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TO WHICH ARE ADDED '"T_ JXtLVXli ANNAIiST Or^ an Impartial Snmmarp of the Actions fought^ during the late Wnr^ at Sea^ and on the Lakes^ BETWEEN THE SHIPS OF GREAT BRITATN AND THOSE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Tros Tyriusve mihi nuUo discrimine agetur. — Virqil. to me the sa\ne, Your Troy and Tyre shall differ but in name— Pitt, COPIOUS NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. PRINTED AND SOLD BY BRODIE AND DOWDING SALISBURY; Sold also by LONGMAN, IICRST, REES, ORMG, BROWN, AND GRKEN, PATKHNOSTER-ROW, I.OKDOV. / / P z :-'• C«^' 11 r-t" # •v.-f-. 4!*,i Jf: :■: ■^, «??,* (fW*- S>-t' '«' t!i7' '1* V'S- '<,.«; f A ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALI.. \; ^ .■»T. V ^.^ A H ■■ Iv A VINDICATION •• >:<1 OF I .V THE AMERICAN CHARACTER, From tlie Aspersions of the Quarterly Reviewcn. Sir, To Robert Southey, Esq, ...vp.s;, ' . The complacency with which you make mention of me in a worlc composed in the maturity of your taste and judgment, excites in my feelings a good- will towards you ; and I now shew my deep sense of your distinguished favour by inscribing to you this volume. It relates to the seamen* of a great and misrepresented • The seamen of America have found an eulogist in Burke [See page 238 of this Volume], and a detractor in James. Uiriim horum mavis accipc 9 James, in his dull, unconnected Narrative, has as- serted, in unqualified language, unsupported by any specific testi- mony, that when the Essex, after her most gallant conflict with the Phoebe and Cherub (See page 315 of this Volume], was boarded by the British officers, *' buckets of spirits were found in all parts of the ^^ main-deck ; and most of the prisoners were in a state of iiitoxica- " tion." O, horrible ! O, horrible ! most horrible ! The prisoners ! of a complement of 2Cd Americans, opposed to 421 Enghsh, forming the combined crews of the hostile ships, only 111 escaped death or wounds ; and those ought not to ineur obloquy from an unsubstantiated accusation. But the charge is necessarily re- futed by the behaviour of the English Commodore, l^ho, touched with Captain Porter's ''"fence of the Essex, returned him his sword, with a letter appreciating his gallantry. To contend that every cir- cumstance of the action must have been known to him, knd that he would have been accessary to his own degradation in complimenting Captain Porter, had he been guilty of countenancing such enormities, and presided over a crew in a state of drunken deliiium, would be a work of bupcrcroijatiou. ws9m mmm vm iv VINDICATION or the AMERICAN CHARACTER. f nation. I am not the panegyrist of the inhabitants of the new world, though I feel a catholic and conciliating spirit towair^ll theqi j f^i^d I tfust ^h^t I am not singular in my predilection for a i^ation identified with our own by a common extraction, a common language, a common Ute-{ , rature, and similar political institutions. The gradual colonization of t|i? United States, and the incessant inteT< course between the Atlantic coast and the mother country , tye^iif a^it^e^ o|s.olittlf» variation of national character, that the JEugliishiqax) q£ America is not to be distii^aished ifj^ forija or feature, vn temper or intellect, horn the En* glishn^tui of Europe. A native of the North American Un^on is;^hpth in lus pJIpg^siical and moral attributes, more ^ ^niElishmau ths^i either a Welehman, a» Irishman, or a Scot. Were you, Sir, to travel from London to the Lalf^es in the company of a maq of each country, your discernment could be at no loss in assigning to the trium- virate of Britons their respective soils beyond the Severn, the 3aint George's Ghannel, and the Tweed ; but the American would defy your subtlest unraveIJin;g of na* tional c^ar^ct^r to give him for the land of his nativity any other than that of England. . If I can engage your belief, Sir, in the fidelity of this picture, with what indignation will you not recur to tlmt which the Quj^terly Reviewers have drawn of the coun- terparts of your own countrymen. Viewing the Ameri- can^ throd|h the fog and haste of rancorous party hatred, they have depicted the nation as a collection of miserable out* casts who have survived a general mutation of their muscles, ligaments, and osteology ; without one moral virtMt; to redeem the hidcousncss of their physi<;ul dcfor- VrNDICATJON OF the AMERICAN CHARACTEIL v iiiity. With a total indifference to human feelings, they re- present the Americans as a nation of " clothed savages ;" who, on their part, have opposed to the calumny only an unshaken silence. Not but that Americans have real hearts of flesh and blood beating in their bosoms : not that apathy has embowelled tbem of their natural en- trails ; not that they have been drawn, and trussed like birds in a museum. If you prick them, they bleed ; if you tickle them, they laugh. They preserve the whole of their feelings native and entire, but accompanied by an understanding, which knows how to distinguish between the clamours of an insolent and profligate faction, and the voice of a great and magnanimous people. Tbey re- gard the Quarterly Reviewers as a cabal of little, shri- velled, meagre, hopping, though shrill and troublesome insects of the hour : rtrliytvffif ioixoTtif oni Ha6 vX>}» as grasshoppers keeping up a cry from the foliage of the British oak, while thousands of great cattle, reposed be-' neath its spreading branches, chew the cud and are silent. In the 27th Volume of their periodical Calumnies, their abuse against the American States has assumed every shape which the ability of the writers could give it. The * The iifriuitque lingnoe docti of my readers will preserve the in- tegrity of the context by interpreting )^ifu>iffffa* not suavcm^ but graclkm. f mm vi VINDICATION of the AMERICAN CHARACTER h article h entitled Views, Visits, and Tours in North America. It may be considered as a sort of digest of the dirt raked off from the filthy travelling-boots of Harris, Welby, Flower, and the pseudo English Woman ; and its mephltio exhalation has been severely felt ever since the nccamulated load was thrnst through the kennel of the Quarterly Review into the nose of the public. In mat- ters so ridiculous, it is hard to be grave. The enormity of the misrepresentation is adapted only to the palate of the knight in Pantagruel, who could swallow a chimera for his breakfast, provided it was cooked by a critic. The Reviewer begins by drawing the most aggravated, hideous, and deformed picture of the state of religion in America, which his vilifying temper, aided by the arbi- (ary dominion ho assumes over fact, is capable of exhi- biting. " Religion, says the Reviewer, seems to be at a " lower ebb in Philadelphia than at New York ; it is " made a jest of in the United States, and the churches ** are fdled with fanatics, hypocrites, and bufl'oons. The *' religious duties of the Presbyterians and Episcopa- " lians, who are very numerous in New York, seem to " be performed without one single spark of devotion. " They go to particular chirches because their great- " grandmothers went there before them, or (which is the " weightiest reason of all) because it is their interest." This is sufficient for a specimen of the orthodox and pious rage of the devout and zealous critic. If any one be wil- ling to see to how much greater lengths he carries this .supercilious wrath of summary condemnation, he will recur to the Review ; where after begging the question, through twenty pagci> with impunity, and a.s:icrtiug with- VINDICATION OF THE AMERICAN CHARACTRR. vi: out thinking himself obliged to prove, he conclqdes kis (jiierulous eloquence with this charitable sentence, ** WE "■ Tear there is very little Religion of any kind in the " greater portion of the United States!" An American might justly retort on the fantastic arrogance of this spi* ritual tyrant by admonishing him that there is A RE- VIEWER OF REVIEWERS, before whose tribunal lie will have to appear ; and hope, in the meeknees of Christianity, that at the closing scene of death, if bis lungs be not decayed with sourrility, he may dictate to some Burnet at his bed-side, not only the recantation of his errors, but his repentance for those dark deeds which have acquired infinite aggravation, from the insidlousness and baseness of a lurking-hole and a mask. To these invectives of the Quarterly Reviewers I shall oppose the testimony of a man who had emancipated his mind from the fetters of systematic theology ; a testimony composed not to gratify a rancorous party sp<>--t, but to instruct the iMpartial. *' It is a glorious example that this country is now settling to the christian world, shew- ing not only the perfect safety, but many positive advan- tages, not only of universal toleration, but of the exclu- sion of any establishment of religion whatever ; the civil government having no more to do with it than with phi- Innnphy or medicine. Here are Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, with seceders of various kinds, from Scotland, Independents, Baptists general and particular, Quakers, Univsrsalists, Lutherans, Galvinists, Menno- nists, Dunkers, Moravians, Methodists, Sandemanians, Swedenborgians, Unitarians, and Jews, which arc pro- bably more than cun be found in any other christian I' r viii. VINDICATION of THK AMERICAN CIIARACTRH. country. And yet they all live, and have intercourse together, in perfect harmony ; give no disturbance to the State, and are ready to render to each other every office of good neighbourhood and humanity. At the same time there is, I believe, as much real religion and Christianity in the United States as in any part of Europe ; and fewer professed unbelievers than in any other christian country."* At page 89 the Reviewers give an affecting detail of the calamities which await the arrival of an Englishman in America : " To replunge into that state of life from which we happily escaped so many centuries sgo;—to forego all the comforts and all the blessings of civiliza- tion ; — to be set down for life in the midst of a lonely and pestilential wilderness, surrounded with disease and death ; — to be devoured hy fleas, and hugs, and mosquitoes within doors, and to live in the constant dread of snakes, scorpions, and scolopendras without ;t—<o meet the face of 1 * This picture of Religion in North America is drawn by Priestly; Burke has employed his masterly pencil on the same subject, '^ Reli* gion, always a principle of energy, in this new people, is no way worn out 6r impaired ; and their mode of professing it is also one main cause of theit free spirit. The people are Protestants ; and of that kind, which is the most adverse to all implicit submission of mind and opinion." I leave the reader to his own reflexions over the harshness and the malignity of the Quarterly Reviewer. \\ f The f **s and b**s (to expunge the vowels from these indecorous words Cynthius aurem velRt, ct admonuit) are not indigenous, but im- ported with the emigrants frae the North. The mosquitoes have vanished — stings and all ; and snakes are nearly as scarce in the United States, from the cultivation of the soil, as they are said to be in Ireland through the.interference of a Saint. North America is not a J nd of terror; and tlie dread of being devoured in it could enter only VINDICATION OF the AMERICAN CHABACTER. ix strangers only ;— <<> linger out days and years without friends, witliout society, without the enjoyment of a single comfort \^to liiiten in vain, every Sabbath morn- ing, for " the sound of the church-going bell ;" and what is not the least of evils, to be deprived of those consola- ^ons in aflliction, and in the hour of death, which the due attendance on divine worship, and the conversations of a religious life, never fail to afford." For the want of large and liberal ideas, this petty re- viewer cannot contemplate, in one connected view, a desolate wilderness converted into a flourishing empire, but squats himself down in some rejected swamp, and in an unphilosophic and absurd spirit, decides or the whole from a contemptible part. With equal propriety might an American j.udge of England from a fen in Lancashire. If this be not stupidity, it is malice ; ^nd his object is not the diffusion of truth, but the spreading of defamation. Of this hngthy lamentation, most piteously doleful, and nodding towards dulness, the reader augurs ill from' the obvious nonsense of the initial sentence. He confounds his identity with that of his ancestors. No rhetorical figure can authorize his speaking in his own person of what he experienced several centuries ago ; unless he can persuade us that he has attained to the age of an an- tediluvian ; but he would be no great gainer by our con- ceding to him this point ; for we should only pity him as being a very old man without the benefit of reflexion. the chimerical brain of a closeted Reviewer. It is blest with peculiar exemptions. It is notorious that the traveller goes anned in Aria and Africa ta defend himself from the lion, the hyaena, and the paid ; but *a America he roamg from Caiiadtt to Darien protected by a rush* i X VINDICATION or the AMKRKAN CHARACTER. His mention of the fleas and bugs is in a very bad taste ; and his whining piety is so egregiously absurd, as to melt our indignation into laughter, and make even de- pravity ridiculous. To make the reader amends lor the prose of the Re- viewer, I shall cite the stanzas of the bard. )t is Mr. Moore's description of America. Thrice happy land ! where he who flies From the dark ills of other skies, • > > - From scorn, or want's unnerving woes, : , , , ,' . May shelter him in proud repose ! , Hope sings along the yellow sand . . v . His welcome to a patriot land ; ■.'..:■ At once, the mig' ty wood receives ; The stranger in its world of leaves, * • Which soon their barren glory yield * . ' . , To the warm shed, and cultur'd field, ■'. And he who came of all bereft, ,^ . . • To whom malignant fate had left Nor home, nor friends, nor country dear. Finds home, and friends, and country here. ... As my cause is that of human nature, and my party is mankind, I will, before I conclude, disabuse the public upon a representation which stands out in high relievo beyond the rest. If Bruce excited the indignation of the public for wantonly relating of the Abyssinians, that they cut their beef- steaks from the backs of grazing cows, with what abhorrence must we turn from the inhuman accusation of the Quarterly Reviewers against the people of the State of Kentucky, whom, on no other authority than that of an anonymous scribbler, they reprosent to be in the cool habit of cutting their razor strops out of the backs of living Indians. They must be tainted with ^ ferocity truly diabuHcal to believe Americans to be so VINDICATION OF the AMERICAN CHAKACTER. xi wicked and corrupt ; and their implicit faith of the enor" mity admits only of the explication, that it is the allegory of their own system, and the type of their own po'icy The unhallowed transports with which they thrice repeat the charge, argues strongly that they are lost to shame ; and while the Kentuckian is libelled, the reader is scan- dalized. Those " Kentuckians (say the Reviewers) who " have the least turn for economy, cut their razor-strops " from the backs of Indians while alive ; and according *' to their common practic, do it coolly and deliberately. " We believe that this infernal fact is true to the letter."* If it were practicable to treat such atrocious nonsense seriously, I would not undertake the vindication of the Kentuckians, on the plea of remorse and compunction of heart, as the assumption might be thought gratuitous ; but I should at once shew that the charge necessarily meets its confutation on the very principle of economy. The race of Indians is extinct in Kentucky, and a red man is as scarce in the district as a horse in Venice. The nearest tribe of Indians is that of the Catawbas in CarO' lina, a distance of five hundred miles, and not even the gratification of skinning an Indian alive would compen- • The Federdist, from whose exploded pamphlet the Quarterly Reviewers have collected their information, is a little tippling author of Philadelphia, with only a single pair of galligaskins, who is glad to make his dinner off a halfpenny porrenger of pease soup and potatoes; a thoughtless buffoon of a satirist, who would himself be astonished if he were held to the letter of his own description. The pamphlet is a joint performance. Ra wle, the printer, finding his subscribers im- portunate for its appearance, sought the author at his lodgings ; who being disqualified by his potations for literary pursuits, the typo- graphcr sat down very deliberately and finished the composition. p nmii'fmieijfmmit.im' M".fit' xii VINDICATION or the AMERICAN CHARACTER. 'sate Jonathan for the expences of the journey, while there was a sympathetic calf in the heigltbou.rhood to tellow out in me converteferrum. But what I consider decisive of the point in debate is, that having applied to my barber for his opinion, who is a manufacturer of straps, the little swarthy Packwood, on hearing through the diabolical story, fell into a fit of immoderate laughter, and wiping the tears from his eyes with his holland- apron, assured itie that the absurdity of the charge coanteracted its viru- lence; that it would baffle the ingenuity of Jonathan to cut a strop adapted to a razor out of the baolc of an In- dian, though inexorably deaf to his pressing entreaties to desist ; that the skin of an Indian is too thin for the pur- pose ; and that a Reviewer must possess a very Uiick head to let such an idle rumour contmand his absolute confidence. - . It is impossible to conclude this Letter without expres- sing a wish that the Critical Department could be re- formed by filling it with enlightened and conscientious characters. The recognized establishment of such an authority would scatter the present insidious confederacy from their lurkingoholes, like a ruined nest of ants. The Quarterly Review would cease to be a practical satire on the liberality of an English public ; a kindred Nation would no longer be the sport of a blind and insolent fkction ; and the opiniori necessarily entertained by Ame* ticans woiitd undergo a modification, that the laudable Jove of polite literature in the mother-country has been superseded by an unhappy passion for coarse invective, clumsy raillery, and vilifying abuse. I am, Sir, years, &c. THE AUTHOR. u CTER. lite there o tellow jcisive of y barber the little liabolical 1(1 wiping I, assured d its viru- nathan to of an In- ;realies to r the pur- k-ery Uiick s absolute lot expres- ild be re- iscientiou>5 If such an mfederacy lants. The j satire on id Nation Id insolent |d by Ame- laudable has been invective, THE AMERICAN MARINERS. CANTO I. THE EMBARKATION OF THE CREW, AND THE DEPARTURE FROM PORT. I. OCEAN all hail ! ours tlie proud joy to roam Thy world of waters glittering in their foam, OVr thee to gaze — to rest the roving eye On thy curl'd waves that plume the verging sky. Our home a barque — the pageant of the scene — (Pride in her port, defiance in her mien, (Whose \vell-arra'd deck displays a gallant crew, [Each man a hero, to his colours true, kt to my tale •^— B 5 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 11. AVhere Pennsylvania's river opens wide 10 His arms and ample bosom to the tide, A rugged cliff impends with beetling brow, ' ' Whence giddy terror dreads to look below. And on its tree-capt summit stands a fane. Whose ancient tower surveys the rolling main, 15 III. Primaeval is the spot, where overhead Gigantic oaks their twilight shadows spread, Cinctur'd with roses the magnolia towers, The ancient cedars wave their sacred bowers, And Nature only, in her sylvan tone, Wakes with the breeze through green arcades to moan. •20 IV. Thither the sailor oft is seen to stray, *j As pensive Meditation points the way. To note the scythe, the hand-glass and the bone, That point a moral on the antique istone :— •, 25 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. a His foot scarce raising midst the awful gloom. Lest he disturb the silence of the tomb — Vain thought! yet who, not curst with breast of sttel, Would the fear spurn, and not the foible feel ? V. While our tall anchor'd bark at distance lay^ 30 With sail loose flagging in the breezy bay, Soon as the holy light shoots o'er the fane. And dazzling paints the ivy-mantled pane. Then musing up the hill yet hoar with dew. In solemn rites to join ascend our crew, ^5 There to incline, and ocean^s God implore To speed their vessel to her destin'd shore. Bare, reverential, o'er the turf they spread, Where in their long long sleep reclin'd the dead, Each in his narrow home — with sealed eye — 40 No more to view the splendours of the sky. VI. Beneath an oak, o'ershadowing a tomb That eloquently preach'd man's certain doom, b2 4 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Tlie sea-chief stood : in glittering gold arrayM — On Ins sword's hilt the morn's effulgence play'd — (iuick was his eye — its attribute control 1 — It aw'd, impress'd, subdued the gazer'f. soul — And when his dark brow knitted o'er its glance, Scarce single-handed >vould his foe advance. 45 VII. h I Now as he rais'd his hand, the naval train 50 Spontaneous knelt; such stillness held the plain, That in his highest flight was heard the cry Of the proud eagle soaring to the sky. Then as the kindling ardour thrill'd each breast, The bending crowd the warrior chief address'd : 55 When our forefathers, from Britannia's coast, On the wide tempest-harrow'd ocean tost, Left ihe stern realms of Persecution's reign, To keep their covenant beyond the main, The wave escap'd,, in gratitude to God, 60 They rais'd this fane, this sanctified abode. Sunk are they now, they press the sainted ground, Where the grav'd tablet scatters praise around. And from the mariner approaching nigh, ,, Exacts the tribute of a bosom sigh. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 5 Yet sleep they not in cold oblivion's gloom, Tiieir pious memory lives beyond the tomb, Lives in our breasts, and warms with sacred lires, Another race to emulate their sires. Yes ! ere our vessel tempt the billow's roll, 70 Ureathe we our vows, and lift the ardent soul. He said, and bending to the holy ground. With age, and youth, and childhood kneeling round. Fervent of heart and voice, before the shrine, Invok'd the succour of the pow'rs divine : 75 O thou who swayst the seas, thou Lord of all. At whose command the billows prostrate fall. O'er the great waters of th' Atlantic main, Extend thy mercy, and our bark sustain. vin. Now to the sands the crew descending bend, «o There in a last embrace to strain a friend, Or sorrowing leave a mother, or a bride. To weep the sailor's absence on the tide. Murmuring they go, as when their kindred deep Heaves the hoarse surges to some rocky steep ; 0.5 The boatswain shrilly pipes, the countless throng Like the sea's waves successive pour along. w 6 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. IX. THE FRIGATE'S CREW. The tall New Englanders, a hardy band, From Barnstaple, and Sajahadoc's strand, Whose naval ardour rocks nor shoals can bar, IKi Nor the dread rage of elemental war. Sons of the iorm I with javelin wont to seek Tn icy seas the Monster of the Deep, His form approach, when, from his nostrils wide, IJe breathes a tempest, and he spouts a tide. i)5 'I'hese our first Watch — to whom the rugged plank Yields slumber sweeter than the mossy bank. X. The Pennsylvauians, eager to explore Old ocean's wildest waves and farthest shore ; Whose prows all-daring range from pole to pole, 100 Far as the breezes blow, the billows roll. When the rock'd yard dips low its pointed arm. They climb the shrouds — with breasts that scorn alarm — / THE AMERICAN MAKINERS. 7 Cling to the cord, display the pendant form, Ply their bold task, and sing beneath the stonii. lO't These form a watch— and the same district hail With their great chief who rules the helm and sail. XI. The gay Virginians — the main-deck train To point our battle-thunder o*er tlie main ; Who, ere they flash the cannon at the prow, 110 AValch well their own ship's roll — the surge's How.* Wild sons of mirth — with eye as eaglet's bright — Waking to joy, to laughter, and to light. A watch these form — when on the nightly gale Our tall ship hangs with broad and steady sail, ll.j * The American crews are eminently skilled in handling the gteat guns. It is notorious that their ships have disabled those of the enemy, without sustaining any material damage themselves. I have had occasion to notice that the men, in exercising their guns at a cask on the water, are ever mindful of the heave of the sea, and never fire till the ship is on an even keel. Hence their main-deck battery ac- quires the precision of a ft)ru~8ut Uiis is a horrid subject to the Philanthropist ! f 8 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. XII. i The Mississippians, iis'd to gallies* sails, From silver streatus that flow through smiling vales. Where the long loaded raft, and cumbrous barge, Trust to the placid wave their weighty charge. These, in our waist, the sinewy arm afford 120 To haul the sheets, and get the tacks aboard.*" XIII. Last — the Kentuckians, new to naval fame. From woods and mountains, one wild scene of game. From boyhood taught the spiral gun to wield, And scalp their foe-men prostrate in the field* 125 These in the fight— from the top's airy round, Direct the tube — inflict the deadly wound. Inspir'd by freedom, one congenial soul Pervades the bands, and animates the whole. * The waist of a Frigate is the midship part of the main-deck. The men stationed there are called Waisters, and their principal oc- cupation is to pull and haul. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 9 Daring in mien, of their star'd banner proud, 130 Hreatliing defiance, mov'd the w arrior crowd ; Down the descent th' embodied seamen pour, Darken the vale, and secic the liaven's shore. XIV. The full throng'd harbour, and the peopled shore, An awful, silent look of anguish wore. 135 There the soft maid the sailor's arm sustains — She holds him weeping and his form detains. And there the father clasps his love and pride, — His drooping wife and infants by her side. The hoisted topsail beats against the mast — 140 They lean in agony, and look their last — 'J'heir sorrows stream ; oh ! who with heart to love, Or eye to weep, those sorrows would reprove. XV. Aloof Delancey stood — no spousal tears Fall on liis breast — no shriekings pierce his ears. 145 In the proud lap of high adventure thrown. No vows but those to Fame his pulses own. w 10 IHB AMERICAN MARINERS. lie leaves no wretched wife to watcU — to mourn — And pile tlie beacon-fire till his return. Yet led by Friendship to the wave-wash'd strand, 150 Warriors and Statesmen of Columbia's land Uang on his steps — and, sighing, see his sail, With ample canvass, loosen'd to the gale. Their sweet remembrance oft had cheer'd his mind On deck, amidst conflicting waves and wind ; 155 For, e'en in scenes of peril and of death, F'riendship like flowers can scatter fragrant breath. With smiles he gave them now his last embrace, But his heart cast no image on his face : And when they breath'd their tender, last fare- well, 160 In look, not sound, the parting blessing fell. XVI. With downcast eyes the silent bargemen stand. As on the gimwale steps the Chief from land — Shove off ! the coxswain cries— the falling oar Resounds, and creaking cleaves the billow hoar. 165 Heading the anchor'd bark, they silent row, And as the cleft wave brawls around their prow. The crowd's full plaudits reach the Captain's ear, The shout from shore, and oft repeated clieer. THE AMERICAN MARINKRS. 11 onrn — XVII. ind, 150 s ntiiid ; 15.J breath, ace. ire- 160 ir ir. 105 o\v, ear. % •i Sad on on the sea-l)eat strand a Miotlier prtst 170 Her soul's sweet solace to her tliroUhing breast — Talbot — descended from a generous line, Of fairest form, in look and air divine. And wilt thou u;©, she sai<l, relentless bov, >Vhere billows threaten, and w here storm.*? annoy, 175 To tempt the danirers of the restless deep. And leave these m retched eyes to watch and weep. Sure there's more pleasure in the tranqiul ch^vm Of thy dear home, remote from rude alarm. More in the lawn, the garden, and the wood, 180 Than in the billows of the boisterous flood. M'hen round thy bark the foamy surges curl, And bursting mountains wild destruction hurl, AVhen thy heart sickeos into deep dismay, Nor tears, nor pray'rs the tempest can allay — 185 Then, with wrung bosom, thou wilt cast thy eye Towards thy home, and thither breathe a sigh. And wish, though then the wish will come too late, Thou ne'er hadst wander'd from thy mother's gate ! Thus wept the dame — her unavailing woes 100 Melt not the boy whose breast with ardour glows : Yes ! when at night, expos'd on deck, I keep My lonely vigil listening to the deep, f;:i 12 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. ' I \ } ll'l ii Oft shall I paint to mind the tiouie and grove, The hallow':! haunt of thy maternal love. 195 Yet not from fear — that passion should not sway, But courage hear the sailor on his way. And I, the son of one whose dauntless form Ne'er on the billow shrunk beneath the storm, Will, when the blast embroils the surging main, 200 Invoke his shade my spirit to sustain. Eager of action, enemy to rest, 'J'hy arms I leave for Ocean's troubled breast. There lies my ship — her gallant trim behold — Her proud flag bears a wreath embost with gold. 205 She looks the pageant of the circling sea, Home of the brave, the fortress of the free, Destin'd to ride the mountain-wave sublime, And roll her thunders on a hostile clime. For know, the tyrants of the turban'd host 210 Detain our craft dismantled on their coast, While in the noisome dungeon's baleful aii* The crews lie languishing in dumb despair. First to Britannia's coast the rapid breeze Shall bear our war-bark tilting o'er the seas, 215 Envoy of peace, to give the generous hand. And closer draw tlie ties of friendship's band. Then bending on, our battle-tier shall roar With retribution o'er the Moorish sbore, j THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 13 195 210 Till the long-peopled rampart shake, and all 220 Its rock-bas'd forts stand nodding to their fall. The stripling ceas'd, and feeble to sustain The bitter yearnings of the parting pain, 'J ore from the matron's arms, let fall a tear, And sought the pinnace rocking at the pier. 225 Oh ! little dreamt he, as he hied to gain The stately ship, and launch into the main. That ship should hurl him from her mast's tall h^ad. To mingle with the ocean's vagrant dead— • Sever'd from her who weeps upon the shore, Never, ah ! never, to behold her more— 230 Why kept he not at home his AvandViug feet. And not thu: weave his own — his mother's winding sheet. XVIII. 215 Now, with shrill p'pe, the boatswain warns the train Not to delay their duty ori the main. 235 The topsail flutters, and the signal-gun Thrice far resounding since the rishig sun, Calls them on board — and streaming bright behold The stars of silver, and tiie stripes of gold.* * The flag of the United States— reserved for higher destinies than Europe has the capacity to coMcei\ c— displays an assemblage of stars and stripes. in TH5 AMERICAN MARINERS. Stormy and wrathful as the swelling surge, The mates the seamen to the barges urge, AVhose boatmen leaning on tlie rested oar, In secret chide their comrades on tlie shore. And thus, a young Lieutenant of the deep, Hampden — rebukes the warriors as they weep. '245 For flippant talk more noted than for sense, Invidnerable in his impudence, His wit on others' woes he lov'd to w^het, And ran an Indian muck at all he met. Are these our brave Columbians? mournful sight! Hanging their blubber'd cheeks in languid plight — List'ning like dotards to the honev'd tongue Of woman—with false vows of fealty hung. Tlie sex reprisals love, and will retort The joke that — " Tars find wives in ev'ry port." 255 To whom an aged matron, at whose side A daughter hung, a sailor's weeping bride— Shame on you, youth — jangling your hanger's chain, To jest when woe and Avretcheduess complain. Wed but some virtuous maid — you will remove 2(50 Your doubts, and think more nobly of our love. K I When Hampden thus — if memory do not fail. You are the dame who once approv'd my hail, When landing from a cruize on yonder pier, I chink'd a purse of dollars in your ear, 265 ■^ THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 15 M eep. 245 And ask'd you in a kind and coaxing May, Where liv'd the likely lasses on the bay. Shameless of front— the anger'd dame replies, Whene'er thou speak'st — a reputation dies- Repress that laugh — aye, hasten from my view, Stain of the navy, stigma of thy crew. [ sight ! light— rt." 255 's chain, n. )ve 2(50 ive. il, ,il, 265 Now the tall ship the sailor-train ascend, And o'er the capstan-bars incumbent bend, Heaving they shout, and from its oozy bed, The ponderous anchor slowly lifts its head. 275 The haulers sing, and through the glowing hand . The braces glide, the wlieeling sails expand. Crowds from the town, the hamlet, cot, and grange, Blacken the sea-shore to the billow's range— Their cries ascend, their tender shrieks revive, 280 The rocks, the pier, the tall cliffs seem alive. Our ship is cast,* and as she seaward steers. Sinkings of heart, and sighs, and smiles, and tears • Casting a ship is, when her anchor first loosens, she is placed in a position for her sails to fill. 1 Ij!: :( ■J ■ii' / f I If hfj i ■I : i i <i 16 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. By turns hold sway — our flapping to^)sails swell. And hands uplifted waft a long farewell. 285 Glorious our vessel glides — in deep array, Her guns frown terror o'er the watery way. Deep meshy outworks all her rear invest,* And on her heak a Virgin stands confest. Who to the eye reveal'd, by carver wrought, 200 A breast that swell'd with soul, a brow that thought. Kesting her sandal'd feet, the Nymph displayed Her graceful form, and the blue deep survey'd. Some Avould have judg'd her from the sea to rise, On our prow lighted to invoke the skies, 2J).j But with the Cyprian Queen she claim'd no kin, Her look could never light a face of sin. No wanton Cupids round her arm entwine. And fondly strive to kiss her hand divine. Hence ye impure ! from Greece the Virgin stray 'd, From Corinth's citadel — that royal maid Whose succouring arm, as ancient bards relate, Snatch'd young Orestes from disastrous fate. His throne redeem'd, and gave to funeral flame The base usurper, and the perjur'd danie.f 305 Deep meshy outworks— a periphrasis for boarding-nettings. + See the Elcctra of Sophocles. > M /im THE AMERICAN MARINERS. It well, 285 290 thought. y'd. rise, 29.> kill, XX. High on the deck the gallant sailors stand. And look a tender farewell to the land ; They mark the spot where lingering they delay'd Their last embrace, ere yet they anchor weigh'd. White curl the waves, our ship with spreading sail Smooth as a falcon hangs upon the gale. The peopled shore, the beacon fainter shew, And all is sky above, and ocean all below. XXIe tiay'd, ite. lie 305 O land receding, land belov'd, rever'd. By evVy tie that binds the heart endear'd, 315 Columbia's shores fast fading on the eye. To you I breathe my deep, my farewell sigh, Fam'd for true freedom, but for pity more. Exiles from ev'ry clime embrace your shore- Warsaw's defender, and the gallant host 320 From Gaul— .where Virtue mourns her empire lost-— To you the persecuted victims roam, Redress their hearths, and find a sylvan home. ■Hi -.'I ;■ iji'l Ill .1 J m lii I l!i ■» i r \!' ^1 ;^ THE AMERICAN MARINERS, xxn. And I who sought and found a wild retreat Where thy Ontario's sea-like billows beat, 325 In all the turbulence of ocean's roar. Whelming the bark unconscious of a shore- Now leave my bower of peace — on wild waves tost. And spread the sail for Albion's distant coast — But not unblest — a bright'ning, sunny ray 330 Gilds the horizon of my wintry day — A consort's care, an infant daughter's smile Sustain my spirit, and my griefs beguile : — These heart-twin'd objects o'er the deep I bear, With pious hope, but not unmix'd witli fear, 335 To realms remote — O God, be thou their guide. Vouchsafe to guard them through the storm and tide. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 19 li 325 e— aves tost, )ast — 330 CANTO ir. e bear, r, 335 guide, I and tide. THE STORM, AND MIDNIGHT ENCOUNTER OF A SHIP AT SEA. Night now lias hush'd our crew in soft repose — The moon, full-orb'd, her silver mantle throws O'er the blue deep — her splendours quiv'ring play, Gild our proud bark, and light her on her way : In such an hour who would not slumber break, To marvel o'er her meteor-streaming wake.* In silent pomp the lofty warrior glides — Her hull, masts, sails, reflected on the tides— Her shadowy counterpart — to our sight, Blended in stillness — noiseless as the night. 345 • The wake of a ship is the track which she leaves on the Kca. It may l)e seen to a tonsiilerablc distance behind the stern, as smoother •■lian the ies( ol' the water. c. 2 20 THE AMERICAN MARINERS, A thing intelligent before the gale Seems the tall ship — plunging her straining sail — Some spirit wandering on the billow hoar, 350 That starts and listens to the wat'ry roar. II. '? With stilly tread now on the gangway's height The centinel proclaims the watch of night, And as the bidden seaman strikes the bell. Then sounds on air the cry of" All is well!" 355 Now at the helm the steersman lifts his brow To thee, fair planet, glittering o'er the prow, And, as he guides his vessel through the main, Dwells on those friends he sighs to meet again— That thronging wake alternate hope and fear, 360 By distance now to memory^ doubly dear. III. Ocean slow heaving to the swelling breeze, Recalls those nights in equinoctial seas, What time a ship-boy,* o'er the gilded prow I loU'd, and chid the talking waves below — 365 • The Author of this Narrative embraced a sea-faring life, and made several voyages to India in his early youth : one in the Wor- ccblcr, of which Mungo Pork was the Surgeon's Mate. ( f. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 21 Or strove to count the sparkles of the title, Their mimic fires scattering far and wide. IV. But years bring grief— now as the billows roll, AVith voice articulate they melt the soul. Like tones of friends remember'd o'er the ear 370 Mournful they fall, and wake the tender tear. Whither are all my early comrades fled? No more with jocund shout the sail they spread — Mute evermore — and blotted from the day, Like their swift ships they all have pass'd away. V. Unkncird they sunk — for them no mourners weep. Their shroud the wave, their sepulchre the deep, Or if inurn'd, and yet survive their fame, What is it but the record of a name — A senseless eiligy — a chisell'd bust, 380 The sculptor's elTort to defraud the dust. VI. Another day is pass'd — but now no more Our (leej) sail whitens o'er the billow hoar- f III ■ 1 m THE AMERICAN MARINSRS. Iiii-ii 1 ! M When night returns no more our crew is blest With golden slumbers, and the dews of rest. Intent wc all beheld the waning day 385 Depart in clouds that spread a deep dismay— The voice of wrecking havoc shriek'd below, And our dark fate aligMed on the prow. The chief in horror gaz'd — and while around The still air trembled with a muttering sound — 390 What demon, cried he, of the whirlwind's train. Broods o'er the waters of the darken'd main? Seamen, aloft! reduce the dangerous sail, Bare pol'd* our bark must meet th' impending gale. VII. These portents of the troubled deep I saw 31)6 With secret wonder, and with sacred awe, I'rojM our drear dock ; and at my elbow stood Young Talbot, fram'd for scenes of gentler mood. Who, as his arm round mine in friendship twin'd, Kcveal'd the boding terrors of his mind : 400 * A ship is said to be under bare poles, when, in a tempest, all )itr bails being furled, she ilies pitti pi lately before it — ])erluips, at ihv: rate of twelve knots ;in hour, surrounded by waves whoso heads or (up.-, are blown about with so j^reat violtnci; that you cannot discern tht hori/on. Jlaud ignarus loquor ! THB AMERICAN MARINER9. 2a est t. 385 1(1— 390 train. n ng galo. nooti, wiii'd, 400 npest, iilJ .'rluips, at 3feo liLiu(;> I dreamt, as in my cahvais-cot I lay, Ere yet the boatswain's pipe annouuc/d the day^ That I was huri'd unfathom'd caves to seek, Where no sound broke the sabbath of the deep. Around me carcases, a coantless crowd, 405 Some in their hammocks, some without a shroud, Floated in living tombs, the ocean's scorn^ With unctuous locks, and hollow eyes forlorn. While speeding down the azure realm were spread Trunks without heads and limbs, that streaming bled; Torn from their cearments, the rejected food Of the voracious monsters of the flood. Incumbent mermaids trail'd their glossy hair. But one mermaiden sang a plaintive air. Who gently o'er me gaz'd with aspect bland, 41& And gazing wrong'd her bosom with ker hand. Pitied my youth, and with her melting shriek, Pierc'd the calm caverns of the hollow deep. The Sisters rose, shook back the streaming tress. And join'd the doleful wailing of distress. 420^ Then with a voice subdu'd, the weeping throng Around me wove their melancholy song : In vain you lieaven-ward look with asking eye. Fond boy ! no more will you behold the sky. Far deeper limits have you yet to seek 425- Of the exhaustless regions of the deep, Pass shelving rocks, and distant eddies gain. And uii\ with l*roteus and his formless train. ii V .) ( 24 TH£ AMERICAN MARINERS. Where awkward whales the foamy waves assail. And lash the marbles with their forky tail. 430 The sunless cave of keels, a countless store. And rudders that obey the hand no more ; Of many a founder'd sliip, within whose hold The captain's gallant heart has long been cold. These sapphire seas by right to us belong, 435 For whom the bard has rais'd the lofty song ; Nicaea, and Cyraodoce the fair, And Galatea with her golden hair. They paus'd — I felt the warm gush of their tears. And waken'd with my horror and my fears. 440 VIII. Hoarse o*er the main the gathering surges rise With heaving throws, and bellow to the skies, In darkness shrouded — not a waking beam, No star to twinkle, and no moon to gleam. Dashing the deep, our barc-pol'd bark is borne, 445 Swift as a rein-deer from tie sounding horn-— A thing appal'd, she flies before the wind. Sweeps on, and leaves loiig foamy tracks behind. IX. Crowding the deck, while holds the ship her way, The crew all view the isea in blank dismay— 450 . it THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 25 8 assai), il- 430 re, » liold cold. ng; None speak— none move— while through the troubled air The hoarse blast brings the wailing of despair, And peal on peal o'er ocean's burning bed Cuuiuiingling roll, and si«ake the cavern'd dead. X. r tears, s. 440 rise ies. While round our hull the waves conflicting rise, 45.'> The timoneer the wary chieftain eyes, And as beneath his hand the axle glows. Port ! he exclaims — or, Steady as she goes ! And oft the binnacle attracts his sight, (Whose pois'd lamp o'er the compass throws its light,)* 4G0 There to consult the card whose mystic pow'r, To arctic regions points in every hour. rne, 445 hind. way, 450 • The ship's compass is kept in a wooden case called the binnacle, which at nittht is lighted by a vibrating lamp ; and being placed before the helm, the helmsman in the darkest weatlier is enabled to steer his course. A French poet of the twelfth century had seen it used in the night : Quand le nuit est obscure et brutie, • Qu'on ne voit etoile, ne lune, Lors font a. I'aiguille illumcr, Puis ne peuvent ils s'egarer. *t 26 THE AMERICAN MARINERS* XT. Now sudden to the crew he calls alotid, With warning voice, Grasp each r weather shroud ! Oh ! may our plank repel yon whelraiag wave, 465 Whose yawning hollow seem« a coming grave * He said — an Alpine mountain full in height, For^niing in wrath, and terrible in might. It strikes our deck— -which— from the ponderous bio w^ Severs like polar ice when the thaw breezes blow. til >WJ. I m XII. As broke the sea o'erhead, I sought a shroud, Amidst the scanicn mingling clamours loud, While at our feet the flood with horrid roar, Booms, hatches, cordage, in its torrent bore. When Talbot thus : — (who o'er the rushing tide 495 A ratlin grasp'd, and held in gallant pride) This wave cscap'd — the visionary loom Dissolves — no n;ore prophetic of my doom. XIII. While o'er our deck the boiling billows glow, (Jurl white above, and darkly roil below, 480 :^ THE AMERICAN MARINERS. £7 er shroud ! »^ave, 405 ave» It, cous blovv Js blow. Thr young Lieutenants, reckless cf the surge, Sc( k the chain-pumps, and tlirough the torrent urge, The deep well sound, the clanking puirp-brakes ply. And look around them with a seaman's eye. Hampden and Randolph in the waist appear, 485 And swell the shout the laggard heart to cheer — So the bright stars that gild Orion's form, Sliinc through the cloudy horrors. of the storm. XIV. ud. But, lo ! from either hatch, a startled crowd Of men and women, rush with outcries loud — 490 Pilgrims — who doom'd on foreign shores to roam, Were now returning to their hearths ar.d home. Wild with affright along the deck they pour. Spread wide their palms, and kneeling, heav'n implore. Or raving call — they all their wealth would give 4U5 For one more day, one hour on shore to live ! Then as the watery mountains whelm our deck, A baseless station, and a floating wreck, From the mix'd throng is heard young childhood*s sliriek, And the dread father's lamentation deep, 500 Piercing the gloom — while the poor female's fears Arc mute — or only ishcwn in Silcnt tears. I m I 28 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. XV. While o'er our deck billows on billows roll, A stronger tide of passion sways the soul— The panicle throng more bitterly bewail — 605 When Hampden's mutter'd curse their ears assail : A sailor long my lot has been to roam In ship and schooner o'er the ocean's foam. But ne'er till now these eyes beheld around. Such waters deluge, and such billows bound : 510 Colu ibus well a farewell scroll might write. Kept iie but watch with us on deck to night.* Surely some Jonah in our ship sojourns, Who now his unwhipt crimes in horror mourns, Grows pale with ev'ry murmur of the skies, 515 And beats his breast at ev'ry flash that flies : Only dotli this alternative remain To bring the blessings of a calm again- Let overboard the passenger be cast. His sins atone, and pacify the blast. 520 At this some shook for fear — the more (K>vout Arose and bless'd themselves from head to foot — * When Columbus was in hourly expectation that his ship would founder, he wrote an account of his discoveries on a skin of pardi- mont, and having wrapped it in a piece of cecr-clotli, encloswl it in a cask, and turned it a drift in the sea. ^ THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 29 I 605 •s assail : I, d: e, urns, 510 515 520 Lll mt — 'W: When thus the Chief — Shipmate, these pranks give o'er, Who would not laugh, were you to pay the score — Ev'n now, when ocean raves beneath the blast, 525 'Twere droll to see you to the surges cast, Though there no friendly fish would rise to save The falling jester as he dash'd the wave- Come, help below these wretches from the shore, Who hate salt water, and their lot deplore. 530 His shipmate hears, and in sarcastic vein. With brow severe bespeaks the trembling train : Down to your births, it ill suits you to brave On open deck the rude, uncourtly wave- Speed ye — if aught be left to you of sense, 535 JEre some o'erwhelming billow sweep you hence — And hands attend the lifted hatch to close — These suiiple hinds are formidable foes — S? i' ^ vvhile they thread the ladder to the hold, Ano ; ; :r orrent o'er the deck be roll'd, 640 Our dtLT't bark would shoot the deep below, Fleet as an arrow from the twanging bow. The train obey : their wailings they suspend, 'Hie sailors lift the hatch, and down they bend. ^Yith pensive step the dungeon dark they seek, 545 'Pin hatches close — again is heard their shriek : 30 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. So the poor ghosts, when the sky burns around. Howl out their sorrows from the tomb profound. XVI. f ! Firm at tu \ii, with circumspect survey, The chief witu guiding hand directs our way, 550 While our heav'd bark scatters around her prow The surges dazzling like loose flakes of snow. Eyeing the swell, a sigh that ofttimes stole Reluctant, spoke the anguish of his soul — And as the wheel revolves beneath his hand, 555 Thus he accosts his weather-beaten band : Columbians, shipmates, names for ever dear. What heav'n inflicts 'tis mortal's part to bear — But in the tempest's darkest, fellest hour. There still presides an over-ruling power, 500 To whom the seaman looks his bark to guide. And calm with mercy's voice the raging tide. Then bear your fate — dismiss ignoble grief, Rouse — clear the wreck to give the ship relief — The massy spars strewn o'er the deck demand 565 A whole crew's labour, not u single hand. n jy y ^1 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 31 XVIL Assembled at their toil the seamen ply The axo and lever where the ruins lie- While the hoarse boatswain urges on the train, And bellows like the bursting hurricane. 570 Mix'd shouts resound — and o'er the steepy side Thunder the spars, and strew the flashing tide. XVIII. Now round our craz'd barque such sea-billows spread, As rival in their height the mast's tall head- Loud and more loud they rage— and— as they roll Their bursting deluge — harrow up the son! : Scarce can our shuddering hull the shock sustain. The fell assault, th' invasion of the main. XIX. St! I Thus driving half-wreck'd on the midnight deep — My fears — my terrors banish'd balmy sleep, 580 And on the deck, to yearning dread a proy, A father's breast invok'd returning day. When oh! as near the naval chief [ stood Guiding his sliip iu siioiice o'er tlic Uootl, 92 THE AMERICAN MARINEI^S. New horrors hover'd on the night's stern brow— 685 New horrors met the eye of moodj woe- Sudden, terrific, labouring through the spraj, A vast three-decker intercepts our way — Some admiral's ship, whose sides in middle sky Frown on the tempest, and its wrath defy, 690 Full horrible around the mist she throws "With her huge prow — and kindling as she goes. Bears on our wretched bark : our groans arise. And mingled clamours echo to the skies. ( I 111 J saw tlie chief survey her on the deep, 696 I saw the curdled blood desert his cheek- Seamen, he cried, attend your leader's call ! Haste to the booms — the tackles overhaul. Should our frail bark the giant ship assail. Our boats — our boats — they only can avail ; 600 Unless they float, one common fate we have. Our hull our coiTm, the wide sea our grave. Shield us, ye guaraidi host! to our dismay, Silent the hulk advances on her way — No hum is heard on deck — th' attentive ear 605 Finds only awful, death-like stillness there. In such a night to sleep, the senses need Mandragora, or drowsy poppy seed — The pois'nous bowl, with deadly juices fill'd, The fatal draught from Egypt's drugs distill'd ; 610 ■l^iife^ THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 33 In such a night with no composure blest. Surely the crew have rav'd themselves to rest. Lights ! seamen, lights ! — to fire the murky air — A torch uprais'd ! — to shew her how we bear— If lier vast hull, her decks, her ramparts own (J 15 Instincts to thinking, acting beings known. Hard up the helm ! she comes but to annoy, Fix'd in the horrid purpose to destroy. Built in the eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark," She hurls destruction on our wretclied bark — ({20 Stem on she comes ! death spreads before our view — The boats ! the boats ! save ye, my gallant crew ! »i He said — the Warrior full before our eyes — Her keel on sea, her topmasts in the skies, Athwart us shot — threat'ning to cleave in twain 02-"i Our hull — and give the timbers to the main. So silent was her deck, and she so near, That her helm's motion we distinct could hear- But not a whisper'd word — or being's tread — Her's the deep mansion of the mute or dead. fl:j'> 'Twas then I saw the Mother wildly start. And snatch her sleeping infant to her heart — Kiss her babe's lips, those lips of coral hue. And bathe Mith tears her eyes of azure blue. mf • Lycidas. D I |i mmmimamm M I (: fl « THE AMERICAN MARINERS. (31asp'd in hev arniA tU' UQConscious chei^ub lay, 0'<M Like some soft flower tkat closes with the day ; Serene she smil'd to the fond bosom prest. And midst the tumult innocence finds rest. Soon as the Warrior pass'd us on the main, Meekly devout, the plank our knees sui^tain^r- 640 The babe to loye maternal once yestop'd, Oarest with rapture, is with tears ejqpter'd : — Whate'er the transports this poor life can bring, The heart's best bliss resembles sorrowing.* * In the event of the collision of two ships at sea, and the destruc. tion of the smaller one, there is no resource Ij^ft but in th^ boats. If tliey be of the same bulk, both may founder. Two remarkable British men of war, after leaving port, were never more heard of; the Aurora frlgat^, having on. l)9oxA Falconer, the l^itimate ocean- bard ; and the Blenheim, a seventy-four manned with the heroes of the Nile. Their loss is commonly ascribed to a heavy gale, but I have often thoug;ht they might respectiyeljr have gone down in a midnip^ht encounter with some other ship, and their startled crews havr resigned their spirits in one wailing burst of anguish. THE AMERICAN MARINERS, 95 lay, U3r' lay; 64U CABTO IIL ring, the destruc* [Q boats. If remarkable e heard of; Date ocean- ic heroes of gale, but I down in a i crews have THE CASTAWAY. Of friends, of hope, of all bereft, His floating home for ever left. COWPER. I. i^ Morn comes at. last, but, ohi no solaue bring*, 645 She bears no balm, no Healing on her wings, Raj les» she; nises o^er our plunging^ prow; Bow'd is each heart, dejected ev'ry brow. Still rage the billow*, with temfic form, And howling havoc, guides the vengeful storm. 6&0^ d2 7 mamm mm ■■I THE AMERICAN MARINERS. II. * I ft' High o'er the topsail yard, the shatter'd sail Flutters in fragments to the hostile gale — ** Seamen, aloft!" the young Lieutenants cry. And pressing to the rolling-tackles fly — *' Up men aloft, the canvass to unbend, (155 *' While some below the weather-brace attend." Vainly they summon and rebuke the crew — They all stand motionless before their view — Hampden the shroud infolds with zealous hand, To mount in air, and lead the naval band — 660 Vainly he calls them on with upward eye — He kindles none — they pause in agony. III. \i\ Ye sacred Nine, who o'er the harp preside, Assist my song in melting strain to glide - Prompt the deep murmurs of my lyre, and tell 665 How in his op'ning bloom young Talbot fell — Dear to his shipmates — hurl'd before their eyes From the tall mast — thought shrinks from where he lies. With courage nerv'd, the canvass to unbend, Six seamen with the gallant boy ascend 670 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. :n (?r>5 id; nd, 660 11 Ger, es ere he 670 The rock'd yard dipping low ;— the shatter'd sail Flaps to the impulse of the bursting gale — Talbot the yard-arm seeks with generous cheer, While we on deck look upward pale with fear. One hand the lift embrac'd — his head was bare — in ringlets o'er his shouldei's wav'd his hair — Wild to the gale his azure mantle flows Of glossy texture, edg'd with beryl rows, That, rich in silken threads, his mother wove Witli her own hands, the witness of her love. The toss'd ship heaves him pendant to the skies, What now remains to us but tears and sighs. iiV.it Our vows we pour — dread Spirit of the Storm, Spare the poor sea-boy, spare his tender form ! Pale to the helm the wary pilot came. The ship's unbridled sallies to reclaim. But came in vain — the storm in ireful mood (ia> Bore the boy headlong downward to the flood, Down to the deep — like a fleet meteor hurl'd To quench its glories in the wat'ry world. Struggling he mounts, and lifts his wretched hands» And from his shipmates some kind aid demands, 65K) And cries for help, but cries with voice supprest. As the rude billow beats his quiv'ring breast. The Captain heard, and rush'd towards the helm, To check the ship ere seas his form o'erwhelm — Hard, hard a-lee ! with thick'ning voice he cries, (>D5 Hard, hard a-lee ! the timoneer replies — <; li I la 38 THB AMERICAN MARINERS. The fore-sail shakes^ our vessel wildly bounds. And with the beating surge the prow resounds. a Tiien Hampden to the life-buoy eager flew, And lifted up, and overboard he threw ; 700 While others cast the gratings o'er the side, And coops and hatches strew the flashing tide.* The crew deplore and swarming seek the stern, Whence, in the wake, their comrade they discern Striving against the whelming wave to urge, 705 That bears him like a bubble on its surge. \r^J > 'J'hrough the craz'd crowd tumultuous clamours ran When thus the chief his stern rebuke began: Degenerate crew ! what sink your souls with fear? Will ye not spring to rescue one so dear? 710 Look ye thus on ! a deedless, craven train. When duty prompts our boat upon the main ? Fear ye she cannot live, and does the wave Appal your breasts, when Mercy pleads to save? * When a person falls overboard at sea the consternation of the crew will be readily conceived. The general crj- through the ship is, " A man overboard ! Hard down with the helm ! " The helm is immediately put a-lee, the ship hove up in the wind, and her progress through the water suspended. Meantime, whilst the sails are shaking, the life buoy is launched from the quarter, and coops and gratings are thrown to aid the object of general sympathy ; and, if the sea be not so tremendous as to render his situation irretrievable, the boat is lowered and dispatched to rescue him. 700 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. :i!» 705 I ask no toils, no perils I demand, 7 1 '> Hut what shall share this heart, this willing hand. Recreants ! redeem the credit of your nanle. Nor home return with foreheads veil'd in sliaiiie. Delancey spoke — and as the deck he trod, His form commanded, and his visage aw'<l : 7'2o The kindling crew, as bees on sounding wing At summons pour around their idol king, Leap on the thwarts, their guardian chief sustaiti, Grasp the broad oars, and dare the raging main. ! IV, The boat's helm guiding, wrapt in foam apptar'<i The master-seaman, and the rowers cheer'd : Keep equal time, my still unconquer'd crew, Stretch to your oars, and thtow around your vi( u — Much has the frigate drifted, since from high The boy was hurl'd, and out ears caught his cry. Now from the wat'ry ridge the dizzy skift* Shoots like a chough — blown from some airy clill Down to the frothy vale — and midst the roar Of the swoln sea again is seen to soar. The chief exhorts, and ev'ry panting breast 7;i'i' Is rais'd by turns witli hope, by turns with fear deprest — 40 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Intent around the confines of ths deep Their searching eyes the luckless outcast seek— They call on Talbot with a voice of pain, And Talbot, Talbot, sounds along the main — Tall)ot they shout — faint on his wat'ry bier. Their deep cries pass unheeded by his ear — Looking his last, he half beholds the skies, Thinks on his home, and wishes as he dies. 740 S 1 i hvl V. Now on our deck 'tis sadly silent all, 745 And rugged feat^'ics melt at sorrow's call. And many a noble seaman mournful standi With downcast eyes, wet cheeks, and folded hands; And many a }'outh averted turns to weep As the boat slowly measures back the deep "^50 Without the boy — dire is the row-lock's noise,* Heard in the pause of ocean's raging voice. Then as the rope-coil the mute boatswain th.rewf To the pale oar-men, dreuch'd with briny de\ , * Ruw-Iocks are notches in a boat^s gunwale to receive the oars : they produce a repercussive sound in rowing. + When a boat approache 3 a ship at sea, there is always some one on board prepared to throw the boat's crew a coil of rope, in order to enable them to haul up alongside. TH£ AMERICAN MARINERS. 41 h 740 745 iands ; ; oars: neone :derto A burst of anguish issued from our train, Loud as the surges of the stormy main. VI. With more than vulgar grief Delancey stood Amidst his wretched comrades of the flood. Tears grace the eye of man — siipplied To him alone — the lower world denied — 760 And he, who long unshaken and serene Had death in storms and naval combat seen. Now on the deck subdued by grief appears, His body bent, his soul dissolv'd in tears. Leaning his folded arms against the mast, 765 He mourns the lov'd boy bleaching to the blast : O wretched end ! as thine no mortal's doom, Not e'en the sand strew'd o'er thee for a tomb, But in the vaulty deep thy reliques stray, By night unshelter'd, and forlorn by day. 770 For thy departed som no passing bell riung to Che hollow gale a solemn knell. For thee no mourners through the church-yard way, Held the black pall, and wept in long array. For thee no organ peal'd, no choral train 775 With holy anthem clos'd the solemn strain. No duty thee the surplic'd-pastor paid, And the last words that dust to dv^* cunvey'd, ■ ■ I m TME AMERICAN MARINERS. Nor hand ofBcious heap'd thy rising bed Of swelling earth, memorial of tlie dead. 780 O worthy better fate ! whose lov'd remains, Unrescu'd from its rage, the deep contains, No more, dear boy, the boatswain's shrilly call Shall at the dawn thy waking ear enthral. No more the backstay through thy palm shall glide. Thy body poising o'er the azure tide, Nor shall thy hand o'er the proud mast display The trophied flag that marks Columbia's sway, A patriot's ardour swell'd thy youthful breast. For thy great country's weal too soon represt,, 71)0 Thy cherish'd wish on this terraqueous ball, Like Hull* to triumph, or like Burrowsf fall. * Hull commanded the United States frigate Constitution in her action with the Guerriere. The engagement took place in latitude 41 deg. North, and longitude 55 deg. West. The Constitution carrie<! guns of a twenty-four pound calibre ; the Guerriere eighteens. At five p. M. they commenced close action — at twenty minutes past five the Guerriere's mizen-mast tell, and at twenty minutes past six her fore and main-masts went over the side, leaving the ship an un- manageable wreck. There was great firmness shewn on board the Guerriere in maintaining the fight an hour against a superior force, after the loss of her mizen-mast. Hull's chief merit is, that his crew were so skilfully trained to their great guns, that they fired them more like rifle-men than artillerists ; and that he brought his ship out of the action comparatively uninjured. As the Guerriere struck, a sail hove in sight, when the Yankey frigate got all clear for another engagement. •f- Burrows commanded the United States brig Enterprize in her memorable action with the British Brig Boxer, commanded by Cap<> 1 TH£ AMERICA.N MARINERS. 43 780 To awe the tyrants of the turban'd host, And foreign fleets expel from Freedom's coast — But gone art thou, nor shall with grateful glow 795 Columbia wreathe a laurel round thy brow* When homeward steering the inda%ent gales Back to our port restore our spreading sails. When with mix'd tumult, black'ning all the :3*rand, Crowds swarm on crowds £o hail our ship to land, When throbs thy mother, eager to explore The bark her Talbot through the surges bore. And throwing back her veil, witli fond alarms Hopes, hopes to press thee in her longing arms, How harrow up her veins, how fades her eye, 800 To see our drooping colours half-mast high ! Her breast misgiving fears with boding pain Thou ne'er wilt bless her blazing hearth ag-'u. But not thee yet her darkest thoughts can lurui A vagrant corse before th' infuriate storm. V>\0 Thy fate reveal'd, to me she makes her moans, Mingles her talk with tears, her sighs with groans, Me she rebukes, who her sweet solace led O'er the dark deep to mingle with the dead Where plummet never reach'd ; oh! wayward doom, Denied a funeral and a lasting tomb. I tain Blythe. This gallant aflPair took place bntween Seguin and Cape Elizabeth, near Portland, Massachusetts. Both commanders fell in the conflict, and both were buried in the same grave. Burrows expired in the arms of victory, as the Boxer was hauling down her colours. i 1; \ 'r 1 . t 4A THE AMERICAN MARINERS: VII. The warrior ceas'd, and with a sigh represt The mighty sorrow in his swelling breast. And bade his young Lieutenants loose the sail, And spread the canvass to the veering gale, For westward now the orb of day again Broke Iron; a cloud that hover'd o'er the main. And unconcern'd its full reflection threw O'er the bow'd bodies of our mourning crew. 820 T V A r J 1 1 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. m CANTO IV THE CALM. i'^r. MORNING AT SEA— CREW BATHING-NEPTUNE'S VISIT— EPISODE OF YARROW— THE SHARK-BAIT. The angry storm is laid, and Phoebus now 825 Peeps o'er the weary waves that rest below, And, as the morning vapour lifts its veil, Paints with his dawning blush our languid sail. No billow curls, but the hush'd ocean keeps An eq aal motion swelling as it sleeps — * 820 The helm, abandon'd by the pilot's hands. Unheeded sways — our slumb'ring vessel stands • An alternate rise and depression of the sea continue long after the fury of the storm is exhausted. 4 M i n 4« T»E AMBRICAN MAKINBRS. Fix'd as in ice— the vanes no longer stream, And all is calm beneath the orient beam. 11. Joy to the new-bom day ! — not only we, 835 But gladden'd myriads hail thee from the sea. Drawn from their depths the scaly tenants sport, And vast Leviathan maintains his court. Musing the sailor murmurs as he eyes Tiie cumbrous monster of enormous size, 840 Lift o'er the placid wave his nostrils bare. And spout the liquid columS' in the air,. With tail erect the blue recesses' seek. And thundering plunge his carcass down the deep.*" III. Now sports the nimble dqlphin o'er the fides, Floats in the sun,, like living sapphire glides.,t 845 * The Whale comas up to the surface of the seaJo blom the water and fetch air. When floating he resembles a black hillock, and dis- oovers only the crown of his head, and part of his back ; but, in going down, he makes a display of his flns, and erects his huge tail. •f- The cerulean brilliance of the Dolphin moved by golden fins, is an object of delightful contemplation. We caught one of these fish during the calm. In the agony of dying a succession of beautiful but TttE AMERICAN MARIN BBS. 4f» 835 840 The pennan'd fish hfi seeksrTT-in sf»arklmg flight The victim rises and eludes his.sight^>— . The deep dividing, from tJiie sur£su)e springs. And cuts the huxom air wilh pearly/ wings-^^^ 850 But short his progress through the realms of day, Languid he drops, an unvesistittg prey. i But see, as though invoking^ the. soft gale, The buoyant Nautilus exalt his s^ily In spreading pomp his course around us keep, 855 And mock our stately frigate on the deep.f IV. f \ Now while the sky unveils its living light, And the broad sun burns out intensely bright, 845 evanescent tints passed over the surface o£. his body, exhibiting ch&nges from blue to orange or gold, spotted with blue and lilac ; while its Rm revealed the gorgeous colours of a peacock's neck. * The Flying Fish are seen in shoals sparkling from the sea, endea* vouring to elude the rapid pursuit of their cruel enemy the dolphin. They can fly only while their finny wings ^re wet, and sometimes drop on the ship's deck. On emerging from the ^.:ter, after their first fluttering flight, they do little more than describe an extended curve. t It is amusing to behold the Nautilus^ with a,, hull not bigger than a walnut-shell, and a sail not lai^er than a butterfly's .ving, affect the ]ot\v port— the incedo regina^ of a stately ship. I 1 i 48 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. [.,) From the carv'd stern, tlie bowsprit, and the mast, Their manly forms* the crew discuraber'd cast 860 In ocean's arms — like shapes aerial glide, And dash their dancing shadows on the tide. ■ ' Another follows whence the former stood. Spreads wide his arms, and shoots the silver flood, Plunging he falls, and ere he lifts his brow, 865 Again the surface parts, the waters glow.f 'inIf V. Now two Virginian youths their forms display, In April beauty, naked as the day. Standing prepar'd their snowy limbs to lave In the clear crystal of the slumbering wave, 870 With breasts ambitious of a swimmer's fame, Their height, complexion, and their age the same. So bright their shapes, so exquisitely fine, Both had seem'd statues by a hand divine. But that Frank smiling, open'd to the \w.