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 MOSES BROWN, CAPTAIN U. S. N. 
 Sketched from an old portrait. 
 
MOSES BROWN 
 CAPTAIN U.S.N. 
 
 By 
 EDGAR STANTON MACLAY, A. M. 
 
 /Author of A History of the United States Navy, A His- 
 tory of American Trivateers, Reminiscences of the 
 Old Navy, Life and Adventures of Admiral 
 Thilip ; Editor of the Journal of IVilliam 
 Maclay (U. S. Senator from Tennsyl- 
 vania, lySg-iy^i), Editor of the 
 Diary of Samuel Maclay {U. S. 
 Senator from Tennsylva- 
 nia, 1802-1809) 
 
 3 » ? > ? » » J 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE BAKER AND TAYLOR COMPANY 
 
 33-37 East Seventeenth Street 
 
ubraky o+ congress 
 
 Two Cvpies Reoaivsd 
 
 MAR 16 1904 
 Class *• xxc. No. 
 
 ' COPY B 
 
 Copyright, 1004, by 
 THE BAKER AND TAYLOR COMPANY 
 
 
 Published March, 1904 
 
 
 The American Printing House 
 
 312 to 320 E. 23 5t. 
 
 New York 
 
To the Memory of 
 EMILY ADAMS GETCHELL 
 
 February 7, 1850 — July 2, 1901 
 
 One of those Noblewomen of America to whose Patriotism 
 We are Indebted for the Preservation and Com- 
 memoration OF MANY Heroic Episodes 
 IN Our Country's History 
 
 THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 EXPLANATORY 
 
 Two forgotten sea fights — Errors concerning the 
 General Arnold — Navy officers in privateers — 
 General neglect of our maritime interests — No 
 official record — A well authenticated battle — Our 
 three Merrimacs — Building the first Merrimac 
 — Capture of the Sukey and Friends . 13-23 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 OUR UKKNOWN NAVAL HEROES 
 
 Many good fighters — "Dame Opportunity" — Dis- 
 obeying orders so as to "get at the enemy" 
 — Farragut's opportunity — Nelson and Colling- 
 wood — Striking illustration in the careers of 
 Paulding and Farragut — Eventful lives of sea- 
 men — Moses Brown's records . . . 25-33 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 NEWBURYPORT 
 
 "A mortal blow" at British supremacy — True 
 " Down East " nerve — A call for volunteers — 
 The remarkable capture of the Friends — Ac- 
 tivity of Newburyport privateers — " Fixing out " 
 armed vessels — Moses Brown's first voyages — 
 High ideals of morality — "Gentleman" Brown 
 — At the siege of Louisburgh — Trading in the 
 
 [5] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 West Indies — ^What the conditions of old-time 
 apprenticeship meant — A sample Indenture 34-47 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 HIS FraST SEA FIGHT 
 
 In His Majesty's service — A part of a great fleet — 
 Becomes separated in a storm — Attacked by two 
 French privateers — Brown's injury — Two months 
 in a hospital at Guadeloupe — The unfortunate 
 Phoebe — Completing his apprenticeship — Smug- 
 gling — Fondness for children — Nearly buried 
 alive at sea — Foundering at sea — Seven days in 
 an open boat — The rescue . , . . 48-58 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 IN THE lion's den 
 
 Brown's "resourcefulness" — Sailing for Europe. 
 His audacious arrival in England — Spends ten 
 weeks in Venice — In a sudden predicament — 
 Leaping out of a trap — " Safe and sound " in 
 the Thames — Good English money in his pocket 
 — Return to America — A "perilous" land voy- 
 age — Safe return to Newburyport . . 59-67 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 FIRST COMMAND OF A WAR-SHIP 
 
 Formidable privateers — Naming cruisers after gen- 
 erals — Sailing in the Hannah — Promptly cap- 
 tured by the enemy — In a Rhode Island prison 
 ship — Return to Newburyport — In command of 
 a splendid privateer — A plot to murder Moses 
 Brown— Fatal testing of the ship's guns— Get- 
 ting a new battery — " Then I'll die directly, sir " 
 — An unprofitable cruise .... 68-74 
 
 [6] 
 
CONTENTS 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 A " WARM BATTLE " 
 
 A forgotten sea battle— Erroneous records— Captain 
 Brown's modest account — Corroborative testi- 
 mony—Sailing from Cape Ann— " His August 
 Highness, the ship's cook"— Off the Western 
 Islands — The enemy sighted— A showing of 
 colors— At close quarters— Repulse of the enemy 
 —The Americans unable to chase— The Greg- 
 son—'' A rebel frigate of thirty-two guns " 75-83 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 A FORGOTTEN SEA FIGHT 
 
 Waiting in vain for the Gregson—Mokin^ a rich 
 prize — Good discipline in the General Arnold — ■ 
 "Gentlemen Sailors"— Off Cape Finisterre— 
 A swift chase — Preliminary "sparring" — The 
 Englishman sinks alongside— Captain Beynon's 
 ' magnificent fight— Courtesy to his prisoners- 
 Captain Beynon's official report— " Our guns 
 told well on both sides "— " The cook, I beUeve, 
 was drowned" 84-91 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A PRISONER OF WAR 
 
 The audacity of Brown's attack— Chased by a fleet 
 — Capture and recapture of the George— The 
 General Arnold taken by the Experiment— S\v 
 James' gallantry— " His Majesty, King George 
 the Third"— "His Excellency, General George 
 Washington "—A spirited scene— Arrival at 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Savannah — Exchange of prisoners — A series of 
 terrific storms— Another "perilous" land voy- 
 age 92-97 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 PERILOUS TIMES FOR MERCHANTMEN" 
 
 In command of the splendid Intrepid — One of John 
 Paul Jones' officers for his lieutenant — Captain 
 Jones visits Newburyport — On a difficult and 
 dangerous mission — Its successful accomplish- 
 ment — Acts of violence by neutrals — Planning 
 for a voyage to India — Mr. Nathaniel Tracy: 
 " Merchant Prince " — Lieutenant Patrick Fletch- 
 er—Hardships of a seafaring life— " Thirty- 
 two years of toil, trouble, and almost death" 
 — Starting life anew — Final entries in his 
 diary 98-109 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 TRADING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 
 
 Captured by an English privateer in time of peace — 
 Ship and cargo detained at New Providence at 
 ruinous loss — Discouraging American carrying 
 trade — Some fairly profitable voyages — Wrecked 
 in the West Indies — Captured by a Bermuda 
 privateer — In charge of a drunken prize master 
 — Brown seriously ill and no medical aid — 
 Brown compelled to buy his own ship . 110-115 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 PREPARING FOR WAR WITH FRANCE 
 
 Our country without naval protection — Its bad re- 
 sults — False economy — Depredations by English, 
 
 [8] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 French and Barbary cruisers on our commerce 
 —Our frigate Cre^cew^— Nomenclature of frig- 
 ates— " Not a penny for tribute "—Establishing 
 a new navy— Our new war-ships — The new 
 officers 116-122 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE FIRST Merrimac 
 Our three famous Merrimacs — New England losses 
 on the high seas — Newburyport merchants decide 
 to build a war-ship— Send a petition to Congress 
 —William Hackett the famous shipbuilder- 
 Some successful ships— Patriotism in 1798— A 
 Fourth of July celebration — Moses Brown made 
 a captain in the navy— A famous launching — 
 A splendid vessel— Her oflScers— Comparative 
 cost 123-136 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ON THE SCENE OF HOSTILITIES 
 
 A comprehensive plan of action — Massing our naval 
 forces in the West Indies— The Merrimac's log- 
 book one of unusual beauty — Sailing from 
 Boston— "The blackest of black nights "—A 
 scene of anxiety — A serious defect in spars — 
 "Sail, ho!"— A long, stern chase— A mistaken 
 identity— " Hazy and fitful weather"— On the 
 scene of action— Extra precautions— Searching 
 for friends— At Prince Rupert's Bay— Under 
 fire— A happy meeting .... 137-152 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 CONVOYING A GREAT FLEET 
 
