Character and daring of our Privateers — Skill of American seamen — Acts of Congress relative to privateering — Names of ships — Gallant action of the "Nonsuch" — Success of the Dolphin — Cruise of the Comet — Narrow escape of the "Governor Tompkins" — Desperate action of the Globe with two brigs — The Decatur takes a British sloop of war — Action of the Neufchatel with the crew of the Endymion — Desperate defence of Captain Reed against the crews of a British squadron — The Chasseur captures a British schooner of war — Character of the commanders of privateers — Anecdote.
Notwithstanding the navy won such laurels during the war, the chief damage done to British commerce was inflicted by our privateers. A history of that period is therefore incomplete without a record of their acts. Nothing ever brought out the daring seamanship, skill, fertility of resource and stubborn bravery, so characteristic of our sailors, as the management of those private armed vessels. Scarcely was war declared before they began to shoot one after another from out our ports, and disappeared in the distant horizon. Trade being prostrated, merchants fitted up their idle ships with picked crews and skillful commanders, and sent them forth to vex the enemy's commerce. Our vessels at that time, as now, being swifter sailers than the English, these bold rovers asked only an open sea and a gale of wind to outstrip their pursuers, or overtake those in flight. Their sails were seen skirting the horizon in every direction—now saucily looking into the enemy's ports to see what was going on there, and again sweeping boldly through the English channels. They seemed ubiquitous—every pathway of commerce was familiar to them, and they passed from sea to sea, appearing and disappearing with a suddenness and celerity that baffled pursuit. Sometimes one of these light armed vessels would slyly hover about a whole fleet of merchantmen, convoyed by a stately frigate, under whose guns they clustered for protection, until a favorable opportunity occurred, when she would suddenly dash into their midst like a hawk into a brood of chickens, and seizing one, man her and be off before the frigate could sufficiently recover from its astonishment at such audacity to attempt pursuit. It sometimes occurred that she would find herself alongside a frigate which she had mistaken for a large merchantman, when a seamanship and coolness would be exhibited in the effort to get clear, seldom witnessed in the oldest naval commanders. If unable to escape she would gallantly set her colors and fight a hopeless, yet one of the most desperate battles that occur in maritime warfare. The way in which these ships were handled, the daring manner they were carried into action, and the desperation with which they were fought astonished the English, who had never witnessed any thing like it on the sea. Sweeping waters covered with British cruisers, with scarcely a safe neutral port to enter in case of distress—shut out from their own harbors by blockade, they were compelled to exercise the most unceasing watchfulness, and keep in a state of constant preparation.
It was a gallant sight to witness one of these little cruisers, apparently surrounded by an enemy's squadron, and yet dashing through its midst, fly away before the wind, while the water around was driven into foam by the shot that sped after her. Their conduct and success throughout the war, revealed the vast resources at the command of our navy. We have only to build ships, not educate sailors. Our commerce pierces to every clime, and our fisheries extend beyond the Arctic Circle; and, hardened by exposure and taught by experience and perils, our sailors are thoroughly trained in all the duties of their calling. Crews that the commanders of men-of-war might well be proud of, are at this moment afloat in every part of the world. On mere call we could man the navies of Europe with well instructed men. One great difficulty with the French navy is, that during war she has no where to go for recruits. Her sailors require a long training, while ours have been trained from boyhood.
Privateering has been denounced as unworthy of civilized nations, but if the object of maritime warfare be to destroy the enemy's commerce, it is difficult to see why a private armed vessel should not be commissioned to do it as well as a national one. If it be plundering private property on the high seas, so is the capture of merchantmen by men-of-war. The sailors in both are stimulated by the same motives, viz., prize money. If maritime war was to be carried on between national vessels alone, and commerce be left untouched, there would be little use for a navy. Ports are blockaded to injure commerce and weaken the resources of the enemy; so are fleets of merchantmen captured, supplies cut off and nations distressed for the same purpose. And if this is to be done, it seems hardly worth quarrelling about who shall do it.
Our fleet was so small at the commencement of the war, that the balance of injury and loss would have been heavy against us, but for our privateers. Our large vessels were soon blockaded in port, and the contest on the seas was for some time almost wholly carried on by privateers, and of the more than two thousand vessels captured during its progress, the greater part was taken by them. A single privateer would slip through a blockading squadron, stand out to sea, and in a few weeks destroy vessels and seize property to the amount of millions. At one time they cruised so daringly in the English waters, that sixty dollars was paid in England to insure five hundred across the Irish Channel. Some of them fought British national vessels and captured them, while it scarcely ever happened that an American privateer struck to an English vessel, when there was any approximation to an equality of force. Of the twenty-three naval engagements during the war, where either one or both were national vessels, the Americans were victorious in seventeen. A similar success marked the contests of private armed vessels.
