THE CHESAPEAKE AND THE SHANNON.--ANOTHER VOYAGE TO CHINA.--MORE
ABOUT IMPRESSMENT.--I BECOME A CAPTAIN AND RECEIVE ORDERS.
It is proper to say that the Shannon, while ranking as a
thirty-eight-gun ship, really mounted fifty-two guns, while the
Chesapeake, with the same rating, mounted forty guns. She had a crew of
three hundred and thirty men and boys, was perfectly equipped, and the
men were thoroughly disciplined. On the other hand, the Chesapeake had
a crew which was naturally superstitious, as they regarded her unlucky.
Captain Lawrence had been in command of her less than two weeks, and
consequently did not know the abilities of her officers and men. The
first lieutenant was ill on shore, and died soon after the Chesapeake
sailed. The second lieutenant and two acting lieutenants were also
absent from the same cause. Lieutenant Thompson, who had been third
officer in the last cruise of the Chesapeake, became Lawrence's second
in command, and there was only one other commissioned officer on the
ship.
Many of the Chesapeake's crew were new to the ship, and those who had
served in her before were in a state bordering upon mutiny, on account
of disputes about prize money in their last cruise. In fact, the ship
was almost as much at a disadvantage in meeting the Shannon as she was
at the time she encountered the Leopard.
There was great excitement in Boston when it became known that the two
ships were to fight a duel outside of Boston Light. As the Chesapeake
moved out she fired a gun which made the Shannon heave to. The
Chesapeake had the weather gauge, and used it to advantage. She kept
on until she lay fairly along the larboard side of the Shannon, yard
arm and yard arm, within pistol-shot distance. Then she luffed and
ranged up abeam; when her foremast came in a line with the Shannon's
mizzenmast the Shannon opened fire, first with her cabin guns, and then
with the others. The Chesapeake remained silent until her broadside
bore well upon the Shannon; then she fired all her guns on that side,
and then broadsides were given by both ships in rapid succession.
The Chesapeake was practically defeated by the first broadside of the
Shannon, as she lost heavily in men by the shower of grape and canister
that was poured into her. She continued, however, to do her best, but
within twelve minutes after the first gun was fired her foretopsail-tie
and jib-sheet were shot away. This was the moment when she was about to
take the wind out of the Shannon's sails, shoot ahead, lay across her
bow, and rake her fore and aft. The Chesapeake would not obey her helm,
and speedily got her mizzen rigging foul of the Shannon's forechains.
In this position she was raked by her antagonist, Captain Lawrence was
wounded, the sailing-master was killed, and the first lieutenant, the
marine officer, the acting fourth lieutenant, and the boatswain were
all badly wounded.
As soon as the ships became untangled Captain Lawrence ordered the
boarders to be called up; while he was giving these orders he was
mortally wounded and carried below. His last words when he left the
deck became a rallying cry during the rest of the war:--
"Don't give up the ship!"
Captain Broke was a keen and experienced officer, and he saw the
weakness of the Chesapeake at this moment. He immediately ordered
his boarders away, and, placing himself at their head, reached the
quarter-deck of the Chesapeake without opposition. But as he pressed
forward toward the gangways he met the American boarders under
Lieutenant Budd, who attacked the British, and for a time checked
them. In a few minutes the British were in full possession of the
Chesapeake, and the first lieutenant of the Shannon hauled down the
colors of the captured vessel and hoisted the British flag. The fight
lasted only fifteen minutes, and was one of the most sanguinary on
record. The Chesapeake lost forty-eight men killed and ninety-eight
wounded. The Shannon lost twenty-six killed and fifty-eight wounded.
As soon as the two ships were separated the Shannon started for Halifax
with her prize, where she arrived on the 7th of June. Captain Lawrence
died on the 6th, and his body, wrapped in the flag of the Chesapeake,
lay upon the quarter-deck of his ship. There was great rejoicing at
Halifax, and the men-of-war then in port manned their yards and fired
a salute in honor of the conqueror. There was immense joy in England,
which was manifested by public meetings, bonfires, and illuminations.
Captain Broke was treated as a hero; the freedom of the city of London,
and a sword valued at five hundred dollars, were presented to him, and
he was knighted by the Prince Regent. He received compliments from
every quarter, and the inhabitants of his native county gave him an
immense silver plate as a testimonial of their appreciation of what he
had done.
I must not forget to say that the most profound respect was paid to the
remains of Captain Lawrence when the ships reached Halifax, and also
to those of Lieutenant Ludlow, who died there within a week after their
arrival. The garrison furnished a funeral party from the Sixty-fourth
Regiment, and the navy also furnished one. At the hour appointed for
the funeral the body was taken in a boat from the Chesapeake to the
King's Wharf, where it was received by the military under the commander
of the garrison. The officers of the Chesapeake followed the body as
mourners, and the officers of the British navy were also in attendance.