 Preparing for convoy duty— Vain chase of a packet 
 
 [9] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 ship — Keeping a sharp lookout — In company 
 with the mighty Constitution — No " Idle bread " 
 on this cruise — Strangers found in the fleet — A 
 vexatious chase — Severe discipline — Washington's 
 birthday at St. Kitts— " Make the best of your 
 way home" — Return to the rendezvous — An 
 exciting chase 153-162 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 CAPTURING FRENCH WAR-SHIPS 
 
 A lucky re-capture — A fleet of sixty American mer- 
 chantmen — A brief visit home — Capture of the 
 Magicienne — A terrific tropical storm — Brown's 
 coolness — Cruising in company — A mishap to the 
 Norfolk — A fleet of 100 merchantmen— Active 
 convoy duty — Secret information — Capture of 
 the Bonaparte — A dangerous privateer . 163-173 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 VERY ACTIVE CRUISING 
 
 Chasing a strange sail — A sociable dinner at sea — 
 An interruption — A good dinner, anyway — 
 — Searching for a privateer — Ceaseless activity 
 — A lucky recapture — A futile chase — At Vera 
 Cruz— Detention in that port— Chasing a badly- 
 scared Spaniard — Arrival in Havana — Ordered 
 to return home — Bad weather — A serious leak 
 — Extreme measures— Home again . . 174-184) 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 CLOSING SCENES 
 
 Increased activity in the West Indies— Enlarged 
 sphere of action — Expedition to Cura9ao — Rout 
 
 [10] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 of the French— Capture of the Brillante— Ne- 
 cessity of a naval force— Prosperity of the na- 
 tion under naval protection— Reducing the navy 
 — Causes of opposition to the navy— John Adams 
 and Thomas Jefferson — Senator Maclay on the 
 "Court Party "—Captain Brown is "honorably 
 discharged "—" Thrown on the world" again— 
 The Merrimac sold and soon afterward wrecked 
 —Brown returns to mercantile service— More 
 West Indian voyages— His last view of his native 
 shores— His pathetic death . . . 185-195 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 Moses Brown as a type of naval officer- His start- 
 ling experiences—" Unofficial opportunities "— 
 An illustration in Japan — Everyday heroism — 
 An incident on the Thames, England— A critical 
 moment — Many such instances unrecorded — 
 Brown's personal appearance — His stormy ca- 
 reer — His undaunted courage — Quiet religious 
 professions— High ideals of morality— Not the 
 "Loblolly, soft-headed" kind— A sympathetic 
 nature — His self-possession — Temperate in his 
 habits — Honored descendants . . . 196-208 
 
 APPENDIX I 
 Explanation of the Minerva's Commission . 209-213 
 
 Index 213-220 
 
 [11] 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Moses Brown, Captain U. S. N. . . , . Frontispiece 
 
 Title page fac-simile of the 
 
 Merrimack's Log Facing page 20 
 
 Views of Old Newburyport " "34 
 
 Fac-simile of Minerva's Com- 
 mission " "108 
 
 Sloop of War Merrimack " " 126 
 
 Fac-simile of page in Merri- 
 mack's Log Between pages 140-141 
 
 MAPS 
 
 Newburyport and Its Vicinity page 37 
 
 Scene of some of Moses Brown's 
 
 Early Voyages = . " 5^ 
 
 Scene of Moses Brown's Adven- 
 tures in the Old World o . "61 
 
 Scene of Moses Brown's Adven- 
 tures in the West Indies ,,.... . "139 
 
EXPLANATORY 
 
 That two important battles, fought on the 
 high seas in our struggle for independence by a 
 regularly commissioned American war-ship, 
 should have escaped official record or historical 
 note during the last one hundred years is, in- 
 deed, a remarkable fact. The ship was the 
 General Arnold, of twenty guns and one hun- 
 dred and twenty men, commanded by Moses 
 Brown, who afterward became a captain in the 
 navy; some of the officers serving under him 
 also entering the navy, notably Patrick 
 Fletcher, who, when commanding the 40-gun 
 frigate Insurgent, was lost with his ship, in the 
 great equinoctial gale of September, 1800. 
 
 The only official mention we have of the Gen- 
 eral Arnold is an entry in Lieutenant George F. 
 Emmons' admirable " Statistical History of the 
 United States Navy," pubKshed " under the 
 [13] 
 
EXPLANATORY 
 
 authority of the Navy Department " in 1850. 
 This entry reads as follows : " General Arnold, 
 brig, twenty guns, one hundred and twenty 
 men, commanded by J. Magee, [the ship] from 
 Massachusetts, built in 1778. [On] January 
 7, 1779, drove ashore at Plymouth, and was 
 lost with seventy-five men." That this entry 
 is erroneous will be seen by the fact, now clearly 
 established, that the General Arnold, so far 
 from having been wrecked January, 1779, in 
 March and May of that year fought two battles 
 with British armed ships.^ 
 
 Both actions took place within a short sail of 
 the coast of Portugal, near where the 44-gun 
 frigate Constitution, in 1815, achieved her 
 greatest triumph and performed her most bril- 
 
 ^It is far from the writer's purpose, in citing this 
 error, to cast any disparagement on Lieutenant Emmons' 
 history. That the error exists is not that officer's fault, 
 but that of the then-established records, which failed to 
 note the General Arnold's splendid services. Lieutenant 
 Emmons' work is monumental, and will stand for years 
 as a model of conscientious, painstaking labor — down to 
 the minutest detail. 
 
 [14] 
 
TWO FORGOTTEN SEA FIGHTS 
 
 liant service. The first English vessel was the 
 heavily armed privateer Gregson of Liverpool, 
 carrying twenty guns (of heavier caliber than 
 the American ship ) and one hundred and eighty 
 men; of whom eighteen were killed and a pro- 
 portionate number were wounded. The Gregson 
 was taken only after a desperate action of 
 " two hours and fifteen minutes." 
 
 The second action, also, was with a heavily 
 armed English privateer, the Nanny, of sixteen 
 guns. Though of inferior force, the Nanny 
 made a magnificent fight — actually sinking 
 alongside the General Arnold, her men scarcely 
 having time to man the boats. 
 
 Although the General Arnold was a cruiser 
 armed and sent out at private expense, she can 
 properly be accounted a part of the regular 
 navy of the Revolution. At that time, 1779, 
 the Continental navy had been reduced to six 
 vessels: one of eighteen, one of twenty, one of 
 twenty-eight and three of thirty-two guns. 
 
 From this time on, to the close of the Revolu- 
 tion, Congress depended almost entirely on our 
 [15] 
 
EXPLANATORY 
 
 privateers to maintain the flag on the high seas, 
 the Government frequently calhng on them for 
 special missions of national importance; Cap- 
 tain Brown himself three years later — hav- 
 ing Henry Lunt, who had served under John 
 Paul Jones in the famous Bonhomme Richard- 
 Serapis fight, as his first lieutenant — success- 
 fully performing a voyage to I'Orient and back 
 to Baltimore on an errand of interest to the 
 entire country. 
 
 That such services as the General Arnold per- 
 formed have escaped official record and formal 
 notice upward of one hundred years, is only 
 another evidence of the general neglect with 
 which our maritime interests have been treated 
 by the people. There is not a land battle — not 
 even the veriest skirmish — which occurred in the 
 Revolution that has not been exploited in page 
 after page of official and popular literature, 
 while counties, cities and other geographical 
 points innumerable have been named in their 
 honor. 
 
 The so-called " battle " of Lexington, in 
 [16] 
 
NEGLECT OF THE NAVY 
 
 which a few brave farmers, armed mostly with 
 shotguns and pitchforks — having no miHtary 
 formation or pretension whatever — were de- 
 feated by a detachment of British regulars, with 
 a loss of seven killed and nine wounded, and no 
 injury to the enemy, is familiar to every school 
 child in the United States. Yet, here we have 
 two " real live " sea battles — between regularly 
 armed and commissioned cruisers, in one of 
 which eighteen men were killed, with a propor- 
 tionate number wounded — ^which for over a hun- 
 dred years have had not even official record ! Is 
 it possible that the general opprobrium of the 
 name Benedict Arnold — after whom this gallant 
 ship was named — had anything to do with this 
 erasure of all mention of her distinguished ser- 
 vices from official records? General Arnold 
 made his treasonable overtures to the British a 
 few months after Brown's return to Newbury- 
 port. 
 
