had knocked the bread in the street full in the
face. The hulking fellow went down as if he had been
shot. Without a second's hesitation the countryman
followed up his blow by springing into the midst of the
crowd and striking right and left vigorously. The
suddenness of the onslaught took them by surprise and
they gave ground a little, but in a moment they furi-
ously returned, and sprang at him with cries and ejacu-


REUBEN JAMES.
other kick, when he was jerked violently backward,
thrown to the ground with great force, and viciously
kicked a half-dozen times before he could rise. As he
struggled to his feet he saw standing over him, with
clinched fists, flashing eyes, and Aushed cheeks, a tall,
handsome, well - dressed, distinguished - looking lad,
younger and slighter than he, but with such a spirit
and intensity of purpose gleaming in his eyes that, after
one glance, he backed away muttering fiercely. The
rest of his force rallied around the bully and grouped
themselves opposite the young gentleman who still
faced them.
“You cowards!” he said contemptuously, “ a dozen
to one! Shame on you!” Whipping a knife out of his
pocket as he spoke, he quickly stooped down, cut the
lashings, and the country boy at once rose to his feet.
“Now stand here beside me," said the other lad,
“and if you have the spirit for it we'll fight it out
together.”
“I've got the spirit to fight, master,” responded the
boy. “Yon big one bears my mark on his face there,
an' t'others too. It took all on 'em to throw me
down.”
“Who are ye, anyway, ye popinjay?" said the big-
gest boy. “Comin' here an' interferin' with our fun?
Ye young aristocrat!”
“ I'll show you who I am!” cried the young man,
moving forward, apparently undaunted by the number


REUBEN JAMES.
of his enemies, his eyes flashing. He was closely fol-
lowed by the slow but stouter country boy.
Confident in their numbers, the wharf rats closed
around the two. But the impending outbreak was
stopped by the opportune arrival of a brawny sailor.
“Avast there!” he shouted in the gruff voice of the
sea. “ Get a move on ye, ye dogs!—It's all right,
Master Stephen,” he said, interposing his huge bulk in
front of the young gentleman.—“ You, be off with ye,”
he added, turning to the abashed ruffians. “Shake a
leg! Up anchor with ye! Lay yer course for another
port, an' bear a hand too!” He made a step or two
toward them, and not liking the appearance of the
man, they turned and fled jeering.
“ All safe now, Master Stephen, I think,” said the
sailor, smiling.
“Yes, thanks to you, Tucker. I don't know what
they would have done to us if you had not happened
along. Not that we were afraid of them, though,” he
added. “Hey, boy?”
“No, sir. Leastaways I know you wasn't, an'as
fer me ” His face flushed again and his teeth
clinched. Then, as his hand fell to his pocket, he hauled
forth the soiled piece of bread and began gnawing it
greedily as before.
“Haven't you anything better than that dirty crust
to eat?” exclaimed the other boy, looking at it with
disgust.


REUBEN JAMES.
"Read, sir? No, sir, I can't read."
The first boy gave a long whistle of astonish-
ment.
“Well, what are you going to do after you get
something to eat?”
“I don't know, sir.”
“Where are you going to sleep to-night?”
“I don't know that, nuther.”
“ Tucker, can't you take him on board the Ariel? ”
asked the other boy, turning to the old sailor, who had
remained an interested spectator of the little conversa-
tion.
“No, sir, not 'less he ships reg'lar,” replied the lat-
ter, touching his cap. “Cap’n he don't allow no wisi-
tors on board his wessels, but if I mought make
so bold, sir, we're needin' a ship's boy. If this
youngster ain't got no place fer to go, an'wants
to go a-cruisin' with us, I guess we could ship him.
Though he does look more like a haymaker than
a sailor boy, I calkilate we could lick him into shape,”
he said to himself, after a deliberate inspection of
Reuben.
“Good!” exclaimed the young man, brightening,
and turning to James. “How would you like to be a
sailor?”
“I mought as well be that as anythin' else, I guess,"
answered the lad indifferently.
“As well!” cried the other boy. “Why, I am dying
y.


REUBEN JAMES.
to be one, only father won't let me; but I'll be one
yet, you see! Then we might get on a ship together,
perhaps.—Isn't that so, Tucker?”.
“ Y-yes, y-yes, sir,” said the old sailor, “ though,
as a rule, there ain't much wisitin' betwixt the fore-
castle an' the cabin on most ships. The officers ain't
too sociable with the men.”
“Oh, we'll see about that. It won't be that way
on my ship when I get one,” said the boy lightly, with
a boy's indifference to the distinctions of rank. “So
you'll go, will you?”
“Yes, sir," assented Reuben, after a moment's hesi-
tation; “I will.”
“All right,” answered the other; “ you'll never re-
gret it, I'm sure. That's my father's ship out there,
and I'll speak to him about you.”
“ Lord, sir!” exclaimed young James, filled with
amazement at the idea that the beautiful ship which
lay gently swinging to her anchor with the slow flood,
should be the possession of the father of his new friend.
“Do he own it all, sir?”.
“He and some other gentlemen do," was the an-
swer. “Well, I must be getting along for supper.
Good-night. I'll see you when the Ariel gets back
from Bordeaux. She goes out in the morning with
the flood. I made a cruise on her when I was only
eight years old. It was great fun. Good-by," said the
lad, holding out his hand.


REUBEN JAMES.
“Mought I be so bold, sir, as to ax yer name, sir,
before we parts? ”.
“ Certainly you may,” was the answer. “ It's
Stephen—Stephen Decatur.”
“I'll never fergit wot you've done fer me to-day,
sir," said the other boy gratefully, shaking the prof-
fered hand.
“Oh, that's all right. Good-by again.”
“Good-by, sir.” The young countryman stood
gazing wistfully after the boy, following the lithe,
graceful figure of young Decatur as he ran rapidly up
the street until he turned the corner.
“Now, you boy!” said the sailor, using a very dif-
ferent tone of voice from that when addressing Decatur,
“have ye got any kit?”
“ Any kit, sir? Mother had an old cat down at Wil-
mington, but I didn't bring her along.".
“Cat!” roared the boatswain's mate, breaking into
loud laughter; “ we don't want no more cats on board
our ship than them we've got. Say, sonny, it's got
nine tails, that cat has, an' every one o' them cuts
like—whew-w-w! W’ich I means, have ye got any
close, or anythin' else?”
“ Nuthin' but this, sir,” said the lad, lifting the bag.
“Wot's that?”
“It's a pair o' shoes, sir.”
“Well, go over to the public, there, and git some-
thin' to eat, an' come along. Look sharp about it, too,


REUBEN JAMES.
II
them on board the Ariel for a nickel apiece, which
Tucker paid.
The sun had set and the night was coming on when
they reached the side of the ship. Tucker seized the
manrope and climbed nimbly up the battens to the
gangway, the accommodation ladder having been un-
shipped in view of their early departure. Reuben fol-
lowed him slowly and timidly. When he reached the
deck he found the boatswain's mate waiting for him,
and, in obedience to a signal, he followed him aft to the
mainmast. An officer was walking the quarter-deck.
The boatswain stopped and saluted. As the officer
turned toward them he remarked:
“ Come aboard, sir.”
“Very good,” replied the officer, taking a small
book from the roof of the cabin and running his eye
over the lines until he came to Tucker's name, after
which he scribbled two initials, “ C. S.” It was not until
long after that Reuben, who had been an interested
observer, learned that the two letters stood for “clean
and sober," and that the initials “D. D. D.," which
appeared more frequently than the others, stood for
“drunk, dirty, and disorderly," and denoted the con-
dition of the returning seamen.
“ This yere's a small boy, sir," said Tucker.
“So I see,” returned the officer drily. “What did
you bring him here for? This is no lodging place for
wandering vagabonds."


12
REUBEN JAMES.
“I ain't no vagabond, sir," replied Reuben, enter-
ing the conversation abruptly. “I come to— "
“Silence!” roared the astonished mate, as soon as
he could get his breath. “Good heavens! Are you
presuming to address me on the quarter-deck of the
ship without my speaking to you first? If you be-
longed to my crew, I would give you a good dose of
the rope's end. As it is, your boat is alongside. Get in
it and be off!”
“ If ye please, yer honor, sir," said the old boat-
swain's mate," he does belong to the crew. Least-
aways he's offered to ship as boy fer the v’yage, an'
knowin' the need o' one, I took the liberty o'bringin'
him off. He don't know nuthin', sir. He's lived in the
country all his life. He's never been off land before.
He's awful ignorant, sir.”
“Oh!” said the mate, somewhat mollified, “ that's
how it is, is it? Well, take him forward, and stow
him away below somewhere, and in the morning he
can sign the papers, and we'll try to lick him in
shape.”
“Ay, ay, sir," said the old sailor. “ An' that rope's
endin' you spoke about, sir?”
“Oh, we'll let that go for to-night, anyway,” an-
swered the mate with a little laugh.
“Wery good, sir,” replied old Tucker, smiling.
“Come along, youngster.”
The man and the boy walked forward. When they


REUBEN JAMES.
selves in a narrow, low-ceiled, gloomy, ill-ventilated
apartment in the very eyes of the ship. A dim lantern
hanging from the foremast shed a flickering light and
a very bad smell in the apartment. Depending from
hooks above were stretched a number of soiled, grimy
hammocks.
“Here's one you can have," said Tucker, pointing;
“this one's mine. T'other one belongs to Jones, but
he's overstaying his leave an’ won't be off, fer certain.”
“Thank ye,” said James politely. “What'll I do
with it?”
“Git in it, boy! It's yer bed,” answered the sailor.
“ Bed!”
“ That's wot it is, an'a wery good bed, too. Now!
lemme see ye try it.”
The boy laid his little bundle on the deck, seized
the edge of the hammock in his hands, and made a wild
spring at the swinging piece of canvas. How it came
about he did not know: when he gathered himself
from the deck the next moment, feeling very sore and
bruised, Tucker greeted the performance with a
Homeric laugh.
“This is the way to do it,” he said. “Take hold of
that hook in the deck above there with yer right hand;
put the hook of yer other elbow in the middle o' the
hammock; give a jump an' a pull an' a swing. So!
There ye are!”
Following these instructions, after one or two


REUBEN JAMES.
futile attempts Reuben mastered the trick and stretched
himself out in the hammock, which he found, after all,
to be a rather comfortable bed. Nightgowns were
luxuries then and thereafter on the sea, and the boat-
swain, kicking off his shoes, removing his jacket, and
loosening his jumper, followed his example. Wearied
and tired as he was, the boy was soon fast asleep. He
was awakened by the sound of a shrill whistle, followed
by a hoarse, bawling cry:
"All hands up anchor! Turn out! turn out! Show
a leg there! Shake it up, men! Lively, boys! All
hands up anchor!”
Somebody hit him a vigorous thump in the back
from beneath and unceremoniously tumbled him out
of his hammock.
“On deck there!” shouted a rough voice, and,
though scarcely awake, he followed the others. It was
about three o'clock in the morning. The tide was
already on the ebb, and the captain was about to get
under way. Reuben was utterly ignorant of the orders
and of their purport, but he was willing and anxious,
and he pulled and hauled with the rest. When the
capstan bars were shipped, he caught hold of one of
them and pushed away with all his might. When the
anchor was aweigh, and the sails sheeted home, he
joined the others of the crew in swaying away on the
three topsail halyards in succession. To go aloft was
beyond his power at the time, but he found plenty to


REUBEN JAMES.
do in other directions until the ship, catching the slant
of the down-river breeze, slipped noiselessly through the
water, leaving the sleeping town far behind. Presently,
as he felt very drowsy, and as nobody paid any atten-
tion to him, he slipped below and clambered into his
hammock again, where he soon fell asleep. He was
awakened some time after by his friend Tucker.
“Well, dash my wig!” said that old barnacle, shak-
ing the hammock, “if yere ain't this young gentleman
takin' a snooze, w’ile the rest on us are workin' like
the slaves we is to git the ship goin'! You've mis-
took yer callin', youngster; you'd ought to be aft, livin'
with the captain; but even he's awake. Now, break
out o' here in a hurry! Mess call has been sounded
and breakfast is ready.”
It was broad daylight and the sun was flooding the
gloomy interior of the fore peak with its radiance, as
the boy dropped from his hammock and stumbled on
deck. The men were clustered in a little group about
the galley forward, where the cook, supreme in his
station, was serving out steaming bowls of coffee and
pieces of ship's bread. That was the breakfast. Not
a very luxurious affair, but the boy, with the healthy
appetite of a young animal, made voracious inroads
upon his allotment. After he had finished his rude
meal he was called aft to the captain. The commander
of the ship was a well-bred, fine-looking man, of pre-
possessing appearance. Reuben thought that there


REUBEN JAMES.
ur name
was a curious likeness in his face to that of the young
lad who had befriended him the day before.
“Well, sir, who are you?” said the captain shortly,
but not unkindly.
“I guess I ain't nobody pertickler, sir,” answered
the boy doubtfully.
“That is quite evident,” said the captain, smiling.
“What is your name, why are you here, and what do
you want? ”
“My name is Reuben James, yer honor. I met a
young gentleman last night, w’en the town boys had
me down an’ was kickin' me, an' he stepped in an’
pushed 'em off, an' then he axed me wot I was goin' to
do, an' he axed me how'd I like to be a sailor, an' Mr.
Tucker he took me along with him, an' here I am, sir.”
“Oh, you want to be a sailor, do you? Well,
you don't look very promising,” said the captain sur-
veying him calmly. “What is the name of the boy
who helped you and sent you here?” he added.
“ His name was Stephen, sir. I disremember the
last part of it, but he looked like you, sir.”
“It's that young scapegrace Stephen, I'll be
bound,” said the man to himself, evidently not dis-
pleased with his conjecture. “Very well,” he continued
aloud, “we need a ship's boy, and I guess you'll do,
though your feet do look more fitted to the plow
furrow than they do for the footropes of the light
yard.—Tucker!”