In 1800, the act regulating privateers gave to them the entire prize captured, but in March, 1812, another act was passed appropriating two per cent. to collectors, to be used as a fund for the support of the widows and orphans of those who fell in combat. This was afterwards modified so as to allow the disabled the benefit of the fund. On the 19th of July the act Was amended, and two per cent. placed in the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury, and privateersmen put on the pension list with the navy. A few days after a bill passed the House, allowing twenty-five dollars bounty for every prisoner taken. This was increased the next session to one hundred dollars.
Aug. 2.
The success attending our privateersmen, and the injury they inflicted on the enemy, gave them such a prominence in the country, that Congress increased as far as possible the inducements to fit out letters of marque, and in 1814 reduced the legal duties on goods captured by privateers thirty-three and a third per cent., and afterwards withdrew all claim of the government to prizes and their cargoes.
Privateersmen had earned all these privileges for themselves by their activity, adroitness, and bravery; they had become the terror of the British commerce, and while England, proud of her naval strength, was blockading our entire coast, they were sweeping down upon her merchantmen in the chops of her own channels.
The names of many of these vessels were very characteristic of the American sailor. "Catch me if you can," "True blooded Yankee," "Right of Search," "Bunker Hill," "Viper," "Rattlesnake," "Scourge," "Spit Fire," and "Teazer," exhibited not only the spirit that animated the commanders, but were well calculated to irritate and enrage the officers of English vessels of war, especially as their conduct corresponded so well with the titles they bore.
In September, about three months after the war was declared, the "Nonsuch" privateer, of Baltimore, carrying only twelve pound carronades and eighty or ninety men, while cruising off Cape Vincent, fell in with an English ship carrying sixteen 18 and 24 pound carronades and two hundred men, and a schooner with six four pounders and 60 men. Notwithstanding this overwhelming disparity of force, the privateer determined to uphold the name she bore, and setting American colors bore gallantly down on the ship. Ranging up within close musket shot, she poured in her broadsides and volleys of musketry for three hours and a half, and maintained the unequal contest till her guns were all disabled and only musketry could be used. The vessels instead of taking advantage of the crippled condition of the ship, to capture her, were so amazed at her audacity and the desperate manner in which she was fought, that they turned and fled. The Nonsuch lost twenty-three killed and wounded in this engagement.
Not long after, in the same waters, the Dolphin, of Baltimore, with only ten guns and sixty men, attacked at the same time a ship of sixteen guns and forty men, and a brig of 10 guns and twenty-five men, and captured them both.
In December of this year the privateer Comet, fourteen guns, started on a cruise southward, and on the 14th of January gave chase to four sail, which were afterwards ascertained to be three English merchantmen, one carrying fourteen and the other two, ten guns, convoyed by a Portuguese brig-of-war mounting twenty thirty-twos, and having a crew of one hundred and sixty-five men. The privateer hailed the Portuguese, when the latter sent a boat aboard with her commander. In the conversation that followed, Captain Boyle, of the privateer, declared he should take those merchantmen if he could. The Portuguese commander replied, he must prevent him, though he should be sorry to have any thing disagreeable happen. The American reciprocated his good wishes, but told him he was afraid something unpleasant might occur if he undertook to interfere with his proceedings.
It was dark when the Portuguese captain withdrew, and the Comet immediately crowded sail for the merchantmen, followed closely by the brig of war. Coming up with them, Captain Boyle began to pour in his broadsides. The vessels keeping heavy head way, firing as their guns bore, he was compelled to fight under a cloud of canvass. Now shooting ahead, he would tack, and come down on the enemy in a blaze of fire. But with every broadside, the Portuguese poured in his own. Captain Boyle, intent on capturing the English vessels, paid no attention to the latter, except occasionally to give him a passing salute. At length he compelled every vessel to strike, and succeeded in taking possession of and manning one. But the moon having gone down, and dark clouds, indicating squalls, rising over the heavens, the vessels got separated, except the privateer and man-of-war, which kept exchanging occasional broadsides till two in the morning. By daylight all succeeded in getting off, though dreadfully cut up, with the exception of the one manned the night before, which was safely brought into port through the squadron blockading the Chesapeake. This bold marauder afterwards engaged a ship of eight hundred tons burthen and carrying twenty-two guns, and maintained the contest for eight hours before he could be beaten off.
