war ever throw the Captain or any of his crew into the hands of the British, it is sincerely hoped he will meet a similar treatment." We again find the Saratoga, Captain Woolsey, on her destructive errand in February, 1813. On the 9th of that month she captured the Lord Nelson of 600 tons, and one of the finest vessels in the British merchant service. She was sent into New Orleans. At about the same time the Saratoga captured the British packet Morgiana, eighteen guns. The Saratoga had just been chased by a British frigate, and had been compelled, in order to lighten her to increase her speed, to throw overboard twelve of her guns. she had only four to attack the Morgiana with. Her armory was replenished with several of the fine brass pieces of the captured vessel, and the prize was sent to Newport with her Captain. The kindness of the prize-master was so conspicuous that the Captain of the Morgiana thanked him in the Newport papers. to board her, and for this purpose they ran the Armstrong down upon her. When too late to retreat they discovered her to be a much heavier vessel than they imagined. The two vessels poured heavy shot into each other, and for almost an hour the fight was fierce and obstinate, within pistol-shot distance. The Armstrong was severely injured, and her Captain received a ball in his shoulder, but continued some time on duty after the wound was dressed, and from the cabin gave orders until his vessel was fairly out of the clutches of the enemy. By the vigorous use of sweeps the Armstrong escaped under a heavy fire from the Coquette. For his gallant conduct on this occasion, and his skill in saving his vessel, the stockholders, at a meeting held at Tammany Hall on the 14th of April, presented Captain Champlin an elegant sword, and voted thanks to his companions in the combat. We shall meet the Armstrong hereafter. The Ned, Captain Dawson, a New York letter of marque, arrived at that port ten days after the sword presentation to Champlin, and brought with her the British letter of marque Malvina, of Aberdeen, mounting ten guns. The Ned captured her after an action of almost an hour. Her captain was killed, and in the combat the Ned had seven men badly wounded. The Mal On the 15th of February, 1813, the letter of marque Lottery, of Baltimore, armed with six guns and manned by thirty-five men, had a desperate fight in Chesapeake Bay with nine British barges containing two hundred and forty men. She fought them an hour and a half, during which time it was believed that more of the foe were killed than the number of the whole crew of the letter of marque. At length Captain South-vina was laden with wine from the Mediterracote, commander of the schooner, was severely wounded, and the enemy, in overwhelming numbers, boarded the vessel, hauled down the colors, and made her a prize. At about this time we find the privateer Yankee, whose exploits we have already observed, entering the harbor of Newport after a cruise of one hundred and fifty days, during which time she had scoured the whole western coast of Africa, taken eight prizes, made one hundred and ninety-six prisoners, and secured as trophies sixty-two cannon, five hundred muskets, and property worth about $300,000. nean, and was a valuable prize. Another successful privateer, owned in New York, was the Scourge, Captain Nicoll. She mounted fifteen guns, and sailed from that port in April, 1813, for a long cruise in European waters, and was frequently in concert with the Rattlesnake of Philadelphia, Captain David Maffit. The latter commander went into the business at the beginning of the war, with the Atlas, and continued its pursuit until the close of the contest in 1815. The Rattlesnake was a fast-sailing brig of fourteen guns. Captain Nicoll was often absent from the The merchants of New York fitted out no less Scourge while on the coast of Norway, because than twenty-six fast-sailing privateers and let- he found it more profitable to remain on shore ters of marque within one hundred and twenty and attend to the sale of prizes brought or sent days after the declaration of war, carrying al- in, while his first officer skillfully commanded most two hundred pieces of artillery, and manned her in cruises. The Scourge made a large numby over two thousand seamen. Among the most ber of captures on the coast of Norway, and they noted of these privateers was the General Arm- were nearly all sent into Drontheim and disposed strong, a moderate-sized schooner, mounting a of there. The aggregate tonnage of prizes there Long Tom 42-pounder and eighteen carronades. and then disposed of, captured by the Scourge Her complement was one hundred and forty men, and Rattlesnake, was about 4500. and her first commander was Captain Barnard. were sixty guns. On her homeward passage Early in March, 1813, the General Armstrong from Norway the Scourge made several captures. was in command of Guy R Champlin, and She arrived at Cape Cod in May, 1812, having cruising off the Surinam River, on the coast of been absent little more than a year. During South America. Early on the morning of the her cruise she had made