 Shortly after her second victory, the General 
 Arnold herself was captured by the English 
 50-gun ship Experiment, Captain Sir James 
 [17] 
 
EXPLANATORY 
 
 Wallace, so it is probable that all her papers, 
 records, logs etc., were lost. The Experiment 
 sailed for Charleston, S. C, where Captain 
 Brown was placed in a prison ship. As illus- 
 trating the vicissitudes of war, it is interesting 
 to note that Sir James himself, soon afterward, 
 was captured by Count d'Estaing's fleet. 
 
 Captain Brown did not reach his home until 
 seven months after his capture by the Experi- 
 ment, so that it is more than likely that his offi- 
 cial report of these actions to the owner of the 
 General Arnold, Nathaniel Tracy, was made 
 verbally, and no record of it is hkely to be in 
 existence. 
 
 We have, however, four authentic narratives 
 of these actions which establish, beyond ques- 
 tion, their claim to a place in the pages of his- 
 tory. The first is the private diary of Captain 
 Brown himself, in his own handwriting, which 
 was discovered at a distant point in Maine many 
 years after his death. The original diary is now 
 in the hands of the*Maine Historical Society. 
 
 Next, we have the journal of Thomas Greele 
 [18] 
 
TWO AUTHENTICATED BATTLES 
 
 (who was sailing-master in the General Arnold) 
 and the " Narrative of Ignatius Webber," who 
 was a prize-master in the same ship. It was only 
 at a comparatively recent date that these valu- 
 able records were brought to light, and the 
 writer frankly acknowledges that he is greatly 
 indebted to the late Emily Adams Getchell — to 
 whom this work is dedicated — for their unearth- 
 ing. 
 
 Fourthly, we have the official report of the 
 British commander of the second English pri- 
 vateer — giving entirely corroborative state- 
 ments of the action — a copy of which, fortu- 
 nately, has been preserved, so that, taken alto- 
 gether, we have one of the completest and most 
 satisfactory accounts of any sea battle fought 
 in the Revolution. 
 
 Another feature of consideration in this work 
 is the account given of the United States sloop- 
 of-war Merr'imac^s valuable services in the war 
 against France, 1798-1801. The river Merri- 
 mac is famous in American history, there hav- 
 ing been in all three ships in our navy bearing 
 [19] 
 
EXPLANATORY 
 
 that name. The reading public is f amihar with 
 the second and third Merrimacs: the iron-mailed 
 monster that caused such fearful havoc among 
 the National wooden warships in Hampton 
 Roads, March 8, 1862, and the clumsy collier 
 which Hobson so gallantly carried into San- 
 tiago's harbor, June 3, 1898. It is an interest- 
 ing fact that both these M^rnmacs (one against 
 the North and the other for it) were commanded 
 by sons of the South. The late Emily Adams 
 Getchell published a poem a few years ago 
 touching on this point. 
 
 Of the first Merrimac, however, little Is 
 known ; yet her career — at least at its inception 
 — was quite as singular, if not as dramatic, as 
 that of her sisters. It was a remarkable scene 
 on that 12th of October, 1798, when the good 
 people of Newburyport, Mass., and from the 
 surrounding country for many miles, assem- 
 bled on the banks of the Merrimac to witness 
 the launching of the finest war-ship of her class 
 in the United States that day — a craft they had 
 built at their own private expense to be pre- 
 [20] 
 
m-: 
 
 
 5? 
 
 Journal, 
 
 k£pt on board 
 
 « s 
 
 d.'g^J TH£ UNITED STATES SHIP, 
 
 ill 
 
 ^MERRIMACK; 
 
 OF TWENTY GUNS. 
 
 m 
 
 Motts Btotun, CO. 
 
 COMMANDER. 
 
 Jif/J)^ jB}^, 
 
 
 J05C}J& ^toiDn 
 
 Title page facsimile of tJie Merrimack's log, reduced from g x^ inches. 
 
OUR THREE " MERRIMACS " 
 
 sented, free of all immediate cost, to the na- 
 tion. 
 
 It would not be an exaggeration to compare 
 this scene with the supposititious spectacle of 
 the sturdy people of Providence, R. I., to-day, 
 building a modern cruiser of the Montgomery 
 type at their own expense and presenting her to 
 the Government to fight the country's enemies. 
 
 Our Government, in 1798, was sorely pressed 
 for money and eagerly accepted the gift, so that 
 the first Merrimac sailed for the West Indies 
 January 3, 1779, where she remained — almost 
 continuously at sea — until the termination of 
 hostilities, which was in 1801. She captured 
 four French privateers, recaptured a number of 
 American and English merchantmen that were 
 in the hands of French prize crews, was flag- 
 ship in the expedition to Cura9ao and rendered 
 other important services. 
 
 Nearly all the details of this service have re- 
 mained for over one hundred years a closed book 
 to the public. Through the courtesy of the 
 Hon. Moses Brown, of Massachusetts, a great- 
 •[21] 
 
EXPLANATORY 
 
 grandson of Captain Brown, the original log- 
 book of the Merrimac — a weather-stained vol- 
 ume, thirteen by eight inches, of one hundred 
 and seventy pages — ^has been placed in the 
 hands of the writer, and has thrown a flood of 
 hght on this " darkest period " of our navy's 
 literature. It gives a detailed account of cap- 
 tures and recaptures and of the important 
 convoy service in which she was engaged. 
 
 Among the many items of historical impor- 
 tance that have been brought to light in this 
 work it would be unfair to pass over that of the 
 capture of the English provision ships Sukey 
 and Friends by seventeen men in whaleboats out 
 of Newbur3^port, as described in Chapter II. 
 The deed was daringly conceived and cleverly 
 executed. Trivial as the affair might seem at 
 first glance, it was the repetition of such cap- 
 tures that made the carrying on of war in Amer- 
 ica an exceedingly complex problem for British 
 commanders. The author is not aware that 
 any mention of this plucky enterprise has ever 
 before been given, formally, to the public. 
 [22] 
 
AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
 
 The writer has taken the liberty of making 
 maps to cover the geographical points of every 
 few chapters. Although most of the names 
 mentioned in the narrative are familiar, interest 
 in the story is enhanced by having the points 
 clearly indicated in simple maps interspersed 
 here and there in the text. 
 
 In conclusion, the writer desires to acknowl- 
 edge the assistance he has received in gathering 
 material for this work, from the late Emily 
 Adams Getchell, the Hon. Moses Brown, Mr. 
 Causten Browne, Mr. George P. Tilton, Charles 
 Wellesley Allen and Mr. WilKam H. Swasey. 
 
 E. S. M. 
 New York, December, 1903. 
 
 [23] 
 
MOSES BROWN— CAPTAIN U. S. N. 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 OUE UNKNOWN NAVAL HEROES 
 
 IN his " Elegy Written in a Country Church- 
 yard," Thomas Gray speaks feelingly of 
 the unknown master minds, the unborn 
 heroes, the unheralded orators and the unappre- 
 ciated statesmen who lived and passed away in 
 obscurity because elusive opportunity — that 
 sudden chance which comes but once in a lifetime 
 and, if embraced, carries men to the pinnacle of 
 fame — either did not visit them or was not rec- 
 ognized at the supreme moment. 
 
 The same lines of this Elegy may easily be 
 applied to the great body of men who have com- 
 posed the personnel of the United States Navy 
 in the last one hundred and twenty-five years. 
 It has been said by those who are competent to 
 [25] 
 
OUR UNKNOWN NAVAL HEROES 
 
 pronounce authoritatively on the subject, that 
 where there was but one John Paul Jones and 
 one Nicholas Biddle in our navy known to the 
 public during the war for independence, there 
 were dozens known to their brother officers ; that 
 where there was only one Thomas Truxtun, only 
 one Richard Dale and only one George Preble 
 in our wars with France and Tripoli, there were 
 among the navy officers who fought with them 
 much of the stuff of which Nelsons, Colling- 
 woods. and Farraguts were made; that where 
 the public knew of only one David Porter, one 
 Stephen Decatur, one William Bainbridge, one 
 Oliver Hazard Perry, one James Macdonough 
 and one Charles Stewart in the war of 1812, 
 these same master-minds knew among their ship- 
 mates scores of officers who failed to emerge 
 from comparative obscurity only because Dame 
 Opportunity was unkind to them. 
 