REUBEN JAMES. "
“Ay, ay, sir!” responded the old sailor, springing
forward, knuckling his forehead and giving a sea scrape.
“ Take this lad down to the supercargo, and have
him entered on the books of the ship as ship's boy.
Keep him in your watch and look after him, and if he
does not do what is right, give him a dose of the rope's
end now and then—it'll do him good.”
And in that manner young James entered upon a
long and adventurous seafaring life, in the merchant-
ship Ariel, owned by Messrs. Gurney and Smith, of
Philadelphia, in conjunction with her captain, Stephen
Decatur, the father of the great commodore, and him-
self a distinguished privateersman, and subsequently a
commodore in the navy as well. It was a hard, rough,
brutal life. He had not been an hour in the larboard
watch before his curiosity as to what a rope's ending
was had been entirely satisfied. Indeed, the demon-
stration had been so ample and adequate as to leave
absolutely no obscurity or doubt in his mind as to
what it was; and for weeks he was not allowed to
forget the lesson. For the first period of his life on
shipboard it seemed to his dull imagination that the
principal function of a ship's boy was to afford a con-
venient object for the rope's end, on any and all occa-
sions, for any and everybody. If the persistent applica-
tion of the end of a rope in the hand of a stout seaman
to his youthful anatomy tended to develop the man,
he felt no doubt but that in the end, if he survived the


REUBEN JAMES.
process, he would eventually become a lord high ad-
miral! The labor was unceasing, the hours long, the
exposure severe. The food was plain, not to say
coarse, and there was not too much of it, such as it
was. A daily tot of grog was the most prized por-
tion of the ration. In extra heavy weather they got
more grog and less cooked food. Work went on
day in and day out, with Sunday the worst day
of all.
As soon as they struck the open ocean Reuben
became dreadfully seasick, and remained so for several
days. When he had lived on the farm he had loathed
the plow, but as he felt the pangs of seasickness it
seemed to him that Heaven itself could present nothing
more inviting than the long furrow turned by the shin-
ing share. No one had the slightest sympathy for him,
not even his best friend Tucker, but every means that
a coarse imagination and long practice could dictate
was used to aggravate his malady. Among the loath-
some things presented to him were dishes of fat pork
swimming in hot gravy, which drove him to despair.
But even this finally had an end, and one day he stag-
gered to the deck, weak, faint, trembling, and shak-
ing, but having at last regained command of his stom-
ach. It was the one solitary thing on the ship that he
could command. The words of old Tucker were lit-
erally true. He was under the orders of everybody;
even the big negro captain of the head, whose admo-


REUBEN JAMES.
nitions he had been told he might disregard, treated
him more or less like a dog.
He was not a very bright boy, but slow and stolid,
and it took him a long time to get even a reasonable
working knowledge of the intricate mass of cordage
in the ship. It was a longer time still before he could
go aloft with any confidence. The first time he tried
it he was in such terror as he had never been before.
It was a calm, pleasant day, and there was but little roll
on the ship, but he felt every moment as if he were
about to fall off, and either be dashed to pieces on the
hard deck beneath him, or drowned in the deep blue
water alongside. There was a certain dogged courage
about him, however, that kept him up to the mark
in this and other things. In spite of the jeers of the
men, who watched his first aërial performance with
cruel interest and cutting comment, to the effect that
he would squeeze all the tar out of the shrouds if he
did not relax his grasp, he managed to get over the
main topmast crosstrees and come down safely on the
other side.
It was a longer time still before he could learn to
run like a cat up the shaking shrouds, and, disdaining
the safe lubber's hole, swing himself over the perilous
futtock shrouds and into the top, and finally swarm up
the slender stays to the royal yard. He did not lack
practice in that quarter, however, for he was often
mastheaded for infractions of discipline or drill, which


2
REUBEN JAMES.
forming him of the continued good health of his family,
Decatur raced forward. Recognizing his young friend
leaning over the rail looking toward the town, he tiptoed
softly toward him and struck him soundly on the back.
It was no new thing for James to be struck soundly
on the back, or anywhere else—he was used to it; never-
theless he turned about until his eye fell upon the gal-
lant figure of young Stephen Decatur. His face bright-
ened at once.
“Hello!” cried the young gentleman. “I'm so
glad to see you,” he added, shaking him by the hand,
a performance which scandalized Tucker, who thought
that such familiarity was disorganizing to the service.
“How well you're looking! You don't look as if you
had ever seen a plow. Have you had a good cruise?
Did you have any shipwrecks? Did you have any ex-
citing adventures? Did you see any sharks or whales?
Did the ship catch fire? Did you have any storms?
Were you sick? Do you like it? Tell me all about it!”
Secure for the nonce from the omnipresent rope's
end by his juxtaposition to the captain's son, young
Reuben detailed in his slow way the story of the cruise.
By the favor of the captain, who was most indulgent
to his son, Reuben spent a great deal of the time in
port with Stephen, whose devoted admirer and hench-
man he speedily became.
On the next cruise, and the cruise after that, he re-
mained one of the crew of the ship. With each return
1
.


CHAPTER II.
The facts were, that, persuaded by some older
sailors, who thought it an amusing thing to make
a boy drunk, he had, while deeply intoxicated, been
shipped aboard a British bark plying between Liver-
pool, Bordeaux, and Halifax, and, when the Ariel sailed,
was miles away in the other direction. His after life
was that of a common sailor of the day. He made
several cruises in different ships and developed into a
fine, splendid seaman, an “ A. B.” in every particular.
He was a daring and gallant light yard man. He could
take his trick at the wheel with the best of them, and
there was not a nicety of the delicate art of steering
a ship which he had not mastered. He could pull a
skillful oar in the ship's cutter, and manage a small boat
as well. He could heave the lead with any old shell-
back afloat. There was not a rope, brace, sheet, nor
halyard which he could not find instantly on the dark-
est night. He could pass the weather earring of the
topsail in a gale of wind like a veteran.
Mentally, he was the same rather slow, stolid lad
as before. Reading was an accomplishment he never
mastered to the end of his life. Physically, he was en-
24


'REUBEN JAMES.
There was a man at the wheel, and one or two other
men were visible on the stranger.
“Schooner ahoy!” cried the captain of the clipper.
“What's the matter with you?”
A red-capped figure, wearing a cutlass, sprang upon
the rail of the schooner, upon which they were slowly
drifting down.
“Ve are in distress," he cried, spreading out his
hands; “ve have no watair! Ve lose our boat in ze
storm! Ve die for drink! Sends a boat to us!”
It was the work of a few moments to clear away
one of the quarter boats, pitch a couple of breakers
of water into it, and row toward the schooner; but the
cutter had scarcely left the side of the ship when a
change came over the schooner. As if by magic, a row
of ports was thrown open, and a tarpaulin, which had
covered a long, irregular mass forward, was jerked aside,
revealing a long twenty-four-pound gun. The Ameri-
can flag came down with a run in the twinkling of an
eye, and the French tricolor flapped in the breeze from
the mainmast head. A command rang out on the decks
of the schooner, which was instantly crowded with
men. A moment later, the little vessel was enveloped
with smoke, out of which came lurid flashes followed
by the deep boom of the guns.
At close range the broadside of the heavily armed
schooner did great execution on the clipper. A heavy
round shot hit the boat on its errand of mercy and


REUBEN JAMES.
sank it; a grapeshot struck the captain of the clipper
and instantly killed him. A shot from the long tom
hulled her, and drove a cloud of splinters on board.
Two or three of the other men in the unprepared
American ship were hit, and fell groaning to the deck.
From the lee side of the schooner, a boat filled with
heavily armed men dashed around the stern and made
for the clipper. Before the startled men, who were
utterly unprepared for such an attack, could receive
the orders of the scarcely less startled officers, the boat
was hooked on forward, and a swarm of men, cutlass
or pistol in hand, clambered on board over the bows.
There was a show of resistance from one or two of the
officers and men, but the fighting was over in a mo-
ment, and the clipper was in the possession of a French
privateer, Sans Culotte. The chief American officer
remaining alive protested vigorously against the cap-
ture to the captain of the privateer, on the ground
that there was peace between the United States and
France, but his protests, which were technically cor-
rect, were unheeded. The Sans Culotte had been so
badly injured in the storm a few days before, and the
Morning Star, which she had captured by such base
tactics, was so speedy and graceful a ship, and of so
much value besides, on account of her cargo, that the
captain of the privateer determined to transfer his flag
and his equipments to the latter vessel. His men,
elated with their successes, and delighted with the


REUBEN JAMES.
great value of their prize, worked assiduously for sev-
eral days, turning the honest clipper into a predatory
war vessel.
At the end of that time the American seamen, who
had been well treated, on the whole, by the privateers,
were put on board the schooner, which was given in
charge of a small crew and was ordered to Martinique.
The American officers remained on the clipper, which
continued on a privateering cruise. The situation of
the prisoners on the little schooner was very different
from what it had been on the clipper. There were four-
teen prisoners on board, including Reuben, in charge of
but six Frenchmen, including one officer. On account
of this disparity in numbers, the prisoners were stowed
below in the hold, and only allowed to come on deck
one at a time. All the hatches were battened down ex-
cept one, which was left open, and which was guarded
day and night by one of the Frenchmen armed with
a cutlass and two pistols. Another man was, of course,
always stationed at the helm, and two more seamen, all
heavily armed, remained on deck, while the remaining
two took short rests in the cabin. It was not natural
for fourteen Americans to submit tamely to six French-
men, however heavily armed they might be, and the
hold was filled with discussions and plans as to what
should be done.
By the kindness of the French officer, who remained
almost constantly on deck himself, the Americans were


REUBEN JAMES.
little attention to the threatening cloud, save the
helmsman, one of the best of the lot, who cast anxious
glances from time to time in the direction of the hori-
zon. The officer happened to be asleep below. As the
clouds grew blacker, Reuben judged that the moment
of action was approaching. Stopping in the gangway,
he whistled a bar or two of The Yankee Man-of-War,
a favorite sea song in those days, and broke into a few
steps of the sailor's hornpipe, clicking his heels loudly
on, the deck.
At this signal, which had been agreed upon, the
men below quietly assembled around the hatchway,
carefully withdrawing themselves from the sight of
the unsuspecting sentry on the deck above. The
man was standing lazily near the hatch, his cutlass
in one hand, a pistol in the other. He was smoking
a cigarette. Suddenly the squall struck them with
tropic intensity. The ship heeled over under the force
of the gale until the water trickled along her lee side.
The man aft ran to the mainsheet to ease it off. The
man at the wheel put the helm a-lee to throw her up
into the wind. In obedience to a sharp command
from the oldest seaman on deck, the man forward
sprang to the halyards.
At this moment Reuben leaped upon the man
at the hatchway and struck him fiercely in the face
with his fist and then grappled with him. He stag-
gered, dropped his pistol, which fell through the



Reuben leaped upon the man.


REUBEN JAMES.
hatch, and, unable to use his cutlass for the mo-
ment, struggled desperately with the frantic boy on
the careening ship, screaming loudly for help. The
men below instantly sprang up the ladder. The first
man caught the falling pistol. To wrench the cutlass
from the hand of the guard and to release Reuben. was
the work of a moment. Two or three of the men,
snatching belaying pins from the rail, rushed forward
toward the man at the halyards. The man aft at the
sheet whipped out his pistol and fired into the mass
of Americans, killing one of them. Before he could
draw his cutlass two of the sailors sprang upon him
and disarmed him.
At this juncture the two remaining Frenchmen,
pistol in hand, sprang out from the cuddy. A ball
from the pistol captured from the guard struck the
first man, the officer, in the breast and instantly
killed him. The captured cutlass in the hand of an-
other American dispatched the other of the two.
There only remained the man at the wheel. With the
instinct of a sailor he had clung to the spokes. The
squall had been blowing upon them in wild fury. To
let go the helm meant the broaching to of the schooner
and the loss of them all, so with a white face he held
on. In the midst of the confusion the main topmast
carried away and crashed over their heads. There
were good seamen on the vessel, however, and they
soon cleared the wreck and got the ship before


32
REUBEN JAMES.
the wind, which died away as suddenly as it had
sprung up.
The men were jubilant over their success, though
their situation was by no means devoid of peril, and
their escape still to be effected. In the first place, the
only navigator among them, the French officer, had
been killed. They were a rude, unlettered lot. Scarce
one of them could read. As to studying the mysteries
of the chart, it was utterly beyond them. They had a
general idea that the West Indies lay in a westerly
direction, so they shaped their course to due west by the
compass, the wind permitting it, in the hope of making
a landfall, though what land they might reach was a
problem to them all. It certainly would not be Amer-
ica. Had they possessed more skill or had more knowl-
edge they would have endeavored to reach the coast of
the United States. The schooner was not a very rich
prize. She had been stripped of everything of any
value before her capture, but she would be worth some-
thing handsome to a lot of poor sailors could they
bring her in, so they resolved to do the best they could
under the circumstances. They divided themselves
into watches, and appointed the oldest seaman to take
charge.
The day after the cutting out, however, it fell a
dead calm, and for several days they drifted aimlessly
about until a light breeze sprang up during the night,
and in the morning they found themselves within easy


REUBEN JAMES.
distance of a large ship. The long line of black muzzles
protruding from a row of ports proclaimed her a ship
of war, and the tricolor fluttering from the gaff told
them that she was a Frenchman. They turned to
escape, but a shot across the bows convinced them of
the futility of the attempt. In obedience to orders the
schooner was thrown up in the wind and hove to, while
the great ship swept down upon them at an extraordi-
nary rate of speed. A boat was sent off and the
schooner boarded, and Reuben and his companions
found themselves once more prisoners of war. They
were at once transferred to the ship, which proved to be
the famous frigate L'Insurgente, thirty-eight guns, com-
manded by Captain Barreault.


CHAPTER III.
FATE had certainly been unkind to them. Their
dashing attempt at escape was rendered entirely use-
less. They had the misery of seeing the little schooner,
which they had so gallantly regained, sent off under
another prize crew, while the great frigate, which now
held them prisoners, resumed her course. The situa-
tion of the captured Americans was infinitely less agree-
able than when they had been on the privateer. Of
course, the surviving Frenchmen had told the story of
the recapture, and they were rightly regarded as a des-
perate body of men. They were kept rigorously con-
fined in the lower hold, a place so gloomy and uncom-
fortable that the forecastle of the merchant vessel was a
palace beside it. Their rations were mainly ship's bread
and water. Only at rare intervals were they allowed
to come on deck for a breath of fresh air. Most of
the men gave way to despair, and resigned themselves
to a long confinement in a French prison when they
should be landed from the frigate. Their numbers
were augmented from time to time by other Ameri-
cans from crews of different merchant ships captured
by the Insurgente, but any hope of their capturing the
frigate was, of course, out of the question.
we
34


REUBEN JAMES.
He was popular with all, and they were perfectly willing
to help him all they could. To attract attention to
themselves, the men edged aft and began some sort
of a scuffle. The guards came running toward the
commotion. In the midst of it Fate gave Reuben an
additional happy chance. A thin column of smoke was
observed trickling out of the after hatch, the compan-
ion way. There was an instant cry of “ Fire! Fire!”
and the decks were immediately filled with excited men.
The discipline of the ship was not good. It never
was good on French ships at best, but in the early days
of the French Republic, when the ordinary seaman ad-
dressed his commander as “ Citizen Captain,” and the
captain replied to him in a similar strain as “ Citizen
seaman ”; when every orator in France was drumming
into every stupid French peasant's head the idea that
he was as good as a lord—which meant that he was
a shade better-discipline was largely subverted, espe-
cially on men-of-war, where principles of equality have
absolutely no place. Consequently the alarm of fire
created the greatest confusion, and the men fairly tum-
bled over each other in their excitement.
Reuben, watching his chance, sprang upon the rail
abreast the fore shrouds, dropped quietly down into the
fore chains, and slipped noiselessly into the water. Un-
like most sailors, he had learned to swim like a fish
by this time, but in a moment the rapidly moving ship
swept by him, and only by a desperate effort was he


REUBEN JAMES.
in the cabin with the captain. The citizen lieutenant of
marines, who was present at the relieving of the guards,
had dined with the citizen captain that night and knew
it was a mistake. The alarm was instantly given and
the prisoners mustered again. Reuben was, of course,
not found among them. A rapid search of the ship did
not discover his presence, and it was not until some
time after that a casual glance over the stern, the
trailing rope and missing boat, revealed the method
of his flight. The Insurgente immediately put about,
and during the whole night beat to and fro over her pre-
vious course. When morning broke, lookouts on every
masthead eagerly swept the horizon. There was not a
sign of the small boat on the ocean. Reluctantly the
frigate resumed her course; the poor prisoners were
treated with greater rigor than before, and the few
privileges they had enjoyed were denied them.
Reuben had waited until darkness enshrouded him.
He had then stepped the little mast lying in the boat
and set sail, running off at right angles to the course
taken by the frigate. The breeze was fresh, and the
little boat slipped through the water at a rapid rate.
Indeed, as the breeze grew stronger it would have
been prudent to have reduced sail, but Reuben was
desperate, and he skillfully held the boat up to it
through the long night. Toward morning the lights
of the frigate, which of course had been in view though
receding hourly, gradually disappeared below the hori-


REUBEN JAMES.
zon. When morning broke, with anxious eyes he
eagerly scanned the sea. There was not a sail in sight.
Once more he was free.
Taking a bite of the bread and swallowing a little
water from his precious bottle, he carefully examined
the boat. It was well provided with oars and sails, but
the water breaker forward was entirely empty. There
was not a thing he could eat. There was no compass,
nor any other supplies. He did not have an idea where
he was nor what was the nearest land. There was noth-
ing for him to do but sail on as long as he could con-
trol the boat, and trust to God that he might arrive at
land or be picked up by a passing ship. The points of
the compass, of course, were known to him as long as
the sun shone or the stars were out. He knew, too,
that by sailing west long enough he would reach the
Caribbean Sea or the coast of America, but in that
direction lay the Insurgente, and he had too vivid a
recollection of his sufferings to desire to cross her path
again.
The wind was fair for the east, however, and as it
was gentle and pleasant he lashed the helm amidships,
boomed out the sail, and lay down in the shadow of a
piece of spare canvas and went to sleep. He was very
tired, but had not yet been deprived of food long
enough to suffer the pangs of hunger. The little boat
rocking to and fro in the placid sea had a soothing effect
upon him, and he slept until late in the afternoon.
A