The Governor Tompkins was another daring and successful cruiser, inflicting heavy damages on the English commerce. Her log book would read like a romance. Jan. 1, 1813. One morning as the sun rose over the sea, Captain Shaler saw in the distance three vessels and immediately gave chase. The wind was light and he approached slowly, examining the strangers narrowly. One of them appeared to be a large transport, so heavy that he was questioning the propriety of attacking her, especially as the other two were evidently determined to stand by her. Boats were rapidly passing to and fro, filled with men, and though the large vessel lay to, quietly waiting the approach of the privateer, she had studding-sail booms out as if prepared for a running fight. Her conduct looked suspicious, and while the captain of the Tompkins was deliberating whether to engage or haul off, a sudden squall struck his vessel carrying her directly under the guns of the stranger, which to his amazement he discovered to be a frigate. He had English colors flying, but instead of endeavoring with them to deceive the enemy till he could claw off, he hauled them down, and setting three American ensigns, poured a broadside into the man-of-war. The latter returned it with stunning effect, his balls crashing through the timbers, blowing up cartridges, tube boxes, etc., and strewing the quarter-deck with ruin. The Tompkins not daring to tack in the squall, kept on before the wind, passing the frigate and receiving its fire as she flew on. The frigate pursued, and sailing nearly as fast as the privateer, for a time made the water foam about him. But the latter by throwing over shot, lumber, etc., gradually drew ahead, and the wind dying away, Captain Boyle, with the aid of sweeps, got at dark beyond reach of the shot.
About the same time the Globe had a desperate engagement off Madeira with two brigs, one of eighteen and the other of sixteen guns, compelling one to strike, though she afterwards made her escape. In August of this year, a gallant action was fought between the privateer Decatur, Capt. Diron, and a war schooner of the British navy. The Decatur had six twelve-pound carronades and one eighteen-pounder, and mustered 103 men. The schooner was thoroughly appointed, carrying twelve twelve-pound carronades, two long sixes, a brass four, a thirty-two pound carronade and eighty-eight men. She, therefore, had but fifteen men less than her antagonist, while she threw more than twice the weight of metal. But, notwithstanding this overwhelming superiority of force, and though a packet accompanied the schooner whose conduct in the engagement could not be foretold, Captain Diron hoisted American colors to the peak, and closed at once and fiercely with the enemy. He knew from the outset that in a broadside to broadside engagement the Dominica, from her great superiority in metal, would soon sink him, and he determined to board her. The latter detected his purpose and bore away, pouring in her broadsides. Both commanders exhibited great skill in manoeuvering their ships; one to board, the other to foil the attempt. The schooner succeeded in firing three broadsides before the privateer could close. Captain Diron, who had previously got up all the ammunition, etc. which he wanted from below, and fastened down the hatches, the moment he saw from his course that the schooner could not avoid a collision, ordered the drums to beat the charge. Loud cheers followed, and the next moment the two vessels came together with a crash, the jib-boom of the Decatur piercing the main-sail of the enemy. In an instant they were lashed together. The fire from the artillery and musketry at this time was terrible. In the midst of it the crew of the Decatur sprang with shouts on the enemy's decks, when it became a hand-to-hand fight with pistols and cutlasses. The crew of the latter fought desperately, but at length, every officer being killed or wounded, with the exception of one midshipman and the surgeon, and only twenty-eight out of the eighty-eight left standing, the colors were hauled down. The combat, which lasted an hour, was one of the most bloody, in proportion to the number engaged, that occurred during the war.
1814.
The privateer Neufchatel was another lucky ship. Once getting becalmed off Gray Head, within sight of the Endymion, she was attacked by the boats and launches of the latter containing over a hundred men. The Neufchatel carried 17 guns, but had at the time of the attack only thirty-three men and officers included. Although it was dark the captain observed the approach of the boats, five in number, and opened his fire upon them. They, however, steadily advanced till they reached the ship, when they attempted to board on bows, sides, and stern simultaneously.
The action lasted twenty minutes, when one boat having sunk, another being emptied of its crew, and the others drifting away, apparently without men, the firing ceased. At its close the privateer found on her deck more prisoners than she had men in the combat. But few of the assailants ever reached the frigate again.
Nov. 24.
In November of this year the Kemp privateer sailed out of Wilmington and two days after was attacked by a fleet of six small vessels, carrying in all forty-six guns and a hundred and thirty-four men. Enveloped in the fire of six vessels this gallant privateer maintained the unequal combat for half an hour, and finally succeeded in scattering them, when she fell on them in detail and carried three by boarding. She then ranged alongside the largest brig and poured in her broadsides and volleys of musketry. In fifteen minutes the latter struck. In an hour and a half the whole were taken, but while the prizes were being secured two hoisted sail and got away. The other four were secured and brought into port, the result of a six days' cruise.