 And so we could go on through the entire 
 
 one hundred and twenty-five years of our Navy's 
 
 glorious career. There were scores of unknown 
 
 Farraguts, Porters, Wordens, Winslows in our 
 
 [26] 
 
A NAUTICAL WILL-O'-THE-WISP 
 
 maritime struggle with the South, and that 
 there were not scores of Deweys in our conflict 
 with Spain was simply because there were not 
 scores of opportunities. 
 
 " Opportunity," that wonderful lodestone 
 which points out the path to immortal fame, is 
 the illusive will-o'-the-wisp sought by the pro- 
 fessional sailor from the time he enters upon his 
 novitiate to the day he finally lays down the 
 burden of professional duty. It is a mysterious 
 phantom which he pursues in his work by day 
 and in his dreams by night; constantly in his 
 mind, seldom seen but once in the longest pro- 
 fessional careers — in too many cases never at all 
 — yet ever before him like the mirage torment- 
 ing the throat-parched traveler in the desert, 
 ever urging him onward with tantalizing per- 
 sistency in the dreary performance of monot- 
 onous, soul-trying routine of daily professional 
 hfe. 
 
 It has been on account of this maddening de- 
 sire to seize opportunity that officers and men in 
 the service have been impelled to approach closer 
 [27] 
 
OUR UNKNOWN NAVAL HEROES 
 
 to the verge of actual insubordination — in some 
 cases boldly refusing to obey the strictest orders 
 of their superiors, even to the extent of incur- 
 ring the death penalty — than for any other 
 motive. 
 
 We recall the pathetic answer of a seaman of 
 the Revolution who, on being rebuked for tak- 
 ing it upon himself to lead a party of boarders 
 on the enemy's deck, said: " I — I — ^jes' couldn't 
 help it, sir." We turn with pride to the episode 
 of the slender Philadelphian youth who — 
 against the sternest commands — smuggled him- 
 self aboard the ketch Intrepid when starting on 
 her mission of extreme peril into the harbor of 
 Tripoli, " merely because I wished to see the 
 parts." We remember the bold defiance of Cap- 
 tain Isaac Hull, who sailed out of Boston in 
 1812 against the orders of the Secretary of the 
 Navy — an act for which he might easily have 
 been shot — and began that series of brilliant 
 victories over the British on the high seas which 
 made American naval prowess feared and re- 
 spected the world over. 
 
 [28] 
 
BRAVING ALL ESTABLISHED RULES 
 
 Farragut's determination to run his frail 
 wooden ships past the Confederate forts below 
 New Orleans and the hell-barriers that stretched 
 across the river, in the dead of night, was 
 against the urgent advice of some of his highest 
 officers and in utter defiance of all, then, recog- 
 nized rules of naval warfare. Had that extraor- 
 dinary venture terminated disastrously, Far- 
 ragut undoubtedly would have been summarily 
 removed from command — to await severer han- 
 dling. Farragut's dash over the fatal line of 
 torpedoes in Mobile Bay, two years later, which 
 called forth that famous expression, " Damn 
 the torpedoes ! " was, in fact, a damning of 
 all rules of propriety and professional cau- 
 tion. 
 
 It was Collingwood who, while leading the sec- 
 ond line of the British fleet at Trafalgar, at a 
 moment when his life was in imminent peril, ex- 
 ultantly exclaimed : " What would Nelson give 
 to be here ! " while Nelson, about the same mo- 
 ment, remarked, " See how that noble fellow Col- 
 lingwood carries his ship into action ! " Each 
 [29] 
 
OUR UNKNOWN NAVAL HEROES 
 
 was reveling in the opportunity then within 
 grasp. 
 
 Dewey's midnight entry into the harbor of 
 Manila was regarded by nearly all the Euro- 
 pean naval experts then in the East as rash and 
 imprudent, while Commander Miller's fiery 
 expostulation against Sampson's order, depriv- 
 ing him of the command of the collier Merrimac 
 at a moment when opportunity was within 
 reach, bordered seriously on one of the gravest 
 of military offenses. 
 
 It was to seize these fleeting chances of " get- 
 ting at the enemy," thereby winning distinction, 
 that these and scores of other officers have 
 braved tradition, spumed sound advice and 
 courted the severest penalties of the service. 
 
 In the careers of Paulding and Farragut we 
 have a striking illustration of the fickleness of 
 opportunity. One became famous throughout 
 the world, the other is scarcely known outside of 
 the profession or, at least, beyond his native 
 shores. Both were promising midshipmen 
 (Paulding having the advantage of four 
 [30] 
 
FARRAGUT AND PAULDING 
 
 years), both distinguished themselves in two of 
 the most sanguinary and important naval 
 actions in 1814 — Farragut on the blood-stained 
 decks of the Essex, when she made her heroic 
 defense against the British naval force off Val- 
 paraiso, and Paulding in the Battle of Lake 
 Champlain. Young as these two lads were at 
 that time, their conduct in battle could not have 
 been surpassed. 
 
 On the close of the war both officers settled 
 down to the soul-trying routine of naval life in 
 the long years of peace which followed. Had 
 it not been for the opportunity that favored 
 Farragut in the Civil War, it is probable that 
 his name, also, would have been quite as un- 
 known to the world to-day as that of Paulding. 
 Both officers served through the struggle with 
 the Confederacy, but opportunity favored one 
 and was unkind to the other — ^yet each had en- 
 tered upon his long professional career with 
 the rare advantage of a " baptism of blood." 
 
 It is because this class of " unknown naval 
 heroes " has had so little recognition in the 
 [31] 
 
OUR UNKNOWN NAVAL HEROES 
 
 annals of our country that the writer feels jus- 
 tified in giving the details of the career of Moses 
 Brown. He was one of the first captains in the 
 United States Navy, and can be taken as a fair 
 type of our " unknown naval heroes." 
 
 It must not be inferred that because these 
 " unknown heroes " did not win great battles 
 or exploit themselves in some manner pleasing 
 to the popular taste that their careers are devoid 
 of interest. On the contrary, from the very 
 nature of sea life, a long professional career is 
 unusually rich in personal adventure, strange 
 experiences in foreign parts and, not infre- 
 quently, replete with episodes of historical 
 importance. 
 
 It is the province of sailors of long profes- 
 sional standing to narrate " true " salt-water 
 yarns, expand on the peculiar situations in 
 which they found themselves at times when 
 aboard, dilate on episodes of international bear- 
 ing and what not — and it is regrettable that 
 so little of this material has been preserved for 
 future reference and confirmation. Many offi- 
 [32] 
 
EVENTFUL LIVES OF SEAMEN 
 cers of the old school kept diaries, logs, personal 
 reminiscences, etc., in which appear records of 
 national importance, as will be seen in the pub- 
 lished journals of the two Trenchards, Rear- 
 Admiral Philip and Moses Brown. 
 
 Like most of the intelligent seamen of his 
 day, Moses Brown kept a diary covering the 
 leading events of his stormy career, besides 
 which there are personal letters written by him 
 in foreign ports and the original log of the 
 Merrimac, containing matter of more than in- 
 dividual interest. It is with this material, to- 
 gether with such side-lights as could be obtained 
 bearing on the subject, that the writer has en- 
 deavored to frame a truthful picture of the life 
 and adventures of one of our " unknown naval 
 heroes " of the eighteenth century. 
 
 [33] 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 NEWBURYPORT 
 
 OUAINT, old-fashioned, time-honored 
 Newburjport, fondly embraced in a 
 loving arm of the Merrimac River, can 
 boast, probably, of more nautical exploits in the 
 cause of American independence than any other 
 contemporary seaport of the same population. 
 It was off Newbury^ bar that one of the first 
 " mortal blows " at British supremacy in the 
 North American colonies was struck. On the 
 morning of January 15, 1776, a daring party 
 from this place captured a ship laden with 
 eighty-six butts and thirty hogsheads of porter, 
 sixteen hogsheads of sauerkraut, and twenty- 
 three live hogs — destined for the British troops 
 in Boston. 
 