REUBEN JAMES.
41
sailor. His knowledge of things alien to his profession
was of the very slightest; even God was to him scarcely
more than a name. When he was on shore, as long
as his money lasted he usually indulged in some wild
carouse, from which, like a sodden animal, he was car-
ried on board his ship. He knew nothing and cared
for nothing, and nobody particularly cared for him, he
thought. Stop! He did know the duties of a sailor,
and he had a rude pride in performing them in the most
seamanlike manner. He was always among the smart-
est and best men in any ship in which he sailed, and
while he was still somewhat slow and stupid mentally,
yet on occasion he had shown that he could be alert
enough. He had a bulldog courage in his make-up,
too, which, added to his great strength, made him a
dangerous antagonist.
There was one person he remembered fondly, and
that was young Stephen Decatur. He had never for-
gotten the boy's kindness to him when they first met,
and though he had not seen him for several years, his
heart frequently reverted to him, especially in these long,
lonely hours. It had become a sort of a habit to think
upon him. He recalled every line of his face, his bright,
flashing eyes, dark complexion, brown curling hair, his
erect, well-knit figure, his eager, dashing way, his daunt-
less courage. He lay there wondering if Decatur had
realized his long-cherished desire to become a sailor.
“It's a poor kind of a life fer a man," he said to


42
REUBEN JAMES.
himself softly, lying upon his back, his head pillowed
upon his hands, his face upturned in the night. “ Look
at me! I'd 'a' done better if I'd 'a' stayed on the
farm an' follered the plow. Leastaways, I couldn't 'a'
been worse off nor this. Adrift here in this little
dingey, with only a bite o’ food an' a drop o' water be-
twixt me and hell—or heaven! Heaven! I wonder
if it's up there? Well, I don't reckon foks'l jackies'll
git much chance o' findin' out. A sailor! I'd ruther be
a dog than a sailor! If I ever git outen this alive I'll
go back on a farm!”
With this sapient reflection, which is common to
sailors of whatsoever degree, he finally fell asleep. The
sun striking him in the face woke him again. The day
was a duplicate of the other. When the morning broke
on the third day the sky was lowering and overcast and
the wind rising, and it was not long before a gale was
howling over his head. The sail was promptly doused,
and only the most determined effort at the oars pre-
vented the boat from broaching to and swamping.
During a lull he lashed the sails and all the oars but
two, and some of the thwarts, which he prized up with
an oar handle, into a great bundle, which he threw
astern at the end of the halyards. This made an excel-
lent sea anchor, and kept the boat's head to the waves.
It was necessary for him to bail her out constantly, how-
ever, so there was neither sleep nor rest for him all the
night.


REUBEN JAMES.
fore his disordered vision in mirage. Round about him
bounteous tables were spread; sparkling fountains made
merry music in his ear. So the long day wore on.
Merciless consciousness returned with the nightfall, and
the next morning, when he looked over the side, the
water was cleft by the long triangular fin of a shark.
There was another, a third, pitching and gliding about
him. The sight of the frightful monsters filled him
with horror. Summoning all his resolution and force he
struck at one of them with his remaining oar. He lost
his balance and nearly fell over the side. His arm
struck the water. Quick as a flash one of the hideous
butchers turned over on his back to seize the prey.
There was a flash of white belly through the water, a
snapping of gleaming jaws, which he scarcely avoided
by an herculean effort which used up the last remnant
of his strength. He lay back in the boat, faint, sick,
and exhausted. The watchful sharks still swam about
him; they would get him presently. If they did not
go away he would leap overboard and end it. What
mattered it? Only a poor sailor! Who would care?
God!
For the first time he thought to pray. Half-forgot-
ten aspirations of childhood mingled vaguely and bro-
kenly with scarce-remembered words of God. “ Our
Father ... whch art in Heaven . . . now ... now
... now I ay me ... thy name . . . bread ...
daily bread ...0 God! give me bread, only a mor-



He struck at one of the monsters with his oar.


REUBEN JAMES.
sel, and water, a drink, Lord ... lay me down ...
to sleep ... to sleep ... the sharks ...".
What was that on the horizon? There! A black
spot against the clear sky. A sail! The topsails of a
ship! He raised himself upon his elbow and gazed.
The light blinded his eyes. He lost it. Now it came
again. Was it a vision? The sun rose higher in the
heavens. He found it once more. It was nearer-
coming toward him—nearer still. They had seen him!
He tried to cry, but a hoarse whisper was all that came
from his parched throat. But they had seen him—that
prayer! She was heaving to. Heavens! There on the
gaff end the Stars and Stripes! He knew no more.


CHAPTER IV.
WHEN he came to himself he was lying on a cot
in the sick bay of a great ship. A kind-looking man
was bending over him and pouring down his throat
from a spoon something which tasted like all the sweets
of memory and anticipation rolled into one. He tried
to say something, but the man above him bade him
be quiet. They gave him some-
thing more, and with a sigh of
contentment he turned over
again and went to sleep. When
he awakened he felt like a new
man, emaciated, but happy at
his salvation. He was informed
that he had been picked up by
the United States ship Constel-
Fuathir
lation, 38, Commodore Thomas
Truxtun. The doctor forbade him to talk much, how-
ever, and it was not until several days after that he was
sent for by the captain. A marine assisted him along
the deck until they reached the door of the captain's
cabin. As the orderly knocked at the door they heard


REUBEN JAMES.
47
sounds of a commotion within. A deep, rich voice roared
out an oath or two, and another voice could be heard
in deprecating expostulation. The first voice was heard
again, followed by the sound of glass or crockery
smashing against the bulkhead. A moment after the
door was thrown violently open, and a colored man in
livery, scared almost white, sprang through the open-
ing and darted forward. A second later a stout, red-
faced little man in blue uniform coat, red waistcoat,
knee breeches, silk stockings, and buckled shoes, wear-
ing a little old-fashioned naval wig, appeared in the
doorway. His face was as red as fire, his eyes flashed
with anger, his fists were clinched as if to strike. Reu-
ben and the marine recoiled before his threatening ap-
pearance. For a moment or two his eyes followed the
fleeing servant, and then they fell upon the other two.
“What are you doing here?” he shouted irascibly.
“ Ordered to report to the captain, sir," nervously
answered the orderly, touching his hat. “Here's the
lad we picked up t’other day, yer honor.”
“Well, why don't you report, then? Why do you
stand there blinking like an idiot at my door? Don't
dare to answer me back, sir, but just tell me, sir, why,
when you are ordered to do a thing, you don't do it?
It's rank disobedience! Not a word! not a word, sirrah!
Is it for you to bandy words with the captain? Come
on!”
Fretting and fuming like an old turkey cock, the


REUBEN JAMES.
“Here, drink this,” he said roughly. “There never
was an officer so poorly served. What does the doctor
mean by letting you get into this shape, I wonder?
-Orderly, go forward and bring my man back again.
Take a file of men with you; if necessary, take a squad
-take the whole company!”
“Yes, sir,” said the orderly, saluting and going
out of the cabin.
The captain fretted and fumed for a moment or
two, cursing his gout the while, until the orderly opened
the door again and thrust the negro servant into the
cabin.
“You black rascal!” shouted the captain fero-
ciously, “what do you mean by leaving my cabin with-
out my orders? Don't answer me! I won't have any
of your landlubberly insolence! How dare you go
away before I send you? Silence! How often have I
told you never to reply to anything! I'll have you
flogged at the gangway for another such offence, as
an example to the men—and they need it, too. Do
you hear me?"
“ Yes, sah. Yes, sah, I hears you, Mars Trux'n!”
“Well, pick up that broken glass, you sable-
fiend!”
“Yes, sah,” said the negro, who did not seem to
be so much afraid of his master, after all, rolling his
eyes, smiling, and showing a grinning row of white
teeth.


REUBEN JAMES.
“Yes, sir. From Philadelphy.”
“He means Captain Decatur's ship, sir. He com-
mands the new frigate Philadelphia now,” explained
Rodgers.
“ Decatur! Why, of course," ejaculated Truxtun.
“ Did you sail with him?”
“ Yes, sir; an’ I knows young Master Stephen De-
catur well, sir; him an' me's friends, sir,” said Reuben
boldly.
“He's a reefer on the frigate United States," re-
marked Rodgers.
“Yes,” said Truxtun, “I wish we could have him
on the Constellation.—Well, go on with your story,
lad. Bless me, how long-winded you are!—Regular
sea lawyer, eh, Mr. Rodgers?” he added petulantly.
“One night I crept into the main chains, yer honor,
an' dropped overboard without bein' noticed on ac-
count o an alarm of fire, got into a boat w’ich was
trailin' astern, cast her adrift, an' here I am, sir."
“ How long were you in that boat?”.
“ About a week, I think, sir, though I don't rightly
remember.”
“ Did you have nothing at all to eat or drink?”.
“I had a pint bottle o' water an’ some hard bread,
sir."
“You did not get along on that alone?”
“I didn't git along very well, sir. I was 'most
gone w’en you picked me up."


REUBEN JAMES.
53
“Now try to tell me, if you can, whereabouts the
French frigate was when you left her, and where she
was going.”
“I can't rightly tell you, sir. She was nearly due
west o'w'ere you found me, as near as I can remem-
ber, an' once I heerd the cap’n say he was goin' to
Basse-Terre, or St. Kitts, in a short time, sir.”
“That will do for us—eh, Rodgers?” said the cap-
tain genially. “Let me see. If he were going to Basse-
Terre, or St. Christopher's, it ought to be easy to find
him off the island now. Suppose we lay a course for
St. Kitts and see if we can not overhaul him? They
say the Insurgente has the heels of everything on the
ocean, but we have never tried her with the Constella-
tion. I'll lay a month's pay, if we get sight of her
she'll never get away! I should like to give our young
gentlemen a little serious work to do. When you go
on deck, send me the sailing master, and we will lay
out a course.—As for you, young man, you have done
very well. Here's a half eagle for you,” continued the
commodore, pitching him a gold coin. “So long as
you have lost your own ship, are you agreeable to a
cruise under the Stars and Stripes? I will rate you an
able seaman, though you are rather young for it, and
if you do anything worthy of mention I will promote
you. You may have a chance to get a blow in on
your captor, the Insurgente. What say you?” The
commodore spoke quietly and kindly now.


54
REUBEN JAMES.
“Yes, sir, I'll be willin' to go with you,” answered
Reuben. “ Thank ye kindly, sir, fer the half eagle. I
drinks yer honor's health, an' yours, too, sir,” he added,
as he turned to Rodgers. Having drained the glass,
which he carefully deposited on the table, he then
wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, knuckled
his forehead, and made a sea scrape.
“That will do.—Rodgers, see that his name is en-
tered on the muster roll, and let him be excused from
duty until the doctor says he is able to be about. You
might put him in the foretop, under young Porter,
two dare-devils together; and when you go on deck,
pass the word that we are heading for a French frigate,
and that there is an eagle in the cabin for the first
man that sights her.”
As Reuben walked forward, word of their chase was
passed among the men and received with delighted
cheers. In spite of his occasional roughness, the old
captain and the new ship were intensely popular with
the men.


CHAPTER V.
SS
In a short time Reuben was sufficiently restored to
health to perform the varied duties of his new sta-
tion. A very pleasant friendship, so far as one could
exist between an officer and the sailor, soon sprang
up between him and midshipman David Porter. In-
deed, there was something winning about the frank
honesty and kindliness and sturdy courage of Reuben
James which made him a general favorite with all his
superior officers, and, boylike, Porter and he soon be-
came great friends. Reuben was stationed in the fore-
top which Porter commanded, and in general exercises,
by his superior's favor, he remained aloft as top keeper.
In answer to Porter's questioning at different times,
James had gradually told that young officer the whole
history of his life, and in return had received many
reminiscences of thrilling adventures and hairbreadth
escapes, such as have rarely fallen to the lot of any
human being, from the lad who was afterward to be
the hero of the famous cruise of the Essex.
One afternoon in the second dogwatch the two
were aloft together. Reuben was on the lookout, and
Porter had joined him. The two lads sat on the top-
55


56
REUBEN JAMES.
sail yard in the gentle weather engaged in pleasant
conversation.
“ Have you ever been in a real downright fight,
sir? ” asked Reuben respectfully of his young superior.
“Yes, once, I have,” answered Porter. “ About
two years ago I was third mate on a merchant ship
commanded by my father, Captain Porter. It was a
small bark called the Eliza. We were anchored at
San Domingo, and one night a boat from a British
man-of-war, which was anchored some distance away,
approached us, and the officer of the cutter hailed us
and told us he was coming on board to search the
Eliza for deserters from his ship. Father answered his
hail himself, first quietly directing the crew to get
their arms at once. We had a good supply of small
arms on board—for pirates were plenty in the West
India trade, and are yet, for that matter—and father
told the British officer that he was armed, and if he
set foot on his deck he would do it at his peril. · We
had no deserters, and he didn't propose to allow any
British officers to search his ship. The Englishman
laughed at the idea, swung his boat in against our side
—we were a small ship with a low free board—and
gave the order to board. Father was as prompt as
he. He shouted out, ‘All hands repel boarders!'
and we made a rush at them as they came clamber-
ing over the rail. He shot the first man who stuck
his head above the deck, but they came swarming


REUBEN JAMES.
57
over the side, and we had a hand-to-hand fight for
a few minutes."
“Was you in it all, sir?” asked Reuben, with breath-
less interest.
“Yes, I was right in the middle of it. The man
next to me was instantly killed; he was shot. Two or
three men were killed or wounded on both sides, but
we finally drove them overboard. We got under way
in a hurry, too, and that was the last we heard of the
British deserters.”
“Did ye kill any on 'em yourself, sir?"
“I don't know," answered the midshipman gravely;
“there was blood on my cutlass, though."
“ Did ye never have no more trouble with 'em,
sir? ”
“Not with that ship, but we had with another, a
year after,” answered Porter. “ It was a brig engaged in
the West India trade. I was first mate then. Father
stayed at home, and the master of the brig was a cow-
ard. We were boarded one night at San Domingo
again, and all hands on the brig, except the skipper,
pressed on a British man-of-war. Some of us refused
to turn to and work, I among the number, and the
captain ordered us up to the gangway to be flogged.
Have you ever been flogged, Reuben?”
“Not yet, sir,” answered James cautiously. Flog-
ging was a very common practice then, and long after
in all services.


REUBEN JAMES.
“Well, I determined I'd rather die than be flogged,”
continued Porter, his dark face fushing at the recol-
lection, “ so I broke away, ran below, and stowed my-
self in a dark corner of the hold under a pile of dun-
nage. The men were friendly to me, and the captain
did not press the search for me. It's a good thing he
did not,” said the boy fiercely. “I'd have killed him,
sooner or later, if he had laid a cat on my shoulders.”
Porter was a very slender, delicate lad, but the spirit
which looked out of his flashing black eyes was great
enough for a giant. After a pause he continued: “He
said I'd keep until another time, and he'd wait until
I got hungry enough to come out. I came out that
night and clambered over into the main chains, and let
myself down into the water and swam to a Danish brig
I had seen near by. No one saw me, or, if they did, no
one told on me. The English hunted high and low
for me the next day, but I was lying snug in the hold
of the Danish brig, and presently the brig got under
way for Europe."
“Did ye go with her, sir? ”.
“Yes; I had nowhere else to go, so I worked my
passage across, and glad enough I was, too, to get
away from the English. I remember that when I got
to Copenhagen I didn't have a cent of money and
scarcely any clothes, and it was winter. I shipped on
a Swedish brig for the United States, however, and
finally got home.”


REUBEN JAMES.
59
“Did ye ship before the mast, sir?” asked Reuben
sympathetically.
“Of course," answered Porter; “where else? I
had an awful time of it, too. I only had the
things I had on my back, and nearly froze in the
North Atlantic in the bitter winter weather. Oh,
yes, my lad, I have been before the mast in my
time, and I have reached my present rank through
the hawse pipe, and not by way of the cabin win-
dows. That's what gives me so much sympathy with
you fellows."
“Did ye ever have any more fights with the Brit-
ish, sir? ” asked Reuben, who found this recital of the
deepest interest.
“ Yes; I had the ill luck to be impressed on an-
other British frigate. I was ironed, and treated like
a dog, but I managed to escape again. I have stored
it up in mind, my lad," said the boy, a deep frown
spreading over his sallow face, the black eyes flashing
with that remarkable brightness which to the day of
his death they ever maintained. “I have stored it
all away. I am going to pay it all back, some day.
This country will not lie quiet forever under the insults
of Great Britain, and then we'll have our chance. I
had enough of the merchant service by this time, so
I asked father to get me a midshipman's warrant, and
here I am. I wish we were hunting for an English
frigate instead of a French one," he exclaimed bitterly.