\\ 87'> His ruddy lip, a berry moist with dew, * The Americans, from their extetisive line of sea-coast, and the intersection of their country by noble streams, are generally adepts in the pleasant, healthy, and useful art of swimming. Franklin was su consummate a swimmer, that he once had it in contemplation to esta- blish a swimming-school on the Thames. THE AMERICAN MARINEHS 40 mast, it 860 flood, 865 870 Line. 875 and the ;ciept8 in a was su to esta- 880 I And threw his hair back with a jocund grace, As in the deep he view'd his mimic face : Before the crew no fear his irJen betray'd— Bold was his attitude, and undismay'd. Paul ey'd the ocean with a thoughtful look. And bent like poor Narcissus o'er the brook, One might have thought, as the boy musing stood, He had let fall a jewel in the flood, . ,; And wish'd to win it from its dark, abode. Ilalf-turn'd his posture, shrinking from the blaze Of the rude sailors' concentrated gaze, <;4^\t . With face sUflus'd, his form concealment fftid From hisr spread hands, till the wave; vejl'd him round. . V At once they spring from deck, a rival pair, 890 At once dart headlong with their feet in air. And dash the deep — then rise with graceful pride. And from their nostrils spout the briny tide. Graceful their buoy'd career, as in the rape Their naked bodies grate a lifjuid trace, 805 With nimble -stirring feet and outspread palm. Along the soft blue of the level calm. Now both the boys in frolic circles wheel. And the smooth surface spurn with sprawling heel. Float now Avith face iipturn'd— now plunging urge Their shining forms beneath the wafting surge. I'he welkin rings, as kindling tp,thq goal, • • The long tress'd Frank lends to the strife his soul, £ 'at(^^p*M»"''-^**='-'* ^'^^J****■*?**^' v.]tfUAiw«a*u*' ^^.^^.., '*- 50 THE A>r£RICAN MAK1NERS, Nor less the din, when with aspiring mind His rivail leaves him half his length behind. 90.> Frarft follows fast, and now is seen to swim As if a pinion lifted every limb, 8wift he ipursues, overtakes Paul on the brine^ Their bodies toueh*, and c-en their arms entwine-^ A vengeful conflict and drre< deeds of blood, t)lO Between Ihe stripling tars' }tad now ensued, !Htit that the herald, with his counsel sage, As the chief ordered, check'd tlieir rising rage. Again the waters to their fury yield, Not Tnton» fester plough the liquid field, 1)15 lioth with one speed the bridle-port attain,* And both are hail'd the victors of the msun. l\ Vt. But see, rductant on the gangway island >Vitli form recoiling, and averted band, Tlie ocean eyeing, his last vesture thrown 020 liOose on the plank, his fear asham'd to own. The boy who ne'er indulgM a bolder dream Than the clear current of the valley stream. • The bridle-port ir « spare emtrasure or opening in the fore* most part (tf a frignte's side, used to run •out « hawser for warping. Ttl£ AMERICAN MAltlNEJtS. 61 005 1)10 D15 020 Oft would the in^chin, wlien, escaped from school. He led the truants to the brook or pool, 025 Plunge, and with pliant arm undaunted brave The shallow tide, and spurn the vassal wave. And laugh and linger in the winding stream From sultry noontide to the vesper beam. But now the ocean damps the tntor'd wight. His dark locks tremble o'er his neck of light : A timid tear, impending in its fall. He wip'd in secret, and concealed from all. Shudd'ring he stands, cold fears arrest his speed, Loth to retreat, not daring to proceed, 035 Sometimes resolves to fetch his leap, and then His arms extends, but draws them in again. Till nerv'd to boldness by the cheer and shout. Headlong he darts, and joins the revel rout; Dashes the deep, his snowy body laves, 040 Pants, and displays his tresses o'er the waves, Now lifts, and now his glist'ning form inclines, And a fair lily through mild crystal shines. vn. the fore* I And now the cares of empire laid aside, The trident-bearer skims the level tide, Directs 1h9 steeds, and gives his M'heels to glide. ) A^ THE AMERICAN MAflfN^Rfi ij! Far ofTftt seai the monarcVd pearly car •, ' On the horizon gleam'd a rising star, . As fitful first it flash'd upon the view • , , Of the strain'd vision of the gazing crew. 950 Pleas'd all around the huge, gigantic ^rhales ; . Swarm from their «oral bowVa^ and weedy vales; . Seals plough the azure tide with awkward leap, And the swift porpoise gambols o'er the deep. Full in the van, Glaucus, with blue-SMolu face, 255 Bestrides the monster of the scaly race, And Tritons, as unbath'd they fly along. Alternate swell the conch, and raise the song. High in his chariot, hung with gleaming springs, From side to side the sea's great ruler s>yings, 960 And as the clouds before his presence fly In heaps, and scatter through the boundless sky, The motley groupe he rallies, and provokes The cheek to laughter with sarcastic joltes. ^ VIII. Our chief observant from tlie deck espies 905 With pointed telescope the chariot rise, Sees the old azure god throw up the rein,. And his proud steeds come flying o'er the main. . Hampden, if tliis ^ood glass true si^ht supply, And no illusive vision mock the eye, 970 'tttR AMERICAN MARrNBR9. U 950 Qs; f 255 , 960 Far on the sea, the' pleasure-harnesk'd throng Of the great trident- bearer moves along; And Neptune, sitting in gay plight above, Tilts like a bridegroom dancing to his love. *Ti8 he, 'tis he ! I know him by his jib,* 975 Me comes, I trust, without his peerless rib ;t While like the dolphins sport our sailor-clan, She would her visage hide behind her fan. Tis my good Neptune ! how he shakes the heel, -" • He knocks twelve nieasur'd knots clean olF the reel> His axles thunder, and the toiling whale • ' ' • He. leaves hull down— 8& hard. he carries saiJl J ■ ' * ')ut tompions fore and aft, and get all clear 'iim to salute who swaystUe triple spear. Load well the main-deck guns, and far and wide 985 Greet his. great presence with a full brdad side. Kouse him with yankey thunder, whose deep soun<J Shall make his tritons start, his coursers bound. ; And, hark you, let the canopy be spread, Of antick work with gold and silver thread, 9i/0 905 m. 970 ■ • A' legitimate sailor always describes the recognition of an oW acquaintance metaphorically. He knows him again by the cut of his jib, or the peak of his mizen. •f" Amphitrite. $ As this sea-doric is intelligible to every one wiio has visited thfc coast, or crossed* oVer to thel^leof Wight, it neectsita commentary.. V mmtm^mm ;: j. t SM .r- m Ik: H THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 0*er our broad deck"- and fill the copioQs bowl With a whole deluge to exalt his soul :— The bowl that holds three gallons and a h&If, The bowl it suits an admiral to quaflf— The bowl of «ilf er fretted round with gold, 995 Imbost y^hh sea-fights, and commanders bold. Broach the old rum— a keg nf that fam*d tier In the forehold— take not the light too near. As in the cup the liquid amber* flows, Pour a full tid.tf to smooth his wrinkled brows, lOOU Nor spare the stream — our trident-bearing guest, A main-brace splicer, loves the northward zest.t IX. As o*er the deep the mighty Neptune flew, A shout he rais'd that shook the warrior crew- Such his strong voice, as not in force to yield 1005 To routed armies when they leave the neld. Dire was the din— appalling the full sound. The hoary deeps divide— the caves rebound ; Our tall ship trembled on the echoing tide. The chief turn'd pale, in soul by none outvied. 1010 * Liquid amber-— a periphrasis for rum. "^ Grog on board ship, when it tastes of the prime ingredient, is «aid to b« made to the northward; implying, I presume, that it 19 miied iq m to suit ike meridian of a freezing clim^e. THE AMERJCAJli MARINERS. 6dk 095 1000 t 1005 1010 Now near the bark, he curb'd his coursers^ bound, Keclin'd, and cast his azure eyes around— Gaz'd on our yards—our spiry masts so tall, «iur sides black frowning as a castie wall— The coundess numbers of our frolic orew, 101 "» Spurning his own sea'-waves- before his view :— Then, with a spring,. his reeling chariot leaves, And his firm btep our groaning deck receives. All hail I he said — the captain forward sprung, And on the monarch's neiok with fondnesss hung. And cried, as with, his palm he press'd his hand, Welcome on board the ship that I command! When Neptune thus— how travel brings- decay On mortal man, blanching the head with grey — Ulysses stood at hiii own porch unknown, 1 02r> Unrecogniz'd by fatlier,,wife, and son, A sea-boy thee I knew, with. heart as stout As ever haul'd a weather-earing out*— But now so alter'd I'— while I grasp thy hand, Scarce do I ken thee, as on deck we stand : 1030 But for the cruel beauty of thine eye. My dear Delancey I should not descry ! To whom tho naval chief with grace serene — Not years, but toils, have thus transform'd my mien : ! lent, IS U it is • In lying out on a ship's yard to reef a sail when it blows fresh, the place of distinction is the we»tber>eariQg. 56 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. M \, Dire is thy ocean, dread in all its forms, 1035 lie must decay who combats thee in storms. Whence com*st thou, chief? ' - From Pennsylvania's ishores. "• You shew your teeth*-^ . ' ?. ' •,' Yes, when the Lion roars.t 1040' What ship is this ? - One that disdains repose. Stripes 6n her flag— • * . ' . ", Aye, to chastise her foesi - Hut how is this your fore-top bowlines reeve ? ^ 1 see no blocks — . ;■ The bees supply a she'ave4 1050 'J'lie monarch paus'd, and with terrific grace, Tlis huge form rested on his ponderous mace, I'ull twenty cubits long — and so large round, 'J'hat not ten tars could raise it from the ground. \ And while he gflz'd — o'er the extended tier 1055. Tiie i'lmners wav'd the match be-tUpp'd w ith, fire— • A sliip is said to shew her teeth, when she displays her guns run out tlie whole length of their tier. •V -■ , •• . . .■ 1 - . ^ ■ -. . ^ ... .' ^ •y A punning allusion to the British Lion. \ :}: Our fore-top bowline discovered a fantastic innovation, by rcQvipK through a sheave cut in the bees, instead of leading through 8 block : so the gafT-haliards reeved through a slieave in the gaff'. This was a fancy of the ydling officers. THB AM&HICAK MARIN£ltS. 67 1035 1040 The captain .gave the sign— our thunder broke, And peal on peal a salutaUon spoke. And as the mortars breathe out flame and night, Full many a pulse recalls the ocean-fight— 1060 While Neptune smil'd with that benignant mien, Which^to the deep restores the blue serene. ';?¥ » {" 1050 1055. e— ns run X. And noTT, beneath a canopy of state, - Rais'd o'er the dedc, the mighty monarch sate, .. Beside the chief — there three lieutenants brave, 1065 Young cavaliers, their kind attendance gave : Each i'ram'd at masques to win a lady's ear, Lie at her feet, and on her sandal swear. Columbians all : in peace their chief's delight. In war bis champions, foremost in the %lit. 1070 But while, alas ! they minister'd the bowl, . A sigii reluctant, from Delanccy stole, Who from his bosom wish'd, but wish'^J in vain. That Tal.ot's form could grace the gallant train. n, by I rough XI. Now when the thirst of Neptune was represt, 107&. The t-aptain Ijznt and eyed his gfantr guest. mmmimmm \\\ 69 TU£ AMERICAN if ARINBSS. l\ f 1 The features of bis weather-beaten face. With comely terror mix'd,^ and frowning grace. His sable beard with spotted sea-shells drest, Which like a forest mantled o'er his breast; 1080 The conch of purple o'er his brave head plac'd, With wreathii^ salt-weed formidably grac'd. And coral branch, of bright, unsullied hue, From blemish free, as on the rock it grew. The gallon-cup that to his neck was chain'd, 1085 With which the casks of foundered ships he drain'd; But his huge hand now to the full bowl stray'd. And to his longing lip the luscious draught convey'd. XII. Lost id deep thought, the trident bearer gaz'd With uprais'd vision, and the frigate prais'd. 10J)0 Fair is your ship ! she fills my wondering eyes A sixty-four-gun vessel in disguise.* • It has b^cn a fashion to call the American frigates seventy-fours in disguise; bu^the assumption is unwarranted. Were they virtually line of battle ships, no vessel that fights her heavy guns on one deck could have lain alongside of them ten minutes without foundering. Bnt the Guerriere fought the Constitution, the Macedonian the United States, and the Java the Constitution, till they scarcely had a stick left standing. To settle the difipussion, we need only refer to the THE AMje»ICAN MA^^PRS. 09 1080 i, 1085 rain'd; J, ive)f'cl. Such masts, sails, rigging, an4 ioipervious ^iclc, She floats a winged rampart on the tide. Her scantling suits a large ship of the line—* 1095 Before the breeze she looks a thing divine. Who taught your Indian shipwrights* to excel, And from the British builders bear th« bell ? Yet not you' ships compose your n^val strength, Though bruad their beam, and terrible their length. Your crews confer the spell — by nature brave, Rock'd on the cradle of the sky-mix'd wave ; Boasting their lineage from the n^val train Who proudly bear my sceptre o'er the main.f 1000 Battle of the Nile. In that splendid action, while an English seventy, four was engaging a French .ship of tlie same rate, a large French frigate placed herself in a position to annoy the English line of battle ship ; but soon rued her temerity, by sinking under the fire of a single broadside. ity-fours i^irtually )ne deck nderiiif,'. B United i a stick tr to the • Neptune seems to labour under the same prejudices with respect to the United States thatm any of our Critics do— who, contemplating the New World through the distorted medium of the spectacles of books, imag^ to themselves h nation of Mohawks and a land cf zattleoSHj^kes* *)■ If Independent America be now a flourishing nation, in every stage of her advancement the Genius of England has presided over, and consecrated her efforts. 60 THE AMfe9(l(tA^ MAltiKBRS: You Uiiuk our^eameb staunch? 1105 '*' ' ' * * My realm they grace. The genuine ofTspring of . Neptunian race, "Who'hold oDf sea a younger brother's place. Your praise is niggard — if our flag you scofT, Sooti will we shake our base dependence off, 1110 Another arbiter on ocean se6k. Nor lohger hail you monarch of the deep. Wedded to fame, the dowV of conquest won, What seamen equal burs beneath the siin? - Not slaves, but free-men, for the fight we arm — * There lies the talisman — the potent charm I JMournful their fate, who Neptune's laws e'er broke, Spurn*d his dread spear, and cast away his yoke — JVIy true blues, captain, scorn your yankey boast ! Let them approach again our frowning coast ! 1120 • in the United States Kavy seamen enter voluntarily for two years, and subscribe articles, the same as in the merchant-service. ^ * *r THE AMERICAN MARIMBRS. ei 1105 Our lofty battle ships of two tiers each,* Shall from their guns an awful lesson teach To after times— ; iiiQ Captain, you make me laugh, What time I lift the nectar'd bowl to quafi*. 1125 Say rather they will make you inly pine- Saint George and conquest on their banners shine. rni — * r broke, yoke — boast ! ! 1120 y for two service. • The late war between Great Britain and the United States acce- lerated the growth of the American Navy, as will be seen by a com-^ parative statement of its force at the beginning and the end of the contest. United States Navy. In 1812. Constitution «44 United States 44 President 44 Chesapeake .....36 Constellation............36 Congress M Boston 32 Essex 32 In 1815. r Independence. 74 Washington. 74 Franklin 74 Constitution 44 President, new, 44 Guerriere, new 44 Java, new ;....44 i United States 44 ' Macedonian ^..44 Congress .....36 . ... Boston ........32 Fulton : 32 . With Corvettes. .' ' United States Navy in 1^2. ' '- Two one hundred gun ships — seven seventy -fours — twelve frigates-iii together with corvettes — making altogether fifty vessels of war. • See London Magazine (official document J for January 1U22, ,i| A w m mm «2 trie AMfeiilCAN MAAINKR9. On our proud flag Coluittbia indited, »* Tree trade, and independent sailors' rights."* 1 This fraejrant bowl is exquisitely wrought, 1130 A nobler one my longing hand ne'er sought. So deep to fathom, aftd so wide the brim. An eight oar'd barge might in the nectar swim. What quaint device i« this— grav'd on its side? The Constitutionf in triumphant pride ! 1135 • The British Otdlersf in Council pVoMbited Neutmls, and conse. quently AmeiicBns, from trading with France, which was declared to he only tt retaliatory decree ; but the American Government con* sidered it an infringement of their rights, on the principle that free ships make free goods. But what g^ed Jonathan in the sorest point was the search of his vessels on the high seas for British seamen, who by acts of naturalisation and certificates of citizenship, were manufac. tured into Americans. These were novel pretensi^ons, not to be ad. mitted by Great Britain, as she recognizes n» expMriation in her 8ons> and allows none to cancel the jurisdiction of their parent state. A similarity of language and manners made the exercise of this right liable to partial mistakes, ahd occasiofidi abuse; a Yankey was now and theri transj^nted irtto an English man of war, who gave evidence of his consanguinity to the British, and vindicated tlie genuineness of his descent, either irt taking a trick at the helm, furling a sail in a gale of wind, getting down yards and topmasts, or an anchor over the bow. It was, therefore, ithe utiiform policy of the American Captains, to keep alive the remembrance of the outrage— maMt;^ injuria vexillo rfpoiM'-and the American frigates went always into action with flags bearing the motto *' Free trade and suIotb' rights !" -f The Constitution having taken in succession (he Guerricie, the Java, and the Levant, and the Cyane, is the most popular ship in the United States Navy ; and has exercised the skill and ingenuity of the trans-atlantic graver. From her strength and compactness, the Ame* ntiaa tarvhatS BeMbWM oti hie^ the name of *'^ Old IroH^ides." THE AMERICAN &CAItINBR9. 69 ts.' nm, Je? and conse* declared to nment con« le that free sorest point lamen, who e manufac. { to be ad. in her sons> t stiite. A this riglit y was now ve evidence uin^ness of a sail in a or over the I Captains, ria vexillo with flags rriere, the ship in the iiity of the the Aroe- 15." \ The apangled-bannep waving o'er the CroM— A thousand left — one ship is na great loss. How soon these vatintej tropkies all were laid. Won but to fall, and blooming but to fade. Captain, be candid— can your lip deny— 1X40 (Though from your bosom steal the pensive sigh) When Broke engag'd, and fought you gun to gun. He made your yankeys from their quarters run ? Beneath the fell glance of the warrior's eye. How many minutes did your colours fly ? 1145 The captain'*8 cheek a blush of crimson dyed And turning on his -chair his guest be eyed, " Stamp'd with his foot, and frowning to him cried The Chesapeake! had' I thy forceful mace. From the great deep her huH I would efface. 1150 The Chesapeake ! oh ! ever lost to fame, Barron* had scandal heap'd upon her name— ^Vhat time his foot her luckless plank first prest. Her stars were darkened — sunken was her crest. • In the yearl807i as the Chesapeake, commanded by Commodore Barron, was proceeding from Hampton Roads on her passage to the Mediterranean, the Leopard, of 50 guns, was detached from a squa« ^ron to Westward, witU orders to search the American Aigste for British deserters, and tlie unfortunate Commodore disgraced himself by suffering Captain Humphreys to take several men out of his ship, after a- feeble resistance witli one or two of his guns. Barron pleaded in extmuation that his main-deck Was lumbered by the cables, not yet paid down into the cable4iier{ but the sentence of a Court Martial «usppnded him from ^ny ^mmand in the United Sjtates Navy for ft • I I 6% THE AMERICAN MARINERS. When 4he proud Shannon here within her view, A spell descended on her recreant crew. A foreign wretch from Lusitania's strand,* An upstart fiend led on the buzzing band. Sordid of soul, on lucre only bent, A bribe they called for, ere to fight they went. IICO ..I r certain terih of years. Being without fortune, and having a family of three daughters to support, he offered his services to the Merchants of Russia, and obtained the command of a ship out of Archangel. For a long period he encountered the ' y gales and tremendous seas ot the Baltic, sustained in the bleak v. ohies of the midnight dedc with the reflection that he still was the succouring father of his chil< dreri. Returning to the United States to seek a restoration of his former dignities, his evil genius still pursued him ; for, learning, on his arrival, that Comniodore Decatur had declared him unworthy of reinstatement in the navy, he demanded satisfaction from that gallant officer in singly combat. They met on the duelling ground at Bla- densburg, where h-s antagonist falling, he became so obnoxious to the nation, that the voice of the sovereign people inhibited him any appointment. • In answer to a Chronicler of " Naval Occurrences," in whose book, if, after wading through live hundred pages, we find one un- biassed assertions, • .,.•....■.•>•••;.»..••'♦• We bless our stars, and call it luxury ! ' It was n«t Adams the boatswain, but a Portuguese boatswain's mate, one Joseph Antonio', that stirre' the Chesapeake's crew up to mutiny. Geoftry Cra>'on, who has slily concealed from the Reviewers in his preface to his |Sketch Book, (or otherwise, Off with his head! So fnuch for Swkivfrham ) that he is the author of divers Philippics against Great Britain and her navy, his undeniably established the feet. ■ ■ • ^. • ■ ••.•■■ ■■ « ft * THE AMERICAN MARINERS, When seamen's wages are not duly paid, The captain's voice is slenderly obey'd. ring a family le Merchants if Archangel, mendous seas udhiRht de<Jk r of his chil- (ration of his I learning, on unworthy of n that gallant :ound at Bla- obQOxious to lited him any Hence to your guns ! the lofty Lawrence cried, But in his crew a coward crowd descried, He fell, and o'er her deck is heard to cry 1165 His ghost for vengeame on their treachery. He fell betray'd, but left behind a name Proud as e'er swell'd the trophied-roll of fame ; The dying words that quiver'd on his lip Our hearts still echo, "DO n't GIVE up the ship!'* This plea is better than the sorry ground That the ship's bugle-man could not be found ; •s," in whose find one un- swain's mate, up to mutiny, iewers in his is head! So ers Philippics tablished the V • Captain Lawrence was mortally wounded by the fire of the first broadside from the Shannon, and carried down into the cockpit of the Chesapeake before Captain Broke boarded. His dying words were, " Don't give up the Ship ! " The captain of the Shannon has been chiefly admired for his intrepidity in battle ; but the judicious his- torian will record the humanity that adorned his conquest. Captain Lawrence was interred at Halifax with the highest military honours. Minute guns were tired until his body was brought on shore, when it was received by the sixty-fourth regiment, with arms reversed. The corse was then borne to the grave by the seamen of the Shannon ; with six navy captains as pall-bearers, and the surviving ofiicers of the Chesapeake as mourners ; while all the ofiicers of the staflT, gar- rison, and navy, swelled the funeral procession. F m THE AMERICAN MARINERS., As if a crew were like a pack forlorn, ITiiIess wound up to courage by a horn.* , • , They paus*d_and while the youths o'er clouded stand, The captain leant his head upoa' his hand, iJis brimful eye his pensive bosom sought, And all on Lawrence ran his tender thought ; The noble image of the naval chief Forc'd from his soul the overflow of urief. 1180 JHe saw him cover'd with a country's love, To the great Capitol in triumph move,t . What time the shouts of millions shook the ground, Kold as the bursting of their cannon-sound ; When vanquish'd standards, bright in figur'd gold. Were to the gaze of multitudes unroH'd, And in their robes the conscript fathers stood To crown the youthful victor of the flood. • The Americans, in the Court of Inquiry on the surrender of the Chesapeake, ascribe it ptatly ( tisuvitencaiis amui' J to the fright of W.Brown, the buglem'an ; who, when the two ships got foul,' deserted 'his quarters, and, when dragged out of his skulking liole, was unable, from trepidation, (o blow hi6 horn ! Obstupuit, steteruntqne comae, et vox fauclhus hcct'it t •t* Captain Lawrence was conducted in triumphant procession in the Capitol at Washington, for the capture oif the Peacock when he Commanded the Hornet. The action took place off Demarara, and Instet; only fifteen minutes, wlicn the Peacock struck in a sinking condition, and he lot»t liis trophy by bcr foundering. 1 TIIK AMRRITAN MARINF.RS. 07 Wliat timo tlio Tiber,* from liis oozy bed, Heard the full shout, and rear'd liia reverend head ; "IVell pleas'd to see tiie conquering hero bond, j^nd the wreath'd chaplet on his brow dtscend. Xlll. he ground, id; u'd gold, jtood ,J t. Now, with both arms, Neptune again sustaiiiM The mantling bowl, and to the bottom draiu'd; 1195 And as he play'd an ardent sailor's part, The liquor found a passage to his heart. More! more, he cried : oh ! this unequall'd juice, Not Jove's best vintage ever could produce ; Ne'er Hebe pour'd such nectar in the bowl, 1200 It >vraps in vision'd trance the swiller's soul. Then the chief whisper'd Hampden in the ear : Heave out another puncheon from the tier — iirrcndcr of the o the tVight of >t foul,' deserted e, was unable, hcci'tt ! It procession lo acock when he Demarara, and k in a sinking • When the United States were colonies, the English governors, geographers, and commissioners of the land ofHce, conspired to fill their teriitory with the poorest and most sneaking names that ever disgraced the earth. Since (to use a shop-phrase) the Americans have set up for themselves, they have felt the necessity of recurring to more sounding appellations ; — Uy words, which, partaking more of the oj rotundum^ are better adapted to round the periods of the senator, and swell the song of the bard. Hence the stream that glides through the City of Washington, and mingles with the Potomac, has changed its intractable name to the classical one of " Tiber." . f2 ^IF 68 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 1'he Pacha's pipe — the one of regal mien We fouad last cruize on board the Algerine. As some revenge — to quit him for liis bore, We'll try at least to make him half seas o'er. 1205 To whom the youth : He -lews with jealous eye The stars and stripes o'er the old Union fly ; Di<^ not the potent draught rejoice his soul, 1210 In atoms he would dash the flgur'd bowl. Once wht;n he rais'd the cup his thirst to quench, I saw hi!r» give i!)8 fretted side a wrench With his huge hand ; his labouring breast Our naval trophies sorely have opprest. He calls us Yankeys* — Sir, do you intend Still at his feet your offerings to extend ; The bow, the quiver, and the bright display Of Indian garments flaming as tlie day ? Then thus the chief — imperial is his mace,t From pole to pole it swa}'8 the liquid space ; 1215 1220 • The term YavJcry is derived from the Indian epithet Vuukuu, whi'h implies in the Indian language the quality of invincible courage- It was bestowed on the Americans by the Indians, who entertain s(> lofty ideas of American enterpvize and Yalour,that they say the Ame- ricans are neither Frenchmen nor Englishmea, but tphHe Judianx, The word is now perverted from its original sense, and applied in derision. + There was such power in Neptune's trident, that, with one blow of it. he shook Troy from its foundation. See Virgil, M. ii. v. tilO. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 6i) r. s eye 9 1210 uench, 1215 1220 Should he so will — with one infuriate blow^, A navy rocks in agony of woe. To whom the youth : could not our main-deck tier Cope with the prowess of his triple spear ? 1225 Rash boy, forbear ! go broach the Pacha's cask, And hither bear some liquor in a flask, A i^roud tiara, glorious to behold, Surmounts the bung, in many a curving fold. 12535 XIV. ^ How far'd friend Bainbridge* when you saw him la.<t, Bore he a blue broad pendant on his mast ? He did : I hail him as my Commodore — By him detach'd t^^ Afric's sultry shore. thet Yankuo, ible courage- entertain so ay the Ame- hrte Jiidxans, d applied in i^itli one blow II. V. t»lO. Arid hence these guns run out in long array. O'er the wide ocean spreading dire dismay — 1235 " Bainbridge commanded the United States frigate Constitution, in the Imrd fought action between her and the Java, oft* the coast nt Brazil. Wlien the Knglish frigate surrendered, she lay an unnia- nageable wreck— rolling htr main>deck guns under water — without . spar standing — and her flag was lowered from the stump of the niizf n- niast. It was Bainbridge who observed, when the Chesapeake '.as taken, that it would be necessary for the British to give more than one solitarj' instance to convince the American officers and seamen of their superiority. P ryf^T^mmmmmmm mmm V" !i i! 70 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Honcc these proud banners bright with stripe and star; ' ; /, The warrior's triumph, and the pomp of war. The baleful spirit of revenge ne'er sleeps — In vain the orphan mourns — the widow weeps— Vain my attempt with circling arms to bind 1240 In one great social compact all mankind ; Love to infuse, and wake the kindred soul To mutual intercourse from pole to pole, for this arose the oak, for this the pine, On the tall cliH's that beetle o'er my brine; 1245 But man, infuriate man, def'poils the shade That soothes the forest, snd a<lorns the glade. To rib the floating fortress, and deform The deep beyond the rancour of the storm. What boot your race war's deeds ? or can they claim xVught hut blood-spots upon the face of fame ? O th«t a false renown should so much blind The godlike part of man, th' immortal mind, And headlong urge him to despise the laws Of weepitig nature, for a crowd's applause; 1255 A fleeting vapo.ir, and a vagrant wind. An echo, or a sound — to none confin'd. Then thus the chief: Thrice happy he wliose nanu^ Lives in the sweet, recording voice of fame. Without this cheering impulse of the soul, 12(>0 Dreary the billows of thy deep would roll, I* ' »i TttE AMERICAN MAEINERS. 71> stripe and I. war. iveeps— ind 1240 e; ide dadc, 1245 m. I they claim anie ? ind nd, ws iG ; 1255 lose name nc. il, 12(i0 I, No gallant ship would on its bosom stray, Spread the white sail, the glittering flag display. Who roams the sea, to his own bliss is blind, Hope raoiintiir liis prow — Care follows fast behind. Why not retire, anu seek some safe retreat Where on the pebbly shore the billows beat ; Some cottage on a knoll, or rising plain, Whose sun-bright casements ove^rlook the main. Where landward, from the airy mountains steep, The grey-clad shepherd drives his nibbling sheep Down to the vale — and where, on rocks fast by, The goats frisk to and fro for jollity. Such pleasant scenes by verdant nature set licfore your eyes, would make you soon forget 1275 Your crazy vessel with her wave-drench'd side. Toiling to windward on the stormy tide. The hill, the valley, and the waving wood. Charm not these eyes like thy rebounding flood. Here on the heaving ocean let me prove I'iHO Tlio din and dangrr of the life I love. Id ljrot)k these cars the voice of sheplierd-lout— * Gi\e lire the swelling of the sea-ward i^hout. I { i 72 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. -S- Hi ! :f|! I i i(! 1 1 i 1m < pi 1 ■ i 1 ' ■ ■■•' XV. • •' ■' ' While to great Neptune's hand the fresh howl grew. On the chief *s face he bent his earnest view : 1285 Have you no music that with dear controul In folds of joy can lap the yielding soul? Such notes as my bold Argonauts* once cheer'd, When by the steeps of Thessaly they steer'd ? What time to Orpheus' harp they ply'd their oars, And left behind Pelasgia's fertile shores. The Captain heard, and beckoning to him near His young Lieutenant, whisper'd in his ear : Hid renegado Shelty hither haste. And with his bag-pipe charm the wat'ry waste — Congenial is his music to my soul — W^hen the Scot pipes, my thoughts on Ossian roll XVI. He j:aid-^the minstrel with his pipe appears, Bending alas! bepjath the yoke of years; • Apollonius Rhodius, in his muster-roll of the crew ot the good ship Argo, numbers several of Neptune's descendants. Pindar, in hi)? fourth Pythian Ode, where he adverts to the Argonautic expedition, makes mention of two. THE AMERICAN MATliNERS. 73 bowl grew, lew: 1285 ml clieer'd, erd? heir oars, 1 near ;ar : waste — ssian roll From their orbs wither'd were his balls of sight, Long, long denied the cheering smile of light. A little sea-boy held his tartan fold, Kyes to the blind, and succour to the old ; Who watch'd his feeble step with filial care, And taught him aft in safety to repair, 1305 And helpless age's delegated stay Would petulently bid the crew make way. ■ ' ' * XVII. Hugging his pealing bagpipe to his side, Shelty advances with a minstrel's pride. While his small foot-page hums a border song, ]31(» *' None here reside that would a piper wrong ;" And as he hum'd, the child the guests survey'd With form half hid behind the old man's plaid. XVIII. !ars, ew of the good Pindar, in hi)? tic expedition. In iiinnble guise the floor the piper press'd, And Jow'd his head low bending o'er his breast ; Tben s;t* him down, and the full cup const'-ain'd. That to his wither'd palm the boy sustain'd. iJome, v>helty, drink — the chieftain mildly cried — tWic* in thy hand, the wine-cup wants no guide — T t 1. I : MHi It i w THli AMERICAN MARINERS. 1325 Hut lirst thy toast,. niiil let it be sincere — I . Thy Scotia's hills, it yet those hills are dear. Hoot, hoot, gudp Skipper, Shelty scorns the soil Where man awakes to unrequited toil. Had I niy ecu, they ne'er would wish to look i\gain on distant Scotia's barren nook, Tiiat soil in this auld heart no pang awakes — Gee me the land o' plenty — na o' cakes. Should the Tweed's side my feeble footsteps press, Wha would relieve blind Shelty in distress? Words from the lip of scorn would fill his ear— '• J3egone, we brook no sightless beggars here." Then take this toast — breath'd from his inmost breast, Freedom's great empire— thron'd in the proud West!* ?vi * The United States, at the present period, torm a more extensive empire than that of Rome under the domination of Augustus; and, within half a century more, as the tide of population pours into the vast regions north of Mexico, and to the shores of the Paciric Ocean, the American territory will comprehend a tract larger than the whole Russian Empire ; while, from the superior advantages of climate, soil, and ''ommerce, it will be capable of supjioning twice the population. In aiK/her century and a half, the inhabitants of the American Stales will exceed those of China, and the extent of their territory be quad, rupled. All this immense poj-ulation will consist of freemen, governed by laws of their own making; enlightened by tlie liberal atIs and sciences, ppeakiiig the English language untorrupted by provincial dialects, and profctbing the rrotestant religion. THE AMERICAN MARlNIiRs. 75 dear. s the soil D look > 1325 kes — steps press, ress? Iiis ear— s here." nniost breast, Toud \Vest!* 1 XIX. With arms outstreteh'd, Neptune, indignant, cries — 1 marvel not the light has fled thine eyes, The heart, that can its country cast away, is not deserving of the solar ray. For his own soil the brave man yields his breath. And shares paternal honour in his deatii ; Wretch, then, art thou, obnoxious to the sight. To whom thy native land yields no delight. Jiang up the traitor ! w hip the apostate knave — Give him to feed the blue shark of the wave; — Keeve the yard tackles, let the halter bind The rebel's neck, and swing him in the wind. l;M5 a more extensive Augustus; and, n pours into the le Pacific Ocean, r than the whole J of climate, soil, e the population. American Stales erritory be quad, •com en, governed liberal arts and td by provincial 'M: XX, The piper heard, and twice an efl'ort made To swell a strain — but shook beneath his plait' — And twice he roU'd his siglitless balls around, Ere his check'd breathing could inspire a sound- Then his poor pipe a plaintive descant stole, And the boy's accents softcn'tl ev'rv soul. TW I *' 76 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. SONG. THE SCOTCH EMIGRANT. Ettrick's banks a long adieu! Friends of youth farewell to you ! Think and kindly'' name a stranger Distant far, but ever true — Ettrick's banks a long adieu! ^ Friends belov'd fa.^ewell to you ! Tears may dry, and hearts recover, When the parting pang is over; But believe a friend and lover. Absent long, and far from view, He is aye in thought with you, Weeping, sighing still adieu. 1355 13({U -U Softly stealing on my ear, Sounds, imagin'd sounds, I hear, 1365 That the heart in grief or gladness Can alternate damp or cheer. Often in my waking dreams I behold my native streams. Gild their hills of pine and heather, 1370 Where my true love strays in sadness, There a rosy wreathe to gather, Water'd with a pearly tear- Precious garland sweet and dear, For my temples or my bier ! 1375 m THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 77 i! 1355 ver. 13(>U 13CJ5 XXI. Now Shelty paus'd, and bowing low and long, (..'ompiain'd that time had done his pipe some wrong; But Neptune cried, thy pipe's melodious breath Has sav'd thee from an ignominious death ; Without that strain — that soft redeeming note, The noose had pass'd around thy wither'd throat. A Caledonian still art thou in soul — A Scot when rack'd — there, tender him the bowL The piper drank, and with swoln visage gave, The pibroch's* call, that makes the bonnet wave ; His hanger's hilt the chief unconscious grasp'd. The piper's arm the boy affrighted clasp'd; While the sea-god, amidst the list'ning throng. With his huge mace beat tuneful cadence strong. XXII. her, 1370 ness, A silence now ensu'd on ev'ry side, When sudden the great ruler of the tide. 1390 ir, 1375 * The Pibioch is a wild piece of tnartia music adapted to the Highland bag-pipe. ■ ; •I i I 78 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. On Hampden cast his mild, benignant eye,* A joke preferr'd, then paus'd for a reply : Suppose tlie land was lying on your lee, 'I'he wind in-shore, and a tremendous sea, 1305 With not sea-room to heave about, or wear, What would you do ? — rave, pray, or tear your hair^ Then thus the youthful tar, all frank and free — My vessel I would lay before the sea, With careful eye the softest rock explore, 1400 Up with the helm, and bump her right ashore. Then the Sire thus : not at the lattic'd stern Cam'st thou on board — the bowsprit serv'd thy turn;t Approv'd art thou to trim the flowing sail. To con the helmsman, and to dare the gale. 1405 XXIII. Now on the deck, appear before the view, Twelve hardy mariners, in jerkin blue. * The aspect of Neptune in the best statues is majestic but serene. It is to be regretted that in the J^lgin Marbles only the breast and shoulders of him are preserved; as that work, ' however mutilated, conforms most to what artists term the beau idml^ or sublimated nature. •|- It is said of a kRitimate tar that he comes on board at the bow- spril, or jib-boom end, and not through the cabin windows. It was in this manner the great circuumavigator Cooke entered the sea^crvicc. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 71) a, 1395 ear, r your liair^ free — !, 1400 shore. erii J thy turn; t I. lie. 1405 1 Bearing in silence, o'er tlie seamy floor, Gifts for the ocean god, a countless store. These in fair order rang'd at Neptune's feet, 1410 The captain rose the monarch to entreat : O thou, fam'd king, whose trident-bearing hand O'er the vast deep is h'fted to command. For tliee these offerings, a costly hoard. By our great President were sent on board, 1415 Who, 'midst the anxious cares of public M-eal, For thy great interest ne'er remits his zeal. „ At thy feet only tributes does he lay — Refus'd the Gaul* — the Pacha, and the Boyf ; Thee wc revere, from where Penobscot laves 14*20 His yelloAv sands, to Darien's distant waves. J 3tic but serene, he breast and ^cr mutilated, }r sublimated rd at the bow- ws. It was ill e seu-scrvicc. 4 4 ■ During the profligate reign of the French Directory, a demand was made by them, through the i 'lium of tJicir Embassador at Washington, oi. the treasury of the ited States The answer re- turned to the exaction was worthy of the old Romans in the time of Camillus : " Wc will expend millions in defence, but not an obolum in tribute." + The Government of the Unitec^ States replied to the demand of the Barbary States for tribute, with the thunder of their gallant na^-y ; and Preble bombarded Tripoli and Algi< rs in succession. :{: The representations of some of the British Journalists might authorize the belief that the American Congress is an assembly of blockheads ; for we are told by them that they debated three successive days in the Capitol, •vih'ti/or they were not the greatest, the wisest, and the most enlightened of mankind, it were well for England, if her presiding writers wiulu invest the trans-atlantic Statesmen with IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET {MT-3) 4 / O O #f ^ My 'S? w lA ^ 1.0 I.I JfllllM IM e 1^ 1 2.2 2: ii£ IIIIIM 1.8 1.25 IIIIII.4 11.6 -■&.. ^> ^>f 7; ^^/ ^^ .>' >^ '/ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WESf WAIN STREET WEBSTER, N< \- ■l'!^ (716) 872-4503 i;; iji 80 THE AMERtCAN MARINERS. . w-ttji'j rtn* »;* '-■Kt '»^' ' _*tiu-}h v.'i ;!n.i!- il 'r'H\?. XXIV. >;, i.»u, *ji' i t-it ■;'?'. lU I Jw A'*'^H><fUf^/: }*; J/i-ii-ri li-sl/'*' sv ^lii ) ' vii? ■,*■ 1^ ^■ 1430 ( ( Neptune the offerings view'd with glad surprize, And on the heap incumbent fix'd his eyes : A Low that scarce Ulysses' skill could bend, Form'd a full league the feather'd fate to send. 1425 An Indian quiver, where now guiltless slept Those winged darts that many a matron wept Resplendent mocassins without a flaw, Such as fair Venus on her foot might draw — Such as the urchin god might stoop to clasp, With instep that exceeded not his grasp. Then Neptune thus : these sandals Mill beguile ' ' My spouse's eye, and light her sweetest smile. other attributes than those of weakness and imbecility ; for I BUSi.ect there are some inveterate old Catos among them, who begin and con- clude their speeches with ^^Delenda ett CartJiagol" That they are not fools in what relates to the organization of their Navy, teke an instance in point. At its first establishment, the debates for full three days related (horrcico refcrens) to the defects of the British naval system of equipment. It was stated by a Member, that when Lord Nelson was off Cadiz with seventeen sail of the line, he had no less than seven classes of seventy-four gun ships, each requiring masts, sails, and yards, of different dimensions; so tliut if one ship became disabled, the others could not obviate the disaster. It was, therefore, determined by i-hese "n% Staicsmen" to build on another principle; and hence the American frigates, and seventy-fours, are counterparts of each other, or sister-ships : i; lit Fades non omnibus una ■ ■ .' ' 'r, Nee diversa tamen^ qualem decet esse sororum. M ■ I THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 81 And much the Nereids, with their floating hair, Will sue — beseech — to gain an envied pair ; 1435 They, whose soft look — whose least word can assuage The surging seas, and calm their bellowing rage. Proto, who o'er the wave unbath'd can fly, Swift as the light that paints the streaky sky; An ocean elf, who when the storm annoys 1440 The reeling ve^ssel, shouts with truant noise. Phao, whose sapphire buskins, lac'd with light, Pours mild efi'ulgence on the dolphin's sight. TliaUa, laughing now in vernal hues. And M'cepiug now in tears of balmy dews. 1445 That wanton wee thing, kind Eulimine, Pronaea sage, and proud Diuamene. Soft Spio, with her eye of ocean-blue. And skin that mocks the down of the sea-mew ; And Galatea, on her neck so fair 1450 Waving her luscious locks of orient hair. How will the long-tress'd sisters of the deep Pout and contend, and importune and weep. These to put on, when the tempestuous seas They gladsome leave, and tread the Cyclades ; 1455 What time by moon-light, on the ebbing sand The mazy dance they weave, link'd hand in hand. I; I it S% tHS AMEHICA^ MARINERS. XXV. A scarlet robe the sceptred-king now eyed, l^edropt with gold, in brightest tincture dyed, And clapping with his hands, his own he drew 1460 In scorn aside, torn and uncouth to view. And with it on the roomy deck he laid His mortal mace of knotty olive made. Then rising with an air, the gift he cast *; O'er his huge form, and stalk'd from mast to mast With ample strides — oft turning to behold His train in rich array of glittering gold. XXVI. His seat resum'd, his face a glow express'd, And in his own the captain's hand he press'd. Then by the gifts to generous ardour mov'd, 147U Thus spoke indulgent to his best belov'd : If I have utter'd words to thee unkind, Be they forgotten--given to the wind ; Far be the thought to wound a soul like thine — Henceforth thy navy's honour shall be mine ; I47r> Wide as my sceptre waves, thy ships shall ride With flag triumphant o'er the azure tide. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 83 The chiefs perceiving that he bit the bait, Press'd on the line with covert joy elate : Greatest of guests ! O thou, whose sceptred-hand O'er the great deep is lifted to command, This daring banner to thy sight unroird. Streaming with stars and stripes of living gold, To thy protection humbly we commend, To all but thee refusing e'er to bend. 1485 For, lov'd by thee, its dreaded stripes shall sweep Europe's proud navies from our home, the deep ; Wave, proudly wave, from Zembla to the line. Dominion's symbol, and bright glory's sign ; Ere many years restrain the world in awe, 1490 And to the land and ocean give the law. The Sire's cheek warm'd — a blush not over-nice — Not only men — but gods too have their price — The flag he took, and clasp'd it to his breast, And swore its honours ne'er should be deprest. 1496 And midst the loud rejoicings of the crew. Thrice bade the Tritons rear it to the view, High o'er his car — and, as his grooms obey, And the proud banner blazes to the day. Then our long battle-tier* the gimners ply, 1600 And the wide ocean thunders to the sky. • On board the United States ships the guns are named by the seamen, and the xouhriquet of each gun, engraved on a small square of copper-plate, is placed orer it. As these names refer to a charac- G2 «im«Hmii«i 84 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. XXVIL i / While round the ship the crew their bodies lave, And laugh and plunge beneath the lucid wav e, Til'.' naval youths, as near the chief they stood, Descried the insatiate prowler of the flood, 1505 And loudly call, with horror in their cry. Shipmates, a shark ! his jaws devouring fly ! Scared at the sound, no more the swimmers roam, But toil and pant to gain their floating home ; Whom nimlly o'er the deep the fish pursues, 1510 As with a greedy eye their forms he views, And oft his jaws distend with triple rows Of pointed fangs, as on the wave he gloM s. Paul scarce escapes with life — his stirring heel Tiie monster's glancing tooth is made to feel; 1515 With shrieks the brine he cleaves the side to gain. And the crcM', bending, raise him from the main. Meantime a wily tar, on half- bent knee. Throws out the bait, and watches mute the sea ; The shark is snar'd, amidst tumultuous cries, 1520 And haul'd on deck, a promontory lies. teriatic association in the minds of the crew, it may gratify curiosity to cite some from a frigate's battery. Main-deck :— Repeal of Orders itt Council, Brother Jonathan, Washington, Mad Tom, Revenge, l.iberty, Liberty or Death, Yankey Protection, Defiance, Wilful Murder, Rights of Man, independence, Bunker's HUl, Full-blooded Yatikcy, Decatur, &,c THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 85 i»> ':-y-"i .iii\ ,':> XXVIII. :».:- n)U, Ol.Jti''"^ '■' In haste the ocean-monarch ca^^ght his spear, And, gaily rising, to the spot drew near. Where rushing on with shouts, the gallant crew Crowd round the shark, their vengeful foe to view. A horrid monster, of enormous length. Of bulk prodigious, and resistless strength. Who, like a maddening thresher with his flail, Destruction threatens as he lifts his tail. The master-seaman, leaning o'er the wheel,* l->:3() In the gay scene an interest seem'd to feel. While ruddy Frank stood laughing by his side. With Paul more serious, both in youthful pride : So shine two roses, fresh with early bloom, That from their native stalk dispense perfume. 153-'> Loud sounds the gather'd storm — o*er all the floor The thundering cloud of war is seea to pour; And ever and anon, to charm the crowd. Blind Shelty pipes a descant sweetly loud ; A hoary minstrel, oherisli'd and rever'd 1540 For his sweet pipe, and silver length of beard. • Ships of burden are steered by a wheel, which stands on the after part of the quarter-deck, and communicates by the tiller<r(:pc to the helm below. mmmmm m THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Propped on his mace, the ocean-monarch stood. And calm bespoke the wanderers of the flood : One combatant, not all the h^'stile crew. Should meet the foe in battle to subdae. 1545 He said : the seamen their assent exprest, And Neptune's counsel dwells in every breast. l\ XXIX. j Reuben, a cabin-boy, no whit dismay'd, IJis fortune in the fray the first essay'd, And a mess-bowl which in his hand he bore 1550 Hurl'd at the shark, but sh|ver'd on the floor. Then as the fish displayed his teeth, he took With trembling joints to flight, and flying shook, And bellow'd loud, amidst the revel rout Of those who bade him put his ship about. 1555 XXX. Sam Splice was near, a tar six feet at least, A glutton feeder, dreadful at a feast ; Well fitted he to wrestle with the storm. Of strength redoubtable, and giant form. His scornful breast with indignation swell'd, 1560 Aloft a fearful battle-axe he held ; THE AMERICAlf MAItlNERS. 67 And as he swung it veilge^ul o>f tfae tee, Ttom the shark's tail Met his own overthrow.* Panting and sick, his body downward bends, He shudders — staggers-^on ttie deck descends ; And as he lay all mad and farious grew, And execrations on the monster threw. XXXI. While on the plank outstretch'd the sailor lay, A simple son of Afric seeks the fray ; Yarrow, a youth from Gambia's sultry shore, 1570 A sable, unsophisticated Moor. His vest of purple left his dark arm bare. His trowsers white were quilted with nice care, * The redoubtable strength of the shark, when hauled on board, was experienced by no less a personage than Napoleon in his passage to the rock of his ostracism. One afternoon (says Las Casas) the sailors mi board the Northumberland caught an enormous shark. The Emperor enquired the cause of the great noise and confusion which he suddenly heard overhead; being informed of what had occurred, he expressed a wish to hare a sight of the sea-monster. He accordingly went upon deck, and incautiously approached too near the animal, which by a sudden movement knocked down four or five of the sailors, and had well nifffi broken the Emperor's leps. IK descended the larboard gangway covered with blood j we thought he was severely hurt, but it proved to be only the blood of the shark. Journal of Las Casas, vol. 1 . 88 THE AMERICAN MARINERf, His ear a ring adorn'd of golden sheen. And gave a splendour to his graceful mien. 1575 Tied in a true-love knot his 'kerchief blue Hung on his breast, broad, open to the view; A wreath of coral, braided round his brow, Kivall'd the ruby of his full lip's glow ; A snowy turban on his head he wore, 1580 And his whole garb proclaim'd him still a Moor. Bondage had not subdued his innate grace^* His native majesty of form and face — Beneath a milder planet at his birth, He might have strode a sovereign of the earth. Or, like Othello, at a senate's call, A nation rescued from oppression's thrall. He was belov'd by all the naval band. For, kind of heart, he ofttimes gave the hand To poor blind Shelty, when his truant boy 1590 Left him his hours in pastime to employ. Propp'd on his spear, the child of nature stood To contemplate the savage of the flood — A wide mouth'd laugh his deep amaze express'd. The lung's loud crow, the ripture of the breast. And as the monster streich'd, and roll'd his eyes. The gaping negro shew'd a new surprize. u THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 80 XXXII. THE STORY OF YARROW. , • J Iliad, /. 6. r. 202. Yarrow, whose birth seem'd blest.with smiles divlne> The cradled offspring of a scepter'd line, Witness'd chang'd fortune dash his cup of joy, While yet a harmless, unsuspecting boy. On Gambia's margin as he listless lay. By cocoas shaded from the noontide ray. There, from the spheres, heav'n's pitying angels saw The deadly breach of Nature's holiest law — 160a Sudden, emevging from the covert wood, A band of white men rush'd, and dragg'd him to the flood: With streaming tears he pleads, but pleads in vain. Ruthless they bear their captive o'er the main. His kingly sire and friends, a frantic band, 1010 Ueheld the white wing*d vessel leave the strand ; All night they linger on the sea-girt steep. Embrace in woe, and look, and wail, and weep^ And raving chide the kindling surge below That speeds the ardour of the flying prow* 1615 vo THt AMEHlCAN MAlliNtAft. ' xxxiir. Sold to a planter on Virginia^d shof e,* Tile princely boy the badge of slavery wore, And breatli'd beneath the scourge the voice of pain, And clank 'd the fetter and the rankling chain. On Rappahannock's hank, the towery height 1620 Of the stern tyrant's structure itiet the sight ; > Whose wealth and grandeur, honours and repose, Blush, feeling Muse, were wrung from others' woes. Yet though no tender tear e*er Warbeck shed, A maid, the blessing of his nuptial bed, Caught to her young, her -v^arm, unpractis'd breast Sweet syn?pathy, and welcom'd home the guest. 161^5 • The New England, or Eastern States of the American Republic, namely, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, contain no slaves. Ohio never had any. Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are without them. New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Columbia District, have enacted laws for emancipating the few they contain. The Quaker State, Pennsylvani<i. is not wholly without the remnant of a barbarous vassalage, which the inhabitants are using their best endeavours to eradicate and de- stroy. Very different is the prospect when we turn to the South : Virginia is disgraced with 392,518 slaves ; South Carolina with 196,365 ; and Georgia with 105,218 ; while North Carolina, Mary- land, Mississippi, Tenessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Missouri, and Ix>uisiana, exhibit multitudes of the most injured beings of the hum&n race. M^M... THK AMERICAN MARINERS. M A dove pursued by hawk, with drooping wing Once on her snowy arm was seen to cling, And, half entangled in her floating hair, lCd<) Smooth his white plumes, and claim protection there. Not o'er fictitious woes had learn'd to wail Tlie nymph — she found real life a tragic tale. The wretched scene of persecuting fate, Of wanton cruelty, and rancorous hate, lOiiO Of dark revenge who scatters baleful breath, Of stern despair that wildly laughs in death. To the poor suppliant slave she lent her ear, Wip'd from the faded cheek the falling tear. And, when to soothe the tyrant ail had fail'd, 1640 His gentle daughter sued him, and rrevail'd. But Yarrow's bosom scom'd the vassal band That knelt her intercession to demand ; The lash he bore — and haird the vesper beam To seek his pine-built cabin on the stream, 1645 Where his poor dog rejoic'd his look to meet, Ran to his master, and caress'd his feet. XXXIV. Crown'd was his hut with foliage waving high From oak and ash — a scene to charm the eye ; But when he view'd the trees in green array 'd, Wbo Man stood between, and threw on all a shade. ^^ iV^-; 7,1 1! 1 I * ,} 92 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Full twice five years, beneath the scorpion-sway Of tasking fiends, he linger'd out the day, When Freedom came to cheer him in his shed, And bade him raise from earth his drooping head ; Caird him to flee, held out her generous hand, And Hope, with smiling air and accent bland. Soothes the wan wretch, and as she sees him weep. Points to a refuge on the distant deep. Vi Ji;f \ XXXV. Nerv'd by the call, he shakes in air his chain, 1660 As falls a dew drop from the lion's mane. To seek unseen the shaggy wood untrod. Where brakes conceal the panther's dark abode. And bids his only friend a long farewell, ; *,, ; His faithful dog, beneath his lonely cell : 1665 Him he bespeaks : O thou affiaiic'd guest. Blest with a heart ne'er own'd by human breast, Thee mournful I forsake, and leave alone, To pour the shrill, the unprotected moan. And haply whine for him who ever shar'd 1670 With thee his meal, though scantily he far'd. Left to the white man's obloquy, thy cry Will touch no bosom, and provoke no sigh. But he will scorn thee supplicating mute, And spurn thee from him as a worthless brute. 167«> THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 93 Me to have serv'd is thy untoward fate, Me to have serv'd will bring down on thee hate—* Yet prudence — safety — bid me leave thee here, Then take my last caresses, and a tear I XXXVI. With cheering Hope that triumphed over fear, 1680 The stripling sought the forest deep and drear. And pluug'd amidst its wild sequester'd glades. In gloom more awful than Hircinia's shades. There, from an oak's high branch in leaves concealed. His arm'd pursuers stand below reveal'd, 1685 Whose neighing horses paw beneath the ground. While the shrill blaod-hounds snuff the root around. Despair and rage his master's breast inflame — . . He bitter curses heaps on Yarrow's name. And priming his bright gun, obtests and cries, 1690 " If I descry him — by this tube he dies ! " And had it, Yarrow, been by fate decreed For thee beneath the tyrant's arm to bleed, Though, led by sympathy, no mortal breast Sigh'd o'er thy turf,, or bade t!jy ashes rest. Yet where thy sad, neglected relicks slept, Beside thy grave the faithful Muse had wept. I r _ , 4< 1695 »rute. 1675 li . 'hi' 94 TUB AMERICAN MARIN BUS, XXXVII, , -i I */ More frantic grown, he urges on in wrath. And gallops wild as chance directs the path- Then to the oak returns with brow severe, 1700 And curbs his steed the yelling hounds to hear. There as he listened — sudden from ihe wood A tall stag darted through the solitude— ^ His panting courser rears with fearful bound, And backward bent, his rider bites the ground. 1705 Sunk on his knees, the rolling torrent gush'd Wide from his teeth, and o'er his garments rush'd. And the gnarl'd holm, beneath whose boughs he lay, Incarnadined, absorb'd the purnle spray. He falls — he fills the wild with heavy groans, 1710 Invokes his comrades, and his pain bemoans ; They quit their steeds — but what can man avail-— They look upon his lips, and they are pale— They take him by the hand, and that is cold — And his brief day is like a tale that's told. 1716 Convulsive sobbing in the pangs of death, Within their arms the tyrant yields his bieath ; Homeward they bear Iiis body on a bier — His dark — his demon hue— demands no tear — Or if they weep, the tide that drowns their eyes Is that Vice showers when a miscreant dies. THP AMERICAN MAKJNBR3. Oh Now as they fade on Yarrow's steady gaze. He shakes the bough, and with the foliage plays, And, as in silence slowly move the train, Back to their teeth retqrQs their taunts again. XXXVIII. The fair moon rising waves her tresses bright, < And the spread oak irradiates with light, Seen through the foliage of the dewy boughs. The elk and deer along the forest browse. The hunted slave descends from spray to spray, And night and freedom summon him away. A poor youth sinn'd against — yet he With shaking joints forsook the sheltering tree, And the bent grass so soft his foot-fall found, That not the mole could hear him touch the ground. Fear-fix'd he stands, against the bark reclin'd, And starts at ev'ry rustling of the wind, ' Dreading the lawless arm of vengeance dire. Of tyrant men more savage in their ire Than fell hysenas that through deserts prowl, 1740 Or lion-whelps that raise the hungry howl. When beasts, he said, would pass me in their way, Men seek the harmless negro boy to slay ; Then oh ! to thee, my God, in thought I rove. Kneel on the rock, and supplicate thy love, , 174$ '.'! |: 06 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. XXXIX. i ! 1 ( Now as he rose,* his wand*rings to pursue, His faithful spaniel, obvious to his view, Fawu'd on his master, and his love declared. With humble service to his will prepar'd. His dog he beckonM, and then swiftly held His course through green-wood paths, and ways conceal'd; ., . > *, -.' . !* . 1750 Like to a fading vision, on he pass'd ' ' With motion swifter than the northern blast. In wilds and savage haunts to hide and roam. The world before him — without law or dome ! ! ■.! XL. On swiftest pinions seems the black boy borne, 1755 (Llager to win his liberty forlorn) Through paths so hid, that scarce a hound by scent Could trace the way his eager steps he bent : • Yarrow risinp from prayer is not a paintinfr of the fancy. Not- withstanding ^ statute law of the State of Virginia which prohibits, slaves, with penalties, from assembling lo practise religious duties- still the poor negro turns his eyes heavenward for consolation, and \w heart beats in secret with that aspiration which his lips are not per- ntllted to utter. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 9T le, r'd, • Id nd ways 1750 tlasty oani, ome ! He flies, close foUow'd by his faithful Tray, As fast as feet can carry him away. ' 17€0 While lasts the day, tluj cavern's hollow gloom, With wildering fear, be makes his only home, And, when again descends the dew of night, Far through the moonlight wood renews his flight. O'er tracts still lengthening, he the pole survey 'd. And either hear that gilds night's solemn shade; And as he view'd the stars with pensive breast. Thought that the slave might in their orbs find rest At length, far distant seen, the summits lowered, On whose high brow still darker forests tower'd ; Thy throne, O Alleghany, whose proud crest O'erawes the spreading Empire of the West, lorne, 1755 l)v scent ent : XLI. The mountain's winding base a river* laves. Which, widely swelling,, rolls its ample waves e fancy. Not- hich prohibits igious duties — ation, and \w s are not per- * There is a striking invaluable diflference between the navigable waters of the United States and those of any country in the Old World. The Elbe is the only river in Europe that is navigable for a sea-vessel seventy miles. But the Hudson can be navigated Uf© miles from the ocean; the Delaware, UJO ; the Potomac, 300; and there arc not only several other rivers, but many bays and sounds, far exceeding in length and depth the great river Elbe. The Quarterly H WB^ ^^■«i m THE AMERICAN MARINERS. i 1 1 ' ^ !! Ajid seeks the oceau with a sea-like sound, 1775 Its cavern'd clifTswith leafy honours crown'd. The deep flood cross'd, slow pacing on hefore, A negro woman on her shoulder bore ., ,. A frothing pail: her he made understand His lot— she pointed to her hut at hand. 1780 No ;ieed for Mercy with her seraph strain To pjead his cause — she clank'd herself the chain- Was oft compell'd beneath the lash to kneel, And when affliction wept — her hear* could feel. Now, sweet as from the cell the honey flows, 1786 With smiles she fed her guest, and sooth'd his Moes, And bade him not despair, for God would lend Aid to the slave — to all mankind a friend. Old age loves saws, and, in iier cheering way, She told him blackest night led on to day, 1790 While tlie hoy strain'd attention, till at last Nature, whose power he had so long surpast, t I Reviewers insist (Vol. 21. p. IT),) that local circumstances will prevent the formation of an American navy, as, from the Capes of Virginia to the soi'^hernmost boundary of the United States, there is no port capable ot admitting large ships. The assertion is worthy of those who made it, for the reverse is the fact. Beaufort's bay is capable of receiving the largest fleet in the world ; Cumberland haven affords an excellent harbour for men of war ; and since the Floridas have been virtually annexed to the United States, the Quarterly Reviewers, if hereafter they shall look up out of their graves, may, in the event of a future rupture, witness to their confusion, that the Americans, through the instrumentality of their southern ports, will render the West India colonies a burden to the Parent State. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. «9 Would yield no more ; but, sinlcfng on the ground, A respite from his cares in sleep he found : Close at his side his dog was seen to creep, 1795 And stretch liis form, but only feign'd to sleep. K, ' M I * I > "i XLII. When now wan'd drowsy night, and naught was heard, Save the hearth cricket, and ill-omen'd bird, ' When the poor bondsman, ceasing now to weep, Forgot his chains and vTCtchedness in sleep, 1800 With rude approach, beatings assail'd the door, From clamorous men, who in their anger swore. The negress, waking, silent sought the ground Where lay the runaway in sleep profound ; ' ' His head upon his arm, his form stretch'd wide, Watch*d by his comrade, who the dame defied. Soothing his growling warder with her hanu, She shook the boy, and bade him flee the land : Up, up, away! if freedom, life, be dear — Whites at the door suspect that thou art here ! 1810 Half-rais'd he turn'd his drowsy head each way, Uncertain whether it were night or day ; While still rebuk'd, as o'er his form she hung, The sable matron, voluble of tongue : H 2 100 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. t Rise and begone ! a rash, pursuing band f Storm at the door, to bind thee foot and hand — Hark at the hue and cry I I draw no breath If Flint be'nt there, who whipped okl Cuff to death. Pass through the window, and the river gain, WJiile I with plausive tale their ear detain. 