There was great depression in the United States over the loss of the
Chesapeake, as the almost uninterrupted success of the navy thus far
had made the Americans believe that it was invincible. The same idea
was beginning to prevail among the British; hence the great elation of
the latter, and the corresponding depression of the former. Happily,
the feeling of depression among the Americans soon passed away, as
it was seen that all the circumstances were very unfavorable to the
Chesapeake, and it was not likely that such a misfortune would occur
again.
Having followed the Chesapeake through her unlucky career, which ended
with her capture by the Shannon, we will now go back to where Haines
began the story of his experience as a man-of-war's man.
The embargo of 1807 was then in force, but there was a great pressure
on the government for its withdrawal, and on the 1st of March, 1809, it
was repealed. Meantime I went on another voyage to China as second mate
of the Aurora, the ship on which I had formerly sailed as a foremast
hand. Haines accompanied me, and we had no experiences out of the
ordinary run on the entire voyage.
Yes, we had one experience that I ought to mention; we were overhauled
by a British man-of-war in the South Atlantic Ocean, and compelled to
submit to a search for British deserters. Several times during the
voyage we saw men-of-war, and ran away from them, but this one caught
us when we were becalmed, having sailed close to us during the night,
while we were enveloped in a fog. When the fog lifted the wind had gone
down, and we lay helpless, within easy range of her cannon.
She sent a boat on board, and the officer who came in it was inclined
to take away two of our crew, alleging that they were Englishmen. They
showed their protection papers, which set forth that they were American
citizens. The lieutenant was about to disregard these when our captain
told him that, if he took those men away, the case would be reported to
the American government, and he added, "I will spend every dollar that
I possess to see that justice is secured. These men are Americans, and
I have known them both from their boyhood. If you take them from this
ship you will find that they are not without friends."
I expected that this would only make the lieutenant more determined to
carry the men away, but to my surprise he yielded, and said he would
go back to his ship for instructions. He went, and just as he did
so a breeze came up, and we speedily drifted out of gun-shot of the
British ship. As they did not try to follow us I presume they were not
specially in need of men at that time. If they had been short-handed
there is little likelihood that they would have hesitated.
To show you how impressed seamen were treated on board British
ships-of-war let me give you the testimony of two men, both natives of
Ulster County, New York State. One of them, Richard Thompson, testified
that he was impressed on board the British ship-of-war Peacock, in
1810, and he was not allowed to write to his friends. When he and two
other impressed American seamen heard of the declaration of war they
claimed to be considered prisoners of war, and refused to do duty any
longer.
They were ordered to the quarter-deck, put in irons for twenty-four
hours, then taken to the gangway, stripped naked, tied, and whipped.
Each one received eighteen lashes, and was then put to duty. When the
Peacock went into action with the Hornet they asked the captain to send
them below, so that they might not fight against their countrymen. The
captain called a midshipman and told him to hold a pistol at Thompson's
head, and blow his brains out if he and his companions did not do
service. They were liberated on the capture of the Peacock by the
Hornet.
The other man from Ulster County was named James Tompkins, and was
impressed, with three others, on the British ship Acteon, in April,
1812. When they refused to do duty they were whipped, five dozen lashes
each; two days afterwards they received four dozen lashes each. They
still refused, and after being whipped again they were put in irons,
where they were kept three months.
When they arrived in London they heard of the capture of the Guerrière
by the Constitution. They made the American colors out of a shirt and
handkerchief, then hung it over a gun, and gave three cheers for the
victory. For displaying their patriotism in this way they received two
dozen lashes each.
Great Britain always claimed that she was entitled to take from
American vessels on the high seas any of her own subjects voluntarily
serving on American craft, but she constantly gave as a reason for
not discharging from her service any American citizens, that they
had voluntarily engaged in it. She used to take her own subjects from
the American service, although they had been settled and married and
naturalized in the United States; but at the same time she constantly
refused to release from her ships American seamen who had been pressed
into it, whenever she could give as a reason that they were settled and
married in her dominions. In other words, when marriage or residence
could be pleaded in her favor, she availed herself of the plea. When
marriage, residence, and naturalization were against her, she paid no
respect whatever to the plea.
I made several coasting voyages, and also another voyage to China;
the last time as first mate of a ship as large as the Aurora. When I
came home from this voyage to China, in the latter part of 1811, the
owners of the ship expressed themselves as entirely satisfied with my
services, and said they should give me command of a ship as soon as
possible. The reader can imagine my elation at this news. I wanted to
go away somewhere alone and call myself captain, just to see how it
would sound; and, as good luck would have it, on that very day when
I was notified of my promotion, my friend David arrived in port and
received the same information. We congratulated each other, and then
proceeded to find Haines and Herne, and tell them of the good news.
Not only did we tell them of our promotion, but we notified each of
them that we wanted him to go with us whenever we went to sea, Haines
on my ship and Herne on David's--no, stop a moment! Mr. Haines on
Captain Crane's ship, and Mr. Herne on Captain Taylor's, as we intended
to make officers of them.
My promotion to the rank of captain was not of as much importance as
it might have been, owing to circumstances which were quite out of my
control. American commerce was paralyzed by the state of affairs then
prevailing. British insults to our flag continued; British war-vessels
were numerous on our coast; and the impressment of American sailors
under the pretense that they were deserters from the British service
were of almost daily occurrence. Things were rapidly growing from bad
to worse, and war between the two countries seemed inevitable.
I was a captain without a command, as the vessel to which I had been
assigned was lying in port with no prospect of employment. This
continued for some time, when one day I was summoned to report at
once at the office of my employers. I realized the importance of the
summons when I learned that four messengers had been sent out to look
for me, with instructions to say that not a moment was to be lost in my
responding to the call.
I walked rapidly, no, I ran, till I reached the office, wondering what
it could be for which my presence was so imperatively demanded.
One of the owners of the Aurora was in the office, and he immediately
took me to his private room, out of hearing of the clerks. After
closing the door, he said,--
"How long will it take you to get ready for sea?"
"As for myself," I answered, "not over an hour; for my vessel I
couldn't say till I know the kind of service expected."
"Well," he replied, "we have news from Washington that war with Great
Britain is inevitable. Events are leading up to it very rapidly, and
it is liable to come at any moment. Now, we want to fit out some
privateers and have them ready to take the sea the moment war is
declared. We want you to command one of them, and your friend Taylor
can have another. Will you tell him so as soon as you see him?"
"Certainly I will; and as to fitting out, I will proceed about it at
once, whenever you name the ship I'm to command."
"That's all right," he said; "but we want you to act as secretly as
possible, so as to get the start of our rivals as much as we can. Those
who are first at sea when the war breaks out will have the best of the
harvest in prizes."
"Certainly, sir; I understand. With your permission I'll think the
matter over to-night, and come to you to-morrow with my plans. I
suppose I am to get the powder, guns, and all other things necessary
for equipment and stores, and the firm will pay for them?"
"Certainly; but our name must be kept out of sight, or it will be a
hint to our rivals in business to follow our example, and that's what
we want to avoid."
Then he meditated a moment, and I remained silent, waiting for him to
speak. When his meditations were concluded, he said,--
"You will have command of the Baltimore clipper Marguerite; she is
lying at Jones's wharf on the East River, and right alongside of her
is the Hyacinth, which we shall give to Captain Taylor. Before you
leave the office I will give you the builder's plans of both vessels,
so that you will hardly need to make any measurements when you go to
look at them. Just stroll around carelessly and look at the two vessels
as closely as you can, but don't use any measuring lines or rods when
anybody is in sight, or do anything to show that you have been drawn
there except by idle curiosity. If you want to measure anything, you
and Taylor can pretend to get into a dispute about it, and then measure
to decide the difference between you. I will look for you here some
time in the forenoon to-morrow."
This ended our conversation, and I hurried away to find David and tell
him of his new prospects in life. I was lucky in finding him at once,
and asked him to take a stroll with me while we had a friendly chat.
Soon as we were out of earshot of everybody I told him what the reader
already knows. There was still time before sunset for visiting Jones's
wharf, and so we walked in that direction.
We found the two clippers tied up as the owner had indicated. We
sauntered carelessly around, visiting two or three other embargoed
craft before we stepped on board the Marguerite. I'm sure we displayed
no more interest in them than in other vessels in the vicinity, and
our actions could not arouse anybody's suspicions. Several sailors and
longshore-men were idling about; some of them were known to us, and
we greeted them after the customary manner, making no effort to avoid
them. While we were there we met a young captain of our acquaintance;
at first he manifested a disposition to join us just for the sake of
passing away the time, and we feared that he would not be easily shaken
off. Happily, he inquired for another captain who was known to all of
us, and whom we had just left at our boarding-house.
"You'll find him down at the Neptune," said David; "when we left he was
wishing a friend would happen in, as he felt lonesome."
"I guess I'll go down and see him;" responded our friend. He suited the
action to the word and went away, greatly to our satisfaction.
We looked the vessels over with great care, and made up our minds what
was wanted. Each of them would carry three guns on a side, and a long
gun amidships, and there was abundant room for crew and stores. The
running and standing riggings were in good condition, and the sails
were nearly new. The vessels were all ready for sea when the embargo of
April (1812) was enacted by Congress, and consequently there was very
little to be done in the way of fitting out.
We lingered as long as we dared around the two clippers, and then
returned to the Neptune, though not directly. There was a riddle to
be solved that bothered us a good deal, but finally I hit upon what I
considered a fair solution of it.