REUBEN JAMES.
“Have you ever been in a real fight yourself, Reuben? ”
he asked.
“Not yet, sir, unless that little scrimmage w'ere
we recaptured the privateer counts,” answered James.
“ But I'd like to be," he continued eagerly.
“Well, you shall be before we get through with
this cruise, or I am no prophet. The commodore is
an awfully severe man, but he's as brave as a lion, and
he will fight anything or anybody if he has the chance."
At this moment eight bells was struck, and at the
hoarse cry of the boatswain's mate, “ All the port
watch!” the two friends separated, Porter descending to
the deck, and Reuben following after when he was re-
lieved. Porter, though he was possessed of a delicate
physique, was a lad of the highest possible spirit. He
chafed bitterly under the rude, bullying treatment of the
day, which was thought necessary to the breaking in
of officers and men. There was one officer on the ship
who was of an ill-tempered, nagging disposition, who
took advantage of his superior rank to aggravate the
boy nearly to death. Porter, who had been well
trained by his own father, a very strict disciplinarian,
bore the insults of his ill-tempered superior as best he
could. A night or two after the conversation between
the two lads, during the first night watch, this officer,
who was slightly intoxicated at the time, sent Porter,
who was one of the midshipmen of the watch, below
on some trifling errand. When the reefer reached the


REUBEN JAMES.
61.
deck he was met with a shower of abuse for a supposed
delay in his return. The boy bit his lip, but remained
perfectly silent before his superior. Infuriated by the
midshipman's self-command, the words of the officer
passed all bounds. He swore at him, and applied to
him the most abusive epithets.
“Stop, sir!” cried the boy at last, “I can not per-
mit it. I know no duty which obliges me to stand
here and hear such insults. I beg you to— ”
“ You dare to bandy words with me, you young
hound!” cried the officer, springing forward and giv-
ing Porter a blow in the face with his open hand.
Quick as a flash Porter sprang at him like a young
tiger. He struck him full in the face, and, half drunk
as the man was, he knocked him at full length on
the deck. It happened to be James's trick at the
wheel, and he alone heard the whole occurrence. The
lieutenant scrambled to his feet and sang out for the
sergeant of the guard to arrest the midshipman, who
stood before him glowering with indignation. As the
other midshipmen of the watch and the sailors came
running to the quarter-deck, the lieutenant whipped out
his sword and in frantic rage made a pass at Porter
to cut him down. In the midst of the excitement
Captain Truxtun came on deck.
“What's this? what's this? Fighting on the deck
of the ship! What does it mean, sir?” cried the captain.
“This young dog struck me in the face and knocked


REUBEN JAMES.
me down, sir," answered the officer, partially sobered
by the occurrence.
“Struck you in the face!” exclaimed Truxtun,
frowning. “Impossible! It's rank mutiny! Why did
he do it?”
“I don't know, sir,” answered the officer. “I was
just rating him for loitering below, where I had sent
him on an errand, when without a word he leaped
upon me.”
“Go below, sir!” roared Truxtun passionately, turn-
ing to Porter without asking him a question, “and
consider yourself under arrest! I will deal with you.
in the morning, sir.”
Without deigning to answer a word, the boy saluted,
turned on his heel, and descended to the steerage. The
next morning, before the captain had time to take any
action in the matter, Reuben presented himself at the
mast and expressed a desire to speak with the captain.
The permission was secured, and a few moments later
he found himself in the presence of his quick-tempered
superior. The captain was suffering from an unusually
bad attack of the gout, and was in anything but a
good humor.
“Well, sir, what do you want?” he shouted un-
ceremoniously as Reuben approached him. “ Aren't
you satisfied with your own end of the ship, that you
have to continually haunt me, sir? What is it you
wish now? Speak out!”


REUBEN JAMES.
“Please, yer honor," said the sailor nervously, “it
was my trick at the wheel last night, w'en—w’en— "
“When what? Speak out, you blockhead! Tell
your story! Heave ahead with it! Limber up your
jaw tackle, can't you?”
“Well, sir, w’en Mr. Porter knocked the leftenant
down— "
“Well, what business of yours is it, I should like
to know? Can't a midshipman knock an officer down,
or can't I order the midshipman under arrest, without it
being made a matter of inquiry by the whole ship's
company, and you in particular?”
“ Yes, sir, o' course, sir, but as I stood an' heerd
it all, sir, I thought ye mought be willin' to lemme tell
ye the truth, sir.”
“Don't think too much; and it is most unusual,"
said the captain, “ for foremast jacks to tell the truth
about their officers.”
“ 'Tain't with me, sir,” answered Reuben boldly.
“Good Heaven!” exclaimed the captain, looking
fairly apoplectic with fury for a moment at being thus
braved in his own cabin; then the comical side of the
situation struck him, and he broke into a laugh, which
ended in a groan of anguish at an unusually vicious
twinge of the gout.
“Well, what happened? ” he said shortly.
“ The leftenant sent the midshipman below, sir, an'
w’en he come back he begun to ĉurse him an' swear


REUBEN JAMES.
at him, an' Mr. Porter he saluted an' said nuthin';
then the leftenant called him a wile name.”
“What name?”
Reuben told him.
“ Humph!” said the captain grimly. “Then what
happened?”
“Then he said he wouldn't allow it, an' the leften-
ant slapped him, sir, in the face, an' then Mr. Porter
sprang at him an' struck him down. Then the leften-
ant got up an' called fer a guard, an' drawed his sword
an' then cut at Mr. Porter, an' then you come, an'
that's all, sir; an' I begs yer pardon, sir, fer in-
trudin'.”
“This is the truth, is it?”
“Yes, sir, ’tis, so help me, sir,” answered James
sturdily.
The captain looked at him keenly; honesty and
fidelity spoke in every line of his face and figure.
“Orderly!” bawled out the captain. As that
official stuck his head through the door, “ Request Mr.
Porter to come to my cabin," he commanded.
Presently the young man, looking very pale and
haggard at the serious difficulty in which he had in-
volved himself, presented himself before the captain.
Motioning James to remain where he was, Truxtun
turned sharply upon Porter.
“Now, sir, I want to know why you struck your
superior officer last night? Didn't you know that it


REUBEN JAMES.
was mutiny on the high seas, and punishable with
death?”
“Yes, sir,” answered the boy; “I did know it, but
he heaped abuse upon me unjustly. I obeyed his
. orders as quickly as any mortal could. He cursed me
and swore at me, and when I said nothing he called
me a vile name, sir; and when I spoke to him about
it he struck me in the face, and then I struck him.
I wish to Heaven I had killed him, sir!”
“ That will do!” shouted Truxtun. “You are a
mutinous young dog, and I ought to dismiss you from
the service!”
“I wouldn't care if you did, sir,” answered Porter
desperately. “ I've been treated like a dog, sir, and I
think perhaps I'd better go. It's cursing or swearing
I get on every hand. I'm not used to such treatment.
I can't bring myself to bear it,” said the boy proudly,
his lips trembling with his feelings. “You can dis-
miss me if you choose, sir, but I wish I had killed him!”
“There, there," said Truxtun gently, taking him
by the hand; “it is a rough school. We were all
brought up in the merchant service, where a man's
voice and a man's fist were all that he had with which
to enforce his authority, and the more prompt he was
with the one, and the harder he hit with the other,
the better discipline he got. As for your adversary of
last night, he is a drunken, worthless reprobate, and
shall be dismissed the service, if I can bring it about.


CHAPTER VI.
en
SOME ten days afterward, at noon, on Saturday,
February 9th, 1799, Reuben was sitting on the fore top-
mast crosstrees. The Constellation was flying along
under easy sail in the fresh breeze from the northeast.
Reuben had been eagerly searching the horizon for
the last hour, when, just as eight bells were struck be-
neath him, he discovered a sail away off to the south-
ward on the sky-line. The cook and his mate, with
a bowl of hot soup and a mess of pork and beans, which
constituted the midday dinner of the men on the frigate,
had just brought their smoking victuals to the mast to
be tasted by the officer of the watch. That function-
ary, having approved of them, had directed their issu-
ance, and mess call was being shrilly piped along the
decks, when the boy's hail, “ Sail ho!” floated down
from the crosstrees. In a second all was excitement on
the ship.
“Where away?” shouted the officer of the deck,
Lieutenant Sterrett, in reply.
“Off the lee bow, sir," was the answer.
“Keep a bright lookout aloft there, and let us
know when you make her out!” cried the lieutenant.
67


REUBEN JAMES.
“Ay, ay, sir!” answered Reuben, fixing his gaze
on the rising spot on the horizon.
Mr. Porter,” said the officer of the watch to his
midshipman, “notify the commodore that a sail has
been sighted.”
“Ay, ay, sir!” replied the young man as he sprang
aft to discharge his errand. A moment later Trux-
tun himself came bursting out of the cabin. He
had been in the act of shaving himself, and one
side of his red face was still covered with white
lather. He made a curious picture of red, white, and
blue.
“Well, what is it, Mr. Sterrett?” he cried, flourish-
ing his razor. “Why am I interrupted, sir?”
“ It is a sail, sir," answered the lieutenant, saluting
respectfully. “We are hoping it may be the French
frigate, sir.”
“Eh, yes, to be sure,” answered the captain. “Who
sighted it?”
“ James, sir.”
“Where is he?”
“On the fore topmast crosstrees.”
The captain walked forward to the mainmast, and,
lifting up his voice, hailed, “ Crosstrees there!”
“ Ay, ay, sir!”
“Can you make out that sail now?"
“Yes, sir.”
“What is it?”


REUBEN JAMES.
“It's the topsails of a large ship, sir. She seems to
be comin' this way.”
“How does she bear?”
“ Three points off the starboard bow, sir.”
“ Point!” roared the commodore, gazing eagerly
at Reuben's outstretched arm.
“Port the helm!” he roared a moment later.
“ Round in the weather braces! So! Steady! How
does she bear now?”
“Right ahead, sir."
“That's well,” said the captain. “Steady as you
go, quartermaster. Mr. Rodgers, call all hands. Cross-
trees there?”
“ Sir?”
“Let us know when she rises."
.“Ay, ay, sir!”
The last order was supererogatory, for all hands were
already crowding on deck. As Sterrett, the third lieu-
tenant, yielded the trumpet to Rodgers, Truxtun said
to him:
“ Get some more sail on the frigate, sir."
“Ay, ay, sir!” replied Rodgers, touching his cap.
The next moment he roared out in stentorian tones:
“ All hands make sail! Aloft, the light yard men! Lay
aloft, topmen!”
The shrouds and ratlines were soon quivering and
shaking under a crowd of eager seamen' running
aloft like cats, to loose the sails. In a few moments


70
REUBEN JAMES.
the reefs were shaken out, the royals and topgallant sails
were set, the men lay down from aloft, and, manning
the sheets and halyards, mastheaded the yards and
sheeted home the clews of broad canvas.
The wind was coming fresh and strong from the
port quarter, and the Constellation, one of the fastest
keels that ever slipped through the water, heeled over
to the breeze and commenced tearing through the seas.
Meanwhile Truxtun had retired to his cabin and hastily
completed his shaving. When he appeared on deck
once more he cast a careful look aloft and over the
side, and tested the force of the wind for a moment,
then quietly directed Rodgers to get the studding sails
on her. The first lieutenant looked at his commander
with astonishment, but he had no option save to do
as ordered, and was, indeed, too thorough a seaman
to hesitate; so in a few moments the great sheets of
light canvas were extended from the weather yardarms
on the slender, airy studding-sail booms. “Taking a
bone in her teeth,” as the sailors say, the great ship
fairly leaped through the waves. Her slender bows
cut through the waves like a knife, and the water rolled
and tossed around her forefoot and rushed away aft
from her quarter in broad sheets of glistening foam.
The wind sang through the taut rigging until it sounded
like a harp, the groaning timbers adding a deep bass
note to the music of the chase. They were certainly
going twelve knots an hour, at the very least. The pace


REUBEN JAMES.
preparations for battle at once. We shall be in range
by six bells. Let Mr. Sterrett relieve you of the deck,
Mr. Rodgers, and attend me in my cabin.”
A few moments later Reuben James was sent for.
He found Truxtun and Rodgers in deep conversation
in the cabin. As he entered the cabin, Truxtun tossed
him a ten-dollar gold piece, and pointed to a bottle on
the table and bade him help himself to a draught of .
rum and water.
“ It was a lucky day for us when we picked up
this young man-eh, Mr. Rodgers? ”
“Very lucky, sir,” replied Rodgers, with his usual
gravity.
“ And his news is worth an eagle—eh, Mr. Rod-
gers? ”
“Quite, sir,” answered the other.
“What do you think of the chase, my man? ”
“It's the Insurgenty, sure, yer honor," replied the
lad. “I'd know her among a thousand, sir.”
“What's her force? ”
“She's a thirty-six-gun frigate, an' about four hun-
dred men, sir.”
“With your permission, commodore, I will ask him
a question," interrupted Rodgers.
“Heave ahead.”
“What's her main battery, James? ”
“I don't know, sir; big guns, though, yer honor."
“ As large as those on our main deck?”


REUBEN JAMES.
73
“No, sir; not quite.”
“Ah! She will carry eighteen pounders, I think,”
said Rodgers.
“ That gives our twenty-fours an advantage,” re-
marked Truxtun, “but I would they were reversed.
We would gain more honor by taking her.”
“ It will be to our advantage to play at long bowls,
then,” said Rodgers.
“ Not I,” said Truxtun; “it's my purpose to lay
them close aboard. Our three hundred ought to be
able to count for twice that number of frog-eating
Frenchmen. Now, get to your station, lad," said the
captain to the sailor, “and let us go on deck, Mr. Rod-
gers.”
The wind had risen since the studding sails were
set, and the ship was now straining frightfully. A mass.
of black clouds had gathered on the horizon, and gave
every portent of a coming squall.
“Surely,” thought the older and more experienced
among the officers, “ the captain will reduce sail.” But
the watchful Truxtun, as bold a navigator as ever
sailed the seas, had determined to hold on until the
last moment. He was gaining on the stranger—who, in-
deed, did not seem disposed to avoid attack—with every
passing second. He stepped to the weather side,
therefore, and stood keenly gazing to windward. In
moments of stress he entirely lost his wonted irrita-
bility, which gave place to a demeanor so cool and quiet


74
REUBEN JAMES.
and confident that the only indication of excitement
he presented was in his flashing gray eye. His voice,
which had been rude and rough, grew softer and more
gentle, until one would have thought him about to en-
ter a ballroom instead of engage in a battle. Just be-
fore the squall struck the ship he turned suddenly and
faced inboard. The ship was as still as death. With-
out taking the trumpet, he cried in a clear, powerful
voice, “In stuns'ls, royals, and to'gallant s’ls! All
hands reef tops’ls! Lively, lads—aloft with ye!”
With incredible speed, the men, working as if for
dear life, tore the light canvas off the frigate and
took two reefs in the great topsails. Just as they had
completed their task the squall was upon them. Trux-
tun’s handling of his ship was magnificent. His cal-
culations had been made to a nicety, and the work of
the men had been of the smartest. After a short time
the squall, which had been followed by a sudden
drench of rain which for the moment obscured the chase,
broke, and the rain cleared away. The handsome
French frigate was in a sorry plight. Lacking in sea-
manship on the part of officers and crew, she had lost
her main topmast, which was hanging in a great mass
over the side. Many men could be seen swarming
aloft cutting it away, while the ship itself was getting
before the wind and heading for St. Kitts in a vain effort
to escape.
The Americans were sent to the yards immediately,