1820 ■.' * » '■ XUIL Uprose the oy, for now more clamorous grew The hands and voices of the out-door crew, Andglancing through the opening in the wall, Light on the ground his cautious footsteps fall. Half flying, and half footing, in his haste, 1825 He seeks the succour of the watery waste. And, heav'n invoking, gain'd the river-tide, , His spotted comrade pressing by his side. With short, thick breathing, for awhile he stood, And view'd the starry splendours of tlie flood, 1830 But, ere his body in the stream he throws, Thus pours his earnest, supplicating vows : O friendly river, on thy wafting flood, Bear me from those who burn to shed my blood ; My scatter'd garments on thy bosom lie, 1835 And naked to thy arms for help I fly. He said, and plung'd beneath the darkling tide, liy Tray attended, swimming at his .side. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 101 > ■ '. Hi*- n'\- XLIV. ' * ' Desperate he cleaves the flood, for, now aronncT, Near and yet nearer swells the thick'ning sound Of his pursuers fell, who, as they run Along the river's margin, flash the gun. Fast haird the voUey'd shot, and falling gave An eddying motion to the silver wave ; Now like a duck he plunges, and overhead 1845 The murmuring surges rapid circles spread. Mercy they offer would he come on shore — Their mercy's marks his flesh already bore — Nerv'd with disdain he triumphs over fear, llesolv'd to make the flood his bridge or bier, 1850 While their rude war-whoop, and appalling cry. Shake the wide river's banks, and echo to the sky. XLV. Where with the river blends the streamlet bright^ Its surface silver'd with the moon's soft light. At its full rippling mouth a shallop lay, )855 Some fisher's dredge boat, dancing on the spray. Prone on the tide one of the party flung, Shot to the skifl*, Jind on the gunwale hung; 102 TUB AMERICAN MARINERS. U The mooring cut, and plying fast an oar, Receiv'd his comrades erov^ding from the shore. Now rising on their seats, the shouting throng Row at full stretch— the shallop flies along— Behind a glorious moonshine track succeeds, As pathways whiten through the verdant meads. Buck held the helm, a wight of fifty years, 1066 llaw-Lon'd and sallow — melted ne'er by tears — A hunter fam'd, to Daniel Boon* allied , By inter-marriage, and in peril tried. \ A pouch and horn were to his peag-belt slung, His rifle o'er his shoulders careless hung, 1870 The barrel bright, the flint to murder true, ^ • And his fell tomahawk was ground anew : Swaying the tiller, as upright he stood. He look'd Revenge in meditative mood. . Whooping and laughing, ply'd the sternmost oar Bird Hyacinth, from Rappahannock's shore; A hair-brain'd spark, of quick and subtle glance. Less frequent at a chapel, than a dance; A wicked rake, whom every prudish lass Inveigh'd against, but dress'd for at her glass ; * Daniel Boon was llie first white man who traversed the tract tailed the Wilderness, and from the summit of runiberland moun- tain descried the beautiful landscape of Kentucky. THE AMERICAN MARfNER^^ lod A carding, dicing, cogging, foisting blade, ' - i tf A boy-centaur — chirurgeon* by trade: " *■ So iieedless, that in danger he was gay, ' ' -"■'■^ As children unconcern'd on rivers play. An unbeliever, profligate, profane, 181^5 The priest exhorted, but his toil was vain-- Dwelt on regeneration and new birth, But only rais'd the laughing devil's mirth. *' On the nc\t thwart a sober man inclin'd. Of abstract air, and eloquence refiu'd, 1890 And as he press'd tbe oar with gentle hand, The handle ruflHed oft his lawyer's I and. ' - Tugging in time, with open, shaggy breast. Behind him sat a rogue in face confest. With Llood-shot eye, and whiskers fierce and long, Who from a lack of thought, indulg'd in song; And, as with stubborn arm, he flash'd the flood, " Fire in the mountains!" sang in roaring mood. • The next seat held a wretch to Satan dear, . • • > ^ A horrid monster, call'd an Overseer,! • 1900 * Candidates for medical fanie abound in the Southern States, and the wildest creature imaginable is a young Virginian doctor. There are generally a hundred, or more, attending the Lectures at Philadelphia ; where the Quakers have named them the Centaurs ,• and when a riot takes place at the theatre, the city wags are sure to exclaim " Turnout the Virginia doctors!" U' f An Ovefteer is an inexorable wretch who stands over the aefjroes at work on a plantation, witli a Iiuge whip in his hand. 104 T»E AMERICAN MARINERS. I, If i: ii Whose heart was steel'd against the negro's groan, Because his skin was darker tiian his own» His huge whip, for a moment laid aside, Was fashion'd from a cow's tenacious hide,* Whose thong invok'd the cleansing of the flood,. Yet dropping fresh with gouts of sable blood. Wielding this weapon, he could dextrous liack, Or rather slice, a negro's naked back. And, as the victim bray 'd at ev'ry stroke. The lookers on but smil'd as at a joke. 101(]f When a poor female threw out thrilling cries,. The crowd was greater,, more intent their eyes ; And, as tied up, she screaming bit her lip. With the more gust he plied his smarting whip. He flogg'd a culprit once, in duly bound , 1915. Because a bible in his hut was found ; The negro pleaded ,« that a pious man Gave him the book the sacred text to scan — The truth disclos'd, the whipper's rage increas'd,. And in his fancy's glass he scourg'd the priest. A feeble person own'd the headmost seat, Whose hollow eye seeui'd fix'd upon his feet : E'en as the naked woods,, whose green is lost, Clad all in hoar, stoop to the winter's frosty r i * In the slave-holding States of America, the whips in common! use arc majdc, both hatidlc aiid thong, out of cow hides ; and, by a^ metonymy, arc called so^ THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 10& So was his liead made white with age, and bent— > But )'ears could not repress his dire intent. Oft mutter'd the old man, and often turn'd, Grasping his gun, as though he inly burn'd ' To shoot a negro in his vengeful lust. And cleanse the barrel of its mouldj rust — 1030* For he had vassals of his own, whose feet, If not o'craw'd, might for him prove too fleet.. Perch'd on the prow, a hulk of dusky hue, A lumbering negro darken'd on the view, Lame of a leg, and of an eye half blind, 193& The most degraded of all human kind, ' ' Bondage with aggravated mischief stains ' ^ * The moral part of him who wears her chains ; ' ^ And facts establish, that whatever day •' ' '-'* Makes man a slave takes half his worth away. 1940 The fetter they might bind, the scourge upraise, So CufFey got his salted-fish and maize,. ' " * And though his back beneath, the lash oft bled. His laughing boast was that his mouth got fed ! His hands the overseer's long gun explore, 1945^ A piece of three yards tube, and two inch bore ; The lock he cover'd with his woollen vest, That had sent hundreds to their final rest. His axe lay by his side, which had that day Pell'd many an oak luxuriant in its spray, 1950 Thinn'd the tall forest, crashing in its fall, • Tliat startled echo, auswerini;- to the calL iJ I * f' 100 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. In order raug'd, all ply their equal oars, And rend with shouts, O Roanoke, thy shores — Again, again, they dash the shining spray, 1955 In boisterous merriment, uncouthly gay : One might have thought them Anthropophagites, With gresdy jaws^ seeking poor wand'ring wights. XLV. ■■ t ■ ■ Unbosomed from a cloud, with silver lights The moon adorns tlie canopy of night, 1060 Gilds the banks' forests with her sacred beam, And sheds a blaze of glory o'er the stream. High mingling with the pine's unfading hue. The blossom'd laurel stands display'd to view ; Spreading around the lofty cedar throws 1965 Its branching arms — deep and yet deeper glows "Jhe sylvan scene — while, through the leafy vale. One endless chain of moss"* hangs dangling to the gale. Meantime the baneful bird,t whose shrieking cry Is sign of death, around is seen to fly ; 1970 * It is, perhaps, peculiar to the sylvan scenery in North America, that an horizontal chain of moss extends from the branches of the larger trees throagh the interminable forest. f Tlie Whip-poor-will— a night bird that takes its name ftrom its cry, which, by many, is considered ominous. Where he perches he xepeals *■* Whip poor Will !" in a plaintive tone, with short intcrvalE, triroiifihout the night. THK AMERICAN MARINERS. 107 Ample and dark, on awful wing he soars, And the crew view him, pausing on their oars. Shooting a feather, pointed as a dart. The lawyer's arm it glauc'd, but smote his heart — Gloom seiz'd his brow, the startled son of Coke Trembled with terror, and the band bespoke : ^ Three nights ago I had a boding dream Of birds ill-omen'd, and a fatal stream — This whip-poor-will a harbinger appears Of brooding evil, and alarms my fears. 1980 Loud bursts of laughter from the doctor's breast His scorn of superstitious dread exprest — / And then he ask'd the pleader, in his glee, ' ■ > Dreamt you of danger ever from a fee ? Or would you, .-.drn'd by visions of the night, 1985 Refuse a client's chinking dollars bright. A burning blush o'erspread the lawyer's cheeks. When thus the band the helmsman rough bespeaks : A truce with jesting, and your oars attend — Look to your priming, and attention lend — 1900 Whose shot Hrst kills the outlaw on the flood Tlie State rewards — a sanction'd deed of blood.* I hort intervals. * Yarrow having been prockinied an outlaw by a judicial pro- cedure, his pursuers are authorized to tihofit hinn ; who will, afterwards, in the coramunity of their fellow-freemen, talk unblushinj^ly of <1 oaote from Shakespeare) " the deep damnation of his taking otT." Ft \l 108 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. I } Now spoke the lawyer with that gentle grace, When, in full court, he flourish'd on a case ; What time upon the Judge he fix'd his eye, 1995 Profuse of robe, and prodigal of tye. It may seem rigid, but 'tis good in law, ' ^ To shoot a slave to keep the rest in awe. And e'en if wantonly you ntake him bleed. He being property — absolves the deed. 2000 A prosecuting counsel may demand You at the bar should at your trial stand, ' ' But I could find ejectments and non-suit. And prove you bailable beyond dispute. ' ' I arm'd with precedents the bench would cope, 200 Where men kill'd negroes ami escap'd the rope ; Let me tlie jury challenge, and no doubt. The tM'clve should not be gone ten minutes out, But, soon returninp:, the defendant free "' By the just verdict of the law's decree. 201 At this gratuitous confession star'd The arch physician, nor the pleader spar'd : Yes, Copyliold, there hveathes no slifr fox Than you to pack with rogues a jury box. You have your private list, your secret rolls Of men prepar'd to swear away their souls — Such now, for instance, as your friend Bob Flint- Chink but the mopusses — he'll take the hint. Flint grinn'd sardonic at the doctor's wit — While the olil ucuili'inini oxclaiiu'd a hit! 20*2 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 109 fl ace, ise; 1995 ope, 200 rope; 3 out, 201 The rigid steersman, as abaft he stood, Relax'd with smiles his gravity of mood ; . . • And, as his hands the swaying helm controul, . - ' Spoke loud the language of his narrow soul : Some pity slaves — and bring up whip and chain-— Slaves have less cause than white men to complain— They feed, carouse, and, when 'tis time to sleep, ,. Without a waking care to rest they creep : — Cuff, art thou not full happy as a slave. And would'st thou wish thy liberty to have ? 2030 Me, massa ! hie I if free I soon should steal. And tougher whip than your's my back would feel — If free, who feed me, clothe me, lodging give, And make it worth his while for Cuff to live ? I grant that where the system is abus'd, The whip made gory, and the back misus'd — Per instance at Jamaica, Martinique, At Nevis, Guadaloupe, and Dominique,* 2035 [■ lis )b Flint- It. * It is computed that there is nearly a million of enslaved human beings in the British West India Islands. Should the English reader be desirous to know how they arc treated there, he has only to consult tlie Parliamentary speeches of Sir Sanmel Uomilly, of Sir Janicg Mackintosh, and of Mr. Wilbertorcc ; and it is probable tliat in the course of the jjcrusal he will feel " each particular hair of hia head to itand an end.." 202 « 110 THE AMERICAN MAR4NERS. Where neither judge, nor jury, can he found, But every kw in negro blood is drown'd, 2040 Where such deep crimes pollute the planter's soul That hell will not record them on its roll ; I grant you tliere a slave has much to say ' ^ In vindication when he runs away. But here where tender sympathy beguiles 2045 The bondsman's lot, and lights his face with smiles. Where, when he visits his snug hut of thatch, . The hand of happiness lifts up the latch, s With a fair plat before his door to raise His cooling melons, and nutritious maize — 2050 His wife to pound his hominy, and fill The gourd with water from the crystal rill — Where he can pile his winter hearth with logs, Eggs in the hen-house — in the stye fat hogs Crying come eat me, Cufl'ey, and regale 2055 Your sweeping appetite — ne'er known to fail :— When slaves fly us, where these things are enjoy 'd. It is because the pamper'd rogues are cloy'd. The steersman ceas'd — and now uncouthly spoke The man who bent the negroes to the yoke : 2060 A true bill Buck — slaves have no bosom care Who breathe with us the pure, Virginia air — You cannot point a white man in the crowd Who, like a straining negro, laughs aloud — No, no excuse for Yarrow can be found — 2065 Mark ! was not that the ingrate's plashing sound? THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Ill If, above water, I bis head espy, > I'll shoot him like a squirrel in the eye.* The old man, wrapt in study, rais'd his brow, And from his lips the testy accents flow : 2070 The boy's head, Flinty we grant shall be your right. If your ball hit him first — but though my sight From age decays — still it, I hope, can guide A rifle true, o'er either land or tide. Then thus the tasking wretch : true is your aim — I know at barbacuesf you often claim Tlie victor's prize — yet still it must go hard, If I this night win not the State's reward. Cuflt', clean 'd you well my gun, as you were told ? Yes, Massa Flint, de inside slick as gold. The charge a full one?— treble, counted o'er? This hand good massa, fill gun to de bore. Keep dry the priming — should it chance to flash — Yon know my mind — when thwarted, somewhat rash ! Massa, don't fear — if Yarrow no fall dead — 2085 Then you kill CufF, and take de State his head. •I lii n. '1 ! 1 * I have heard the backwoodsmen, in tacit compliment to their own skill, say, that a squirrel is not killed fairly, unless he be shot through the eye. -f- A Barbacue is a merry-meeting in the forest-shade, near a •spring; wliere the company partake of a hog roasted whole sub diu^ atiil carouse ,\m\ $>hoot at a mark for a wager. . ■I 11^ TH£ AMERICAN MARINEHS. Greybeard now spoke (he held Flint's shooting cheaf, And sat exhaling oaths not loud, but deep) The gun's not wanted — cease your babbling din — This arm the boy shall punish for his sin ; 2090 In the last voice the dying Warbeck breath'd, To me his curse on Yarrow he bequeath'd : Thus Gaffer Grey, who would have spoken more, 33ut his cough drown'd his words half mutter'd o'er. XLVI, 'iti In silence now they cleave the liquid way, ^095 And softly watchful track their river-prey, Intently list'ning, as they rest the oar. To catch the plashing of the boy before. A sound ! they hear him now in fancy's dream — 'Twas the shad plunging sullen in the stream — Another rippling murmur of the tide ! The otter made it at the river side. They hear him now ! it was, in act to spring. The lonely heron pluming of his wing ; But, fluttering, paus'd, as if deliglit it gave 210.5 Ling'ruig to bend above the moonlight wave. XLVII. Come, no"w, my Muse, and trumpet-tongtied proclaim The wanton murderers' expiating s!iam«\ I . ui i|iiij»|i.n^igfpiyii 1 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 113 For not such fiends this rolHng orb can own, * But Pity sues, and Justice heaves a groan. 2110 She has a scourge, which, though hung up awhile And kept from sight — tlie hotter to beguile >4\ii . Such deeds — yet none its lash withstood .<;i}!i..u' J Who ever stain'd their hands in guiltless blood, i ./ Von hill — the demon of the storm is there, 'Hlo To bid these wretches stop their rash career — ••■' i His arrow hurtles, barb'd with venom'd breath, / And chills the spirit, as the voice of deatli, ,</- !> i XLVIII. While they discourse, the sky is overcast With frowning clouds, and raves the gathering blast ; High heaven's dread bolts, with awful fury hurl'd. In vengeance seem'd to rock an impious world, And the fork'd-lightning's flash, that scorch'd the soil, Flam'd as to startle guilt's insulting smile. One sheet of foam enwraps the toiling boat, 2125 The lawyer dropp'd his oar, his breast he smote — And, as inimers'd, inclines the le«ward side, Deplores his evil fortune on the tide. The old man's rifle trembles in his hands, His striving tongue no utterance commands; 2VM I W ' 114 TH£ AMERICAN MARINERS. Upward he turns his lustre -lacking eyes, Where to liis claim the forked-flash replies. Now troops of murders, hovering o'er his head, Shake the task master's inmost soul with dread — Confusion ! cries he, and his arm uprears, 2135 While coursing down his brow the drop appears. Mute stood the helmsman, as the sullen gale Shook with its hollow hlast the leafy vale ; And with his savage howling, answering soon, The wolf was heard to bay the fading moon. 2140 XLIX. High on a crag, where parting rocks divide, And yield a passage to the rushing tide, A wreathing oak uprear'd its bulky form. That .seem'd to offer shelter from the storm. Thither the boat they ply, and refuge seek 2146 From the tall crevic'd-crag's impending steep. When sudden all the elements conspire The tree to whelm :— its crest the flashes fire — The banks re-echo— night in horror burns, Earth and the flood — the air to chaos turns — 2150 This way and that the lumbering branches bend, The upheav'd roots the crag asunder rend, The crew beneath in vain attempt to fly, Wild is their awe, and mingled their last cry. w^ THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 115 L. As rose the tempest Yarrow gain'd the shore, 2155 And dripping listened to the watery roar ; Fix'd like an ebon statue there he stood, And gaz'd with phrenzied air upon the flood — Turning, he heard great Nature's pitying hand Roll the dark mass of ruin o'er the band, 2160 And Freedom calling out his hopes to cheer. And echo dallying with the voice so dear — Then the boy felt his soul with warmth endow'd. And to the skies his grateful bosom bow'd. LI. 'Tis noon — and, from the Alleghany's brow, 2165 The slave secluded views the world below, And hears the busy hum, the shout, the glee. Of those whom instinct bids the wretched flee. With folded arms and head supinely laid. The negro wept beneath the locust's shade ; 2170 A crystal brook, with life and freshness fraught, The mute partaker of his sorrows sought, Who, liaving trac'd a weary length of way, Was thirsty from the parching glare of day, i2 h i : 110 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. And, as he lapp'd the rill witli eager tongxie, 2175 O'er the toil'd dog his master tearful hung. For a brief hour the hostile world's wide space Yields to the hunted slave a resting place; To the wash'd-strand his ardent wishes fly, And the great deep is spread to fancy's eye, 2180 Now here, now there, the swift ideas roll. And travel with a bound from pole to pole. Musing he lies, till, with her light of love. Vesper invites through glimmering glades to rove, But ere he goes, the boughs that o'er him bend 2185 Their wreathing leaves, a sylvan vesture lend ; The verdant cincture round his loins he binds, Descends the hill, and through the valley winds. LII. Another day, another night has roU'd, And now a touching scene his eyes behold — 2190 His dog grown weary in his arms he bears, With voice consoling o'er the tangled briars. Till in decay he lifts his fading eyes. And on his master's bosom fondly dies. Then the boy's hands a tender tribute yield : 2195 A trench he open'd in the verdant field, And, sorrowing o'er his last remains, survey'd, As in the earth his faithful friend he laid. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 117 Droopiug of heart in solitude he roves, Through silent Nature's unfrequented groves, 2200 Starts with new terror when tlie distant horn The wild deer rouses o'er the dews of morn. And eyes with bristling dread the sandy ground, Where the fresh print of human step is found. Yet still attending Freedom, firm in mien, 2205 His pace sustains, determin'd, though serene, And Hope, fair goddess, soothing in her sway. Points through the deep gloom to a sunny ray, Her tresses w aves, and smiles his grief awiiy. 1 ) LIII. Thy summits, Alleghany, crost with pain, 2210 Grim phantoms vanish, joy adorns the plain. And when again the glorious fount of day Spreads o'er the laughing skies his golden ray, He hails the State whose genius, from above. Embraces all in one great league of love.* 2215 Still schemes of safetv in his mind arise. And to the billow-beaten shore he flies ; • The Quakers of Pennsylvania, who feel an abstract hatred of slavery, have formed themselves into a brotherhood of mercy to facilitate the escape of runaway negroes, and conferred on their soil almost an inherent efficacy of redempticm. wr^ fmc 118 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. There, as the young day broke, in mournful plight, From the tall cliff he cast around his sight, And every billow of the deep survey 'd 2220 To catch some speck that hope with sails array'd. On his bare arm his drooping head reclined, AViid wav'd his raven tresses to the wind; The swallow dash'd beside him, and the deer Brows'd the suit shrub,* and ey'd him without fear. AVith transport soon, as on the rock he lay, • He saw a white-wing'd vessti mount the spray, AVhose brave crew watchful, from the briny deep Decry the outcast on the wave-wash'd steep — The wretched black boy, hungry, faint, forlorn, 2230 Now suppliant bending, with his hands upborne. Then shake the sails, and from the sculptur'd stern The boat descends — his Avants — his woes to learn— Touch'd with his tale, they succour lend the slave, And Yarrow finds a home upon the wave.f • The inordinate love of Ar oerican quadrupeds for salted herbage has been consulted by Nature in the interior of the Continent by the " licks," or salt-springs, which she has abundantly supplied. -j- The enormities exposed in this tale can have no application to the American States north of the Potomac, and the Ohio ; whose in- habitants view slavery with abhorrence, and concur unanimously in the desire of wrenching the whip from the liaiidb of upi)rcsi>ion. 'J'lrmwimmmm il plight, 2220 irray'd. 1, eer lout fear. ipray, ny deep ep— lorn, 2230 pborne. ur'd stern to learn— the slave, salted herbage )ntinent by the pplied. TH& AMUHICAN MAH1NER8. 119 LIV. Soon as the Moor in ai-tkiss mien appeared, The merry mariners his presence cheer'd ; He contes, and as he stalk t: amidst the throng. Waves his proud knighthood's badge, his triple prong.* Then brandishing his spear, with brow elate, 2240 The shark be threatens with approaching fate : Wert thou a si.uple rover of the main. This hostile arm its fury should restrain, For I, long goaded oii by cruel care. In persecution's school have learn'd to spare. 2245 But thou no charter for thy deeds canst show, No privateer's-man, but a pirate thou : ^ A bold corsair, who, cruizing hop'd to prey On our good crew with unrelenting sway — To make an arm, a leg, a head thy food, 2200 And the clear crystal purple with their blood. Well may'st thou flinch, imd flirt, and rue the bait, Stretch thy long gills, and deprecate thy fate. For soon thy jaws my caboose-door )■ shall claim. And proudly wave the trophy of my fame. 2255 apijlication to liio ; whose in- inaniniously ill prciibion. • Yarrow was the cook on board, and came on deck armed with liis " tormentors," or beef prong, with which he look the meat out of the ship's coppers. t Tht caboose in il- ship is the culinary apartment. ' 120 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. ! l' Thy pepper'd flesh the epicure regale. And now thou dy'st, unless this weapon fail. Then, drawing nigh, ** Avast!" the sailors cried, And bade him give the shark a birth fall wide, AV^arn'd him to keep in mind the fish's strength, 2'2(Jt> And not approach within a bout hook's length, A formidable monster to assail, Tiiat measur'd half a topsail in the tail. Vain vas the counsel of the gallant crew, The moor strides on the monster to subdue, 22(>j Bold as Alcides, when he slew the snake That cover'd with his form the flagged lake — Hut less successful from the fight came out, For the shark hurl'd his hideous tai? about, And, as the knight to couch his javelin stood, 2270 Down on the deck he reel'd in gory mood, Loud braying with a beastly yelling sound. As his bent body struck the seamy ground. Now wringing both his wretched hands in one. Now beating his hard head with lamentable groan. 'J'hen from the circling, saturnalian croud, Rise unextinguish'd bursts of laughter loud, And all press on in wicked histe to trace His rufiled turban, and his blubber'd face. LV, Waving his skirted robe, great Neptune flies, 2230 And soft the moor addresses as he lies : ^p THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 121 Youth of the turban'd head, and dusky brow, Speak, fall'n hero, of what land art ii\ou ? His voice has ceas'd — he scarcely fetches breath, But rolls convulsive in the pangs of death. 2285 When I incline and view the victim near, I marvel what ill w^ind has blown him here — He looks a slave, who flies the cruel shore To seek a refuge on the billow hoar. If so, we heard not in his deepest groan 221)0 The echo of the anguisli of his moan, When (under an ill-fated planet born) He bore in chains man's obloquy and scorn ! llais'd on his feet, again poor Yarrow reels, Again reverberate the bursting peals Of the gay crew : when thus the captain spoke : A dying mortal is a tragic joke ! See the sad w retch, he bleeds at every pore. And the plank purples with his clotted goie. Hiilier, Tom Tug! his body bear below — All other tasks, I charge you, now forego; Down to the cockpit in your arms convey Tlie vagabond, far from the noisome fray. 225)5 2aoo U ! J :>. i mmm ^m 122 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. LVl. THE COCKPIT. Iliad, /. 4. v. 204. Come forth, Machaon ! COWPER. ■f* In the ship's hold, with awful horror wide, Yawn!- I deep cavern, underneath the tide, 2305 Where silent and submerg'd, with study grey, Sat Caustic reading by nocturnal day. Close by a candle, to assist his sight. That in the socket counterfeited light. A hat triangidar, with fierce cockade, 2310 Was on the table at his elbow laid. Which, o'er his brow, was wont the boys to scare. As on the deck he walk'd with martial air. Bent on their seats, dispos'd to doze or sleep. His mates recline, three hermits of the deep; 2315 AVrapt in that gravity the dull maintain. The true criterion of a dearth of brain.* In the (lark confines of their dungeon pent, Seldom above great Kush's pupils \\ent, * Every body rcmeinbcra Uachcfouciiult's clcfiiiitiou of gravity. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 123 04. 230i S 2310 scare, > ; 2315 But daily ask'd some of the naval band 2320 Kow many leagues the ship was still from land ? The wights not yet their firm sea-legs had liund,* And on the deck could not make good their ground, Where, haply should the frigate go ahout, From the lee-scuppers they were all pick'd out. Four unmade hammocks from the carlings hung, Beneath was seen a keg without a bung, Barlow's Columbiad, the Seaman's Guide, jtii A half eat biscuit, CuUen and Macbride. Strewn on the floor, hand-saws and tools to slay. With lint and liniment promiscuous lay. And phials and bottles labell'd at the throat — (A mere apothecary's shop afloat !) While a lank skeleton, with grisly face. Made up the frightful horror of the place. 2335 Viewing the ghastly spectre with a stare. The sailors ask'd what business he had there ? WitI -t r.ging lip beheld a man transform'd To « ' ^ e;»s bones, no inore by marrow warm'd ; And ..I'y who rush'd undaunted to the fight, Dreaded tuu haunted cockpit in the night. I ruviiv. * When a sailor walks the deck at sea lie swings his body like a pendulum, and by opposing;; the ship's roll with a vibratory motion ot' his own, maintains himself on his feet. But the uninitiated, when they venture up the hatchway, are, by the first lee-lurch thrown (' ■ n on tlieir beam ends, and precipitated into Uie scuppers ; amidst > c smiles of the captain and lieutenants, the biuad grins of the mid- i>.'i.v: H-n, a.Ki the laughter of the crew. :)if}Hi( II 124 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. All but loblolly Ben,* who living near. And a lay-brother, chuckled at their fear, .Toy'd when the trembling tars the form explor'd. Held his rude sides, and vehemently roar'd. 2345 iN ^i A'ow startled. Caustic laid his book ^side. And to his f his quizzing-glass applied, Then, as Toiu ms the sable load depose Close at his feet, his indignation glows : Your errand say ! what subject bring you here ? 'Tis mine to heal, and not lay out the bier. Dare you come hither to inhume your bones ? Hence, hence, and cast the corse to Davy Jones. Then thus Tom Tug : no corpse we hither bear — A wounded man demands your honour's care ; 2355 Fell'd by a shark, who with his whacking tail 'J'ook flat aback the negro's swelling sail. First he sung out, but soon in speechless woe Tell on the deck, and seeni'd fast broaching to : And now we cofiie, ere his life's ensign fall, 'I'^GO To beg his timbers you will overhaul. • The loblolly-boy is generally some lazy land-lubber transferred from the crew to the surgeon and his mates. It is his duty to pace tlie birth-deck to and fro at noon, beating an old mortar with a pestle, to summon together the sick ; exposed as he passes the mess-places to the derision of the tars, who vociferate to each other, " Look out. there, fore and aft, for your bread bags !" 'i( THE AMERICAN MARINERS. vir* The fam'd physician tucks his robes around, And his probe seizes to detect the wound, O'er the mute moor, stretcli'd in the cockpit, hnug. His temples chaf d, and ey'd his lolling tongue, Mark'd ev'ry symptom, found the pulse was low, And shook his head prophetic, and his brow Severely knit ; while whispers circle round Among the graduates with a look profound,. [n vain the doctor plies his healing art, 2370 His efforts to the moor no life impart — When honest Tom from his side-pocket drew An elixir approv'd by all the crew. And made the patient swill; his eye, though dim, Resum'd its speculation ; each dull limb 2375 Seem'd strung anew, and on the seamy floor He turn'd and faintly cried oh ! give me more ! Then thus the leech with uprais'd hand and eyes : No skill of mine this sudden cure supplies. But, Tom, when life seem'd doubtful in the wound, Beyond my drugs, a healing medicine found I LVII. Again the crew, vociferously loud. Press round the hostile fish, a darkening croud. ;i ) ' ' 1 f iiii IIH 1 1 ^'B 1 ii fB I i 1 ,1 *. a ; I .,!.-. •26 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. ) ! 1/ Jack Junk, a jolly tar of st\irdy form, With laughing visage, blanch'd with many a storm, The lists now enter'd, recent from the glass, Which his loyal hand was ever loth to pass. With all sail set, and a wide rolling gait, He came on deck to meet a tragic fate. Thus and no near !* a merry shipmate cries, 2390 Jack heard, and roU'd the pupils of his eyes, A hiccup fetch'd, and, with his grotesque pace, Relax'd the muscles of the captain's face. Then, couching his long spear, all gleaming bright, He bawl'd ** Free commerce and a sailor's right!" But, urging with no I allast but all sail. The weather-gage he lost, and the hurl'd tail Of the enormous monster dealt a blow. That, on his beam ends, laid the sailor low ; The sot unwar_y smiting in the part 2400 Where the ribs rally round the beating heart. Neptune, in serious, contemplative mood, Propp'd on his niu-iv trident as he stood, Serenely cried. Jack lies along the floor Like a ship stranded on a leeward shore : 2405 It! li • Thus and no near ! is an admonition given the helmsman, in steeriag a ship, to keep his sails full ; and it is here a tacit reprehen- sion passed on Jack, whose \. cnther leech was shaking in the wind. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 127 Stopp'd, stopp'd (lis grog — a lamentable wreck — Hence witli him overboard, and swab llie deck. The tar the mandate heard, and linning round His half-rais'd brow, cried, panting with his wound, Not yet is stopp'd my grog — I yet can drink 2410 A good skin full, whatever you may think ; My sails were only taken flat aback. Come, messmates, to his hammock help poor Jack. LVIII. Meantime on every side the monster turns, His tongue protrudes, and with new fury burns, Then writhing with a bound, his tail he rears, That tail which every true bred seaman fears : The broken cohorts mix, and none is found Whose valour dares approach the fish to wound ; Tiieir upheld spears, their handspikes he derides, The l)road deck trembles as he shakes his sides. Then thus cried brother Jonathan, (a tar Who long with spouting whales had wag'd the war In tumbling seas ; the object of his toil To share the bones, and barrel off the oil :*) 2425 • The crews of the ships from Massachusetts, employed in the whale fishery on the coast of Brazil, and in the Pacific Ocean, receive no wages, but have a certain share of the whale-bone, and of the blubber or whale-oil. 12B THE AMERICAN MARINERS. \ Say, sliipraates, often dreadful in your might, Mryinians, fearless in the main-deck fight, Ye Pennsylvanians, a sea-born band, To peril train'd by Ocean's plastic hand, Ye brave Kentuckians who oft have stood 2430 O'er the scalp'd Indian, rioting in blood ;* And you, my countrymen, though last, not least Dear to this heart, sons of the smiling East, Say, does a fish, unwieldy on the deck, Repress your valour, and your prowess check ? Then let this unassisted arm sustain The fearful combat, and the honour gain — On me the glory of the day depends. With this one stroke behold the conflict ends. He said, and plung'd his formidable spear 2440 In the shark's side, to stop his full career; ... * That the Kentuckians scalp their Indian enemies, when lying dead in the field of battle, may be presumed on the ground of the kx talumis, as the victorious red-men never fail to scalp the Kentuckians. But when the Quarterly Reviewers, on no other authority but that of an anonymous writer, affirm, in unqualified language, (vol. 27, p. 74,) that the Kentuckians cut their razor-straps from the hacks of livitiff Indians,, an universal yell of execration must follow such a calumny, deepening as it extends. But admitting the delinquency of the Kentuckians, are they not surpassed by their accusers in the savage- ness of tlieir ferocity ? for, from what livmg author's back have not they cut out a full " pound of flesh," whose political tenets differed from their own ?— See the New Monthly Magazine, Obituary for 1821, p. 256. Article Keats. I i THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 120 1 But liis hold lost as tlic flsli nuna; a1>oiit, Nor could I'.e draw liis iccreaiit, weapon out. The shark's tail brother Jonathan confounds, Ho now advances, and he now rebounds; 2445 Now w rings and wrests his lost lance to and fro, But soon from terror docs his gripe forego, Till, like a bee, that leaves his sting behind, The tar m ith plaints alternate fum'd and pin'd : I little dream'd my harpoon to have left 2150 In the shark's carcass — both the blade and heft! Shipmales, repress unseasonable mirth. And luind another spear up from my birth — One hangs above my hammock with a coil,* Which will, I guess, his yankey anticks foil ; 2455 The barb is somewhat blunted, for a score Of Arctic whales have bath'd it with their gore, But still retains suflicient of its point, The cuitiir's strongest rib-bones to disjoint. Tiien Neptune, as he lean'il against the mast, 2401) A sceptic jrlance on the liostonian cast, i\ud rallied uini with that peculiar grace AVhich mirth provokes beneath a serious face : i * A whaler's harpoon lias the end of a coil appcndctl U) the handle, ill order to jiluy the fish when stnit'lc. 130 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. (> brother Jonathan ! thy lies would strand Tlie best lull-tackle* ever liaul'd bv hand — Not to the sailors should you tell that tale, Tough as the garnet that clues up the sail, Kut keep it for the credulous marines, When next in harbour the good ship careens. 24G: JSow midst the crew tlie gay Lieutenants stand. And banter with their jokes the laggard band ; Eager delight among the men prevail'd, And M ith loud cheers their officers they hail'd. Hampden was there, who, with his jocund port, Look'd him the gods call Euphron, mortals Sport. Where'er he came, the youth all hearts beguil'd. Care, at his presence, smoothed his brow and smil'd; In foundering seas, when lubbers felt deprest. He, ev'ry inch a tar, still had his jest. Now, with an arch and laughing air, he ey'd, 2480 And thus address'd the Yankey near his side : Insatiate Jonathan, will not one spear Glut thy revenge, but thou must bid ut bear On deck the lance that o'er thy sack is ' ang, Whilst thou stand'st there with self-applauding tongue. Seamen are we, not soldiers from the ranks, I-. i • Of any hyperbolical story the sailors say that it would carry a^vay a luif«tackle to hoist it in. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. v,n To swallow down like gulls thy monstrous pranks ; The whales thy arm in arctic seas made bleed Of bulk invented, are huge whales indeed. Out of my north-west passage !* while I stand, 2400 And the shark's tortures end with this firm hand, An axe my weapon, which T !:now to wield With more success than thou the spear and sliield. Then drawing off the vest his fair form grac'd, Loos'd from the clasps, on the bare deck he plac'd '* His curls redundant, o'er his brow display'd, Half-veil'd liis forehead in a golden shade. A smiling archness from his glances flow'd. And on his cheeks two summer-roses glow'd ; His side-long look, from eye of gleeful blue, 2500 Still on the tar a tacit censure threw — Who blushing stood, represt with shame and fear. While the crowd's laughter peal'd upon his ear :— Then the youth rais'd his hatchet to assail The gaping shark, and nick'd him in the tail — 2505 Again he flounders, but, with strength decay'd. The crew press forward, and impart their aid, Ply his tam'd body with repeated strokes, And the fish dies amidst the sailors' jokes. t would carry * A phrase equivalent to clear the pcangway, or make room. k2 n 132 THE AMF.PICAN MARINFPS. ; Lix. Now to the spot the cabin-boys draw near, S.'ilO In semblance boM, but fill'd with secret fear, To measure him with log-line, ant! decide How long his cumbrous carcass, and how wide. As they approach wliere the huge monster lay, His triple row of teeth imparts dismay, 2515 And, horrid to relate, from either jaw Protruded trickling blood and gobbets raw Of dolphin, skipjack, and of albicore, Mix'd in one mass of undistinguished gore. His fallen brows two pilot-fish retain, 2.'i20 His late purveying guides along the main ; Who still instinctively appear to dread His mouth, and cling adhesive to the head.* The fry of children trembled as they view'd The fish, whose tail so many tars had rued ; 2525 And as an urchin, a fool hardy child, Footed the shark, his brother him revil'tl For being rash, and, in no tone of jest, Bade him recede, for in the monster's breast • The pilot-fish ( ga^torosieua thiciw ) adheres to the shark wheii hauled on board, but avoids his jaws to the last, keeping generally «t tlu" hinder part of the head. Tllb AMERICAN MARINERS. V.V6 liii'e iniglit ^ot lurk ; and then, with arcii siirpri/e, Another tlioii^ht lie saw him move his eyes, While a curl\l pated elf, with, uprais'd arm And loot recoiling, ieignVI a coy alarm. LX. THE FIGHT. f rot y »iji.^u X*^f*f otvia^o*. ODYssEy, /. 18, I'. 88. Meuntimc, amidships, where the painted rail Confines the running rigging of the sail, 2od5 Where round the cleat the cross-jack brace is pass'd, And pins of iron hold the clue-lines fast; Two boys, by wrangling on the deck, made foes. Unpack their angry hearts, and menace blows: Firm front to front each frowning champion stands, And poises high in air his closc-clench'd handis. These acts, O Liberty I all spring from thee. Thy claims their birth-right, and thy cause their plea; Their sacred rights infring'd, each bosom strong Swells with thy spirit to resent the wrong. "iOl.* One Shelty';j V^^^> Caleb of truant mind, Who made no scruple to desert the blind ; i ■ 3 134 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. The Other Jug, tbe boatswain's bullying boy. Who oft was wont sarcastic to annoy ■ The little minstrel, call him blind-man's dog, 2550 And sneering bint he filch'd the piper's grog. When on his page the sightless Shelly hung, Jug, in his wanton mood, would loll his tongue, And uncontroulable, of humour rude. His mirth, profane and infamous, intrude. 2555 Sometimes the graceless boy, to please the few. Would the Scot mimic as his pipe he blew. And with such gestures writhe his form about, That not the grave could hold from laughing out. Then Crleb, with Ins eye-balls flashing fire, 2500 Was seen to stamp the plank in martial ire ; Frown in his ciioler, and infuriate turn. The fight demand, and for the combat burn. That as it may — in conflict now they press'd. Fist rais'd to fist, and breast oppos'd to breast j Abetting Caleb, Paul and Francis stand. They whisper science, and direct his hand. And with their counsel words sustaining ^(ave. Proofs of their love, but needless to the bi ave. Jug found a second in his friend Sam Splice, 2570 Whose savage air betray'd a soul of vice. His head bound up attests his late disgrace, And public scandal sat upon his face. Both champions stand undaunted on the ground. Move their clench'd hands, and meditate a wound; THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 135 With grinning teeth, Caleb his hot breath draws, Nor is it fear, but rage that makes him pause. On as he comes, the boatswain's wary boy Shifts when hiF. hand he raises to annoy, Shuns his stern menace with unerring sight, 2580 And weighs and speculates iha future fight. Then presses in his turn : — the headlong shock. With foot unshaken as the living rock, Caleb resists— and, grappling M'ith his foe. Full in his mouth impels the staggering blow. Hoii't Then thus Sam Splice : I see your steerage I'ails, The foe takes all the wind out of your sails. Now shift your helm, and, rounding on your heel, Lay him aboard, and make his timbers reel. Thus counsell'd he— the boy complying heard. And forward rush'd, in all his might prepar'd, Foaming in ire, with wishes dire possess'd To dash the vital stream from Caleb's breast : Not more abrupt appears the billow dark That breaks with fury on the lab'ring bark, *2ol)5 But mock'd with skill, an unexpected blow From the keen minstrel met his knitted brow ; Like a boat broaching-to his head he sway'd. And soon on deck his lubbard carcass laid. There, grovelling on the plank, he struggled lonj^, Close grappled by the raging son of song. Who, as on Jug he fell, by chance or skill. Bore high his better arm, releas'd at -^iV,, i I .M k 1 'Wit 130 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. And, giving to the gales all human ties, Strives with his tliunib to gouge out both liis eyes. Take thy reward, exclaims the piper's boy, Nor with thy taunts again the blind annoy — Soon, like old Shelty's, shall thy during way Be shut for ever from the light of day ; !No more to know the sun, nor star, nor moon, Nor night distinguish from the blaze of noon. With quivering feet the scoffer beats the floor, And the crew's aid his urgent lips implore : No pity in one laughing face appears. The tars reply with jokes instead of tears ; And while the victor's thumb assaults his eye, Then wild uproar and shouts ascend the sky. Joyous, carousing with his messmate Chip, And the good gunner, o'er a bowl of flip, At ease recliu'd beneath the clew'd-up sail,t Pipes caught his minion's supplicating wail. The brimming grog-cup from his bronze-hand fell. As, starting on his feet, again the yell ■* 2615 0-20 • American pui^ilisin is not altot^cthor in the taste anil style oi' a ^fcndoza, as it tolerates f(oiiffhif(; or what, in the blang of the pre- sent day, would be termed tlie thumb fancy. + In a calm, at bca, the courscb arc clued up to keep tlic foot- mpjj iVom chuHng. '^: THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 137 His car assail'd — so listening on the gale The lion hears his whelp howl in the vale. 2G2.> His comrades knew the voice, full well they knew. And silent wonder seiz'd the drinking crew. Thrice call'd the victim. Holding hy a shroud, The brawny boatswain answer'd thrice aloud : Hoarse and impetuous was his stormy breath, 2030 As blasts that menace mariners with death. Behold I come to aid thee, Jug I he i ries, And o'er the deck with generous ardour flies ; Like lightning midst ths circling crew he flung, Where o'er his quivering boy Jie minstrel hung, Whose finger in Jug's ear a fulcrum made, While his bent thumb to scoop his eye essay'd. Disteniper'd vision mocks the victim's sight, The cheerful day seems chang'd to dusky night, Till, in a growing mist or cloud conceal'd, 'IdiO The masts, yards, sails, are only half reveal <i The breathless boatswain in amazement stood, Chill liorror for a moment froze his blood, His hardy bosom swell'd with labouring sighs, Aud tears of iron trickled from his eyes.* '2(J4r> Then in his wild, ungovernable rage, With his rude hand he seiz'd the piper's page, li I I 1! 5i ill \i 1 .:i Drew iron tcars> ilown PliUo'sj check. MiLiox. i ) .1 < 138 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. And bore him to the 'julwark, thence to throw His caitiff-body in the deep below, "When Hampden, interposing with his might, 265 > The urchin rescued gasping with affright. Now summon'd by the voices of the crew, Threading the ladder, up the hatchway flew The answering leech and mates : — they, touch'd with wo. Saw Pipes reclining o'er his boy stretch'd low. So bends a gardener, who surveys with pain His fallen plant, surcharg'd with storm and rain, Bent from the root — his injur'd lily fair — The prostrate offspring of his dearest care. The bursting sweat that o'er his temples flow'd. The mortal anguish of the boatswain show'd, As, rueing yet the minstrel's rigid sway. Prone on the deck the wretched sea-boy lay. They raise the victim, and their healing art The leech and ministers around impart ; 2GG5 With unguent soft his anguish they allay, And to his sight restore the welcome day. Morn seem'd to chase the shadows of the night, He look'd, and look'd, to mark returning light ; Sudden defin'd all objects to him show'd, 2G7(> In streams more bright the solar radiance flow'd, Yet still his friends t'leir tender care employ, And to his hammock bear tlie languid ' oy. t THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 139 LXI. Again the chief, with friendly smiles, invites His guest to share his festive board's delights, 2(J75 The bowl presenting with fresh liquor crown'd, Emboss'd with forms of burnish'd gold around. Then Neptune, as he rais'd it in his hand, Pronounc'd a blessing on the Captain's land, His awful brow relax'd, and soft address'd 2680 The plaided Piper bowing low his breast : Now swell a strain — and shed with nectar'd lays O'er Freedom's land the perfume of thy praise ; None so barbaric but has heard her name, Columbia, daughter of immortal Fame. 2685 Shelty unclasp'd his bonnet from his brow, And laid it on the deck with reverence low. His hoary head, made bare, display 'd to sight And set his features in an open light : — Then, as the bag-pipe to his lip he prest, 2(*()(» The strain awak'd the patriotic breast. «''; m i 1 i. '% ■'I \ ^ I I I I i i 'I } 140 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. SONG. COLUMBIA. r . I Columbia's sliorcs arc wild and wide, Colunibia's hills arc high, And rudely planted side by side Her forests meet the eye. 269t^ But narrow must those shores be made, And low Columbia's hills, And low her ancient forests laid, Ere Freedom leaves her fields, For 'tis the land, where, rude and wild. She play'd her gambols when a child. And deep and wide her streams that How Impetuous to the tide : And thick and green the laurels grow On every river's side. '2705 13ut should a transatlantic host Pollute her waters fair, We'll meet them on the rocky coast. And gather laurels there : For oh ! Columbia's sous are brave, 2710 And free ass ocean's wildest wave. THE AMEPICAN MARINERS. 141 The gales that wave her mountain-pine Are fragrant and serene : Anil never clearer sun did sliine Than lights her valleys green. But putrid must those breezes hlow, That sun must set in gore, Ere footsteps of a foreign foe Imprint Columbia's shore : For oh ! her sons are brave and free ; Their breasts beat high with liberty. 27 V 5 27-20 For arming boldest cuirassier Wevc mines of sterling worth, For sword and buckler, spur and spear, Embowell'd in the earth. 2725 And ere Columbia's sons resign The boon t!»cir fathers won, Tlie polish'd ore from every mine Shall glitter in the sun : For bright's the blade, and sharp the spear Our warriors to the battle bear. Let Britain boast the deeds she's done. Display her trophies bright ; And count her laurels bravely won In well-contested light. -^-J' r. -.Vt i\ 142 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Columbia can a band array Will wrest the laurel wreath ; With truer eye and steadier hand Will strike the blow of death : For, whether on the land or sea, Columbia's fight is victory. 2740 i ) In purple streams let Gallia wade, And frantic in her mood, With civil discord draw the blade. And spill her country's blood. 2745 Too dear the skill in arms is bought Where kindred life-blood flows, Columbia's sons are only taught To triumph o'er their foes : And then to comfort, soothe and save 2750 The feelings of the conquer'd brave. Then let Columbia's eagle soar. And bear her banner high ; The thunder from her dexter pour, And lightning from her eye. 2755 And when she sees from realms above. The storm of war is spent ; Descending, like the welcome dove, The olive branch present : And then will beauty's hand divine 2700 The never-fading wreath entwine. if m 1 — 2740 2745 2750 2755 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 14« The sightless piper ceas*d, and lowly bow'd. While rung the deck with the tars' plaudits loud ; Full was the bursting of the naval roar, As billows when they lash the rocky shore. 2705 A hectic flush'd the trident- bearer's cheek, Then spoke he with the smile that calms the deep : Come, minstrel, gang with me, thy pleasing strain Would soothe my hours beneath the azure main. Striding a dolphin, thou should'st blissful roam My coral caves, and make the deep thy home. There, where the snowy nereids love to dwell, In sea-bright grots o'er-hung with speckled shell. Restor'd to youth, the grasp of hateful age Should lose its hold, nor bend thee with its rage. Thus to the Scot the sea's sole sovereign cry'd ; He heav'd a sigh, and calmly thus reply 'd : Neptune, to change these hoary locks that spread The snaws of age round sightless Shelty's head, Is not his M'ish — he knows 'tis fate's decree 2780 That sanguine youth is not from sorrow free. LXII. ! 2700 The gaily conscious seamen feel their pow'r, In the wild Saturnalia of the hour. And, while fresh bowls the cabin-guests inspire. Approach with rolling gait their ocean-sire, 2785 I h h r ! w 114 THK AMERKAX MARINERS. I To swell on deck his lov«?o, and implore A good keg of ten gallons, less or more. Onward tliey come, like an impetuous stream Glistening beneath the summer's radiant beam; And full the murmur of their rusliing course, 2700 As their own Niagara's torrent hoarse. High Maves their flag, that gorgeously displays The sapphire's azure, and the ruby's blaze : And as around a flame the banner pours. On nen-plum'd wings the Roman eagle soars,* Who, crown'd with recent conquest, to the .sk_> Directs his grateful, bright, rekindling eye. The generous monarch rose — and, at the sight. He look'd — he smil'd inellable delight — Then spoke with traiK<port, as in order'd rows, The tars fall back, and one deep file compose. Gods ! M hat a noble crew ! the warlike throng That plough'd the Euxine to the harp and song, Must yield to these ! let any of them keep The helm, and safe tlie sliip mounts o'er the deep. Yard-arm to yard-arm, Mith their guns run out, These lads would make the splinters fly about ; Work for the cockpit! many a doleful yell Would issue where th( ir grape and riiain-sbot fell. * Tlic American stamlanl is surniouiitcd liy an fjifrlc. in emula- tion of Roman fame. li r THE AMERICAN MARINERS, 14'i Full many a noble mariner is here ! 2810 Shipmates, all hail! what cheer, my sons, what cheer^ How fare ye, boys? — is your grog-tackle right? Your jib-stays, seamen! are they bows'd up tight? Then thus Bill Breeze, the spokesman of the band, Twirling his tar'd hat in his better hand : 2»1 "> Bad cheer, your honour, leeward is our plight, Our unbows'd stays all hanging in a bight, And hence we hither come, a suffering train, Redress to ask the sovereign of the main. Then the king thus : O you old swab-fac'd dog, I guess'd your mission was a tub of grog : What countryman art thou? where truly bred? At Portsmouth born, you hail from Marble head ! * i * So great is the similarity between the ships and crews of t?it two nations, that during the late war, some ludicrous mistakes were the consequence. In February, 1815, as Sir George Collier, with his squadron, was cruizing for the Constitution, a brig hove in sigiit which he suspected to be a captured British merchantman, and he hoisted the American flag on board his own ship the Leander. Siie proved to be the John of Liverpool, a prize to the Perry, privateer ; and the prize-master, a full-blooded yankee, tossed out his boat, and without any hesitation went on board the British man of war. The moment Jonathan got upon deck, he congratulated the oflicers on the sfiuadron being at sea, and in a condition to do a tarnation deal of mischief to the d — d English sarpents^ and play the devil's game vnth their rag of a flag* He then walked up to Sir George Collier, and, to the extreme amusement of every one on board, making a profound bow, addressed him as Commodore Decatur ; adding that he knew his ship, the President, the moment he saw her, and that Nick himself could not deceive him. Sir George smiled complacently, L t I 140 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. The tar replied : truth is my sours delight— At Stony Point* I first beheld the light. 2825 Humph ! Stony Point? its bearings, friend, impart— The place was never mark'd upon the chart. i 1; \ ii • H !; 1 ii \ Your pardon, Sir, — on father's map at home, It makes a figure great as ancient Rome — 1 thought, an please you, oh my candid word, 2830 Tliat all the world of Stony Point had heard ! 'Tis on the Hudson, where our General Wayne Surpriz'd the warrior Johnson and his train; When neither nioon, nor star, adbrded light, A yanker trick he play'd tliem in the night. 2835 and polrting to the Acasta, asked if he knew her ; his reply was that t>lic was the Macedonian ; and when asked what the Newcastle was, he said that he could not positively determine, but ((uessed she was the Constitution, though not painted as when last at Boston. Jonathan then entreated to be supplied with a keg of molasses, and, on being told tliere was none to spare, made another low reverence, wished (Tommodore Decatur a good voyage, and took his leave with great apparent satisfaction ; wlien the first Lieutenant, to his unspeakable horror and consternation, undeceived him as he halloed for his boat at the gangway. * Stony Point is a post on the east bank of the river Hudson, opposite Verplank's Point. During the revolutionary war it was t;iken by the British ; but surprized and recovered soon after in a night-attack (July 15, 1770) by General Wayne, who made prisoners of the whole garrison, consisting of five hundred men, with their commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson. n i imp THE AMERICAN MARINERS, 147 My father was a fishermaii, old Bill, Who taught me young a sail to jibe and fill. When but a nursling I was set afloat. And knew no other dwelling than a boat, Scarce higher than the thwart, I ply'd an oar, 2B40 And help'd to elredge along the rocky shore.* I like thy look — all flattery apart— "Who sees thy countenance may read thy heart. Declare thy station, sailor, and thy name, Hast thou in battle won a warrior's fame ? 2845 i My name is Breeze — and, in a heavy gale, hill is the first aloft to furl the sail, for sailor's rights, on board old Iron-sides, I work'd at single wages, double tides — ■ The Quarterly Reviewers, after having very gravely assured their readers that the Americans have no southern ports (Vol. 21, p. 15), peremptorily assert that, in the event of a rupture with Bri- tain, the largest fleet they could equip in the only ports which will ad-. mit it, might be very leisurely destroyed before hands could be brought together to man it. This is ominous infatuation : guos Dais vult pcrdere prius demented. The domestic fisheries being suspended, their countless fishermen would be transmuted by war, as quickly as by a charm, into crews for the lar^^est fleets, without the rigour of a conscription ; and an appeal lies to the evidence of facts, that there is a delicacy in attacking American ships of war in their own ports. Commodore Decatur's two frigates and a brig were blockaded in New London harbour, month after month, by squadrons that relieved each other as provisions became short, wi^out a single attempt being made to destroy them, L2 148 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. When the black Guerriere found ottr tier too hot, Bill was at quarters ramming home his shot ; And when the Java lay a rolling m reck, A raking gun he pointed o'er her deck. Knew ypu Decatur, whose exalied name Glory on golden pinions wafts to fame ! 2855 An please you, if you mean the commodore, With him I battled on the Barbary shore,* * It is a prevailing opinion th&*- the Navy of the United States was called into existence by the late war; but the fact is, that hostilities against the Barbary powers first conferred on it a character. The shores of the Mediterranean resounded with the broadsides of the American frigates long before the capture of the Gueniere, the Mace- donian, and the Java ; and the successes of Hull, Decatur, and Bain, bridge were not the effect of an untried energy. These men had served as subalterns under Preble, the father of the American navy ; and acts of lieroism were achieved by his officers and tars that are onl j not generally knov/u, carent quia vate sacro, because they have never been ably recordec'. The Philadelphia frigate commanded by Bain-, bridge, having grounded, and been taken ppssession of by the Turks, Lieutenant Decatur undertook, with the boats of the squadron, to cut her out from under the batteries of Tripoli ; — boarded her with match- '.ss valor, exposed to the red-hot shot of a formidable range of Torts ; — ^slewthc turbanned chief, fighting hand to hand on the quarter- deck, and succeeded in hoisting the stars over the crescent. In this ever memorable enterprize, three yonng American Lieutenants, Somers, Wadsworth, and Israel, emulated the patriotic spirit of a Leooidas; for, the fire-ship which they conducted, becoming, by some reverse of wind or tide, iiurrounded by an overwhelming Turkish flotilla, these gallant youths, preferring death to surrender, blew themselves up in the air. A monument, executed ill Italy, lias been erected to their memory at Washington. i 1 ,: /THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 149 2855 Help'd him the Philadelphia's deck to gain, When she lay nioor'd with swivels and a chain, ' Beneath a bloody battery, whose shot 2860 Before they told a furnace made red hot, . Mounting her side, our chief conspicuous shone, .. And soon the valour of his arm made known ; For, at the gangway, as he sprung on board, There, hand to hand, he met with clashing sword The turban'd Rais-^ — who sunk beneath his frown. While the boat's coxswain haul'd.the colours down. Bill was not idle — with this sworded-hand He slew a Turk, the second in command. Alia ! il Alia ! was his wrathful cry, 2870 As his bright sabre glitter'd in the eye ; But Bill luff'd up, and, as he gave a yaw, With his half pike belay'd his uncouth jaw. A golden cross that on his breast he bore, I took a fancy to, and long time wore ; 2375 Till at New York for debt in dungeon pent. In want of cash— Bill's bosom bauble went. m There is in royal state a secret charm That can effrontery subdue — disarm— While the tar spoke, his panic-blinking eye Betray 'd his awe of Neptune's majesty. And he, by nature impudently bold, Could not the king with steady glance behold. 28l!0 150 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. A silencb all the natal guests possess'd, When the sea's sovereign thns the chief addressed : As bold a fellow this as ever spoke, To kill a Turk, and tell it as a joke. Had fortune view'd his birth with kinder brow, And in his cradle he been called Monro ,• Instead of standing now with hat in hand, 2890) This stately ship might be at his command ; But born Bill Breeze, 'tis his from first to last. To swab her deck, atid serve before the mailt. Come, bid the boatswain, that hoarse growling dog,. Touch his bright eall, and tune th« note to grog Let him assume his music-breathing face. And pipe all hands on deck to splice main brace. Ill suits it, skipper^t mortal man to bear The brow still bent, and give up life to care. Enjoy the moment — see how steals the day, 2900 On pinions light, with secret lapse away; How many more bestow'd no mortal knows. Then snatch the joy the present hour allows. The captain spoke — Pipes and his tarry train Advance on deck,, three mastifis of the main ; 2D0u * James Moftroe, Piresident of the United States. -f A familiar name tor captain. TH£ AMERICAN MARINERS. 151 The leader portly, with his rough breast bare The mates bold ruffians with a foremast air. Now with each feature working from the throat, They strain in unison a stunning note ; Between each linked bout a pause they make, 2010 And the joy'd crew to extasy awake : " All hands to splice main-brace ! up boys, repair " With your huge cans, and the chiefs bounty share !" Then to the steward's tub the seamen fly. Thirst on the Up, and laughtjsr in the eye, 2915 Crowding they press the cup to take in hand. And halting Yarrow mingles with the band. ■' ti *P LXIII. 2900 290& His noou-tide station now the sun had pass'd, And our tall ship a deeper shadow cast, As, doubly-pictur'd on the glassy deep, 2920 The vessel o'er its image seem'd to sleep, When Neptune, with an air of high command, (His huge, rough trident in his brandish'd hand) With voice that shook the ship from stem to stern. Bade his head-groom prepare for his return : 2925 Glaucus, my steeds ! the sun is sinking low. And we ere night have many leagues to go. Glancus, reclining on the gangway rail. Stood 'midst the children of the helm and sail ; 152 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Fair to the waist he seem'd, but all below His fishy scales a strange discordance show ; With forky fins to plough the foamy brine, A tail enormous lengthened out his spine. in the sire's hand the massy grog-bowl flam'd. And as a toast the chief's good ship he nam'd, 2935 JJut, ere he drank, vociferously spoke. While his loud voice a louder hiccup broke : What hoa there Glaucus ! sound your crooked shell, And to their posts my sea-born train compel. ( ■onstrain'd again my mandate to renew, 2940 1 '11 make you nm the gauntlet through the crew, ►Switching your tail the gamesome tars among, Like a mad bullock by a hornet stung. Kein, rein my steeds J my Amphitrite afar. In pensive mood, awaits her Neptune's car; 2945 ]\o doubt, she marvels at my long delay. And asks what charm can keep her lord away. Then, with a meaning glance thrown on the band^ . The triton growl'd, The charm is in your hand ! And in revenge for Neptune's pride and scorn, 2250 liut feebly swell'd in mockery his horn. Monarchs love mirth — not always does the crowa Look on the heads of vassals frowning down— His testy groom the sea's great sovereign ey'd, And smiling through his regal state reply'd : 2955 « THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 153 It ever was thy food to flout and jeer, And play the buffoon with thy honour'd peer— Your aid, good Glaucus, my melodious guide— Your hand to help me down the frigate's side. LXIV. 2940 Now holding by the red-rope* Neptune stood, 2PG0 In act to seek his chariot on the flood. While his proud coursers toss'd their manes on high. And flakes of splendour lightened to the sky. With arms presented, martial in their mien, A youthful troop of rifle-men were seen, 2966 Subtle of glance — while Tom Pipes pour'd around A linked bout of shrill, fantastic sound. Then with the look that stills the raging main. The king repeats his kind adieu again : Captain, farewell ! this moisture in my eyes— ^970 Tis womanish, and takes me by surprize — It soon will pass — my brave Columbian heart, I never sorrow'd so from man to part— - It : * When a distinguished personage leaves a ship of war, ropea covered with red baize are shipped to conduct him down the side- ladder, and, as he descends, the boatswain solemnly pipes, aiid the marines present their arms. If the quality of the departing guest be eminently great, the crew man the yards, and salute hkn with on? vast shout. 