command, attacked the enemy's eastern division, consisting of nine
gun-boats. He was soon in the midst of them. The fire of the cannon
and musketry was immediately changed to a desperate attack with
bayonet, spear and sabre. Captain Decater having grappled a Tripolitan
boat, and boarded her with only fifteen Americans, in ten minutes her
decks were cleared and she was captured. Three Americans were wounded.
At this moment captain Decater was informed that the gun-boat
commanded by his brother, had engaged and captured a boat belonging to
the enemy; but that his brother, as he stepped on board was
treacherously shot by the Tripolitan commander, who made off with his
boat. Captain Decater immediately pursued the murderer, who was
retreating within the lines; having succeeded in coming alongside, he
boarded with only eleven men. A doubtful contest of twenty minutes
ensued. Decater immediately attacked the Tripolitan commander, who was
armed with a spear and cutlass. In parrying the Turk's spear, Decater
broke his sword close to the hilt, and received a slight wound in the
right arm and breast; but having seized the spear he closed; and,
after a violent struggle, both fell, Decater uppermost. The Turk then
drew a dagger from his belt, but Decater caught his arm, drew a pistol
from his pocket and shot him. While they were struggling, the crew of
both vessels rushed to the assistance of their commanders. And so
desperate had the contest around them been, that it was with
difficulty that Decater extricated himself from the killed and wounded
that had fallen around him.
In this affair an American manifested the most heroic courage and
attachment to his commander. Decater, in the struggle, was attacked in
the rear by a Tripolitan, who had aimed a blow at his head, which must
have proved fatal, had not this generous minded tar, then dangerously
wounded and deprived of the use of both his hands, rushed between him
and the sabre, the stroke of which he received in his head whereby the
scull was fractured. This hero, however, survived, and afterwards
received a pension from his grateful country. All the Americans but
four were wounded. Captain Decater brought both of his prizes safe to
the American squadron.
Two successive attacks were afterwards made upon Tripoli; and the
batteries effectually silenced. The humiliation of this barbarous
power was of advantage to all nations.--The Pope made a public
declaration, that, "the United States, though in their infancy, had,
in this affair, done more to humble the anti-christian barbarians on
that coast, than all the European States had done for a long series of
time." Sir Alexander Ball, a distinguished commander in the British
navy, addressed his congratulations to Commodore Preble.
After the junction of the two squadrons, Commodore Preble obtained
leave to return home. This he did with the greater pleasure, as it
would give the command of a frigate to Captain Decater.
On his return to the United States, he was received and treated every
where with that distinguished attention, which he had so fully
merited. Congress voted him their thanks, and requested the President
to present him with an emblematical medal.
Our limits will only allow us to glance briefly at a few of the
remaining victories of the American navy. A formal declaration of war
against Great Britain was passed by Congress on the 18th of June,
1812. On the 19th of August, the memorable capture of the British
frigate Guerriere by the Constitution under Captain Hull, took place.
On the 19th of October the British sloop of war Frolic was taken by
the Wasp, commanded by Captain Jacob Jones; before the latter could
escape, however, with her prize, being in a very disabled state, she
was captured by the British seventy-four, Poictiers. On the 25th of
October, the United States under Commodore Decater, fell in with and
captured, off the Western Isles, the British frigate Macedonian,
mounting forty-nine guns and carrying three hundred and six men. The
Macedonian had one hundred and six men killed and wounded. The United
States five killed and seven wounded. The Victory of the Constitution
over the Java, followed next, and was succeeded by that of the Hornet,
commanded by Captain Lawrence, over the Peacock. The loss of this
brave officer in the subsequent engagement between the Chesapeake and
Shannon, was generally lamented by his countrymen.
On the first of September, 1813, the British brig Boxer of 14 guns,
was captured by the United States brig Enterprise, commanded by
Lieutenant William Burrows, who fell in the engagement. We must close
our notice of American naval history, by a brief sketch of some of the
most interesting cruises and engagements.
CRUISE OF THE WASP.
On the first of May, 1814, the United States sloop of war Wasp, of
eighteen guns and one hundred and seventy-four men, Captain Blakely,
commander, sailed from Portsmouth, N. H. on a cruise, and on the 28th
of June, in latitude 48 36 longitude 11 15, after having made several
captures, she fell in with, engaged, and after an action of nineteen
minutes, captured his Britanic Majesty's sloop of war Reindeer,
William Manners, Esq. commander. The Reindeer mounted sixteen
twenty-four pound carronades, two long six or nine pounders, and a
shifting twelve pound carronade, with a complement on board of one
hundred and eighteen men. She was literally cut to pieces in a line
with her ports; her upper works, boats and spare spars were one
complete wreck, and a breeze springing up the next day after the
action, her fore-mast went by the board; when the prisoners having
been taken on board the Wasp, she was set on fire and soon blew up.
The loss on board the Reindeer was twenty-three killed and forty-two
wounded, her captain being among the former. On board the Wasp five
were killed and twenty-one wounded.--More than one half of the wounded
enemy were, in consequence of the severity and extent of their wounds,
put on board a Portuguese brig and sent to England. The loss of the
Americans, although not so severe as that of the British, was owing,
in a degree, to the proximity of the two vessels during the action,
and the extreme smoothness of the sea, but chiefly in repelling
boarders.
On the 8th of July, the Wasp put into L'Orient, France, after
capturing an additional number of prizes, where she remained until the
27th of August, when she again sailed on a cruise. On the 1st of
September she fell in with the British sloop of war Avon, of twenty
guns, commanded by Captain Abuthnot, and after an action of forty-five
minutes, compelled her to surrender, her crew being nearly all killed
and wounded. The guns were then ordered to be secured, and a boat
lowered from the Wasp in order to take possession of the prize. In the
act of lowering the boat, a second enemy's vessel was discovered
astern and standing towards the Wasp.--Captain Blakely immediately
ordered his crew to their quarters, prepared every thing for action,
and awaited her coming up. In a few minutes after, two additional
sails were discovered bearing down upon the Wasp. Captain Blakely
stood off with the expectation of drawing the first from its
companions; but in this he was disappointed. She continued to approach
until she came close to the stern of the Wasp, when she hauled by the
wind, fired her broadside, (which injured the Wasp but trifling,) and
retraced her steps to join her consorts--Captain Blakely was now
necessitated to abandon the Avon, which had by this time become a
total wreck, and which soon after sunk, the surviving part of her crew
having barely time to escape to the other vessels.
On board of the Avon forty were killed and sixty wounded The loss
sustained by the Wasp was two killed and one wounded.
The Wasp afterwards continued her cruise, making great havoc among the
English merchant vessels and privateers, destroying an immense amount
of the enemies property.--From the 1st of May until the 20th of
September, she had captured fifteen vessels, most of which she
destroyed.
HORNET AND PENGUIN.
On the 23d of March, 1815, as the Hornet, commanded by Captain Biddle,
was about to anchor off the north end of the island of Tristan
d'Acuna, a sail was seen to the southward; which, at forty minutes
past one, hoisted English colors, and fired a gun. The Hornet
immediately luffed to, hoisted an ensign, and gave the enemy a
broadside. A quick and well directed fire was kept up from the Hornet,
the enemy gradually drifting nearer, with an intention, as Captain
Biddle supposed, to board. The enemy's bowsprit came in between the
main and mizen rigging on the starboard side of the Hornet, giving him
an opportunity to board, if he had wished but no attempt was made.
There was a considerable swell, and as the sea lifted the Hornet
ahead, the enemy's bowsprit carried away her mizen shrouds, stern
davits, and spanker boom, and hung upon her larboard quarter. At this
moment an officer called out that they had surrendered. Captain Biddle
directed the marines to stop firing and, while asking if they had
surrendered, received a wound in the neck. The enemy just then got
clear of the Hornet; and his foremast and bowsprit being both gone,
and perceiving preparations to give him another broadside, he again
called out that he had surrendered. It was with great difficulty that
Captain Biddle could restrain his crew from firing into him again, as
it was certain that he had fired into the Hornet after having
surrendered.
From the firing of the first gun to the last time the enemy cried out
that he had surrendered, was exactly twenty-two minutes. The vessel
proved to be the British brig Penguin, of twenty guns, a remarkable
fine vessel of her class, and one hundred and thirty-two men, twelve
of them supernumeraries from the Medway seventy-four, received on
board in consequence of their being ordered to cruise for the
privateer Young Wasp.
The Penguin had fourteen killed and twenty-eight wounded. Among the
killed was Captain Dickenson, who fell at the close of the action. As
she was completely riddled, and so crippled as to be incapable of
being secured, and being at a great distance from the United States,
Captain Biddle ordered her to be scuttled and sunk.
The Hornet did not receive a single round shot in her hull, and though
much cut in her sails and rigging was soon made ready for further
service. Her loss was one killed and eleven wounded.
ALGERINE WAR.
Immediately after the ratification of peace with Great Britain, in
February 1815, Congress, in consequence of the hostile conduct of the
regency of Algiers, declared war against that power. A squadron was
immediately fitted out, under the command of Commodore Decater,
consisting of the Guerriere, Constellation and Macedonian frigates,
the Ontario and Epervier sloops of war, and the schooners Spark,
Spitfire, Torch and Flambeau. Another squadron, under Commodore
Bainbridge, was soon to follow this armament, on the arrival of which,
it was understood, Commodore Decater would return to the United States
in a single vessel, leaving the command of the whole combined force to
Commodore Bainbridge.
The force under Commodore Decater rendezvoused at New York, from which
port they sailed the 20th day of May, 1815, and arrived in the Bay of
Gibraltar in twenty-five days, after having previously communicated
with Cadiz and Tangier. In the passage, the Spitfire, Torch, Firefly
and Ontario, separated different times from the squadron in gales, but
all joined again at Gibraltar, with the exception of the Firefly,
which sprung her masts, and put back to New York to refit. Having
learned at Gibraltar that the Algerine squadron, which had been out
into the Atlantic, had undoubtedly passed up the straits, and that
information of the arrival of the American force had been sent to
Algiers by persons in Gibraltar, Commodore Decater determined to
proceed without delay up the Mediterranean, in the hope of
intercepting the enemy before he could return to Algiers, or gain a
neutral port.
On the 17th of June, off Cape de Gatt, he fell in with and captured
the Algerine frigate Mazouda, in a running fight of twenty-five
minutes. After two broadsides the Algerines ran below. The Guerriere
had four men wounded by musketry, the Algerines had about thirty
killed, according to the statement of the prisoners, who amounted to
four hundred and six. In this affair, the famous Algerine admiral or
Rais, Hammida, who had long been the terror of this sea, was cut in
two by a cannon shot.
On the 19th of June, off Cape Palos, the squadron fell in with and
captured an Algerine brig of twenty-two guns. The brig was chased
close to the shore, where she was followed by the Epervier, Spark,
Torch and Spitfire, to whom she surrendered, after losing twenty-three
men. No Americans were either killed or wounded. The captured brig,
with most of the prisoners on board, was sent into Carthagena. From
Cape Palos, the American squadron proceeded to Algiers, where it
arrived the 28th of June.
The treaty which Commodore Decater finally succeeded in negotiating
with the Dey, was highly favorable. The principal articles were, that
no tribute under any pretext or in any form whatever, should ever be
required by Algiers from the United States of America, that all
Americans in slavery should be given up without ransom, that
compensation should be made for American vessels captured, or property
seized or detained at Algiers, that the persons and property of
American citizens found on board an enemy's vessel should be sacred,
that vessels of either party putting into port should be supplied with
provisions at market price, and if necessary to be repaired, should
land their cargoes without paying duty, that if a vessel belonging to
either party should be cast on shore, she should not be given up to
plunder, or if attacked by an enemy within cannon shot of a fort,
should be protected, and no enemy be permitted to follow her when she
went to sea within twenty-four hours. In general, the rights of
Americans on the ocean and land, were fully provided for in every
instance, and it was particularly stipulated that all citizens of the
United States taken in war, should be treated as prisoners of war are
treated by other nations, and not as slaves, but held subject to an
exchange without ransom. After concluding this treaty, so highly
honorable and advantageous to this country, the commissioners gave up
the captured frigate and brig, to their former owners.
Commodore Decater despatched Captain Lewis in the Epervier, bearing
the treaty to the United States, and leaving Mr. Shaler at Algiers, as
consul-general to the Barbary states, proceeded with the rest of the
squadron to Tunis, with the exception of two schooners under Captain
Gamble, sent to convoy the Algerine vessels home from Carthagena.
Having obtained from the bashaw of Tunis a full restoration in money
for certain outrages which had been sustained by American citizens,
the squadron proceeded to Tripoli, where Commodore Decater made a
similar demand for a similar violation of the treaty subsisting
between the United States and the bashaw, who had permitted two
American vessels to be taken from under the guns of his castle by a
British sloop of war, and refused protection to an American cruiser
lying within his jurisdiction. Restitution of the full value of these
vessels was demanded, and the money, amounting to twenty-five thousand
dollars, paid by the bashaw into the hands of the American consul.
After the conclusion of this affair, the American consular flag, which
Mr. Jones, the consul, had struck, in consequence of the violation of
neutrality above mentioned, was hoisted in the presence of the foreign
agents, and saluted from the castle with thirty-one guns. In addition
to the satisfaction thus obtained, for unprovoked aggressions, the
commodore had the pleasure of obtaining the release of ten captives,
two Danes and eight Neapolitans, the latter of whom he landed at
Messina.
After touching at Messina and Naples, the squadron sailed for
Carthagena on the 31st of August, where Commodore Decater was in
expectation of meeting the relief squadron, under Commodore
Bainbridge. On joining that officer at Gibraltar, he relinquished his
command, and sailed in the Guerriere for the United States, where he
arrived on the 12th of November, 1815.
Every thing being done previous to the arrival of the second division
of the squadron, under Commodore Bainbridge, that gallant officer had
no opportunity of distinguishing himself. Pursuant to his instructions
he exhibited this additional force before Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli,
where they were somewhat surprised at the appearance of the
Independence seventy-four. Commodore Bainbridge sailed from Gibraltar
thirty-six hours before the Guerriere, and arrived at Boston the 15th
of November.
ADDRESS TO THE OCEAN.
Likeness of Heaven!
Agent of power;
Man is thy victim,
Shipwreck thy dower!
Spices and jewels
From valley and sea,
Armies and banners,
Are buried in thee!
What are the riches
Of Mexico's mines,
To the wealth that far down
In thy deep waters shine?
The proud navies that cover
The conquering west--
Thou fling'st them to death
With one heave of thy breast!
From the high hills that view
Thy wreck making shore,
When the bride of the mariner
Shrieks at thy roar,
When like lambs in the tempest
Or mews in the blast,
On thy ridge broken billows
The canvas is cast--
How humbling to one,
With a heart and a soul,
To look on thy greatness
And list to its roll;
To think how that heart
In cold ashes shall be,
While the voice of Eternity
Rises from thee?
* * * * *
STUDIES IN ENGLISH SPELLING.
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We have heard of some marvelous soaps,
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SIXTH LESSON.
The wife of a popular colonel
Whose troubles with "helps" were etolonel
Now her leisure enjoys
For the "new girl" employs
SAPOLIO in housework diolonel!
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