REUBEN JAMES.
however, and the Constellation was soon driving for-
ward again under all plain sail, the studding sails not
being set, as they were now nearly within range. At a
nod from Truxtun and a word from Rodgers, the drums
began rolling their grim call to battle along the decks.
Men sprang to their stations, the arm chests were
broken out, muskets, cutlasses, and pikes were dis-
tributed, the magazine was opened, the marines drawn
up on the quarter-deck, and for a moment or two the
ship presented a scene of apparent confusion, which
gradually abated as the men settled themselves at their
quarters. They were nearer now. The chase had
shown several flags without eliciting a reply from the
Constellation, until she finally flung out the French
tricolor. Then Truxtun directed that they show their
colors, and bright new American ensigns rippled out
in the breeze from masthead and gaff end.
“My lads," said the captain, standing on the main
deck and speaking in a clear, distinct voice which could
be heard all over the ship, “yonder is the Insurgente.
We have been hunting her, and now we have found her
we'll take her. Remember that this is the first ship of
the new American navy to fight a battle on the sea, and
let us fight it in such a way that we shall afford a
glorious example to all other ships of our country that
may come after. They will all be envying our luck,
surely. Let there be no firing until I give the order,
and no flinching from the guns under pain of instant


REUBEN JAMES.
the rail of the top. He caught the topgallant back-
stay, and wrapping his legs around it, slipped down
like a flash. Nobody noticed him, for all eyes were
upon the French ship. The Constellation was now
abreast her antagonist, at a distance of perhaps thirty
feet. A man from the deck of the Frenchman hailed.
“Fire!” roared Truxtun through the trumpet.
“Give it to him, boys!”
A terrific broadside crashed out at once, which was
returned from the French frigate.
James was running along the deck toward the maga-
zine hatch. As he came abreast number five gun on
the starboard side a round shot came crashing through
the side. One of the men at the gun tackle was actu-
ally disemboweled by the shot. He lifted his hands in
the air, spun around, and fell dead upon the deck.
The men nearest him, seeing the frightful catastrophe,
shrank away from the gun. There was a moment of
excitement in the whole division. It was the first time
many of the men had been in action. They seemed
on the verge of panic. The men wavered-backed
away; a moment more they would have broken. The
officer in command of the division promptly met the
emergency and checked the flight.
“ Back to your stations!” cried Lieutenant Sterrett,
springing forward. All the men save one stepped back
to their places by the tackles and began to load the
guns. The crucial moment was passed; they were
Comn


78
REUBEN JAMES.
ashamed. The one man hesitated a second, and then
deliberately turned and ran aft. He was white with
fear, shaking with terror, as he rushed past James, who
stood as if rooted to the spot.
“ Come back, you coward!” shouted Sterrett, but
the man paid no attention. Before he had taken ten
steps Sterrett whipped out his pistol and shot him dead.
“Well done, Mr. Sterrett!” said Truxtun, who had
seen the whole affair.
The incident was over; in another moment the deep
roar of the gun told that the men were doing their
duty once more.
“What are you gaping there for?” cried the lieu-
tenant, noticing James for the first time. “Get to your
station!”
Thus recalled to himself, the boy hastened upon his
errand. The salutary lesson of the American lieuten-
ant and their returning courage took away all thought
of flinching from the other men of the division, and no
part of the Constellation's battery was fought like that
under Sterrett's command. This incident is solitary in
American naval records.
Reuben, putting his precious freight in a cartridge
box, clambered to the top again, where he was eagerly
welcomed by Porter. In a moment he had charged his
musket, and resting it on the rail waited for an op-
portunity to do good service with it. At this instant
the Frenchman, endeavoring to make use of his great
.


THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.


80
REUBEN JAMES.
opened a terrific fire from his port battery. The French
responded furiously, but with execrable aim, most of
their shot flying high. The bullets sang and whistled
about the ears of the men aloft, cutting stays and
shrouds and braces here and there, tearing great holes
in the sails, but otherwise doing little damage. For
nearly an hour the two ships sailed side by side, the
Constellation making excellent practice on her antag-
onist.
At this juncture the fore topmast was seriously
wounded by an eighteen-pound shot. Under the pres-
sure of the heavy topsail, which was rapfull in the
strong wind, it was a question of but a few moments
when the mast would carry away. This would be a
serious disaster to the ship. Porter instantly hailed the
deck, which was covered with clouds of smoke. He
and his men called out again and again. As no one
heard him, and as no attention whatever was paid to
him, he finally took upon himself the responsibility of
cutting the stoppers and lowering the yard, thus re-
lieving the pressure upon the weakened mast. His
prompt decision saved the mast, and counted largely in
the subsequent capture of the French frigate. The
Constellation now drew ahead again, luffed up into the
wind once more, and crossed the Frenchman's bow a
second time, repeating the former raking. She then
took a position on the port bow, and finally dismounted
every gun on the main deck of the enemy, leaving only


REUBEN JAMES.
the light guns on the quarter-deck and forecastle to
continue the combat. Truxtun now checked the head-
way of his ship, allowing the Frenchman to draw ahead
of him in the smoke, and then put up his helm for the
last time, to cross the stern of the Insurgente and rake
3.16
4.18
3.19
a.
4.2
4.30
Diagram of the battle. C, Constellation.
her, when the French frigate struck her flag. She had
fought gallantly, but she had been punished enough.
“Ceasefiring—they have surrendered!” shouted
Truxtun, the high note of triumph in his voice ringing
through the ship.
The Constellation ran down to leeward, swung up
into the wind, and hove to near her beaten antagonist.
A sorry spectacle she presented from the decks of the
American frigate. She was smashed and broken by
the heavy shot, her main topmast gone, sails hanging in
rags, gear trailing in the water, every boat shattered at
the davits, her light yards and topgallant masts with
their rigging hanging in a tangled mass aloft. From
her scuppers bloody water was trickling over the white
sides.


REUBEN JAMES.
:
ter, sir,” answered Rodgers, looking interrogatively at
Truxtun at the same time.
“Oh, let him go,” said the little commodore gen-
ially. “ He has been on the Insurgente before, and this
will be a pleasant visit for him, I doubt not.”


REUBEN JAMES.
“Presently," roared Truxtun. “Will she float, do
you think, Mr. Rodgers? ”
After a moment's conversation with Captain Bar-
reault, Rodgers answered:
“Yes, sir. We will take her in, never fear.” .
By Rodgers' command, Porter led his men for-
ward, and by voice and example started the French-
men clearing away the wreck. A rapid survey showed
that some seventy of the crew of the French frigate
had been killed or wounded. On the Constellation,
besides the man shot for cowardice, but two had
been killed and three wounded. Many of the French
wounded were so seriously hurt that they afterward
died.
To Reuben's great delight, they found the American
prisoners, his former shipmates, still on board, though
dreadfully reduced in health by their severe treat-
ment. They were sent on board the Constellation
at once.
Presently two cutters from the Constellation were
seen toiling through the heavy sea toward the Insur-
gente, and the transfer of the French prisoners at once
began. It was growing dark, however, and although the
Constellation's men had worked with persistent energy
and haste, a great deal was still to be accomplished by
nightfall. The rising wind made it dangerous to at-
tempt the transfer of any more prisoners, and Truxtun
determined to defer the attempt until morning, intend-


88
REUBEN JAMES.
ing to lie by the frigate all night; but in a few hours
the wind was blowing a fierce West India gale, almost
a hurricane, and the situation of the Insurgente was
most critical.
The weakened masts and spars and the cut and
torn rigging and sails were subjected to a fearful
strain. Throughout the darkness and the rain and
wind, all the long night the Americans, aided by some
one hundred and seventy-three French prisoners, who
had not yet been transferred, labored assiduously to re-
pair damages, strengthen spars, and enable the ship to
stand the storm. The French prisoners, imagining that
they were still under the guns of the Constellation,
worked cheerfully enough. Rodgers, however, had
surmised that the two ships would be parted in the
gale, and looked forward to the morning with great
foreboding. He had communicated his suspicion to
Porter, who had shown himself a brilliant second to
his great commander, and toward morning the two had
quietly assembled their men and had determined upon
a bold course of action.
With the gray light of the wet dawn announcing
the break of day, they eagerly searched for the Con-
stellation. She was nowhere to be found. In every
direction, as far as the gray sky line, nothing was to
be seen but the waves. They were alone upon the sea.
The French were as quick to perceive the situation as
the Americans, and they at once assembled on the spar


REUBEN JAMES.
“I give you thirty seconds,” he cried, “ to go below!
At the end of that time I open fire!”
Each American had two pistols and a musket. At
short range they could do great execution among the
French, massed as they were. The noise among the
Frenchmen died away. They looked at each other for
a few seconds. Their glance fell upon the stern figure
of the gigantic American, watch in hand.
“Twenty seconds gone, messieurs,” said Rodgers
grimly.
The nearest man in panic terror leaped down the
hatchway.
“ Clear down with you!” shouted Rodgers, follow-
ing him with his glance—“ down to the berth deck-
lively!”
Another and another followed, until the whole mass
finally poured in a stream down the hatchway. In a
few moments there was not a Frenchman left upon the
deck. Rodgers put his watch in his pocket with
a sigh of relief. Brushing the perspiration from his
forehead, pistol in hand he resolutely descended to the
gun deck, followed by Porter and the rest of the men.
Reuben was left alone on the deck at the wheel.
The control of the prisoners was of more importance
at this juncture than the state of the ship. Rodgers
was obliged to trust the latter to the young lad grasp-
ing the spokes. The responsibility of the moment filled
James with delight. It tickled his fancy to think that


REUBEN JAMES.
he was the captain for the nonce of the Insurgente, and
that he comprised the whole crew as well did not di-
minish his joy. He watched her never so carefully.
When Rodgers and his party reached the gun deck
they found a few bolder spirits among the French had
not gone below. The American sternly repeated his or-
der, however, and actually seized the first Frenchman
by the collar and threw him beneath the hatches. Tem-
porary battens were improvised forward and aft, which
covered the hatches there, but the main hatch was
necessarily left open. A loaded carronade charged to
the muzzle with musket balls was pointed down the
open hatch. Numbers of heavy shot were suspended
in nettings over the opening; every small arm in the
ship was loaded and placed near at hand.
Porter and five seamen were detailed to keep con-
stant guard over the open hatch, and to see that the
obstructions were not removed from the other two.
The prisoners were of necessity allowed free range on
the berth deck and below. They amused themselves
by destroying everything they could get at, and filled
the ship with their cursings and howlings. They got
their own provisions out of the hold, and soon broke
into the spirit room, where many of them became
beastly drunk.
Meanwhile Rodgers and the five remaining men
with Reuben James managed the ship, and did their
best to preserve her for three terrible days and nights.


REUBEN JAMES.
93
None of the Americans got any sleep, and as they did
not dare to go below among the maddened prisoners,
they had but little to eat or drink. It was an experience
and an achievement unparalleled in American naval an-
nals, but their ship was commanded by a hero, and
every man was encouraged by the gallant spirit of Rod-
gers, and determined to bring in the prize in spite of
their incredible hardships and dangers. Three days
afterward they crept into the harbor of St. Kitts. The
Insurgente sat low in the water; she was leaking slowly,
as the result of her battle, but the Americans had no
strength to pump her out.
Anchored securely in the harbor was the Constel-
lation, which had arrived the day before. Truxtun
had been in an agony of anxiety ever since the gale,
and his relief when the wounded, battered hulk came
sluggishly plodding up the harbor can well be imagined.
How sweet, how glorious a picture the Constellation
presented to the gaunt, haggard, worn-out, but in-
domitable Americans on the Frenchman's battered
decks! Amid the cheers of the Constellation's men, the
Insurgente dropped anchor. Truxtun eagerly hailed
her:
“Insurgente, there!”
“ Sir?”
“ Are all well?”
“ All well, sir, thank Heaven!” answered Rodgers
feebly.


REUBEN JAMES.
95
“Men,” he said, “you have done a heroic thing
in bringing in this ship. Mr. Rodgers, you shall be
made a post captain for this, if I have any influence with
the department. Mr. Porter, I shall recommend you
for a lieutenancy, sir; and as for you men, you shall
all have two months' extra pay, and every able seaman
among you shall have a petty office. We lost a boat-
swain's mate in the fight. You shall have that sta-
tion, James."
“Three cheers for Commodore Truxtun!” shouted
Rodgers, lifting his hand, and the stout old seaman
never received a more heartfelt acclaim than the feeble
cheers from this starving band.
“ Take the cutter and go over to the Constellation
and get something to eat. See that the men are given
a double ration of grog, Mr. Rodgers. Excuse them
from all duty until to-morrow at quarters. Give them
the run of the ship; yes, shore leave, too, until that
time, if they want it. Send over all the cutters of the
Constellation, and we will get rid of these prisoners.”


CHAPTER VIII.
Just one year after the capture of the Insurgente *
the Constellation was slowly beating to and fro on her
old cruising ground to the southward of St. Kitts, and
about fifteen miles west of Basse Terre. On the morn-
ing of February Ist a large sail was sighted to the
southward, evidently heading in for the land. The
wind was very light and baffling, with frequent inter-
vals of calm. Truxtun spread every rag of canvas and
at once made for the stranger, which was soon dis-
covered to be a very large and heavy frigate, evidently
larger and more powerful than the Constellation. The
stranger showed no disposition whatever to engage,
and, in fact, made every effort to get away, and the
faint breeze dying into periods of calm made it im-
possible for the Constellation to close with her big an-
tagonist
For over twenty-four hours the ships drifted about,
* The Insurgente was taken into the service of the United States,
and one summer morning in 1799, while under the command of Cap-
tain Patrick Fletcher, she sailed away into the ocean and never came
back again. Her fate is one of the secrets of the sea.


REUBEN JAMES.
driven hither and thither by furtive cat’s-paws of wind,
but gradually approaching each other. The French-
man unavailingly continued his efforts to escape, but
his ship was deep in the water and appeared heavy laden,
and the Constellation was one of the fastest keels in
the sea. Truxtun's seamanship was masterly. He
uerto Plata
GONAIVES
SPORTOROS
RICO
stos
St. Domingo.
MONA PASSAGE
w
Erromas
ST. KITOSE
GANTIGUA
Constellation
and
Insurgente
DEBIRADE
Basse Terre
GUADELOUP
+
Constellation
and
Vengeance
EEWARD
WINDWARD ISLA
RD ISLANDS
Curacao
Surinam
Cayenne
Map of the scene of the Constellation's battles.
never lost a shadow of advantage, not a breath of wind
escaped him. Finally, late in the afternoon of Sun-
day, the 2d of February, the breeze freshened and grew
steadier, and it became evident that the impatient
Americans would finally be able to bring their foes to
an engagement.
Reuben and his old friend Tucker, who had joined


REUBEN JAMES.
the ship during the year as chief boatswain's mate, were
standing together on the forecastle at four bells in the
afternoon watch, looking toward the chase. The men
had been pulling and hauling at the ropes and braces
ever since they had raised the French frigate, but now
that the breeze was coming steady and strengthening
a little there was nothing to do but to wait. Old
Tucker improved the shining hour by telling a yarn.
“Ay,” he said, in answer to an observation of one
of the younger sailors, “ bein' a man-o'-war's man's ex-
citin'enuf—’most as much as bein' a privateersman;
but fer real downright blood-movin' adwentures, gim-
me a w’ale ship. Now, I jist remembers that oncet I
was harpooner on a New Bedford w'aler, the Polly
an’ Jane—a fine, full-rigged ship she were, too. Well,
we was a-cruisin' 'round the Greenland seas fer sparm
w’ales, an' had had a mighty fine run, an’ was full to
the hatches with ile. Howsomedever, we had a few
casks lashed on deck, an' some empty water casks w’ich
the skipper he was anxious to fill; so all hands was
mighty glad, bein' as we was workin' on shares, w'en
we got our irons fast to a big bull sparm w’ale. We
killed him arter a hard struggle, in w’ich he stove up
one o' the boats an' knocked the boat-steerer into king-
dom come with a flap of his tail.
“We towed him alongside an' perceeded to cut him
open. I was down on his fat back with a w'alin' spade,
an’ we'd jist opened the big tank in his head. I s'pose


REUBEN JAMES.
there was thirty or forty barrel o'loose ile washin'
round there, an’ we was jist riggin' a bucket line to
pass it inboard, w’en somehow or ’nuther—we never
knowed how—somebody must 'a' dropped a light over
into that 'ere w'ale's head, w’ich was, as I said, jist like
a big tank. The ile took fire to oncet, an' it blazed up
as high as the main yardarm in a second, an' I was so
skeered that I fell into it. I went in so quick that
the flames didn't burn me in passin', an' of course, re-
tainin' my presence o' mind—w’ich is allus a proper
thing fer a sailor-man to do—I immejitly duv down in
the ile. As I went in I could hear the men on the ship
yellin' like mad, an’sez I to myself—an' I done my
thinkin' pretty quick, lads, I want to tell ye!—if I go
up to the top o' this yere flamin' volcaner to git air
I'll git burnt; an' if I stays here I'll git drownded in
the ile; so wot'll I do?”.
Tucker paused a moment and looked around at the
eager men listening to this stupendous yarn. Then he
cast a long glance forward at the chase, hesitated a
moment, and said reflectively:
“We seem to be overhaulin' her, shipmates, don't
we?”
“ Hang the chase!” exclaimed the captain of the
forecastle; “tell us wot ye done in that w’ale tank.”
“Oh!” said Tucker blandly and interrogatively,
“the w'ale tank? Of course! Lemme see, w'ere
was I?”