 Trivial as this statement may appear to the 
 casual reader, it was full of deadly portent to 
 [34] 
 
FIRST " MORTAL BLOW " 
 
 the English commander-in-chief in America. 
 He well knew that " A soldier cannot fight on an 
 empty stomach " — and what was the doughty 
 British redcoat without his porter and cheese, or 
 the valiant Hessian deprived of his sauerkraut 
 and pigs' knuckles ? It may not be irrelevant to 
 remark that sixty-two days after this important 
 seizure — the British evacuated Boston. 
 
 The style in which this capture was made is 
 worthy of all the traditions of New England 
 shrewdness. The first prize brought into New- 
 buryport in the war for independence was the 
 brig Sukey, Captain Engs, from Ireland, bound 
 for Boston. She was taken by the privateer 
 Washington, and was carried into Newburyport, 
 Monday, January 15, 1776. 
 
 Scarcely had the Sukey been made secure when 
 another British ship was espied off Newbury bar. 
 As she tacked off and on, showing English colors 
 — the wind being easterly, with every appear- 
 ance of a real old-fashioned New England snow- 
 storm coming on — the shrewd people of New- 
 buryport concluded that she had mistaken Ips- 
 [35] 
 
NEWBURYPORT 
 
 wich Bay for that of Boston. By putting 
 " two and two together," they decided that it 
 would be a good idea to visit her " in a purely 
 sociable manner." 
 
 On a call for volunteers, seventeen men re- 
 sponded and, electing Offin Boardman their 
 commander, proceeded to sea in three whale- 
 boats — taking care to approach the stranger in 
 as inoffensive a manner as New England pru- 
 dence might dictate. On coming to close quar- 
 ters, the adventurers were satisfied that they 
 were right in their conjectures as to the ship 
 being laden with provisions for the British army 
 and had mistaken this port for that of the Hub. 
 
 Without the slightest sign of hostility, the 
 boats moved within speaking distance and in- 
 quired from whence the ship hailed and whither 
 bound. The answer was: 
 
 " The Friends, from London — ^bound to Bos- 
 ton. Where are you from and what land is 
 this?" 
 
 With true Down-East nerve, Boardman an- 
 swered : 
 
 [36] 
 

 HAVSRHjy-'^ 
 
 /3AUSWJRV BEACH 
 
 
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 ^: 
 
 ^F" 
 
 r 
 
 
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 r^ y\ 
 
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 ^"^J ^^PEAWH 2 
 
 A- 
 
 
 Lyi-JhO^CESTER -j 
 
 A, 
 
 <^>:>-^ 
 
 ^^y^r ^ 
 
 •~ 
 
 k] 
 
 ^ALILM 
 
 o 
 
 (n < 
 
 ^^AT^ 
 
 
 
 D 
 
 |r 
 
 
 
 
 
 A MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 o 
 
 t\J ^ B08T0M 
 \ (^ HABB0J4 
 
 BAY 
 
 Pi 
 
 > 
 
 < 
 
 ^ •'C^T. ALLERTON 
 
 2 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 L 
 
 NEY/BURYPORT 
 
 % 
 
 
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 AND 
 
 ITS 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 YICIMITY 1 
 
NEWBURYPORT 
 
 " We are from Boston. Do you want a 
 pilot?" 
 
 Being answered in the affirmative, Boardman 
 told them to heave-to and he would come on 
 board. The British skipper, Captain Archibald 
 Bowie, was only too willing to comply, as he 
 had a leeward shore and there was every sign of 
 a nasty night coming on. Boardman guided his 
 boat alongside to the rope ladder which was 
 lowered for him and passed up — unarmed. 
 
 Gaining the deck, the American shook hands 
 with Archibald and with that molasses-like suav- 
 ity which never fails your true-blue Yankee in 
 an emergency — asked after his health, that of 
 the crew, how the passage had been, the news 
 from London and all other such pleasantries a 
 pilot, with a six-guinea fee in view, might be 
 expected to indulge in. 
 
 Intentionally, Boardman had completely en- 
 gaged the attention of the sturdy British mas- 
 ter so that the latter did not notice the sixteen 
 other " pilots " — who had hastened on board, 
 fully armed, directly after their leader — until 
 [38] 
 
A LEADER IN PRIVATEERING 
 
 they had drawn themselves at " parade arms " 
 across the deck ; the British crew being forward 
 and their officers aft. 
 
 Boardman now dropped his pleasant, fee- 
 seeking blandishments and, to the astonishment 
 of the Englishman, ordered the colors to be 
 struck. The worthy skipper was too dumb- 
 founded to obey but told his mate to perform 
 that unpleasant task — ^incidentally suggesting 
 that he " supposed the ship and her cargo now 
 belonged to her captors but, at the same time, 
 he hoped that neither he nor his crew would 
 receive any personal injury." Evidently, the 
 Briton's mind had been perturbed by the wild 
 "Indian," "single -eye" and cold-blooded 
 "massacre" stories that were so prevalent in 
 England at this time. 
 
 On taking possession of their prize, the 
 Americans found that she carried four carriage- 
 guns, a crew of about fourteen men and was 
 laden with fifty-two chaldrons of coals, eighty- 
 six butts and thirty hogsheads of porter (the 
 cheese must have been in the Suhey), twenty 
 [39] 
 
NEWBURYPORT 
 
 hogsheads of vinegar, sixteen hogsheads of 
 sauerkraut and twenty-three hve hogs. With 
 a fair tide and wind the captors brought the 
 Friends to the wharf at Newburyport within 
 six hours from the beginning of their ven- 
 ture. 
 
 But aside from this distinction of having 
 struck the first " mortal blow at British su- 
 premacy in the North American colonies," New- 
 buryport has the unquestioned honor of having 
 sent out more privateers to harass English 
 commerce in the Revolution than any other of 
 our seaports — excepting, perhaps, Salem. Pri- 
 vateering in those days had not been raised to 
 the high plane of " commerce destroying " of 
 the nineteenth century and it is with some in- 
 terest that we note the wording of the act under 
 which these first private-armed cruisers were 
 authorized to do evil unto others. 
 
 In November, 1775, the Provisional Leg- 
 islature passed a resolution entitled : " An Act 
 for Encouraging the Fixing out of Armed Ves- 
 sels to defend the Sea Coast of America," etc. 
 [40] 
 
MOSES BROWN'S ANCESTRY 
 
 This " Fixing out " resulted most disastrously 
 for British mercantile interests and most prof- 
 itably for the solid merchants of Newburyport. 
 About ninety private-armed vessels were " fixed 
 out " from Newburyport alone. 
 
 Among the most daring and successful of 
 these privateersmen was Moses Brown — a typi- 
 cal New England seaman of those stirring times, 
 a man bom for the water, a man who died on 
 and was buried in, water ; and whose life has not 
 been inaptly described as a " single, continuous, 
 uninterrupted voyage." 
 
 He was of English ancestry, his line being 
 traced back to Edward Browne, of Innbarrow, 
 Worcestershire, England, whose son Nicholas 
 in 1630 married in Lynn, Mass. The first four 
 generations in America had a final " e " to the 
 family name, but the fifth and sixth — Moses 
 Brown being in the sixth — dropped it. Moses 
 Brown's father was Edward Brown, who had 
 been a captain in the French war and from 
 whom Moses inherited his fine military instincts ; 
 and from his mother, Dorothy Pike, he received 
 [41] 
 
NEWBURYPORT 
 
 those deep, quiet, unassuming religious traits 
 which so strongly marked his character. 
 
 Moses Brown was born January 23, 1742, 
 in that part of Salisbury, Mass., known as 
 Ring's Island, near the Old Ferry Landing, 
 where the river opens into the sea ; and possibly 
 his first " vo^^age " was in the old ferryboat. 
 
 Throughout his adventurous life he carried 
 with him the highest ideals of morality. One 
 of the officers who served under him in the 
 United States sloop-of-war Merrimac, Midship- 
 man Ben j amin Whitmore, says : " Captain 
 Brown was a brave man and a good disciplina- 
 rian. He exhibited much good feeling for the 
 crew under his charge and was much respected 
 by all his subordinates." He was exceedingly 
 averse to the then common punishment of flog- 
 ging in the navy and never, except when it was 
 absolutely unavoidable from the emergency of 
 the case, resorted to it. 
 