four hundred and 11th she gave chase to the Coquette, a British twenty prisoners. Her deeds made her name sloop of war, mounting in all twenty-seven an appropriate one, for she scourged British guns, and manned by one hundred and twenty-commerce most severely. The trophies one men and boys. Between nine and ten The Yankee, already mentioned, left Newport o'clock the vessels were within gunshot and on a cruise on the 23d of May, 1813. A month commenced a brisk engagement. Convinced, afterward, when off the coast of Ireland, she by observation, that his antagonist was a British captured the British cutter sloop, Earl Camden, letter of marque, Champlin and his men agreed | valued at $10,000. Eight days afterward she captured the brig Elizabeth, valued at $40,000, | National Independence. They were received and the brig Watson, laden with cotton, valued with shouts, salvos of artillery, the waving of at $70,000. On the 2d of July she took the brig hats and handkerchiefs, and the ringing of bells. Marine, with a cargo valued at $70,000. All A month after the capture of the Eagle the of these prizes, worth in the aggregate about privateer schooner Commodore Decatur, Captain $200,000, were sent to French ports for adjudi- Diron, of Charleston, South Carolina, carrying cation and sale. The work was accomplished seven guns and a little over a hundred men, in the space of about six weeks. The Yankee had a desperate encounter with the British warreturned to Providence, Rhode Island, on the schooner Dominica, Lieutenant Barrette, carry19th of August, without having lost a man dur- ing sixteen guns and eighty-eight men. The ing the cruise either killed or wounded. Decatur was cruising in the track of the West India traders on their return to England, and on the morning of the 15th of August gave chase to a ship and schooner. At about one o'clock in the afternoon they were so near each other that the schooner fired a shot at the Decatur. The latter was immediately prepared for action, not with heavy guns alone, but with implements for boarding. Diron intended to run down near his adversary, discharge all his guns, great and small, and then board her under cover of the smoke. This was not immediately accomplish The records of privateering during the summer of 1813 present one dark chapter, in the deed of a desperate wretch named Johnson, who commanded the Teazer, a little two-gun vessel that went out from New York with fifty men. When that vessel was captured by one of Admiral Warren's fleet, Johnson was released on his parole. Soon afterward, without waiting to be exchanged, he entered as first lieutenant on board another privateer named the Young Teazer. In June, 1813, she was closely pursued by an English man-of-war. She was likely to be over-ed; for the Dominica was on the alert, and mataken, and Johnson knew that death would be his fate should he be caught. Dawson called his officers aft in consultation, and while they were debating on the subject one of the sailors called out to the captain that Lieutenant Johnson had just gone into the cabin with a blazing fire-brand. The next instant the Teazer was blown into fragments. Only six of all her people escaped destruction. The captain, Johnson, and all the others had perished in a moment. Toward mid-summer, 1813, an affair occurred off Sandy Hook, New York, which created a great sensation. It properly belongs to the history of privateering. Commodore Lewis was then in command of a flotilla of gun-boats on that station, and the British man-of-war Poictiers, 74, was cruising in those waters. She had for tender the sloop Eagle; and early in July Lewis sent out a little fishing-smack named Yankee, which he borrowed at Fly Market, in New York, to capture this tender by stratagem. With a calf, a sheep, and a goose secured on deck, and between thirty and forty well-armed men below, the smack stood out for sea, with only three men on deck in fishermen's garb, as if going to the fishing-banks. The Eagle gave chase, overhauled her, and seeing live-stock on board, ordered her to go to the commodore. The watch-word "Lawrence!" was given, when the armed men rushed to the deck and poured a volley of musketry which sent the crew of the Eagle below in dismay. Sailing-master Percival, who commanded the expedition, ordered the firing to cease, when one of the Eagle's company came up and struck her colors. The surprise was so complete that her heavy brass howitzer, loaded with canister-shot, remained undischarged. Her crew consisted of her commander, a midshipman, and eleven seamen. The two former and a marine were slain. The Eagle and prisoners were taken to the city in view of thousands of the citizens, who were on the Battery celebrating the anniversary of the noeuvred so as to give the Decatur some dam- The In the autumn of 1813 Captain George Coggeshall, whose History of the American Privateers has been frequently consulted, commanded the letter-of-marque schooner David Porter, of New York. Late in October she was lying at Providence, Rhode Island, where the President, Commodore Rodgers, was blockaded. In a thick snow-storm, on the 