100
REUBEN JAMES.
“ You was under water-ile, I mean," answered an-
other old shellback, “w’ich it was burnin' over yer head,
an' you was a-drowndin' in the ile an’ reflectin' on the
sitivation. Wot did ye do?”.
“Well, shipmates, ye'll hardly believe it, but this
is wot I done: I took a-hold o' my w'alin’ spade, w'ich
is as sharp as a razor-ye know it's a good thing fer a
sailor-man, 'specially a w’aler or a man-o'-war's man,
never to let go of his weapin—mind that, youngsters;
so I braced myself agin' the side o' that w’ale, hooked
my feet in some o' his innards, so's I wouldn't rise, an'
ca’mly cut a hole right through his head into the water.
Then of course I squeeged myself through the hole, an’
found out that I'd got myself turned in his head,
an' here I was a-buttin' agin' the ship's bottom; so I
had to dive an' go down under her keel an' come up
on t'other side. There was a rope hangin' conwenient-
like over the side, an' I climbed up to the deck.
“ Cap'n an' all hands was on t'other side cuttin' away
like mad at the tackles w’ich held the w'ale, an' swingin'
the yards an’ doin' everythin' to get clear, 'cause it
ain't pleasant to be standin' on three thousand barrels
o’ w’ale ile, anchored to a flamin' volcaner; an' jist as
I got on deck they got clear. So I walks across the
deck. All hands was skeered to death w'en they seen
me. An’ w’en I touches the cap'n on the shoulder,
an’sez to him, “Come aboard, sir!' they cried an'
yelled as if I'd 'a' been a ghost. An' the cap'n, he


REUBEN JAMES...
IOI
sez to me some time arterward, he sez, ‘There's only
one thing on earth, Tucker, wot kept my hair from
turnin' gray w’en I seed you so unexpected-like poppin'
over the side, fer we all thought you'd be burnt up afore
you could git into t’other hot place.' An' I sez, salut-
in', 'Wot kept ye from turnin' gray, cap’n?' sez I.
An' sez he, “ Dash it all, man!' pullin' off his wig, ‘I
ain't got no hair; I'm bald-headed!'”
“I thought ye oncet told me ye couldn't swim,
Tucker?” asked James.
“Swim? Lor, youngster, if you was in a fix like
that you'd 'a' swum. You'd 'a' had to swum! Nobody
could ’a’ helped it; an', mates, the proudest remem-
brance o' my life is that, in all them adwentures, I brung
off the w’alin’ spade, w’ich I have it now hangin' in
my parlor at New Bedford!”
“ That's a pooty good yarn, Tucker," commented
another old shellback, “but I kin cap it with a better
one. We was off New Zealand oncet, a-cruisin' fer
w’ales- ”
“Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat-tat-tat!” came the
rolling of the drums along the ship's deck at that mo-
ment, beating to quarters.
There was no more time for yarns now. With
various opinions of Tucker's credibility, the men ran
for their stations. They were near enough now for
the ship to be cleared for action. The yards were
slung with chains, the standing rigging stoppered, pre-


102
REUBEN JAMES.
venter backstays reeved, splinter nettings triced up,
boats covered with canvas to prevent clouds of splinters
going inboard in case they were struck by heavy shot,
the relieving tackles were overhauled and manned in
case the wheel was carried away, magazines were opened,
arms distributed, deck's sanded, and every possible
preparation made.
Most provokingly, however, just when they were
about within range the wind died away again and they
lay motionless. The men were kept at their stations
and allowed to rest at the guns, however, until supper
and grog were served out. Toward evening the breeze
came up again, and the frigate slowly moved toward
the Frenchman. She was a large fifty-gun frigate, at
least a third heavier than the Constellation. It was
evident to all that the approaching conflict would be
a very serious one. Truxtun walked forward and con-
sidered his antagonist intently. He had the weather
gauge of her, and he determined on his course of action.
The Frenchman, seeing escape hopeless, had finally pre-
pared for action. The Americans had heard the drum
beating to quarters some time since, and the faint
cheers of the men came up the breeze toward them.
The battle lanterns on the enemy were lighted, and
streams of light came out of every open port, although,
as it was bright moonlight now, the ships were plainly
visible to each other in any case.
After a long scrutiny of his antagonist, the com-


REUBEN JAMES.
103
modore turned inboard and walked aft through the bat-
teries. The men had resumed their stations in the
highest possible spirits. They remembered their glori-
ous success of the year before, and they determined to
repeat it in this instance. As they approached the
enemy, however, they settled down quietly around the
guns.
Truxtun, surrounded by his aids, stopped before
the different divisions and said a few encouraging
words to the men, ending with the stern injunction that
no man was to deliver a shot from his gun until the
order was given, under pain of death. Some of those
who had been in the last battle knew what he meant.
Under no circumstances, no matter what punishment
the ship might receive, was there to be a single reply
made to the enemy until the commodore himself gave
the order. He told them that they were to load as
rapidly as possible and fire deliberately, taking careful
aim; they were to concentrate their fire upon the hull
of the Frenchman. The guns were loaded with solid
shot, with the addition of a stand of grape once in a
while at the discretion of the officers. No attention was
to be paid to the rigging or spars of the enemy. The
marines and small-arm men were to look particularly to
the French officers and crew. The American officers
were charged specifically to allow neither haste nor
confusion in the batteries, and they were cautioned to
set every man an example of steadiness by their own


104
REUBEN JAMES.
coolness and calmness. Truxtun did not make the
mistake of underestimating his foe, especially in view of
the latter's preponderance in force, and he determined
to leave nothing whatever to chance.
Reuben James had been promoted to the command
of number five gun in Lieutenant Sterrett's division.
It was the gun from which the man had fled in the
battle of the year before. As Truxtun passed by him
on the quarter-deck he remembered the incident.
“ There will be no flinching from the guns this time,
lads, I am sure,” he said.
“No, yer honor," answered James; “ we're here to
stay until we die, sir!”
“Good! That's the spirit, lads!” said the captain,
turning around and addressing them all. “Yon fellow
is bigger and heavier than we are, but we will make no
account of odds. There are cowards on their decks, for
they have been trying to get away from us for two days
in spite of their size, but we will show them that there
are none of that breed on the Constellation."
As the cheers which greeted this doughty sentiment
died away, the old man enjoined strict silence and re-
gained the quarter-deck. The men were so still that you
could have heard a pin drop on the ship as they slowly
crept up on the French frigate. Truxtun, trumpet in
hand, was leaning over the lee rail looking forward at the
black mass of the French ship. He lifted the trumpet
and prepared to hail her, or give an order, when a bright


THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.


REUBEN JAMES.
107
.
Her decks, which had been filled with cheering men,
were now covered with dead and wounded. The Con-
stellation fell off and ran squarely alongside, deliver-
ing a second full broadside before the Frenchmen could
make any adequate reply. They soon recovered them-
selves, however, and, rallied by their officers, returned
the fire with spirit and effect. Gun met gun, broad-
side answered broadside through the long night.
The wind being so light there was no opportunity
for maneuvering, and the conflict resolved itself into a
plain, steady give and take, the two ships slowly drift-
ing along yardarm to yardarm. It was a question as
to who could stand the punishment the longest. In
accordance with Truxtun's instructions, the fire of the
Constellation was concentrated upon the hull of the
enemy, while the Frenchman, having had enough of the
battle, directed his fire at the spars and rigging of the
American frigate, hoping that he might so cripple her
that he could escape. A large number of the Constel-
lation's crew were constantly employed, therefore, in
reeving new gear, splicing rope, and fishing spars. The
remainder kept up their hail of destruction upon the
doomed French frigate. So rapid became their fire that
many of the guns became so overheated as to compel
their temporary disuse. Observing that the fire of the
Constellation was appearing to slacken a little, Truxtun
sprang to the main battery to see what was the matter.
“What are you standing here idle for? ” he shouted


REUBEN JAMES.
109
she was not only defeated, but silenced. The last bolt
from the French frigate struck the port sill of number
five gun; a heavy splinter hurled Reuben James senseless
on the deck. One of his men seized the loggerhead
and discharged the piece at the Frenchman. That was
the last shot of the battle. Their beaten antagonist
made no reply. Truxtun put his helm up and headed
for the stranger.
The Constellation had scarcely gathered way when
the mainmast, whose every shroud and stay had been
cut, and which had been badly wounded under the top,
crashed over the side, carrying with it Midshipman
Jarvis,* a boy about thirteen years of age, and all the
men in the top with him except one. He had refused,
like Casabianca on the Orient, at the battle of the Nile,
to abandon his station, and had preferred to die with
his men rather than leave the post of duty. The Con-
stellation, with the great mast hanging over her side,
lay helpless in the water, with none of her guns bearing
on the French frigate, which took advantage of the
delay and immediately made sail and faded out of sight
in the black night, the moon having set some time since.
The decks of the Constellation presented a scene of
horror. Forty out of her crew of three hundred and
ten had been killed and wounded. Including the loss
of the mainmast, she had been seriously cut up aloft,
* His story is admirably told in Little Jarvis, by Molly Elliot Sea-
well, the first volume in the Young Heroes of our Navy series.


ΙΙο
REUBEN JAMES.
though her hull had not received much damage. When
they had cleared the wreck the French ship was
nowhere to be seen, and in the morning she was not
within the compass of their vision. Pursuit was use-
less, and after temporarily strengthening the spars, un-
der very little canvas the Constellation slowly made her
way to Jamaica to repair damages and refit. She had
not learned the name of her midnight antagonist.
Three days later a battered and broken French ship
turned up at Curaçoa in a sinking condition. She was
the ill-named Vengeance, with which the Constellation
had fought. Her hull was nearly cut to pieces, and
only the most desperate labor on the part of her crew
had prevented her from foundering at sea. She had
lost one hundred and sixty killed and wounded out of
a crew of three hundred and thirty, and in five hours of
deadly night battle she had been beaten to a standstill,
and thrice compelled to strike her flag to a frigate less
than two thirds her size and of scarcely two thirds her
force. She had only escaped by the unfortunate acci-
dent to the Constellation.*
Truxtun received a medal from Congress, pieces of
plate, prize money, and other rewards, in which the
crew shared. The greatest satisfaction, however, that
came to any of them lay in the knowledge that they
* Six months after this action the Vengeance was captured by the
British thirty-eight gun frigate Seine, after a desperate resistance, in
which her loss was over a hundred men killed and wounded. In both
instances she was beaten by an inferior force.


REUBEN JAMES.
III
had brilliantly and successfully upheld the honor of the
American flag upon the high seas. Little Jarvis, too,
was not forgotten. Congress passed a resolution in his
honor, and he has remained to this day the only lad
so distinguished by the representatives of the nation.
James soon recovered from his wound, and when the
war was over and the Constellation returned home, he
practically forsook the merchant service and remained
a boatswain's mate in the little navy of the United
States, being attached to the war schooner Enterprise,
commanded by the same Sterrett whom we saw shoot-
ing the coward on the deck of the Constellation.


CHAPTER IX.
The Enterprise had been and continued to be the
luckiest vessel in the naval service, not even excepting
the Constellation or the great Constitution. She was
a small schooner of one hundred and sixty-five tons
burden, mounting twelve light guns and carrying from
seventy to ninety officers and men. During the French
war which had just closed she had captured no less than
five armed privateers, and made a prize of the Flam-
beau, a fourteen-gun private armed brig, much superior
to her in force, after a brilliant action. During the
Tripolitan war about to begin she captured the Tripoli,
the Mastico, renamed the Intrepid, and through the
efforts of her captain and crew burned the Philadelphia.
To anticipate further, in the War of 1812, when she
had been altered to a clumsy ship-rig, she took the
British war brig Boxer, of greater size and force, after
a severe action, captured the large privateer Mars, and,
though under her new rig she had degenerated from
among the swiftest to one of the slowest vessels on the
sea, she escaped from a large British frigate, after a
chase of seventy hours, through the exercise of the
II2


REUBEN JAMES.
115
once and began cheering, and the schooner was headed
for the polacre, when, to the astonishment of every one,
the Tripolitan flag was rehoisted and the rover poured
in another broadside on the Enterprise. The Ameri-
cans sprang to their guns and resumed the conflict.
After a short interval the Tripolitan struck his flag a .
second time. Sterrett ordered the Tripolitan to come
under his quarter, and kept his crew at their guns. The
Tripolitan slowly and reluctantly assumed the desired
position, and Sterrett called away a boat and sent it
off to take possession of the prize. There seemed to
be no doubt as to the issue this time, although from
motives of precaution Sterrett kept the remainder of
his crew at their guns. He was therefore astounded
when the Tripolitan commander suddenly poured in
another broadside, sheered his vessel over toward the ·
Enterprise, and attempted to board her—an attempt
easily frustrated by the watchful Sterrett. The boat
was at once recalled, and the now thoroughly enraged
American, taking advantage of his superior mobility
and seamanship, took position off the bow of the cor-
sair, and subsequently crossed the stern, in both cases
raking her repeatedly, pouring in at close range so
severe a fire that the decks of the enemy became a
perfect slaughter pen. Two of her masts were cut
away, and finally the treacherous Tripolitan captain
appeared at the gangway, carrying his flag, which he
threw into the sea, and then prostrated himself in the


118
REUBEN JAMES.
brig flying the American flag. She dropped anchor,
and after properly saluting the broad pennant of the
commodore, a boat pulled away from her side, in the
stern sheets of which sat a young officer. He was rowed
over to the Constitution, and after a short interval he
was brought to the Enterprise, then under the com-
mand of a short, stout, energetic young seaman named
Isaac Hull. When the boat brought to at the star-
board gangway of the Enterprise, the young officer,
wearing the single epaulet of a lieutenant, sprang over
the side and saluted Captain Hull, who had stepped for-
ward to receive him.
The newcomer was a delightful specimen of man-
hood. His tall, slander, graceful yet muscular figure
presented the greatest .possible contrast to the stout
commander of the schooner. The two men met with
evident friendship and appreciation of each other, and
for a short time engaged in earnest conversation, at the
end of which the younger man exhibited a paper which
the older man perused. After he had read it, Captain
Hull turned to the chief boatswain's mate, who hap-
pened to be none other than Reuben James. That gal-
lant sailor, since the advent of the young officer upon
the decks of the schooner, had been in a fever of ex-
pectation and impatience. He had not presumed, of
course, to break in upon the conversation of the two
officers. Such a thing could never be imagined even
for a second in the naval service, but he had approached


REUBEN JAMES.
119
as near to them as he dared, and stood on tiptoe, finger-
ing his whistle in a tumult of excitement such as he
had rarely ever experienced before.
“Pipe all hands on deck, bosun's mate!” said Hull.
As Reuben blew the shrill call—and it seemed as if
he had never blown it so shrilly before—he kept his eye
fixed upon the young officer standing beside Hull, and
for the first time that young officer observed him. He
fastened his gaze upon the sailor intently for a moment,
and then broke into a broad smile of affectionate greet-
ing. Forgetting all the differences of rank and station,
and reverting only to their past friendship, the young
officer stepped forward and grasped the astonished and
delighted seaman with both hands, much to the sur-
prise of Captain Hull.
“Why, it's Reuben James!” shouted the young
man, with a laugh like a boy's. “I haven't seen you
for near seven years. The same brave, honest, faith-
ful sailor lad you always were. It does my heart good
to see you, man!” And the crew, tumbling up from
below, witnessed in wonder the unusual spectacle of
their boatswain's mate and a young and handsome
officer hand in hand, smiling upon each other like
children.
“ Lads,” said Captain Hull, touching his young com-
panion on the shoulder to recall him to the situation,
and then addressing the crew, “I am transferred to the
brig Argus, and from to-day you have a new captain,