154 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. A spell is on me, as around I cast My sight on thy ship's tackle, yards, and mast, 2075 And I could linger here, and not be gone Till the day fade and stars wake one by one. Youth ! on Decatur's glory* fix thine eye With steadfast glance — as, rapid through the sky, • Stephen Decatur first distinguished himself in the Barbary War (from 1801 to 1805), under Commodore Preble, in the Mediter- ranean, where he became the idol of the American nation, by his intrepidity in cutting out the Philadelphia frigate, with the boats of the squadron, from under the fire of the batteries of Tripoli. At the declaration of war against Great Britain, he was appointed to the command of the frigate United States ; and October the 25th, 1812, on the American coast, fell in with and captured the British frigate Ma- cedonian, Captain Carden, after a spirited enga^cement. It is affirmed that Decatur's fire was never equalled by any single deck ; and in his letter to the Secretary of the American Navy, he does not betray any exultation at the capture of an English frigate, but rather finds an excuse for the length of the action : he got his prize safe into New York. During a considerable part of the war he was blockaded at New London, by Sir Thomas Hardy, and January 15th, 1815, in putting to sea, in the President, his ship grounded off Sandy Hook, but got off again injured in her sailing, ind was chased by the British squadron, composed of the Majestic, a razee, the Endymion, the Fomone, and Tenedos. The Endymion, by her superior sailing, was the first up with the President, when, at half-past five in the evening, an action commenced with great gallantry on both sides, and Decatur, unawed by the overwhelming force in sight, fought his ship with un- broken courage. After an obstinate running fight of two hours, the Endymion's sails being cut from the yards, she consequently dropped astern ; but notwithstanding the President crowded all sail, the squa- dron came up with her, and after receiving a broadside from the Pomone, Decatur, at half past eleven at night, stf uck these colours which he had so honourably defended. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 155 Orion, carried in his rival-car, 2980 Turn'd to the Pleiades, directs his star. He said, when through the naval concourse flung A haggard youth, and to the monarch clung. And, murmuring moving tones amidst his woes. With gestures strove his purpose to disclose. 2985 Ill-fated boy ! he spoke but with his eye. And hand that pointed to the verging sky ; With voiceless motion kneeling to implore The king to take him in his car on shore. Then press'd the sergeant through the glittering band Of swords and epaulettes, and stretched his hand The importuning maniac to restrain. And bear him from the sea's sole sovereign. But Neptune felt compassion as he gaz'd : — The wretched mortal in his arms he rais'd, 2995 And gave him to the midshipmen who stood Plucking his robe in fond, familiar mood, (Youths who preferr'd the toil that billows bring To soft repose beneath a mother's wing) To Paul, who, look'd transfix'd by sorrow's dart. As he receiv'd the sufferer to his heart, And kind-caressing Frank, whose gayer grace Play'd in his smile, and sparkled o'er his face. yi 150 THE AMERICAN MARiner,. A«tarb„„d„a.Jb:?™^J"'''e'.oid I^ stranded near the service w!" ^""'» »'''' A knot or sdIiV. t ' "'' demands ^d thus a .cho„lZ^.t Lr""'' "'"*^''''' 3010 The captain of .he ma^lo .?'" '^''■'' ^ And bid him loose «,« I '^ *'""'' *'"'''' f po.histacuri'r::;-^^''-"^. «»<" the part stranded, andTr T' ' and the fanlt repair. 3015 xxvr. The jolly n.4nt^' ""P"''*"' "^ '^'=1='^- THE AMERICAN MARINERS. m "hains,* is: 3005 '0 >wn old, h nds. ss'd, 3010 ss'd ; sitle of s for tile True to thy country, and thy country's fame, 3020 Pledge me in one more bowl Columbia's name; As some return, sweet piping through your shrouds, * Propitious gales shall chase the scattering clouds. And soon from deck the gladden'd vision hail The headland signal of your whitening sail. 3025 Then Glaucus (who his steeds could scarce restrain) A mournfid cadence pour'd along the main Through. his conch-shell. From all the salt pro- found t The confluent waters echo'd back the sound. Alien the notice fell on Neptune's ear, 3040 When thus the groom, who ill his freak could bear; Look where he stands ! rolling his azure eyes. As to his lapping tongue his hand applies The fuU-crown'd bowl : — he's like a vessel moor'd . When once he gets his drinking tacks on board. Come, master, let this gallon be your last. As they serve out the grog here to the mast. Discretion urges, since the rum is strong, ^ At the jib-lialliards not to pull too long. Then the king thus : Triton, you misbehave. - > Peace! or I'll give thee to this qhief a slave. Ere others' failings thy sharp tongue assail, j Take the kink oiit of thy own noisome tail. Glaucus replies : It weaves your brow a wreath Always to throw my tail into my teeth — 3045 158 THE AMERICAN MARINERS, It has its use — when laughing from my lip The brine, 'tis like a rudder to a ship. Though in a porpoise-point I end below, Neither ill favour'd is my cheek or brow. And as I stand and view you face to face, 3060 Few are more seemly of the mortal race. Not me could absent Proteus e'er excel In the rare art to sound the crooked shell — II ark ! to its mellow descant o'er the spray. And how each blast articulates away ! 3055 Come, master, try the parting <\iock to bear — Peace, Glaucus, peace ! I'm .'d and roo4ed here. Master, I pray you, fly the treacherous bowl, Tis not sUip'shape to grieve your spouse's soul. Mark but the sun ! how wears the fleeting day, 30G0 'Tis time to pipe dowA hammocks* — come, away ! • In ships of war the crew carry their hammocks upon deck every morning, and at sun-set they are piped below ; the boatswain's mates winding their shrill calls, and growling out at each hatchway '"'' Down all hammocks, ahoy!" Then swarm up the ladders the seamen to the nettings, seeking their sacks of war: exhibiting at each aperture of the deck what Doctor Johnson would, perhaps, have called the full-tide of human existence. On board the Northumberland, when the hammocks were piped down, it was the practice of the young midshipmen to form a ring, linked luind in hand, and rally round Napoleon ; in order that he might not be annoyed by the crowd rushing on deck. This was the very soul of youthful generosity, and I never could read the glorious record in Las Casas without emotion. H «. Sunt Uicrpma: rcrunij ct meittem moriaSa tangunU THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 16d Your wife dejected sea-ward looks and sues, And you relentless can her tears abuse. Come, master, heave ahead ! or I will roam The deep without you, and bear tidings home 8065 That you from out the ship can not be got. While in ihe locker there remains a shot. Then farewell, shipmates ! Thus the needle steers To his lov'd star. My bosom has its fears Lest Amphitrite with grief I overwhelm. Master, hold on! mind, mind your weather-helm ! I LXVII. Atlens;th the full-gorg'd monarch of the main, Redd to his car, and dizzy seiz'd the rein ; Tlie scourge he raises, but with swimming eyes. His head hangs heavy as o'er sea he flies, 3375 Till from his seat he falls with shock profound. And in his dire descent, the billo>vs dance around. * Full swift the Nereids, by affection swayed. Rise from the deep, and minister their aid ; 8ooth the affrighted steeds, and in a ring 3080 With hair dishevell'd mourn their prostrate king. Cyniodoce, whose voice excelled the rest, Above the waves advanced her snowy breast, ', And as the ocean-monarch groaning lay. Thus pour'd the boding accents of dismay : 3085 I I IGO THE AMERICAN MARINERS. What ails our sire ! whence, bending clown his head, Wears he the semblance of a mortal dead ? Speak ! has some rebel monster of the main In combat souglit to wrest from thee thy reign, To snatch from thee tliy trident, whose stern sway From pole to pole the raging waves obey. Her hand the prostrate monarch kindly press'd, While tears reliev'd the anguish of his breast : Nymph, to yon ship my fate alone I owe. With liquor laden— source of all my woe^^ 3095 Her with the lofty sails, and warrior head, ^V^ith tompions out, and boarding-nettings spread- In her was Neptune play'd a yankey trick,* Whose guilty chief shall rue it to the quick. Glaucus, when Amphitrite unyokes my car 3100 That whirls her Neptune o'er the deeps afar. Seek thou the god of storms, supreme o'er wind, And bid him from their caves the blasts unbind. Himself the wirlwind ride, on pinions dark. And keel-up turn the treasonable bark. 3105 I • The first Yankey trick on record is alluded to by Butler, in hi» fecetious poem of Hudibras. Soon after the arrival of the first settlers in New England, a white man having killed an Indian, the whole tribe assembled and demanded the death of the criminal. But he being in the heyday of youth and strength, and consequently valuable to a rising state ; the Colonists hanged instead of him, an old, super. annuated personage, whom years and infirmities had leduced to crutches. The Indians, on detecting the ruse practised on them, called it a " Vankcy Trick,'* TUh AMERICAN MARINERS. 10 L Then thus the groom : (as to his mouth he gave The fragrant roll, his solaco on the >v.ive) — At your own door the sin and scandal li3 — You coveted the drop that dims your eyt : — The fault h your's — so M'ait till time and rest, 3110 And penance due to folly calm your breast. . Is this the first time— by some fifty score — That youVe been groggy — more than half sea's o'er ? On board the tall three-decker could you stand. When the old Admiral order'd aft his band 3115 To soothe you with the poor, exploded strain. That Britons only conquer on the main« Their ships, 'tis true, could clieerly sway away On ev'ry top-rope, and inspire dismay With the red-cross, when only for their foes 3120 The sea gave Dons and Monsieurs to oppose. 13ut now when Yankey frigates heave in sight, They pipe to prayers, before they tempt the fight. And when they strike their flag, attest the skies They fouglit a stout two-decker in disguise !* 3125 '* The Quarterly Reviewers indulge only broad grins at the Ame- rican Navy, but these grins, if persisted in by tlieir successors, may, in the long run, become siinhnu'. A fleet composed of 12 American 748, each ship vieing in tonnage with an English hundred gun ship, and manned with fully as numerous a crew, that is lOOU men, would in a line of battle be an object of derision only to fools or madmen. Twelve thousand prime yankey seamen fighting a propor- tionate number of cannon, and firing thein more like riflemen than ¥l 1; n I, ]\\ Wi I I I J I * I ; lf52 THE AMKRICAN MARINERS. Theu the king thus : I sue how sits the wind ! Bribes^ bribes have made you to their treason blind. What's in that keg beneath yowr finny feet ? A present from the crew — and passing sweet ! 'Twill suit the nice tooth of my nereid-wifc'— 3i;?0 She never tasted such iu all her life : Long Sweetening is its just and proper name, " *' B-it by Molasses better known to fame. Then Neptune pensive : — aid me in the car — My stomach and the liquor are at war — 3135 Oh ! for a gentle? air to fan the seas ! Whistle, good Glaucus, and invoke the breeze. .irtillerists, would peratlventure make such men as the Quarterly Re- viewers stop their ears at every broadside. It must likewise be taken into the account that British blood circulates in Jonathan's veins— that the great grandfathers of tlie aforesaid crews drew tlieir first breath either in England or Wales, in Scotland or Ireland—that they feed on beef and drink porter— and that they talk and, unfortunately, swear in Knglisli. Tiio Quarterly Reviewers, by their misrepresen. tations relative to America, and deceptions practised on their readers, have done mon- real injury to the common weal of 7,ngland, than all the offenders, tliat, since the establisluiient of their Literary Inqui- sition, have been frciglued off to Australasia. They may indulge their laughter, hut tney cannot alter the fact, tliat in the event of a future war with America, England would find the United States' Navy a respectable force. It would not be policy to send hrr channel fleet across the Atlantic, and she might require a fleet in the Medi- terranean, or in the liuliii. She could attack the United States oel v by detachment ; and a smaller armament than that she cf-'ild detach would be rendered equal or superior on the part of the Anuricans by the cplerity with which they could recover an> check, whilst the dis- Rstew of their enemy might be irretrievable. T«F. AAfGIjUCAV MARINEHS. 103 '^4 I see a cat's paw* yojider in the wes*, , ;. The risu^ gale will cool your fever'd l^^east. Here, on my shoulder, rest your weight of woes, And while I guide the chariot find repose. ., ,. . Subdue your anger, master, and disdain , » r %v To act the furious tyrant of the main , The haughtiest hearts at length their rage resign, And I believ'd that gifts had conquer'd thme. 3145 The Qi'ch groom ceas'd, and with his glittering thong O'er the husli'd billow lash'd the steeds along ; Beside him Neptune doz'd — behind the train • Of Nereids clung, as the cap roll'd amain. And their fair faces often turned aside, 3150 To stop the tilt'ring laugli, the blush to hide» Meantime our full throng'd yards display a host Of pendant tars— their country's prime and boast ; And as refulgent to tlie vi' w ofT-roli'd The car-borne god, on naming wheels of gold, 3155 Their ch^^ering sliouts resound, ^yith buxom breast, (Eas'd of the load his festive soul deprest) IT prose tlie monarch from his pearly rar To take a la/tt look of the man of war, * A cat's paw is a partial lieavin}( of the sea's sur'iicc in a calm— tiic t,'erm of tlie breeze. How often on the ocean have I heard tlie master of a sliip, lookiii^r anxioiixly over the counter, exclaim, after an en» during calm, '' ^ Under is n cat's paw, at last !" VJ 2 r mm». 1 I 164 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. And on her threw his eye's returning love, 3160 The glance he gives Onchestws' hallow'd grove, Or Calaureia, his ador'd retreat, When seaward rapt by his swift coursers' feet. Ineffable to view his head he rears, And at each naval cheering pricks his ears. 3165 Then as his huge form o'er the deep he bent. Back to the ship his lofty voice he sent. Thrice to its fullest pitch. Again, again^ agi^in. His rending clamours shake the sky and main. I* i< THE AMERICAN MARINERS. m ■■: ;!' . 'U!{,i .,' >■ , *'.'■■■ ».r.r ■. i.ink > -■ , ..jr. ;,., ,,i .V,. , .,^, CANTO V, i'N ^ > / .;■)/ 1.: a: ■.>iM .; ? THE MARINER ON THE ICE ISLANIX. IloyToy fTT uTfvytTov ^ifKianttro, ^axpva ^ft^6U'. Odyssey. E. v» 159. I. Now while the waters of the ocean lie 3170 One blue ethereal, like another sky, When not a hreath disturbs the deep profound, A glorious calm expanse without a bound; The chief with uprais'd eye, and anxious mind, Prefers a prayer, and importunes the wind ; 3176 With look averted views the lingering prow, And chides the slumber of tlie sea below. -iO"^ ■BW •US" 16G THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Yet dear to me the hour Avitliout .Hoy, When all is ocean, holiday and joy, Ev'n infancy partakes the rapturous glowt And my sweet prattler flies her nurse below To revel on the sun'd deck, and rejoice Her father with the accents of her voice. 3180 While round my neck thy little arms are spread. And this fond breast conceals thy little head ; 3185 While thus thou holdst me in affection's chain, 1 grow myself in heart a child again. \i Soon, I may liopfe, yon glorious orb of light Thy lips will hymn, seen o'er the headland height, And that it soon shall dart on us its ray, 3100 As on the evening shore we mildly stray, Where thou delighted, with thy busy hands, Stooping for shells upon the ebbing sands, Shalt treasures heap — while I, as round I cast, Ply eye o'er sea, will tell of travel past ! 311)6 It But see, once more the breezes curl the main, And to the east direct the flutterina: vane : Joyful the chief beholds the rising gale, Joyful he hears the rustling of thi* sail. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Out reefs! ho cries, the weather now is kind, 3200 Columbians! spread the canvass to the Avind. t The top-s{«iis swell, our ship with stately mien Walks the wide surge, the ocean's vested queen. Now the white billow hides her, now she keeps Her course with airy lightness o'er the deeps. Steady along- ! the quarter-master cries. Steady along! the timoneer replies.* Like Eol's harps that daintily entwine Their wires with leafy porch of eglantine, Sweet through oai shrouds the balmy breezes blow. While with new life the ocean seems to glow. Sporting ahead the porpoise shews his form, No dire precursor of the raging storm, ' *' • In iTien of war, a quarter-master is appointed to con, or direcf the helmsman. During a hcad-wind> or when the ship is close- hauled— standing by the dog-vane staff on the quarter-deck, he looks aloft, to the mast-head, and growls out— Thus ! Thus !— or, Near, boy, Near ! Sounds producing dyspepsia, and symptomatic head- ache among the passengers ; which the ship, rolling lee gun whale in, or pitching her bumpkins into the water, aggravates to vehement nausea. But when the ship is going large, with a noble breeze abaft the beam — her weather main-clue-garnet hauled up — single reefed topsails— jib and spanker set— and knocking it oft' finely at the ?.!!'• of nine, aye, eleven knots an hour, with oh ! such a following sea— then, may it please your worships, you will hear the said old yarn call cheerfully to the sea-dog at tlie wheel— Steady so ! Hieiidy ! or. Port ! my soul, Port !— or. Starboard ! my boy. Starboard a little ! While the Lieutenant of the watch, pacing the quarter deck, will Slop lor a moment at tlie binnacle, and utter, — Don't come to Hjuilward of your course !— soiuids that excite a general hilarity of oou itaaiicc, ami involuntary rubbing of the I'.andii. Im THE AMERICAN MARINERS. !But the companion cf our watery way, • ' ' His brown back seen above the glittering spray. <!ir III. Now as o'er sea to pleasure's voice we glide,. A streak efTulgeiit marks the briny tide,* , Where, at its verge, the saircy billows rise In antic shapes, and mingle with the skies. From all the deck intensely gaze the crew, 3220 And Jilps of ice burst dazzling on the view. Their base an island, awful to explore Broke from the frozen chains of Labrador, And conscious flying southward from the reign Of endless winter o'er a torpid main.f 3225 ii^ * On approaching an island of ice, in clear weather, a luc d streak is seen spreading along that part of the atmosphere which is next to the horizon, to wliich mariners have given the name of ice-blink. It not nnfrequently exJubits a counterpart or picture-shadow of the island for a considerable distance before the actual mass becomes visi- ble; resembling, in this respect, the curious atmospherical pheno- menon ot' the Mirage. It is evidently produced by the refraction of the rays of light on the water. -)• These lofty ice-islands, floating in mid-occau, have their origin in the northern seas, and arc the slow growth of centuries. They first aiVliere to the main -land, where they accumulate to an enormous height and extent, by the falling of snows and rain, which in- stantly congtal, till their great weight overcoming the power oi' THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 109 In crowds the sailors issue from below, ■' All ages, ranks, their several tasks forego, • No tongue its bursting tribute can restrain, ]hit shouts involuntary shake the main. ' AVhere'cr they bend, or turn the marvelling sight, The proud mass swells a glittering isle of light ; Silver'd with frost peak rises over peak, Nature's pantheon ! temple of the deep I* /. cohesion, the key-stone of the mass gives way, and tlie several bodies are impelled into the Atlantic by the action of the wind and current, where bathed in a warmer fluid, tlie lower part dissolves, while the upper undergoes disruption. , 111 ft * These stupendous masses, floating as lofty islands in mid-ocean, consist of a clear, compact, and solid body of ice, cerulean of hue, and transparent as crystal. Their most elevated parts are always co- vered with snow. They are of prodigious height and extent, and their bleak summits rising above each other in endless perspective, exhibit to the eye a stupendous scene of desolation. Darwin has iijade a remark relative to the ice islands so irresistibly ludicrous, tliat I shall cite it for the reader's amusement. Jf the va- thus xcho inhalyit this hemisphere^ instead of destroying their seamen and exhauslinff their rvraltk in ituncvrssary rears, could he induced to niiite their hibours to navigate these immense masses of ice 'nto the more southern oceans^ two great advantages icouhl result to mankind ; the tropic countries would be much cooled hy their solution, and our winters in this latitude uould he rendered much milder for perhaps a century or t-wo, till the masses of ice became again enormous. This project could be only tolerated in the infancy of physical science. All the ice-ishinds ever formed in 'he Arctic seas could not affect the lower latitudes in so sensible ;i degree as to produce a positive alteration of climate. Nor wouhl tlie impression of the ice chill the superficial water of the ocean, for when it became cooled, it would, from its \ i ! I 170 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. ^Vliile thus they marvel at the bright display, As fools behold the pageant of a day, 3235 The wary chief Iiis bark to windward steers, And \vhispers counsel in unwilling ears : Friends, you have found the things in life you prize To distance owe enchantment in your eyes. That when approach'd their splendours disappear, And leave behind a moral and a tear. So these fair isles, alluring to the view, Have ruin spread o'er many a gallant crew, Startled the helpless wretches from their sleep, And hurl'd their midnight bark beneath the deep.* IV. Meantime our chief hauls closely to the gale, And sighs as wisdom spreads the cautious sail; increased density, sink into the deep abyss. But what would render the whole plan abortive is the total impracticability of transporting the ice into the tropical regions ; for it would begin to melt in the latitude of forty-eight degrees, and in a short time afterwanls the ships employed in this great undertaking would have nothing left bu* their tow-lines ! • In June, 1803, the British packet. Lady Hobart, when going at the rate of eight knots, ran, in the dead of night, against an Ice Island in the Atlantic, higher than tlic mast-head, and of great extent. The ship, on striking, settled down to her fore-chains in the water, and the crew and passengers had scuiccly time to take to the boats? when she suddenly gave & Ice-lurch to port, and foundered hciid foremost. THE AMERICAN MARiNERS. ttl Slowly we coast the Isle more dazzling white ^ Than snows on Apper,ine's aspiring height. ** Inhospitable rise the livid heaps, 3^50 No bird has dwelling there, no thing that creeps. But the tides mournful, with alternate roar, NoAV back return, now break upon the shore. Wildly abrupt, inexorably hoar. = '>■>■■ } ! 'I Rounding a point whose snow-incrusted steep 3255 O'erhangs in awful solitude tlie deep, Sudden a cliif reflects a rolling blaze That, in its double splendour, fills the gaze Of wonder wrapt in sight. Anon a cry From all the crowded deck ascends the sky. 3200 With bursting grief some clasp each other's hand. Grief the indulgence of the naval band ; — The first, the noblest of the warrior host. Mourn on the deck in gushing sorrow lost ! . 1 Then our great chief with sympathetic breast 3205 In faultering accents thus the crew address'd : Columbians ! see how melt the flames away, And, lost in undulating air, decay, Kindled by some poor wretch who, o'er the deep. Full many a shapeless day has sat to weep, 3270 And, on each changeful wave, his vision cast To catch some spjsuk th;it hope proclaim'd a mast !; f^^rr < ;l '?l 1'^ 172 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Who sighs lest, ere the sun withdraw his heam. Our ship unconscious pass his beacon-gleam. Now gallant comrades be it all our care 3275 Rescue to give this victim of despair. Our signal* flag — quick let it wave on high To indicate his watch-fire we descry, And minute-guns peal cheerly o'er the main Hope through his bosom to infuse again. 3280 Swift at the word aloft the streamers float, The deep-mouth'd cannon strains its brazen throat, By fits one flash succeeds as one expires, The main flames quick with momentary fires. While, echoing frequent from each frozen steep. The clamours wake the spirit of the deep. Now toil the crew — one soul inspiring all — These, formed in lines, the weather-braces haul With earnest voice; — these to the davits urge, And grasp the oars to dare the ocean surge. 3290 At once the sails a fluttering motion keep, ' At once the boat descends npon the deep, ' And I, long practis'd in tlie seaman's art, Now with emotion bear a seaman's part, The helm I guide, the rowers briskly ply, 321).'> We seek the point where curls tlie smoke on high, And there in frozen solitude we find. Beneath an icy cliff", a man reclin'd, THE AMERICAN MARINERS. m:\ A wasted wretch sitting in ocean's view, .,» u . The lone survivor of a shipwreck'd crew, 3300 In dread, at every tempest of the sky, , . , , His brittle lodge would into atoms fly. Bare were his blue-swoln feet, his head was bare, Half cU.d his shivering form, and loose his hair ; Heaping the pyre he sat, and o'er the ground 3305 A fish's bones, scrap'd clean, were strewn around ; No hut, no tent, gave shelter to his head, The sky his canopy, the ice his bed. Soon as our shallop shot beneath the steep, . Uprose the forlorn hermit of the deep, 3310 And witli mute rapture's mingled tear and smile Saw human forms approach the torpid isle. No word he utter'd as he view'd our crew, But up to heav'n his eyes fast streaming threw, Till, in our kind embrace, h thus express'd 3315 With fault'ruag voice th« workings of his breast: In dark despair when wretched mortals rove, They learn reliance on their God above. I in this solitude his love have found. Where famine dwells, and horror stalks around ; Hither he sent you, and his acts declare That every bci'ig 1.;)^ his watchful care. But is not this illusion ? calm my fear ; vSpeak, strangers, !<p jak ! that I a voice may hear. \\ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) U.A IC ^ 1.0 I.I IM 2.2 !!: 1^ 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 J4 ^ 6" — ► % ^ n / cm -<;^ '/ Photographic Sciences Coiporation 4: ^ iP k V € \\ ^v 6^ % O ^^ 33 WEST MA'rri S: AK1 WEBSTER, NY. 14S80 (716) 87J-45C.i mmmSm 174 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. My own dear countrymen— ^a kindred race— 3325 Oh ! not unblest, I sink in your embrace, .-ui .u Your S7*<rnal-flag first made this bosom know .-y id A pause of grief, an interval of woe-— >f i.\Ha<.iitH- And when your cannon shook the isie around, t^ti Widi my glad foot I smote the torpid ground. ». .ij Hunger for now five daya had made my life .... , { A lingering death, with nature still at strife — ; . v. No sustenance but what the sea sup^ly'd, .).'.[ . .. A silly fish that left its parent ti^C; — ■, ' • '\ The panting food, unconscious of the flame, 8335 Eager I ate, my appetite to tame. ^ . lie paused awhile—and, as we sorrowing vje-w'^. . > His feeble form— ^his tale of woe pursued. ' ' * a To Dantzic bound, our ship from Boston came, Her captain I, and Coventry my name, 3340 Through our fair rigging pip'd the friendly gaJe, Mirth held the helm, and pleasure spread the sail ; But soon (ah ! shifting state of things below !) The voice of joy was chang'd to shrieks of woe : Night's starless vault dispensed no guiding ray 3346 O'er the expanse of central ocean's spray, ;, . , But, the breeze fair, the crew wore wrapt in slee^p Careless on deck, as fast we ran the deep — When as our vessel meaeur'd with her length The wave, and dar'd it in its darkest strength, 3350 Freely careering o'er the watery way. The icy rocks her striking prow betray. £1 , . ». THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 176 3300 3365 My waken'd comrades scarcely raisM the head ^' Ere they all foand a tomb in ocean's bed — ' **''*■• Wailing they sunk ! Oh, destiny severe, 3335 And I surviv'd far deeper woes to bear. •«!'•<♦ n\ Cast on the beach supine that night I lay, '*^" ■ '*'»-'' And when the deep was redden'd with the day, ' '' I sigh*d not — wept not* — overwhelm'd with woe — Horror refus'd my eyes an overflow ; And, if I breath'd, I did not make a moan. Despair and anguish froze my heart to stone. Restored to consciousness, I look'd and found A dreadful desolation reign around— Where'€ir I turn*d my sight, above, below, No trace appear'd of Nature's genial glow. In dumb amaze I hop'd the glacier's gleam Was but the vision of a waking dream. And yet I stood, and yet I fear'd to move. Dreading the actual misery to prove. Till, with wild awe, I startled heard around Clashing tremendous with appalling sound The thawing isle ; — then turning w ith dismay Beheld the bellowing chasms burst away Huge piles of crumbling ice in open day. * lo non pianReva, si dentro impietrai. UKoIinn. Dante. Infemo 33. 3370 "•^^ 176 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. V. , Wild witli afright I fly the falling steep, ,y/ And mournful raise my eye to heav'n, and weep, And as my plaints are mock'd by every wave, , In impotence of sorrow I would rave, .,«-.;, 5 j„,a. And roam, unseen by mortal, tbe drear coast, ^, ^ ^ Forlorn and famisb'd, desperate and lost, ,._.., >, ,^ And, by the roots, in pbrenzy tear my hair, ., _ , And wring my hands in madness of despair ; Till faint I sink upon my frozen bed, ; , With only ice to pillow my bare head. 33851 Oh ! as the glacier echoed to my tread, , Hope at the sound my sickening bosom fled— I felt a wretch, struck from the roll of men. Without the privilege of beasts — a den — Sad tenant of the waste — my shivering form 3390 By day and night unsheltered from the storm. Planks, beams, and carlings, sever'd by the force That check'd our vessel in her headlong course The bleak beach strew'd : thither a chest was cast Incumbent, by the fury of the blast, 33i)5 Whose till supply'd a gunner's flint and steel. From which a spark, provok'd with eager zeal. This pyre inflam'd. Five days beneath the steep I watch'd each changeful billow of the deep, And fancy oft would feign a vessel's form Far in the ofiing — looming in the storm — And then it seem'd that mercy deigri'd to dart One beam of brightness to my longing heart, :;i THE AMERICAN MARINERS. L77 But, when the clouds dispers'd, my tearful eye Saw only in its search the sea and sky. - •• ■ 3405 As one forsaken, faint with thirst, alone, Sunk on the sandy waste with heart-wrung moan, As mocking his hard fate, the burning haze Pourtrays a streamlet to his languid gaze, ' So falsely on the sea, with unreal hue, ' 3410 A sail the billow gave my pensive view. " ' How my sad bosom envied him his lot Who, blissful cast upon some earthly spot, View'd, when the sun shone out, a verdant scene, The hills, the vales, the mountains cloth'd in green. Thrice happy he, who on some island thrown, (Though doora'd to breathe in solitude alone) Might, wreck'd on earth, not forfeit every right, But in deserted caverns lodge by night, Or raise a hut upon the sea-girt shore, 3420 And watch the toiling ocean from his door, See nature's genuine form exulting round. The ground with grass, the trees with foliage crown'd. Partake the common soil, the common wood, Whose roots and fruitage yield sustaining food, 3425 String his firm nerves with toil — the goat pursue From crag to crag — still keeping him in view, Snatch from the mountain-dam some kid to cheer His hearth — or tame to hand some weanling deer ; N ^ .1 178 THF AKQIMCAN MARIIfERS. Climb for the ?ea-bird'8 9^*1 the rooky gteep, 3430 And trail his net aloug Ih© briny deep, i , v .' He might with brow serene behold the day ' • Shed on his loaeiy lod|g;e a farewell ray ; Mliat time th^ stiAa qW oceaa's placid stream Darts its last 'oCt and horizontal! beam ; ' 3435 And, as the kindling sea's extended roll. Holds a clear ovrror tj^ the sstanry pole ; With contemplation, his divinest joy. On heavenly things his, melting s^Oiijd employ » ^ Nor heed that he is by majakind forgot^, ^ 3440 But from a »inful world s^bslraet his. thought. But here where nothing thriyes. beneath the sky, And notoing breathes but s«eh a wretch as I, Without a roof-^^ qave— -uuiishelter'd, bare 1 o the keen searching of the inclement air*^ 3445 So worn by famine — so subdned^-w^o wan, Til at scarce I niove the shadow of a man-^ Where'er I turn, there shuddering I survey A j,oylo§s coast, through all its length of way-^ A sickly^ pale, unh^pitable wiUl,, 34.50 A dreary waste where flowret i^ver smiFd, Wlwre no reviving gales, but bla&ts ari^e. Hollow and mournful, as my forlorn sighs— Where, when the sua his honest course has made. No tree,, no dwellings cai^ts a longer shad^-^ THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 170 Where not a se»-bird roves— but wide is spread The haunt of sorrow, and coasuniing dread. Ohf sever'd from the world, the doom is mine, Beneath these alps with chilling blasts to pine, Where, o'er the frozen plain, the orb of day, ;J4eo Faint as my hopes, emits a glimmerinj^ ray. What time the gift* of sleep ray eyes should close, Benumb'd I lie, a stranger to repose- Beneath the driring blast, and beating rain, I reap tay sad inheritance of pain:. 3405 If aught of dumber visits these moist eyes. Soon from my naked bed I frantic rise The thawing isle explodes — the c4iffa resound— The pealing ice-cpiaiie rends the: solid gronnd*— Before the gust^ — amidst the fightRKOg's Hash, 3470 Pile after pile descend* with hideous crash— Awe-struck I gaze — the mighty heap is Red— No trace reniaia» where late it reared its head. What, if the sea its food again supply, All here declares that my last hour is nigh. This isle is unreal mockery — each steep Nods to its dissolution in the deep— 347.> $ I • The enclosed air of the main body of an Ice Island, when ex- panded by heat,, bums the extsrioe coot with a terhbie explosion, not inappropriately denomnmteiiaii ice-quake. n2 180 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. These glittering heights decay beneath the beam Of each day's sun, unstable as a dream — cu •., The pillars of support in which they trust, 3480 (iroan to the wave, and tremble at the gust — f;, -^ Ere yon moon disappear, now in its wane, ,^v..;V The crumbling mass may sink beneath the main ; And (such my fate) at life's untimely close, My poor remains will not enjoy repose, ?={;'??'" But I shall find, while o'er me bounds the surge. The sea my tomb — its mournful swell my dirge. Pacing with painful step the formless strand, "^ A poor, forsaken wretch, with upheld hand, «<! Bewailing thus his fate — your cannon's peal 3490 Made me, sweet heaven, once more existence feel — Another and another* — hark ! the shock i ; ' Shakes the impenetrable frozen rock. / I rush to climb the promontory's brow, ; Forgetting all is pathless ice and snow — 34i)-> My pyre responds — a brighter flame I raise. Till your sail whitens throrgh the mid-sea haze. * The abrupt exclamations of another and another — and again, again — are not of modern origin : Another and another answer him. Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis. f Again, again, o'er each melodious string. . Glover on Sir Isaac Newton. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 181 tier— and again, us and Adonis. Then, kneeling, I exclaim — ^Ye powers supreme, Can it be real, or does an outcast dream ! He ceas'd, and, leaning on us with a smile, 3500 Seem'd to repose in silent pray'r awhile ; Nor did we unsubdu'd his sorrows hear. We felt as men, and dropt a human tear. Then to embark no more we make delay. For the last circles of departing day 3505 Burnish the deep — and from our ship's high mast A signal-banner flutters to the blast. To warn us from the ice-isle, and recall Our shallop e'er night's veiling shadows fall. Isaac Newton. 182 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. CANTO VI. THE ARRIVAL IN PORT. Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum, Teudimus in Latium. ViEGIL. I. The moon is up ! and with a kindling smile From eye of gold illumes the glittering pile, Tlirough every crevic'd rock delights to pour Her liquid glance, and brighten o'er the shore. As heaven with stars, with gems the mountains glow, While magic revels in the vales below; 3515 Form'd by whose potent spell, fair cities rise With burnish'd windows rich in various dyes; Gay banners stream, and bastions arnfd for fight Exalted bear a wreath of silver light; ^** TUB AMERICAN MARINERS* 1U3 And marble-crowned tow'rs grace the coast, 3520 A realm cf rays (the beauteous work of frost.)* IL Faint heaves the wave— beneath the dazzling steep Our ship becalm'd reposes on the deep Her slumbering prow — the Isle, by Iris drest, Inverted lies on ocean's conscious breast. 3525 Now as the tars the languid sails brace round, And thread the deck — the crystal cliff's resound With yo-haul-o — while sullen on the shore, At every pause, is heard the billow hoar.f Fast bears our passive frigate to the Btrand — 3530 The shallop — cutter — barge — are quickly mann'd. And sent ahead. Randolph exhorts the train With long resounding hurrahs o'er the main. • Ice islands are froeen into an infinite variety of forms, exhibiting by moonlight to the beholder ideal clties-^churches with their tops adorned with spires, and their sides with piUars and arched windows-- long rows of houses with their pointed gables in front — vistas opening through woods terminating in esctensive plains ;— while the fro.it- srnokc, enveloping the tiiountaiii-sumniits in a mist, supports the illusion of inhabitants. The Dutch mariners compare these resem- blances to their own towns, and confer on them the familiar names of Haerlem and Auasiculam. + That celebrated navigator John Davis, whose name is given to the largest strait on the globe, fell in with an ice island of such eleva- tion and extent, that during a week n'hich he was occupied in coasting it, the shrouds, ropes^ and suils of his ship were frozetii m THE AMERICAN MARINERS. As, keeping e(|ual time at every oar, ' riiey tow the drifting vessel from the shore. 3535 Meantime the common crew, a marshali'd band, Mingling their clamours, on the gunwale stand, xVll arm'd with poles ; — while, as we ride embay'd, The captain views the tumult undismay'd, Vnd us again our vessel seaward glides, 3540 With soul superior at the helm presides. III. THE SABBATH AT SEA. Peril and toil disturb the seaman's breast, Like the surrounding deep depriv'd of rest ; And much it boots him that he raise the eye On bended knee, and supplicate tiie sky. 3545 When the mild Sabbath smiles o'er ocean's face. Our well-clad crew collect with decent grace. And all unsummon'd rev'rently incline To own the mercy of a power divine. What though no dome displays its portals bright 3550 AVith deep-tou'd bell our matins to invite. Pi'" us on deck, the day we sacred keep, ^ And make our bark a temple on the deep. THE AMERICAN MARINBKS. 18i Prelates the stately edifice may h6'\8t, Nature in awful form aff'ects us most : 3655 Not the proud swelling column massy proof, The moulded pediment, the fretted roof, The sculptur'd pile to just perfection brought, With all Vitruvius, all Palladio thought, ( lould e'er transport to heav'n the gazer's soul, 3560 Like the wide ocean boundless in its roll. The holy book, with silver clasps embrac'd, By the sea-chief is on the capstan plac'd, With placid look — serene as summer sea, Not whiten'd with the fnam of sanctity. 3565 Now hark, with solemn voice, he reads aloud The sacred service to the naval crowd, Who, as their teacher's words ascend in air. Their bosoms bend in penitence and pray'r. An unbought pastor, reverend to view, 3570 The bright example of a reclaim'd crew. Like Noah in his ark, with special grace. Withdrawn he seem'd from the shore's sinful race. The ritual clos'd, all chaunt in solemn strain That psalm which has its comment in the main : 3575 They who in ships their pathless L'ourses keep, Behold the Lord's great wonders in the deep, Prompt, at whose bidding, rise the waves profound, That toss the bark, and spread destruction round. ?+j m THE HMfiRlCAN MARINERS. Now the bold spirits of the sailors fail— 3680 Like drunken men they reel beneath the gale. Ascending on the sauimit of the wave With greedy whirls, the haggard wretches rave, And in the peril of the trying hour Cry for remission from a heav'nly pow'r : 3585 Nor cry in vain — ^for, at his sovereign will, Hush'd is the wind, and every billow still. ■A .? What though no organ with its pealing swell Through the long cloister'd-aisle is heard to dwell, Not less accepted sounds sweet Sion's song 34U0 On the deck chaunted by the simple thrung. r^ ^ t IV. SPEAKING A SHIP. While night o'er sea her silver veil displays, And at the helm the mariner survevs Oiion and the greater Bear — that guide The trackless path of vessels through t!ie tide- Now, sudden, from the main-top's airy round, The watch vociferate with mingled sound, A sail ahead of formidalle mien ! And soon from deck old ocean's guest is seen. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 187 Then thus the chief: our vessel keep away— 3600 Up with the helm ! — the timoneers obey.* Then at each hatch the drumf the ear assails With doubling din— and Pipe's voice prevails, As o'er the birth-deck, follow'd by his mates, Like a bell-wether, to the crew he bleats : 3605 What ho Colambians ! to your guns repair— A prize in sight — up, and the dollars share ; My buckskins, snapping-turtles, tuckahoes,^ Exalt your standard, and subdue your foes. Meantime our colours, from the staff unroll'd, 3610 Display the bird in martial prowess bold, And, as his wings distend in proud array, The flashing mortar thunders o'er the spray. Then, as the fluttering stranger backs his sail Broad on the bow, our chief is heard to hail : 3615 What hoa the ship ahoy ! impart your name — Your country — destin'd port — and whence you came— In vain we look aloft your flag to seek — You shew no bunting at your mizen-peak. * There are two men stationed to a large ship's wheel, one at the weather, the other at the lee-spokes. + When an action impends at sea, the drummer beats to quarters. J The natives of the lower part of tho State of Virginia are nick- named Buckskins — those of the upper region Tuckahoes— and the Kentuckians Snapping Turtles. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. You see the Sachem — ] Baltimore our port— 6620 From Cowes our last — at Lloyd's our ship report. VVlieu on our lee we heard your cannon roar We giiess'd the union at the staff you wore. Till as you bore away before the breeze, We saw the stars, the glory of the seas. 3G25 What ship is that ? so fearfully she looms, You might our bark hoist in upon your booms. Our stately ship, alive to naval fame, Bears on her sculptured stern Electra's name. But why ray vessel with your shot detain ? 3030 The great highway of nations is the main. When first hull-down by moonlight you were seen, [ took you for some dirty Algerine. And I, w hen first I saw }ou bear away, And heard your shot athwart my fore-foot* play, Furious in mood, all desperate for fight, I took you, captain, for a scurvy knight.f ; ( * A shot crossing the line of a ship's course, but a-head of h«r, is said to go athwart her fore-foot. i* In an American there is a good deal of the plainness and rugged fearlessness of an old true stampt Roman, before his country was THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 189 What news from jankey land? who, at this date, Guides with commanding eye tlie helm of state ? A worthy democrat, as times now go, An honest politician — James Monroe. 3640 Shame on the weal ! the negro-holding rogues Are sure to wear the Presidential brogues — * I guess'd that Adams would have gain'd the day. Before him come old Hickoryf and Clay. 3645 vere seen. i-head of h«r. enslaved ; he seems to carry in his pocket the Declaration of his In- dependence, which has for its cxotdium, " Wc hold the truth to he " self-evident that all men are created equal." Hence you will hear a yankey on the deck of his coasting-sloop, laden with apples and pumpkins, jews-harps and ginger-bread, accost the captain of an English first-rate with all the boldness of unbought freedom. You will hear him exclaim, " On board the three-decker ahoy ! I say, " squire, I wish you would put your helm up a little, and not go to " wnidward of my sloop ! Maple log roll over you ; you are taking " every breath of wind out of my sail ! Don't run me down. Any " news from the old country ? What is Bony driving at now ?" Meantime the man of war advances in dignified silence, only inter- rupted by a bite of the lip bordering on an execration.— Mark the difference of deportment between freemen and slaves. Where a Spaniard or a Portuguese would be seen lowering his sails in submis- sion, an American is heard disputing his passage. • Of five American Presidents four were Virginians. + General Jackson, the hero of New Orleans and the Hannibal of the West, once consoled a lieutenant, who complained to him that the soldiers called him club-foot, by saying that he was named by them old Hickory. i'l 190 THE AMBRICAK MARINERS. How speed the Floridas ? will Onis* yield ? Or mast onr himterat take again the field ? If once we get possession of that range, Caba, I guess, its government will change.t Coffee will be so cheap (our statesmen say) That captains* wives may sip it twice a day. 3650 Into our ports there speedily will flow The freight of aU the Archipelago— From countless bays the gulf § we can annoy, And give our tars a lucrative employ. 3655 No foreign flag, without our leave, shall gleam In the blue mirror of the wafting stream. * Don Onis, the Spanish negociator. •f Thfttroop»who subdued the Floridas, a&d repulsed the Britisli army und£r Gentral Pakenham. at Now Osleans, were Tennessee and Kentucky back-woods-men. t The acquisition of the Floridas gives to the Atlantic States an extensive line of coast along which the trade from South America win have to run the gauntlet ; while tlte proximity of numerous com- manding harbours to the Western Archipelago threatens the comiuest of the islands. § By the accession of the Floridas, and their multiplied southern ports, the United States?' nary is enabletl to interdict Europe from any intercourse with the 6ul;jil of Mexico, and" exclude lier Hng'from the abundant marts for her manufactures in South America. THCi AMERICAN MARINERS. 191 Know you the coast ? Yes, well, indeed, I may- Last year I sounded every port and bay. There's not a creek— an inlet hut I know, From bleak Cape Sable to the Perdido,* 3660 What news abroad ? how fares it with old Spain ? She's at her mass and mummery again ! It Where are the Cortez? 36G^ Scattered o*er the earth — Spain's Freedom was a poor, abortive birth ! Who of the old world would not kneel a slave, Must seek the new beyond th' Atlantic wave. i! • The Spaniards, in order to disarm the cupidity of the United States' government, published erroneous surveys of the coasts and harbours of Florida v they represented the nobl« bay of Tampo in- iiccessible to large ships by '^'^ shallowness of the water on its bar, and the intricacy of its channel. But the American Executive, with the quick and inquiring eye of their eagle, despatched, in 1818, the Enterprize brifr of war, with directions to examine the bays and har- bours from Cape Sable to the river Perdido, and ascertain the actual capacity of the coast. The result was highly favouiable to their anti- cipatioas oi" naval pre-eminence. 102 TH£ AMERICAN MARINERS. it Where are you bound with all your guns run out To give the Algerines an Indian shout ! The Dey wants tribute — he shall have it hot From two .fam'd tiers of twenty-four-pound shot. What weather have you had ? '■■i\ A hurricane 'Mil't Since we left port has vex'd the toiling main. So huge the billowy sea, so rude its roar, 'Tis marvel how our bark its surges bore. Oft when the straining hull sent forth its moans, I thought we all should visit Davy Jones. 3680 On. her beam-ends one hideous night she lay, Hopeless the task to cut the shrouds away,* And o'er the wreck a breach the billows made, While ^ve to heav'n in jeopardy all pray'd. Then as we heard the swelling surges rave, 3085 And death's loud summons mingle with the wave. Amidst the horrors of the mountain-foam. We thought, alas ! upon our hearths and home. When day return'd, t ne of my venturous band (A truer tar ne'er took a helm in hand), 3f}90 • When a ship, in a heavy gale at sea, is thr(Jwn on her beam-ends, the only alternative left is to cut away the laniards of the weather shrouds ; thereby she generally gets up, as the phrusc is, on her legs again. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Id3 With uprais'd axe essay 'd the mast to wound, n niT And in the deep a tomb untimely found. ^ f We saw him rising o'er his watery grave, ^ '".' We saw him struggle with the yawning wave— We heard him shout — but no kind aid could give, 3085 No boat between the sea and sky could live ! V. THE OCEAN SPECTRE. I SI moTrot Iliad, A 23. v. 103. Angels and ministers of grace defend us! '" ' ^ Shakespeare. The stranger ceas'd — attentive hung our crew, When to the side the master-seaman drew, The trumpet raising in his hand, he plac'd On the broad bulwark fair, with sculpture grac'd, 3690 And, as the canvass quiver'd to the gale, , Thusi tearful, told his own distressful tale : O kind sea-farer, not thy breast alone From the fell blast the weight of woe has known. For late we saw borne headlong down the tide, 3695 From the tall mast, a boy, our naval pride, Leaving a mother to bewail his doom. And sink by slow decay into the tomb. o ^ a \l V : \ 194 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. I'heir tender parting on the sea-beat strand Dissolved the most obdurate of our band, 3700 When with soft action, and with plaintive tongue. To her lov'd child the weeping parent clung, »;«, i ^^ And fondly pray'd, with eyes and hands upborne, The host of heav'n to grant his safe return — n» <• >•. But fruitless her sad suit — she hopes in vain 3705 Soon on his breast to lean her head again ! The warrior ceas'd, and, as he turn'd to weep, A shriek was heard arising from the deep— A tender, plaintive, lame ..able cry, That seem'd in anguish to invoke the sky — 3710 Clouds veil'd the starry host — through darkness drear The well known accents vibrate on the ear Of all the crew. IJrg'd by the clamorous crowd Their gallant leader answcr'd thrice aloud, And thrice, while bristling locks his dread proclaim, With eager voice he calls on Talbot's name. No answer made he. Fill'd with awe profound, In mute amaze the seamen stood around — Our bark her sympathy could not restrain, ^ * "* Her long keel trembled on the refluent main, 3720 And had she been with human speech endow'd, Her sorrows then in mournful tones had flow'd. Wild in amazement, but to doubt inclined, " \ Hampden the chief accosts with anxious mind ; "u THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 195 id }.. iii W . ;. 3700 c tongue, ing, ' ** upborne, •n — jrain 3705 nl I weep, jp— y— 3710 irkncss drear ^ar us crowd id, d proclaim, inic. rofound, an, ■main, 37-20 ndow'd, I (low'd. a, '■ V mind: ' ; Saw you not rising from his watery bed '•* *'* 3726 The mournful phantom of our Talbot dead ? ^htvf t-. Giiastly his visage, but the same his mien, '"<" '^iYI Erect, and conscious what he once had been 7 ' '>M I saw the wretched blue swoln boy, and kne^,' '' ^ Though clouds half-veil'd him from my piercing view- Pale was his face — no more the enlivening red Mantled his ch«ek — there grief its ravage spread— And oh! his glazed look all words defy- There was no speculation in his eye ! ^''' ' ''"^ My blood ran back, depriv'd of vital heat— " " '' ' ' My shaking knees against each other beat—"''' '*'' ' Trembling I seiz'd an oar to give my aid To a poor ghost, a disembodied shade. And caird the crew to low'r the boat, and save Their shrieking shipmate from the salt-sea wave— The morning planet told the approach of light, Flitting he sunk and vanish'd from my sight — No form above the deep — no sign appears — Ail help that I could lend was helpless tears ! Oh ! no kind help, the melting chief replies, 3745 Is doom'd the vshado— -that blessing heav'n denies— His corse unurn'd, the spirit scem'd to mourn , ^i , Its wretched body vagrant and forlorn. ^'U «. i ti' '(■' ♦' 2 im THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Whirl'd by the eddies of the raging wave, A vault tumultuous, and a living grave; 3760 His sad remains no mortal's soothing care, , :«. . ,, He caird on us to rescue and to spare! ■. ;.ttri ,i'.<tA II "J The vessels part in silence — and our sails . ,|f ..^h, 5 Reflect the dawn, and catch the freshening gales. Still fond aflection pours the tide of woe, 3755 Still for the boy the seamen's sorrows flow— ;,,, j^i No joy to them convey'd the morning-ray, t j,, \,^f But stretch'd unsocial on the deck they lay ; ,,„. , ; There on the plank a couch of grief they found. And mantles wrappil their drooping heads around. / ' it . ;'» ■' rlj . \ VI. APPROACHING LAND. CABIN CONVERSATION. 3i! As now exulting to Britannia's shore, Around our keel the billows part and roar. The attentive chief, with compass taught to stray, On the spread chart points out the vessel's way, To the " fast anchor'd isle" directs his eyes, 37<»5 And spans the distance that between us lies. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 197 3770 I." Beneath his cabin-roof he sat reclin'd, • ' ti'><' \ While sped the rapid bark before the wind ; mM m5 h' Dashing the quivering rudder in its sweep, Was heard the billow of the darkening deep. A brilliant lamp, above the table hung, Sway'd by the roll, in long vibration swung; On either side the floor three guns appear, Tiie sternmost can^ion of tlie warlike tier,> Between whose carriages, of dusky, red, The pointed piles of iron balls are spread. A moorish youth attends in vesture fair — A swelling turban binds his jetty hair — Behind the captain's chair he silent stand», And half- familiar folds it with his hands. »775 uJ: 1 3780 :ir Now, to4he young lieutenant by his sidey. Thus spoke the man in war and tempests try'd : Hampden, if two more days this breeze prevail, In port shall we be furling every sail. >- ■ i '' At break of day, when dreams they say are true, " I dream'd the sea had lost its azure hue, ' And ere my eye-lids drow&y slumber lied, ■ 1 made the coast of Cornwall right ahead. ~- 1 dream'd we made it broad upon the bow. And that the girls had got the ship in tow.* — 3790 '^;l • When, on approaching land, a ship goes fast through the water, the tara facetiously say that the girls have got her in tow. , 1 l<- C' 198 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Their shapes o'ertake you wheresoever you rove, " "Whether o'er sea, or through the rural grove. Who in the scuppers has two skulks to-night ?*— Beside you. Sir, behold that luckless wight ! — Then, list lieutenant — when the morn appears, 3795 And from her tresses shakes old Ocean's tears, Place at the airy mast-head some good hand, ' ' Or rather eye, to look well out for land, ' Some canvass-climbing boy with footsteps light, Some youthful Lynceus of unrivall'd sight. 3800 Let him his glance employ, and soon the crew Will find their navigator's dream prove true, Lorenzo, on the deck my wishes bear, - I .i«' : And bid the officer below repair. ' "i" . Stand : give the word ! who at this hour goes thtTc ? A friend to this good ship— a yaukey tar. — ■ -^ Kandolph ! what cheer ? your hanging capes denote A fresh breesse landward wafts our good sea-boat. W^hat news aloft ? make you the sod to-night ? — Naught but Cape Fly-away is yet in sight. 3810 Though leaning lately o'er the rough-tree rail, I snuff"d the Cornish coal-fires in the gale, • In ships of war the crew keep alternately four and eight houri nightly watch ; they who weather out the eight hours come twice on deck, and, in the good old sea-term, are said to have two skulks in tlic lec-scuppers. THB AMERICAN MARINERS. 19Q An{\ thrice T snoeyAl. — The smeUing furnace glows. What says the reel ?* — Twelve knots at least she goes, J never saw her match — no ship tliat glides 8815 O'er sea, e'er clcav'd with swifter prow the tides. Slilfas a churchf — however rough the main, She'll carry sail till all is blue again.— • She knocks it off, indeed — 'tis time to sound, Lest on our lee we shuddering view around 3820 Drea<l Scilly's rocks, on whose disastrous reef A gallant navy perish'd with their chief4 ■ hi • The rnte of a ship's velocity throuph the sea is nscertnincd by the log-line, which is marked olFby knots, and wound on a red. + The term stiff Is applied to a ship in contradistinction to cranlc. Of one that carries sail well, it is always said that she is as stiff as a church. t On the morning of October 24, 1707, Sir Cloudcslcy Shovel, returning from the Mediterranean to England in the Association of W guns, (UO men, with the Uoyal Anne, 100 guns, 7ri4 men. Sir George Uyng ; tlie Saint George, 90 guns, filUJ men. Lord Durslcy ; the Kaglc, 70 guns, 4-1(5 men, ('aptain Hancock ; and the Uomney, fA\ guns, 2i}0 men, (Captain Cony ; got soundings off the Scilly isles in 5<0 fathoms ; the wind blowing strong from the S. S. W. with thick, fog«y weather. The admiral lay to with bis fleet that day ; but, in the evening, be- lieving that he saw the Scilly light, be made sail under his courses, and steered by compass E. and by N. with the fatal persuasion that lie had the Channel open ; for, soon after, the different ships made signals for a lee-shore, and the Association, striking on a reef of rocks, went instantly to pieces— her whole crew pesishing : the Eagle and the Komney shared tlie same disastrous fate, both ships also going to pieces, and not a man being saved : the Royal Anne escaped by the presence of mind of her lieutenants, who sheeted home the top-sails and wciithcrcd the breakers close under the main-chains: and the 'i : it y K . 1 I LI 11 .-_ I m 200 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 1 Mm ,' .if >\\ Hie you on deck— look out for squalls ahead — 'Tis now in Vo'.v, and heave the deep sea lead — Summon stern Pipes— we wait not for the day 3825 To fathom with the Hue our watery way — Turn up the hands — cooks, doctors, idlers all, At each wide hatchway give the rogues a call. VII. SOUNDING IN THE CHOPS OF THE CHANNEL. Haul down the jib ! and man the spanker brails ! Let go the bowlines — back the after-sails — 3830 There, you are well — the top-sail brace belay— Sam shift the helm, the ship has got stern-way. Is not that lead yet arm'd ? come, bear a hand, We want to see the print of shells or sand. — All ready with the lead ! look out behind ! — 3835 Down with the helm, and shake her in the wind. Heave, heave away ! beware there, in the chains ! — Watch, shipmates, watch! here's soundings for your pains ! — Saint George was actually dashed on the same rock with the Admiral, but miraculously set atloat again by the bunic wave that beat out Sir Cloudcsley's lights. J ! THE AMERICAN MARINERS. •201 i— ■ d— ay 3825 ai. ANNEL. )rails ! 3830 lay- way. Land, — 3835 wind, chains ! — ;s for your the Admiral, beut out Sir How many futhoms ? — Ninety, less or niore.^ — What says the lead? a smooth, or rocky shore ? — Sand ! intermix'd with shells of red and white I — Soilly's ahead — look out well for the light I ] Now haul we up, an offing to attain — Rig in the booms — Pipes, urge the laggard train. — Top-men aloft I and bear abaft the brim 3845 I'he backstays ere the shaking sails we trim. Aboard main-tack ! hang on the clue, my souls. Now, sailors, now ! as she to windward rolls ! A tackle on the leech — there, tliere, belay ! Thus bawls the boatswain, and tlie tars obey.* 3850 VIIl. SCILLY LIGHT-HOUSE. Sublime in darkness o'er the niidni-^ht tides. Making an oiling, swift our vessel glides. In seeming terror, courting ocean's roar To shun the perils of a leeward shore. * The illustrious Johnson, in his famous ccUct. interdicts writers the use of nautical language even ;';hen disi-us:f.in(7 nautical atlkirs. This reminds one of the polite lieutenant in Shadwell's Comedy, who says, '* I wish my crew to reforn), and liiseurd your larboard and '* starboard, hawsers and swabs : I will have no such thing as hawl " cat hawl, nor belay : uncouth words, only lit lor dutchnicn to pro- *' nouncc, uml enough to unbhi)) uii cnglibhiuan'» undcr-jaw." 20*2 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Pacing in gloom the deck with anxious tread, 3855 The chief first hails o'er ocean's kindling bed The watch tow'rs glare : A hopeful sight ! There, in the west, Randolph, is Scilly's light !* Speak not, but mark well where 1 point my hand — It gleams again — we hug the English land. 3860 Tis no ship's lanthorn— brighter is the glare- See how it rotatory streaks the air If Welcome fair hmp ! held from the topmost towV By piiy in the dark, tempestuous hour, When the pale moon and all the starry host 38G5 Arc hid — and havoc howls along the coast. Sliine on, O beacon, o'er the billows shine, DiiTuse thy friendly ray, thy beam divine. Safely to light, as to their common home. The prows of every port that cut the salt sea foam. • The Scilly isles arc a cluster of dangerous rocks to the number of 140, lying ten leagues west of Cornwall. Six only are inhabited. St. Mary's, the largest isle, is about two miles and a half long, one and a half broatl, and between nine ..iid ten miles in circumference. Its inhabitants amount to 700. Trcscaw is about half the size, and has 40 families. St. Martin is little inferior to Trescaw, and has 17 families. St. Agnes is remarkable for its Light House, and has AO families. Bryer lias 13 Ifamilics, and Samson only one. The isle of Scilly, which confers its name on the groupe, is a mislinpen, inac- cessible rock, the northwesternmost of the whole. Sir ('loudesK-y Sliovel's fleet got upon tlie reef called the Bishop and his Clerks, in the south-west corner of the cluster. + The Light House on St. Agnes (the southernmost of the inha- bited Scilly Isles) has a lanthorn on an improved principle, exhibiting a number of Argand's lamps ; which, moving round, produce a bright ar.d conhpicuous lif^i)!, in every direction, once in a minute. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 203 T am like one who, with a wakeful eye, Beholds a meteor flame along the sky, And rouses by his side some drowsy wight ' To bend his gaze, and share the glorious sight. We hauFd ofF in good time — but one league more. Our ship had thump'd her bottom out on shore. Bnt note those lubbers who return our shout. And pledge their faith to keep a good look-out. Hoax them, lieutenant :— through the watch of night Slumber preys heavy on their drooping sight.— ^ 3880 Forecastle, there ! a good look-out maintain !* — Aye, aye ! no danger broods upon the main. A light here hoa ! the light-house on our beam !— See you a light ? — a light ? you surely dream ! Liirt*! keep your lull'! — What ! stands it in our way ? With you for guides we had been cast away ! i IX. MAKING THE LAND. The lingering night is past — o'er ocean's stream The beacon pales its inefl'ectual gleam, • When a ship approaches tlie coast in the night, a quarter-master calls at short intervals to the watch on the fore-castlc, Keep a good look-out before there ! to which injunction they rebellow, in the sitint tone, Aye, aye ! \ 204 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. \n Each waning star from lieav'n's blue vault retires, And Venus fading last of all expires. 3890 The wildernes.3 of waves has chang'd its hue To paly green from dye of deepest blue, The twittering swallow hovers o'er tiie mast, The wreathing rock-weed on the sea is pass'd. And as our rapid prow the billows lave 3895 We meet the curlew floating on the wave, Who, being peer'd at, dips his plumage white Full in the foam, and vanishes from sight. Now toil the tars — their hardy bosoms glow, They heave the ponderous anchor o'er the bow, 3900 While up the hatch the cable's stubborn coil From the deep tier is urg'd with shouting toil. While now on ocean's bosom faintly die The last pale glimpses of the twilight sky. Watching from deck intent the coming morn, 39Ua We look her blush the headland to adorn. And many a naval groupe already hail Thy pastures, Albion, breathing in the gale. Now, hark ! aloft the canvass-climbing boy, Nestling aniid.st the shrouds, with brawling joy. Calls to the sailors, as he points his hand. Good tidings shipmates — land, the blessed land ! Then thus the chief with rapture's glist'ning tear, O ! word to charm an angel from his sphere ! THE AMERICAN MARINERS. •etires, 3890 e t, b'd, lite 38U5 w, ow, 3900 nl oil. rn, 39U5 land ! 5 tear, •e! 205 3915 What looks it like ? ■ I dinna ken its name, But spy it, captain, in the salt sea faein — And, in gude faith, sin' heav'n will have it sae, A kirk ! a bonny kirk o'ertops the bay. , / One with a chimney ? Hoot, you do it wrang— Sic as where Slielty dearly loves to gang Wi' his auld beard new-trimm'd. Hoot, hoot awa, I see twa kirks, and twa kirk-yards with a.* — Speak English — with your border-brogue have done. To us 'tis German coil'd against the sun — Look sharp about — is any bark in sight ? — Yonder is one with sail as siller bright.— What looks she, boy, to thy discerning view ? One that defrauds the weal of revenue ? 3030 A smuggler, eh ! — She looks, Sir, vary shy — They've got their sweeps out, and inshore they ply. They take us for a king's ship, Sir, nae doubt. They're all on deck putting their sloop about. Save some who, o'er the wave-repelling prow 3935 Their kegs are sinking in the deep below, f * In coming from sea, and making the Land's End at E. or E N E. two round hills are seen, on the higher one of which a church may be discerned, and on a nearer approach another church becomes visible upon the outermost end of the low land. f Smugglers, on the British coast, when m danger of being cap- tared, often iiink their kegs com^itenatcd by a splice into a kind * ri ) il 'if it 11 I \^- I \; 1 ■nw 206 THE AMTRICAN MARINERS. Now they both ply the sweep, and hoist the sail — They're busy as the de'el, Sir, in a gale. ■H i ?*j Our flag display ! we roam not to deprive A smuggler of his freight — all trades must thrive—' They seek again their flaggons — venturous grown— They see our stars, and joyous bless their own. Boatswain ! what boy is he who spies the land ? — The veriest rogue, Sir, under your command. How name you hir\? — Caleb, the piper's page, 3945 His voice my bosom fills with deadly rage. My poor boy Jug, who stood him once in fight, Goug'd by the wretch, is half deprived of sight; His larboard top-light, Sir, can scarce discern The plank he treads on, or the stem from stern. Does Scotland's leafless region claim his birth ? "Wherefore his Erse ? — He talks it, Sir, in mirth. His uncouth dialect from Shelty caught. His mimic tongue has to diversion wrought : A true North Carolinian, from Cape Fear, 3955 The young imp from no mischief can forbear : . Without remorse he leaves his hoary sire. To join the skulkers at the galley-fire;* of chain ; and, after the lapse of weeks, will return to the idenfiral place, and dra.: successfully for their immersed Ireiglit, guided back by the rcniciubrancc of the bearing of t.onic cape, or particular object on the hhore. * Small vcvidj have a caboor.e for tmjkiii;' tho victual ; large oiuiti d ^'alley-iirc. A tihiii io a UiictocuuUi ; and at the ^ali;:y tUe THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 207 His quipst his pranks, his pastime to pursue i\ midst the most abandon'd of the crew. 3960 And, when sung out for, up the hatch will dart, And at Tom Cox's traverse play his part. When all the hands are pip'd, in vain I shout — He stands two calls before he e'er turns out — And though not longer rests a ground-tier butt,* The recreant slumbers till his clues are cut.f As for salvation, Sir, I humbly hope. If overboard, I would not throw a rope t To save his soul I — Pipes, if there truth be found In adages — the boy will ne'er be drown'd. 31)70 Main-top-mast cross trees ! whence with roving feet Went you aloft the chalky coast to greet ?-»- 'Twas Shelty's will, Sir ! only yesternight The blind man saw it, Sir, by second sight— 1 «, i: > 1 quid-nuncs assemble to discuss the news of the day. The falsehoods fabricated around the ship's hiffk are callud " Galley Packets;''^ a proverbial phrase for spurious news. " They who keep no watch at sea are likened to a ground-tier butt for tlie length of tljcir slumber. t Those who do not turn out, after bcinc: repeatedly summoned, have tlie clues of their hammocks cut— which is called miuiug Ihcir bcd-ponti'. :J: Of a worthless fellow th;. bailors i,dy, If he were to tall overboard I would not throw huu a roitu J II iWUm im 1 >^ ■ i^ 1' ill 208 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. And charged me to endeavour to discern 3975 The Land's End first, and a full bottle earn.'*' THE PROMONTORY OF BOLERlUM.f OR THE LAND'S ENd. ' ' Now for Britannia's isle we closer haul, The sea her trench, proud fleets her floating wall, Far in our wake the Longshipst leave behind. And round Bolerium with indulgent wind 3980 1 I * He who descries the land first is entitled, by prescription, to a bottle of rum. + The Land's End, or the western extremity of Cornwall, is called in the old authors the Promontory of Bellerium, or Bolerium, from Bellcrus, a Cornish giant, who made it the place of his abode. Milton, in apostrophizing Lycidas, alludes to this tradition : Or whether thou to our moist vows deny'd, Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old. t The Longships are rocks off the Land's End, on the boldest of which a Light House is erected. To form some notion of this perilous reef of granite it needs only be told that, in a tempest the structure rocks violently, and that its lanthom, though 110 feet in height, is covered with Uie bellowing surf. Had Zanga been placed here to trim the lamps, it may, I think, be q'lestioncd whether he would have ex- claimed : *^ I like t/nn rocking of the bultlemcniii !" 3975 n." JM.t ' * ng wall, ind, 39tt0 tcription, to a Cornwall, is or Boleriuni, of his abode, on: the boldest of f this perilous the structure t in height, is d here to trim ould have cx- THE AMERirAN MARIN EHS. 209 V\) Channel st^er. The cape with awfnl hrow Looks down vindictive on the sea helow. Shrouded in clouds — while at his feet, With granite bound, the waves unwearied l)eat. And oft in darkness his deep groan resounds 3985 When the hoarse surges lash the rocky mounds, And the pale ghosts of mariners deplore Their shatter'd wrecks that blacken all the sliore, Mingling their waiiings with the cormorant's, sliriek That o'er the floating corse directs his ravenous beak. Hounding the point, our ship the headland nears. And every object more defined appears. Jligh over head the straying herds that graze, Cropping the shrubby herbage, stop to gaze, Or, looking down the promontory's steep, 399.'> In startled posture listen to the deep. Close by the main, we mark with glad surprize The azure smoke in spiral columns rise From the sea-cottage (fram'd of drifted wood, Or stranded planks, the refuse of the flood) 4000 Bleak and expos'd upon the rotky shore, AVhere the surge flings the salt-weed to the door, From whose quaint casement, full of ruddy healtli, The peeping children view our ship by stealth. Now obvious to the crew on deck, and then 4005 IJiding their heads witli laughing eye again. More bold the coast, we come so near the beach, That fancy w ith her arnj can almost iciich If ■P^^^B-SPT rtm 210 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. The heron standing listless and alone, With laggard pinions on the moss-wreath'd stono> By the sea's verge : anon, as strains our sail, It flutters, screams, and floats upon the galo. XI. SAINT MICHAEL'S MOUNT* Saint Michael's Mount who does not know. That wards the western coast ? Spencer's Shepherd's Calendar. Far on our left, Penzance,* thy turrets rise, Beneath a climate mild as Lisboa's skies, And IVTarazionf beetles o'er the steep, 401.> Where in the cliff the choughs J their eyrie keep, Oft winging in mid-air their circling flight. To mock below the boatman's aching sight. \f • Penzance, a name signifying the Headof Sands, is situated in the N.W. angle of the arm of the sea called Mount's Bay, commanding a view of the mount rising in castled-pride from the waves. -|- Marazion, called likewise Market Jew, from an annual fair once held there by the Jews, was, before the Reformation, the great tl o- roughfare of pilgrims in their way to the sacred e<lificc on the Mount. J The chough is very common on tlie coast of Cornwall. It differs from tlie crow in its violet hue, and red legs and bill. Calexdar. THE AMtf.llirA?i MARINERS. 211 Xow as (la^f's orb ascending giMs the main, An argent scene — the Chersonese* we gain; 40*20 Smooth flow the waves, and, as our vessel glides, A silver-pinion'd swan, the Mount f presidfcs. Incumbent frowns the tier along the steep. Whose brandish'd cannon interdict the deep, No stranger may the winding bay explore, 4025 Nor moor his bark along the guarded shore. Broad on the surge the dark isle's base extends, And, shooting to the sky, the summit ends A pointed pyramid, whose waving wood. In cloud-capt heigiit, surveys the rolling flood. 4030 Once o'er its brow Earl, Baron, Vavasor, Display'd the banner, and defy'd to war The feudal tyrant, who, with ruthless hand, IJorc high the sovereign ensign of command. And see the fane aerial once ador'd 4035 Ry thronging pilgrims, and with awe explor'd, Now, mouldering in decay, on memory calls To breathe a soul into its silent walls. i ■ i ! iK' m * Cornwall forms a Chersonese, or Peninsula. !ill. It differs + Called Saint Michael's Mount from the suprosed appearance of the angel Saint Michael on it. Hence Milton : Where the ffirat Vision ofthcf^mrdcd viount Looks toward Naniancos and Bayona's hold. Look homeward Augii now Lycidas. P'2 If I /i .' '■ 212 THE AMEHICAN MARINERS. ITail to the chapel, hail the fane forlorn, -And moss-grown stones by tears of vot'ries worn, Where once, as mid the shrines the soft dew fell, To solemn pray'r sIoh^ toli'd the vesper bell. And hail the turret from whose rocky height The monk compassionate held out the light, .Hlest if his aid in midnight storms could save 4045 The lab'ring bark, and guide her o'er the wave. Now all that meets the eye some symbol shows How man decays, whilst time unceasing Hows, How wave on wave impels the human tide, How ages sink forgotton as they glide. 4050 Beneath the cloister's consecrated gloom The monk and mariner have found a tomb. They who the aisles were chaunting Mont to tread, And they who to the gale their canvass spread. And now no more upon his staff reclin'd, 4054 The pilgrim, who no length of way declin'd, Finds a reward for all his wandering toil To view the mount, and tread its sacred soil. Oh ! call this superstition, and revile The cross, and at the bead and relick sniih*, 40({(> But when these o'er the bosom lost their sway, .Devotion shriek'd, and fanes fell in decay. 1 THE AMERICAN MARINEllS. •JI3 XII. SUNRISE IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL. CAPTAIN AND OFFICERS ON DKCK.. Salve, magna parens ! (j 00(1 morrow, Randolph, long on. billbws tost^ Yon sun beholds our tail bark on tlic coast Where our forefathers dwelt — a glorious gale — A nobler breeze ne'er fiU'd a frigate's sail. Where boldly swelling, as our course we shape, The Lizard throws its full, projecting cape. Abreast the point, methinks, a ship I see — She looks a strait's man — some rich argosy — 4070 Stretching, with easy sail, her lingering way Heyond the forkings of the far-off bay. Make her the private signal — Red, or white ? Avast ! a gun will better bring to light 4075 Her country's flag. — All ready ! — Fire away ! Sprats on a gridiron !* they bear all the sway. 1 ; VI I i * Alliuling to the banter of the English sailors, who liken the btara and strii)es — the prouil symbol of the American flag— to bi)rats on a giidirou. I 214 THE AMeRTCA'N MARINERS. A yankey outward bound ! do but behold How the new world supplies with freight the old. 13ritannia wasted, and a pauper grown, 4080 To young Columbia makes her bitter moan. Pleads s'he*s her aged mother, and demands Food from her harvests,* succour from her hands. Old father Thames exalts Iris hoary head. With look of wonder, from his oozy bed, 4085 And, as our cargoes make his billows groan. Scarce knows the hulls that bear them from his own. Helmsman ! the canvass flutters — look well out — Learn to steer small — don't yaw the ship about. How head you now? — She lies, Sir, east south east- She's not her course by two points, then, at least,t The flood has made — yon schooner in the bay Is on the swing — our sweet breeze dies away. Another sail 1 lot Caustic heaves in sigbt, Iimtrgingfrom his vault to realris of light, 4095 See where he comes, with telescope in hand. To feast upon the joy diHusiug land. * At one time, when America was the carrier of the world, tliere was a constant cxportatii>a of her flour to iMigluniU averaKing lialf a million of barrels annually ; and iu the years lUUl, 1UU2, and liill, exceeding respectively a million. ^ •f A ship's course by compass (allowing for tlie variation of the magnetic needle) fjom the Luud*i) End to the Lizard point is auuih cdbt a quurtci bouth. TH£ AMERICAN MARINERS. 215 His costume lie has studied — for his side His dainty dirk adorns in glittering pride- Unconscious he the wearer gives the sword 410C* Its eflicacy when in act to board. His fore and aft hat, bound with tarnish'd lace, Imparts grotesqueness to his boding face, Az, at each footstep, his prophetic soul Bids him beware, and mind the frigate's roll. 4105 A landsman yet ! for though the sea is rough, He looks to M'iudwarfd as he takes his snuff, And, such Jiis incapacity to learn. He does not know the ship's head from the stern. If I remember right, 'tis full a week 4110 Since he was seen the upper deck to seek, And leave the fetid cockpit to inhale The wholesome breeze, and view the swelling sail: As a memorial that he comes at last, Let a deep notch be cut in every mast. 4115 The tars affirm with oaths his evil cards llaiise gales of wind,* and send them on the yards, Declare his gambling brought around the ship The Mother Carey's chickensf fieen the trip — * It is a superstition among seamen that cards pkyeJ at sea pro< ducc iieavy galet . .; + The small sea-bird the petrel, the. precursor of bad weatlitT, is called by setUiitfU iMuthur (lurey's diickon ; and supj-rniitural powers are uaciibeU the wiuli AMoilier (.'arcy, wiiu is bupi*u)ied lu kcnd it. r irii 1 I I 210 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. That adverse to our canvass turns the vane, 4120 AW by the doctor's tricks — the helmsman's bane. ' He keeps no watch, and crown'd with endless ease, (^an m his cot convert to halcyon seas • A J3iscay swell : — he has no cares To break his rest, and interrupt his pray'rs. 4125 What ho, there, leech ! the clover-scented air Calls you on deck*— I I Was ever sight so fair f The crag, the cliff, the proro^tory steep. Trees, groves — all E en springing from the deep. These, leech, are shadows of a shaping brain, Engender'd by a ship and irksome main. See yon fair mansion where the poplars wave Their boughs, whose roots the billows strive to lave : See how the swallows round the turrets fly, 4135 It is a spot where one might live and die. Unus'd, your eye, leech, loves again to rove O'er pasture pure, rich vale, and nodding grove ; Aqd conquer'd reason to the fancy yields Peace in the cot, elysium iu the fields. 4140 * The civilians of a ship (the doctor, purser, &c.) seldom come on deck without encountering a sort of amicable und pleabunt hostility from the captain, or the lieutenant. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 217 What made them build their dwelling on the shore ? 33ut, soft, 1 sec the mistress at the door, Sitting beneath the trellis overgrown With vines — and at her side an antique crone, Who in the ocean's view has fix'd her seat, 4145 With puss and ponipey basking at her feet. Think you they heed the land from whence we cahic ? The toncit r maid — but not the ancient dame. 8he, good old lady, pants from year to year 'J'o grace a pew, and chronicle small beer. And would not, captain, in her life's decay. On Philadelphia throw a thought away. 4130 I « You ply yonr telescope — what see you now ? A telegraph on yonder mountain's brow, From whose decll ny, whose weeping side, 415i> A stream with d«^ ' iv> r'-ystal loves to glide. Here pastures, hills : v i dales the prospect crown, A castle here shoots up, and there a town. Here sits an angler o'er a silver stream — There roves a ploughman with his toiling team- Here lies a goatherd on a craggy rock — There in the shade a shepherd feeds his flock. Captain, you r.\A, where now I point my hand, llescmbks miuJc Hir PLnusvlvauian land — 'fi 2m THE AMERICAN MARINERS. It looks romantic — with a little scrip 4105 FiU'cl with choice drugs, and science on my lip, Methinks 'twere pleasant o'er the hills to roam, A travelling leech, and knock at every dome. A thriftless trade ! more money thou wouldst tell, A merry Andrew, M'ith thy cap and bell, 4170 More sure thy entrance li '' V^rdly hall, A vagrant juggler with tliy c md ball. See you yon villa ! how the turrets rise, In gothic grandeur pointing to the skies ? Araa/i'd the eje its amplitude explores — A crowd might enter at its folding doors ! 4175 .} To me far dearer, leech, a sung-thatch'd home Than the vast lumber of that gothic dome. Within whose walls one does not rest, but roam. Hovr would Democrilus the pile deride 4180 Which folly thus has sacrific'd to pride — And yet, no doubt, its painted glass — its gules, Have England fill'd with imitating fools. Would Washington have made his villa's gate An entrance to the pageantry of state ! 41H5 \ou muse, good leech, some tender thought employs Your memory, and ovcrcusts your jo^s. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. n& Tliis IB the land where love and pit)' mourn O'er the soft Indian'^ monumental urn ; Virginia's jewel, and her sex's pride, 4100 AVho on a foreign 4$hore untimely died. Not to one Bpot is symps^thy confin'd, Throughout the world in woman's hreast enshriu'd. Whether her gentle foot&teps press the sand Of Chesapeak, or Scythia's frozen land, 4U'/5 Thy heart was its sweet temple, tawny maid. Blest Pocahontas, whose wild shrieks delay 'd The axe rais'd o'er the white man, pinion'd, hound. The gallant Smith, bow'd trembling to the ground* I' • Captain John Smith, a pallant Englishman, was the founder of the Colony of Virginia, on the great Bay of Chesapeak ; and Poca- hontas, the daugliter of the Indian Monarch Powhatan, was it:; inte- resting protectress. Smith, in an excursion, being surprized by a numerous body of red-men, under Opecl:ancanough, was conducted to Powhatan, who doomed him to death : he was led to the place of execution, and his head bowed down to receive the blow of the war- dub, when Pocahontas rushed with mournful distraction through the crowd, and throwing her little arms about him, (she was by Smith *« account only nine years old,) saved his life by her interposition. After this event she fre(iuently visited Smith at James Town, wiiom she always addressed by the name of 'father, and at the age of seven- teen married Mr. John Rolf, a young gentleman of rank in tlie co- lony, who had long been her respectful lover. She accompanied her husband to England with Sir Thomas Dale, where Smith, wiio had preceded them, presented Pocahontas to James and h.Is v^uecn, who received her with the respect due to a princess. This interesting Indian, whose whole lite exenipliiied that Fiiir Sp'nit.i Air iouciCd tojinc Issues^ died in early youth ul Gravcscnd, when preparing to embark with 220 tHE AMERICAN MARINERS. Slic flies on seraph's wing, and through the crowd,. With piercing cry, 'mid acclamations loud, Seeks the pale victim, by compassion led, And in her arms sustains his languid head. . Meantime her female train in cadence mourn, Sigh as she sighs, and tears for tears return, 4205 They raise her tranc'd in grief — a glossy shade Of hair half veils the melancholy maid- Streams from her eves — sobs from her bosom flow — And pale that cheek where the rose loves to glow. The monarch, rising, cries, Restrain thy fears! 4210 Thou weep'st too much, and yet I love those tears. Thou flow'ry sweet, not vainly dost thou plead— « What means my child ? here rest thy fainting head. Hold, chiefst the club : 'tis this dear maiden's call- She sw ays her father, and presides o'er all, 6215 With solemn aAve, I view the spreading shore, Jiy venerable Druids trod of yore. Those bloody priests, an execrable band, AVould scandal heap upon a Mohawk land. Their tragic pomp, their heav'n's vicegerent seer,. Their potent adder-stone, their milk white steer. her husband for her native country ; leaving a son who left only daughters, from whom are descended llie Bowltnp;s and iMiirrays, tlic .lefleraonsand Ilaudolphs, the AlidiUetons and Piei'iiointa, the patri- cians of Virginia. 1. lie crowtf^ Id, > d. . urn, irn, 420i> shade som flow — to glow, ears! 4*210 osc tears. )Iea(l— Uiiig head, en's call— 1. 5215 lore, THE AMERICAN MARINER^. (2^1 Their ravstic misletoe, their hallow'd oak< Once reverend held, is now a standing joke. See you yon living rock of spheric shape Rough and unhewn, exalted o'er the cape ? 4225 Pois'd as by magic, to a patriot hand The huge mass vibrates — to a hostile band Immoveable, it scorns their touch profane, * Decreed by fate unshaken to remain. Captain, you ne'er the loggen-stone* could move, Though nerv'd your arm — the land has not your love On whicJi it rests — None there from me is due — It looks misplac'd — preposterous in you. Hut, see, our sweet breeze leaves us from the west — At no one point the dog-vanef seems to rest. Doctor, your aid ! your spy-glass lay aside- Let the ship's cordage through your fingers glide. ^1 'i. , 1 i i ^ If } u| i I it seer, steer. 10 loft only lurray.s, the i, the patii- • The Loggens, or rocking stones, in Cornwall, are immense masses of granite set on others of a smaller size, antl so equally counterpoised that they can be stirred with a finger, but not moved out of tlieir station. The Druids in their trials, by artfully convert- ing the i.oggcn into an engine of superstition, maile it answer the purpose of an ordeal. Mason has introduced it in his declamatory tragedy. + The dog-vane is a small light vane witli feathers and cork, whose staff is placed on the ?hip'^; quarter to shew the direction of the wind. '.,3 222 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. *1 <( bI 1 ! .1 iWjmt: ' ( m ^ m ^ IT ' 1 IfM} :■ For once turn sailor — help ns with this brail — The spanker* is become an idle sail. 4210 Jnmp to the cleat — let the gafF-haliards fly — Randolph clap on — a bowse here at the gny.f Cheerly the brails — I see a coming sqnall^ — When I cry pull, mind, doctor, that you haul. A sail there hoa ! nothing but ships around — 4245 A Lisbon packet into Falmouth bound — A bark for passengers you may discern By the rich gilding of her sculptured stem. With two reefs in, and a top-gallant breeze, Her captain turns to windward at his ease. 4250 An Englishman — brac'd sharp up to the gale, No other from the main-stay shows n sail.f She hoists her flag — the waters of the deep lie fleet the union at her mizen'peak. Greatly they marvel at our stars— -our prow— 4255 Our pointed guns — a savage looking row. • The spanker is a larpe sail set upon the mizen yard ; it is re- duced by ropes called brails. •|- The guy is a rope usetl to keep steady the spanker-boom. J In Britsh ships the main-top-mast stay -sail is used upon a bow- line : in American vessels it is never set unless k<»"K large. The Yankey ships are so Sf)uare-ri>rged, tliat, when close-hauled, a niain- top-niast stay-sail would defeat its purpose, by taking the wind out of tile main-topsail. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 223 Our crew they put down Indians — from tlie wood-^ Guiding a ship the first time o'er the flood — A feather'd tribe of most uncouth attire, More skiird in ambush than the main-deck fire. With bow and quiver at each warrior's side, And scalping knife the skull's skin to divide ; Our cargo coral, humming-birds, and sitells. To barter witli the whites for toys and bells ! XIII. :- , ! ! I : Oh ! all that in this life the hrcast employs, 4265 Is real grief, or visionary joys. Now thread the hatchway those whom hoary age Has capt with snow in foreisin pilgrimage, Returning exiles to their native land. Victims to hope deferr'd, a weary hand. 4270 From his own shore — the soil that gave him birth. An old man comes to beg a little earth — Who, as the tars direct his feeble gaze, And point the hand, thus drivels out his praise : That is the land where every peasant's shed, 427« Wliose smoke at early morn is seen to spread Along the dappled sky, stands more secure Than eastern palaces that forts immure. Oh ! it is sweet to breathe again the air That britons breathe — to \vake from dark despair — wm mm M 224 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Those clilTs rcstor'd once more to these moist eyes, Hid the pulse flutter, and the wishes rise. Then thus the chief, who carelessly reuliii'd, Felt indignation rising in his mind : Infatuated pilgrim ! thus to toil 4285 O'er sea again to die on England's soil, And leave Equality's West shore to find And feel thyself a helpless, ahject hind. What ! drcamst thou vet of some remain of ease Beneath thy own hereditary trees ? 4200 Like shadows come, so all thy friends are fled, Thy hearth will echo only to thy tread — And poor and needy, none thy worth will ^can- None will respect thee for thyself — a man — But, leaning on thy stall', I see thee stand, 4205 By all forsaken in thy native land. Great souls by instinct to Columbia turn, Coiirt her embrace, and for her friendship burn, Our blest strand seek at inborn Freedom's call, The true Castilian, and the genuine Gaul, 4300 And flee a realm of tyranny the sport. Curst with an inquisition, and a court — But thou still pantest on in thraldom's train, Taught to be wise by rolling suns in vain ! THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 225 XIV. THE EDDYSTONE. Tracing a line of foam from Cape to Cape, 4305 Eastward, with flying sails, our course we shape. And, as we spread our white wings to the wind, Leave the projecting Lizard far behind. So swift our speed, Fiction might feign around The Tritons lulling ocean with their sound, 4310 With all the Sea-Gods rising from the spray To smooth the surge, and level make our way, Now comes mild eve — the sinking orb of day Beams a farewell — and from the distant bav, Flash'd from some admiral's ship, the signal gun Tells that the radiant god his course has run. Bright'ning the east, the crescent of the niglit Looks from the sky, and sheds her silver light O'er the mix'd scene — and, as she mildly roves, Claims her palt empire o'er the tide and groves. Silent the deck, while the waves slowly roll, A pensive pleasure steals upon the soul. Devout, not frantic, looking to its fate Beyond the stars, releas'd from mortal state. Now rove we Albion's channel, where the bight Displays the rudd;' watch tov.'r on the height Q m iM 226 tHB AMERICAN MARINERS. Of Eddj'stone* — and, as the fair lamp jjleanis, Our fancy paints the man that trims its beams, Who, when the warring elements deny Peace to the breast, and slumber to the eye, 4330 Full many a night endures the tempest nide, Rock'd by the winds in sea-girt solitude. XV. t V . PURBfSCK CLIFFS. SHIPWRECK OF THE HALSEWELL FuDKar inani Munere. While on the deep the moonlight sweetly sleeps, Our bark secure the midway channel keeps. • The Eddystone light-house stands on a rock in the sea, about 14 miles S. S. W. of Plymouth, and is exposed in tempests to such tre- mendous waves, that they fly up, at short iiitervals,in white columns, above the beacon, and totally intercept it from the siglit. The first edifice erected on the rock was the achievement of Mr. Winstanley, who had such a conviction of its power to resist tlie fury of the ih- ments, that he expressed his •teish to he there in ihe greatest storm thai could blow under the face of the Ileaveus. This was fatal presumption ; for in the almost unprecedentetl hurricane of the nijfht of November 26th, 169f», the confident architect being in the light-house, was de- plorably swept with it into the deep, together with all his ill-fated associates. The present structure is a monument of the genius of Smeaton. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 227 ll With wind direct our course we eastward trace, And pass the Start's low point, and Portland race, By Adhelm's promontory plough our way, And now, conspicuous with the dawning day, The fatal cliffs of Purbeck frown around, Where, on the rocky steep's sepulchral mound, Pale Memory sits, and points the shore once spread With the wreck'd bark, and corses of the dead. Weeping she tells how, on the sea-drench'd wreck. Two daughters hung around Iheii father's neck, Who sought from every eye to veil his woe, 4345 While yr -'-n'd his children's briny tomhs below. The ma >pears, a mournful glance he threw Around, and urg'd the leader of the crew : " The vex'd hull parts — oh ! here no lonjjer dwell, ** But give each child your blessing and farewell* — < • The loss of the Halsewell was attended with such peculiar scenes of affliction, Uiat poetr.r performs a hallowed office in recording them. She sailed from the Downs on the 1st of January, 178f»i and Captain Pierce was taking out his two daughters with him, Miss Kliza Pierce, aged sixteen, and Miss Mary Anne Pierce, a year younger, on a visit to a brother opulently settled at Bengal. Besides these, there were on board five other young ladies : namely, Miss Anne and Miss Mary Paul, nieces of Captain Pierce, Miss Mary Haggard, Miss Elizabeth Blackburn, and Miss Anne Mansell. Every thing augured an agree- able voyage ; the breeze was fair, and the water smooth ; all were in high spirits, and the harp and song resounded in the cabin. But this flattering prospect soon changed to one of terror and dismay. On the 3d a fatal storm lighted upon the ship, and, in bearing up for Ports- mouth, she was driven on shore and wrecked, at two in the morning of the 6th, near St. Adhelm's Head, on the Purbeck coast, under Q2 *228 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. ** Hence, captain — fly the soul subduing strife ** Of truitless love — bethink thee of thy life — ^* H-^nce -with me, Pierce — behold the bowsprit bends — ** No more delay — or, hope in ocean ends/*— ** Hie thee aloft, my Meriton,'' he cries, " To-morrow's sun may pleasure yield thine eyes, " But mine would all a gloomy blank heboid, ** Without the innocents these arms infold — " The mora their peril, frenzy and distress, ** Their forms the closer to my heart I press." More loud the tempest, and more fierce the thrall Of the huge waves that rise, and burst, and fall. Each <naid in agony, with upb^i-ne eye, Silent implores the succour of the sky, But Pity long has fled in dire dismay, 43(>5 And may not rome where Havoc holds his sway. ['tr ' perpendicular rocks 400 feet in height. The ship came with her broadside on the reef, when the horrors of the hurricane were a^'gr.i. vated by intense darkness; and on Mr, Meriton, the chief mate, goin^' below to exhort Captain Pierce to make no delay in endeavouring to get on sliore, as the vfeck could not hold many minutes together, he found his daughiers clinging to him for protection under every accu- mulation of suffering from the outrageous fury of tho blast, the breacli of the waves, and the i\npervious „loom of the morning, (.'aptaiti Pierce rep'^ed to the exhortations of his officei, by asking him whether he thought his daughters could be saved ; and, on Mr. Meriton answering that it was impossible f )r the ladies to escape, lie addrcsse\l himself to his daugliters, and folding them in his arms, said, " Then, *' my dear children, we will perish togc tlier." The wreck di->HppeareU in a few minutes o^'terwards. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 221> lrif« bowsprit le eyes, •Id. e thrall a fall. 43G.> sway. ne with her were a^gra. mate, Koin>^ ;avourinp to tofjether, he every accii- , the breach s?. Oaptain im whether r. Meritou e addressetl d, " Then, Ji'^appeareiJ Mare close they cling distracted round tbe form Of their lov'd sire — more frantic raves the storm — Heard you that cry ? it reach'd the sea-beat shore — Father and child — their a^ony is o'er — 4370 Its murmurs cease — the}^^ meet their awful doom — The wreck their coUin — the wild sea their tomb. XVI. SOLENT SEA.— ROYAL REGATTA. AVitli flowing sail our vessel cleaves the tide, And from the deck, in prospect opening wide, }?road on the bow, increasing to the view, 4375 Veda, thy cliffs are seen of paly blue. Now issuing from the Solent sea,* behold A gorgeous fleet diffusing rays of gold O'er the proud waves — crowds line the windingshore^ And echoing thunders from the ba. tions roar. High in the midst, with banner'd prow, appears 'I'he royal yacht that England's monarch bears ; Imperial Brunswick, on his genuine throne, A war-ship's deck, with all t'le sea his own. • Th« Solent sea is the channel between the lole of Wight and Haiuiibhue. i r'l| i i ii: I •230 THE AMERICAN MARINERS. Ikitannia ! rise ; awake, O fairest Isle, 4385 Rehold thy wooden walls, a floating pile, In steady phalanx round their Sovereign keep, AVhose star adorns the billows of the deep. Now as we thread the throntj;, a thousand eyes Pursue our warlike vessel as she flies. And of one origin, rejoice again Strength to confer on Amity's bright chain. Then, as we pass amidst the royal fleet. Our guns great Albion's princely standard greet. From whose bright-blazon'd realm we proudly draw Our arms, our sacred liberty, and law. XVII. SPITHEAD.—COMING TO AN ANCHOR. Thy point, O Dunnose, weather'd, to the gale AVe closely haul, and trim full oft the sail, Tiie port to gain unfolding to the sight Its lordly hulls, and masts of towering height, 4400 >Vhere England's proud armada on the tide, Her floating fortresses, serenely ride. THE AMERICAN MARINERS. 231 43B& With topsails on the cap, our way we keep Where the lone mast emerges from the deep.* ' A sad memorial of the sudden doom 4405 That gave to Kempenfelt a watery tomb, Blest had he, nobly prodigal of breath. On the proud deck of battle met his death. Now, as we pass the beacons of the bay, Our prow the pinnace crosses in her way 441Q With long resounding oar— whose clieerfu! rrew In garb and face present a kindred hue. . . » Now peal our guns, and as the clouds aspire. Loud from the bastion bursts the answering 'ire. While the proud banner from the stall' unroll'd, Flag of the Union, opening many a fold. Resplendent gleams — the lofty sails decline, And the huge ancliors dash tlie foaming brine. My voyiige ends : — freed from the sea's alarms. Around her child the mother tlirovvs her arms, * On die 29th of Auj^ust, 17^2, the Royal George of 100 guns, beiiiK on the heel at Spithead, in order to repair some of her copper, a sudden squall threw her on her beam-ends, and her lower dock guns being run out, the water rushed with s\ich rapidity in at the ports, that she filled and sunk. Of 700 persons on board 400 perished, among whom was Admiral licmpenfelt ; the rest were picked up by the boats of the fleet. Her masts remained standing for a consider,- Me time, but were at length removed, and a buoy is placed over the hull. ■i in 232 THE AMERICAN MARINERS And, as the treasure to the heart I prest. To heav'n directs her eye with grateful breast. Then, as the pinnace rocks upon the tides, On the ship's ladder many a hoverer glides. And many a pious vow my shipmates pour 4425 In the sad trial of the parting hour. Still lingering at the side, I liold the hand Of the great leader of the naval band, And Hampden — Randolph — bid a last adieu — The gay lieutenants of a gallant crew. 4430 High on the yards, beneath the noon-tide gale, The toiling tars reduce the flapping sail "With eager hand ; — the mother to me bears Her hope, the solace of my drooping years, To hold her forward, as the fleet boat flies, 4435 With one last look to glad the s^ailors' eyes ! The ringlets from the fondling's face I throw*, And bare the cheek of smiles, which laughs below- Modest and mild she waves her little hai\d — It sounds — the farewell of the free-born band- Again, again, again, the sliouts they urge .Shake the wide shore, and raise the iuavinu surge. THE END. THE NATURAL BRIDGE. AN ODE. Come on, sir ; here's the place ! ^i ! I if m ii r ll m ti ■-I INTRODUCTORY REMARK. b; I The Rock Bridge in Virginia is a structure of such symmetry, that it seems rather to have been formed by the harmonizing hand of Nature, than produced by one of her awful convulsions. It is on the ascent of a hill, and affords a road to the waggons of the emigrants into the country west of the Alleghany. No man ever yet played the hero on the top of this Bridge ; for no one ever had the courage to walk to the parapet and look over from the precipice into the abyss ; but all involun- tarily fall on their hands and knees to gaze. You descend into the valley, by a narrow, serpentine path, through a thicket of treca which terminates at the very instant when the whole fabric with its broad abutments and lofty arch, spanning a rivulet murmuring over its rocky bed, bursts on the astonished sight. A negro boy once following liis master to this point, no sooner caught a glance of the pile than he fell upon his knees, and remained fixed for some time in wonder and admiration. DIMENSIONS: Feel Depth of the Arch 270 Width at the top 90 Width between the abutments at the base . 50 THE NATURAL BRIDGE. ANODE. When Fancy left her native skies To visit earth, before unseen, She bade the swelling fabric rise In this sequestered, sylvan scene. Eacli comely Grace, with spritely air, Appear'd beneath the hanging wood, Forming the arch with nicest care. To span the laughing valley flood. Then Fancy, from the pile above, Would muse transported, bending o'er. And rapt behold the current rove. While jocund Echo mock'd its roar. And, here, perhaps, the Indian stood. With hands upheld, and e}e amaz'd. As, sudden, from the devious wood. He first upon the fabric gaz'd ! See Tadmor's domes, and halls of state. In undistinguish'd ruin lie ; See Rome's proud columns yield to fate And claim the pensive pilgrim'.'^ sigh. I I I i! li •U 236 NEGRO SONG. But while consnming Time impairs The monuments of human art, This pile unfading grandeur wearsy Jtiternal in its every part. GREEK VERSION OF A NEGRO SONG, From Mr. Purk't Travels^ *' The winds roared, and the rains fell. ** The poor white man, faint and weary, ** came and sat under our tree, Ac. Kai KATE^ti ^ Bfox/lt Kixi i'lrfsvaat ol a»E/xoi, K») th^UII y^tVK*^ U\lY)^ IX»vS^ETO VfTO TO ^it^fOV rtfjLUv' Ai a,i ih*iu^i^x tod o^oiTro^-oy' tavra jMi» Written at Sea. Latitude 4.').. 30 N. Longitiuk 26..3U W. II'' NAVAL ANNALS OB, AN IMPARTIAL SUMMARY OF THK ACTIONS FOUGHT, DURING THE LATE WAR, AT SEA, AND ON THE LAKES, BETWEEN THE SHIPS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND THOSE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Tro» TyrJusve mihi nullo disrrimine agctur. to me the same, Your Troy and Tyre shall aiifer but in name. FXTT. if i.l A I 1 MR. BURKE'S EULOGY AUt THE SPJAMEN OF AMERICA. Pass by the other ■parts of the Continent, and look at the manner in which the mariners of New England have of laic carried on the Whale Fishery. Whilst we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetratiiiy into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Daviss Streights, whilst we are looking for them beneath the Arctic Circle, uv hear that they have pierced into the opposite regions of polar cold, that they are at the Antipodes, and engaged under the Frozen Serpent of the South. Falkland Islands, which seems too remote and romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and vesting-pUtee in the progress of their victoriovs industry. Nor is the equi- noctial heat more discouraging to them than the accuvnilated winter of both the poles. We know that nhilst some of them draw the line and strike the harpoon on the CoaH of Africa, others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game chnuj the Coast of Brazil. No sea but is vexed by their fisheries. No climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of English enterprize, ever car- ried this most perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people ; a people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood. Address to the Electors of Bristol. CA. id look at the I haveoflnu > them umovg » penetratiiiy t and Dnvii's h the Antic iosite rcffionx and enyaycil '»nd Islands, or the ffraup ing-pUtcp. in is the ci/tii- xcnntiuldted (nneoft/ieiii t of Africa, f/nme r/ovy ir Jishcries. Neither the ice, nor the ?, ever car- • the extent ' ; a people t hardened >f Brisiol. NAVAL ANNALS. June 18, The Orders in Council, though ostensibly a 1812. belligerent retaliation on the Berlin and Milan Decrees, operate so severely on the neutral and maritime rights of America, that to vindicate her lawful claim to a participation of the common ocean, she has recourse to arms ;* and, with comparatively a nominal navy, of 8 frigates and 6 sloops, declares war against Great Britain, whose disposable naval force consists of 200 ships of iJie line, 20 fifty-gun ships, 220 frigates, and 250 sloops, ex- clusively of other vessels. It is the general expectation that the infant navy of the Republic will be swept from the sea. July 16. The American sloop of war Nautilus, is cap- tured by a British squadron. • On this subject the President of the United States thus addresses his fellow citizens : " We forebore to declare war until to other aj?- " gressions had been added the capture of nearly 1000 American " vessels, and until a final declaration had been made by the Govern- " ment of Great Britain, that her hostile orders against our commerce " would not be revoked, but on conditions as impossible as unjust, '' whilst it was known that these Orders would not otherwise cease " but with war, tchich had lasted nearly twenty years, and which ac- " cording to appearance at that time, might last as many more. Our " resolution, therefore, to oppose the enemy's persevering outrages, " must carry with it the good wishes of the impartial world, and the " best hopes of support from an omnipotent and just Providence." ! ' 1 * I//! y^ 240 NAVAL ANNAI.S. > ' 17. Tlie American frigate Constitution, Captain Isaac Hull, in going from Lynnhaven Bay to Boston, is be- calmed olT the Capes of Virginia, in sight of the Africa of 64 guns, the Guerriere, the Shannon, the Belvidera, and the Eolus, British frigates. The boats of the squadron take in tow two of the frigates, which get for a short time within gnn shot of the Constitution ; but, by the nautical skill and promptitude of Mr. Aylwin, the master, she, by kedging and other admirable manoeuvres, eflccts her escape, after having been chased sixty-four hours. August Id. The British sloop of war Alert, Captain Laugharne, is captured by the American frigate Essex, Captain David Porter. il • 15, The whole coast of Nova Scotia, from Canso to Cane Sable, swarms with American privateers, who give the British cruizers incessant employment, and, in spite of their utmost vigilance, pick up valuable trading ships. 17. Arrived at Annapolis, the American privateer schooner Rolla, Captain Dewly, from a cruize. In a heavy gale at sea ail her guns were thrown overboard, except the Long Tom, but the ardour of her officers and crew (in all sixty) remained unabated ; for they captured from the Cork fleet, without the loss of a man, the ship Mary, of Bristol, of 14 guns, with hardware and crates ; ship Eliza, of the same port, 10 guns, viith 20,000 bushels of wheat ; ship Rio Nova, of Loudon, 13 guns, with dry goods ; ship Apollo, of the same port, deeply laden with king's stores ; brig Barossa, of Cork, 6 guns, with beef; NAVAL ANNALS. 241 fchooner Svvift, of Plymouth, and another belonging to Aberdeen. ACTION UETWEEN THE GUERRIERE AND CONSTITUTION. 19. The British frigate Guerriere, Captain Dacres, returning from a cruize in the Atlantic to Halifax, is taken by the American frigate Constitution, Captain Hull, after a severe conflict, in which the English ship was totally dismay i a. With a fresh breeze from the N. W. and cloudy weather, at 2 in the afternoon, the sailor on the look-out from the mast-head of the Consti- tution, descried a vessel in the S. W. when all sail was made towards her ; and, between 3 and 4, she was dis- tinguished to be a frigate close-hauled upon the star- board-tack, under an easy sail. When Captain Hull came within about three miles of her, he took in his light sails, and hauled up bis courses. He then cleared ship for action, and, on beating to quarters, the American crew gave three cheers, and called out to be laid close alongside the enemy ; unawed by the attitude of the Guerriere, Mho had now laid her main-top-sail to tho' mast, and displayed that flag which had annihilated the proud armadas of France and Spain. The fact is that tlie men and the ships of both naUous arc made of tha R ii i 111 !■ J 7^ *2\'2 VAVAL ANNALS, ■1 1. ' '» ijame sterling carpentry — the heart of oak ;— and that yankey tars possess capabilities for rivalling the most celebrated achievements ever performed on sea by their <listinguished progenitors. There were eight American seamen on board Ihe GucW^re, who had been several years in her. As the Constitution was bearinj; down under American colours, Captain Dacres with exemplary liberality ordered the word to be passed fore and aft to the crew assembled at their guns, that the services of the Americans would be dispensed with ; and they all went joyfully below, except one poor fellow, who, stationed on the forecastle, did not hear the tidings, but remained at liis quarters during the action an involuntary foe to the flag that he rallied round in heart. The Guerriere was the first fhat fired ; at 4 as the Constitution was closing fast, she wore to avoid being raked, and at 10 minutes past 4 began to open the fire of her main-deck guns. The Constitution did not return her opponent's fire for ten minutes, when the two ships exchanged broadsides, and manoeuvred to obtain advantageous positions. At 5 the Constitution closed on the starboard beam of the Guer- riere, with the evident design of crossing her bow; when the Guerriere bearing up, the two ships entered warmly into the contest, broadside and broadside, within half- pistol-shot, steering free, with the wind on the quarter, under top- sails and jib. The American now poured in so heavy afire upon her adversary, that, in twenty mi- nutes from the time of engaging alongside, the mizen- m?\st of the English ship went by the board, falling over on the starboard quarter, tind bringing the ship up in the w? NAVAL ANNALS. 242r ! t, -and that ; the most ea by iheir t American en several irinj; down exemplary and aft to vices of the ey all went tationed on emained at ' foe to the erriere wai* vBS closing 10 minutes guns. The fire for ten dsides, and }. At 5 the if the Guer- bow; when red warmly within half- he quarter, V poured in I twenty mi- the mizen- falling over lip up in the the wind. Upon this accident, Captain Hull luffed the Constitution short round, and placing her on the Guer- riere's larboad bow, opered a dreadful raking fire with his great guns, while the rifle-men from the tops took de- liberate and effectual aim at the English officers and ciew. It is, I believe, a practice peculiar to the Ame- rican navy, that eight men are stationed in each top with rifles ; of whom six are constantly employed in loading for the other two who are reputed the most dexterous marksmen. It was at this juncture that Mr. Ready, the lieutenant who commanded the main-deck-guns onboard the Guerriere, was killed, and Mr. Grant, who directed those on the forecastle, was carried below badly wounded ; while Mr. Scott, the master, was shot through the knee, and Mr. Kent, the first lieutenant, together with Captain Dacres received rifle-shot wounds. While the Guerriere lay exposed to the heavy raking fire of the American, she could bring only a few of her bow guns to bear in return ; and at length fell on board of the enemy, her bowsprit getting foul of the Constitution's larboard mizen-rigging. The American now shewed a disposition to board the Guerriere, when Captain Dacres ordered his crew up from the main- deck gims to anticipate them in the act ; but perceiving the Constitution's deck crowded with men prepared to resist, he judged his force too dispropor- tionate, and that the assault would probably not suc- ceed ; ■■ and the ship coming to, he brought some of his * Throu8;hout my relation I have not tlepaitecl ftom the letter of the British official documents; and I now cite tha words of ray autho- r2 H M V.i ly I 244 NAVAL ANNALS. bow guns to bear again upon tbe Constitution. Scarcely bad the Guerriere shot a-head clear of her opponent, when her foro and main-masts went over the side taking along with them every spar but the bowsprit. Notwith- standing the crippled state of his ship, Captain Dacres with inflexible resolution, persisted in defending her ; he did not relinquish the hope of getting the ship under command to renew the action ; but just as the crew had disengaged the guns on the spar-deck from the wreck of the fallen masts, the sprit-sail yard went, leaving her an unmanageable log on the water. Meantime Captain Hi'U, having rove new braces, put his helm a-weather, filled his sails, and laid the Constitution athwart hawse of the Guerriere, who, now dismasted and defenceless, lay in the trough of the sea, rolling the muzzles of her main- deck guns under water. Incapacitated for further re- sistance, there was no alternative but to strike the colours ; and, at 45 minutes after 6, Captain Dacres, with the concurrence of liis few remaining oflicers, fired a gun to leeward, and gave orders for the jack to be lowered from the stump of the mizen-mast. The Guerriere had 15 men killed and 63 wounded ; the Constutition 7 killed, and the same number wounded. Such was the result of ft ,:*' rity for this particular part.: " It was my intention, after having *' driven back the enemy, to have boarded in return ; and, in consc- *' quence, I ordered down the Urst lieutenant on the main-deck, to " send every body up from tlic jj^uns ; but finding his deck fiMod with " men, and every preparation made to receive us, it would have *' been almost impossible to succeed." English Commander's Address to tlic Court. NAVAL ANNALS. 245 the first encounter between the naval flags '»f the two nations. England, accustomed to victory only on her own element, received the intelligence with surprize and disappointment; while America, with the vanity natural to a rising maritime state, boasted that she had broken the spell of her invincibility on the ocean. Those who, to conceal their chagrin, afl'ected to despise the success of the Americans in this combat as petty and unimportant in its consequences, were not just to the interests of Great Britain. It gave an impulse to the navy of the only nation that can ever hope to dispute with her the sovereignty of the waters. The keels of twelve line of battle ships, and of twenty-four frigates, were or- dered to be laid down in the navy yards at New York, Portsmouth, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, and Norfolk. It established an implement of defence suited to the prejudices of the people, and the character of their country ; and the hostile attitude taken at sea by this new power was not to answer a temporary purpose, but one that would find, in the resources of the commonwealth, support and renovation. This victory rankled deeply in the bosoms of the English, and they were content to charge themselves with laxity of naval discipline and neglect of gubnery, rather than the slightest glory should be ex- torted by the countrymen of Washington. As hitherto single British ships had always beaten the single ships of France and Holland, of Portugal and Spain; critical judgment was exercised io discover what could produce this anomaly. Some writers pretended to detect the secret in the thicker sides of the American ; some in the I, It Mi t /, i I 24G NAVAL ANNALS. ■ li desperate co-operation of English seamen on board, who fought with halters round their necks ; some, with revolt- ing absurdity, asserted the Constitution was a seventy- four in disguise, notwithstanding a frigate had held a tug with her two hours and forty-five minutes ; and others eager, quocunque modo,to blast Hull's laurels, insidiously pronounced him « player at long howls, when his close iighting bore a strong analogy to slugs in a sawpit. Tii the heat of passion, or the absence of candour, all over- looked that the crews of both ships proceeded from the same stock, and were of one common origin. The firing on both sides having ceased, Captain Hull set his courses, and hauled to the eastward, to repair the damages which his ship had sustained in the action : some of his spars had been shot away, and much of his standing and running rigging cut to pieces. At 7, having sufficiently refitted, he wore, and standing under the lee of the prize, sent his boats for the captain, the officers, and seamen. And now as the crews of the two ships mingled, the cflect must have been touchingly impressive. A tender sentiment of sorrow could not but steal on the breasts of the sailor crowd, that men demonstrably de- signed by Nature to be brothers, in the unequivocal identity of language, look, air, and mien, should so far forget the relations that subsisted between thera, as to meet in hostile array. The moon encircled by the spark- ling constellations illuminated a serene sky, and the repose of night spread over the ocean formed an affecting contrast with the anguish of the wounded and the bustle of the boatmen conveying them from one ship to the i; NAVAL ANNALS, 247 other. The important operation of removing the wounded occupied several hours ; the Constitution vrearing occa- sionally to obtain an eligible position, and facilitate tho. coming alongside of the cutters, the barge, and the yawl. The last boat had scarcely delivered her freight, when, about midnight, a sail was discovered on the larboard beam, standing in a direction towards the Constitution ; and the officers and crew, without having reposed after their toils, went with great alacrity to their quarters, and prepared again for battle and for conquest. In less than an hour the strange sail hauled her wind, and stood off. The Guerriere had received many shot in her hull ; tliirty had taken efl'ect at about three sheets of copper from her water-line. The mizen-mast in falling had perforated her starboard counter,' and Mr. Adams, the carpenter of the Constitution, in reporting the damages sustained by the prize, declared it to be his opinion that she could not be made sea-worthy to take into port. Of this there was soon full confirmation; for, at daylight. Lieutenant ►Saunders, who had charge of the Guerriere, hailed the (Constitution, to inform Captain Hull that she had four feet water in the hold, and was in a sinking condition. All hands were now actively employed in removing the remainder of the crew from the prize ; and at a signal from the Constitution, Mr. Saunders set fire to the Guerriere, and she soon after blew up. ¥ // I I- ■ I fc'i 1^ '27. The Constitution arrives at Boston, and, in going up the harbour, is saluted from the forts amidst the hearty, unanimous; and repeated cheers of a hundred MBB 245 NAVAL ANNALS. thousand citizens on the wharves, the shipping and the house-tops. 28. Thomas King, an American youth, makes bis escape, in an open boat, from Bermuda to the Capes of Virginia.* Being confined on board a prison-ship in Harrington Sound, he watched the coming alongside of the cutter, and, as the crew left the boat, slipped into her from the gangway-port, and, setting the sail, committed himself to the mercy of the ocean. He had provided him- self with a small pocket compass, and concealed in his dress some biscuit ; — the boat being ballasted with kegs of sweet water, he was in no want of drink. In this boat, so inconsiderable in size, as not to exceed twelve feet in length, he was 8 days and 8 nights a pilgrim of the great deep, with no other society but sometimes a petrel, or the leviathan rising from his unfathomable home. '•' H 29. The American squadron, composed of the Presi- dent, Commodore Rodgers, the United States, Captain Decatur, the Congress, Captain Smith, the Hornet sloop, Capt. Lawrence, and the Argus, Capt. Sinclair, arrive at Boston from a cruize. They had been 70 days at sea, during which time they had run to the chops of the English Channel, along the coast of France, Spain, and Portugal, to within 10 leagues of the Rock of Lisbon, to the vicinity of the Azores, and back by the banks and coast of Nova * The Bermuda Isles are situated in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 720 miles S. E. from Uie Capes of Virginia, NAVAL ANNALS. 241> Scotia to Boston, without meeting a single British na- tional vessel, except the Belvldera, with which the Pre- sident had a running fight of some hours. October 8. The American frigate Essex, 32 guu9. Captain David Porter, sails from the Capes of Delaware^ on a cruize round Cape Horn, in the Pacific Ocean. : rf\i ACTION BETWEEN THE FROLIC AND WASP. 18. The British sloop of war Frolic, Captain Whyniatesr, in convoying to England some vessels from the Bay of Honduras, is taken by the American sloop of war Wasp, Captain Jones, after a close and bloody action. The Frolic left the Bay on the 12th with 14 sail of merchant- men, and, when oft" the north coast of Cuba, spoke a shij> that imparted the intelligence of the war with Americn, and the capture of the Guerriere. On the night of the 16th, when far advanced in the Atlantic, a heavy gale dispersed the convoy, and carried away the Frolic's main-yard in the slings: nor was the Wasp without her disasters ; she lost her jib -boom and two men overboard. On the morning of the 18th, as the crew of the Frolic were at work on the main-yard, which was lowered down on deck, a suspicious sail hove in sight. Six sail of the acattered convoy had rejoined, who, on the stranger not rl k>?' ! ii ^ f h ■ n 1 :■ "■ • u - < 1 1 i 1 250 yAVAL ANNALS, answering the private signal made her by the Frolic, crowded all sail ; while Captain Whyniates dropped astern, and hoisted Spanish colours, partly to draw tho enemy under his guns, and partly to divert his attention from the convoy. As soon as Captain Jon«s discovered the true character of the vessels in sight, he no longer kept on a wind, but bore down on the sloop of war with the American jack, ensign, and pendant flying ; and, at 10 in the forenoon, both vessels being within hail. Captain Whyniates hauled down Spanish colours, hoisted the British ensign, [and opened so well directed a fire, that the raain-top-mast of the Wasp was shot away, and, falling with the main-top-sail yard across the larboard fore and fore-top-sail braces, rendered her head yards of no avail during the remainder of the action. A constant iire was now kept up on both sides, and the sea was so rough, that the muzzles of the guns were rolled under water. The Frolic lay exposed to the raking broadsides of the Wasp, unable to bring a gun to bear in return ; and, at length, fell with her bowsprit between the Ame- rican's main and mizen rigging, the jib-boom entering directly over the heads of Captain Jones, and his first lieutenant Biddle, who were then standing together, near the capstan. The two vessels were now so near one another, that, in loading, the crew of the Wasp pushed their rammers against the Frolic's side, and pointed two of their main-deck guns through her bow- ports. Of 110 men on board the Frolic at the begiuning of the action, only 20 now remained unhurt. Mr. M'Kay, the first lieutenant, and Mr. Stephens, the master, were NAVAL ANNALS. 251 ow so near mortally wounded. Mr. Wintle, the second lieutenant, had two balls in him, besides being wounded by three others, and Captain Whyniates had not escaped the ritle-shot of the enemy. The dead lay buried under the wreck of the masts and spars that had fallen ou their lifeless bodies : the cock-pit and birth deck were^ crowded with those who had resigned their breath since they had been carried below, with the dying, and with others languishing under the severity of their sufferings. The fire of the Frolic was now nearly silenced, and as the swell of the sea brought the two vessels in contact, the lieutenants Biddle and Rodgers mounted on the hammock-cloth to board. Having got on the Frolic's bowsprit, they passed over the bodies of the slain on the forecastle, along the waist, to the quarter-deck ; where they were much surprized at not seeing a single person alive, except the Captain and the man at the wheel. As Lieutenant Biddle advanced. Captain Whyniates made a slight inclination of his body as a sign of surrender. His colours, lashed with determined bravery to the main- rigging, were still flying over their intrepid defender ; and, on Lieutenant Biddle ordering the surviving sailor to strike them, the British tar replied, with an unsub- dued spirit, " As you have possession of the brig, you '' may do it yourself." The vessels had scarcely sepa- rated, when both masts of the Frolic fell upon deck ; and, two hours afterwards, the Poictiers of 74 guns, Captain Beresford, heaving in sight, took. one wreck, and re-cap- tured the other. It is remarkable that in this action the Americans had only 5 men killed, and 5 wounded. K / i ifm mm 232 NAVAL ANNALS. V ACTION Between the Macedonian and the United Statef, October 25. The British frigate, Macedonian, Captain Carden, having convoyed an India ship to a certain latitude, in proceeding to her station on the American coast, falls in with the American frigate United States, Captain Decatur, and is taken after an obstinate en<;age- ment. The Macedonian being about half way t. ween the Cape de Verd Islands and the Azores, steering N.W. by W. with the wind from the southward, and a heavy sea running ; about day-light a sail was seen on the Ice- beam, which she immediately stood fur, and in a short time the stranger was made out to be a large frigate, under American colours. About 9, as the Macedonian was bearing down to bring the enemy to action, Decatur opened the fire of his main-deck, and such was the pre- cision of his broadside, that it disabled all the guns on the quarter-deck and forecastle of the Macedonian on the engaging side. The action now commenced between the two ships, and, the nearer they approached, tlie more furious it grew; till, on lying alongside of one another, the superior force of the United States became manifest in the havoc which she made on board the Macedonian ; shooting away her mizen-mast by the board, her fore and main-top-masts by the caps, her main-yard in the slings, and wounding badly her lower-musts; besides NAVAL ANNALS. 2aa Ioclgin<i^ several shot in her hull between wind and water, cutting her lower-rigging in pieces, and the fore-sail from the yard ; and, at the same time, disabling all the cannonades on the upper battery but two, tO}?cther with two eighteen pounders on the main-deck. The destruc- tion among the crew was proportionably great : humanity shudders at the recital. Thirty-three men lay dead on the decks of the Macedonian, and sixty-eight were wounded, of whom thirtv-six were carried down into the cockpit. Meantime the United States was compara- tively uninjured. She had sustained little or no damap;e in her masts and spars ; no accident had occurred on her decks; not a rope-yarn of her gun-tackle had been strained ; and, though engaged for more than two hours, the only diminution snfl'ered in her crew was 5 killed, and 7 wounded. While the Macedonian, reduced to a wreck, was lying unmanageable on the water, the United States shot ahead, and Decatur was about to place his ship in a raking position, when Captain Garden, incapa' cltated for further resistance, had no alternative but to surrender. It is the opinion of Americans, that the sus- tained fire of the United States for two hours was never equalled by a single deck ; and, that in all the actions which have been fought at sea. no frigate ever exhibited such consummate gunnery. Though in the presence of an enemy, whose ilag for centuries had carried terror with it over the ocean, it is said that Decatur's crew >ye!it into battle with a confidence in their own superi- ority; thatthey jested in the act of firing their guns ; and that the sailor who pointed the cannon which shot away i ) I 1 I' '- ' : 254 NAVAL ANNALS. the Macedonian's mizen-mast, called out to liis com- rades, as it fell over her side, *' Look, messmates, I have usade a brig of her!" There was a musical band on board the Macedonian, fioraposed of eight Germans. It was a maxim of their policy to play for the strongest party ; and, on the sur- render of the ship, they deserted to the enemy and cele- brated his triumph. The Macedonian being almost a new frigate, Captain Decatur felt very solicitous to get his prize into port ; and his first lieutenant, Mr. Allen, used such diligence to render her sea-worthy, that, in forty-eight hours, he succeeded with his seamen in raising a jury mizen mast, swaying up a fore and main-top-mast, crossing lower and top-sail yards, and bending new sails ; so that she soon again had the appearance rather of a ship thatinvited an action, than of one just come out of it. The good fortune of Decatur attended him into port, where he arrived with his prize, in spite of the British squadrons that hovered on the coast. ACTION BETWEEN THE JAVA AND CONSTITUTION. December 29. The British frigate Java, Captain Lam- bert, is taken, off Saint Salvador, on the Coast of Brazil, by the American frigate Constitution, Captain Bain- KAVAL ANNALS. 255 bridge, after a protracted and deadly conflict. Tlie Java was on her passage to the East Indies, having on board Lieutenant-general liyslop, appointed governor of Bombay, Major Walker and Captain Wood of his staff, and Captain Marshall of the navy, going out to take the command of a sloop of war. She sailed from Spithead on the 12th of November, with two outward-bound In- dianien that availed themselves of her com oy ; and, about the middle of December, captured an American ^hip called the William. On the 24th, the Java, parting company with her friends, stood in for St. Salvador to obtain a supply of water, and, on the 2Qth, when close in with the coast, having her prize in tow, at 9 in the morn- ing the Constitution hove in sight in a S. S. W. direction, and the Hornet sloop. Captain Lawrence, appeared at the same time off the bay of All Saints, who was coming out to seek his consort in the offing. Captain Lambert immediately cast off the priee, (which, standing in for St. Salvador, was re-taken by the Hornet,) while he made all sail in chase of the Constitution to leeward. It blew a moderate breeze from the N. E. the sky was clear, and the water smooth* At 1 1 the stranger was made out on board the Java to be a large frigate, standing towards her under an easy sail ; and not having answered the private signal, Captain Lambert took in his studding sails and prepared for action. At noon, when the two ships were distant from one another about 4 miles, Captain Bain- bridge hove about, and made all sail from the Java on the other tack, keeping good full under his royals ; his ob- ject in this feint being to draw the Java ofi'from tb« neutral (•5 I I'll i J 1} ( ''i 2o0 NAVAL ANNALS. coast, and separate licr entirely from her conipanion, of whose real character he could form no precise estimate. Captain Lambert hauled up in pursuit, but, the breeze freshening, was obliged to furl his royals; the Java was now going at least ten knots through the water, and fore* reaching sensibly upon the chase. In about another hour, having closed with her to about two miles, she took in her spanker and royals, hoisted an American ensign and pendant, and, heaving in stays, stood towards the Java ; the two ships bad now gained a good offing, being full thirty-six raiies from the cnast. The Java, taking in her light sails, and hoisting her colcurs, bore down on the Constitution, who was keeping her luiF about three points on the lee bow ; and, at 2 in the afternoon, when half a mile apart, received the fire of the enemy, which the Java returned, on his weather-bow, within pistol-shot. The first broadside from the Java killed four seamen, and difiablf ' the Constitution's wheel ; and, as the smoke cleared away, she was perceived yawing broad round, in evident confusion. The Java made sail after her, and a brisk cannonading ensued between them, during which both ships were manoeuvred witli consummate nautical zWW. There was, however, a disparity in the execution of their broadsides ; lor while the C »nstitulion sustained no damage in her spars, the Java had her jib-boom shot away, together with the head of her bowsprit ; and her running rigging was likewise so ninch cut, that it was not practicable lor her to preserve any longer the weatlicr- gage. It was now that Bainhridge signalized his sea- manship, and by skiltully improving so favourable a I NAVAL ANNALS. 257 conjuncture for acquiring an ascendency over his enemy. He dexterously wore the Constitution in the smoke, and» unperceived, had nearly got her about on the other tack, before the helm of the Java could be clapt a-lee ; and though it was immediately put hard down in the hope of getting th« ship round quick enough to avoid her anta- gonist's impending fire, she, in consequence of her defec- tive braces, missed stays, and, during the interval that she hung in the wind, received through her stern a heavy raking broadside from the whole range of the Constitu- tion's starboard tier ; the Java was now obliged to wear, and, in falling off, fired her larboard guns. At this period of the action, some bar-shot having fallen out of the Java's foremast, by her rolling, the captain of the forecastle, one Wm. Speedy, picked them up, put them into his gun, and sent them back again to the American. Bainbridge had hitherto fired high, with the view of ren- dering the Java unmanageable by disabling her in her spars and rigging ; and having sufficiently accomplish'^d his object, he set his fore and main-sail, and luffed up to her, so as to get her deck within reach of the rifle-men who crowded his tops ; and, now, having assumed a raking position, the attack of the Constitution became doubly destructive to the Java, whos« lower masts began to toiter under the fire of her great guns, while her officers and seamen sufiVre 1 severely from the play of her mus- ketry. At 3 the Constitution had gained so great an a.Hccndancy by the execution of her guns, that Captain Lambert determined on boarding, as the only hope he h;Mj It't't of successfully (erminailng the conflict. Pot > ni !2o8 NAVAl. ANNALS. h 4 I'' this purpose tlic 9ear>^ cu and marines were collected on the gangway and forecastle of the Java, and her helm was put a-weather to lay the American abreast of the main> chains ; but an unlucky broadside from her dis- concerted the design by shooting away the Java's fore- mast by the board, which, nodding aft in its descent, stove in the boats stowed midships on the booms, and, falling through on the main-deck, disabled several of the starboard guns wkh the wreck; while, in aggravation of the disaster, the sWmp of her bowsprit passed over the Constitution's taflFarel, and got foul of her mizen-rigging, when the Americans running out their stern chasers, raked her fore and aft with round and grape, mtu) shot away in succession her main-top-mast somewhat above the cap, and her gaff and spanker-boom. As soon as the two ships became disentangled, Bainbridge wore under the stern of the Java, and laying the Constitution on her starboard quarter, poured in a tremendous fire from his whole broadside, while the English frigate, rendered nearly ungovernable, could never get more than two or iliree guns to bear in return. It was in this exposed condition that a rille-bullet, fired from the main-top of the Constitution, entered the left breast of Captain Lam bert, and lodged in his spine ; he fell on the quarter- deck, mortally wounded, and was borne down the lad- der by some sailors to the cockpit, which was already crowded with wounded and dying men. The anxiety ot these poor fellows for the event of the engagement is truly memorable. While laid on their pallets, they were attentive, even under the anguish of bodily suUerint^, to NAVAL ANNALS. 259 the fire of the maiu-deek guns ; and, whenever it sensibly slackened, they raised a feeble cheer, and incited their shipmates to perseverance with their dying breath. Upon the fall of Captain Lambert, the command devolved on Mr. Chads, the first lieutenant, an officer of great experience, activity, and resolution, who inflexibly per- sisted in fighting the ship even after she was reduced to a wreck on the water ; and were not his extraordinary defence of the Java authenticated by unquestionable testimony, the recital would carry with it a marvellous air. In sustaining the heavy fire of the Constitution's concentrated broadside, the raizen-mast of the Java went nearly by the board ; she then fell oil" a little, and the American shooting ahead, the two frigates were brought again opposed to one another, broadside and broadside. Enabled, by this position, to bring his guns once more to bear. Lieutenant Chads, with only one mast standing, renewed the action with an intrepidity of spirit, which, if it did not ensure success, at least deserved it ; and it will scarcely be any hyperbole to assert, that he fought in a blaze of heroism ; for, during the renovated combat, which lasted half an hour, his ship was frequently in llames from the crew being obliged to fire their guns through the wreck of the masts. In this new struggle the Constitution, having sustained considerable injury in her rigging, made sail ahead ovtt of gun-shot, and hove to, in order to reeve new braces, and repair other damages aloft ; leaving the Java a wreck on the water, with her nifiin-inast tottering, and her main-yard gone in the slinks. During; this pause, Lieutciiaut Cnads, his oili- s2 ^b 260 NAVAL ANNALS. ;l cers, and ^rew, exerted themselves to clear the wreck, and get the ship before the wind. Though the main-yard was shot in the slings, the weather yard-arm still re- mained aloft, und they were enabled to bring the main- tack forward. This gave the ship steerage-way ; and having unstowed the booms, they got out a spare top- gallant mast, and began to rig it as a jury fore-mast; substituting a lower-studding sail for a fore course. But in the height of their toil, their attention was diverted to the main-mast, which, from the heavy rolling of the ship, was becoming every moment more unstable; and it was found expedient to anticipate the fall of the mast in- board, by cutting it away. The Java was now reduced to a hull, bare and unmanageable. There was not left on her standing a mast or spar of any kind. Six of the quarter-deck guns^ and four of those on the fore- castle, were dismounted : several on the maiu-deck lay buried and useless under the accumulated wreck of the spars, blocks, and cordage, that lumbered the planks fore and aft : and the hull, greatly shattered, was making water, with one pump shot away. Still, in this mutilated state, Lieutenant Chads k-ept his fl-ag flying, and re-loaded his guns, awaiting the attack of the enemy, who had now wore, and was standing again towards him: meantime he mustered his men at their quarters, and, on calling over their names, found 1 10 missing. It was at this af- fecting period that James Humble, the boatswain, whose left hand had been carried away by a grape-shot, re- turned on deck from the cockpit, with a tourniquet on the stump of the boue, which lie supported in the bosom of s '^ NAVAL ANNALS. 2S!1 his shirt. There arc few able to enter into the feelings of an officer whose ship is dismasted in a combat, while that of his opponent is entire in her spars. If the wreck of the disabled masts hangs over the side from whence the fire of the guns is maintained, resistance is necessa- rily controuled and hazardous ; some of the canron are rendered nugatory, and the flash from the few that can be served often produces a conflagration. Every at- tempt to point the guns with precision is counteracted by the heavy rolling of the naked hull ; for the ship, being without canvas to steady her, dips iheir muzzles into the water at every reeling motion. While the Java was in this perplexity, Bainbridge, in the Constitution, tri- umphant and unhurt, was about to resume a raking po- sition athwart her bow : arty further resistance in Lieu- tenant Ch'^ds would have been to bury his crew in an unfathomable and inevitable grave ; and humanity inter- posed to tear down the flag which valour had nailed to the remains of the mast. In this place it may not be improper to state the com- parative dimensions and armament of the two frigates ; and as, by a singular coincidence, the Constitution and the United States are sister ships, and the Guerriere, the Macedonian, and thr Java, all of one class, the esti- mate will serve for gent ial reference : i 1^ 26-2 NAVAL ANNALS. DIMENSIONS OF THE FRIGATES IN HULL. English. Ft. In. 154 I Length of main-deck from rabbit to rabbit Breadth, extreme Thickness of top-sides, at mid-ship > main-deck port cell y Actual keel, from fore-foot to stern- ) post 5 Height of birth-deck ileight of main-deck Width of main-deck ports Distance between them Load-draught of water before Load-draught abaft Tonnage 39 1 6 6 3 ]40 4 1081 A tneriean. Ft. In. 173 44 1 3 4 8 156 6 6 5 6 7 6 7 7 3 3 5 7 3 7 5| 17 19 4 19 20 6 1533 MASTS, SPARS, AND RIGGING. English. Ft. In. 92 2 3| 81 G 1 71 Main-yard { dieter Main-iihi'ouds Brit. 7 pr. Am .9. I circumference 8 A merican. Ft. 111. 101 3 92 1 6 5* n • This measurement includes four quarter-fishes, each 3^ inches thick ; hooped on nertrly from the level of the deck to the cheeks of the mast; otherwise the intrinsic diameter at the partners is only 2 feet 10 inches. 'I'he lower masts of i-lnglish «hips have only a small fish in front, for the yard in loweiinij to go clcur of the tiiast-hoops. NAVAL ANNALS. 2^ A merican. Ft. In. 173 3 44 4 1 8 156 6 6 7 7 3 5 7 5| 19 4 20 6 1533 A merican Ft. 111. 101 6 3 5* 92 1 8f 11 I 3^ inches e clieeks of s is only 2 nly a small ,St-ll001)S. Main-deck Quarter-deok and forecastle tie 1 ARMAMENT. 28 long 18 pndrs. 16carr. 32 1 18 . 2 long 9 30 long 24 pndr5i. 22carr. 32 1 18 2 long 18* — COMPLEMENT OF HANDS. Guerriere . , 302 Macedonian . 300 Java 377 Constitution . 475 United States 475 Constitution . 475 The American frigates are built on an improved prin- ciple, in not having so wide a waist, or open space in the spar-deck amidships, as those of Europe. Of some writers it is a favourite and insidious theme to magnify the force of the American frigates, and liken them to English 74s ; but if they exhibit the scantling, they want the lower-deck battery of the line of battle-sliip ; and to make the resemblance just, the lower-deck ports of the 74 ought to be hermetically sealed. A 131ake, a Benbow, a Rodney, or a Nelson, in the Constitution or United States, would keep out of the range of the guns of a 74, and never hazard a contest with one, unless a very heavy sea, by preventing the opening of her lower- deck ports, should place her lower tier of cannon hors de comhat. But while the 74, with her immense ballast, reposited to counteract the weight of her upper-works, is taking deep and heavy rolls ; the American frigate, with her iron, pvovision.s, and stores, drawing within three feel ns much wr.ter in njidsliips ns her two-decked 261 NAVAL ANNALS. adversary,* though more buoyant upon the whole, would not be riding the gale out like a duck in a pond. It will not be hypothetical to deplore the frigate straining her timbers, and shipping seas ; and it would be enough for her to contend with the war of elements, without seeking to vanquish a superior in battle. It may not be uninter- esting to exhibit the armament of a modern seventy four- gun ship. ' Lower deck battery ... 28 long 32 prs. Upper deck battery ... 30 24 -V* . . , > . /• g 12 Qr. deck and forecastle < 2 carr. 68 — — • . ' il2 32 Poop 7 18 ; 1 1 - Formidable as an American frigate may be thought, she could scarcely withstand the force of the blows which a ship of the foregoing armament could inflict ; and pro- vided the seventy-four, by obtaining the weather-gage, could choose her distance, in that event, the United States or the Constitution would have only one ellectivc line of defence ;t for although a carronade with its huge mouth will project a shot to a great distance at a great elevation, it bears no proportion to the range of long guns • The load.dr<ntght of a 74 is 23 feet ; that of an American frigate 20 feet 6 inches. ■f- Slie would have'only 16 'J4-i)0undcrs to oppose to 14 32-poiindcrs;, aiid 11} twenty-foury. NAVAL ANNALS. 205 when pointed horizontally. But facts render unnecessary every speculation of this kind. Decatur's courage was never doubted; yet when he commanded the United States, in company with the Macedonian avid Hornet, he had not the confidence in his force to defy the power of the Valiant and of the Acasta, but sought safety in the nearest port that offered him shelter and protection. They who support the doctrine of 74s in disguise arc Reviewers and Parliamentary country gentlemen ; men who will never be seriously consulted as oracles in tho rig, the build, or the trim of a ship ; for it will be no cynical asperity tu suppose that not one of either profes- sion was ever in blue water, or out of sight of land. On this subject it would be becoming in them to acquiesce in the implied decision of a British naval commander, who has expressed his ardent wish " to be once more *' opposed to the Constitution in a frigate of similar forco *« to the Guerriere." The next care of Captain Bainbridge was to remove the wounded and prisoners from the prize to his own ship ; an operation of no easy performance. Of eight boats originally on board the Conslitulion, only one had escaped destruction in the engagement ; and every one belonging to the Java was shot in pieces. Night came on misty ; the two frigates were distinguishable only by lanthorns suspended onboard of them, and the dissonant cries of the mariners, awakened to the sense of their danger, close and crowded in a small boat, produced a scene of tumult, confusion, and horror. But, as it i* common in the tropical rc^iunS; the haze on a sudden h j 20(5 NAVAL ANNALS. I i I I cleared away ; the constellations of Magellan and of the Ship sparkled in the sky, and shed their lij^ht over the solitude of the sea ; and as the luminous Cross of the South began to bend, it told the boatman, consulting it with uplifted brow, that the hour of midnight was como."*^ The Java being reduced to a perfect wreck, Captain Balnbridge decided on burning her ; while she was on fire, her guns, still loaded, dispensed successively, their martial thunder, as the spreading flames enveloped their chambers. At length her magazine exploded, and she vanished in a pillar of smoke. The Constitution stood in for St. Salvador, and at he entrance of the bay captured the Eleanor, schooner, from London, with a valuable cargo. She anchored under the stern of the William, whose prize-crew, put on board from the Hornet, were on the yards rolling up their sails. Captain Lambert languished of the wounds which he received in the action till the night of the 4th of January, and was interred, the next day, with military honours in Fort Saint Pedro, the Portuguese governor, Cunde dos Areas, and his staif, attending the funeral. The triumph of the American flag in the three actions which I have described allbrds a sufticient evidence that when the navy of the Republic is augmented, it will be found the most formidable one hitherto opposed to Cireat Biitain. In spite of the infatuated indiH'erence which * The two great stars which mark the summit and foot of the (!ross of tlie South having nearly the same right ascension, the Con- stellation is almost vertical wlieil it attaints its meridan. lIuMnniDT. ■ NAVAL ANNALS. 2(17 marks her policy to the United States ; in spite of the apathy with which she views the growing maritime puis- sance of that new power ; the contest for the empire of the sea will be between England and the North American Union ; and should the republican fleets be combined, in a maritime war, with those of the ancient enemies of Great Britain, it will task all her energies to assert the inviolability of her naval dominion. February 24. The British sloop of war Peacock, Cap- 1813. tain Peake, is taken, at the entrance of Demarara river, by the American sloop of war Hornet, Captain Lawrence, after a close action of 20 minutes, when the British vessel, bein< cut to pieces in her hull, with 6 feet water in her hold, hoisted an ensign, union down, from the fore-rigging, as a signal of distress ; her main-mast going at the same time, by the board. Cap- tain Law ence immediately dispatched his boat. *o her assistance, and every exertion was practised to ket , her afloat till the wounded and prisoners could be removed. The pumps were set to work, the guns hove overboard, and several shot-holes plugged. But the unite eflbrts of both crews could not keep her above water ; and she foundered in five fathoms, carrying down with her nine of her own sailors, and three Americans. Captain Peake was killed early in the action. April 10. Arrived at Boston (N. j] ) the United States frigate Chesapeake, Captain Evans, from x cruize of 11/3 clays. From Boston she ran down by the Madeiras, f fi ■,<iu #. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 2.0 ? «- III 1.8 i.4 IIIIII.6 V] <? /] °>I /. "^ o^ V /A W V/J Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTEP, 4.Y. 14580 , -6) 872-4503 4? ,\ :\ ;v \ '^ - ^ a 6^ 2G8 NAVAL ANNALS. Canaries, and Cape de Vcrds ; thence to the equator, where she cruized six weeks ; thence along the coast of South America, down by Barbadoes, Antigua, and most of the windward islands ; thence on the coast of the United States, between Bermuda and the Capes of Vir- ginia, by the capes of Delaware, by New York, and thence through Hell Gate* back to the port she sailed from. She captured during her roving cruize the British ship Volunteer, from Liverpool to the Brazils, with a cargo valued at 150,000/. sterling (arrived at Ports- mouth, N. H.): brig Liverpool Hero, from Liverpool to the Brazils, cargo dry goods, hardware, and jewellery, (cargo taken out and vessel burnt) ; and brig Earl Percy from Cape de Verds to Brazils. Soon after the arrival of the Chesapeake, Captain Lawrence was made post into b6r from the Hornet; her former commander having been appointed to superintend the building of a 74. ACTION BETWEEN THE SHANNON AND CHESAPEAKE. June 1. The American frigate Chesapeake, Captain Lawrence, is taken by the British frigate Shannon, Cap- tain Broke, who, with unexampled celerity, carries the * A cclcbrutcil blruit near the wciit end uf Long hlund Suund. Hi T NAVAL ANNALS. 209 enemy by boarding, in sight of his own port, and van- quishes him on his own decks. The page of naval annals does not record a bolder enterprize than that which was achieved by the British arms on this occasion : our curi< osity is naturally prompted to inquire to what cause we are to attribute the rapidity of their victorious career; and to this no satisfactory answt^r can be returned, unless the narrator is interested only for the truth and candour of history. At a very early hour of the morning. Cap- tain Broke, cruizing off Boston bay, confided a letter to a discharged prisoner, addressed to Captain Lawrence, inviting him to come out, and, ship to ship, try with him the fortune of their respective flags. This letter, con- ceived in a spirit of generous sentiment, and bearing strong internal evidence of a total freedom from private revenge, disposes philanthropy to sigh over the infatua- tion of mankind in their passion for war ; which counter- acts the best principles of human nature, and has made its history in all ages little else than a chronicle of blood. The Shannon having stood close in with the land, hove to off Boston Light House, to reconnoitre the harbour ; and, as the day broke in tints of gold over the ocean, the Chesapeake presented herself to the eager view of the English commander, lying at anchor in President Roads, with royal yards rigged across, and her sails bent ready for sea : the colours were now hoisted on board the Shannon as a sort of defiance to the American frigate. Captain Lawrence, who was not an inattentive observer of the motions of the Shmnon, prepared immediately to go on board his ship, and get her undcrweigh, regard- 1^ 270 NAVAL ANNALS. ,1 i W \ « <( less of the expostulations of his friend Commodore Bain* bridge, th? naval-commanding officer at Boston, who accompanied him to the pier. That officer, as circum- spect as Lawrence was impetuous, emphatically urged, as dissuasives to his going out, that " never having sail^^d with his crew, he was throwing himself on their sup- port and bravery with a blind, precipitate trust ; that *' the want of the presence and authority of his first ** Lieutenant, Page, who, from sickness, could not join ** him, would be a privation of great moment ; and that " it was to be apprehended the sailors, from the super- ** stition of their character, would not combat hopefully ** on the deck of the Chesapeake, which, ever since Bar* ** ron had hauled down her flag without fighting,^ had " incurred reproach and ignominy as an unlucky crart." The enterprizing ardour of Lawrence was not to be restrained by the arguments of his friend, and his visions and prophecies were interpreted by him as idle dreams. He gave his hand to a troop of friends who pressed on his steps, and sighing saw his topsails flapping in the wind; and, having embraced with visible emotion his two sons,t one a fine boy of eleven, and the other of thirteen, he stepped into his boat, whose crew were standing at the thwarts with uplifted oars, waved his hand as a signal for the coxswain to shove ofl; and sought * See page 63 of this volume. * •\ The Congress of the United States settled a pension on the widow of Captain Lawrence, and enacted that his sons should be educated at the public expencc. w NAVA' ANNALS. 271 bis ship without delay. The wharves and shippinji^ were covered with the inhabitants of Boston. From the vast multitude no sound was heard ; but all remained silent and immoveable, till the ship^ under full sail, evanished from their sight. ' • As there was a leading breeze from the S. W. out of har- bour, and the Chesapeake did not for some time leave her anchorage, the English officers and sailors* who had viewed her attentively from the Shannon's deck since the first pale flush of light, began to entertain an apprehension that siic declined giving them battle ; but their suspense was relieved when they discerned her crew heaving at the capstan>bars, and hoisting in her boats. The Shannon now filled, and stood out to gain an offing under an easy sail ; she was followed with great promptitude by the Chesapeake under a cr«wd of canvas. About 4 in the afternoon, when the Shannon had got between the two Capes that form the entrance of Massachusetts B;)y, and the ships were within five or six miles of one another, the Chesapeake fired a gun and hauled up, as if in defiance; upon which the Shannon hauled up likewise, with her fore-sail in the brails, and her main-top-sail braced flat aback, for her antagonist to overhaul her. The Chesa- peake again squared away, and bore down on the Shan- non's starboard quarter with three ensigns flying; one at the mizen-royal-mast head, one at the raizen-peak, and une in the starboard main-rigging: the Shannon displayed only an old rusty blue ensign at her gaff", nor was her exterior calculated to inspire a belief of the subordina- tion, the discipliiie, and the prowess that reigned nithin. I n ! ^n NAVAL ANNALS. As the Chesapeake approached her adversary, Captain Lawrence sent down his royal yards ; but, as the breeze was apparently dying away. Captain Broke judged it expedient to keep his aloft. . i *• ....:, It was at this time that Captain Lawrence desired Mr Ludlow, his lieutenant, to assemble the crew on the quarter-deck, and, in a speech wor^by of himself and the occasion, he exhorted them to assert their country's flag, to avenge her insults, and protect the freedom of their navigation. His harangue, instead of being received by the seamen with a burst of patriotism, was answered with sullen murmurs ; they recapitulated their former services, for which they were unrewarded. The author of the tumult, and the leader of the sedition, was a boat- swain's mate, one Joseph Antonio, a Portuguese. Artful and insinuating, he had practised on the facility, and in- flamed the discontent of the crew, and he now came for- ward as their interlocutor. The appearance of this foreigner was singularly fantastic ; he wore a checked «hirt with a laced jacket, rings in his ears, and a bandana handkerchief round his head. The extreme diminutive- ness of his person was rendered the more remarkable by the extravagance of his gesticulation, and he never grew warm in discourse without throwing his body into shrugs and contortions. Laying his hand on his breast, making a profound inclination of his head, and stealing a signi- ficant side-glance at the by-standers, he replied to Cap- tain Lawrence, in his broken jargon, with " Pardon me, " Sir, but fair play be one jewel all over the world, and " we no touchce the specie for our last cruize with I NAVAL ANNALS. 273 ** Capitaine Evans. The Cont^ress is very mnnifioent ; they ** keep our prize piasters in the treasury, and pay us with ** ^rape and canister . We only receive ten dollars a man *^ for the Volontaire, who groan with the kegs of piasters ** in her fore and after hold, till she get hogged* with their " weight. Good fashion in Portuguese ship, when take ** rich pri'^e, is not to pay pocoapocoy but break bulk and " share out dollar on drum-head of capstan." At any other time the importunate clamours of a venal crew would have disconcerted the equanimity of such a man as Captain Lawrence ; but his ambition now imposed restraint on his indignation ; he directed the purser to distribute prize^checks among the men, and, in dismiss- ing them to their guns, bade them remember and emulate the naval trophies of the crews of the Constitution and United States. The Chesapeake was now approaching the Shannon, who, hove to all standing for her to come up, had scarcely steerage-way through the water ; and Captain Lawrence reducing his courses, and taking in his top-galiant>sails, luffed gallantly up within half pistol shot on the Shannon's starboard quarter; contrary to the expectation of Captain Broke, who thought that the Chesapeake would pass under his stern, %nd engage him on the larboard side ; and who had ordered his men to avoid, in some degree, her raking Hre, to lie down fiat • Hogged, or broke -backed, is the state of a ship, when, from some great strain, she droops at each end. 1 i: 274 NAVAL ANNALS. as site passed.* But Lawrence cithetr overlooked, or waved the advantage. There, perhaps r never came alongside an enemy a crew more seditiously trained for battle than the seamen of the Shannon* It is highly creditable to the arms of America, that the reformation of the great'gun .exercise in the British navy must be referred to the hostile ener- gies of her, half a dozen frigates. The English, long accustomed to beat the Spaniards and French at sea, never calculated a chance of discomfiture with American uusiriners, whom, . with asuporciliousness engendered by a conquest oTer all other.naval flags, they held in con- tempt ; liittle dreaming tbut the guns pointed by their bands seldom failed in the end to make their adversary's low^r .masts, gP: by the boavd, his topmasts by the cap, and hi^ yards in the slitigs. What«ver may be said in sport or raaliQe of yankey ships, or yankey.tars, the sipectacle. of a new maritime power, with not a single line of battle ship in commission, disputing not unsuccessfully with Great Britain the sovereignty of the sea, must excite the flame of admiration in . every unprejudiced breast. It was in consequence of the reverses sustained by the British ip their reucounters with such a foe, that the place of gunner in their frigates remained no longer a. sinecure; but that he, was called out of bed before broad day to supply ammunition for the seamen assem- • James's Naval Occurrences, p. 215.— The author of this page was once on board a frigate in cliaso of another whose stern-Kuii^ being annoying, the crew were ordered to lie down on the deck : at such a time the officers walk to and, fro. r&m^, NAVAL ANNALS. 'i7& )>led to prnclise firing at their cmartirs.* Tlic advan-i tuges resulting from this systematic training was evinced by the crew of the Shannon in the manner with which they now< handled their cannon for the annoyance of their enemy. Not a gun was discharged prematurely ; but, as the Chesapeake in rounding to on the Shannon's starboard quarter, brought her fore-mast in a line with the mizen-mast of the English ship, two shot were dis- tinctly heard from her aftermost main-deck-guns, which, aimed at the American's ports> killed and wounded several of the crew : the Chesapeake fired her whole broadside in return, wl^ich elicited that of the Shannon «a fast a» the sailors could bring their guns to bear eifectually. An awful feature of this action is the great number of men that fell in it. Though from the firiu'g.of the first gun till the hauling down of the^: Chesapeake's •'It ii doubtful whetlier the British marines, however rigid and systamatio their drilling, will ever beeome suchi dexterous marksmen us, those of the United States Navy. The American Executive, ia the late war, spared no pains to form an effective corps ; they dis- patched agents into the back-woods to enliift them, and established a marino*baiirack close by their Congreais Hall,' from whidi deadiful dep6t they supplied their frigates. The American marines are rifle- men, remarkable for their cool^ deliberate Jir'iiiff. A scarcity of ammunition first introduced the practice into thb country at Bunker's Hill, and the carnage that ensued among the British regulars was a fatal proof of its efficacy. While the military of Europe are^mployed iti powdering, pipe-claying, blacking, and polislung, these yankey sharp-shooters are casting and cuttitig their own balls, oiling the insides of their rifles, or examining their flints ; aud it is no uncom- mon thing for one of them to hold a board only nine inches square between liis knees, while a comrade fires a bull through from a distance of oue hundred paces. T 2 — "T 27fl NAVAL ANNALS. F W colours only fifteen minutes elapsed, yet such was the destructive rage of the two ships' cannonade, that the agi^regate loss on both sides was 126 killed, and 141 wounded ; making a sanguinary total of 267. It is with pain that History records such an effusion of human blood ; and it might justly provoke her pity and indigna- tion that so copious a stream should flow from the hostile encounter of men endeared to each other by one common origin. In this engagement the attention has been generally directed to the numbers killed on board the Chesapeake, but the fact has been established by the confession of the English officers, that the Shannon had upwards of 20 men slain, and more than 50 wounded ; a number sufficient to fill up the measure of casualties from shot fired by European enemies in three successive combats. Uutil her shot-holes were stopped the Sham^on made considerable water upon the larboard tack. Skill in gunnery appears to be innate among Americans ; they have little need to fire many shot in play to make one hit in earnest. The execution however of the Chesa- sapeake's fire being more partial, bears no proportion to that of the Shannon, which finds an explication in the advantageous position that \he English ship acquired as the American accidentally fell onboard of her. It is spe- cified that nearly a hundred men were killed by the Shan- non's two or three broadsides, the full fire of whose main-deck guns (as just hinted), swept unanswered the Chesapeake's deck through her cabin-windows. The havoc is ascertained to have been prodigiously great ; for stating, as it is authenticated, that there wer 431 men on- NAVAL ANNALS. 277 board at the beginning of the action ; it' wo deduct from this number 234, who were received as unhurt by the agent for prisoners at Halifax, it follows that there were 107 men killed and wounded ; from which if we again deduct 91, the number brought into port wounded, there remain 106 for the Americans killed in this short but bloody encounter. Actions between fleets have been fought with leus loss. The two frigates entered into action steering good full under their top-sails and jib, within half-pistol-shot ; but, at the first broadside from the Shannon, the Chesapeake having her fore-top-sail- tie shot away, her fore-top-sail-yard, of course, came down by the run, and her jib-sheet being at the same moment cut in two, the ship, from want of head-sail, came up in the wind, and her quarter-gallery-window got hooked by the fluke of a waist-anchor, which was stowed in the Shannon's starboard main chains ; it had been placed there to assist in trimming her, as she discovered rather a list to port. As soon as the Chesapeake fell on- board of the Shannon, Captain Lawrence, either to put bis ship on the defensive, or assault that of the enemy, called out for the bugle-man to summon the boarders with his horn ; but the herald appointed to rouse the main-deck-seamon, now for the first time in battle,-was so astounded with the din and clamour of voices, the roar of the cannon, the whizzing- of the shot, and the smell and smoke of the powder, that he had deserted his gun, and crawled for shelter behind the capstan, where he was de* tected by a midshipman, who declared, after the action, that ho never witnessed any thing in human shape so cx- <iuisitcly droll in one sense, and so pitiable in another ; 278 NAVAL ANNALS. for, though in an n^^ny bordering on tiie hidorneKS ol' death, he was not umiiindful of his strong; and iuiperio«m duty; but raiated the horn to his mouth, wiiich, from tiic chattering of his teeth, he could not inspire with an audi- ble sound.* No man can answer for his courage who has never been in danger : it is not every one that can main- tain his composure amidst a shower of round, grape, and canister shot, calculated to unrig a ship, or take off a head ; and there are thousands disposed to laugh over the calamity of the Chesapeake's bugle-man, who, bad they been placed in his situation, would have been over- taken by the same infirmities. The votaries to renown may dniw a salutary moral from his story. It may serve to teach them that the perpetuity of a name is not con- ferred by valour alone ; that it is the prerogative of the panic-struck bugle-man, as well a^ the bravest in the battle, to bf; recorded and remembered ; and that though honours are bestowed on courage, yet cowardice has its fame. The American Court of Inquiry, on the loss of the Chesapeake, recur to the fright of William Brown as one great cause of her surrender :t the disgrace of the day is • The Chesapeake's bugleman is worthy of the talents of a LEO- NARDO DA VINCI : of a painter made up of all the elements without tlie preponderance of any one : of a piiinter e<iually attracted by character and caricature : of a painter wlio can look terror full iii the face, and deck it with drollery. •y " The Court are unanimously of opinion, that one of the causos *^ of the capture of the late United States frigate, ("hcsapetikc, was " the bugleman's desertion of his quarters, and his inabillly to sound Repoit of the Court. Ill NAVAL ANNALS. '271) laid, in a groat ineaHiirc, at his door : tiiey will not ^'nt up (be horn: and by selecting the bugle-mdn for their scape-goat, they hate exalted an abjeet wretch on a lofty pedestal, who, pointed to as the author of the disconiti- ture, aggravates, by his scandalous charaoter, the rnitional indignity. However formidable may be an American Court of Inquiry composed of Commodores, Justice pre- sumes to arraign their decision, and to declare Ihnt Brown's horriis made a pretext to cover a defeat, which, superior to all vain and frivolous subterfuge, they oti<.;ht, with a noble unity of sentiment, to have attributed to (he early fall of Captain Lawrence: for when he was no more, confusion and terror had already prepared tlm'^kubuiis- sion of the crew, and not the martial music of bugles, drums, and trumpets, would have quickened tHecirculu- tion of their blood and spirits .nto 'suilicient bravery to resist the tide of boarding directed and- impelled by the voice and eiye of the British commander. The bugleman being unable, from trepidation, to sound hi:^ horn. Captain Lawrence presented himself at the break of the- quarter-deck, and called with earnest importunity down the hatclnvay fur the boarders. The shot from the Shannon's aftermost guns had now a fair range along the Chesapeake's decks, beating in her stern-ports, and sweep- ing the crew from their quarters, while the fire from the foremost gans entering the ports of the main and quartef decks from the gangway aft, prodnced a dreadful car- iiajre among the officers. A grape-shot fired from a ninin- deck ^un of the English ship'sstarboard tier, struck the medal whic h Ctiptain Ldwrcncc wore suspended on his f f U n it f 280 NAVAL ANNALS. breast in commemoration of his former naval victory, and he fell on the quarter'deck, fainting with the profusion of blood that flowed from the wound. The cry soon spread fore and aft that the Captain was killed, and Lieutenant Cox, who commanded the foremost division of guns on the main-deck, swayed probably by aflfection, ran imme- diately up the ladder that communicated with the quar- ter-deek, and lifted bis bleeding commander in his arms. Captain Lawrence had now recovered his spirit, and raising his eyes towards the colours flying at the peak, with a steady look, though a faultering voice, he uttered, as his attendants were bearing him down to the cockpit, his last broken, though articulate words : DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP: and heroically expired in the arms of bis men. Thus fell, at the age of 34, Capt. Jas. Lawrence* He had been formed under that great naval commander Preble, in the war between the Ameriean Republic and the Barbary States, and accompanied Decatur in the celebrated enterprize of cutting out the Philadelphia fri< gate from under the batteries of Algiers. No one ever disputed the ardour and brilliancy of his courage : bold and .decisive in action, Le could not conflne himself to hold a middle course, but sought to bring it to a speedy issue.* His gentle and unassuming manners displayed that simplicity which so often accompanies greatness of character ; and he possessed a native dignity of senti- ment which kept him free from every taint of falsehood : ■■>\ * The iinpctuofiity with which he attacked both the Chesapeake and Peacock, bears ample testimony to this part of his character. NAVAL ANNALS. 281 nor could he endure it in others. When Paul Hamilton, the Secretary of the Nary, partially promoted young Allen, Decatur's first Lieutenant, over his head, Law- rence, with the proud consciousness of his own merit, and eminent services to the Republic, would have thrown up his commission without deigning to remonstrate, had not the Legislature, appreciating his worth, and tacitly applauding his manly spirit of independence, cancelled the appointment, and redressed the indignity. His bold and intrepid public spirit tempered with the utmost aifability, gave his character the milder glory of the house of Ya- lerii ; he was a noble Roman born two thousand years after his time. In person he was somewhat above the middle height, and his fine figure indicated extraordinary strength and agility : in exercises that require activity and address he had no competitor in a numerous crew of picked seamen ; for, standing in the main-chains, he has been known to heave the hand-lead over the fore-yard arm. An American might be tempted to regret that he had not survived to augment the animation of the scene that followed : and, from the expectations formed of him, his countrymen are sanguine enough to believe that a crew of Americans acquiring unity and consistence from the presence of such a leader, would either havesunk in heaps of slain on the deck, or compelled the assailants to retrace their steps back to their own ship. Had he not fallen so eurly in the action, he might have exclaimed without the imputatiou of arrugance : V I- ' I I IE I i V 2«2 NAVAL ANNALS. afji/pl ^s r^ /An *yi( fAiTiotitn at my own ship And on my own ship^s gunwale, it may chance The noblest of my foes shall make a pause. By the same broadside that deprived the Chesapeake of her commander, fell likewise Mr. White, the master, Mr. Broom, the odicer of marines, and Mr. Ballard, the fourth lieutenant; they were all killed. The seamen on the quarter 'deck became dispirited at the fall of their captain and oflicers. Confusion and dismay spread from gun to gun, till at length the captains of the guns, for- getful of their duty, threw down the handspikes with which they pointed the cannon, and, followed by their comrades, fled ignominiously towards the hatchway. Lieutenant Ludlow, the only officer left alive on the quar- ter-deck, employed authority, threats and entreaties to stop them in the pusillanimous and criminal desertion of their quarters. " Whither," seamen, he cried aloud, " whither do ye fly ? what is there in your enemy to in- " spire this terror? we Iiave beaten him before, and we '* can beat him again ; let us not sully our naval glory, " but add another trophy to the flags of the Guerriere, '* the Macedonian and Java." It was to no purpose that he strove, by his example and exhortation, to rally the discomfited sailors ; the English crew was now in tlio act of boarding, and they abandoned without a struggle tlu; NAVAL ANNALS. 2»3 dcok at their approach. Ludlow, perceiving with ainazc- meut the guns deserted abaft, advaoced to the wnisl, where he hoped to fiod the men not forgetful of tiicir fame ; but the mutual confidence on whicli the union and strength of a ship's company depend, was now under- mined ; the terror luid become general on the spar-deck, and the panic was rapidly spreading among a disorderly crowd of seamen, who, in their promiscuous eagerness to escape from the glittering cu tlasses of the British boa rders, prevented each other from getting down the hatchway ; a few, with more presence of mind, fled over the bows and reached the main-deck through the bridle-ports. The two ships had now so altered their position that the Eng- lish had free access to the Chesapeake's quarter-deck ; she had fallen oil' and lay close alongside of the Shannon with her main-mast nearly in a line with her adversary's tatl'arel. At this juncture Captain Broke determined to make a bold effort for victory, by assaulting the enemy on his own deck. He immediately called out '• Board !" and, heading the assailants, rushed from his own ship on board the American, followed by his first lieutenant, Mr. Watts, an olficer of great gallantry, and the choicest of his sailors, raising a Biilish cheer. The moment was decisive ; they found the guns on Ihc quarter-deck,* together with the wheel, abandoned, and their passage abaft intercepted only by the dead bodies of oiliccrs and seamen: at the gangway they were encountered by Lieu- It iil " On the quiirtcr-deck not an officer or man was to be seen." James, p. 217' 284 NAVAL ANNALS. ), tenant Ludlow and a few faithful hearts, whom the anxiety of that young oflicer had rallied, and who now stood with a contempt of death to resent the insult offered their flaji^, and die combatting on the deck of their own ship, rather than survive the dishonour of her surrender: this handful of intrepid warriors fell overwhelmed by numbers, with their youthful and gallant leader at their head ; who, in his end, has made the glory of his name immortal. On the forecastle there appeared only Lieutenant Ludd and a few seamen, who were in the act of getting on board the fore tack to shoot the ship clear of her adversary ; this group was quickly dispersed, and their officer thrown down wounded on the main-deck. The Chesapeake was now irretrievably gone, for the only remaining lieutenant had suffered himself to be influenced by sentiments unlike those of a gallant spirit in a pressing emergency. With a sympathy preposterous at such a juncture, he had with- drawn his example and presence from the division of men that he commanded on the main-deck, to assist his wounded commander down into the cockpit ; his inglo- rious disappearance and long absence, at a time when he had other points to carry, were much resented by the sailors. The Court of Inquiry glance severely at the behaviour of Lieutenant Cox ; but his counsel, if versed in the history of ancient wars, might plead the usage of antiquity. We are told with great naiveti by Homer, that Hector took himself off in the heat of the battle be- tween the Greeks and Trojans on the Xanthus ; not, pro- bably, relishing the idea of coming athwart the hawse of Ajax. But the resemblance holds ^ood between Lieute- . -» rw I ii»t I " *' 1 - f I k, ,.-.r.*,>-^,^. NAVAL ANNALS. 285 nant Cox and Hector in other features of their conduct. When Hector was diverging from the field, he exclaimed to his troops : my friends, be men ; Rouse all your fire and force, while, ent'ring Troy, I offer vows and hecatombs to heav'n. . And Lieutenant Cox, as he shoved his boat off, very seri- ously urged the seamen to a vigorous prosecution of the war. * See the Report of the Court* I ft .\l ;j s ^ 2m NAVAL ANNAL.fi. ^ !y* tsx i^ ,^ 3* a" C^ o H-( 1.^ »H -d h^ '«' •t n 1 •^ -« -1 Hif . P9 • • • rt •a Cox . While, Broom . Page Ludlor Budd. Ballar £' 9> O . . 5lh Mastei , Lieut. • . • • £^ CO JO r s^ a. c 25. re re i o- w o ^ f • -t • Nrta !> • re liH o 2. . re B I 3 , P n» • B Ui . «-► <o >- s.<c ?^ Cr. ^ c 5 3 « - (^ n JS* a) to r » ° ^ p Q -1 c 3 - » "^ -1 n a c re 2 re Cfi t f 8 " t « 1 ? 1 £. c. 51 '^ re S 1 a. re § • • • ?r re re S- v^^ Mort Thro Kille o f6 fT « "1 0. a. I 3 a, i 9 S 3 S^ befo befo t^" ^ "t -t , ■*■ ^ 3 o « a o o (5 : r B ^ ^ f e ^ S- 3 B H D- B- E 7" D- «* Q- CL ffi e boa e boa 3 cr s O c S' ■^ re r » re cu re CS3 S' a " 3 re cr? crq oq r V ^ r* W • • • C cr< rta fi- re • o* o S 3 < p St £i. 5' cr N u<? a iJ fa a re ft re § e« NAVAL ANNALS. 2ri7 The assailants led on to the charge of the enemy by Cai)tain 15roke were followed by Lieutenant Falkiiier at the head of the main-deck-boardcrs, and by the lieuten- ants Johns and Laws, animating by their spirit and conduet their respective divisions of marines. Tliere were at this time upwards of three hundred American sailors on the next deck below, in the vigour of youtlt, health and strength, who, without an officer to ^ive union and efficacy to their resources, made no effort to assert their colours, or defend their ship; but heard with little or no emotion the trampling of the boarders above their heads, more ready to accuse, than to remedy, the evil, which they imputed to the privation of all au- thority at snclra crisis to kindle and direct their courage. When the Americans on the forecastle had submittedy Captain Broke placed a sailor to stand centinel over them, and sent most of the rest of his party aft. A daring discharge of musketry was still kept up from the Chesa- ])eake's main-top, and he was in the act of directing his marines to answer it, when the centinel called out for him to beware ; and, on turning round, he found himself assailed by three of the Americans whom he had left in the custody of the sailor, and who had armed themselves afresh with some disregarded weapons. ** Captain " Broke parried the middle fellow's pike, and wounded " him in the face with his sword ; but instantly received *' from the man on the pikeman's right a blow with the '' butt -end of a musket, which bared his skull, and " nearly stunned hi^i^ Bent on finishing the British '* commander, the third man cut him down with his i' mm 288 NAVAL ANNALS. ri: t *' broad-sword ; and, at that very instant, was himself *' cut down by an English sailor who had run to his */ captain's assistance. Captain Broke and his treache- ** rous foe now lay side by side ; each, although nearly '' powerless, striving to regain his sword, when a marine " who had advanced to the spot, dispatched the American *^ with his bayonet."* In the mean while Midshipman Smith, who commanded in the fore-top of the Shannon, stormed with his top-men, about five in number, the Chesapeake's fore-top from the fore-yard-arm, and with irresistibU '^ury put all the Americans stationed there to the sword, except a boy named John White, who glided down a backstay with all the precipitation that terror could inspire, and lighting on the deck close by Captain Broke, who sat bleeding from his wound supported by the Shannon's seamen, embraced with tears the feet of his foe, and implored his protection. There was every thing in the boy's appearance to make him an object of interest. His fine, flexible figure acquired new grace from his attitude of supplication. His little naval hat, tarred but glossy, and encircled at the crown with a blue broad ribbon inscribed in gilt letters with FREE TRADE AND SAILORS' RIGHTS, gallantly set off the flaxen ringlets of his luxuriant hair, and heightened the anxiety of his light blue eye. As he finished his prayer of entreaty, he pressed with one hand to his eyes, as he held the captain with the other, the curving ends -^ * James's Naval Occurrences, page 218. ■i< NAVAL ANNALS. 280 or a red bandana handkerchief that was loosely tied round his neck, as though he had not fortitude to loolc in the face that death which lus fears sugj^ested to him impended from the blow of a sabre, a musket, or half pike. Not only his speech, his voice, his look, but his close blue jacket accurately expressing his shape, and the fashion of his duck trowsers, flowing and re- dundant at the feet — his very apparel — in short, his tovt ensemble denoted an English origin : but the resentment of the boarders was inflamed by the conduct of the Ame- ricans on the forecastle ; and though Captain Broke calmed the alarm and apprehensions of the boy with all the tenderness excited by pity, he found it diflicultto re- strain his men from including him among the victims of their exasperated rage.* When the stripling waa suf- ficiently assured to rise from his suppliant posture, he threw his blue eyes round on the crowd with a mingled expression of shyness and dislike. To the glances of some midshipmen of his own age and stature, whom cu- riosity had brought to the spot, he returned a counte- nance of daring, which told them in intelligible language, that in clinging to their captain for protection he was not * " The British commander was not the only sufferer on this oc- " casion ; one of his men was killed, and two or three were wounded. " Can it be wondered at, if all the Americans who were concerned in "■ in this breach of faith, fell victims to the indignation of the Shan- " non's men ? It was as much as their captain could do, to save " from their fury a young midshipman, whr, having slid down a rope " from the Chesapeake's fore-top, begged his protection." Jamet's Naval Occurn nces^ page 218. U r 290 NAVAL ANNALS. li I instigated by any dread of them, but of some rough sons of Erin, who, with naked cutlasses'in their hands, were conversing with a malicious gaiety in the dialect of their native soil.* Midshipman Smith, who had now come down out of the fore-top, perceiving the wounded state of Captain Broke, advanced to give him his attendance, and a seaman, while tying a handkerchief round his commander's head, called out, directing his look aft, •' There, Sir, there goes up the old ensign over the " Yankee colours/' Lieutenant Watts, who, throughout Ihe assault, had kindled the spirit of the boarders by his presence, his voice, and his example, had hauled down himself the American flag, and bending the British colours to the ensign halyards above them, caused the symbol of victory to wave at the peak. No sooner w&s the triumphant banner displayed, than the English sailors, from both ships, hailed it with three successive shouts, waving, at the same time their hats in the air. Lieutenant Watts joined in the acclamations of the naval multitude, standing near the tafl'arel, and pointing with exultation to the proud flag of his country, when he was struck in the pride of conquest, by a cannon shot May, one day prior to the action, the Shannon rooke, British privateer, having on board 52 Irish * On the 30th of fell in with the Sherbrooke, «....o.. ,,...e....v.., ..^w.^ .... „^...^ «- ...... labourers, taken out of an American privateer, which had made pri- «oners of them, in capturing the Duck, from Waterford to Newfound- land, on board which ship they were steerage passentjers. Of these TOen 21 were pressed into the Shannon, recommended by their bodily strength, for it, was the firtit time tliey were ever on sea " rockin;; *" about." Three of these fell in the liglit. NAVAL ANNALS, axu lugb suns ids, were ;t of their ow come id state of tendance, round his look aft, over the iroughout ers by his led down e British aused the ooner was e English iuccessivo in the air. ns of the id pointing itry, when mnon shot the Shannon loard 62 Irish ad made pri- Newfound- rs. Of these f their bodily ;ea " rockin;,' fired from his own ship,* which killed him on the spot, And changed the general tumult of joy into an universal groan of dejection. Captain Broke was now supported aft by Mr. Smith and some seamen to the quarter-deck, where he seated himself upon one of thecarronade slides. The British colours were flying on board the Chesapeake ; but notwithstanding their display, some of her crew on ih?i main deck, who had not the courage to risk the event of a sally among the besiegers, made an impotent at- tempt at deliverance by firing up the hatchway, and killed a marine. Lieutenant Falkener, who was sitting on the booms, provoked at this outrage, ordered some muskets to be fired down the grating in return, and Captain Broke, from his seat upon the carronade slide, called to that officer to summon the Americans to surrender, if they sincerely desired quarter. They answered up the hatchway that they had laid down their arms, and hos- tilities ceased. About this time the Chesapeake's quar- ter-gallery gave way with the strain made on it by the Shannon's waist anchor, and the two ships went clear of one another. The jolly-boat from the Shannon came alongside soon after with a reinforcement of men, and Captain Broke, assured that the victory was complete, left Mr. Falkener in charge of the prize, and returned, almost exhausted with blood, to his own ship. And now, as the Chesapeake's crew were conducted up • After the Enplish had boarded the American frigate, an occa- sional fire was kept up from the Shannon's bow-Runs; a co-operatioa hazardous to the lives of her own crew, as it is seen in the context. u 2 I L ll I V 092 NAVAL ANNALS. i > Mr i; 1 h the main-hatchway, in ganps to be hand-cuffed, they pre- sented an assemblage of tull, stout, active, young fellows, who, though prisoners, looked supreme on the deck when compared with the seamen of the Shannon, who wanted, not only their youth and stature, but that freedom of car- riage and those disengaged manners, which are the in- heritance of the children of Columbia. * As they submit- ted their wrists to the master at arms, they looked round on the English sailors with a mingled glance of surprize and self reproach, as much as to say, our bondage must be voluntary. One young fellow, a gay Virginian, whis- pered in the ear of the master at arms, as he held out his hand to be manacled, '' If there was a sack placed on " the deck between you and me, and it was agreed that " he who was first put into it of the two should wear the "handcuffs, I guess, shipmate, that my wrists would go " free. Or, if you and I were ashore on yonder beach, " where there is nothing but clams to take the part of " either, and you presumed to conie athwart my hawse " in this manner, there are no snakes in Virginia, if I did " not cut your cable." I • • James, who will never be suspected of pronouncing a panegyric on Americans, thus speaks of the sailors of the respective ships : "The " Chesapeake's crew were remarkably stout, healthy young men ; " especially when contrasted with the Shannon's ; most of whom *' were rather below the middle stature, and a great proportion old or *' elderly men. As one proof of stoutness in the Chesapeake's men, *' the hand-cuiTs that had been placed upon her deck, ready to secure " the British crew, as soon as the Shannon was captured, caused, ■*' when applied to the wrists of the Americans, many of them to wince ■» *' with pain.'* ■^v ..!<: NAVAL ANNALS. 203 fn this nc(iun there was a ri^id equality subsisting lictwccn the two fri^^alca in dimensions and armament ; they were counterparts in length of keel, breadth of beam, and draught of water; their guns were of the same cali- bre, and their broadsides threw the same weight in metal.* Of the two ships the American had the more numerous crew ; the Chesapeake went into action with 431 men ; the Shannon mustered 330. It is an honourable circumstance for the navy of the United States, that the capture of the Chesapeake was hailed in England with a joy that bordered on extrava- gance. Her Conscript Fathers caught the enthusiasm. When Mr. Croker read the statement of the action before the House of Commons, the members from aM parts in- terrupted him with loud and protracted cheering. f But in this vociferous burst of the British Legislature an implied respect was paid the six-frigate navy of America, witheld, in former victories, from the colossal armadas of Holland, France, and Spain. The prisoners being distributed, the Shannon stood with her prize towards Halifax, where they arrived on the fifth day after the action. There was nothing to delay them ; no mast or spar of either frigate had been shot away ; and the words of Captain Broke exhibit alively *!1 '4 * The Chesapeake is of inferior dimensions to the Constitution and United States : her length is 151 feet, and her breadth 40 feet : she has 11 ports of a side on lier main-deck, where she carries long eigh- teen pounders. t London Chronicle for July 9, lUlS. 294 NAVAL ANNALS. \t. image of the unimpaired ^condition of the tWO ships, where he sayi, that " they came out of action in the most beauli- " ful order, their rij^ging appearing as perfect as if they '* had been only exchanging a salute." This suggests a recollection not very flattering to Americans ; and when they recur to the Guerriere, the Macedonian, and the Java, a sigh and confession must escape from them, that those ships did not strike their flags till they had not a niast left standing. Captain Lawrence was buried at Halifax with the honours of war: the public square, the streets were filled with a vast multitude of spectators : ]iis coflin was borne to the church*yard by the seamen of the Shannon: six navy captains were the pall bearers: the Governor and officers of the garrison swelled the solemn procession ; and his enemies not only gave him a sepulchre, but watered it with their tears. To ya,f yifetf tann ^atovTur. lieport of the Court of Inquiry on the Surrender of the Chesapeake. The Court are unanimously of opinion that the Chesa- peake was gallantly carried into action by her late brave commander ; and no doubt rests with the Court, from comparison of the injury respectively sustained by the frigates, that the fire of the Chesapeake was much superior to that of the Shannon. - The Shannon being mach cut in her spars and rigging, and receiving many shot in and below the water-line, was NAVAL ANNALS. 295 reduced almost to a sinking condition, after only a few> minutes cannonading from the Chesapeake, while the Chesapeake was comparatively uninjured. And the court have no doubt, if the Chesapeake had not accidentally fallen on board the Shannon, and the Shannon's anchor got foul in the after-quarter-port of the Chesapeake, the Shannon must have very soon surrendered or sunk. It appears to the court, that as the ships were getting foul, Captain Lawrence ordered the boarders to be called ; lut the huylemarii W. Brown, stationed to call the hoarders ly sounding a bugle, had deserted his quarters, and when discovered and ordered to call, was unable, from fright, to sound his horn;* that a midshipman went below imme« diately to pass the word for the boarders : but not being railed in the way they had been usually exercised, few came upon the upper deck ; confusion prevailed ; a greater part of the men deserted their quarters and ran below. It appears also to the court, that when the Shan- non got foul of the Chesapeake, Captain Lawrence, his first lieutenant, the sailing-master, and lieutenant of ma- rines, were all killed or mortally wounded, and thereby llie upper deck of the Chesapeake was left without any commanding oflicer, and with only one or two young midshipmen. It also appears to the court, that previously to the ships getting foul, many of the Chesapeake's spar» deck division had been killed and wounded, and the nam- ' • It is by proving from witnesses tlie special fact of Brown's in- ability, from trepidation, to sound iiis born, that the court have con- ferred on him a fame CDiiiical but cverbistinj? ; he will arnuse to the end of the world successive generations of risible beings. 206 NAVAL ANNALS. ber stationed on that deck thereby considerably reduced j that these being left without a commissioned ofTicer, or even a warrant officer, except one or two inexperienced midshipmen, and not being supported by the boarders from the gun-deck, almo&t universally deserted their quarters. And the enemy availing himself of this de- fenceless state of the Chesapeake's upper deck, boarded and obtained possession of the ship with very little oppo- sition. From this view of the engagement, and careful exami- nation of the evidence, the court are unanimously of opi- nion, that the capture of ihe late United States frigate Chesapeake was occasioned by the following causes: — the almost unexampled early fall of Captain Lawrence, and all the principal officers : the huglemarCs desertion of his quarters, and inability to sound his horn ; for the court are of opinion, if the horn had been sounded when first ordered, the men being then at their quarters, the boarders would have promptly repaired to the spar-deck, probably have pre. onted the enemy from boarding — certainly have repelled them, and might have returned the boarding with success, and the failure of the boarders on both decks, to rally on the spar-deck, after the enemy had boarded, which might have been done successfully, it is believed, from the cautious manner in which the enemy came on hoard. The court cannot, however, perceive, in this almost unexampled concurrence of disastrous circumstances, that the national flag has sufl'ercd any dishonour from the capture of the United States frigate Chcsapeak«, by the NAVAL ANNALS. 297 superior force of the frigate Shannon, of 62 carriage- guns, and 396 men. Nor do this court apprehend that the result of this engagement, will in the least discourage our brave seamen from meeting the enemy hereafter on equal terms. The court being also charged to enquire into the con- duct of the offioers and men during and after the engage- ment, and thereupon having strictly examined and ma- turely considered the evidence as recorded, do find the following causes of complaint. First. Against Lieutenant Cox ; that being stationed in command of the second division on the main-deck, he left his division during the action, while his men were at their quarters, and went upon the upper deck ; and when Jiere, and the enemy boarding, or on the point of board- ing, he left the deck to assist Captain Lawrence below, went down with him from the spar-deck to the birth-deck ; did not return to his division, but went forward to the gun-deck ; that while there, and the men were retreating *• below, he commanded them to go to their duty, without enforcing his commands. But as a court of inquiry allows an accused person no opportunity of vindicating his con- duct, the members of this court trust that their opinion on the conduct of Lieutenant Cox may not be deemed conclusive against him, without trial by court-martial. Second. Against Midshipman Forrest; that he left his quarters during the action, and did not leturn to them, and now assigns no reason for his conduct satis- factory to this court. Third. Against Midsiiipnian Freshman ; that he be- haved in an uu-ollicer like manner at llalifux, assufu- I m^ 20B NAVAL ANNALS. ! ''. I I iny a false name at the office of the commissary of pri- soners when obtaining his parole, and was paroled by the name of William Brown.* Fourth. Against the crew generally ; that they deserted their quarters, and ran below after the ships were foul, and the enemy boarded. But it appearing that they be- haved well at their quarters before, and fired on the enemy with great rapidity and precision ; the court as- cribe their misconduct to the confusion naturally inci- dent to the early fall of their oflicers, and the omission of the call of boarders in the accustomed manner. Yet this court is very far from exculpating those who are thus criminal. It is unable to designate by name all the individuals who thus abandoned their duty, be- cause most of the officers had recently joined the ship, some only a few days preceding the engagement, and of course could not distinguish the men. The court, there- fore, respectfully submit to higher authority, the expe- 4^diency of withholding the wages of the crew. The per- sons whom the court are able to designate by name, as deserters from their stations, are William Brown, hugle- »jjff/t,f Joseph Russell, Captain of second gun, Peter Frost, and John Joyce, seamen, and Joseph Antonio, boatswain's mate. The court further find and report, that William Wain- wright, William Worthington, and James Parker, the • This is irresistiblj' farcical, for an officer of tlie Cliesapeake to envy the buglemuii his honours, and get paroled under his name. ■f- The imagination of the Members wlio compose the Court, is perpetually haunted by the buglcman. .♦.' 1 NAVAl, ANNALS. 2f)9 last of whom was born at Salem, Massachusscts, were claimed by tbe enemy as British subjects, and sent on board of the enemy's ships of war. This court respectfully beg leave to superadd, that un- biassed by any illiberal feelings toward the enemy, they feel it their duty to state, that the conduct of the enemy after boarding and carrying the Chesapeake, was a most unwarrantable abuse of power and success. The court is aware that, in carrying a ship by board- ing, the full extent of the command of an oHicer cannot be readily exercised ; and that improper \iolence may unavoidably ensue. When this happens in the moment of contention, a magnanimous conquered foe will not complain. But the fact has been clearly established be- fore this court, that the enemy met with little opposition on the upper deck, and none on the gun-deck. Yet after they had carried the ship, they fired from the gun-deck down the hatchway upon the birth-deck, and killed and wounded several of the Chesapeake's crew, who had re- treated there, were unarmed and incapable of making any opposition : that some balls were fired even into tiie cockpit; and what excites the utmost abhorrence, this outrage was committed in the presence of a British officer standing on the hatchway.* W. BAINBRIDGE, President. *^ * This hortid cliarg:e is not less devoid of probability than desti- tute of authentic evidence. Captain Broke owes his distinction not . more to his sword than to his clemency ; and he was not a man to stain his laurels with tlic blood of the conquered. The firinj? com- plained of was provoked, and the preceding narrative details faithfully tlie affair. «■ :300 NAVAL ANNALS. June 2. The American frigate United States, Coiu- modoie Decatur, the Macedonian, Captain Jones, and the Hornet sloop. Captain Biddle, equipped for a cruize in the Indian ocean, leave New York through Long Island Sound, the usual passage by Sandy Hook being blockaded ; but, before they can clear the Sound, the Va- liant of 74 guns, Captain Oliver, and the Acasla frigate, Captain Kerr, heave in sight, and chase them into the port of New London, a small town on the river Thames, pbout three miles from its estuary. The British ships come to an anchor off Gardner's Island, and commence a blockade of the American squadron. ' August 13. The Argus American sloop of war. Cap- tain Allen, having landed Mr. Crawford, minister pleni- potentiary from the United States to France, and his suite, at Havre, proceeded to cruize off the English and Irish coast, and burnt so many vessels, that the Irish declared their channel was set in ablaze. The following is an authentic record of the devastation committed by the brig, from the 20th of July to this day ; partly off the Land's End, and partly on the coast of Ireland, between the Shannon river and the Liffey, and near Lundy : Ma- riner, Gilbert, from St. Croix to Bristol, burnt ; Betsey, Merryweathcr, from St. Vincent's to Bristol, since re- taken ; Cordelia, Avery, from St. Martin's to Bristol, given up to the prisoners, after destroying the cargo ; Bal- tic, Ilardcastle, from Barbadoes to Dublin, burnt ; Su- sannah, Porrctt, from Madiirato London, givciuip, after destroying part of the cargo; Matilda, from Pcrnani- NAVAL ANNALS. r;oi buc© to London, since retaken ; Salamanca, from Oporf o to Newfoundland, burnt; Defiance, from Glasgow to Newfoundland, burnt; Fowey, M'Donnell, from Lime- rick to Plymouth, burnt ; Lady Frances, Blair, from Limerick to Liverpool, burnt ; Belford, Donaldson, from Dublin to London (with 16,500 pieces of linen on board),* burnt; Ann, Richards, from Barmouth to London, burnt ; John and Sally, and Dinas and Betty, from Cork to Ilfra- combe, both burnt ; John and Thomas, from Poole to Liverpool, burnt; Elenora, from Poole to Liverpool, given up ; Whitby, Biggs, from Gibraltar to Portsmouth, burnt ; Barbadoes, transport, from Cork to St. Andero, burnt ; Alliance, transport, from Cork to St. Andero, burnt; sloop Fame, given up. 14. The American sloop of war, Argus, Captain Allen, is taken, in St. George's Channel, by the British sloop of war Pelican, Captain Maples, after an action of 40 mi- nutes. Captain Allen was mortally wounded early in the conflict : he was Decatur's first lieutenant when he took the Macedonian. September 5. The British sloop of war Boxer, Cap- tain Blyth, is taken, oIT Portland, Massachusetts, by the American sloop of war Enterprize, Captain Burrows, after a spirited action, in which both commanders were mortally wounded. 