1814.
But the most desperate engagement probably during the war took place this year, between the privateer brig, General Armstrong, and the crews of an English squadron in the port of Fayal. This brig, carrying only seven guns and ninety men, entered that port to obtain water, and her commander, Captain Reid, seeing no sail on the horizon, dropped his anchor. A few hours after, the British brig Carnation came in and anchored near her. Soon after the Plantaganet, 74, and the Rota frigate arrived. Captain Reid, knowing how little regard English officers paid to the laws of neutrality, became very solicitous about the safety of his ship, and applied to the authorities of the place to know what course he should pursue. They told him he need entertain no fear, as the English officers knew the rights of a neutral port too well to molest him. Captain Reid, however, suspected it would be otherwise, and kept a close watch on the movements of the enemy. About nine o'clock in the evening, it being broad moonlight on the bay and not a breath of air breaking its glittering surface, he saw four boats rowing rapidly and silently towards him. When they came within hail he called out to know their purpose. The latter making no reply and keeping steadily on, he bade them stand off. They paid no heed to his repeated orders, and were about to board when he gave the command to fire. After a short but fierce contest the assailants were driven off and returned to their vessels. The news soon spread, and the inhabitants with the governor gathered on the shore to see the battle. About midnight fourteen launches, filled with four hundred men, were seen to put off and steer straight for the privateer. Captain Reid, who, in the mean time, had cut his cable and moored close in shore, knew he could not save his vessel; but indignant at this violation of the laws of neutrality he determined the enemy should pay dear for the conquest, and the moment the boats came within range opened a tremendous fire upon them. They staggered under it, but returning it with spirit continued to press on. But as they got nearer, the carnage became awful. Every gun on board that privateer seemed aimed with the precision of a rifle, and the discharges were so rapid and incessant that it was with the utmost efforts the boats could be pushed on at all. The dead cumbered the living, and the oars were continually dropping from the hands of the slain, crippling and confusing all the movements. At length, however, they succeeded in reaching the brig, and cheered on by their officers, shouting "no quarter," began to ascend the sides of the ship. In a moment its black hull was a sheet of flame rolling on the foe.
Shrieks and cries, mingled with oaths and execrations, and sharp volleys of musketry rang out on the night air, turning that moonlight bay into a scene of indescribable terror. The bright waters were loaded with black forms, as they floated or struggled around the boats. The Americans fought with the ferocity of tigers and the desperation of mad men. Leaping into the boats they literally massacred all within. Several drifted ashore full of dead bodies—not a soul being left alive of all the crew—others were sunk. Some were left with one or two to row them. Overwhelmed, crushed and discomfitted, the remainder abandoned the attempt and pulled slowly back to the ships, marking their course by the groans and cries of the wounded that floated back over the bay. Only three officers, out of the whole, escaped, while scarce a hundred and fifty of the four hundred returned unwounded to their vessels. A hundred and twenty were killed outright. The loss could scarcely have been greater had the enemy fought a squadron equal to their own.
Our Consul, after this, dropped a note to the Governor, who immediately sent a remonstrance to Van Lloyd, commander of the Plantagenet, saying that the American vessel was under the guns of the castle and entitled to Portuguese protection. To this Van Lloyd replied, that he was resolved on the destruction of the vessel, and if the fort undertook to protect her, he would not leave a house standing on shore.
The next day the Carnation hauled in alongside and opened her broadsides on the privateer. Reid, still grimly clinging to his vessel, returned the fire, and in a short time so cut up his antagonist that he hauled off to repair. That little brig, half a wreck, lying under the walls of the castle fighting that hopeless gallant battle, vindicating her rights against such fearful odds, with none who dare help her, presented a sublime spectacle.
At length his guns being dismounted, Captain Reid ordered his men to cut away the masts of the ship, blow a hole through her bottom, and taking out their arms and clothing, go ashore. Soon after the British advanced and set her on fire. Van Lloyd then made a demand on the Governor for Captain Reid and his crew, threatening in case of refusal to send an armed force and take them. Fearing that the Governor would not be able to prevent their arrest, this gallant band retired to an old convent, knocked away the drawbridge, determined to defend themselves to the last. The English commander had no desire to place his crews again under the deadly aim of those daring men, and abandoned the project.
The American loss in this engagement was only two killed and seven wounded. Thus dearly did England pay for this violation of the laws of a neutral port. That brig, cruising successfully to the close of the war, could not have inflicted so heavy damage on the enemy as she caused in her capture.