14th of November, and under the cover of night, the Porter passed the blockading squadron and put to sea. She reached Charleston, her destined port, in safety, where . she was freighted for France with sea-island cotton, and sailed for "Bordeaux or a port in France" on the 20th of December. In the Bay of Biscay she encountered a terrible and damaging gale, but weathered it; and on the 20th of January entered the port of La Teste. Cogges hall sent his vessel home in charge of his first officer, and remained in France some time. The Porter captured several prizes on her way to the United States. We have noticed the arrival at Hampton Roads, with a large British ship as a prize, of the privateer Globe, of Baltimore, and her departure on another cruise. She was successful in the capture of prizes, but did not meet with any fair test of her sailing qualities or the valor and skill of her men until November, 1813. On the first of that month, while cruising off the coast of Madeira, she fell in and exchanged shots with a large armed brig, but considered it prudent to keep a respectful distance from her. She then proceeded to the offing of Funchal, where, on the 2d, she chased two vessels in vain; for night came on, dark and squally, and she lost sight of them. On the 3d the Globe again chased two vessels, and at eleven o'clock was so near them that the larger of the fugitives opened her stern guns on her pursuer. A severe action ensued, when, at noon, the crew of the Globe attempted to board her adversary. They failed. Their vessel was much damaged, and while in this condition the other vessel came up and gave the Globe a terrible raking fire, which almost disabled her. Yet her crew fought on at close-quarters, and at half past three o'clock the larger vessel was compelled to strike her colors. The other was pouring in broadside after broadside within half pistol-shot distance. The Globe was reduced to an almost sinking condition, yet she managed to give her second antagonist such blows that she too struck her colors. She then hauled to windward to take possession of the first prize, when that vessel hoisted her colors and gave the Globe a tremendous broadside. She was compelled to haul off for repairs, and the two SAMUEL O. REID. vessels, believed to be severely injured, sailed slowly away. They were packet brigs, one mounting eighteen and the other sixteen cannon, mostly brass. The Globe lost eighteen men killed and fifteen wounded in this desperate encounter. During the first eight or nine months of the year 1814, although the American private armed ships were active and successful, there seems not to have been any performance by them that deserves the name of a naval action. This monotony of quiet business was broken in September, when the privateer Harpy fell in with the British packet Princess Elizabeth, and captured her after a short but sharp conflict. The Elizabeth was armed with ten guns and manned by thirty-eight men. She had on board the Turkish embassador for England, an aid-de-camp to a British general, a lieutenant of 74 line-of-battle ship, and a large number of other passengers. Ten casks of wine and some of the cannon were transferred to the Harpy. The remainder of her armament was thrown overboard, and the ship was ransomed for $2000, when she was allowed to proceed on her voyage. The most desperate and famous combat recorded in the history of privateering during the war was that maintained by the General Armstrong, of New York (whose earlier exploits we have already noticed), Captain Samuel C. Reid, in the harbor of Fayal, one of the Azores Islands of that name, belonging to Portugal. It occurred on the 26th of September, 1814, while she lay there at anchor in a neutral port. She was attacked by a large British squadron under command of Commodore Lloyd. The attacking vessels consisted of the flag-ship Plantagenet 74, the frigate Rota 44, Captain Somerville, and the brig Carnation 18, Captain Bentham, each with a full complement of men. The Armstrong carried only seven guns and 90 men, including her officers. In flagrant violation of the laws and usages of neutrality, Lloyd sent in, at eight o'clock in the evening, four large and well armed launches, manned by about 40 men each. At that time Reid, suspecting danger, was working his vessel under the guns of the Castle. These and the cannon of the privateer opened fire almost simultaneously, and the launches were driven off with heavy loss. The first lieutenant of the Armstrong was wounded and one man was killed. At Another attack was made at midnight with 14 launches and about 500 men. A terrible conflict ensued, which lasted 40 minutes. The enemy was repulsed, with a loss of 120 killed and 130 wounded. daybreak a third attack was made, by the brig-of-war Carnation. She opened heavily, but was very soon so cut up by the rapid and well-directed shot of the Armstrong that she hastily withdrew. The privateer was also much damaged. It was evident that she could not maintain an other assault of equal severity; so Captain Reid, who had coolly given orders from his quarterdeck during the attack, directed