 He was equally remarkable for his efforts to 
 inculcate temperate habits among his men ; and 
 the perfect neatness and order of his ship were 
 [42] 
 
HIS FIRST OF MANY VOYAGES 
 
 subject of common remark. At one time, in a 
 foreign port, meeting another person bearing 
 his own name, it became customary among the 
 people to distinguish between them by calHng 
 Moses Brown, " Gentleman Brown." 
 
 Educational facilities being somewhat prim- 
 itive at that period, Moses Brown, following 
 the custom of the day, was bound out at the 
 age of fifteen years as apprentice to Captain 
 William Coffin, of whom Moses always spoke in 
 terms of highest respect. According to the 
 conditions of an apprentice's indenture in those 
 days, all his earnings went to the master. 
 Young Brown sailed on the first of his many 
 voyages in October, 1757, in the sloop Swallow 
 for Halifax, returning in November. In the 
 following year, 1758, he made two voyages, 
 one to the West Indies, in the same sloop, re- 
 turning in June, and another, in the sloop 
 Ranger, Captain Joseph Ingersol, to Louis- 
 burgh. 
 
 At that time Louisburgh was besieged by 
 the English, and Moses got his first taste of 
 [43] 
 
NEWBURYPORT 
 war. He says : " I tarried there some months 
 till its surrender to the British army and then 
 returned home in the schooner Neptune, Cap- 
 tain Lufsinson, in November." 
 
 That young Brown had rapidly risen in the 
 estimation of his master is shown by the fact 
 that, in the following year, Captain Coffin in- 
 trusted him with the sale of his schooner, the 
 Sea Flower, in the West Indies. Coffin sailed 
 from Newburyport in February, 1759, for St. 
 Kitts, where the Sea Flower was sold. Brown 
 taking her to St. Eustatius, discharging her 
 cargo and, after delivering her up to her new 
 owners, taking passage to St. Kitts (St. Chris- 
 topher) and from thence in the schooner Nep- 
 tune, Captain Staples, to Newburyport, where 
 he arrived in May. 
 
 That Brown's career may well be termed 
 " But a single, continuous, uninterrupted voy- 
 age " is emphasized by the fact that he made 
 three more voyages before the close of this year, 
 all of them to Halifax, returning to his home in 
 Newburyport January 1, 1760. 
 [44] 
 
WHAT APPRENTICESHIP MEANT 
 
 Early in 1760, having been promoted to the 
 rank of mate, he sailed in the Sea Nymph for 
 St. Kitts, where the vessel was sold. Going to 
 Nevis, he records that " We bought a sloop in 
 which I came home to Newburyport with Cap- 
 tain Nathaniel Green. In July I sailed in the 
 sloop Ranger for Boston and Louisburgh, and 
 returned in twenty days ; repeated the same trip 
 in August. October 12th, I shipped aboard a 
 schooner under Captain Edward Williams as 
 mate for Quebec, which voyage was completed 
 in seven weeks and returned to Newburyport." 
 
 To those young men of the twentieth cen- 
 tury who think their lot, in starting in busi- 
 ness, is a hard one, it will be a consolation (per- 
 haps) to read the following Indenture by 
 which many of their forefathers were bound out 
 in servitude. We have not the original instru- 
 ment with which Moses Brown was apprenticed 
 but we have a copy of the regular formula used 
 in those days, in this style of legal procedure 
 and it, undoubtedly, covers the salient features 
 of Moses Brown's apprenticeship. The orig- 
 [45] 
 
NEWBURYPORT 
 
 inal is in the possession of Charles Wellesley 
 Allen, of Brooklyn, N. Y., to whom the writer 
 is indebted for the following copy: 
 
 SMS 'gnAl^ntnXZf WITNESSETH, That John 
 Goedersoon, now aged fourteen years, eight months and 
 twenty-seven days, by and with the consent of his step- 
 father, John Wright, and his mother, Mary Wright, hath 
 put himself and, by these presents, doth voluntarily and 
 of his own free will and accord, put himself Apprentice 
 to Frederick Seely of the City of New York, Cord- 
 wainer [old-fashioned name for shoemaker], and after 
 the manner of an Apprentice to serve from the day of 
 the date hereof for and during, and until the full end 
 and term of six years, three months and three days next 
 ensuing; during all which time the said Apprentice his 
 master faithfully shall serve, his secrets keep, his com- 
 mands everywhere readily obey. 
 
 He shall do no damage to his said Master nor see 
 it done by others, without letting or giving notice thereof 
 to his said Master. He shall not waste his said Master's 
 goods nor lend unlawfully to any. He shall not con- 
 tract matrimony within the said term; at Cards, Dice or 
 any unlawful game he shall not play, whereby his Master 
 may have damages. With his own goods nor the goods 
 of others, without license from his said Master .... 
 He shall neither buy nor sell. He shall not absent him- 
 self, day nor night, from his said master's service with- 
 out leave nor haunt ale-houses, taverns or play-houses; 
 but in all things behave as a faithful Apprentice ought 
 to do, during the said term. 
 
 [46] 
 
BOUND OUT IN SERVITUDE 
 
 And the said Master shall use the utmost of his 
 endeavors to teach, or cause to be taught or instructed, 
 the said Apprentice in the trade, or mystery, of a Cord- 
 wainer [shoemaker] and procure and provide for him 
 sufficient meat, drink, washing, lodging and clothing 
 fit for an apprentice, during the said term of service 
 and four quarters of night schooling during the said 
 term. 
 
 And for the true performance of all and singular 
 the Covenants and Agreements aforesaid, the said parties 
 bind themselves each unto the other firmly by these 
 presents. IN WITNESS WHEREOF the said parties 
 have interchangeably set their hands and seals hereunto. 
 Dated the sixth day of August, in the thirty-fifth year of 
 the Independence of the United States of America and 
 in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and eleven. 
 Sealed and delivered in 
 the presence of 
 l. cowdrey 
 
 Frederick Seely 
 John Goedersoon 
 Maria Wright 
 Jahan Wright. 
 
 [47] 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HIS FIRST SEA FIGHT 
 
 IT was In the year 1761, when he was in 
 his nineteenth year, that Moses Brown ex- 
 perienced the first of his many sea fights. 
 He records that he " Passed a very agreeable 
 winter (1760-1761) at home, taking care of 
 and rigging the schooner Phoebe, in which I 
 sailed in March, 1761, with Captain James 
 Robinson in His Majesty's service for Halifax." 
 England, at this time, was assembling a fleet 
 with which to attack French possessions in the 
 West Indies and it was to this expedition that 
 Brown now found himself attached. 
 
 The account of his adventures — which so 
 nearly resulted in his death — is given as follows : 
 " The fleet having sailed for New York, was 
 immediately watered by the king's ships lying 
 there and was ordered to follow them, which 
 [48] 
 
BATTLE WITH FRENCH PRIVATEERS 
 
 we did. On our arrival at New York we found 
 the fleet lying in the Narrows. We went to the 
 city, took in our wood and provisions and re- 
 turned to the fleet ; taking on board a company 
 of Highlanders belonging to Eraser's regiment 
 and sailed on the third of April for the West 
 Indies." 
 
 Soon after leaving port the great fleet was 
 overtaken by a violent gale, in which the little 
 Phoebe became separated and continued on her 
 passage alone. While in this precarious con- 
 dition she fell in with two French privateers 
 and, notwithstanding the odds against her. 
 Captain Robinson began an action. Unfor- 
 tunately, Brown does not give us the details 
 of this fight further than to say that " Captain 
 Robinson, our lieutenant and myself were 
 wounded, besides several others ; and seven of 
 the crew were killed." Brown's injury was 
 caused by a musket shot in his arm above the 
 elbow. 
 
 Evidently the Phoehe managed to beat off^ 
 her antagonists, for Brown records : " Two days 
 [49] 
 
HIS FIRST SEA FIGHT 
 
 after we arrived at Guadeloupe I went into 
 the hospital and remained there two months." 
 Guadeloupe was captured from the French, 
 April 27, 1759, by the Enghsh, and it remained 
 a British possession until 176B. Meantime, the 
 great fleet had captured Dominica and arrived 
 at Pointe Petre " where, in September, I got on 
 board again, my wound being healed," and soon 
 returned home. 
 
