WAR ON THE ENEMY'S COAST.
We have seen how the beginning of naval enterprise made by Washington in
the summer of 1775 was taken up and borne along by the Continental
Congress at Philadelphia, until little by little it had obtained a force
at sea that was able to inflict serious loss upon the enemy. But a field
for operations was now to be found in a new quarter; and happily for
America, their direction was in the hands of its wisest and most
far-sighted statesman. On the 7th of December, 1776, the United States
brig-of-war "Reprisal" arrived at Nantes with Benjamin Franklin on board
as a passenger, who had come over with a letter from Congress, naming
him a commissioner to treat with France. The "Reprisal" was commanded by
Capt. Lambert Wickes, a gallant naval officer who had been cruising
during the summer before in the West Indies, where he had shown himself
worthy of the people's trust. And indeed it was a heavy responsibility
that rested with him on this voyage across the Atlantic; for had his
ship with its passenger been captured, it is hard to say what troubles
would have come upon the country, or how the Revolution would have held
its own during the next five years. But Franklin was carried safely to
his destination; and not only that, but two English brigs laden with
cargoes of wine were captured by the "Reprisal" on the voyage and came
with her into port. It was in this way that Franklin's mind was turned
to the benefits which his country might reap from ocean warfare,--above
all, in the seas which English commerce most frequented,--and after he
arrived in Paris he lost no time in putting in practice what he had
learned.
At this early period, although the King of France was indifferent, if
not hostile, to the American cause, the ministers and people warmly
favored it. The friendly feeling was strengthened by Franklin's coming,
and his winning manners, simple and frank, but full of dignity, made him
a favorite with all, both high and low. Persuaded thus by their own
desires, and by Franklin's strong but gentle influence, they went just
as far in their efforts to aid the Americans as they possibly could
without declaring open war against England. Large sums of money were
given; the departure of ships laden with arms and munitions of war was
winked at; and when Lord Stormont, the English ambassador, complained of
the admission of the "Reprisal" and her prizes into French ports, the
Frenchmen gave evasive answers, and the vessels under one pretext or
another were allowed to stay. Wickes even made a little roving cruise in
the Bay of Biscay, from which he brought in as trophies three more
prizes. To satisfy the English protests, he was forbidden to sell his
prizes in the ports; but he took them just outside the harbor, where he
held mock sales, and thus disposed of all of them. These little
subterfuges were continued until the conclusion of the treaty, which
came about in the following year.
In the spring after Wickes arrived, the brig "Lexington" came out, under
Captain Johnston. She was the first vessel that had been purchased by
the Continental Congress, and she had already done good service on the
American coast. Johnston had with him as lieutenant one of the best and
bravest of the Revolutionary officers, Richard Dale. Dale was at this
time twenty years of age. Eight years before he had first gone to sea
from his home in Virginia, and already since the beginning of the war he
had been twice a prisoner; but the strangest part of his career was yet
to come.
Franklin now thought it would be wise to join together the "Reprisal"
and the "Lexington" and the little 10-gun cutter "Dolphin" in a squadron
under the command of Wickes, who was to make a dash around the coast of
Ireland and capture or destroy whatever he might find. The ships sailed
from Nantes in June, and in August they came back successful from their
perilous enterprise. They had captured fourteen prizes. Approaching the
French coast on their return, they were discovered and chased by an
English line-of-battle ship of seventy-four guns; but by separating they
succeeded in making good their escape, though the "Reprisal" barely
managed to get into port in time.
This expedition made so great a commotion that the French Government
found itself obliged to notice it, and ordered the ships to leave the
territory. Accordingly they set sail on the voyage home; but unhappily
the "Reprisal," upon reaching the Banks of Newfoundland, foundered in a
gale, and only one of the crew was saved. The "Lexington," soon after
starting, fell in with the English cutter "Alert" in the Bay of Biscay.
Both ships fought gallantly for two hours; but at length the
"Lexington," which was short of ammunition, had used up nearly all her
powder and shot and made sail to get away from the enemy. The "Alert"
had been badly cut up aloft in the fight; but she speedily bent new
sails and in a short time overtook her antagonist. Captain Johnston held
out as long as there was any hope, firing now and then a gun, and using
every scrap of iron he could lay his hands on for a missile; but after
he had fired his last charge of powder, and several of his officers had
been killed, to prevent the useless slaughter he surrendered.
