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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
THE CRUISE OF THE "LIVELY BEE"
* * * * * *
BOYS OF LIBERTY LIBRARY.
12mo. Cloth, handsomely bound. Price, each, postpaid, 50 cents.
PAUL REVERE and the Boys of Liberty. By John De Morgan.
THE FIRST SHOT FOR LIBERTY or The Minute Men of Massachusetts. By
John De Morgan.
FOOLING THE ENEMY. A Story of the Siege of Boston. By John De Morgan.
INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH or The Boys of Liberty at the Battle of Long
Island. By John De Morgan.
THE HERO OF TICONDEROGA or Ethan Allen and His Green Mountain Boys.
By John De Morgan.
ON TO QUEBEC or With Montgomery in Canada. By John De Morgan.
FIGHTING HAL or From Fort Necessity to Quebec. By John De Morgan.
MARION AND HIS MEN or The Swamp Fox of Carolina. By John De Morgan.
THE YOUNG AMBASSADOR or Washington's First Triumph. By John De Morgan.
THE YOUNG GUARDSMAN or With Washington in the Ohio Valley. By John De
Morgan.
THE CRUISE OF THE LIVELY BEE or A Boy's Adventure in the War of 1812.
By John De Morgan.
THE TORY PLOT or Saving Washington's Life. By T. C. Harbaugh.
IN BUFF AND BLUE or Serving under Old Put. By T. C. Harbaugh.
WASHINGTON'S YOUNG SPY or Outwitting General Howe. By T. C. Harbaugh.
UNDER GREENE'S BANNER or The Boy Heroes of 1781. By T. C. Harbaugh.
FOR FREEDOM'S CAUSE or On to Saratoga. By T. C. Harbaugh.
CAPTAIN OF THE MINUTE MEN or The Concord Boys of 1775. By Harrie
Irving Hancock.
THE TRADER'S CAPTIVE or The Young Guardsman and The French Spies. By
Lieut. Lounsberry.
THE QUAKER SPY, A Tale of the Revolutionary War. By Lieut. Lounsberry.
FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM or The Birth of the Stars and Stripes. By Lieut.
Lounsberry.
BY ORDER OF THE COLONEL or The Captain of the Young Guardsmen. By
Lieut. Lounsberry.
A CALL TO DUTY or The Young Guardsman. By Lieut. Lounsberry.
IN GLORY'S VAN or The Young Guardsman at Louisbourg. By Lieut.
Lounsberry.
THE YOUNG PATRIOT or The Young Guardsmen at Fort William Henry. By
Lieut. Lounsberry.
"OLD PUT" THE PATRIOT or Fighting for Home and Country. By Frederick
A. Ober.
THE LEAGUE OF FIVE or Washington's Boy Scouts. By Commander Post.
THE KING'S MESSENGER or The Fall of Ticonderoga. By Capt. Frank Ralph.
DASHING PAUL JONES, The Hero of the Colonial Navy. By Frank Sheridan.
FROM MIDSHIPMAN TO COMMODORE or The Glories of Our Infant Navy. By
Frank Sheridan.
THE CRUISE OF THE ESSEX or Making the Stars and Stripes Respected. By
Frank Sheridan.
* * * * * *
THE CRUISE OF THE "LIVELY BEE"
Or
A Boy's Adventure in the War of 1812
by
JOHN DE MORGAN
Author of
"Paul Revere," "The Young Ambassador," "The First
Shot for Liberty," "The Young Guardsman," etc.
[Illustration: BOYS OF LIBERTY LIBRARY]
Philadelphia
David McKay, Publisher
610 South Washington Square
Copyright, 1892
By Norman L. Munro
The Cruise of the "Lively Bee"
THE CRUISE OF THE "LIVELY BEE."
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. DECLARATION OF WAR.
CHAPTER II. THE DEPARTURE.
CHAPTER III. THE LIEUTENANT'S STORY.
CHAPTER IV. THE CHALLENGE.
CHAPTER V. THE CHASE.
CHAPTER VI. STORM AT SEA.
CHAPTER VII. THE ESSEX.
CHAPTER VIII. SCENTING MUTINY.
CHAPTER IX. A BRUSH WITH THE ENEMY.
CHAPTER X. PREPARING FOR ACTION.
CHAPTER XI. THE FIGHT AT SEA
CHAPTER XII. ON THE VERGE OF SUCCESS.
CHAPTER XIII. THE RETURN OF THE CONQUEROR.
CHAPTER XIV. THE LIVELY BEE'S PLUCK.
CHAPTER XV. THE WASP'S STING.
CHAPTER XVI. THE MERCHANT CAPTAIN'S CARGO.
CHAPTER XVII. A RICH PRIZE.
CHAPTER XVIII. A STRANGE SAIL.
CHAPTER XIX. BOB, THE POWDER-MONKEY.
CHAPTER XX. THE MONARCH'S DOOM.
CHAPTER XXI. HOMEWARD BOUND.
CHAPTER XXII. JACK'S REQUEST.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE STORY OF THE FIGHT.
CHAPTER XXIV. MARRIAGE AT SEA.
CHAPTER XXV. THE BALL AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
CHAPTER XXVI. THE MARRIAGE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
CHAPTER XXVII. AN UNEXPECTED PLEASURE.
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE CONSTITUTION'S GREAT VICTORY.
CHAPTER XXIX. A LESSON IN MILITARY LAW.
CHAPTER XXX. BOB'S GOOD ANGEL.
CHAPTER XXXI. THE REGINA, OF TORQUAY.
CHAPTER XXXII. HOW BOB KEPT HIS OATH.
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE MUTINY QUELLED.
CHAPTER XXXIV. VERNON'S SUCCESS.
CHAPTER XXXV. THE END OF THE LIVELY BEE.
CHAPTER I.
DECLARATION OF WAR.
There was a large crowd on the Battery in New York City one hot day in
June in the year eighteen-hundred-and-twelve.
Every one was talking and every one was looking out across the waters
of the harbor.
There were pale, anxious faces in that crowd, and side by side with
them were the flushed cheeks of men and boys whose hearts were fired
with patriotic zeal.
Women were looking at their husbands, and young girls' hearts were
throbbing with painful excitement as they saw the enthusiasm of their
sweethearts.
"War, did you say?"
"Ay, ay, the President has aroused at last, and old England shall be
taught another and a final lesson."
It was true.
President James Madison had signed the Declaration of War against Great
Britain.
War!
There were many in that crowd who remembered 1783; there stood the man
who, in his boyhood's days, had climbed the flagpole and torn down the
Union Jack of England, and in its place had hoisted the Star Spangled
Banner.
Many whose hair was now turning gray had shouldered the musket and had
marched with Washington from victory to victory.
The war had ended when the British evacuated the city, but America was
not free and independent.
England held the supremacy of the seas.
English vessels entered American ports, and men were impressed as
seamen on the technical ground that they had never abjured allegiance.
American vessels were boarded on the high seas, and some of the best
men taken away and forced to serve under the English flag.
There is a limit to forbearance, and the young nation, whose infancy
had scarcely been passed, resolved that it would be better to die than
endure such insults.
War was declared.
It looked like madness.
It was so, if judged by the ordinary rules of national conduct.
Great Britain was the mistress of the seas.
On the roll of her navy were over a thousand ships, and eighty-five of
the largest were actually in American ports.
President Madison and his Cabinet did not, however, intend that the war
should be waged on the high seas.
The American ships-of-war were to remain in the harbors as so many
floating batteries for defensive purposes.
In New York Harbor was a small squadron under the command of Commodore
Rodgers.
He heard the rumor that he was not to go out to sea, and dispatched
Captains Bainbridge and Stewart to Washington to confer with the
Secretary of the Navy.
Secretary Paul Hamilton listened attentively to the two captains,
and they thought they had won their case; but with great courtesy he
thanked them, and said that the President had, with the consent of his
Cabinet, decided to order the ships to remain in the harbors.
Captain Stewart stamped his foot, and with almost anger, exclaimed:
"Sir, you are going to ruin the country; I'll have you impeached!"
Paul Hamilton smiled.
Off went Stewart to the White House and argued his case so well that
the President put the unsigned order in his desk, and told the captain
he would consider the matter.
War was declared a few days after that consultation.
Commodore Rodgers was ready to sail, and only awaited official
knowledge of the declaration.
The crowd at the Battery held divergent sentiments.
"It's all very well for Rodgers to take his ships out, but kin he bring
'em back," asked an old sailor whose face was tanned by many a summer
sun and winter wind; "kin he bring 'em back? That's what I want to
know!"
"You're afraid, Sam Buller, that's what's the matter."
"Durn it! I afraid, younker? I hate John Bull like pizen, and but
that's no reason why I should go an' get killed and do no good."
"Take no notice of the old grumbler, men. Our commodore will not only
come back, but will bring lots of British ships as prizes."
The speaker was a boy--a mere child--for he had only just passed his
eleventh birthday; but he was dressed in the full uniform of the United
States navy, and ranked as a midshipman.
"Hark to the baby!"
"Baby! I'd have you know I got my commission two years ago, and if you
doubt it, I ask these gallant men to attest it. I'm proud of my ship.
I'm proud of her captain, and I'm an officer there. Is it not so?"
The boy appealed to the crew of a boat which had just reached the
wooden dock.
"Ay, ay, sir, and as brave an officer as ever carried a sword."
The midshipman stepped into the boat, the men dipped their oars, and
the crowd watched the boat glide over the water until the _Essex_, a
thirty-two gun frigate, was reached.
"What did I tell you?" asked the old salt who was known as Sam Buller,
"what did I tell you? Going to war with chits of boys, not old enough
to be a cook's slavey, as officers."
"Say what you like, that boy may not be as strong, but he is as brave
as any man in the service."
"Perhaps you know him, sir?"
"I do. That boy's name is David Glasgow Farragut, and he has been on
the _Essex_ for four years. He is the adopted son of Captain Porter,
and whoever says one word against that young midshipman will have to
answer to me."
"And who may you be, my hearty?" asked Sam Buller
"I am Captain Stewart of the United States navy; who are you?"
Captain Stewart did not wait for a reply, but entered the boat which
awaited him and was soon rowed across to his ship.
Every one knew Charles Stewart's character for bravery, for in the year
1800, when in command of the schooner _Experiment_, he captured the
French privateers _Deux Amis_ and the _Diana_. In 1804 he commanded
the _Siren_, and went with the American squadron against Tripoli, and
achieved several victories.
"I only wish I could get on board the _Essex_. I'd be pleased to call
Farragut my superior," said a young man, whose build and manner were
those of an educated sailor.
"Why don't you?" asked one of the crowd.
"I have tried, but they told me they were full."
"Do you want to fight?"
The inquirer was one whose appearance invited confidence. He was well
dressed, and had a good honest face.
"Fight? Yes, sir; if it be the British I fight against."
"Why are you anxious to fight the British?"
"My grandfather, sir, was with Washington, and was killed fighting for
his country; my father was wounded, and my elder brother killed. I have
been told of those days, and I have a debt to pay."
"But you do not remember that time."
"No, sir. I am only nineteen years old, and the British evacuated New
York twelve years before I was born."
"Then it is only as you have been educated? You blush! You need not
make me your confidant unless you like----"
"I will tell you, sir, for I know you can feel for me."
The two young men had separated from the crowd, and had walked along
the water's edge until they came to where the Barge Office now stands.
They were alone, or nearly so, as the crowds were watching the war
vessels.
"I had a dear friend who was taken from his home and impressed."
"Ah! never mind the story now. What say you to shipping with me?"
"I--I would like to be on a man-of-war."
"I see; and you think I cannot ship you on a war vessel. But if it is
fighting you want, I can promise you as much as you desire. If it is
prize money you seek, my boy, don't go on a warship, but ship with me."
"And, sir, what may be your ship's name?"
The elder man led his companion a little farther up the dock and
pointed out a schooner.
"See! there is the ship for you, my boy; look at her! Isn't she a
model?"
She was certainly a beautiful sight as she hoisted her mainsail and
jib and glided off under a breeze so light that the large ships hardly
stirred, with all their sails set.
"She has started."
"Ay, ay; but we can catch her at the Narrows. I like you, and I want
you to ship with me. Will you do so?"
"I--don't know--I----"
"Come along; you shall have a warm welcome on board the _Lively Bee_."
"Is that schooner the famed privateer?"
"Yes; I have a _lettre de marque_ from the government. We shall fight,
but if we are taken prisoners we shall be hanged. On the one hand I
promise you plenty of fighting and lots of prize money, on the other
there is the risk of being hanged."
"I will go with you."
"I knew you would. I came ashore purposely to meet you."
"To meet me? You do not know me."
"Don't I? Then perhaps I have made a mistake. I thought you were John
Tempest----"
"That is my name; but how did you know me, and why did you want me?"
"You will ship with me?"
"I will."
"Give me your hand. We shall be comrades in many a fight. I am Captain
Harry Vernon of the _Lively Bee_."