27. Commodore Rodgers, in the President frigate, arrives at Newport, Rhode Island, from a cruize of five ; • Valued at lOO.OOfl/. ..•■ 302 NAVAL ANNALS. months in the North Seas. He brougbl in with him the schooner Highflyer, mounting 4 guns and 1 long torn, ivith a complement of 39 men, tender to Admiral Warren. He captured her on the 9th instant by almost a miracle. On making the schooner to the southward of Nantucket Shoals, she hoisted the private British signal, which '.vas answered by Commodore Rodgers with a red flag, and it proved the British signal of that day. Upon seeing this, the Highflyer came immediately to him. Commodore Rodgers ordered one of his oflicers to dress in British uniform, and manned out a boat and boarded the schooner immediately. The Lieutenant of the schooner did not wait to be boarded, but manned out his own boat and boarded the President, supposing the President was a British frigate. The British Lieutenant was on board some time before he discovered his mistake. The officer that boarded the schooner from the President, asked the officer left in charge of the schooner for the private sig- nals and instructions, which were immediately handed to him. By this stratagem Commodore Rodgers obtained possession of the British private signals, and Admiral Warren's instructions. On examining Admiral Warren's instructions, Commodore Rodgers discovered the num- ber of British squadrons stationed on the American coast, their force and relative positions, with pointed instruc- tions to all of them, if possible, to capture the President. ! NATAL ANNALS. 303 A YANKEY TRICK. 30. Commodore Lewis, who command:} a flotilla of j^un-boats, stationed at Sandy Hook, a promontory near the city of New York, sends out a fishing-smack from Musquito Cove, for the purpose of taking, by stratagem, the sloop Eagle, tender to the British 74, Poictiers, Cap- tain Beresford, cruizing off Sandy Hook light-house. The smack, named the Yankee, was borrowed of some fishermen at Fly Market, and a calf, a sheep, and a goose, purchased and secured on deck. Between 30 and 40 men, well armed with muskets, were secreted in the cabin and fore-peak of the smack. Thus prepared, she stood out to sea, as if going on a fishing trip to the Banks, three men only being on deck, dressed in fishermen's apparel, with buff caps on. — The Eagle, on perceiving the smack, immediately gave chace, and after coming up with her, and finding she had live stock on deck, ordered her to go down to the Commodore, then about five miles dis- tant. The helmsman of the smack answered, '' aye, aye, Sir," and apparently put up the helm for that purpose, which brought him alongside the Eagle, not more than three yards distant. The watch-word, Lawrence, was then given, when tlie armed men rushed on deck from their hiding places, and poured info her a volley of mus- ketry, Mhich struck her crew with dismay, and drove tliem all down so precipitately into the hold of the vessel, that they had not time to strike theii' colours. The cvcw of the Eagle consisted of H. Morris, master's mate of the Poiuliors J W. Tiice, uiiilsliipiiian ; and 11 '•^T* 304 NAVAL ANNALS. marines. Mr. Morris was killed, and Mr. Price mor- tally wounded ; one marine killed, and one severely wounded. The Smack brought the prisoners up to town this afternoon, who landed at Whitehall, amidst the shouts and plaudits of thousands of spectators, as* sembled on the battery.* f 1 i PERRY'S VICTORY ON I<\KE ERIE. The Lakes of North America are virtually inland seas, that form no contemptible nursery for sailors ; for on their stormy bosom the mariner acquires habits of hardi- hood, and improves in nautical skill, scarcely less than on the open ocean. In a war between Great Britain and the United States, a struggle for the naval supremacy on the Lakes Erie and Ontario, is a measure of peremptory obligation. Bounded on one side, in their whole length, by Upper Canada, and on the other by the States of the American Union, they form an impenetrable barrier for nearly five hundred miles to the power that obtains an ascendancy on their waters. On the 10th of September the British flotilla on Lake Erie, commanded by Commodare Barclay, sailed out of Amherstburgbay in search of the American flotilla, under the command of Commodore Perry, which, as the sun * The battery at New York is a promenade of health and pleasure!, commanding the view of a bay not inferior to that of Naples or of Constantinople. ^^ NAVAL ANNALS. 305 rose clear and unclouded over tlie waters of the Lake, was seen in motion among the islands, advancing to give the British battle. The two squadrons, having respec- tively formed the line, began to engage about noon, with a light breeze from the S. W. ; the American Commo- dore, in the Lawrence, coming to close action with the British Commander, in the Detroit, while the Niagara, lying well to windward, contended with the Queen Char- lotte. The conflict was sustained for two hours between the Lawrence bearing Perry's flag, and the Detroit dis- playing that of Barclay, when the Lawrence was so worsted as to become almost incapable of further resist- ance. In this situation, so trying to the firmness and ca- pacity of a commander. Perry was sensible that no re- source remained but in some desperate effort of courage, and, with a decisive intrepidity suited to the juncture, took his flag under his arm, and abandoning his defence- less vessel, in a small open boat, shifted it to the Niagara.* He had scarcely caused it to be displayed from the top- gallant-mast-bead, when, as he looked round, he saw the Lawrence strike her colours to Commodore Barclay, but that gallant officer, when he had other points of more im- portance to carry, was superior to the idle parade of * This act of undaunted courage acquires additional fame from the pruse it has extorted from the distinguished Barclay : '^ The " action had continued with great fury for two hours, when I per- " ceived the Lawrence drop a-stern, and a boat passing from her to '•'' the Niagara ; the American Commodore seeing that as yet the day ! '■'' was against him, made a noble, and, alas I too successful an effort " to regam it." IV 30G NAVAL ANNALS. I taking posgession of her. Perry, in the Niagara, now bore up, and supported by his small vessels, broke the line of the English squadron, and took a raking position on the bow of th^ Detroit, within half pistol-shot; while the Lawrence, which had drifted out of the reach of the enemy's guns, hoisted again her flag. At this juncture the Queen Charlotte was running up to leeward of the Detroit, in order to support her, and the Eikglish Commo- dore, in wearing his own ship to avoid being raked, fell immediately on board his consort. Tt was now that Bar- clay, who had lost an arm under Nelson, had his remain- ing one dreadfully shattered, and was carried into the cockpit to undergo a second amputation. Perry, assist- ed by the smaller vessels of his squadron, succeeded in gaining the complete ascendancy ; the Queen Charlotte first struck her colours; the surviving lieutenant of the flag-ship hailed to say that he had surrendered; the Hunter submitted together with the Lady Prevost, and the Little Belt and Chippeway made a vain efl'ort to escape. Thus ended the battle on Lake Erie, in which the day was not lost by the English till the first and second in command on board every one of their vessels had been killed or dangerously bounded. The aggregate loss of men in the British flotillr. was 41 killed, and 94 wounded ; that of the American flotilla 27 killed and 96 wounded. Jany 1, The British blockading squadron composed 1814. of the Valiant and Acasta, olF New London, becoming short of provisions and water, are relieved by the Ramilies 74, Sir Thomas Hardy, the Endyniion 50, Captain Hope, and the Statira 4(>, Captain Stackpoole. NAVAL ANNALS. 307 CHALLENGES BETWEEN THE TWO NAVIES. Commodore Decatur, finding his confinement irksome at New London, and wishing: for some relaxation on the lii^h seas, invites the Endymion and the Slatira to a tete' A'lete meeting with the United States and the Mace- donian. In the projection of this Naval Duel, the eye and hand seem to be busied in counting ports and gHaging guns. From Commodore Decatur to Sir Thomas M. Hardy. U. S. ship United States, New London, Siu, 17th January, 1814. Having been informed by Nicholas Moran, the master of a sloop recently captured by his Britannic Majesty's ship Endymion, now lying before this port, that, whilst he was on board the Ramilies, and in your hearing, Captain Hope, of the Endymion, did ask him whether the frigate United States would not avoid an action. He further states, that he heard you declare it to be your wish, that the U. S. ship Macedonian should have a meeting with H.M. S. Statira; that you would furnish men, and give room for such meeting ; but that you would not permit the challenge to come from your side. • . ; The Endymion, I am informed, carries 24-pounders, and mounts 50 guns in all. This ship also carries 24- pounders, and mounts 48 guns, besides a 12-pound car- ronade, a boat-gun. The Statira mounts 50; the Macedonian, 47: metal the same. So that the force on both sides is as nearly equal as we could expect to find. X 2 I ^Km 308 NAVAL 4NNALS. If Mr. Moran's statement be eorrcot, it is evident Cap- tains Hope and Stackpoole Iiave the laudable desire of en^a^inj^ with their ships, the United States a^d Mace- donian ; we, sir, are ready, and equally desirou , for such meetins^ forthwith. The only difficulty that appears to be in the way, is from whom the forn^al invitation is to come. If, sir, you admit Moran's statement to be correct, the difficulty wil' be removed, and you will be pleased to consider this as an invitation. At the same time we beg you will as- sure Captains Hope and Stackpoole, that no personal feeling towards them, induces me to make this commu- nication. They are solicitous to add to the renown of their country : we honor their motives. ■Captain Biddle, who will have the honor to deliver you this, is authorised on our part, to make any ar- rangement? which may be thou;;ht necessary. I have the honor to be, &c. S. DECATUR. from Captain Stackpoole to Commodore Decatur, : ^^ 2 • H. M. S. Statira, oflF N. London, Sir, January 17, 1814. Captain Sir Thomas M. Hardy, Bart, and commodore off New London, has this afternoon handed me a letter from you, expressing a desire that the U. S. ship Mace- donian, commanded by Captain Jones, should meet H. M. S. Statira, under my command ; and that the U. S. ship United States, bearing your broad pendant,* would • The ship of a Commodore is distinguished from the inferior ships of hie squadron by a broad red pendant at the mast-head. mmm NAVAL ANNALS. K09 embrace the same opportunity of meeting the Endyutiion, commanded by Captain Hope. In ihe event of Sir Thos. Hardy's permitting our joint iicceptation of this rendez- vous, I, of course, must be the sen! >r officer ; but, in the interim, I shall confine my reply to your obliging letler, as to the future acts of H. M. ship I have the honor to command. J It will aflbrd her captain, officers, and crew the greatest pleasure, to meet Captain Jones in the Macedonian to- niorror% next day, or whenever such a meeting may suit his purpose : let him only be pleased to appoint the day and place. Say, six or ten leagues south of Montauk point, or further if he pleases ; my only object for select- ing this distance from the shore is to avoid any interrup- tion. Little, I think, can be apprehended^ as ail the cap* tains commanding frigate.}, excepting one^ in these seas, are junior to me : and, in the event cf chance, or by acci- dent, meeting him, I will hoist a flag of truce, pledging the word and honor of a British officer, (further I cannot oifer,) to keep the truce flying till the Macedonian isoutof sight ; and, in the event af a junior oflicer appearing', the same guarantee shall be kept flying until I can detach him. In accepting this invitation, sit , it is not to vau'it, or, in the most trifling degree, to enhance my own profes- sional character, or take from what is so justly due to Captain Jones ;* although I have been twice mortified, in being obliged to retreat, on the 2Gth and 28th of August, M i -■ I * Tlio rc;uU'r will recollect tliat Captain Jones coniinanded the Wasp in her .iclion with the Frolic. S.-u inigc 24'J- 310 NAVAL ANNALS* 1812, by six American men of war; and, for 12 weeks together, cruizing alone, it has never fallen to the Statira's lot to meet one singly. The honor of my king, defence of my country, engaged in a just and unprovoked war, added to the glory of the British flag, is all I have in view. I perceive a statement in your letter of the comparative force of the two ships ; and, as I fear you have been led into error, shall take this opportunity to say, the Statir?» carries only 46 guns, instead of 50, with two little boa - guns, of more utility in exercising the men, than any effe . they might have in the hour of battle ; and, without any external finery to recommend her, is simply a British man of war of her class : nevertheless, a more fair and equal match, in ship and guns, may not soon occur. In number of men, I am aware of having a superiority to oppose : all I request is, that both ships may quickly meet. Having received your communication by the hand of Sir T. M. Hardy, Bart. I shall convey my reply through the same channel, requesting you will be so good as to hand it to the captain of the Macedonian. I am, sir, with every consideration, Your obedient humble servant, HASSARD STACKPOOLE.* • Captain Stackpoole was afterwards killed in a duel with Lieute- nant Cecil of the British Navy, near i'ort Henderson, on the Island of Jamaica, April 28tli, 1814. NAVAL ANNALS. 311 Sir T. M. Hardy to Commodore Decatur, Ramillies, off New London, Sir, January 18, 1812. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday's date, by Captain Biddle, signifying a desire on your part, and that of Captain Jones, as com- manders of the ships United States and Macedonian, to meet H. B. M. ships Endymion and Statira, in conse- quence of a conversation reported to you by Mr. Moran, master of a sloop recently captured ; and, in reply, I beg to inform you, I have no hesitation whatever to permit Captain Stackpoole. in the Statira, to meet the Macedo- nian, as they are sister-ships, carrying the same number of guns, and weight of metal , but, as it is my opinion, the Endymion is not equal to the United States,^ being 200 tons less, and carrying 26 guns on her main-deck, and only 32-pound carronades on her quarter-deck and forecastle, when, I am informed, the United States has GO guns on her main-deck, and 42-pound carronades on b T quarter-deck and forecastle, I must consider it my ;k ty, (though very contrary to the wishes of Captain ) lOpc,) to decline the invitation on bis part. \- ■\\ • COxMPARATIVE FORCE OF THE SHIPS. ENDYMION. Main-deck 26 long 24 prs. Quarterdeck and f gj J^"^^ J§ JJ^. ioTG<^tle ( Icarr. 12jr. Ft. In, Length of lower deck 159 3| Breadth, extreme 12 7j UNITED STATES. 30 long 24 prs. 2 long 24 prs. 22 carr. 42 prs. Ft, In, 173 3 44 4 } ; i'l 312 NAVAL ANNALS. The captains of H. B. M. frigates under my order?, as well as myself, cannot too highly appreciate the rr.ilant iipirit that has led to the communication from you, sir ; and are equally couvinced, that no personal feeling to- wards each other can ever influence a laudable ambition to add tu the naval renown of our respective countries. I he the honor to enclose a letter from Captain StackpiL' I' earing your address; and I pledge my honor to la litate, by every means in my power, the meeting on the rendezvous pointed out by him, and that none of the captains of H. M. ships, junior to me, shall interfere. Captain Slackpoole's proposal amply provides against that of a senior oflP.cer. Should success attend the Macedonian, I guarantee her proceeding unmolested to any port to the eastward of this anchorage ; and I propose the same from you, sir, for the Statira to proceed to Bermuda. Captain Coote will have the honor to deliver this letter, and to make any arrangements that may be necessary. I have the honor to be, &c. T. M. HARDY. From Commodore Decatur to Sir T. M* Hardy, U. S. ship United States, New London, Sir, January 19, 1814. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of yesterday, with the enclosure from Capt. Stack- poole by the hands of Captain Coote. The proposition for a contest between H. B. M. fri- Endymion and Statira, and this ship and the Ma- NAVAL ANNALS. 313 ccdonian, was made by me in the full belief that their force was equal ; but it has been declined in conseciuencc of your entertaining a diil'erent opinion on this subject from my own. I do not think myself authorised to comply with the wishes of Captains Jones and Stackpoole, for a meeting in their ships. • - 1 This squadron is now under sailing-orders from the government ; and I feel myself bound to put to sea the first favourable opportunity that may occur. In my proposal for a meeting of the four ships, I con- sented, and I fear incautiously, that you should make up the complements of the Endymion and Statira from the crews of the Kamillies and Borer. I was induced to accord this indulgence, from a sup- position that their crews might have been reduced by manning prizes ; and a hope that, as the selected men would be divided between the two ships, the advantage would not be overwhelming. But, Sir, if the Statira is to avail herself alone of this concession, it must be obvious to you, and every one, that I should be yielding to you an advantage T could not excuse to my government ; and in making the crew of ihc Macedonian any degree equal to such a conflict, i should be compelled to break up the crews of this ship and the Hornet, and thus render a compliance with ray orders to proceed to sea utterly impracticable. I beg leave also to state, that the guarantee against recapture, in case Macedonian should i)rovc successful, is very far from I' ■I ■|| ',f ' t y'i satisfactory. m I if-' 3U NAVAL ANNALS. You will have the goodness, Sir, to inform Captain Stackpoole, that his letter was shewn to Captain Jones, according to his request ; that Captain Jones is ex< tremely desirous that a meeting should take place be- tween the Statira and Macedonian, but is controuled by me for the reasons I have stated.*^ Whether the war we are engaged in be just and un- provoked on the part of Great Britain, as Captain Stackpoole has been pleased to suggest, is considered by us as a question exclusively with the civilians ; and I am perfectly ready to admit, both my incompetence and unwillingness, to confront Captain Stackpoole in its dis- cussion. I am. Sir, &c. S. DECATUR.t From Sir T. M. Hardy to Cvmmodore Decatur. Ramillies, off New London, Jan. 20, 1811. Sir, I have the honor to acquaint you, that I will com- municate to Captain Stackpoole your letter of the 19th • The crew of the A merican frigate are represented to have been 80 depressed in spirits at not encountering the Statira, that many of them refused their grog for the full space of twenty -four hours. + Decatur fell in a duel with Commodore Barron of the United States Navy, on the duelling-ground at Bladensburg, near the city of Washington, in the spring of 1819. It is a justice due to the memory of this great officer to record, that he abhorred duellmg on the princi- ple that it betrayed a vindictive spirit ; and that he was never known to send a challenge, though his courasje would not allow him to re- fuse one. I ( NAVAL ANNALSi 315 instant, which I this evening had the honor of receiving by Captain Biddle ; and I have nothing further to offer, in addition to my former letter, on the subject of the meeting between the ships of the United States, and those of his Britannic Majesty, but that I will give every gua- rantee in my power, in case of the Macedonian's success, should the meeting ever take place. I beg to assure you, Sir, I shall hail with pleasure the return of an amicable adjustment of the differences be- tween the two nations. I have the honor to be, &c. T. M. HARDY. ' ! r I ACTION, OFF VALPARAISO, BETWEEN the ESSEX and the PH(EBE and CHERUB. 1 Who does not know that Valparaiso is a port or bay on the coast of Chili, 130 leagues east of Selkirk's island ? for who has not by heart Anson's Voyage round the World, a book read with more interest by the moderns, than Xenophon's Retreat of the Ten Thousand by the ancients. It was on his return to this port that Captain Porter in the Essex,* a frigate of the common class, sus- • Porter, in the Essex, annihilated the spermaceti whale fishery, and captured the Nocton packet with 1100/. sterling on board, without finding a British mar. of war in the Pacific to oppose him. This cruize was a bold plan of the American Kxcciitive ; yet these are the men whom the Reviewers represent as the greatest simpletons lliut are iuiy where to be found between Ihc arctic and antarctic circlet ! 7. i ;n6 NAVAL ANNALS. I taincd a combat with the Phoebe and Cherub of two hours and a half; exaltin>; the naval flag of Columbia by the defence of his ship, though he was ultimately compelled to strike it to his opponents. The slaughter on board the Essex must have reduced many mothers, wives, and daughters, to statues of breathing affliction ; and her deck exposes war to the eye in itj naked and mangled deformity. Captain Porter's Letter, " While lying at Valparaiso, the Phoebe frigate, Cap- tain Hillyar, in company with the Cherub sloop of war, Captain Tucker, commenced a blockade of my ship and an armed prize, under the command of my first lieutenant, Mr. Downes, sedulously watching me from the entrance of the bay. Their appearance, however, did not prevent me from taking measures to put to sea ; and, having appointed a rendezvous at the Marqueses for my consort, the Essex junior, I got ready for my departure, purposing to let the enemy chruiC me olF the coast, in order to facilitate her escape. On the 28th of March, 1814, the day after this determination was formed, the wind came on to blow fresh from the southward, when I parted my larboard cable, and dragged my starboard anchor directly out to sea. Not a moment wns to be lost in get- ting sail on the ship. The enemy were close in with the point forming the west-side of the bay : but, on opening them, T saw a prospect of passing to-windward, \\hen I took in my top-galhinl-sails, which were set over isinglc- iceicd lop-sails, and braced up for lliis purport ; but, NAVAL ANNALS. 317 hours y the JclJed (1 the and her on rounding the point, a heavy squall struck the ship, nnd carried away her main-top-mast, precipitating the men who were aloft into the sea, who were drowned. Both ships now gave chase to me, and I endeavoured, in my disabled state, to regain the port ; but finding I could not recover the common anchorage, I ra-n close into a small bay, about three-quarters of a mile to leeward of the bat- tery on the east side of the harbour, and let go my anchor. The enemy continued to advance with the evident inten- tion of engaging me ; and the caution observed in their approach to the attack of the crippled Essex, was truly ridiculous, as was their display of their motto-flags, and the number of jacks at all their mast-heads, I, with as much expedition as circumstances would admit of, got my ship ready for action, and endeavoured to get a spring on my cable, but had not succeeded when the enemy, at 54 minutes past 3 P. M. made his attack ; the Phoebe placing herself under my stern, and the Cherub on my starboard^ bow ; but the Cherub, soon finding her situation a hot one, bore up and ran under my stern also, where both ships kept up a hot raking fire. I had got three long 12-pounders out of the stern-ports, which were worked with so much bravery and skill, that in half an hour we so disabled both as to compel them to haul off to repair damages. The enemy soon returned to renew the -action ; he now placed himself, with both his ships, on my star- board-quarter, out of the reach of my carronades, and where my stern-guns could not be brought to bear. He tliere kept up a most galling fire, which it was out of my power to return ; when I saw no prospect of injuring him •il 318 NAVAL ANNALS. without getting under way, and becoming tlie assailant. My top-sail sheets and haliards were all shot away, as well as the jib, and fore-top-mast stay-sail haliards. The only rope not cut was the flying-jib haliards ; and that being the only sail I could set, I caused it to be hoisted, my cable to be cut, and ran down on both ships, with an intention of laying the Phoebe on board. The firing on both sides was now tremendous. I had let fall ray fore-top-sail, and fore-sail, but the want of tacks and sHieets rendered them almost useless to us ; yet we were enabled, for a short time, to close with the enemy ; and, although our decks were now strewed with dead, and our cockpit filled with wounded ; although our ship had been several times on fire, and was rendered a perfect wreck, we were still encouraged to hope to save her, from the circumstance of the Cherub, from her crippled state, being compelled to haul ofl*. She did not return to close action again, although she apparently had it in her power to do so, but kept up n distant firing with her long guns. The Phoebe, from our disabled state, was enabled, how- ever, by edging off, to choose the distance which best suited her long^guns, and kept up a tremendous fire on us, which mowed down lYiy brave ccmpanions by the dozen. Many of ndy guns had been vend^ red useless by the enemy's shot; and many of them had hau whole crews de- stroyed'. We manned them again from those which were disabled; and one gun, in partieufar, was three times manned; fifteen men were slain at it in the course of the action ; but, strange as it may appear, the captain of it escaped with only a slight wound. NAVAL ANNALS. 319 Finding that the enemy had it in his power to choose his distance, I now gave up all hopes ar closing with him ; and as the wind, for the moment, seemed to favour the design, I determined to endeavour to run her on shore, land my men, and destroy her. Every thing seemed to favour my wishes. We had approached the shore within musket-shot, and I had no doubt of succeeding, when, in an instant, the win<' shifted from the land, (as is very common in this port in the latter part of the day,) and payed our head down on the Phoebe; where we were again exposed to a dreadful raking fire. My ship was now totally unmanageable ; yet, as her head was toward the enemy, and he to-leeward of me, I still hoped to be able to board him. At this moment. Lieutenant-com- mandant Downes came on board to receive my orders, under the impression that I should soon be a prisoner. He could be of no use to me in the then wretched state of the Essex ; and finding (from the enemy's putting his helm up) that my last attempt at boarding would not succeed, I directed him, after he had been about ten minutes on board, to return to his own ship, to be pre- pared for defending and destroying her in case of an attack. He took with him several of my wounded,^ i I • Thereby hangs a tale. The wounded men that Lieut Downes took away in his boat were British suloects. This watchful care of Captain Porter, in the heat of action, over the English seamen fight- ing under his flag, will confront the story told of him by the Quarterly Reviewers, till they can support it by evidence less suspicious than their own. This story will be found in the 27th Volume of their venomous work, where, with a malignant and profligate industry, they have ransacked " Views, Visits, and Tours," for libels on a country that is the asylum of mankind. In their dissertation of twenty 320 NAVAL ANN ALS. u > leaving three of his hoat's crew on board to make room for them. The Clierub had now an opportunity of dis- tinjicuishins^ herself, by keepii)<? op a hot tire on him dur- ing his return. The slaughter on board my ship had now become horrible ; the enemy continuing to rake us, and we unable to bring a gun to bear. I therefore di- rected a hawser to be bent to tlie sheet-anchor, and the anchor to be cut from the bows, to bring her head round ; this succeeded. We again got our broadside to bear ; and as the enemy was much crippled, and unable to hold his own, I have no doubc he would soon have drifted out of gun-shot before he discovered we had anchored, had not the hawser unfortunately parted. My ship had taken fire several times during the action, but alarmingly so, forward and aft, at this moment. The flames were burst- ing up each hatchway, and no hopes were entertained of saving her. Our distance from the shore did not exceed three-quarters of a mile ; and I hoped many of my brave crew would be able to save themselves, should the ship blow up, as I was informed the tire was near the magazine; and the explosion of a large quantity of powder below served to increase the horrors of our situ- ation. Our boats were destroyed by the enemy's shot, I therefore directed those who could swim to jump over- board, and endeavour to gain the shore. Some reached it, some were taken by the enemy, and some perished in the attempt; but most preferred sharing with me the fate of the ship. We who remained, now turned our atten- pages, as many lies is a charitable allowance : for the observance of truth towards America lias never been the virtue of a Quarterly Re- viewer. Hk niger est., himc^ tu Itotnane, cavcio ! NAVAI. ANN A IS, :)il tioD wholly (o cxtlnguidhing the names; nnd when we bad succeeded, went a^aiii to our guns, where tlie firing was kept up for some minutes, but the crew had by tiiis time become so weaicened, that they all declared to me the impossibility ut making further resistance ; and en- treated me to surrender my ship to save the wounded, us ajl further attempts at opposition must prove inellectuaU almost every gun being disabled by the destruction of their crews. I was further informed that the cockpit, the steerage, the ward-room, and the birth-deck could con- tain no more wounded ; aud that the wounded were killed while the surgeons were dressing them. With a crew redued to men, 76 including oihcers, out of 2C0 at the beginning of the action ; with 23 lying dead o the deck, who had not yet been consigned to the deep, and my few remaining shipmates falling fast, some at my side, and others in different parts of the ship ; under these distressful circumstances, I, at twenty minutes past G, P. M. gave the painful orders to strike the colours." The gallant defence of the Essex against so superior a force, is recorded by Captain Hillyar. I insert an abstract of his letter to the Admiralty : ** After an anxious search, and still more anxious lookout for the Essex and her companion to quit the port of Valparaiso, we saw tlie former under weigh, and immediately, accompanied by the Cherub, made sail to close with her. On rounding the outer point of the bay, and hauling her wind for the purpose of endeavouring to weallier us, and escape, she lost her niain-top-mast, and afterwards, not succeeding in an effort to regain the limits of the port, bore up, and anchored so near the Y ii I I .,.ai*iJii'^^^^pMpiH iH 322 NAVAL ANNALS. i.i^ store (a feir miles to tlie leeward of it,) as to precliide tbe possibility of passing a-head of her, without risk to> his Majesty's ships. As we drew near, my intention' oFgotn«; elose ander her stern was frustrated, by the ship breaking off; and, from the wind blowing extremely fi^sfa, our first fire, eommencing a little past 4, aad con- tiouing about 10 minutes, produced no visible effect. Our second, a few random shot only, from having in* clwased. our distance by wearing, was not, appafentiy, mor€< successful ; and having lost the use of our main- siiil, jib, and main-fltay-sail, appearances were a little m- aespieious. On standing again towards her, I signified nty intention of anchoring, for which we were not ready before, with springs, to Captain Tucker, directing Um tw kdep under weigh, and take a convenient station for annoying our opponent. On closing with the Essex, at 36 rojnutespast 5, the firing re>commenced ; and, before I gained my intended position, her cable was cut, and a serious conflict ensued; the guns of his Majesty's ship gradually becoming more destructive, and her crew, if possible, more animated, which lasted until 20 minutes past 6 ; when it pleased the Almighty Disposer of events to^ bless the efforts of my gallant companions, and my personal, very humble ones, with victory. The defence of tne Essex, taking into consideration oiir superiority of force,* the very discouraging circum- stance of her having lost her main-top-mast, and being • The Quarterly Reviewers, after having branded Captain Porter as a buccanneer, affirm (proh pudor !) that '■'• he was taken by a ship of inferioi* force." . Whenever these men open their lips, the clieck, geek, and forehead of Truth arc suffused with crimson. NAVAL ANNAIS. • d2S tlviee on fire, did Honor to her brave defenders, and most folly evinced the courage of Captain Porter, and those- undf.r bis commend. Her colours were not strnck,^ until' tho 'iosit in killed and wounded was so awfuUy greats and her shattered condition so seriously bad, as to render farther resistance unavailing.'' ■ '■,■.■ : „ 30. It was stated by Mr. Marryatt, two months ago, in his |>lace in Parliament, from the record of Lloyd's Books, that the number of British captures made at sea by the frigates and privateers of the United States since the commencement of the war, was 1175, of which num- ber 373 were retaken, or given up, leaving 802 in the Imnds of the enemy. From a view of these facts, one is tempted to enter into a discussion of the formidable ac- tivity, the vigilance, and efficiency of American mariners ; and if we reflect that the United States Navy did not exceed twelve or fourteen ships, and that her privateers, composed principally of schooners, amounted scarcely to a third of the number of British men of war in com- mission, the confession is extorted from every unpre- judiced bosom, that Americans will do more with a given mimber of vessels, than any other people. A nation of this young, enterprizing spirit, with an incipient navy, whose home is on the ocean, is a more har> assing enemy, fitted out at the distance of three thousand miles, to the commerce of Great Britain, than the fleets of France, or the armadas of Spain, in her immediate vicinity. Allen, in the brig Argus, committed more devastation in the - Irish and St. George's Channc. ^an any hostile squadron t I 924 NAVAL ANNALS. that ev«r sailed out of a French port;* and Mr. Baring; ooraplained, in the House of Commons, that American privateers came into the Chops of the Channel and car- ried Off Britisu vessels, without the ability of the Admi- ralty Board to stop them ; that they infeste(* the waters of the greatest naval nation in the world, and that the equinoctial gales alone cleared the coast of the enemy. The extraordinary activity of an American cruizer was displayed by Porter in the Essex, who captured every British whaler in the great South Seas ; and though it may be alleged that all the prizes which he made were retaken but one, yet how great must have been the ex- pense incurred of the salvage paid to the re-captors. But the most conclusive proof of the successful operations of American vessels against the commerce of Great Bri- tain is to be drawn from the rates of insurance on her merchantmen, which are greater iu a war with the United States, than with any other maritime nation. April 1. The price of Cotton, which had fallen at Charleston and Savanna, in contemplation of the British blockade of the American coast, has risen 20 per cent. iu consequence of the manifest ineflicacy of that measure. 2. The Americans now trade to France in sharp-built fast- sailing schooners, insured at the rate of from dO to 60 per cent, on which they calculate an adequate profit by the arrival of one out of three ; and, in this way, trade is tolerably brisk in all their towns. * See an enumeration of the captures b^ the Argus in a precedinf page. mm wmmmmmm mmmmm NAVAL ANNALS. 325 3. The activity of tlie American Government in its naval equipments is altogether unprecedented. The Independence, of 74 guns, is nearly ready for sea at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Washington, of 74 guns, is in a very forward state of equipment at Boston. The Franklin, of 74 guns, is receiving her cannon on board at Philadelphia ; and the new frigates Guerriere tind Java, mounting 32 pounders orj the main-deck, have got their lower coasts in. The infant Hercules is ac- quiring strength in his cradle ; for the State Navy Yard, at New York, exhibits oak and pine plank, beams and ledges, long combing and ranging timber, knees and transoms, mast-stuff keels and keelson pieces, sufficient for seven ships of the line, and four frigates of the largest dimensions. 4. The following notification has been issued by the President of the United States : " It is enacted by the Senate and 1 use of Represen- tatives in Congress assembled, that during the present war with Great Britain it shall be lawful for any person or persons to burn, sink, and destroy any British urmed vessels of war, except vessels coming as cartels or flags of truce, and for that purpose to use torpedoes, sub- marine instruments, or any other destructive machines Mhatever ; and a bounty of one-half the value of the atined vessels so burnt, sunk, or destroyed; and also on( -half the value of the guns, cargo, tackle, and apparel» shall be paid out of the Treasury of the United States to s»ieh person wlio shall elTect the same otherwise than by the armed or commissioned vessels of the United States. " H. CLAY, •'J AS. MADISON. '^ ■:'i msB^smssmmmmmm d26 NAVAL ANNALS. i { .- THE EXPLODING OF A TORPEDO. Whence, and what art thou execrable fiend ? MiLTOK. 25. A Yirginian, of the n^nie of Mix, has lately mad^ several daring attempts to^ destroy with a Torpedo a British 74, lying in Lynnhaven Bay, abreast of Cape Henry light-house. In a large open boat this devilish visitor got, during the darkness of the night, within a few yards of the ship's bow, and directly. under her jib- boom ; but in the act of dropping his torpedo was hailed by the centinel on the. fore-castle with '* bqat ahoy,'' and saluted with the discharge of his musket. Blue lights were then burnt, and rockets thrown in diflferent direc- tions, which brilliantly coruscating, betrayed the position of the son of Satan, making off with great despatch ; when the seventy-four opened, though unsuccessfully, a heavy fire from her guns with the hope of blowing out of the water a miscreant who sought her overthrow not by the magnanimity of conflict, but the insidiousness of ex- plosion. Mr. Mix repealed his visits for three nights in succession; the encouragement held out by Congress probably " spurring the sides of his intent ;" but the ship, having taken the alarm, changed as often her an- chorage, and baffled his attempts. On the fourth night, however, he succeeded in finding her out, and dropped his infernal mac^ ine just as the centinel at the gangway was crying " All's well \" It explo'ied happily for the seventy-four a few minutes too soon to cause her annihi- mmm NAVAL ANNALS. 'df7 lation. It Is iinpiossible to describe the effect of its ^oiog; off, of the sombre light that preceded it, of the subma- Tine thunder that followed it, of the long and powerful shakes commnnicated to the Chesapeake, and of the pyramid of water thrown up. enveloped in a blast more dark and pestilential than that of Avernus. April 20. The American sloop of war, Frolic, is taken^ off Cuba, by the Sbelburne and Orpheus. ACTION BETWEEN THE EPERVIER AND PEACOCK, OFF EAST FLORIDA. The cession of the Floridas of Spain by the United States constitutes an sera in the history of the American Repub- lic: it was obtained by purchase; audit would have been cheaply bought at the price of all the money in the Trea- sury at Washington, The transfer of this vast territory consolidates and strengthens the North American Union, by uniting the destinies of the Western and Atlantic States ; and while they become identified in interest, and inseparable in policy, the nation rises in maritime dig- nity by the accession of a long line of coast indented with bays for the reception of fleets, and covered with inex- haustible forests of live oak for their construction. The memorable assertion of the Quarterly Reviewers, that *• local eircumstances will prevent the formation of an Amer " rican A«i'j/, as the whole southern coast of America is desti- jrammummmmmmmmimmmm uas NAVAL ANNALS, i •* tute of harbours"* when quoted ironically in Congress bjr Mr. Clay, provoked an obstreperous peal of laughter from a full house ;, and that the more especially, as in the same Number of their periodical Journal they accuse the Ame- rican Executive of dullness, and triumph in the superi- ority of their own discernment. TheFIoridas abound with the noblest harbours on the globe, and supply positions to secure and render efficient the largest naval establish' ment. TV'est Florida, presenting a line of coast that ex- tends along the Mexican Gulph, comprehends the en- trance of the navigable river Perdido, the noble harbour of Pensacola, the capacious bay of Appalachie, and the magnificent one of Spiiitu Santo, which includes that of Tampo, aflbrding a spacious harbour, completely sheltered from the influence of the north-west wind, and capable of receiving at anchor the whole of the British Navy. Be- low Spiritu Santo, distant about 70 mileii, is Charlotte Harbour, of inferior importance, yet highly desirable to the trade and influence of East Florida. Chatham Bay, extending to Cape Sublc, is too near the vortex of the gulph stream for the safe resort of larger vessels, but for small craft is advantageously situated. But passing • See the Quarterly Review, Vol. 21, p. 15. Where it is also ad- vanced, that If Anierka had a fleet in the only ports that 'u<Ul admit ene^ the rvhole mi^ht be (dii, dereque) vrrt/ leisureli/ drstroi/cd ! ! ! Credat Judaeus Apella, non ego. Before the descendants cf English- men on the American shores would be the tame spectators of the de- struction of tlieir ships, protected by forts and bastions, there must be first extinffuished their spirit of independence, tlieir nobL* pride, their generous sense of giory. liut the fact is, that INCIIKDULUS ODI is the charm against the page of the Quarterly Reviewers, whether thi'v make it a veliide of abuse against America, or of panegyric on their owii vii'tuiai. mm i NAVAL ANNALS. 3*2r> round Cape Sable, tlie coast of East Florida prevsents a shore washed by the Atlantic, offering the port of Saint Augustine ; not to mention the harbour of Amelia Island, on the northern frontier of the province, one of the best in the American sea. It is generally thought that the Go> vcrnmcnt of the United States confine their ambitious \iews to the Canadas, Hudson's Bay, and the Floridas ; but I suspect that they consider the whole of the Western Hemisphere, as far as the Isthmus of Darien, to be com- prehended in the limits of their natural jurisdiction. By the occupation of Galvestown they have advanced their fron- tier within six hundred miles of the city of Mexico; and as the whole of Upper Canada must necessarily fall when that part of the State of New York extending to the Saint Lawrence, between Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain, shall be fully settled ; so the prorince of Mexico will be- come incorporated with the States of the Union, directly the tide of population in Louisiana acquires suflicient condensity to sustain the operation. It was in a bay on the coast of East Florida that the American sloop of war Peacock, Captain Warrington, lyin;? at anchor, discovered in the morning of the 24th of April, three saH to windward in the offing ; and, on getting iinderweigh, one of them, a man of war brig, bore down with British colours flying : the other two vessels, under her convoy, kept on their course. The brig that bore down to engage the Peacock was the British sloop of war Epervier, Captain Wales, from Jamaica, bound to England with specie on board to the amount of 120,000 dollars, and an action ensued, which terminated in the liddling of the hull of the English vessel, disuhling her 11 % i r « Wgtmf^^ ■ \ 380 NAVAL ANN A'LS. masts «nd ipars; and killing and wounding 2S of her crew ; while the AmericaQ soffered little or no iojiiry io her hull or spars, had Bot a single man killed, and only two slightly wounded* Captain Warrington's recital of this action merits notice, as it exhibits a speeimen of :f;unnery to which nothing parallel was seen in former wars ; and evinces that, want of skill in that important l)ranoh of naval science readers the utmost efforts of courage inoffensive. I ■ .■"■. . ii. .;.:.' '' •■ < •'• '■'.■' ■ ' . i ■ Captain WarringtmCs Letter. ;•-.■■•. ■ . .,\A*.. ■.' • ■■! U. S. sloop Peacock^ at sea, lat. 27o 47', SiH, ^ , long. 80O 9', April 29, 1814. I have the honor to inform you, that we have this morn- ing captured, after an action of 45 minutes, H.M. brig Epervier, rating and mounting eighteen 32>ponnd car- ronades, with 128 men, of whom eleven were killed, and 15 wounded ; (according to the best information we could obtain ;) among the latter is her first lieutenant, who has lost an arm, and received a severe splinter-wound on th& hip. Not a man in the Peacock was killed, and ooiy two wounded, neitlier dangerously. The fate of the Epervier would have been determined in much less time, but for the circumstance of our fore-yard being totally disabled by two round-shot in the starboard quarter, from her first broadside, which entirely deprived us of the use of our fore and fore-top*sails, and compelled us to keep the ship large throughout the remainder of the action. . • WKH^rm^ ■ NATAL ANNAI.1^. ddi S of her iBJury io and only recital of cimen Off B former nportant efforts of . 270 47', 9, 1814. lis morn- .M. bri|^ »und car- Ued, and we could who has nd on the and ooiy e of the less time, tg totally •quarter, ed us of ompelled under of This, with a few lo|>-m«8t and top>gaflant back-stays, cut away, and a few shot through ow sails, is the only injury the Peacock has sustained. Not a round^hot touched her hnli; our ma&is and spars are as sound as ever. When the enemy struck* he had five feet water In his hold, his main-top-mast was orer the side, his main- boom shot away, his fore-mast cut nearly in two, and tottering, his fore-rigging and stays shot away, his bow- sprit badly wounded, and 45 shot-holes in his hull, 90 of whieh were within a foot of his water-line. By great exertion, we got her in sailing order just as dark eame oA, In 15 minutes after the enemy struck, the Peacock was ready for another action, in every respect, but her fore- yard ; which was sent down, fished, and had the fore-sail set again, in 45 minutes : such were the spirit and acti- -vity of our gallant crew. The Epervier had under con- voy an English hermaphrodite brig, a Russian and a Spanish ship, which all hauled their wind, and stood to the E.N.E. I had determined upon pursuing the former, but found that it would not answer to leave our prize in her then crippled state, and the more particularly so, as we found she had 120,000 dollars in specie on board, which we soon transferred to this sloop. ACTION BETWEEN THE REINDEER AND WASP. June 28. The British sloop of war Kcindeer, Captain Manners, is taken by the American sloop of war Wasp, i\^ I rT ! H i' 1 I 3S2 NAVAL ANNALS. Captain Blakeley, in the Chops of the ChanAel, after a sanguinary engagement of 19 minutes, in which the two vessels fought yard arm to yard arm. The Reindeer was manned with the " pride of Plymouth ;" the Wasp with oilicers arid sailors who had served on board the Constitution in her successful actions with the Guerriere and Java. The Wasp was hovering about the English Channel, and as the Reindeer tacked and stood towards Lcr, the ardour of the Captain and crew was kindled to behold the American flag insulting their shores. Captain Manners with intrepid valour, laid the Reindeer's bow abreast of the weather-main-chains of the Wasp, justified in the bold act by his illustrious name, and daring spirit ; and in contact with the enemy, opened the fire of his guns. His fire was answered by the Americans with a precision and effect, perhaps, unexampled ; making a wreck of the Reindeer in a line with her ports, and in- volving in promiscuous destruction her upper- works, her spare-spars, and the boats that were stowed on them. The firmancnt was without a cloud, and the sea smooth as glass ; reflecting, before the smoke from the cannon deformed the scene, the sloops and their white canvas on its unruflled mirror. While the naval gunners on the W^asp's main deck were taking aim at the Reindeer's hull as at a target, the riflemen from her tops delibe- rately picked off" the British oflicers and men, so that the quarter-deck soon became covered with killed and w ounded. The lieutenant, the master, the master's mate, the purser, the boatswain, the gunner, and every petty officer, were carried down totlie cockpit. At this crisis Captain Manneis called to his crew, " I'ollow me, my ' ' mmmm NAVAL ANNALS. 3aa hel, after a ich the two i Reindeer the Wasp board the 5 Guerriere he English od towards kindled to I. Captain tdeer's bow sp, justified ring spirit ; fire of his cans with a ; making a ts, and in- -works, her d on them, sea smooth the cannon hite canvas iners on the Reindeer's tops delibe- , so that the killed and ister's mate, svery petty t this crisis ow me, my I " boys, we must board them ;" and, animatinfc their spirit of enterprise by his example, he mounted on a fore-castle gun and seized the rigging of the American to board his deck, but two rifie balls from the enemy's tops penef^ated his head, and came out beneath his chin, when placing one hand on his forehead, and convulsively brandishing his sword with the other, he exclaimed, " God \" and fell back lifeless on his own deck. Though deprived of their chief support, the British still rushed on to board ; but Blakeley and his crew stood fsrm, and compelled them to retrace their steps ; he then pursued them at the head of his sailors, with their drawn weapons in their hands, and carried the brig in one minute, going aft him self, and hauling down the English colours with his own hand. In this spirited conflict, which lasted only 19 minutes, the Reindeer had 25 killed, and 42 wounded ; total 67 : the Wasp 1 1 killed, and 15 wounded ; total 26. A breeze springing up the next day, the Reindeer's foremast went by the board ; and she was so much shattered in her hull, that no sooner were the prisoners and wounded removed, than Captain Blakeley caused her to be set on fire, and in a short time her magazine exploded. Captain Blakeley' s Letter. » U. S. sloop Wasp, L'Orient, July 8, 1814. On Tuesday, the 28th ultimo, being then in lat. 48" 36' N. and long. 11" 15' W. we fell in with, engaged, and in 19 minutes captured the British sloop of war Keintleer, William Manners, Ksq. commander, ; > . ■ ■1 '< 4 1 ' n il, : f ;ll SS4 NAVAL ANNALS. - Findhi;^ the'enen^ di(f not f M i^vffioiently on tbe li««ita,' to enable ns to bring oor guns to bear, put the betm a>lee ; and, at 26 minutes after 3, commenced tbe action whb tbe after-earronade on tbe f tarboard-iide, and fired in aaeceMi(m ; 34 minntei after 3, baoled np tbe main- sail ; 40 minutes after 3, tbe enemy baving bis bow in contact with our larboard quarter, endeavoured to board us, but was repulsed in every attempt ; at 44 minotes after 3, orders were given to board in turn, which were promptly executed, when all resistance immediately ceased ; and, at 46 mimites after 3, tbe enemy's flag was- bauleddown. ' Tbe Reindeer mounted sixteen 24 -pound carronades, two lOiig 6 or 9-pounders, and a drifting 12-pound car- ronade, witb a complement on board of lid men, Her crew were said to be tbe pride of Plymouth. . Our loss in men has been severe, owing, in part, to the proximity of the two vessels, and tbe extreme smootb- ness of tbe sea, but chiefly in repelling boarders. That of tbe enemy, bowever, was infinitely more so, as will be seen by tbe list of killed and woanded on both sides. Six round-shot struck our hull, and many grape, which did not penetrate far. Tbe fore-mast received a 24-pound shot, which passed through its centre, and our rigging and sails were a good deal injured. ' Tbe Reindeer was literally cut to pieces in a line with her ports : her upper works, boats, and spare spars, were one complete wreck. A breeze springing up the next afternoon, her fore-mast went by the board. • Having received all the prisoners on board, which, from the number of wounded occupied much time, toge- rtlielieaib, t the hetm I the action e, and fired I the main- liis bow in Bd to board 14 nimites vrhioh were nmediately ^'s flag was jarronades, poand car- men, Her I in part, to me smootl^ lers. That > as will be 1 sides, rape, which a24-pouiid 3ur rigging a line with spars, were ip the next NAVAL ANNALS.: 934 ther with their baggage, the Reindcur was, on the evening of the 29th, set on fire, and in a few hours blew up. Liit of hilled mud woundtd on ho»rd the U. S, tloop «/* war Wtujty m the action with the Reindeer. Killed, and since dead (including two midshipmen) 1 1 Wounded severely ------- 6 slighUy 10—— 16 ■ ' Total .-•-----20 List q/* the hilled and wounded on board H. B» M. sloop Reindeevm Killed-— Wm. Manners,. Esq. commander ; John Thos. 'barton, purser ; and 23 petty offieers and seamen. . Wounded— ThomsiS Chambers, first lieutenant; Richard Jones, master ; and 40 petty ofiicers and seamen. Recapitulation, Killed - - - - - - 25 Wounded dangerously - - - - 10 ■ severely ------ 17 • slightly - 16— 42 Total 67 ti i h\ ard, which, time, toge- •'*^ 1 ma NAVAL ANNAl.S. . ■*#., -•* ■' U*^ f >.■.*■ ",- * .iL»rit> > ^A. * 1 , THE ATTACK ■>*M P-l r, T . -v. li.V.vi* ■•?(',; ! I PF THE ARMSTRONG PRIVAT£ER, IN FAYAL ROADS, £Y THE BOATS OF A BRITISH SQUADRON. i ;4<!tnvu I- M, ••.it' ! .'1 ^--f'l *, ■' i-ifx «• iS,.-.'^*,' The Azores, oi Western Islands, are situated in tlie AMantic Ocean, at nearlj' an equal distance from Europe and America ; they are nine in number, and inhabited by Portuguese. At one of them, called Fayal, the Ame- rican schooner privateer Armstrong, of 18 guns, Captain Gfty R. Champlin, with a complement of 100 seamen, touched in the m.>nth of July 1614, for wood and water ; and while lying at anchor in the roads, was descried from tike ofling by the Plantagenet of 74 guns, and the Rota and Carnation. The ships having hove to at the south-west promontory of the bay, despatched a boat to recor.ioitre the force of the Armstrong, which, on its approach, was hailed by the privateersmen, and told to keep olT: but the strength of the tide brought the boat under the schooner's counter, and she sustained the fire of the Ame- ricans, with the loss of seven men killed. The English, incensed at this conduct, sent the Carnation in to destroy the piivatecr ; but the schooner, which drew compara- tively little water, lying at anchor only a pistol shot from the shore, was found to be out of the range of her guns. Upon this nine boats were hoisted out from the ships of the squadron, which, manned with two hundred seamen, were sent, under the command of three lieutenants, on the desperate enterprize of carrying the privateer by boarding. In the mean while Captain Champlin, who 1 ujffmni" •"<^«i'>i»«wi,f^ "",■-'*«•, n^vi ifi,^ !|t NAVAL ANNALS. •^37 S, BY THE ted in tbe m Europe ialmbitcd the Ame- s, Captain [) seaiueii* ind water ; cried from B Rota and soutb-west ecor.ioitre roach, was ;p off : but under the f the Arae- \e Englisli, to destroy compara- 1 shot from f her guns, he ships of ed seamen, tenants, on rivaleer by mplin, who was an old man of war's man bred under Truxton,* with admirable presence of mind, put his schooner in a pos- ture of defence. He hoye in about fifteen fathoms of his cable, and made fast to it two warps, then veered away, and brought them to the windlass ; forming thereby springs which enabled him to bring his broadside to bear on the boats. Ho then ran up his boarding-netting, and traced it to tbe yards ; after which he loaded his cannon with double ^bot, iron bolts, marling-spikes, strop hooks, and whatever destructive missives he could mus^ter. On the approach of the boats the privateer.smen cheered with a voice of defiance ; and as the lieutenants called to their crews " hurrah boys ! pull up alongside !" they were re- ceived with a profuse and levelling fire that killed and wounded great numbers of their men. But the impetu- bsity of the assailants was not to be repressed ; by v. bold, though dangerous eflbtt of valour, they carried the pri- vateer, whose crew, unable to stop the career of their enemy, fled in their boats to the shore, from whence they kept up a renewed and brisk fire of musketry on the English as they were destroying their vessel ; she was, however, destroyed, but (will it be credited) at the ex- pence of one hundred and thirty-five of the assailants killed and wounded, among whom were the three lieu- tenantslf . . • .... • In the war between the United States and the French Republic, Truxton commanded the Constellation frigate at the capture of tho Insurgent. . + This account is confirmed in the eighth volume (p. 343) of the liiveu of the Admirals. T 338 NAVAL ANNALS. .s .. < TEMPORARY OCCUPATION, BY THE BRITISH, ■ '■ J-: or THE ' "■' ' CITY OF WASHINGTON. 1 •i An army under General Ross, of 4000 veteran soldiers, -who had served with distinction in the Peninsular war, having efi'ccted a landing on the Patuxent, advance upon Washington, and encounter at Bladensburg an American army of 5000 militia, including 350 regulars, commanded by General Winder, of whom the greatest |part arrived on the ground, from different points of the country, when the enemy were in sight. They had barely fallen into their ranks when, about one in the afternoon of August 24th, an action commenced, which was sustained by parts of the American troops with great spirit and ell'ect. The contest lasted an hour, when the right and centre of General Stansbury's brigade gave way, and the 5th Baltimore regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel Ster- rett, was ordered to retreat, to avoid being out-flanked ; the reserve, commanded by Brigadier General Smith, with the Maryland militia, and Commodore Barney's sailors, were the last that held out to the right on the hill. In this conflict the British army lost, in killed and wounded, 248.* The troops of General Ross, on being left masters of the field, halted for a short time, H • At the termination of a battle we calculate the lives that have been lost, but do not compute the hearts that have been hardened. The steel wiped from its slaughterous stain, retains its slaughterous shape. It is not returned to the anvil, but to the scabburd. '; I NAVAL ANNALS. 839 nsH, I soldiers, iular war, ince upon A.merican mmanded rt arrived country, e)y fallen ernoon of sustained spirit and right and ly, and the onel Ster- t-flanked ; ral Smith, Barney's ;ht on the in killed Ross, on ihort time, es that have en hardened, slaughteroua rd. and then marched upon Washington, 4 miies distant, which they reached at eight o'clock that night, and re- ferring to London as a standard of comparison, were surprized to find the metropolis of the Western World, a city with streets laid out but not built on, or with only a few detached houses at such wide intervals from each other, that the columns of the invading army might march in squares through every hiatus. It presented, however, to the eye, a number of public buildings, devoted to the great purposes of legislation and government, on elevated scites, overlooking the Potomac; and of these proud edifices, in a few hours, scarce a stone was left standing. The Capitol, the President's " Palace," the War Office, the Treasury, and the Arsenal, were blown up by the British troops, and buried in one common mass of ruin and desolation. Scarcely was the work of ruin conir pleted, when the wrath of Heaven seemed provoked ; for there came on a whirlwind so awful and tremendous^ that the columns of the besieging army were as com- pletely dispersed as if they had undergone a total defeat; some flying for succour behind the dilapidated buildings, and others falling flat on the ground : the very cannon were lifted in their carriages, and borne to a distance on the wings of the tempest. In the miserable account of war, the triumph is not unfrequently dashed with humi- liation, and the conquerors, in the precipitance of their retreat* from the land which they had invaded, left be- hind them at Bladensburg, a great part of their wounded j among them were the rollowin^' uilicers : Colonel Thorn- * The British armj occupied Washington exacdy 24 hours. z2 I 'I i I 340 NAVAL ANNALS. ton, Lieut. -Colonel Wood, Major Brown, Lieut. Stavely, and £nflign Buchanan. And now while patriotism and her dejected train of citizens bent over the ashes of the Capitol, Religion, with exalted voice exhorted them, not ineffectually, to the performance of a sacred and solemn duty. The senate, the clergy, and the people went forth to bury the dead of the enemy. The procession moved slowly from the highest flat area of the hill of the Capitol (whose marble ruins, reduced to one undistinguished mass, were yet smoking from the effects of their explosion,) and proceeded through the Pennsylvania avenue, along the east branch of the Potomac, to the battle ground at Bladensburg. Men, bearing the implements for the interment of the dead, preceded the members of both houses of Congress. In the centre of the procession walked the officiating priest, distinguishable by his band and surplice. On ar- riving ct the field of battle, strewn with the bodies of the slain, there was a deep and solemn pause : the graves were dug in silence : and no voice was heard but that of the minister, as the earth of a foreign land closed over the victims of unnatural war. <> - > > > ■ II, i ,..{ t .i .\ NAVAL ANNALS. 341 Stavely, train of on, with , to the senate, dead of ; highest le ruins, smoking oceeded t branch snsburg. it of llie ongress. fficiating Onar- ies of the e graves it that of sed over r..{ ■ ■ r ■ I «■■,'. KIGHT ATTACK •i ,1 '4 .":1 I OF A CAMP OF RANGERS, •„ ■. ,^ On the Shore of Chesapeake Bap, THE CAPTAIN AND CREW OF A FRIGATE. . • ■ ■,,:'i. ' • ■' ■ ' ..'--' » noctisque per umbram ; . Castra inimica petunt. ViRoiL. /. 9. V. 314. The bay of Chesapeake is one of the largest in the world. It is twelve miles wide at its entrance between Cape Henry and Cape Charles, and extends two hundred and eighty miles northward to the mouth of the Susque- hannah river, through which vast extent of water the tide ebbs and flows. It is from 7 to 18 miles wide from shore to shore, averaging a depth of 9 fathoms, afibrding a safe and easy navigation,* and abounding with com- modious harbours. Of its tributary rivers the principal are the Susquehannah, the Patapsco, the Patuxent, the r*i, . i * In this lespect there is an invaluable ditTerence, between the Chesapeake Bay, or River, and the Plata, in South America. The depth of the Plata is by no means proportionable to its breadth, and its navigation is perpetually obstructed by enormous sand banks, not covered with more than two or three fathoms of water. The English and Ortiz banks, in partica.'ar, detract from the utility of the river, and inspire such terror, that th<! Plata has been emphatically termed the hell Pf Pilots. Mi NAVAt ANN-AtS. Potomac, the Rappahannock, James, and York ; navi- gable for ships of burden into the heart of a cultivated country.* When the army of General Ross advancfed upon the city of Washington, Sir Peter Parker, in the Menelaus frigate, ascended the Chesapeake to make a diversion of the enemy in that quarter. The breeze blowing from the northward, the ship had to beat the whole way, but the crew forgot the toil of their ascent in the magnificence of the scene before them. Northward they beheld the waves running out to the sky like those of the main sea, or partially terminated by isles of various shapes forming an interrupted horizon ; whilst the moving level land- scapes on either shore were relieved by the rich amphi- theatre of woody hills in the more distant prospect, surmounted by a waving outline of azure mountains that bounded the whole. The mind of the enlightened na- vigator associated with the shores before him all that was enterprizing and romantic in an age of discovery and adventure. To tho fancy Smith appeared sustaining with (;'.'!, * An Oxford or Cambridge education disqualifies a man for travel- ling — he never pets fairly out of the leading-strings of Ahna Mater — he travels with his satchel hanging to his back, and thinks there is no appeal from the judgment of Virgil, who, perhaps, never had an ori- ginal thought of his own. Hence Eustace, in his Classical Tour, is lost in wonder at the magnificence of the Tiber and the Po, " whose *' currents are unexhausted in tlie scorching heat of summer." From this the inference is inevitable, that they would be seen to most ad- vantage after a shower of rain. What is the Po compared with the Potomac ? The one a hundred and fifty yartls wide at its mouth, the other seven miles and a half! The Shepherd in Virgil was filled with admiration of the magnitude of his village till he visited Rome, and then rebuked himself with the exclamation of Stultus ego I . NAVAL ANNALS. 343 From 1 persevering energy the courage of a handful of colonists in the wilds of a barbarous nation ; and Pochahontas ap- proaching the forlorn outcasts with a heart to pity, and a hand to bless. ^ The frigate anchored before Pool's island, towards the head of the bay, above the estuary of the Patapsco, and the same day an African born negro swam oft' to the ship, and made report that in a deep ravine on the Eastern shore of the Bay, a detachment of Rangers had en- camped, who were collected to assist in the defence of Baltimore, and were only prevented from crossing to the opposite side by the appearance of the Menelaus. On receiving this information Sir Peter Parker resolved to fall on them in the night, with the hope of cutting off and securing the greatest part as prisoners, and, at ten o'clock, the boats were hauled up alongside the frigate to disembark one hundred and twenty four seamen and marines, with their respective odicers : the expedition was commanded by Sir Peter Parker. The crew crowded the gangways to witness the departure of their comrades, and as they descended the ship's side there was many a silent pressure of the hand exchanged between them. It was not long after the full of the moon, and scarcely had the boatmen begun to ply theii- oars, when every eye was directed to a glow in the east, and the luminary of night • Recorded honours have gathered round the name of this Indian maid in the account (printed in Purchas' Pilf^rims) ^iven by Captain Smith of her kind protection of the colonists ; and had King James, when he received her at court, conferred on licr a title, the appro- priate motto to her armorial bearings would have been MISERIS SUCCURRERE DISCO. k i! i ^44 NAVAL ANNALSt rose with serene splendor over the blue expanse of waler». All was tranquil : , ,, (,,.