ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

emy's vessel. At this time, falling in with an American ship bound to Cadiz, and receiving information that she had, four days before, passed an enemy's convoy from the West Indies, bound to England, Rodgers crowded sail to the N. E., and, although disappointed in falling in with the convoy, nevertheless made four captures, between the 9th and 13th of June.

Being now in the latitude of 46° N., and longitude 28° W., Rodgers shaped a course that afforded a prospect of falling in with vessels bound to Newfoundland from St. George's Channel, by the way of Cape Clear, as well as others that might pass north about to the northward of Ireland; to his astonishment however, in all this route, he did not meet with a single vessel, until he made the Shetland Islands, and even off there nothing but Danish vessels, trading to England, under British licences. A considerable portion of their provisions and water being now expended, it became necessary to replenish these, previous to determining what course to pursue next; accordingly, for this purpose, they put into North Bergen on the 27th June; but were not able to obtain any thing but water, there being an unusual scarcity of bread in every part of Norway, and at the time not more in Bergen than a bare sufficiency for its inhabitants for four or five weeks. After replenishing his water, Rodgers stretched over towards the Orkney islands, and thence towards the North Cape, for the purpose of intercepting a convoy of twenty-five or thirty sail, which it was said would leave Archangel about the middle of July, under the protection of two brigs or two sloops of war. In this object, however, he was disappointed by a line of battle ship and frigate making their appearance off the North Cape on the 19th of July, just as he was in momentary expectation of meeting the convoy. On discovering the ships of war, Rodgers stood towards them to ascertain their character, when he hauled by the wind on the opposite tack to avoid them; but, owing to faint, variable winds, calms, and entire day-light, the sun in that latitude, at that season, appearing at midnight several degrees above the horizon, they were enabled to continue the chase upwards of eighty hours; during which time, owing to different changes of the wind, they were brought quite as near as was desirable.

Disapppointed in meeting with the convoy, Rodgers now steered to gain the direction of the trade passing out of and into the Irish channel. In this position, between the 25th of July and 2d of August, he made three captures, when, finding that the enemy had a superior force in that vicinity, he made a circuit round Ireland, and then steered for the banks of Newfoundland, near which he made two more captures, and by the latter one

learned that a 74 and a frigate were on the eastern part of the bank, only a few miles to the westward; he, however, did not fall in with them.

On the 23d of September, to the southward of Nantucket shoals, Rodgers fell in with and captured, in a very singular manner, the British schooner Highflyer, tender to admiral Warren. On approaching the schooner she hoisted a private signal, which was answered by the President, by a signal which fortunately proved to be the British one for that day, on seeing which the Highflyer immediately bore up, and was boarded by one of the officers of the President in a British uniform. By this stratagem commodore Rodgers gained possession of the British private signals, and admiral Warren's instructions, by which was discovered the number of British squadrons on the American coast, with their force and relative positions. He was thus enabled to avoid them, and on the 26th of September arrived safely at Newport, Rhode-Island.

During the cruise, the President captured twelve British vessels, three of which were ransomed and despatched to England as cartels, with 216 prisoners on parole. The British government, however, refused to sanction the terms of exchange entered into and signed by their officers, assigning as the reason, that "such transactions are inconsistent with the established understanding between the two countries." The President, on her arrival, had fifty-five prisoners on board.

The Congress, after parting with the President, continued her cruise until the 12th of December, when she arrived at Portsmouth, N. H. She captured two British brigs of ten guns each, one of which was destroyed, and the other, after being dismantled, was given up to the prisoners, who were discharged on parole, and furnished with provisions, &c., sufficient to carry them to the West Indies. She likewise captured a British ship laden with wine and potatoes, which was destroyed after the greater part of her cargo was taken out.

After parting with the President, the Congress ran to the southward; and, crossing the equator, put into Seara, on the Brazil coast. After watering, she beat against a strong wind and current, up to Fernando de Noronha, where she again watered; and then proceeded to the eastward, in hopes to fall in with some Indiamen. She cruised as far as 18° W. from 6° S. to 6o N. under easy sail, made the Island of St. Pauls; but until her return to Fernando de Noronha, which was nearly three months, never saw a vessel. She then returned to Seara, where she took in a quantity of cassada, jerked beef, &c. and ran under two reefed topsails to latitude 44° N., passing near Ha

lifax, where she captured a brig, who informed them of Boston being blockaded by a superior force. She accordingly made for Portsmouth, where she arrived, with her crew, 410 men, in perfect health, having lost but four on the cruise. When the men commenced on the jerked beef and cassada, it did not agree with them, and about fifty were sick-but they soon recovered. The Congress is in perfect order, and will want no repairs. She had on board about 30 prisoners on her arrival.

9. The Essex frigate sailed from the capes of the Delaware on the 25th of October, 1812, on a cruise to the Pacific ocean, and has not yet returned. Letters, however, dated July 2, 1813, were received at the navy department about the middle of December following, from her commander, captain Porter, at which time he was cruising off the western coast of South America, with a fleet of nine armed vessels under his command, eight of which were British letters of marque, which he had captured and fitted out. The first of these vessels, which was a ship of two guns and twenty-one men, was captured on the 29th of April. Two others were then in sight, close together, about seven miles distant from the Essex; the one mounting ten guns, 6 and 9 pounders; the other six 18 pounders, four swivels, and six long blunderbusses, mounted on swivels. The wind being light and variable, and confiding greatly in the bravery and enterprise of his officers and men, and apprehensive of their escape, from the prevalence of fogs in that climate, Porter directed the boats of the Essex to be armed and manned, and divided into two divisions. Suitable signals were established, and each boat had her particular station pointed out for the attack, and every other previous arrangement was made to prevent confusion.