her to be scuttled, to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy. She was then abandoned, when the British boarded her and set her on fire. It is a curious fact, that while the British lost over 300 in killed and wounded during ten hours, the Americans lost but two killed and seven wounded. In addition to the glory won by the bravery of this resistance to the British squadron, Captain Reid and his gallant men deserve the just credit of having thereby saved the city of New Orleans from capture. This squadron was part of the expedition then gathering at Jamaica for the purpose of seizing New Orleans, and the object of their attack on the Armstrong was to capture her and make her a useful auxiliary in the work. She so crippled her assailants that they did not reach Jamaica until full ten days later than the expedition expected to sail from there. That expedition waited for Commander Lloyd, and, when it finally approached New Orleans, General Jackson was approaching to make competent arrangements for its defense. Had the fleet arrived ten days sooner that city would have been an easy prey to the British, for it was utterly defenseless until that General arrived with his troops. The Portuguese Government demanded and received from that of England an apology for this violation of neutrality; also restitution for the destruction of Portuguese property at Fayal during the action. That Government also demanded satisfaction and indemnification for the destruction of the American vessels in their neutral port. This England refused, and from that day to this the owners of the privateers and their heirs have never been able to procure indemnification for their loss, either from England, or Portugal, or from their own Government. The defense made by the Armstrong and the circumstances of the attack produced a great sensation throughout the United States. Captain Reid was justly praised as one of the most daring of American naval commanders, and he received varied honors in abundance. The State of New York gave him thanks and a sword, and he was every where received with the greatest enthusiasm on his return to the United States. The New Yorkers sent out a splendid vessel of 17 guns and 150 men, called the Prince de Neufchâtel, in command of Captain Odronaux. She was a very fortunate privateer. During a single cruise she was chased by no less than seventeen armed British vessels, and escaped them all; and she brought to the United States goods valued at $300,000, with much specie. On the 11th of October, 1814, she encountered five armed boats from the British frigate Endymion, off Nantucket. The Neufchâtel was then very light-handed, having, when the fierce battle that ensued commenced, only 36 men at quarters. Early in the forenoon the engagement began. The boats were arranged for the assault, one on each side, one on each bow, and one under the stern. Within the space of twenty minutes the assailants cried for quarter. It was granted. One of the boats had gone to the bottom with 41 of 43 of her crew. The whole number of men in the five boats was 111, a large portion of whom were killed, wounded, or made prisoners. The privateer lost 7 killed. and 24 wounded. She returned to Boston on the 15th of October. The Neufchâtel was afterward captured and sent to England. At this time the terror inspired by the doings of the American privateers was intense. The British began to seriously contemplate the probabilities of the complete destruction of their commerce. Fear magnified their numbers, powers, and exploits. Meetings of merchants were held to remonstrate against their depredations. It was asserted that one of these "sea devils" was rarely captured, and that they impudently bid defiance alike to English privateers and stately 74's. Insurance was refused on most vessels, and on some the premium was as high as 33 per cent. "Thirteen guineas for £100," said a London journal, "was paid to insure vessels across the Irish Channel! Such a thing never happened, we believe, before." The Board of Admiralty and the Prince Regent were petitioned for aid in checking these depredations; and the Government was compelled, because of the state of public feeling, to give assurance (which they had not power to support) that ample measures should be taken for the protection of British commerce. She was We have referred to the impudence as well as boldness of the American privateers. A small one, belonging to Charleston, mounting six carriage-guns and a Long Tom, appropriately named Saucy Jack, affords an illustration. every where, and being clipper-built and skillfully managed, was too fleet for the English cruisers. On one occasion, when cruising off the west end of St. Domingo, she chased two vessels-it was on the 31st of October, 1814, at midnight-and when near enough, at one in the morning, she fired upon them. On coming up it was ascertained that one of them carried 16 and the other 18 guns. Nothing daunted by this discovery, she boarded one of them at seven in the morning, when it was found that she was full of men and a war vessel. The boarders fled back to the Saucy