«. the little wave ' ''' ''"'... Which rippled to the shore, and left no foam, < ' . ,, Sent its low murmurs far. H" •' • •• ' ' Madoc. Book23. The flood tide was making—the ship was on the swing — and the deep watch-word of the centinel on the gangway caused the stillness of the scene to be felt. The heart turned involuntarily from meditating deeds of death to contemplate the peaceful planet of the night; and there were those who beheld it with the apprehension of soon losing for ever its solacing beams. The party landed at the head of a creek, winding ronnd broken crags, and shagged with pines ; and were conducted by their guide to the vicinity of Bellair, through a country wildly pic- turesque. They had scarcely proceeded a mile when the African made a sudden halt, and exclaimed in his patois^ " What buckra among the leabs there stand peepie '* peepie ? *♦ You think neger no hab eyes. Cudjo spy " you !" and before an answer could be made to his qui vive ! some of the English sprang forward, and seized the look-out picquet of the American camp. They now pushed on to tlie attack of the main-body, and came to a path that climbed a rocky ascent, whose ridge brought them in full view of the camp in a deep ravine encompassed uith bold hills, richly wooded, of a great variety of forms. The English couched among the trees on the projecting cliff that crested the defile, whence a path descended t» the encampment ; and pushing gently by the foliage that intercepted their view, and peeping with all the attention- ^ NAVAL ANNALS. 043 f waters. ok 23. 5 swing — gangway 'he heart ' death to and there >n of soon landed at rag3, and ^eir guide iidly pic- when the his patoiir id peepie Cudjo spy to his qui seized the )w pushed to a path light them ompassed |r of forms, projecting icended to >Iiage that } attentiorv that the thing seemed to deserve, they witnessed a tiight- scene that might l:ave exercised the pencil of a Salvator Rosa. Numerous camp fires illuminated the faces of groupes of white and black men, bivouacing round the' kindled piles with an American indifference to luxury, grace, and accommodation. Some were sitting before the flames baking hoe-cakes of Indian meal ; some were earnestly engaged at cards, and others dancing in antic guise to the music of a fiddle played by a ragged negro boy, with his black wooly head bare, his elbow in rapid motion, and his visible muscles distorted : but by far the most numerous assemblage had collected ronnd a dead bear, of extraordinary bulk, which they were tricing up with a rope by the hind-legs to the lower limb of a stately sycamore, in order to skin and carve his carcass : the man who had shot Bruin was sitting in a weary posture on the ground, with his gun by his side, recounting to a mute circle the stratagems he had practised io circum- vent the curious animal ; and how he had allured him, as he lay concealed in some rank grass, by waving his hand- kerchief tied to the end of his ramrod : he dwelt on the difficulty of pacifying his dog, and often pointed to him during the recital, as he lay overcome with fatigue at his feet. At the first flash of the firelocks from the seamen and marines overlooking the encampment, the whole crowd started on their feet, and were in motion scramb- ling up the opposite side of the defile with the agility of scared squirrels. The echoes of the rocks of the ravine rung to the cry of " the British !" and each fugitive, on gaining the ridge, sought the recesses of the forest through by-ways, hedges, bushes, and bulTalo-paths. Id I >■". ' '! K II s- 34^ NAVAL ANNALS. the mean while a man of good mien, and in his full parade dress, called to this formidable body in a load voico» ** WherOf soldiers, are you all running to, as if Buona- ** parte was come 1 Look to the park of artillery in the " rear. Where is the Captain of the engineers ?" So saying, he started wildly down the valley, followed by three fleet youths in trim uniforms, with ostrich plumes waving to their caps ; each placing his hands hollow to his mouth, and raising in barbarous emulation the war- whoop practised by the aborigines of the country. Their savage clamours had the effect of rallying round the ar- tillery about a hundred riors dressed in deer-skin coats ; but the great bulk ot the army sought the preci- pices, which they climbed with incredible agility, and when called on to form, only looked back in mortal agony at those who spoke to them without the power of making a reply. The Colonel and his adherents assembled round their field-pieces, and putting on a resolute air, made a shew of defending them to the last extremity. But the English commander, disregarding tin's vain bra- vade, rushed forward at the head of his men, and at the first charge of the bayonet, dispersed ignominiously the band. In possession of the artillery, and, to all appear- auce, masters of the field of battle, the British sailors and marines raised a triumphant shout ; but they soon found themselves hat massed by a mode of warfare under which troops laurelled in ten campaigns of Europe would have succumbed. The rangers, who had fled in the first moments of consternation and disorder, no sooner re- sumed their courage, and collected their powers, than every man availing himself of local circumstances, fought NAVAL ANNALS. 347 I parade 1 voice, Buona* r in the s?" So wed by plumes ollow to the war- r. Their I the ar- leer-skin le preci- lity, and :al agony f making ed round made a y. But ain bra- nd at the jusly the appear- 'h sailors hey soon re under 36 would 1 the first oner re- jrs, than s, fought after his own humour, and turned his rifle to the best account. Some glided like snakes in thickets, from whence presenting their pieces they never missed their mark ; some took their stations on the limbs of the lofty trees that, in natural groves, overlooked the ravine, and fired unseen through the foliage ; and others, creeping with subtle glance, and dexterous arm, along the ridge of the precipice, let fly, and loaded again without remit- ting their mobility : every hedge was an ambush, every tree a shelter, and every rock a fortified post. It was in this exposed sitiution, while animating his men with his voice and gestures, that Sir Peter Parker* was pierced, by a rifle ball, and breathed his last in the arms of his officers. The field pieces were for a short time in pos- session of the English ; but, baffled in their attempts to close with the enemy, they abandoned them, and sought again the beach. They left behind them twelve of their party slain, and supported back to the ship twenty-five of their wounded, the whole they could find. Though returning conquerors from the field, their slow and mournful march presented the appearance of a funereal convoy; and when they had re-embarked in their boats, and reached once more their ship, her deck exhibited a scene of clamorous sorrow, or silent despair. • See a tribute to the memory of this officer, by a noble poet, bc- giuiiiii)? " There is a tear for all who die." V f1» !i / ; . l 34ft NAVAL ANNALS. 1 ♦ ! >: \ '' ^ "'» - NIGHT ACTION BETWEEN THE AVON AND WASP* , In 'which t/te Avon teat lunk. "t •rt- I i An action at sea is at any time an awful scone, but in the night it acquires from darkness an aggravation of horror. The tumult is then peculiarly impressive of the drummer beating to quarters— of the crew crowding up the hatchways with their hammocks — of the master at arms suspending lanthorns over the port-cells — of the quarter-gunners examining the rammers, the spnnges, the powder-horns and locks — of the captains of the gun» casting loose their cannon, and levelling them with their handspikes to the point*blank range for firing; While, if a torch were to be passed along the deck from visage ta visage, distinct ideas might be formed of the several cha- racters of the crowd — for then one man would be seen going into action with enterprizing valour — another with mechanical courage — and a third, perhaps, with the quivering lip of pale affection at the tender remembrance of some endearrd object he may never again behold. The Wasp, after her capture of the Reindeer, proceeded to L'Orient, a harbour on the west coast of France, situ- ated at the bottom of the bay of Saint Louis, and having taken on board provisions, directed her course for the Irish coast, where, between Cape Clear and Kinsale, about 9 at night of September 1, she fell in with the British sloop of war Avon, Captain Arbuthnot. A spirited action ensued between the two vessels, which terminated y ^ ff NAVAL ANNALS. U» f »■' le, but in ivation oi live of tlie wding up naster at s— of the sponges^ r the gun» with their ; while, if visage ta veral cha- Id be seen )ther with with the embrance n behold, iroceeded ince, situ- Dd having le for tlie , Kinsale, with the A spirited ;rminated in the surrender of the Avon, who lost her main-mast, and was actually in a sinking state at the time she struck, from the damages sustained in her huU by the Wasp's destructive fire. At this crisis the Br(ti:ih sloop of war Castilian, Captain Bremer, hove in sight, who stood to- wards the American, but was diverted from a decisive contest by the guns of distress fired on board the Avon, and he had scarcely time to save her surviving crew with his boats, when she went down head foremost: Lieute- nant Harvey was the last who left the Avon. The English lost in this action Mr. Pendergrast, the first lieutenant, and 9 seamen killed, with 33 wounded ; total 43. The Americans had 2 killed, and 1 wounded; totals. To sink their opponent in a heavy gale with a high sea running, presupposes admirable gunnery on the part of the crew »f the Wasp. . ; Captain Blaheleif's Letter. September 1, 1814. *' At 7 in the evening the enemy commenced making signals with flags, which in the dark could not be dis- tinguished; she afterwards burnt blue lights, and sent up rockets. Set the flying jib. At 20 minutes after we got up with him, on his weather-quarter, when he hailed and inquired * What ship is that?' Not answered, but asked * What brig is that?' He replied, * His Majesty's brig .' Blowing fresh, the name was not distinctly understood. He again hailed, and asked, ' What ship is tiiat ?' when he was told to heave to, and he would be in- formed. He repeated his question, and was answered to the sanieelk'ct. Mr. Carr was then sent forward lo > / / I 'I 350 NAVAL ANNALS. order him to heave to, which he declined doing ; at 9. 25. the enemy set his fore-tup-mast studding-sail ; at 9. 26. fired the J 2- pound carronade, to make him heave-to^ when the enemy commenced action by firing his larboard guns. We then kept away, ran under his lee, and at 9. 29. commenced the aCilDn. At 10 o'clock, believing the enemy to be silenced, orders were given to cease firing, when I hailed, and asked if he had surrendered. No answer being given to this, and his fire having recom- menced, it was again returned. At 12 minutes after 10, the enemy i:aving suflered greatly, and having made no return to our last two broadsides, I hailed him the second time, to know if he had surrendered, when he ansv/ered in the aflirmative. We were on the eve of taking pos- session, when a sail was descried close on board of us : orders were then given to clear the ship again for action, which were promptly executed. We were then on the point of wearing, to engage the second, which we per- ceived to be a brig of war, when, at 10. 2C. discovered two more sails, one a-stern, the other one point on our lee- quarter, standing for us ; orders were then given to stand from the strange sails. The first ct.ntinued to approach us, until she came close to our stern, when she hauled by the wind, fired her broadside, and retraced her steps to join her consorts, when we were necessitated to abandon the prize. He appeared, in every respect, a total wreck. He continued for some time tiring guns of distress, until, probably, delivered by the two last vessels who madt> their appearance. The menacing brig could have ♦en- gaged us, if he had thought proper, but contented himselt with firing a broadside, and immediately returned to his NAVAL ANNALS. asi at 9. 25. at 9.2C. lieaye-tOj larboard and at 9. eviug the ise firing, red. No ig recom- j after 10, ; made no he second answered iking pos- ,rd of us : for action, en on the ch we per- jvererttwo n our lee- en to stand > approach i hauled by er steps to to abandon Dtal wreck. ress, until, who ma do d have un- ited himselt irued to his companions. Our loss is two killed, and one slightly wounded with a wad." P. S. — I am told the enemy, after his surrender, asked for assistance, and said he was sinking. The probabi- lity of this is confirmed by his firing single guns for some time. M MACDONOUGH'S VICTORY ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN, AND THE Rareat of a Brithh Army from be/are Plattsbiirff. Champlain is a lake the next in magnitude to Ontario, and forms the boundary between the states of New York and Vermont. On the west shore, at the mouth of the Saranac, stands the town of Plattsburg. In the bay be- fore this tow. the American commodore M'Donough obtained a victory over the British fleet; while an army of 12,000 men, commanded by Sir George Prcvost, (the flower of thut army which under the greatest Captain of the age had exalted the reputation of their country in France and Spain,) without coming to a dccij^lve action with General Macomb's army posted in the defenc of the place, made a precipitate retreat back into Canada, abandoning immense quantities of stores and numuni- tion, and losing upwaids of a thousand soldiers by de- sertion.* * It was stated to be 2090 in the British parliament. I ^2 NAVAL ANNALS. I GENERAL MACOMB'S ACCOUNT. ^ r " General Orders. . *■ ** Head-quarters, Plattsburg, Sept 14, 1814. " The Governor General of the Canadas, and Com- mander in Chief of the British forces in North America, having invaded the territories of the United States, with the avowed purpose of conquering the country as far as Crown Point and Tinconderoga, there to winter his forces with a view to farther conquest, brought with him a powerful army and flotilla. An army amounting to 14,000 men, completely equipped, and accompanied by a numemu8 train of artillery md all the engines of war — men who had conquered in France, Spain, Portugal, the Indies, and in other parts of the globe, and led by the most distinguished Generals in the British army. A flotilla also superior to ours in vessels, men, and guns, had determined at once to crush us, both by land and water. '* The Governor General, after boasting of what he would do, and endeavouring to dissuade the loyal inha- bitants of the United States from their allegiance, by threats and promises, as set forth in his proclamation and order, fixed his head-quarters at the village of Cham- plain to organise his army, and to settle the government of his intended conquest. On the 2d day of the month he marched from Champlain, and on the 5th appeared before the village of Plattsburg with his whole army, and on the 11th, the day fixed for the general attack, the flotilla arrived. ffl" U! NAVAL ANNALS. dsu 1,1814. id Com- ^merica, tes, with as far as titer his with him inting to anied by of war — uga], the d by the imy. A nd guns, land and what he ^al inha- ance, by ition and )f Chani- 'ernment le month ippeared rniy, and ack, the ••* The enemy's flotilla at eight in the morning passed Cumberland Head, and at nine engaged our flotilla at anchor in the bay of the town, fully confident of crushing in an instant the whole of our naval force ; but the gal- lant Commodore M'JJonough, in the short space of two hours, obliged the large vessels to strike their colours, whilst the gallies saved themselves by flight. Tliis glorious achievement was in full view of the several forts, and the American forces Iiad the satisfaction of witnessing tJ)e victory. The Brifisli army was also posted on the surrounding heights, that it could not but behold Ihe interesting struggle for dominion on the Lake. At the same hour the fleets engaged, the enemy opened his bat- teries on our forts, throwing hundreds of shells, balls, and rockets, and attempted at the same time to cross the Sara- nac atthree difl'erent points to assault the works. Attl^ upper fort he was met by the militia and volunteers, and after repeated attempts, was driven back with considera- ble loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners. x\t the bridge near the villaa/C he was repulsed by the pickets and brave riflemen under Captain Grosvenor, and Lieutenants Ha- milton and Riley, and at the bridge in town was foiled by the guards, block-houses, and the artillery of the forts, served by Captain Brooks, Captains Richards and Smith, and Lieutenants Monntford, Smith, and Crom- well. The enemy's fire was returned with ellect from our batteries, and by sun-set we had the satisfaction to silence seven batteries which he had erected, and to see Iris co- lumn retiring to their camp beyond the reach of our guns. Thus beaten by land and water, the Governor CeneraJ withdrew liis artillery and raised the siege. At nine at, A a Hi ' ii V 'J 354 NAVAL ANNALS. I night, sent off his lieavy baggage, and under cover of the darkness retreated with his whole army, towards Canada, leaving his wounded on the field and a vast quantity of bread, flour, and beef, which he had not time to destroy, besides a quantity of bomb-shells, shot, flints, and ammu- nition of all kinds, which remained at the batteries and lay concealed in the pands and rivers. As soon as his re- treat was discovered, the light troops, volunteers, and militia, were ordered in pursuit, and followed as far as Chazy, capturing several dragoons and soldiers, besides covering the escape of hundreds of deserters, who still continue to be coming in. A violent storm, and con- tinued fall of rain, prevented the brave volunteers and militia from farther pursuit. Thus have the attempts of the invader been frustrated by a regular force of only fifteen hundred men ; a brave and active body of militia of the State of New York, un- der General Mooers, and volunteers of the respectable and patriotic citizens of Vermont, led by General Strong, and other gentlemen of distinction ; the whole not exceed- ing 2500 men. The British fovoes being now either expelled or cap- tured, the services of the volunteers and militia may be dispensed with. (Sigrcd) "Allxandeu Macomb." Sir (jleorge. Prevost's Account. Extract of a dispatch from Lieut. General Sir George Prevost, Bart, dated Head-quarters, Plattsburg, State of New York, Sept. 11, 1814. Upon the arrival of the reinforcements from the Ga- ronne, 1 lost no time in assembling three brigades ontiie NAVAL ANNALS. li !T of the anada, intity of destroy, ammu- ies and s his re- ers, and as far as besides who still and con- eers and "ustrated a brave fork, un- spectable il Strong, )t exceed- i or cap- a may be /Iacomr." ir George urg, State n the Ca- des on the frontier of Lower Canada, extending from the river Kicbelin to the St. Lawrence ; and in forming them into a division. As the troops approached the line of separa* lion between this province and the United States, the American army abandoned its intrenched camp on the river Chazy, at Champlain ; a position I immediately seized, and occupied in force on the 3d inst. The fol- lowing day the whole of the left division advanced to the village of Chazy, without meeting the least opposition from the en<emy. On the dth, it halted within eight miles of this place. The next day the division moved upon Plattsburg. Here I found the enemy in the occupation of an elevated ridge of land on the south branch of the Saranac, crowned with three strong redoubts and other field-works, and block houses armed with heavy ordnance, with their flotilla, consisting of the Saratoga, of 26 guns ; Surprize, of 20 guns ; Thunderer, of 16 guns ; Preble, of 7 guns; ten gun-boats, of 14 guns, at anchor out of gun- shot from the shore. I immediately communicated the circumstance to Captain Downie, who had been recently appointed to command the vessels on Lake Champlain, consisting of a ship, a brig, two sloops, and twelve gun- boats (the Confiance, of 36 guns ; Linnet, of 18 guns ; Broke, of 10 guns ; Shannon, of U) guns ; twelve ;Mn-bGats, of 16 guns) ; and requested his cooperation, and in the meantime batteries were construcled for guns Lf ought from the rear. On the morning of the 11th, our flotilla was seen over the Isthmus which joins Cumberiand Head with the maia i: nd, slocrin^ lor Plalt.sl)urg IJay. I immcdiatt t; ordered ♦hat pail of the brigade uiKlcr Major Geneva' Kobinsoii, A a J I I t?50 NAVAL ANNALS. ( to force the ford of the Sarnnac, and to escalade th(i enemy's works upon the heights. The batteries opened their fire the instant the ships engaged. Scarcely had his Majesty's troops forced a passage across the Saranac, and ascended the height on which stand the enemy's works, when I had the extreme mor- tification to hear tlie shouts of victory from the enemy's works, in consequence of the British flag being lowered on board the Confiance and Linnet, and to see our gun- boats seeking their safety in flight. This unlooked for event deprived me of the co-operation of the fleet, with- out which the farther prosecution of the service was liecome impracticable, I did not hesitate to arrest the course of the trooj)s advancing to the attack, because the most complete success would have been unavailing, and the possession of the enemy's works ofl'ercd no advantage to compensate for the loss we must have sustained in acfjuiring possession of them. ■ . I have ordered tlie batteries to be dismantled, the guns withdrawn, and the b-ajigage, with the wounded men who can be removed, to be sent to the rear, in order that the troops may be sent to Chazy to-morrow, and on the fol- lowing day to Champlain, where I purpose to halt until I h»ve ascertained the use the enemy purpose making of the naval ascendancy they have accpiired on Lake Champlain. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) Georor Prevost, This expedition served no other purpose than that of par ad serv ing a nurii#'rou army to demonstrate the folly of invading the territory of the American Union. NAVAL ANNALS. a67 ,.< ' r, THE CHASE AND CAPTURE OfUu: Frigate PRESIDENT, by a BHITISII SQUADRON. Neither Naples, nor Constantinople, unites the various- ad vanta<?es of sea and river communication for which' New York is distinguished. It is situated on an island in a capacious bay, formed by the conllux of two large I'ivers, the Hudson and the East River j and no view can be more picturesque than that of the adjacent islands, the shore of the Hudson, and the more extended one of Long Island, as it stretches towards the Sound.— Com- modore Rodgers having been appointed to the Indepen- dence, a new 74 fitting for sea at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the command of the President frigate was given to Captain Decatur, with orders to proceed upon a cruize in the bay of Bengal ; the Hornet and Peacock \vcre to join him at Tristran d'Acunha, an island in the South Atlantic ocean, the place of rendezvous. As the President lay ready for sea, at Slaten Island, off New York, she was watched by the Majestic, Captain Hayes ; the Tenedos, Capt. Hyde Parker ; the Endymion, Capt. Hope ; and the Pomone, Captain Lumley ; their nsaal station was close in with Sandy Hook. On Ihe I4th of January they were blown off from the coast in a severe snow storm, when Decatur, availing hinuself of a dark night and heavy gale, put to sea under close reefed top- sails, with a nieichuiit brig in company. Unfortunately, in going over the bar, the ship, by the unskilfulness of itie pilot, slrurk and injured her sailing ; and it blew too liuid from the wcstwiuU to think of beating back again I ( n I- 1 i 'I 368 NAVAL ANNALS, into port. In the mean time, Comnfodore Hayes, sus- pecting Decatur would make a dash out to sea in the night, disposed his squadron with so great judgment, that at day break, Sandy Hook bearing W. N. W. 16 leagues, the President was discovered standing to the southward and eastward, not more than two miles dis- tant on the weather-bow of the Majestic. A signal was immediately hove out for a general chase, and the Eng- lish squadron crowded all sail after the President, steer- ing free with the wind abaft v-^e beam. The Endymion, by her superior sailing, shot ahead of her consorts, and engaged the President in a running fight for two hours and a half, when, having her courses, her main-top- sail, her jib, fore-top-mast-stay-sail, and spanker cut from the yards by the President's shot, the President got a-head ; but, at eleven at night, was approached by the Pomone and Tenedos, and having received two broad- sides from the Pomone, she shewed a light in her mizen- rigsing as a signal of surrender. The Tenedos had a raking position a- stern of the President ; but Captain Parker withheld his fire, conscious that Decatur was at his mercy : he sent his boat to take possession of the chase. Captain Decatur's Letter. H. B. M. ship Endymion, at Sea, January 18, 1815. The painful duty of detailing the particular causes which preceded and led to the capture of the late U. S. frigate President, by a squadron of H. B. M. ships, fas per margin,) has devolved upon me. In my coramunica- NAVAL ANNALS. 350 of the 14th, I made Ttnown to you my intention of pro- ceeding to sea on that evening. Owing to some mistake of the pilots, the ship^ in going out, grounded on the bar, where she continued to strike heavily for an hour and a half. Although she had broken several of her rudder braces, and received such other material injury as to render her return into port desirable, I was unable to do so from the strong westerly wind which was then blowing. It being now high water, it became necessary to force her over the bar before the tide fell. In this we sue* ceeded by ten o'clock, when we shaped our course along the shore of Long Island for 50 miles, and then steered S, E. by S, At 5 o'clock three ships were discovered a-head ; we immediately hauled up the ship, and passed two miles to the northward of them. At day-light we discovered four ships in chase ; one on each quarter, and two a-stern, the leading ship of the enemy a razee ; she commenced a fire upon us, but without eflect. At meri- dian, the wind became light and baiHing; we had in- creased our distance from the razee, hut the next ship a-stern, which was also a large ship, had gained, and continued to gain upon us considerably. Wg immediately occupied all hands to lighten ship, by starting water, cuttini^ away the anchors, throwing overboard provisions, cables, spare spars, boats, and every article that could be got at, keeping the sails wet, from the royals down. At 3, we had the wind <iuite light ; the enemy, who had now been joined by a brig, had a strong breeze, and were coming up with us rapidly. The Endymion (mounting 50 guns, 24 pounders on the main-deck) had now approached us within gnn-shot, and 300 NAVAL annals/ had commenced a fire with her how-guns, which we Ve^ turned from our stern. At 5 o'clock she had obtained a position on our starboard-quarter, within halt* point-blank tfhot, on which neither onr stern nor quarter-guns would bear ; we were now steering E. by N. the wind N.W. I remained with her in this position for half an hour, in the hope that she would close with us on our broadluidic,. in which case I had prepared my crew to board ; but from his continuing to yaw his ship to maintain his posi- tion, it became evident, that to clbse was not his inten- tion. Every fire now cut some of our sails or rigging. To have continued our course under these circumstances, would have been placing it in his power to cripple us, without being subject to injury himself; and to have hauled up more to- the northward to bring our stern guns to bear, would have exposed us to his raking fire. rt was now dusk, when I determined to alter my course south, for the purpose of bringing the enemy a-beam ; and, although their ships a-stern were drawfng up fa S I felt satisfied I should be enabled to throw him out of the combat before they could come up, and was not without hopes, if the night proved dark, (of which there was every appearance,) that I might still be enabled to efl'ect ray escape. Our opponent kept off at the same instant we did, and our fire commenced at the same time. We continued engaged, steering south, and steering-sails set, 2 hours and a half, when we completely succeeded in dismantling her. Previously to her dropping entirely out uf the action, there were iutervuls of minutes, when the ships were broadiiJdc to bruiidsidc, in which she did not fire a gun. At this period (hall-;)ast 8 a'c.'ock), although dark,. NAVAL ANPiAts. Ml the other ships of the squadron were in sight, and almost wilhin gun<shot. We wer'^of cours0 compelled to abandon her. In re-assumin^i; our former course for the purpose of avoiding the squadron, we were compelled to present our stern to our antagonist ; but such was his state, though we were thus exposed and within range of his guns for half an hour, that he did not avail himself of this favourable opportunity of raking us. We continued this course until eleven o'clock, when two fresh ships of the enemy (the Pomone and Tenedos) bad come up. The Pomone bad opened her fire on. the larboard bow, within musket-shot ; the other,, about two cables' length a-stern, taking a raking position on our quarter; and the rest (with the exception of the Endymion) within gun-shot. Thus situated, with about one fifth of my crew killed and wounued, my ship crippled, and a more than four-fold force opposed to me, without a chance of escape left, I deemed it my duty to surrender. . . . ,u . It is with emotions of uride I bear testimony to the gallantry and steadiness o every oUt»er and man I had the honour to command on this occasion ; and I feel satisfied that the fact of their having beaten a force equal to themselves, in the presence, and almost under the guns, of so vastly a superior force, when, to<», it was almost self-evident that, \> liatever their exertions might be, they must ultimately be captured, will be taken as evidence of what they would have performed, had the force opposed to them been in any degree equaK |i 1. 1 i ill , I 1 ■ ifl <^. ^, 'Vi IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. fc *■, .<^ -t^, A f/. v ^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 12.5 |||M |M 1.8 U III 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WF.iT MAIN STREET WEBVTES.N.Y. 1458t (716) 871 /"i ,\ -^V cT :\ \ ^9) V <f^ c> 'V ^<> '<*)'■ #^^^ % r^ 362 NAVAL ANNALS, ,7 'I >• (■ t <•. ACTION K) Between the Constitution and the Cyane and Levant, The British ships of war the Levant and Cjrane, pro- ceeding in company from Gibraltar to the Azores, fall in, between the Strait's mouth and Madeira, with the Con- stitution, and seek an action with her ^ whicb terminates in the surrender of both. Old Ironsides, (as the Consti- tution is called by the American tars,) was this time commanded by Captain Stewart ; a man whose ances- tors breathed the keen air of Benlomond, and emigrated to America from the muirs and the mountains. I. : Captain StewarCs Minutes of tlie Action* February 20, 1815. As the Constitution was standing for Cape St. Vincent, to get in the track of the Gibraltar convoy, at 1 in the afternoon, we discovered a sail two points on the larboard bow ; hauled up in chase. At a quarter past 1 made out the sail to be a ship. At three* quarters past 1, discovered another sail a-head -, made them out, at 2 p.m. to be both ships, standing close- hauled, with their starboard- tacks on-board. At 4 p. m. the weathermost ship made signals, and bore up for hei consort, then about 10 miles to leeward ; we bore up after her, and set lower, top-mast, top-gallant, and royal stud- ding-sails in chase. At half-past 4, carried away our main-royal-mast, took in the sail, and got another pre- pared. At 5 p. M. commenced firing on the chase from * r NAVAL ANNALS. 363 our two larboard bow-guns ; onr shot falling short, ceased firing. At half-past 6, finding it impossible to prevent their junction, cleared ship for action, then about 4 miles from the two ships. At 40 minutes past 5, they passed within hail of each other, braced by the wind on the starboard-tack, hauled up their courses, and pre- pared to receive us. At 45 minutes past 6, they made all sail, close hauled by the wind, in hopes of getting to windward of us. At 55 minutes past 5, finding them- selves disappointed in their object, and that we were closing with them fast, they shortened sail, and formed on a line of wind, about half a cable's length from each other. At 6 p. m. having them under command of onr battery, hoisted our colours, which was answered by both ships hoisting English ensigns. At 5 minutes past 6, ranged up, on the starboard side of the sternmost ship, about 300 yards distant, and commenced the action by broadsides, both ships returning our fire with great spirit for about 15 minutes; then the fire of the enemy began to slacken, and the great column of smoke collected un- der our lee, induced us to suspend our fire, to ascertain their positions and conditions. In about three minutes the smoke Iiaving cleared away, we found ourselves a-breast of the headmost ship, the sternmost ship lufl"- ing up for our larboard-quarter; we poured a broad- side into the headmost ship, and then braced a-back our main and mizen-top-sails, and backed a-stern, under cover of the smoke a-breast the sternmost ship, ^vhen the action was continued with spirit, and considerable effect, until 35 minutes past 6, when the enemy's fire again slackened, and we discovered the headmost ship bearing up ; filled our top-sails, shot a-hcad, and gave her two !)' :ii mA JJAVA?. ANNAI4S. I't' Stern rakes. We then discovered the stcrnniost ship wearing also ; wore ship immediately after, and gave her a stern rake, she lulhng-to on our starboard bow, and giving us her larboard broadside; we ranged up on her larboard-quarter, within hail, and was about to give her our starboard broadside, when she struck her colours, fired a gun, and yielded. At 50 minutes past 6, took possession of H. M. S. Cyane, Captain Gordon Falcon, mounting 34 guns. At eight p. m. filled away after her consort, which was still in sight to leeward. At half- past 8, found her standing towards us on the starboard tack close hauled, with top-gallant sails set and colours flying. At 50 minutes past 8, ranged close alongside to windward of her, on opposite tacks, and exchanged broadsides ; wore immediately under her stern, and raked her with a broadside ; she then crowded all sail, and endeavoured to eseape by running ; hauled on board our tacks, set spanker and flying-jib in chase. At half* past 9, commenced firing on her from our starboard bow chaser ; gave her several shot, which cut her spars and rigging considerably. At 10 P. m. finding it impracti- cable to escape, she fired a gun, struck her colours^ and yielded. We immediately took possession of H. M. ■ship Levant, the Hon. Capt. George Douglas, mounting SI guns. At 1 A. M. the damages of our rigging were repaired, sails shifted, aiul the ship in fighting cunditiou. Cyane - - - - G killed - Levant - - - (J killed - Cuustilutiuu- Gkilltd - 13 wounded. lt> wounded. (J wounded. mij^^ m iiiiw^p )St ship ;ave her )W, and on her g;i\e her colours, 6, took Falcon, ifter her At hair- larboard colours igside to chan{:^ed ;rn, and all sail. on board At half- )ard bow pars and impracli- colours^ ofH.M. iiounting ing were unditiou. 1. 1. < • NAVAL ANNALS. ir ; - ». , . ^»■. . . t r : ' t«K» ■^ I'-'l . ESCAPE OF THE CONSTITUTION • OUT or PORT PRAYA, I •:;'5 ?,'?"'/' . FROM A BRITISH SQUADRON. .^ ., . ^ ,, ■r--i^ ;; ■^1 ;■•■:•:? ': ■^■\>fu''^ '.<] t" ,.:"i Qualis spelunca siibito commota columba, ' : H'.'^. '"' ; ('ui domus et diijces latebroso in pumice nidi, _ ' r ••■ ( Fertur in arva volans, plausiimque exterrita pennis • , ^ ,» Dat tecto ingcntcm : mox acre lapsa quicto, Radit iter liquidum, celercs neque commovet alas. <.•=-;• .;'■ . -..'■/-.*- '■:.■■ : Lib. V. V. 213. "^ As when the dove her rocky hold fersakes, Rous'd in a fright, her sounding wings she shakes ; J ■ "^ The cavern rings with clattering; out she flies, ^ - [ ; - <■ And leaves her callow care, and cleaves the skies. : . . • ...» At first she flutters ; but at length she springs To smoother flight, and shoots upon her wings. Drydev. - TheliarbouT of Port Praya, in the island of Saint Jago, the chief of the Cape de Verds, possesses good an* "cborage, and is of easy access. It is somewhat more than a mile and a quarter wide at the entrance, and runs back a mile ; gradually narrowing at its head to half a mile. The entrance to the harbour is commanded bj' a fort placed on the summit of a hill — of which more here- after. The town is situated on a table plain at the top of a rock, whose side is perpendicular to the beach ; the houses are built of stone, one story high, and thatched with the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, which clothes the t ' 360 NAVAL ANNALS. valley, and skirts the precipice. Porto Praya is the residence of the governor-general of the Portuguese settlements, both in the Cape de Verd islands, and at Cape Verde on the opposite coast of Africa While the Constitution was lying at an anchor in the bay with her prizes, the Cyane and Levant, about uoon on the f th of March, 1815, three large ships were descried standing in through a thick fog, ur 2er a crowd of sail: the headmost was the Leander of 50 guns, bearing the broad pendant of Sir George Collier ; the next to her was the Newcastle, of 50 guns. Lord G. Stewart, and the sternmost was the Acasta, of 38 guns. Captain Kerr. Captain Stewart, on beholding them, felt an involuntary emotion to guard himself {gainst mischief; he snuffed an enemy in the offing, and smelt a rat on the shore. It is not in nature for a Portuguese to get to windward of an American ; but particularly of a Scotch American, who, in nicety of tact surpasses the keenest ef his progenitors. With a quick sense of the hollowness of neutrality, and the knavery of his Excellency, Don Raphael, the Gover- nor, Captain Stewart lost not a moment to cut and run ; and such was his promptitude, that the Constitution was under weigh, close hauled upon a wind, in four minutes from the time the English squadron hove in sight. The perfidy of the governor now became actual and palpable. He not only gave orders for the batteries to be opened on the Constitution, but was seen on the ramparts gesticu- lating to the gunners, and pointing to the frigate's masts. The crew leaning over the bulwark, or on the port-cells, looked on with indifference ; when a shot passed over old Ironsides it produced a smile, and when it fell short a ■■■il NAVAL ANNALS. 367 laagb. At length a young gentleman, who was a passen- ger on board, and a candidate for a commission in the artillery corps, obtained Captain Stewart's, consent to give them a gun as an amateur: it was a shot of retribu- tion: it dismounted a long eigbteen-pounder on the bat- tery, and made the whole gang of Portuguese gunners dance ti fandango over the breast-work : his Excellency Don Raphael did not indulge that day in bis customary fiesta : he was borne languid to his. palace, where, though crowds of slaves and sycophants testified their sympathy, be had not the inward consolation of one single virtue. American minutes vf the Escape «fthe U, S. frigate Consti- tution from an English squadron of three thipsj out of Port Pray a. ' ■■■' ■ : '^r .-.^ :■■■■■■! .^.■o:■■rf ite^iu'^ The day commences with fresh breezes and thick foggy weather. At 6 past 12, while we were lying at anchor, discovered a large ship through the fog, standing in for Port Praya, At 8 minutes past 12, saw two other large ships astern of her, also standing in for the port From their general appearance, supposed them to be one of the enemy's squadrons ; and, from the Utile respect hitherto paid by them to neutral waters, I deemed it most prudent to put to sea. The signal was made to the Cyaue and Levant to get under weigh. At 12, after meridian, with our top-sails set, we cut our cable, and got under way (when the Portuguese opened afire onus from several of their batteries on shore), the prize -ships following our motions, and stood out of the harbour of Port Praya, close under East Point, passing the enemy's squadron about gun-shot to windward of them : crossed our top- gallaut-yaids, and set foic-sail, muiu-suil, spanker, flying > y. Ties NAVAL AKNALS. ji I ' jib, and top-gallant sails. The enemy, seeini^ us Under ' way, tacked ship, and made all sail in chase of us. As ' far as we conid judge of their rates, from the thiciiness «f the weather, supposed them two ships of the line, and one frigate. At half-past meridan cut away the boats 'towing a-stern, first cu.^ter, and gig. At 1 p.m. found our sailing about equal with the ships on our lee-quak'ter, ■birt the frigate luffing np, gaining our wake, and rather 'dropping astern of us ; finding the Cyane dropping^stern, ' and to-leeward, and the frigate gaining on her fast, !• found it impossible to save her if site continued on the same course, without having the Constitution brought to action by their whole force. I made the signal at JO minutes past 1 p. m. to her to tack ship, which was com- plied with. This manoeuvre, I conceived, would detach one of the enemy's ships in pursuit of her; while, at the same time, from her position, she would be enabled to reach the anchorage at Port Praya, before the detached ships could /^omc up with her ; but if they.did not tack after Irer, it would afford her an opportunity to double their rear, and make her escape before the wind. They all continued m full chase of the Levant and this ship, the ship on onr lee^quarter firing, by divisions, broad- sides, her shot falling short of us. At 3 p.m. by our having dropped tire Levant considerably, her situation became (from the position of the enemy's frigate) similar to the Cyane. It became necessary to separate also fVom the Levant, or risk this ship being brought to action to cover her. I melde the signal, at 5 minutes past 3, for her to tack, which' was complied with. At 12 minutes past 3, the whole of the enemy's squadron tacked in pursuit of the Levant, and gave up the pursuit of this ship. NAVAL ANNALS. 369 \g US tinder of us. As thickness «f e line, and f the boats p.m. found lee-quav'ter, , and rather ping cistern, n her fast, lued on the brought to lignal at JO h was com' Duld detach hil^e, at ' the enabled to le detached id not tack y to double ind. They d this ship, >n8, broad- . m. by our T situation \te) similar e also fVom action to St 3, for her utes past .3, 1 pursuit of lip. i- .■•• S it'., I.' ' I !.'• ,;>..'t • ' " ■ '■;• ACTION * •"•■•■ • > '1 ■ •" ' tor '. • I t < ■ .« • I ■ , •. i , BETWEEN THE PENGUIN AND HORNET, "■'■■■ ' ' ' 0£ Trittran d'Acunha. ' ■• v.. i. ... , ' Tristran d'Acunha is the largest of three islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, very lofty, and about 15 miles in circumference. Though 1500 miles from any inhabited land, man in his boundless passion for 'nrar has made its shores resound with the strife and contention of battle. Captain Biddle, of the Hornet, in seeking the President at this Island, fell in with the Penguin, Captain Dickin- son ; a spirited conflict ensued, which terminated in the surrender of the English vessel : her Captain was mor- tally wounded. From Captain Biddk to Commodore Decatur^ U. S. sloop Hornet, off Tristan d'Acunha» Sir, March 25, 1815. I have the honor to inform you, that on the morning of the 23d instant, at half-past 10, when about to anchor off the north-end of the island of Tristan d'Acunha, a sail was seen to the southward and eastward, steering to the eastward, the wind fresh from the S.S.W. In a few mi- nutes she had passed on to the westward, so that we could not see her for the land. I immediately made sail to the westward, and shortly after getting sight of her again, perceived her to bear up before the wind. I hove-to for him to come down to us. When she had approached Bb i ■««IIP"IF 870 NAVAL ANNALS. near, I filled the main-top* sail, and continued to yaw tbc ship while she continued to come down, wearing occa- sionally, to prevent her passing under our stern. At 1. 40. P.M. being nearly within musket-shot distance, she hauled her wind on the starboard tack, hoisted English colours, and fired a gun. We immediately lufled-to, hoisted our ensign, and gave the enemy a broadside. The action being thu.s commenced, a quick and well-directed fire was kept ap from this ship, the enemy gradually drifting nearer to us; when, at 1.65. he bore up, apparently to run us on board. As soon as I perceived he would certainly fall on board, I called the boarders, so as to be ready to repel any attempt to board us. At the instant, every officer and man repaired to the quarter-deck, where the two vessels were coming in contact, and eagerly pressed me to permit them to board the enenay ; but this I would not permit, as it was evident, from the com- mencement of the action, that our fire was greatly supe- rior, both in quickness and effect. The enemy's bowsprit came in between our main and mizen-rigging, on our starboard-side, aflbrding him an opportunity to board us, if such was bis design, but no attempt was made. There was a considerable swell on, and, as the sea lifted us a-head, the enemy's bowsprit carried away our mizen- shrouds, stern-davits, and spniker-booni, and he hung upon our larboard-quarter, At this moment an ofliccr called out that they had surrendered. I directed the marines and musketry-men to cease firing ; and, while on the taffrail, asking if they had surrendered, I received a wound in the neck. The enemy just then got clear of us. and his foremast and 1 •spij gone. NAVAL ANNALS. 371 perceiving us wearing to give him a fresh broasdsidc, he again called out that he had surrendered. It was with difficulty I could restrain my crew from firing into him again, as he had certainly fired into us after having sur- rendered. From the firing of the first gun, to the last time the enemy cried out he had surrendered, was exactly 22 minutes by the watch. She proved to be H. B. M. brig Penguin, mounting sixteen 32-pound car- ronades, two long 12s, a 12'pound carronade upon the top-gaIIant<fore- castle, with swi\els on the capstan, and in the tops. They acknowledge a loss of 14 killed, and 28 wounded : among the killed is Captain Dickenson, who fell at the close of the action. We received on board, An all, 118 prisoners, four of whom have since died of their wounds. Having removed the prisoners, and taken on board such provisions and stores as would be useful to us, I scuttled the Penguin this morning, before day- light, and she went down : she was completely riddled by our shot, her fore-mast and bowsprit both gone, and her main-mast so crippled as to be incapable of being secured. This ship did not receive a single round shot in her hull, nor any material wound in her spars. * The Hornet's force was IR 32-pound carronadcs, two long Im- pounders, and u complement of lUO men. Bb^ m 372 NAVAL ANNALS. THE REPULSE OF A BRITISH ARMY, FROM BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. New Orleans, the capital of the State of Louisiana, i» situated on thelcft bank of the Mississippi, 105 miles from its estuary, and is the great mart for the produce of the western States of the Union, to which that river* affords the only outlet to the sea : Lake Pontchartrain communi- cates with the city by the bayou St. John. It is within two weeks sail of the coast of Mexico, and still nearer • Tlic nrea'of territory in the United States which contributes to the waters of the Mississippi, or is dependent on it for a communication with the ocean, is 1,344,77!) square miles, or 860,C58,5(!0 acres; nearly 28 times the extent of England and Wales, and 11 times that of the whole of Great Britain and Ireland. Sqr. Miles. Missouri State 905,250 North West Territory ^ 63,416 Illinois State (the whole) 62,000 Indiana State IH 37,050 Ohio State f 35,08n Pennsylvania i 16,493 New York ^hn 621 Maryland t^o I'lO Virginia! 28,200 Kentucky (the whole) 40,110 Tennessee (ditto) 43,200 Mississippi State ^ 29,500 Louisiana .J 20,500 Georgia ^ 2,000 North Carolina j^ 1,100 South Carolina j^^ 152 ' Square miles 3,444,779 NAVAL ANIfALS. 373 the islands of the western Archipelago. The army which had occupied Washington made afterwards an unsuc- cessful attempt on Baltimore, in which General Ross was killed; after a short repose at Jamaica, the force, aug- mented to full 6000 men, made an attack on New Orleans, under General Pakenham ; but were repulsed by the Americans under General Jackson, with the loss of 2454 men killed, wounded, and prisoners ; the American army had only 10 men killed, and the same number wounded* General Jackson's Account of the Operations at Nem Orleans, Campi 4 miles hdcw New Orleanst Jan. 9, 1815. During the days of the 6tb and 7th, the enemy had been actively employed in making preparations for an attack on my lines. With infinite labour tiiey had succeeded on the night of the 7th, in getting their boats across from the lake to the river by widening and deepening the canal on which they had effected their disembarkation. In my encampment every thing was ready for action, when, early on the morning of the 8th, the enemy, after throwing a heavy shower of bombs and Congreve rockets, advanced their columns on my right and left, to storm my entrench- ments. I cannot speak sufliciently in praise of the firm- ness and deliberation with which my whole line received their approach — more could not be expected from vete- rans inured to war For an hour, the fire of the small arms was as incessant and severe as can be ima2;ined. The artillery too, diiccted bv oflicers who displayed equal r ■Pi 374 NAVAL ANNALS. 1!^ ! til skill and courage, did g:reat execation. Tet the colamns of the enemy rontinaed to advance with a firmness which reflects upon them the greatest credit. T#ice the column which approached me on my left was repulsed, by the troops of General Carroll, those of General Coffee, and a division of Kentucky militia, and twice they formed again and renewed the assault. A.t length, however, cut to pieces, they fled in confusion from the field, leaving it covered with their dead and wounded. The loss which the enemy sustained on this occasion cannot be estimated at less than 1500 in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Upwards of 300 have already been delivered over for bu~ial ; and ray men are still engaged in picking them up within my lines and carrying them to the point where the enemy are to receive them. This is in addition to the dead and wounded whom the enemy have been enabled to carry from the field during and since the action, and to those who have since died of the wounds they received. We have taken about 600 prisoners, upwards of 300 of whom are wounded, and a great part of them mortally. My loss has not evceeded, and I believe has not amounted to, 10 killed and as many wounded. Camp, 4 miles helotv New Orleans, Jan. 19, 1815. Last night, at twelve o'clock, the enemy precipitately decamped and returned to his boats, leaving behind, under medical attendance, eighty of his wounded, includ- ing two officers, fourteen pieces of his heavy artillery, and a quantity of shot, having destroyed much of his powder. Such was the situation of the ground which he mn^mimmim •V r^ VAVAh AM-NALS. a75 abandoned, and of that through which he retired, protect- ed by canah, redoubts, entrenchments, and swamps on his right, and the river on his left, that I could not, without encountering risk, which true policy did not seem to require, or to authorise, attempt to annoy him much in his retreat*' • -'— ■' -• '■ «•.••—■ — ■,- ■ ..>• -i-- ^ .■..«■ ^ His loss on this grounci, since the debarkation of his troops, as stated by all the last prisoners and deserters,^ and as confirmed by many additional circumstances, must have exceeded 4000 ; and was greater in the action of the 8th than was estimated, from the most correct data then in his possession, by the Inspector General, whose report has been forwarded to you. We succeeded, on ihe 8th, in getting from the enemy about 1000 stand of arms, of various descriptions. Since the action of the 8th, the enemy have been al- lowed very little respite— my artillery from both sides of the river being constantly employed till the night, and indeed, until the hour of their retreat, in annoying them. No doubt they thought it quite time to quit a position in which so little rest could be found* «v.' a- ».... ■^ UPPIPIIiiPi 37« NAVAL ANNALS. DISASTROUS RENCOUNTER BETWEEN THE PEACOCK AND NAUTULUS. 1 , » Iliad iv. v. 167. thus have the Trojans stamp'd Their covenant under foot, and wounded thee ! COWP£S. ' ■ ■ ■■ ' • "<- ; ■ ;■;...■-•.;■ »y ;■ ;i;,'t ■>. ' . . > Anjier is an English military establishment, under the superintendance of a master-attendant, situated on a bay of the island of Java, 78 miles west of Batavia, at the entrance of the Straits of Sunda. The houses and fort have a picturesque appearance from the sea, while every part of the surrounding country is bounded by ghauts, where, among other trees, grows thr Bohun Upas, and where tlie lion and tiger lie basking under a vertical sun. On the beach is seen a motley assemblage of Europeans, Chinese, Hindoos, and Malays, transporting their barrels and bales to the water-side, to ship oif to the ketches, the grabs, the junks, and endless variety of country craft lying at anchor in the roads.^ • The author of this page was in early life a maritime rover in the oriental ocean. He embarked for India with the brother-in-law of Sir Walter Scott, a 3'outh qui neque fecit^ nee sensit^ quod non erat laudandum (I quote Paterculits from memory) whom he studied with at school, and accompanied home every vacation. There is a pleasure in having the remotest claim to the notice of a man whose writings are beautiful as nature, lovely as virtue, and valuable as truth. NAVAL ANNALS. 377 On the afternoon of the 30th of June, 1815, as the Pea- cock, commanded by Captain Warrington, was pursoing her track like a sea-bird through the Straits of Sunda,* on coming abreast of Anjier she hoisted English colours. It happened that the East India Company's crnizer Nau- tilus, Lieutenant Boyce, was standing towards the Strait's mouth, in charge of public dispatches from Batavia to Bengal, and, believing the Peacock to be an English ship of war, the lieutenant lowered down his gig, and sent her under charge of Mr. Bartlett, the master, to learn the news from Europe ; Comet White, a passenger on board the Nautilus, accompanied him: Mr. Macgregor, the master-attendant at Anjier, yielding to the same delusion^ pushed off eagerly in the fort-boat on the same errand. The gig reached the man of war first ; and scarcely had Mr. Bartlett got up the side, mounted the gangway, and raii^cd his hat, when Captain Warrington, who stood on the weather-side of the quarter-deck, dressed in his em- •f- Captain Warrington had been sent into the Indian sea to co-ope- rate with Decatur, from whose bold efforts of maritime skill high ex- pectations were formed. There can be no doubt but that in the Pre- sident frigate, with the Peacock and Hornet as auxiliaries, he would have been a more redoubtable enemy to the China fleet than Linois with three line of battle ships ; and that Dance would have looked like the man who drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night. Decatur would have dogged the fleet from Java Head to the Chops of the Channel; and, in every gale of wind which broke the bond of their union, have cut ofl'and sunk, destroyed, or sent into the United States, some of the straggling ducks. This is only reasoning from analogy. It is notorious that Blakeley, no less prompt than intrepid, cut out a merchantman from a fleet under convoy of the Armuda, 74, tlie nitrht before he engaged the Reindeer ; and that the Armada wasi kept perpetually busy either in collecting her convoy under her wings, or tiring at the yankcy. 378 NAVAL ANNALS. I^i broklered Qnirorin, conversing: with his ofiioers, called to the Serjeant of Marines, " Pass the boat's crew below!" an injanction which was instantly obeyed ; for the lascars wiio composed her rowers were hauled in by the Ameri- cans through the ports, and their officers conducted down the hatchway. The reception which Mr. Macgregor ex- perienced, as he entered the ship from his boat, was not more courteous : he was informed by Captain Warring- ton's lieutenant that he was a prisoner of war. He began immediately to remonstrate with the lieutenant, saying that peace had been ratified between Great B: itain and the United States ; that he had a copy of Mr. Madison's proclamation in his pocket, and that he hoped the end and benefit of it would not be disappointed by any act of vio- lence or bloodshed. He was interrupted in his communi- cation by Captain Warrington, who sternly cried, conduct him below ! On being hurried down the hatchway into the gun-room, he encountered the purser, who was super- intending the cartridges which the gunner had now begun to send up from the magazine. The purser was a jocose Bostonian, somewhat advanced in years, of lofty stature, and extraordinary corpulence, who enjoyed such vigour of body, and buoyancy of spirits, that his cheek exhibited the ruddy suffusion of a second youth. As a relief from his sufferings in a broiling climate, he had thrown off his coat, and put on a light white jacket, and, as he paced the gun-room floor, endeavoured to produce an artificial cir- culation of the air by waving his hand before his face — yet the big drops coursed down his cheeks like tears, and his uncovered head supported the illusion of his teing under the influence of a shower-bath. It was a common NAVAL ANNALS. 37» saying on board Ihc Peacock, when ti sailor felt hfmself overheated, that he sweated like the purser. This Sile- nus of JEgle, this Bitias of Dido, however struttinf^ his exterior, was a shy cock in heart, and made his own per- sonal safety the rule of all his actions. He chuckled at the love of glory, ^nd the care of posterity, as the ridic«- lous reveries of idle speculation. When an engagement impended he sought refuge below, and a story had got wind on board, that in the action between the Peacock and the Epervier, he covered himself over with a profu- sion of his own bread bags, from under which, after the battle, he was dragged out by the laughing lieutenants more dead than alive. Yet, however degraded his con- duct, it was not without attractions in the microcosm of a ship ; and his sprightly humour diffused itself from the captain to the cook. There was not a man on board who would not rather have dispensed with the chaplain than his ridiculous victualler. His first words to Mr. Mac* gregor were, A hot day. Sir, aggravated to such an intenseness by their closing the hatchways to keep the chicken-hearted from deserting their quarters and escap- ing into the lower apartments, that respiration has be- come difficult. What news from Anjier ? Are you the cutwal of the place — the goree — the pundit — or have I the honour (assuming an air of grandeur) to address the rajah! I am. Sir, replied Mr. Macgregor, the master- attendant at Anjier, and the news is that peace has been concluded between Great Britain and the United States. I have informed your lieutenant of the event, and a shot fired from yonr ship will be an unprovoked instance of wanton and aggravated barbarity. I do not see, re- 38a NAVAl ANNAIS. I .• U • I! < \ I i: i joined the purser, how ire can avoid a little brash ; and if we knock some of the gingerbread-work off yoar stern, you may impute to yourselves the consequence of a just retribution for pillaging Havre de 6rac<$> bombarding Stonington, and lighting a torch from the firebrand of the furies to consume the city of Washington. What is be- come of the Capitol, the President's Palace, the Arsenal, and the Rope Walk ? We can now only trace the streets by the colour of the grass, and its sole manufacture is in Members of Congress. In the mean while. Lieutenant Boyce having perceived through his glass, that his officers, on getting on board the Peacock, were forcibly detainer, and the lascars dragged out of the boat, prepared his brig for action ; and Captain Warrington, opening his tier of ports, bore down upon the Nautilus. The two vessels were now lying abreast of one another, with their courses hauled up, jogging on under their topsails. A profound silence prevailed on board the Peacock, whose sailors were diverting themselves with the novelty of the crowded deck of the Nautilus— the Asiatic costume of the crew— • and the high tone of command assumed by the Serang,* who, by his frequent trips to Canton, and rambles through Hog'lane, had acquired a Chinese cast of countenance. His cheek was shrivelled, and his whiskers meagre, but his eye keen and piercing. He wore on his head a huge cotton turban, which the renegade English tars on board the Peacock compared io a " Welch wig with sleeves to ^' it ;" and he had on a long loose gown, with slippers I, * Boatswain. NAVAL ANNALS. 981 ih ; and ir stern, >f a just barding idofthe at is be- Arsenal, e streets ure is in erceived on board lascars action ; rts, bore irere now ;s hauled id silence 3rs were crowded e crew— Serang,* 9 through itenance. igre, but id a huge on board ileeves to I slippers turned up at the toes : the old tawny sea-farer often blew his whistle, and called to the lascars Ka bobbery ! To the idle it was ludicrous, but to the thoughtful affecting, to behold the turbanned sailors standing at the cannon of the Nautilus with lighted matches in their hands, awaiting the command to fire; for nothing but a high sense of duty could have assembled them to oppose a desperate defence to an assault which they could have no rational hope of repelling. But the breast of Captain Warrington, so far from being awakened to pity, was provoked to indignation— and, darting on the Nautilus a look of anger mingled with scorn, he said to his lieute- nant, Should you be prompted, Mr. Mayo, to board that catamaran, you will lay aside your sword, and arm your- self with a whip, as a more suitable instrument to repress the insolence of palankeen-bearers and slaves. Nay, sir, replied the lieutenant, this is, apparently, the Hononrablo Company's man of war fitted out for the express purpose of cruizing for the Peacock. — While Captain Warringtoqi was overcome with indignation at the hostile attitude assumed by men of colour, from whom, as a Virginian, he thought that he had a right to salams, he was hailed by Lieutenant Boyce, and a dialogue ensued, from which I shall discard the said he. . ..f ,...•) Lieutenant B. Hoa the ship ahoy ! Captain W. Halloo! Lieutenant B. What ship is that ? Captain W. Halloo! Lieutenant B. I say, what ship is that ? Captain W. Halloo! 382 NAVAL ANNALS. Lieutenant B. Am I to oonsidcr yon as a friend, or a foe? Captain W. A foe ! (Here the English blae ensign was hauled down on board the Peacooic, and the American colours hoisted*) . Ueutenant B. Do you know there is a peace ? '^^^ ; Captain W, No. Lieutenant B. I have, then, the satisfaction to inform you that peace has been concluded between Great Britain and the United States, and ratified by both parties.* I have the proclamation on board. I hope this intelligence will restrain you from any act of hostility. ••'••' ' ' "■ Captain W This information, to obtain credit, must c(Hne in a more formal shape. I am here to act, and not deliberate. I command you to haul down your colours. ,- Lieutenant B. I shall not. ^ <. - Captain W. Haul down your colours instantly, or I will sink you as sure as you carry tops above your lower inast^heads. ' Lieutenant B. I shall do no such thing. . Humanity would willingly draw a veil over the scene that followed— •Captain Warrington enforced his demand with his guns, and a brisk action of a few moments ter- minated in the hauling down the-flagof the Nautilus, the death of six Lascars, and the lamentable mutilation of iv * The peace was made early in December 1814, after a war of two years and eight months. By the general pacification of liurope, the causes which had produced the unhappy impulse no longer subsisted ; and in the Treaty concluded between the Mother Country and Ame- rica, both parties silently relinquished their claims, as though unwil- ling to recapitulate the principles of the content. NAVAL ANNALS. 383 ■ VI' .i -iria Lieutenant Boyce, and bis only officer, Mr. May stow, by gun-shot wounds. The heart is more sensibly touched by a picture of individual suffering than of general ca- lamity ; and the relation which poor Boyce gives of his wounds affects us the more powerfully, from the forti- tude which he displays in venting no reproach against the want of moderation in Captain Warrington. " I re- *' ceived a grape-shot (two inches and a third in diamc- ** ter) in a slanting direction through my right buttock ; ** (it passed out near my back-bone ;) and a few minutes ** after a 32-pound shot shattered my right knee joint, *' and splintered my thigh-bone. It was deemed neces- ** sary to amputate my leg, and it was accordingly taken off '* above the knee. My cure has been greatly impeded ** by two unfortunate fistulas in my stump, which have " caused me to suffer much.'^ This is the statement of a man whose silence on every thing but his wounds, im- plies that forgiveness is a virtue most native to his heart ; and while the reader deplores the severity of his fate, he may learn from his forbearance the charity of a Chris- tian. Such were the events of a war between England and a nation whose forlorn founders left her shores not two centuries before, without possessing consequence enouglt to have their transmigration recorded in her chronicles. It instructed the councils of America to adopt the policy of those of Athens, when, under the direction of Themis- toclcs, they looked to their wooden walls as the bulwark of the Republic. It gave scope to the abilities of a Hull, 384 NAVAL ANNALS. a Deoatar, a Bainbridgft, a Lawrence, a Stewart, a Perry, a Porter, a Macdonough, a Jones, and a ISIake- ley ; and established a navy, which, in its progressive augmentation, may not only decide the fate of the trans- atlantic colonies of Europe, but produce important mo- difications in her own political condition* THE END. ERRATA. Tage 63— for westward, read windward. 133— for the plural, read the dual number. ^bd—dele, in the last line, the preposition by. 315— for 1100/. read 11,000;. 327— read The cession of the Floridas by Spain to &c. 34&— for visible, read risible. *g,* Qui plura velit^ adeat contextum. PRINTED BY BUODIE AND DOWDINO, 9A7.ISDURY. art, a lilakc- essivc trans- nt mo- il c.