The gallant bearing and patriotic feeling that marked these little cruisers are worthy of record, while the hair-breadth escapes—the tricks employed to entice merchantmen within their reach—the wit and humor exhibited in hailing and answering the hails of vessels—the saucy and irritating acts committed on purpose to provoke—the good-natured jokes they cracked on those they had first outwitted, then conquered, would make a most characteristic and amusing chapter in American history.
Captain Boyle, of the Chasseur, took great delight in provoking frigates to chase him, and when they abandoned the pursuit as hopeless, he would affect to chase in turn, teazing and insulting his formidable adversaries, who tried in vain to cut some spar out of the winged thing in order to lessen her fleetness. Cruising along the English coast, this vessel had some very narrow escapes. While here the captain overhauled a cartel, and sent by it a proclamation with orders to have it stuck up in Lloyd's coffee house, declaring the whole British Empire in a state of blockade, and that he considered the force under him sufficient to maintain it.
This was probably one of the finest private armed vessels afloat during the war. Buoyant as a sea-gull, she sat so lightly and gracefully on the water, that it seemed as if she might, at will, rise and fly. Fleet as the wind, she was handled with such ease that the enemy gazed on her movements with admiration.
Feb. 26, 1815.
Her last exploit was the capture of his majesty's schooner St. Lawrence, carrying fifteen guns. The latter was on her way to New Orleans, with some soldiers, marines, and gentlemen of the navy as passengers. The Chasseur had only six twelve-pounders and eight short nine pound carronades, having been compelled a short time before, when hard pressed by an English frigate, to throw over nearly all her twelve pound carronades. Captain Boyle had no suspicion of the true character of the vessel when he gave chase, for her ports had been closed on purpose to deceive him. He therefore stood boldly on till he got within pistol-shot, when the schooner suddenly opened ten ports on a side and poured in a destructive fire. At the same time the men who had been concealed under the bulwarks leaped up and delivered a volley of musketry. Captain Boyle, discovering what a trap he had been beguiled into, determined at once to stay in it, and ranging alongside within ten yards, opened a tremendous fire with his batteries and musketry. The vessels were so near each other that the voices of officers and men could be distinctly heard, even amid the crashing cannonade. That little privateer exhibited a skill and practice in gunnery unsurpassed by any frigate, and superior to any vessel in the English navy. The enemy was completely stunned by the rapidity and destructive effect of her fire, and in eleven minutes was a perfect wreck. Captain Boyle then gave the command to board, when the flag was struck. In this short space of time the Chasseur had strewed the deck of that schooner with nearly half of her crew, killed and wounded.
Our privateers had greatly the advantage of the English, not only in artillery but in musketry—our men firing with much surer aim than theirs.
It would be impossible to give the names and details of all the vessels and their engagements; but, independent of the vast number of merchantmen captured by them, they took eight national vessels of the enemy, in single combat. They seemed to vie with each other in daring and the venturous exploits they would undertake. One of these vessels would shoot out of port within sight of a blockading squadron, start alone on a cruise, and scouring thirty or forty thousand miles of the ocean, return with a fleet of prizes. The commanders were almost, invariably humane men, treating their prisoners with vastly more kindness than British admirals and commodores did those Americans who fell in their hands. Many acts of kindness and generosity were performed, and a nobleness of spirit exhibited towards a fallen foe, which has ever been, and it is to be hoped ever will be, a distinguished trait in the American character. On one occasion a privateer captured in the channel a Welch vessel from Cardigan, freighted with corn. As the captain went on board he saw a small box with a hole in the top, in the cabin, marked "Missionary box." "What is this?" said he, touching it with a stick. "Oh," replied the Cambrian, "the truth is, my poor fellows here have been accustomed every Monday morning to drop a penny each into that box, for the purpose of sending out missionaries to preach the gospel to the heathen; but it's all over now." "Indeed," said the captain, and reflecting a moment, he added, "Captain, I'll not hurt a hair of your head nor touch your vessel," and immediately returned to his own ship, leaving him unmolested.
Such conduct appears the more striking when contrasted with that of British officers. The murder of Mr. Sigourney, of the Alp, whose brains were beaten out; though when his vessel was taken possession of not a soul but himself was found on board—the confinement of Capt. Upton and his officers of the privateer Hunter, for three months in a filthy prison, and their after transfer to a prison ship—the cruelty shown to Capt. Nichols, who, after enjoying his parole for two months, was without the least reason thrown into a prison-ship and kept for more than a month in a room four feet by seven, and many other cases of extreme cruelty, were well known, for the facts had been sworn to and placed on record as state papers. Rumor aggravated all these a hundred fold, yet the English government can offset them with no retaliatory acts substantiated before courts of inquiry.