 But Brown was not permitted to remain idle 
 for he had not been in Newburyport more than 
 a few days when, in October, he sailed for An- 
 tigua, " where we spent some time and then 
 took troops for the capture of Martinique and 
 were ordered to Barbadoes to join the fleet." 
 But in beating against the wind, in her en- 
 deavor to carry out this order, the Phoehe 
 sprung her mainmast and, on being towed into 
 Basseterre, St. Kitts, was discharged from 
 Government service as unfit for duty. 
 
 After lying idle at this place some time, the 
 Phoehe, in December, went to St. Eustatius 
 and on the third of February, 1762, sailed for 
 [50] 
 
SCENE OF SOME OF 
 
 MOSEa BROWN'3 
 EARX^Y VOVAGE5 
 
HIS FIRST SEA FIGHT 
 
 home. But ill luck still clung to the unfortu- 
 nate Phoehe, for Brown writes : " After beating 
 on the coast [of New England] for some time 
 and provisions being scant, we put off and ar- 
 rived in St. Kitts in April [nearly two months 
 after leaving St. Eustatius for their homeward 
 passage] where we careened and refitted the 
 vessel and took a freight of rum for Ports- 
 mouth. Sailed on the 6th of June and in the 
 same month arrived in Newburyport after a 
 tedious voyage of sixteen months." 
 
 The " tedious voyage of sixteen months," 
 however, did not prevent Brown from again 
 getting on his favorite element for, in the same 
 month of his return home, June, he again sailed 
 in the Phoebe with Captain Lowell for Antigua 
 where the cargo was sold and she proceeded to 
 St. Martin. At this place they loaded with 
 salt and sailed for home, arriving at Newbury- 
 port in December. 
 
 It was in June, 1763, that Moses Brown 
 completed his apprenticeship but there being 
 " little business during the winter I tarried at 
 [52] 
 
SMUGGLING 
 
 home." In April, however, he shipped with his 
 old master, Captain Coffin, in the Phoebe. 
 " Went eastward and loaded for the West 
 Indies, and returned home from Guadeloupe in 
 December." 
 
 About this time (1764) British revenue cut- 
 ters were unusually vigilant — and, in many 
 cases, were unnecessarily harsh — in checking a 
 smuggling trade that had sprung up along 
 the coast. Believing that the taxes imposed 
 upon them by the mother country were unjust, 
 the spirited colonists saw no wrong in running 
 in their cargoes, whenever they could, without 
 paying the duty. Brown, like most of his pro- 
 fession, felt no scruple in evading these taxes 
 for he records : " In March, 1764, sailed again 
 in the Phoebe for Guadeloupe and arrived in 
 Newburyport in July. Smuggled our cargo 
 and went to the eastward for a load of wood 
 and returned again in August." 
 
 One of Moses Brown's characteristics was his 
 fondness for children. It is said of him that 
 frequently he would go with them in their ex- 
 [53] 
 
HIS FIRST SEA FIGHT 
 
 cursions on water ; and at his Thanksgiving fes- 
 tival would have a lot of them at his table in 
 preference to any other company. 
 
 This trait is clearly brought out in a letter 
 Brown wrote while in command of the United 
 States sloop-of-war Merrimac in our naval war 
 with France. It was written to the wife of his 
 son William, the spelling and punctuation 
 being as near the original as possible: 
 
 Merrimack at sea. febuary ye 1799 
 
 My dear Chil^ this will serve to inform you I am 
 well hope this will find you and all our family conections 
 the Same my crew in generall are healthy. I have come 
 from Martin (i) CO through the islands to St. Thomases 
 with a convoy of fifty Sail some of which I left at St. 
 cruz and St. Thomases which last place I left with forty- 
 two sail bound to diflfnt parts of America you may 
 
 think there is an honnor in this business but there is 
 
 more Trouble to keep them together on leaving my 
 
 convoy I shall Return to my Station to windward as my 
 Ship Sails fast — I donte expect much Idle bread I 
 have been but four days at a time in port since my 
 Arival at ye Rendzvous— my kind Regards to all 
 fri(e)nds and am yr Affec father 
 
 M. Browk 
 My blessing on yr little pratlers 
 tell them Granpah hante forgot them. 
 [54] 
 
NEARLY BURIED ALIVE 
 
 Moses had now entered upon his twenty-third 
 year and, having accumulated a moderate sum 
 of money, he married Sarah Coffin of Newbury- 
 port, September 6, 1764. After a honeymoon 
 of one week he sailed in the sloop Merrimac^ 
 Captain William Friend, for Antigua. The 
 round voyage was completed in eight weeks 
 and returning to Newburyport he spent the 
 winter with his wife and friends. In April, 
 
 1765, he sailed for Martinique, again under 
 Captain Friend, and returned to Newburyport 
 in September. It was in the following voyage, 
 begun in December, that Moses Brown came as 
 near entering Davy Jones' locker as any man 
 ever did — and return alive. 
 
 On his passage home from Martinique, April, 
 
 1766, he was taken with the smallpox. The 
 disease made such rapid progress that when he 
 was several days from home the patient was 
 pronounced dead. His body was sewed can- 
 vas, heavy shot were attached to his feet so as 
 to insure sinking and the body was placed on 
 a board which protruded out of a gun port 
 
 [55] 
 
HIS FIRST SEA FIGHT 
 
 ready to slide its freight into the sea. A crude 
 burial service was read over the remains and the 
 word had been given to uplift the inboard end 
 of the plank when Captain Friend thought he 
 detected signs of life through the coarse cover- 
 ing. He shouted out: 
 
 " Belay there, my lads ! That man is not 
 dead!" 
 
 Hastily cutting open the canvas they were 
 soon convinced that Brown was not dead and, 
 taking him to his berth, they nursed him back 
 to health. 
 
 Nothing daunted by this " close call," Moses 
 continued his voyages to various parts of the 
 West Indies, with an occasional run up to Hali- 
 fax for coal. Early in 1768 he had a decidedly 
 unpleasant experience in his ill-starred craft 
 — the Phoehe. He had loaded with fish and 
 had sailed for the West Indies, February, 1768, 
 and when some days out his vessel sprang aleak, 
 so that he was obliged to cut open his hogs- 
 heads and throw the fish into the sea; there 
 being six feet of water in the hold. With diffi- 
 [56] 
 
FOUNDERING AT SEA 
 
 culty he managed to reach Nevis and returned 
 to Newburyport with a whole skin. 
 
 From this time on, until the beginning of 
 hostilities with the mother country, his venture- 
 some voyages were made with varying success, 
 mostly to the West Indies. Under date of 
 January, 1772, he notes : " Sailed again for 
 Port au Prince. On the passage I lost my 
 bowsprit and eleven horses. Arrived at Port 
 au Prince and found the port closed against 
 the English. Entered in distress and after the 
 usual ceremonies got permission to sell my 
 cargo, which I did and took in a cargo of 
 molasses and returned home. 
 
 " My owner's son choosing to go in the vessel, 
 I quit and tarried at home three months. In 
 September I sailed in the brig Martha for the 
 West Indies and returned in December. Got 
 ready for sea again but was taken sick with 
 measles — the brig went and left me." 
 
 It was in September, 1773, that Moses Brown 
 sailed on a voyage that — like many others — 
 came near being his last. While on the pas- 
 [57] 
 
HIS FIRST SEA FIGHT 
 
 sage from St. Eustatius his craft sprang aleak 
 and took in such large quantities of water that 
 in half an hour she sank. Captain Brown had 
 scarcely time in which to lower a boat and save 
 himself and men. For seven days the frail shell 
 was tossed about on the vast expanse of the 
 Atlantic ; the men having left the ship so hastily 
 that they did not get an adequate supply of 
 provisions. When reduced almost to the last 
 extremity they were picked up by the schooner 
 Policy Captain Andrew May, from Philadel- 
 phia. The castaways were landed at St. Cruz 
 from which place Brown took passage in a 
 sloop for Rhode Island, arriving at Martha's 
 Vineyard in December. From this place he 
 proceeded in the brig Marigold, Captain Jona- 
 than Parsons, on the passage to Newburyport 
 " but, being cast away on Saquash Beach, I 
 took my land tacks and arrived at home Janu- 
 ary 2, 1774, after an absence of fifteen 
 months." 
 