Jack, and the little privateer made haste to get away. The two ships chased her, pouring grape and musket-balls upon her, but within an hour she was out of reach of even their great guns. She lost 8 men killed and 15 wounded. Her chief antagonist was the British bomb-ship Volcano, with the transport Golden Fleece. One of the lieutenants and two of the seamen of the Volcano were killed, and two were wounded. On Sunday, the 1st of May, the Saucy Jack captured the fine English ship Pelham, carrying ten guns and thirty-eight men. She was bound for London from a West India port, and had a cargo valued at $80,000. The schooner Kemp, of Baltimore, was a very successful privateer. She was commanded by Captain Jacobs, a small, active man, who was both brave and humane. At the close of November, 1814, she sailed on a cruise in the West Indies, from Wilmington, North Carolina. On the 1st of December she chased a squadron of eight merchant-ships in the Gulf Stream, under convoy of a frigate. The frigate in turn gave chase, but the Kemp dodged her in the darkness of the ensuing night, and early the next morning she again gave chase to the merchantmen. At noon the following day she found them drawn up in battle-line; and at two o'clock they bore down upon the privateer, each giving her some shots as they passed. She reserved her fire until by a skillful movement she broke through the line, and discharged her whole armament into the enemy. This produced the greatest confusion, and within an hour and a half four of the eight vessels were the prizes of the Kemp. She could have taken the whole, but she had not men enough to man them. The other four proceeded on their voyage. The convoy frigate all this time was absent, vainly looking for the saucy privateer! The prizes, which gave an aggregate of forty-six cannon and one hundred and thirty-four men, were all sent into Charleston. It was a profitable cruise of only six days. The Monmouth privateer, of Baltimore, about the same time was dealing destruction to British commerce off Newfoundland. She had a desperate encounter with an English transport-ship with over three hundred troops on board. Her superior speed saved her from capture. Another successful Baltimore frigate was the Lawrence, of eighteen guns and one hundred and eleven men. During a single cruise, which terminated at New York on the 25th of Janu ary, 1815, a month before the proclamation of peace, she captured thirteen vessels. She took one hundred and six prisoners, and the aggregate amount of tonnage seized by her was over three thousand tons. One of the original crew of the Lawrence was a colored man named Henry Van Meter, whom I met at Bangor, in Maine, near the close of 1860, and made the annexed sketch of him. He was then ninety-five years old. He had been a slave to Governor Nelson, of Virginia, during the Revolution. He was afterward owned by another master, and was in the army of General Wayne. He was captured in a privateer off Lisbon, and was in the prison at Dartmoor, in England, when the captives were massacred there by the guard. The Macdonough, of Rhode Island, had a severe fight with a British ship, whose name is not recorded, on the 31st of January, 1815; the action commenced at musket-shot distance at half past two o'clock in the afternoon. The tremendous musket fire of the enemy caused the people of the Macdonough to suspect her of being a troopship. Such proved to be the case. She had at least three hundred soldiers on board besides her crew. The Macdonough suffered terribly in sails and rigging and loss of men; for her antagonist, in addition to the overwhelming numbers of men, carried eighteen 9-pounders. She succeeded in escaping from the British vessel, and reached Savannah on the 7th of March. The war ended early in 1815, but it was some time after the proclamation of peace had been promulgated before all of the fifty privateers then at sea were apprised of it, and many captures were made after the joyful event occurred. One of the latest arrivals of successful privateers was that of the Amelia, of Baltimore, in April, 1815. She had a full cargo of valuable goods. During her cruise she had captured ten British vessels. Some she destroyed, others she sent into port, and one she gave up as a cartel for her prisoners. She carried only six guns and seventyfive men. The vessels she captured amounted in the aggregate to almost two thousand three hundred tons, and her prisoners numbered one hundred and twelve. Her trophies in arms were thirty-two cannon and many muskets. She was frequently chased by English cruisers, but her fleetness allowed her to escape. In this outline sketch of American privateering during the second war for Independence notice has been taken of only the most prominent of the vessels which actually sustained a conflict of arms on the ocean of sufficient importance to entitle the act to the name of a naval engagement. The record shows the wonderful boldness and skill of ou American seamen, mostly untaught in the art of naval warfare, and the genbeta eral character of the privateering service. Nothing more has been attempted. |