The boats, 7 in number, rowed off in admirable order. Guns were fired from the enemy to terrify them; they rowed up however, undismayed, under the muzzles of their guns, and took their stations for attacking the first ship, and no sooner was the American flag displayed, as the signal for boarding, and the intention discovered by the enemy, than their colours were struck without a shot being fired. They then left a crew on board the prize, and took their stations for attacking the other vessel, when her flag was also struck, on the first call to surrender. Thus were two fine British ships, each pierced for twenty guns, worth near half a million of dollars, mounting between them 16 guns, and manned with 55 men, well supplied with ammunition and small arms, surrendered, without the slightest resistance, to seven small open boats, with fifty men, armed only with muskets, pistols, boarding axes, and cutlasses.

[ocr errors]

On the 26th of March, previous to the capture of any of the letters of marque, Porter fell in with the Peruvian corsair ship Nereyda, mounting 15 guns, which had, a few days before, captured two American whale ships, the crews of which, amounting in number to 24 men, were then detained prisoners on board. As they could assign no other motive for the capture, than that they were the allies of Great Britain, and, as such, should capture all American vessels they could fall in with, Porter, to prevent in future such vexatious proceedings, threw all her armament into the sea, liberated the Americans, and dismissed the Nereyda. He then proceeded with all possible dispatch for Lima, to intercept one of the detained vessels, which had parted with the Nereyda only three days before, and was so fortunate as to arrive there and re-capture her on the 5th of April, at the moment she was entering the port.

Captain Porter describes his crew as enjoying remarkably good health and spirits, no symptoms of scurvy having appeared, although they had been at sea for eight months, with the exception of 23 days. The Essex is in prime order, with abundant supplies, and two of her consorts are fitted out with 20 guns each, and well manned. He mentions that British letters of marque are numerous in those seas, and that the American whalers had derived much benefit from his cruize.

§ 10. Since the commencement of the war the United States have lost the following vessels, viz.

The frigate Chesapeake, rated 36 and mounting 44 guns.
The Wasp sloop of war, rated 16 and mounting 18 guns.
The brig Argus of 16 guns.

The schooners Nautilus, Vixen, and Viper, of 12 guns each.

The captures of the three former have already been mentioned. Of the schooners, the first was captured by a British squadron, the two latter by British frigates rating 32 guns each. A few days after the capture of the Vixen by the Southampton, under sir James Lucas Yeo, both vessels were lost on a reef of rocks near Little Windward or Conception Island. As soon as the vessel struck, the crew of the British frigate became quite unmanageable, and every soul on board would have been lost but for the exertions of their prisoners. The conduct of the American seamen, both at the time of the ship's striking, and afterwards on the uninhabited island on which they saved themselves, was such as to induce sir James to assemble them before his own crew, and thank them publicly for their services. They were taken from this island by a brig from New Providence,

whither Yeo had dispatched a boat to make known their situation.

§ 11. The bravery and enterprize of American seamen have not been less conspicuous on board our privateers than in the national vessels. We shall here present an account of a few of the most conspicuous actions that have taken place.

§ 12. In no one action fought during the present war, has there been more courage and gallantry displayed than in the attack made by the privateer Rolla on the British ship Rio Nueva. The Rolla originally carried four twelve pound carronades in her waist, and one double fortified twelve, mounted on a pivot.. In a gale of wind off Madeira, the 4 twelve pounders were obliged to be thrown overboard, and only one gun remained: with this, however, on the 14th of December, 1812, the Rolla attacked the Rio Nueva, mounting 18 guns, and 30 men, and took her after an action of twenty-five minutes. During the action, the men on board the Rolla, animated by the courage and conduct of captain Dooley and his officers, evinced a fixed determination to take the enemy or perish. When the ship struck, the Rolla had ranged up within pistol shot, and was preparing to board.

§ 13. The privateer schooner Comet, captain Thomas Boyle, sailed from Cape Henry, on the 25th of November, 1812, on a cruize to the coast of South America. On the 12th of December, at one in the afternoon, she discovered four sail standing out of Pernambuco, and lay by to give them an opportunity of getting off shore, in order to cut them off. At three, they being then about six leagues from the land, she bore up and made all sail in chase of them; and at six, having discovered one of them to be a very large man of war brig, all hands were called to quarters, the guns loaded with round and grape shot, the deck cleared, and all got ready for action. At seven, being then close to the chase, the Comet hoisted her colours, and sheered up to the man of war, which had hoisted Portuguese colours. The Portuguese then sent his boat on board the Comet, the officer of which informed captain Boyle, that the brig was a Portuguese national vessel, mounting 20 thirty-two pounders, and 165 men, and that the three others were English vessels under his protection, which he would not suffer to be molested; he also mentioned that the English vessels were armed and very strong. Boyle having shown him his commission, answered, that the brig had no right to protect English vessels on the high seas, and that he was determined to capture those vessels if he could; that he should be sorry if any thing disagreeable took place, but if it did he would not be the aggressor; but that he should cer

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »