At Boston one day, as the _Chesapeake_ lay,
The captain, his crew thus began on:
See that ship out at sea, she our prize soon shall be;
'Tis the tight little frigate the _Shannon_.
Oh, 'twill be a good joke
To take Commodore Broke,
And add to our navy the _Shannon_.
Then he made a great bluster, calling all hands to muster,
And said, Now boys, stand firm to your cannon;
Let us get under weigh without further delay,
And capture the insolent _Shannon_.
Within two hours' space
We'll return to this place,
And bring into harbour the _Shannon_.
Now alongside they range, and broadsides they exchange,
But the Yankees soon flinch from their cannon;
When the captain and crew, without further ado,
Are attacked, sword in hand, from the _Shannon_.
The brave commodore of the _Shannon_
Fired a friendly salute
Just to end the dispute,
And the _Chesapeake_ struck to the _Shannon_.
Let America know the respect she should show
To our national flag and our cannon;
And let her take heed that the Thames and the Tweed
Give us tars just as brave as the _Shannon_.
Here's to Commodore Broke of the _Shannon_;
May the olive of peace
Soon bid enmity cease
From the _Chesapeake_ shore to the _Shannon_.
In March, 1813, Captain Broke sailed from Halifax in company with the
_Tenedos_, Captain Hyde Parker. Captain Broke, finding that the
_Constitution_ and _Chesapeake_ were in Boston Harbour, the former
undergoing considerable repairs, sent Captain Parker away, in hopes that
the latter would come out and fight him. The _Chesapeake_ was at this
time commanded by a gallant officer, Captain Lawrence. Although Captain
Broke captured several prizes, rather than weaken his crew, he destroyed
them all, while he remained off the port waiting for the expected
encounter. At length, having waited till the 1st of June, Captain Broke
addressed a letter of challenge to Captain Lawrence, which begins: "As
the _Chesapeake_ appears now ready for sea, I request you will do me the
favour to meet the _Shannon_ with her, ship to ship, to try the fortune
of our respective flags;" and added, "You will feel it as a compliment
if I say, that the result of our meeting may be the most grateful
service I can render to my country; and I doubt not that you, equally
confident of success, will feel convinced that it is only by repeated
triumphs in `even combats' that your little navy can now hope to console
your country for the loss of that trade it can no longer protect."
The _Shannon_, having stood in close to Boston Lighthouse, with colours
flying, lay to, when the _Chesapeake_ was seen at anchor. She shortly
afterwards, under all sail, stood out of the harbour, accompanied by
numerous yachts and a schooner gunboat, with several American naval
officers on board. At half-past five in the afternoon the _Chesapeake_,
with a large flag flying, on which was inscribed the words, "Sailor's
rights and free trade," approached the _Shannon_, and soon afterwards,
luffing up within about fifty yards of her starboard-quarter, gave three
cheers. At 5:50 p.m. the _Shannon's_ aftermost main-deck gun was fired,
and the two combatants exchanged broadsides. The _Chesapeake_, however,
coming sharply up to the wind, in consequence of all the men at her helm
being killed, was exposed to a shot from the _Shannon's_ aftermost gun,
which took a diagonal direction along her decks, beating in her
stern-ports and sweeping the men from their quarters. The _Shannon's_
foremost guns also did considerable damage. In a few minutes the
_Chesapeake_ fell on board the _Shannon_, when Captain Broke, ordering
the two ships to be lashed together, called away the main-deck boarders,
and, followed by about twenty men, sprang on to her quarter-deck, which
had been completely deserted. The British were, however, encountered on
the gangways by some twenty-five or thirty Americans, who made but
slight resistance, and being driven towards the forecastle, endeavoured
to escape down the fore-hatchway, while others plunged overboard. The
remainder threw down their arms and submitted. During this time the
boarders were exposed to a destructive fire from the main and
mizzen-tops, which continued till the main-top was gallantly stormed by
a midshipman, William Smith, and five topmen. Having made their way
along the _Shannon's_ foreyard on to that of the _Chesapeake's_
main-yard, another midshipman, Mr Cosnahan, climbing up on the
starboard main-yard, fired at the Americans in the mizzen-top, when he
compelled them to yield. Captain Broke, at the moment of victory, was
nearly killed, having been cut-down by one of three Americans, who,
after they had yielded, seized some arms and attacked their victors.
The Americans, also, who had fled to the hold, opened a fire of
musketry, which killed a marine. A still more unfortunate accident
occurred; the _Shannon's_ first lieutenant, Mr Watt, after being
severely wounded, was in the act of hoisting the English flag, when the
halliards getting entangled, the American ensign went up first, and,
observing this, the _Shannon's_ people reopened their fire, and he and
several of those around him were killed before the mistake was
rectified. Captain Broke, who had been assisted to a carronade slide,
directed Lieutenant Faulkner to summon the Americans in the hold to give
in if they expected quarter. They shouted out, "We surrender," and all
opposition ceased. From the moment the first gun was fired till Captain
Broke led his boarders on the deck of the _Chesapeake_, only eleven
minutes elapsed, and in four minutes more she was his. Including the
first lieutenant, her purser, and captain's clerk, the _Shannon_ lost 24
killed and 59 wounded, two of these, her boatswain and one midshipman
mortally; while the _Chesapeake_ lost 47 killed, among whom was her
fourth lieutenant, her master, one lieutenant of marines, and 3
midshipmen, and 14 mortally wounded, including her brave commander, and
his first lieutenant, and 99 wounded. Other accounts state that the
killed and wounded amounted to nearly 170. Among the 325 prisoners
taken on board the _Chesapeake_, above 32 were British seamen. Several
of the _Shannon's_ men recognised old shipmates among their foes, and
one of the former, when boarding, was about to cut-down an enemy, when
he was stopped by the cry, "What! you Bill!"
"What! Jack!"
"Ay, Bill, but it won't do--so here goes," and the poor fellow sprang
overboard, and was drowned, rather than meet the fate which might have
been his lot, as he had deserted from the _Shannon_ a few months before.
The two frigates were pretty equally matched, there being a slight
superiority only in favour of the _Chesapeake_, which was 31 tons
larger, and had a crew of fully 70 more men. The gallant Captain
Lawrence and his first lieutenant, Augustus Ludlow, died of their
wounds, the former on the passage to Halifax, the latter on his arrival,
and were buried there with all the honours their victors could bestow.
Their remains were shortly afterwards removed in a cartel to the United
States.
Passing over a number of actions between smaller vessels, in which
sometimes the English and at others the Americans were the victors, a
celebrated combat in the Pacific between two frigates, the American
being the smallest, must be mentioned. In October, 1822, the United
States 32-gun frigate _Essex_, commanded by Captain David Porter, sailed
from Delaware Bay on a cruise in the Pacific. Having captured several
whale-ships, he named one of them the _Essex Junior_, and having visited
the Marquesas, where he exhibited his prowess against the natives, he
reached Valparaiso about the 12th of January, 1814. The British 36-gun
frigate _Phoebe_, Captain James Hillyar, with the 18-gun ship-sloop
_Cherub_, Captain Tucker, which vessels had sailed in search of him,
standing towards Valparaiso, on the 8th of February discovered the
American cruisers, with several prizes at anchor in the harbour. For a
couple of weeks or more Captain Hillyar did his best to draw the
American ships out of the port. Captain Porter, however, had considered
that his most prudent course was to attempt to escape, and he and his
consort were on the point of doing so, a strong wind blowing out of the
harbour, when the _Essex_ was struck by a squall, which carried away her
main-topmast. She accordingly bore up and anchored, while the _Essex
Junior_ ran back into the harbour. The _Phoebe_ and _Cherub_ made sail
towards them. The former at length got near enough to open her fire.
Captain Hillyar now ordered Captain Tucker to keep under way, while he
himself stood in closer with the intention of anchoring close to the
_Essex_. The latter ship now cut her cable, and endeavoured to run on
shore, but the strong wind from the land blew her off towards the
_Phoebe_, and she had again to let go an anchor. By this time most of
her boats were destroyed. The three boats from the _Essex Junior_ were
alongside, carrying off the specie and other valuables in the ship.
Those of her crew who were English taking the opportunity of escaping, a
report was raised at this juncture that the ship was on fire, and a
number of her men leaped overboard during the confusion. At about 6:30
p.m. the _Essex_ hauled down her flags, and the boats of the _Phoebe_,
pulling for her, saved the lives of 16 of her crew who were in the
water, though too late to rescue 30 others who perished; while between
30 and 40 reached the shore. The _Phoebe_ lost 5 killed and 10 wounded,
and the Americans 24 killed, including one of the lieutenants, and 45
wounded. As soon as the _Essex_ could be repaired, the command of her
being given to Lieutenant Charles Pearson, she and the _Phoebe_ sailed
for England, and anchored safely in Plymouth Sound, although Captain
Porter had stated that the damage she had received would prevent her
making the voyage. Of the prizes she had taken, not one reached the
States, all having been recaptured, with the exception of three, which
were burnt by the Americans, and one, the _Seringapatam_, the American
prize-crew of which mutinied and carried her to New South Wales, whence
she was brought to England and delivered to her former owners; while the
_Essex_ herself was placed on the list of the British Navy. Those who
have read the journals of Captain Porter's cruise in the Pacific will
feel very little pity for him on account of its result.
This miserable war, proved, on the whole, disastrous to the Americans.
The ships of the English squadron on their coasts were employed in
sailing up their rivers, destroying their towns, as also in despatching
numerous boat expeditions to cut out their merchantmen, and to attack
the gunboats prepared for the defence of their harbours. At the same
time, both parties fitted out flotillas on the great lakes, where a
number of engagements, often with heavy losses on either side, occurred.
The principal British officer employed in this service was Sir James
Yeo, who was sent with a small body of seamen to man the ships on these
fresh-water seas. Some of these vessels were of large size; one named
the _Prince Regent_ measured 1310 tons, and carried 58 guns, with a
complement of 485 men and boys. Another, the _Princess Charlotte_,
measured 815 tons, and carried 42 guns. The larger number of vessels,
however, were of much smaller size. The Americans had also several
powerful vessels, and before the close of the war they had actually
begun to build one 74 and a frigate, to vie with a ship built by the
English called the _Saint Lawrence_, of 2305 tons, and intended to mount
102 guns. None of these large craft, however, went out of harbour. The
whole of the gear and stores for these vessels had been brought overland
at a considerable expense, and it was said that the Admiralty sent out a
supply of water-casks, forgetting that their ships were to navigate
fresh-water seas. To make any of the actions which took place
intelligible, far more space would be required than can be afforded.
Happily, by the end of 1814, this unnatural and ill-advised war was
brought to a conclusion; the Americans finding that although
occasionally victorious, they were in the end greatly the losers. It
left, however, an amount of ill-feeling between the two nations which
the war of independence had failed to create, and which it took many
years to eradicate--though, happily, at the present time the people of
both countries are too right-minded and enlightened to wish to see a
recurrence of a similar contest, both convinced that it is to their
mutual interest to remain in amity, and to cultivate to the utmost that
good understanding which has for long happily existed.
After the conclusion of the war, the Caribbean Sea was infested by a
number of piratical vessels manned by blacks and desperate characters of
all nations, which committed great havoc among the British merchantmen.
Though several were from time to time captured, the pirates still
continued their depredations. Bad as they were, some proved themselves
not altogether destitute of humanity. On one occasion a small vessel,
tender to his majesty's frigate _Tyne_, commanded by Lieutenant Hobson,
with a crew of 20 men, was surprised and captured by a powerful
piratical craft. The pirates were, according to their usual custom,
about to hang their prisoners; but seized with compunction, or dreading
the consequences of their intended crime, they spared their lives, and
allowed them to return to their ship. As it happened, the very men who
had acted so humane a part were shortly afterwards captured, and the
circumstance not being taken into consideration in their favour, they
were hanged at Jamaica. At this time, a desperate character, named
Cayatano Aragonez, commanded a schooner called the _Zaragonaza_, of 120
tons, carrying a long swivel 18-pounder, 4 long 9-pounders, and 8
swivels, with a crew of between 70 and 80 men. Hearing of the way his
friends had been treated, looking upon it as an ungenerous act, he vowed
to take fearful revenge on all the English he could capture. Summoning
his men, he bound them under an oath never to spare an Englishman's
life, and in the event of being captured, to blow up themselves and
their enemies. Some time before, they had taken a black man, a native
of Jamaica, who had been compelled to act as their cook. In order
thoroughly to commit his crew, Aragonez resolved on the sacrifice of the
hapless negro. In vain he pleaded for mercy; he was hauled out to the
end of the spritsail-yard, when the miscreants commenced firing at him
from the deck, and thus tortured him for twenty minutes before death put
an end to his sufferings. Sir Charles Rowley, commander-in-chief in the
West Indies, having determined to put a stop to the exploits of the
pirates, despatched the _Tyne_, under the command of Captain Walcott,
accompanied by the sloop of war _Thracian_, to look out for and destroy
them. Their chief places of rendezvous were known to be among the
numerous keys or sandy islets off the coast of Cuba. Captain Walcott,
after for a long time vainly searching for the pirates, was informed by
the master of an American pilot-boat that a schooner supposed to be the
_Zaragonaza_ had been seen cruising off Barracoa, at the east end of
Cuba. Captain Walcott endeavoured to bribe the American pilot to remain
with him. He, however, declined the risk, declaring it was impossible
to capture the schooner with boats, and as she was a remarkably fast
sailer, she was sure to escape; should the enterprise not succeed, he
would become known as the informer, and be no longer able to act as
pilot in the Bahama Channel. This was a disappointment to Captain
Walcott, who knowing that two Spanish men-of-war schooners were cruising
off the coast, and that there were numerous trading schooners of the
same appearance, feared that the pirates would escape. However, on the
31st of March, the two British ships discovered the vessel of which they
were in search off Barracoa. Captain Walcott had disguised both ships
as merchant-vessels, and their sails being set in a slovenly manner,
they stood in towards the schooner. For several hours it was evident
that the pirate did not suspect what they were. Before, however, they
got up with her, she, setting all sail, steered for the harbour of Mata.
On this the frigate and sloop crowded every stitch of canvas they could
carry in chase. The wind, however, failed them before they could get up
to the schooner, which, running in to the harbour, at 1:30 p.m., was
seen moored head and stern athwart it, with the Spanish colours flying
aloft. The entrance of the harbour not being more than a cable's length
in width, even the _Thracian_ could not venture to approach close enough
to attack the schooner. Captain Walcott, therefore, ordered out the
boats, which carried altogether forty-seven men, and believing that a
desperate resistance would be made, and that should the attack fail the
pirates would slaughter all they might capture, he determined to lead
the expedition himself. As he shoved off, he desired Commander Roberts
of the _Thracian_ to get as close as possible, so as to render all the
assistance in his power. The sea was calm, the boats were in full view
of the pirate. Shoving off from the ship's sides, they pulled gallantly
towards her. At 3 p.m. they arrived within gunshot, when up went the
black flag, thus giving undoubted evidence of the character of the
craft, while the schooner opened her fire, at the same time bullets came
flying round the boats from a number of the pirate crew who had been
landed, and been stationed under shelter among the trees which grew
close to the shore of the harbour. Still the British boats pulled
steadily on in two divisions, Captain Walcott's intention being to board
the pirate on both sides at once. Each of the pinnaces carried
carronades, which were now rapidly fired, while the marines began to
blaze away, thus partially, by the smoke which circled round them,
concealing the boats and preventing the pirates from taking exact aim.
As the boats approached, the deck of the pirate was seen crowded with
men, and boarding nettings triced up. Three-quarters of an hour had the
British seamen been exposed to her fire, as well as to that from the men
on shore, when Captain Walcott issued the order to dash alongside. For
a few moments the pirates ceased firing, being employed in loading all
their guns in the hopes of sending their assailants with one broadside
to the bottom. Three hearty cheers were given, and so rapidly did the
boats approach that the shots flew over them, and before the schooner's
guns could be reloaded, the boats were up to her, and the seamen began
climbing on board--no easy matter, for the sides were unusually high,
and had been greased all over so as to render it as difficult as
possible. At that moment the pirate crew losing heart, began to leap
overboard and swim towards the shore, in the hopes of preserving their
lives. Many, however, were cut-down before they could make their
escape, while others were captured in the water. Among them Aragonez
himself was taken, with 27 besides, 10 were killed, and 15 wounded;
while the English lost 1 man killed and 4 wounded in this most gallant
affair. Captain Walcott then sent a requisition to the governor of
Barracoa, which induced him to dispatch a party in search of those who
had escaped into the woods, when sixteen more were captured and
immediately put to death by the Spaniards. The _Tyne_ then sailed with
her prisoners for Jamaica, when two of them turning king's evidence,
their chief and the remainder of the miscreant band were executed. The
affair may well take rank with any of the most brilliant boat services
on record, and Admiral Rowley expressed in a general order his sense of
the admirable skill and courage with which the enterprise had been
carried out. That most graphic of writers, Michael Scott, who spent
many years in the West Indies, had evidently heard of it when he wrote
"Tom Cringle's Log." The capture of Lieutenant Hobson by the pirates,
and his subsequent release, afforded him the idea of the captive of his
hero by the picaroon, while the destruction of Obed's schooner in a
harbour off Cuba, with not a few additional touches, was also taken from
the account of the capture of the _Zaragonaza_.
The piratical cruisers belonging to Algiers had long been the terror of
the merchantmen of all nations. The Algerines not only plundered but
massacred the crews of the vessels they captured, and it was supposed
that many hundreds had fallen into their power. Their crowning act of
atrocity was the murder of the crews of three hundred small vessels
engaged in the coral fishery off Bona, near Algiers, who, being
Christians, had landed to visit a church. At length the British
Government determined to put a stop to their proceedings, and Lord
Exmouth, who had just returned to England, after having compelled the
Dey of Tunis to restore 1792 slaves to freedom, and to sign a treaty for
the abolition of Christian slavery, was appointed to the command of a
fleet which sailed from Plymouth on the 28th of July, 1816, with his
flag flying on board the _Queen Charlotte_, of 100 guns, Captain James
Brisbane. During the passage out, every ship in the fleet was exercised
with the great guns, firing at a target hung from the end of the
fore-topmast studdingsail-boom rigged out for the purpose, so that they
became unusually expert. Lord Exmouth's fleet consisted of only five
line-of-battle ships, with the 50-gun ship _Leander_, four frigates, and
several sloops of war and bomb-vessels. Misled by the charts, which
were altogether defective, Lord Nelson had required ten sail of the
line, and the same number of bomb-vessels, when he proposed to attack
Algiers, but the harbour and fortifications had lately been surveyed by
Captain Warde, who had found the entrance of the harbour much narrower
than had been supposed. The fortifications were, however, formidable in
the extreme, the batteries defending the town bristling with several
tiers of heavy guns, while powerful forts commanded the approaches. On
the mole alone were upwards of 200 guns, and altogether 500 guns, few
being smaller than 24-pounders, defended the piratic city. On reaching
Gibraltar, Lord Exmouth found a Dutch squadron, Vice-Admiral Van de
Cappellon, who entreated leave to co-operate with him, commanding it.
After some delay owing to contrary winds, on the 14th of August the
English and Dutch fleets, accompanied by several additional gunboats,
sailed for Algiers. On their way they met the _Prometheus_ sloop of
war, Captain Dashwood, which had on board the wife, daughter, and infant
child of the British consul, Mr McDonnell. The two ladies, disguised
in midshipmen's uniforms, had with great difficulty escaped, but as they
were passing through the gateway the infant, who had been concealed in a
basket, uttering a cry, was detained and carried to the dey. It should
be recorded as a solitary instance of his humanity that it was sent off
the next morning to its mother by the dey. The surgeon of the
_Prometheus_ with three midshipmen and the crews of two boats,
consisting in all of eighteen persons, had been detained.
The fleet being becalmed, Lord Exmouth sent a lieutenant in one of the
_Queen Charlotte's_ boats with a flag of truce to the dey, demanding the
immediate liberation of the British consul and the people belonging to
the _Prometheus_, the abolition of Christian slavery, the delivery of
all Christian slaves in the Algerine state, and the repayment of the
money exacted for the redemption of Neapolitan and Sardinian slaves, and
peace with the King of the Netherlands. Before the answer had been
received, a breeze sprung up, and the fleet standing in to the harbour,
the ships took up their appointed positions before the city. The _Queen
Charlotte_ made herself fast to the main-mast of a brig on shore close
to the mole. Near her lay the _Leander_, while the other ships arranged
themselves to bring their guns to bear on different parts of the city,
the lighter vessels bringing up abreast of any openings they could find
in the line of battle. Scarcely had the _Queen Charlotte_ brought up,
when a shot was fired at her from the city, followed by two other guns,
when Lord Exmouth seeing a large body of soldiers standing on the
parapet of the mole, watching the ships, mercifully waved his hand to
them to make their escape, and as they were leaping down, the _Queen
Charlotte_ opened her starboard broadside, the other ships following her
example. So admirably were her guns served that her third broadside
completely levelled the south end of the mole, when, changing her
position, she attacked the batteries over the town-gate, and brought the
guns on it tumbling over the battlements. Soon after this an Algerine
frigate was boarded by the flag-ship's barge, under Lieutenant Richards,
and her crew driven overboard. Till about ten at night the ships kept
up a furious fire at the town and forts; and by this time all the
Algerine ships and vessels within the harbour were burning, as were the
arsenal and storehouses on the mole, while several parts of the city
were in flames. A fire-ship, which had been prepared at Gibraltar, was
now, under the conduct of Captain Herbert Powell, run on shore, close
under the semicircular battery, to the northward of the lighthouse, and
exploding, committed great damage to the enemy. At length, the fire
from most of the forts being silenced, and the batteries on the mole
being in a state of dilapidation, the ammunition of the attacking ships
falling short, Lord Exmouth took advantage of a light air of wind off
the land to cut his cables, and stand out of fire, ordering the other
ships to follow his example. Severe as had been the punishment
inflicted on the Algerines, the allied squadrons suffered considerably,
the British having lost 128 killed and 690 wounded, and the Dutch 13
killed and 52 wounded; while many of the ships had had their masts
injured, and the _Impregnable_ and _Leander_ had received numerous shot
in their hulls--the first ship to the number of 233; an 18-pound shot
had entered the bulwark, passed through the heart of the main-mast, and
had gone out on the opposite side. The Algerines were said to have lost
between 4000 and 7000 men. Next morning a boat was again sent on shore
with a note to the dey, repeating the demands of the preceding morning.
She was met by an Algerine officer, who declared that an answer,
yielding to all demands, had been at once sent. Finally, the dey agreed
to the terms, and upwards of 1200 Christian slaves were delivered up,
besides the British consul and the people from the _Prometheus_, 30,000
dollars to the British consul for the destruction of his property, and
an apology to him, the restoration of the 382,500 dollars for the slaves
redeemed by Naples and Sicily, and peace with the King of the
Netherlands.
Numerous promotions followed as rewards to the officers engaged in this
most important expedition, the objects of which were so fully attained.
As a proof of the disinterestedness of the British, it should be known
that of all the slaves liberated few, if any, were English. The Dutch
admiral and his officers behaved with the greatest gallantry, each ship
taking up her position as close to the enemy's batteries as she could
get. It was the first time that wooden ships were fairly matched
against stone walls; the result proved that, provided the ships can get
close enough, the advantage will be on their side, unless the stone
batteries are of far greater thickness than any that had hitherto been
erected.
Severe as had been the lesson received, scarcely eight years had passed
by before the Algerines had again sent their cruisers to sea. In
consequence of this, Sir Harry B. Neale, then the British admiral in the
Mediterranean, received directions to inflict a fresh punishment on
them. Before proceeding to extremities, however, he despatched the
_Naiad_, Captain Spencer, to destroy a large 16-gun piratical brig,
which had taken shelter under the fortress of Bona. The service was
performed in the most gallant way by Lieutenant Quin, first lieutenant
of the _Naiad_, with her boats, he having pulled in under a tremendous
fire from the fortress, boarded and blown up the brig. Sir Harry then
appeared off the place with his squadron, and the dey, without the
slightest resistance, yielded to all his demands.
Six years after this the French, landing a powerful army, captured the
fortress by attacking it in the rear, and took possession of the
country.