REUBEN JAMES.
I21
Subsequently, when Preble sent his gunboats, under
the command of Decatur and Somers, to take the Tri-
politan gunboats, he was again in his favorite position
by the side of his captain when they captured gunboat
No. I; and when, to revenge the cowardly mur-
der of his brother, who had been shot by the captain of
the surrendered gunboat, which had then endeavored to
escape, Decatur's boat pursued the Tripolitan and
boarded him, James was again by his beloved captain's
side. In the fierce mêlée which took place between
the handful of Americans and the desperate, murderous
corsairs, he was wounded in both arms so that he en-
tirely lost the use of them for the time being. When his
commander, who was struggling with the Tripolitan
captain, whom he presently dispatched while both were
lying upon the deck, was about to be stricken down by
another Tripolitan, Reuben, with reckless gallantry and
devoted consecration, sprang between Decatur and the
descending scimiter, and received the blow intended for
his captain upon his own head, which he had so bravely
interposed.
The tie of affection which had subsisted between
the rude, unlettered, and common sailor and his great
officer was so deepened and intensified by this act of
affectionate bravery and devotion that thenceforth
nothing could break it, and the two men really loved
each other thereafter. It was a friendship as strange
and lasting as it was unusual. Decatur himself nursed


124
REUBEN JAMES.
by an accident, and was not known during the War of
1812; consequently, in spite of all the efforts the Ameri-
N
Portsmouthed
Boston
New York Newport
Norfolk
AZORES
WESTERN
Lisbo
ISLES
MADEIRA
viacedonian c
and
BERMUDA
razpis 2
..
.
CANARY ISLES
CAPE VERDE.
ISLES
Scene of the action between the United States and the Macedonian.
can made—and Decatur was conspicuous for his able
and brilliant seamanship—he could not succeed in gain-


126
REUBEN JAMES.
“What is it, Reuben? ” said the captain kindly, as
the sailor made a sea scrape and knuckled his forehead.
“ Please, Master Stephen, w’ich I means Cap'n
Decatur, yer honor,” said the brawny seaman, hastily
striving to recover that slip
of the tongue of which, by
the way, he was often guilty
—“yere's a youngster as
wants to speak with ye, sir."
“ Well, my lad,” said De-
catur kindly—he was a se-
vere disciplinarian, but per-
sonally a very kind and gen-
tle man, especially to those
Alethem Decatum who served under him —
“what can I do for you?”
“ Please, sir,” said the little boy, who was about ten
years old, “ I'm Jack Creamer, sir, an' my father he
died just after we left New York, sir, yer honor re-
members— "
“Yes, I remember,” remarked the captain. “I am
very sorry for you, Jack. Go on."
“Please, sir, I wants to have my name put down
on the muster roll, sir, w’ich it ain't on now, sir.”
“Oh, the muster roll, eh? Well, what do you want
your name on the muster roll for?”
“So's I can draw my share of the prize money, yer
honor, w’en we takes that ship yonder."


REUBEN JAMES.
127
Decatur broke into a loud laugh, in which the
officers standing near by joined.
“You're cocksure of taking her, are you?” he
asked.
“Of course, sir," said the boy confidently. “Ain't
you, sir?”
“I think so," replied Decatur, laughing again.
“Very well.—Reuben, take him to the first lieutenant
and have his name put on the muster roll as powder
monkey.—And come to me, Jack, after the action, and
I will see what I can do for you."
“ Thankee, sir, thankee,” said the delighted boy,
touching his cap and running forward.
James, trusting to old acquaintanceship, stayed to
speak with his beloved captain.
“Well, Reuben,” said Decatur, turning to him,
“ what do you think of that fellow?”
“I think more o' him now than I will arter we've
turned a couple o'broadsides on him, Master Ste-
Cap'n Decatur, yer honor, I means, sir."
“ Think there is no doubt about the result, do
you?”
“Not with you on the quarter-deck, sir, an' me in
the batteries,” modestly remarked the veteran seaman.
“Go forward, you old braggart!” laughed Decatur.
“Ay, ay, sir. You knows we allus shakes hands
afore we git into a fight,” said Reuben, presuming auda-
ciously on his commander's friendship.


128
REUBEN JAMES.
Decatur laughed again, and taking the sailor's out-
stretched hand, raised his voice so that it was perfectly
audible through the ship, and said:
“Very well, Reuben. Through you I shake hands
with the whole crew, and we'll shake hands in another
fashion when we have captured yonder ship. Now, get
to your station.—Remember, all, no firing until I give
the order, and then pour it in like mad!”
While the men, who had been with Decatur on
this very ship for nearly five years, were cheering these
doughty sentiments, and Reuben was swaggering back
to his station, the envy of the whole ship's company
for his awful familiarity with the captain, a puff of white
smoke broke out from the side of the English ship, fol-
lowed a few moments later by the deep boom of a heavy
gun.
It was 9.20 in the morning. The shot fell short.
Several other guns were discharged without taking
effect, and presently the roar of a broadside came roll-
ing over the water. At 9.45 the United States opened
fire from her long guns, the two ships passing each
other on opposite tacks at a distance of about a mile.
As four bells (ten o'clock) was struck in the morning
watch the English ship, which proved to be the frigate
Macedonian, 38, wore and ran along parallel to the
United States, which was luffed up close to the wind
in an endeavor to get near. The two ships ran side
by side within easy range, and the firing was rapid
was


REUBÉN JAMES.
129
and continuous. The English captain had made a seri-
ous mistake. He thought he was dealing with the
American frigate Essex, which was armed with lighter
guns than his own, and that the most advantageous
thing for him to do was to keep at a long distance and
knock the Essex to pieces with his main deck battery
of long eighteen-pound guns. The United States was
armed, however, with long twenty-fours, and in playing
at long bowls the Englishman was simply giving to De-
catur every advantage he had gained by holding the
weather gauge.
The gun practice of the Americans was simply mag-
nificent. They had been trained and drilled in gun
firing and target practice again and again by Decatur
and Allen, his efficient first lieutenant, during their long
period of service. A better crew probably never
manned a ship. Many of them, like James, were vet-
erans of two wars, and there were a number of the
old Constellation's men on the frigate. Bolt after bolt
went crashing into the hull of the Macedonian. Pres-
ently the mizzen topmast was carried away; in a little
while the main topgallant mast went over the side, and
soon after the fore topmast went crashing down with
the rest. The English kept up a spirited fire upon the
Americans, but with little or no effect, and the United
States delivered two shots to every one from the Mace-
donian.
The slaughter on the decks of the Macedonian was


130
REUBEN JAMES.
appalling. Man after man was stricken down. The
surgeons could not begin to keep pace with the
wounded, and those who were so desperately hurt as
to present no possibility of being saved were actually
thrown overboard alive by their comrades. There were
a number of powder boys on the Macedonian who be-
haved with the utmost gallantry, and the execution
among them was frightful. A very few minutes of this
showed the captain of the Macedonian that he was not
dealing with the lightly armed Essex, but with a ship
heavier than his own. He therefore endeavored to repair
his previous mistake by boldly heading toward the
United States and coming into close action with her.
But when he tried to do this he found that he lacked
the power, on account of the loss of so many of his
spars, for the continued firing of the American ship
had finally carried away the mizzenmast, cut the main
topmast off above the cap, carried away the fore top-
mast, and severed the main yard in two pieces, so that
the sail was useless. The jib boom was hanging by a
single stay.
The English captain shifted his helm, however, and
under the foresail alone, which was the only sail left,
the Macedonian swung recklessly down the wind to-
ward the United States. The captain massed his deci-
mated crew forward, in the hope that he could carry
the American ship by boarding, if he could get in touch
with her. About this time, on account of the rapidity


REUBEN JAMES.
133
tain John Surnam Carden, who was a personal friend
of Decatur's. He came on board the American frigate
and handed his sword to Decatur. The brave sailor
returned it to the mortified, heartbroken Englishman
with these kind words:
“Sir, I can not receive the sword of a man who
has so bravely defended his ship.”
This was better treatment than Carden deserved.
Though an officer of high personal bravery and great
merit, he had been a most brutal and tyrannical captain.
The cat-o'-nine-tails had been in use on his ship, and
his men were flogged terrifically on the slightest provo-
cation. Among his crew were seven Americans, who
had been treacherously seized and compelled to serve
under the British flag. They had asked Carden to
allow them to go below during the battle, and begged
him not to compel them to fight against their own flag
and their own countrymen. He refused their request,
and had sent them forward to their quarters, in the most
ruthless manner commanding the officers and marines
to shoot down the first one of them who left his sta-
tion. Among the killed on the Macedonian were two
of these brave American sailors.
Reuben was among the men who went with De-
catur when he boarded the prize. In the confusion that
followed the surrender some of the British sailors had
broken into the spirit room, and the ship was filled with
dead, dying, and drunken men reeling and rolling to


134
REUBEN JAMES.
and fro upon the blood-stained decks. Such a scene of
horror as the Macedonian presented scarcely ever comes
before human eyes. From between decks came a
continuous scream of pain from the suffering men. The
beautiful frigate looked like a wreck. The Americans
stopped the drinking, did everything possible for the
wounded, buried the dead, and then proceeded to refit
the ship.
The weather proving fine, the two ships lay side by
side for nearly two weeks, until the Macedonian was
partially refitted to enable her to cross the Atlantic and
reach the United States. She was put under the com-
mand of Decatur's brilliant first lieutenant, Allen, and,
convoyed by the United States, finally reached America
in safety. She was the first and only one of the great
frigates which were beaten by the Americans during
the war to be brought to the United States as a prize.
She was taken into the United States Navy, and per-
formed long and efficient service in after years.
A great banquet was tendered the crew of the
United States by the city of New York, and Reuben
James had the privilege of replying, on behalf of the
men, to Captain Decatur's address on that occasion. It
was the proudest moment of his busy life. Little Jack
Creamer had borne himself bravely in the fight, and by
Decatur's influence he received a midshipman's warrant
in the navy.


CHAPTER XI.
. ABOUT two years after the events described in the last
chapter, on the evening of the 14th of January, 1815, the
weather being bitter cold, with a fierce off-shore gale
of wind blowing snow and sleet in broad sheets over
New York harbor, the United States ship President,
44, weighed anchor from her station off Staten Island,
and stood down the bay in an attempt to pass the Eng-
lish blockading squadron and get to sea. The flag of
Commodore Decatur had been transferred from the
United States to the President, and Reuben James, as
usual, had followed the commodore. The President for
some months had been waiting an opportunity to get
away. A heavy British blockading squadron, however,
which was stationed off the harbor, made this an im-
possibility under ordinary circumstances. The off-shore
gale, which was then blowing for the first time in a
long period, would undoubtedly scatter the blockaders
and drive them to sea. They could hardly hope to
maintain their position in the face of this winter storm.
Therefore Decatur elected to attempt to run the block-
ade on that night.
It was his intention to take the frigate to the British
135
IO


136
REUBEN JAMES.
East Indies, to strike terror to the enemy's valuable
commerce in those waters, and perhaps pick up another
frigate for his country. The ship was deep in the water,
being laden with stores and provisions for a long cruise.
Though it was crowding her a great deal in the strong
wind, Decatur was so anxious to gain time that he was
sending the President along under single reefed topsails
with the fore and main topgallant sails set above them.
The lighthouses on the coast, of course, had been ex-
tinguished when war had been declared, and the cap-
tain and the pilot were forward on the forecastle, pick-
ing their way through the darkness as best they could
by means of the buoys which had been placed to mark
the channel. Reuben James was in the starboard main
chains heaving the lead, and another experienced sea-
man was in the port main chains doing the same thing.
The men were at their stations for taking in sail; hands
were stationed by the sheets and halyards with instruc-
tions to pay sharp attention to every order. The tops
were filled with topmen standing by to take in the top-
gallant sails, or reef the topsails, if it should become
necessary.
There was perfect silence on the ship, broken only
by the scream of the wind, the beat of the sleet upon
the decks, and the crash of the waves as the great ship
smashed through them. Above all these sounds could
be heard the long-drawn mournful cry with which Reu-
ben James and his companion, according to custom, an-


138
REUBEN JAMES.
"I can't stand this any longer," said the captain
decisively; “something must be wrong.” It was a seri-
ous thing to take over the command of a ship when she
was in charge of a pilot, but the keel of the President
must be fairly touching the bottom now.
“Stand by!” shouted Decatur, his voice ringing
through the ship like a trumpet, his anxiety plainly evi-
dent in his tones, but before he could finish the order,
with a terrific shock the President struck. Casting a
glance at the astonished, terrified pilot, Decatur in-
stantly mastered the situation. The masts were quiv-
ering and shaking like gigantic reeds in the fierce wind
under the tremendous pull of the sails, and as the
ship slowly continued to forge higher and higher upon
the sand, unless the pressure upon the masts could be
relieved instantly they would be torn out of her and
the frigate would be left a hopeless wreck. The shock
of the sudden stop had severely strained her as it was.
“In with the topgallant sails!” shouted Decatur.
“ Settle away the topsail halyards! Hands by the sheets!
Clew up, clew down! Lively, lads! Aloft there! Lay
out and furl the topgallant sails!”
As the well-drilled men sprang with astonishing
celerity to obey these orders, the fore and main topgal-
lant sails came up with a run. The topsail halyards were
settled away, and the yards soon sank to the cap, re-
lieving at once the tremendous pressure upon the masts.
Such was the discipline of the ship that there was not


REUBEN JAMES.
139
a moment of confusion. The orders were given as
accurately and carried out as promptly as if it had been
an everyday matter. When the pressure upon the
masts had been relieved, the yards were braced aback
so that the wind struck them forward, and an attempt
was made to back the frigate off, which proved abso-
lutely futile. In fact, the wind was coming in such a
way that if she had backed off her position would have
been scarcely less dangerous than before, on account of
the narrow channel. There was nothing to do but to
lighten ship and try to go ahead. Fortunately, it was
not yet flood tide, and while their position was desper-
ate it was not altogether hopeless. They trusted that
with the increased depth of water over the bar—and, so
far as the pilot could judge, they had struck on the
very edge of it—they might possibly get the old frigate
to sea.
Preparations for lightening ship were at once be-
gun, and the work proceeded vigorously, all hands labor-
ing with splendid energy. A great quantity of water
was pumped out of her, and, sure enough, after an hour
and a half of straining, buckling, and wrenching, the
flooding tide finally enabled the ship to get over.
The wind had grown fiercer and fiercer, and a return
to the harbor for an examination of the injuries the ship
might have sustained would have been the wisest course,
but under the circumstances it was utterly impossible.
No ship could beat up the channel at night in the face


140
REUBEN JAMES.
of that gale. There was nothing left but to run for it.
It was impossible to find out the exact nature of the
injuries which the President had received through
grounding on the bar. It was evident, however, that
they were serious. She was a very fast ship, but her
rate of sailing was found to be very perceptibly dimin-
ished after the accident. It was learned long after that
a large part of the false keel had been torn away, and
the ship's back so strained and twisted as to be prac-
tically broken, though not badly enough to wreck the
frigate, but just enough to turn her from a fast, handy
ship into a slow, unwieldy plodder.
At ten o'clock, therefore, after getting clear of the
harbor, Decatur headed eastward, and crowding on
every breadth of canvas the ship could carry in the
gale, in order to increase her speed, he ran parallel to
the Long Island shore for about fifty miles. Then the
frigate was headed to the southward for the open ocean.
The reasoning of the American captain had been
entirely correct. He had supposed that the block-
aders would necessarily endeavor to beat up against the
offshore gale to resume, or retain, their regular block-
ading station. This would be the natural and logical
course, and therefore when he had gone about fifty
miles from the mouth of the harbor he would find no
one in the way when he turned to the southward.
But the commodore of the British squadron had done
some reasoning himself, and he had supposed that if any