The prisoners were carried off to Plymouth, where they were confined in
the Mill Prison. Here the harsh treatment and sufferings they underwent
soon prompted them to devise a means of escape. A hole was dug under the
wall, the officers and men working upon it with their fingers whenever
an opportunity offered, but making slow progress, as they could only
hide the dirt from the excavation by carrying it in their pockets when
they went out for exercise, and scattering it when the sentry's back was
turned. Finally one night, when all was ready, they passed out through
the opening and escaped into the country.
But their troubles had only just begun. The hue and cry was raised, and
parties were sent in pursuit of the fugitives. Separating into twos and
threes, they were barely able to elude pursuit. One night Dale was
concealed under the hay in a barn, when the officers entered it in
search of him. At last he reached London and took passage in a vessel
bound to Dunkirk; but before she had left the Thames she was visited by
a press-gang, and poor Dale was seized, and when they found out who he
was, sent back to prison. The captain, though, got safely off.
This was now the fourth time that Dale had been a prisoner. To punish
him for trying to escape, he was thrown into the black hole--a dungeon
that was only used for the worst offenders--and treated with the utmost
rigor. After a time he was put on his old footing as a prisoner of war;
but he was a reckless youth, and having roused the wrath of the jailers
by singing what they called "rebellious songs," he served another term
in the black hole. At length by some means, which to his dying day he
never would disclose, he obtained the uniform of a British officer, and
in this disguise he walked through the gates in plain sight of the
sentinel. Rendered more cautious by what had befallen him after his
first escape, he laid his plans with care, and at last succeeded in
reaching France, after a year and a half of captivity. He came in good
time; for it was just as he arrived that Paul Jones was setting out on
his great cruise in the "Bon Homme Richard," and Dale was made his first
lieutenant. Here we shall leave him for the present.
About the time that the "Lexington" had come out from America, in the
spring of 1777, the commissioners at Paris, finding that they could not
get more ships in France, because the English made so great an outcry,
bethought themselves that they would send a trusty agent across the
channel to Dover, to see what he could get there. In this way they
purchased secretly a swift English cutter, the "Surprise," and they
appointed to command her Gustavus Conyngham, a bold and adventurous
officer. He started on a cruise in May from Dunkirk, and in a few days
returned with two of the enemy's brigs,--one of them a mail-packet which
he had captured off the coast of Holland. The English ambassador again
protested, and the French Government told Franklin that, though much
against its will, it would be compelled to restore the prizes. It even
went so far as to imprison Conyngham and his crew; but this was only a
make-believe, for they were shortly afterward released.
[Illustration: HE TOUCHED AT A SMALL TOWN IN IRELAND FOR SUPPLIES.]
Unmoved by this event, Franklin immediately procured another cutter, the
"Revenge," and giving Conyngham a new commission, he sent him off from
Dunkirk in charge of her. The second cruise was even more successful
than the first. Conyngham roved about with his little ship as he
pleased, keeping carefully away from the enemy's cruisers, which vainly
sought to catch him, and capturing prizes on all sides. These he
destroyed, or sometimes when he saw his chance sent into seaports on the
Continent. Once during his cruise, being hard pushed for supplies, he
touched at a small town in Ireland and bought them. At another time when
off the English coast, finding his vessel unseaworthy and needing some
repair, he took her into one of the smaller ports and refitted there,
with the help of the inhabitants, without being discovered. Finally,
when so many ships were sent out in pursuit of him that his
cruising-ground became too hot, he made for Ferrol, in Spain, and after
staying there awhile carried his ship safely to America.
The cruises of Wickes and of Conyngham, with their tiny craft, were the
beginning of the great work that was to be taken up on a larger scale in
the next two years by Paul Jones. The enterprise and hardihood of these
bold captains, who carried the war, as it were, to the very threshold of
the enemy's country, were not without results both in England and on the
Continent. They showed foreign nations that the rebels in America were
making war in truest earnest, and that they would leave no honorable
means unused to help them in asserting independence. In England they
spread alarm among the merchants, and the insurers of English ships
demanded double rates; while London traders, rather than run the risk of
losing their goods by shipping them in their own vessels, were induced
to employ their foreign rivals to carry cargoes for them,--a thing which
before this time had been almost unheard of.