REUBEN JAMES.
141
American vessel attempted to escape with the favorable
wind, her captain would do just what Decatur had done;
consequently he had not made a very violent effort
to get back to the harbor, which the wind would have
rendered of little avail, at any rate, and he was, at the
very moment Decatur turned to the southward, cruis-
ing with his squadron off the eastern end of Long
Island.
When the day broke the Americans found them-
selves within sight of five English war ships. The wind
had moderated considerably, and was now scarcely more
than a whole sail breeze. When he saw the English
ships Decatur acted with his usual promptness and de-
cision. He brought his ship by the wind on the port
tack, and prepared to make a stern chase of it, hoping
to get away from the British squadron, or, if he found
he could not do that, either to seek shelter in Long
Island Sound, or else, as a last resort, run his ship
ashore and set her on fire to prevent her from falling
into the hands of the enemy. The men, as usual,
worked with a will. The yardarms were soon covered
with clouds of canvas; the sails were wetted down; by
clapping tackles on the halyards and on the sheets the
last inch of stretch was applied to the canvas. The
boats were cut adrift and scuttled, anchors thrown
overboard, the balance of the water pumped out, pro-
visions sacrificed, in a desperate effort to get away, but
all to no purpose. The poor old President, with her


142
REUBEN JAMES.
broken back, limped along like a wounded animal, the
British ships slowly but surely creeping up on her.
The officers and men of the President were in a fever
of impatience, and nothing that could possibly be done
to increase her speed was left undone; but in spite of
it all there was a steady gain on the part of the pur-
suer.
At four bells in the afternoon watch the leading ship
of the enemy had reached a position within gunshot
range on the lee quarter, from which she opened fire on
the President with her bow chasers. The ship was the
new fifty-gun frigate Endymion. She had been built
especially to fight the United States, the President, and
the Constitution. The fire of the Endymion was ac-
curate and rapid, and the heavy shot from her long
twenty-fours did much damage on the American ship.
Decatur returned the fire with his after guns, but with
little effect. The Endymion was beautifully handled,
and she finally took a position off the quarter of the
President, from which she delivered a very rapid damag-
ing fire. Her position was such that the American frig-
ate could make no advantageous return. Unless some-
thing changed the situation the President would be
forced to strike without firing a gun. Of course, De-
catur could have shifted his helm and brought the En-
dymion to close action long since, but that would have
enabled the other ships to catch up with him, so he was
forced to hold on grimly and take the pounding as


REUBEN JAMES.
143
best he could, biding his time. So the afternoon wore
away. :
Even though the President had been going much
more slowly than usual, she and her tenacious pursuer,
the Endymion, had now drawn a long distance away
from the other ships, and the American commodore
judged it a good time for him to attempt a maneuver
which he had been contemplating for some time.
He actually made up his mind to put his helm hard
up, run down on the Endymion, throw his men on her
decks, capture her by boarding, sink the President, and
escape on the swifter sailing English ship. It was a
conception of unparalleled audacity. Decatur briefly
explained the situation and his plan to the officers and
men in the following speech:
“My lads, that ship is coming up with us. As
our ship won't sail, we'll go on board theirs, every man
and boy of us, and carry her into New York. All I
ask of you is to follow me. This is a favorite ship of
the country. If we allow her to be taken we shall be
deserted by our wives and sweethearts. What, let such
a ship as this go for nothing! 'Twould break the heart
of every pretty girl of New York!”.
It was the kind of a speech that immediately appealed
to the men, and they greeted the bold project with
shouts of approbation and delight.
At six bells in the second dogwatch, the President,
which had been carefully working over toward the En-


144
REUBEN JAMES.
dymion, suddenly turned upon her heel and ran down
before the wind, heading straight for her. Captain
Hope, the English commander, was an excellent sea-
man, however, and he simply followed the President's
maneuver, so, instead of running the Endymion aboard,
the two ships swept off toward the southward side by
side. The plan had failed, but the maneuver had
brought the frigates into such a position that the broad-
sides of each bore upon the other. The Americans had
been chafing under four hours of inaction, during which
they had received the fire of the Endymion. They now
poured in a terrific fire from their long guns on the
British frigate, which was returned with equal deter-
mination. For two hours the two ships sailed side by
side, keeping up their dreadful battering upon each
other at short range.
The losses on the President were very severe. Mr.
Babbitt, the first lieutenant, was standing near the
hatchway when a bolt from a thirty-two pound carron-
ade took off his leg and threw him down the hatch
to the main deck, breaking the stump of his wounded
leg in two places. A few moments after Decatur walked
over to Reuben James' gun, which was being beauti-
fully served, and stepped up on an empty shot box
to look over the rail at the English ship. A twenty-
four pound shot struck the rail near him, sending a
cloud of splinters inboard, one of which struck him
in the breast and hurled him violently to the deck, upon


THE NEW YORK
PU www LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.


REUBEN JAMES.
145
which he lay senseless. Reuben was wounded at the
same time. The anxious men ran from their quarters
and gathered about him, filled with anxiety for their
captain. Under the surgeon's ministrations, however,
he soon recovered consciousness and refused to go below
for treatment. Later in the action he was struck by
another splinter, which cut a deep gash in his face and
covered him with blood. Archibald Hamilton, another
lieutenant, was killed by a grapeshot. Midshipman
Dale had his leg taken off, and died from his wound.
Many of the petty officers and men were killed or
wounded, among the latter being our friend James, a
second and a third time, the last seriously. With a de-
votion equal to that of the captain, Reuben refused to
allow himself to be taken below, but insisted on remain-
ing at his station until the last wound rendered him
completely helpless, and, in fact, jeopardized his life.
The fire of the Endymion had been directed almost
altogether at the hull of the President, which had been
badly punished, but incidentally much damage had been
done to her spars and rigging. Decatur's effort be-
ing to get away, he had devoted a large part of his
fire to the masts and rigging of the English ship. So
effectual had been the fire of the President, that after
two hours of hard fighting every sail had been stripped
from the yards of the English ship, and her spars had
been cut to pieces, in addition to which most of the
guns in her port battery had been silenced. In fact,


146
REUBEN JAMES.
the ship had been beaten to a standstill. Had the two
vessels been alone upon the sea, Decatur could have
chosen any position at will and pounded the life out of
the helpless English ship at his leisure.
It was half after eight o'clock at night by this time,
when the President bore up to get away from the other
ships, which were still coming on. This maneuver
compelled Decatur to turn the stern of the President
to the battery of the Endymion at short range. A
beautiful opportunity to rake the American was pre-
sented, but it shows the condition of the Endymion that
not a single shot was fired. The last shot had come
from the English ship some time before, and had killed
the junior lieutenant of the President, a young man just
nineteen years old, named Howell. The President had
lost twenty-four killed and fifty-five wounded, the Eng-
lish ship eleven killed and fourteen wounded. The lat-
ter lay like a helpless log in the sea as the President
sailed away from her.
In spite of the severe damage the frigate had re-
ceived, and the loss of so many of her officers and men,
the Americans were wildly exultant. They had
whipped a larger English ship than their own in fair
fight, and they thought they now had a fair chance of
escaping. The night was cloudy, and as every light
on the President was instantly extinguished and her
course changed frequently, they had great hopes of get-
ting free; but the moon shone fitfully through the rifts


REUBEN JAMES.
147
in the clouds from time to time and discovered the pres-
ence of the President to the pursuers, who were drawing
nearer with each passing moment. At eleven o'clock
at night the breeze, which had freshened, blew away
the clouds, and the President found herself in the midst
of her enemies in the bright moonlight. Close aboard
the port bow was the Pomone, 38; on the starboard quar-
ter lay another ship, the Tenedos, of the same size; and
across the stern a 56-gun razee, the Majestic, was about
to open fire. There was a sharp hail from the Pomone,
followed by a crashing broadside on one side; the
Tenedos opened fire upon the other, and the broken-
hearted Decatur had nothing left to do but to surrender
his ship.
The short and eventful cruise was over. The Majes-
tic, flying the pennant of Captain John Hayes, the com-
mander of the squadron, soon ranged alongside. De-
catur was rowed over to the latter ship, and proffered
his sword to the commodore. With kindly courtesy
the English captain returned the sword to the Ameri-
can commodore, with a similar remark to that which
Decatur had made on a former occasion to Captain
Carden.
Two hours after the battle was over, the battered
and shattered Endymion, having set some new sails,
came limping along to join the rest of the squadron.
The next day there was a sad little funeral service on
the deck of the President. The three officers who


148
REUBEN JAMES.
had been killed, with many of the men, were buried.
Each body was sewed up in a hammock, weighted with
heavy shot at the foot, placed on a grating, one end
of which rested on the rail and the other was held in-
board by several seamen. At the appointed signal the
grating was lifted and the body glided into the sea.
Decatur himself, pale and ill from his wounds and from
the exposure and strain which he had undergone, read
the funeral service, and the British marines did the
honors of the occasion.
Everybody on the American ship was completely
beaten out. For thirty hours, in the midst of a winter
gale, they had sailed and fought their ship in a most gal-
lant, splendid manner, only to be captured at the end.
The President and the Endymion were sent to the Ber-
mudas. Both ships encountered heavy weather on the
voyage, during which the Endymion lost all her upper-
deck guns, and all of her masts as well. The President
also lost her masts and a few of her guns.
The war, however, was now over, and Decatur, at-
tended as ever by Reuben James, who had nearly re-
covered from his wounds, soon returned home. He
landed at New London on Washington's Birthday,
February 22, 1815. He was still sad and heavy-hearted
from the loss of his ship and the death of so many of
his officers and men, and he was not prepared for the
demonstration of love and confidence with which he was
greeted by his countrymen. The horses were unhar-


150
REUBEN JAMES.
the Bey of Tunis, and on the 7th of August the Bashaw
of Tripoli paid royally for his fun, and signed a treaty
as the rest had done. Ten weeks after the squadron
had set sail from New York the war was over.
Reuben afterward served on many vessels and under
many captains. Whenever his ship returned to a home
port he always obtained leave of absence to go down
to Washington and pay his respects to Decatur, then
acting as one of the navy commissioners; and there
was nothing that gave the great commodore more pleas-
ure than these periodical visits of his old, faithful, and
humble friend. One day when Reuben reached Wash-
ington he found that the commodore was no more.
He had been shot in a duel with Commodore Barron,
and died in great agony after lingering a few hours.
The sailors everywhere were broken-hearted over the
death of the commodore. As Reuben said, in his tak-
ing off “the navy had lost its mainmast."
The old sailor made many cruises thereafter in dif-
ferent ships, and attached himself in his old age to the
fortunes of his early friend—whom he loved next to
Decatur—Commodore David Porter. Late in life he
received a pension from the Government for his long
and faithful services. He retired from the sea, and
spent his last days at Washington in the Naval Hos-
pital. His leg which had been wounded when the
President had been taken had been amputated a short
time before, and the queer figure of the old sailor was


REUBEN JAMES.
151
often seen stumping around the streets of the capital.
He was known everywhere as the man who had saved
Decatur's life, and when he died, at a ripe old age, many
people remembered his long and faithful services and
his intimate association with the great seamen of his
time. Many of the old veteran commanders with whom
he had served, and some of the officers whom he had
known as boys, saw that he was decently and reverently
laid away to his rest.
II


154
REUBEN JAMES.
I. .
Appendix to Volume I, A History of the United States Navy, by
Edgar Stanton Maclay, pages 659, 660.
REUBEN JAMES.
“Reuben James was a typical American tar. He was
born in Delaware, entered upon a sailor's life when a boy,
was captured in 1797 by a French privateer, and suffered
great hardships. On his liberation he shipped in the Con-
stellation in 1799, and was in the battles between that frigate
and the Insurgente and the Vengeance. In 1804 he sailed
for the Mediterranean in the forty-four-gun frigate United
States, and was one of the first to volunteer under Lieuten-
ant Decatur when he destroyed the Philadelphia in the har-
bor of Tripoli, and he remained under Decatur's command
in all the fierce hand-to-hand encounters off Tripoli. When
he recovered from his wounds, Decatur asked him what
he could do for him. At that time Reuben was a quar-
ter gunner, and taking off his hat, he said, after a pause,
Nothing, sir, but to let somebody else hand out the ham-
mocks to the men when they are piped down.'
“ He followed Decatur from the Enterprise to the Con-
stitution and to the Congress. He crossed the Atlantic
in a gunboat commanded by Master-Commandant James
Lawrence, when he again joined his old commander. He
was in the United States during her action with the Mace-
donian, and was in the President when she was captured
by a British squadron in January, 1815, on which occa-
sion he was three times wounded before he would allow
himself to be carried below. He followed Decatur to the
Algerian war in 1815, and was in the new forty-four-gun
frigate Guerrière when she captured the Mashouda off the
coast of Africa. In the long peace that followed he was
constantly cruising in United States vessels in the Mediter-


156
REUBEN JAMES.
Taking off his hat, he said, after a short pause, ‘Nothing,
sir, but to let somebody else hand out the hammocks to
the men when they are piped down. That is a sort of
business that I do not exactly like.'
“He followed his commander and friend from the
Enterprise to the Constitution and to the Congress, and
continued by his side throughout the last war, assisting
in the capture of the Macedonian and in the noble defence
of the President against the British squadron which cap-
tured her. In this last action he received three wounds
before he would suffer himself to be carried below. Fol-
lowing Decatur to the Algerine war, he assisted in the
capture of the Mashouda.
“ The writer is aware that the act thus ascribed to
Reuben James has been sometimes ascribed to Daniel
Frazier, another favorite follower of Decatur. After ex-
amining all the testimony on the subject, and having re-
cently conversed with officers who had the particulars of
the encounter from Reuben James himself, and who saw
the deep wound in the head which he received on the
occasion, the writer is convinced that he was the real actor
in this memorable scene of heroic self-devotion.”
III.
Anecdote (rom Admiral Porter's Memoir of his father,
Commodore Porter.
“ On board the John Adams was an old boatswain's
mate named Reuben James, who had saved Decatur's life
at Tripoli, and who would occasionally get very drunk,
in which condition he was insubordinate. Captain Dallas
became tired of the old sailor's pranks and determined to
punish him; and one day, after the boatswain's mate had
indulged in a frolic, all hands were called to witness pun-


REUBEN JAMES.
ishment. Captain Dallas, addressing the culprit, said:
' Reuben James, you are a troublesome old rascal, always
getting drunk, and I am going to make an example of
you. You are herewith disrated from the position of first
· boatswain's mate to that of seaman. “Thank you, sir,'
said Reuben, ‘for your high opinion; but, if your Honor
pleases, I was only celebrating the day when I saved
Captain Decatur's life, and I will promise not to get
drunk again, except when I go on liberty.' 'Who will
go your security, sir?' said the captain. Commodore
Porter, who was walking the quarter-deck and had heard
the conversation, stepped forward to the mast, and said:
'I will go his security, Dallas; a man who saved Deca-
tur's life is entitled to get drunk occasionally.' So Reuben
escaped punishment, and in the outburst of his gratitude
assured the commodore that he would do as much for
him if the opportunity ever offered.”
IV.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF PENSIONS,
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 16, 1900.
SIR: In reply to your recent inquiry, you are advised
that in a letter written from the United States Naval Hos-
pital, this city, March 8, 1837, Reuben James, then sixty-
one years of age, states that he had “just undergone the
painful operation of amputation of the leg”; that he was
with Decatur in the war with Tripoli, and that he had
served thirty-three years in the United States Navy, with-
out giving any details.
The records of this bureau do not show any particu-
lars of his service, such as date of enlistment, vessels on
which he served, and length of service, beyond his own
statement mentioned above. The date of his death is not


By EDGAR STANTON MACLAY, A. M.
A History of American Privateers.
By EDGAR STANTON Maclay, A. M., author of “ A History of
the United States Navy." Uniform with “ A History of the
United States Navy.” One volume. Illustrated. 8vo. Cloth,
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A History of the United States Navy, from
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By Edgar Stanton Maclay, A. M. With Technical Revision
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The Private Journal of William Maclay,
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During his two years in the Senate William Maclay kept a journal of his
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