 [68] 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 FROM the foregoing sketch of the early 
 career of Moses Brown it will be seen 
 that his preparation for the high and 
 responsible duties of commander in a war-ship 
 had been thorough and practical — if not aca- 
 demic. 
 
 At the time hostilities broke out between the 
 American colonies and the mother country 
 Moses Brown found himself on the other side of 
 the Atlantic, and in a peculiarly dangerous 
 position. The style in which he extricated him- 
 self from impending danger is worthy of the 
 best traditions of John Paul Jones and Gus- 
 tavus Conyingham — his contemporaries. 
 
 In order to appreciate fully the situation 
 we must go back a year or so to November 18, 
 1774, when he sailed for various ports in the 
 [59] 
 
IN THE LION'S DEN 
 
 West Indies. On this venture he disposed of 
 his cargo with very poor success. He had now 
 visited nearly every sea mart on this side of the 
 Atlantic and determined to try his luck — and 
 at the same time gratify a natural desire to see 
 more of the world — on the other side of the 
 ocean. Accordingly he sailed for North Caro- 
 lina, loaded with pipe-staves (staves for a wine 
 barrel usually containing two casks), made his 
 way to Cadiz, where he sold his cargo, and took 
 on a freight of flour. From that port he went 
 to " Matro, where I landed the flour and took 
 ballast and returned to Cadiz." 
 
 Not finding a second freight at this place he 
 purchased a load of salt and went to Falmouth, 
 England, arriving there October, 1775 ; six 
 months after the action at Lexington and four 
 months after the battle of Bunker Hill. For- 
 tunate it was for Moses that news traveled 
 slowly in those days. Disposing of his cargo 
 at this place he chartered his vessel to some 
 British merchants to load with pilchards (a 
 fish slightly larger than the herring) for Venice. 
 [60] 
 
scBNE. or 
 
 M0SE5 BR012ZN:3 
 IN THB OI/D "WORLD 
 
 UMERIC 
 FALMOi 
 
 CFINNI5TERRE, 
 
 OPORTi 
 
 3tMICHAEL5 
 
 MADDRA^ois 
 
 CAPEVET2D] 
 ISO. 
 
 LISBOM 
 
IN THE LION'S DEN 
 
 Sailing from Falmouth, November 18th, Brown 
 arrived at Venice in January, 1776, where he 
 delivered his cargo and " spent ten weeks in 
 seeing the shows of the city, it being carnival 
 time and no business done." 
 
 While Brown was thus innocently enjoying 
 some of the pleasures of Hfe, Parliament en- 
 acted that all American property found on the 
 high seas should be seized and condemned for 
 the benefit of the British exchequer. Appa- 
 rently, this was the first intimation Captain 
 Brown had had of the seriousness of the rupture 
 between the American colonies and the mother 
 country. He had visited Falmouth and Venice 
 without attempting to conceal his identity and 
 now he was suddenly aroused from his dream 
 of pleasure to find the hungry, wolfish 
 eyes of rival carriers fixed upon his cozy 
 brig. 
 
 As must have been apparent to the intelli- 
 gent reader of the preceding pages, Moses 
 Brown was not an ordinary man. He pos- 
 sessed, to a large degree, Yankee " resourceful- 
 [62] 
 
LEAPING OUT OF A TRAP 
 
 ness " ; added to which was a share of audacity 
 which enabled him to leap out of the trap in 
 which he so suddenly found himself. It was 
 not his nature to dodge peril. Ordinarily we 
 might have expected that he would have wiggled 
 his craft out of the harbor of Venice under 
 cover of night or by some other subterfuge and 
 then have taken his chances of making his way 
 safely to some American port. 
 
 This, however, was not after the style of 
 Moses Brown. He boldly faced the peril and 
 took the bull by the horns. Making a sham 
 sale of his vessel he chartered her to load with 
 currants at Zante and Cephalonia for London; 
 actually arriving at the last port in July, 1776 
 — four months after the British had been driven 
 out of Boston and a month after the Americans 
 had repulsed Sir Peter Parker's fleet with such 
 disastrous losses to the enemy at Charleston, 
 S. C! 
 
 Captain Brown, of course, learned of these 
 momentous events while his tight little New 
 England craft was snugly moored in the 
 [63] 
 
IN THE LION'S DEN 
 
 Thames but, so far was he from being per- 
 turbed or alarmed, he records : " After deliver- 
 ing my freight I sold my brig for eight hundred 
 pounds and spent two months in seeing the 
 fashions of London " ! 
 
 Having enjoyed his good English money to 
 the extent of his desire, Brown took passage in 
 the brig Norton for St. Eustatius from which 
 place he proceeded to Philadelphia in a pilot 
 boat commanded by George May — ^brother to 
 Andrew May, who had rescued Brown and his 
 crew from a watery grave when his ill-fated 
 craft foundered at sea three years before. 
 Captain Brown now learned, for the first time, 
 that his kind rescuer, Andrew May, had ven- 
 tured on another voyage and had not since been 
 heard from. 
 
 After a brief stay in Philadelphia Brown 
 purchased a horse and sulky and set out on a 
 " land cruise," bound for New York. This 
 short run of only ninety miles proved to be one 
 of the most exciting and perilous voyages the 
 weather-beaten mariner had yet made. He had 
 [64] 
 
A " PERILOUS " LAND VOYAGE 
 traveled thousands and thousands of miles over 
 the sea but never before had made formal com- 
 plaint about " roads being bad," though we 
 know that at times he found the waves 
 exceeding rough, not to say " topsy- 
 turvy." 
 
 But it is ever different with an old salt when 
 on land. Then your true-blooded sailor " lets 
 himself loose." He feels that he has a right 
 to find all the fault he desires and on this occa- 
 sion Moses exercised his privilege to the fullest 
 limit. He could steer his ship over mountain- 
 like waves, in the heaviest gales, on the darkest 
 night, with unerring accuracy and with un- 
 ruffled temper. But with this kind of a land 
 craft — a mere horse and sulky — he had no end 
 of fault to find. " The roads," he declared, 
 " were very bad." When Brown put his helm 
 hard to port the obstinate nag persisted in 
 taking the wrong direction. When Brown 
 crowded on all sail for a quick run over a clear 
 waste of land, the animal would gather stem- 
 board. When the exasperated sailor trimmed 
 [65] 
 
IN THE LION'S DEN 
 
 his yards to catch a spanking breeze, ten points 
 off the quarter, the beast would go off on the 
 opposite leg. 
 
 Brown does not say so in his diary but we 
 can easily infer that the doughty sea-captain 
 lost his temper with such unseaman-like tactics. 
 The result was that the horse took matters in 
 his own hoofs, kicked in the dashboard, cap- 
 sized the sulky and threw Moses out with such 
 force as to dislocate his right shoulder. Brown 
 fails to record how he eventually reached home 
 but he does say that this " land passage " from 
 Philadelphia to Newburyport took seventeen 
 days, he rejoining his family, December 21, 
 1776, in good time for Christmas, having 
 been absent two years, one month and three 
 days. 
 
 As Mr. Samuel Swett, in his sketch of 
 Brown's life, observed, after noting his mishap 
 with the nag : " And no doubt Captain Brown 
 arrived at the same conclusion that an hon- 
 est seaman did, who happened to be caught 
 on shore at Edinburgh in a gale ; and when the 
 [66] 
 
A SAILOR'S SOLILOQUY 
 
 tiles from the lofty roofs were rattling about 
 his head, exclaimed, ' What a fool a man is 
 to stay on shore in a storm, when he might go 
 to sea and be safe.' " 
 
 [67] 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 FIRST COMMAND OF A WAR-SHIP 
 
 /4 T the beginning of our struggle for inde- 
 /—% pendence the New England colonies were 
 especially active in fitting out armed 
 craft for the avowed purpose of preying on 
 British commerce. Continental Congress at 
 Philadelphia, early in the war, authorized the 
 capture of English vessels and property wher- 
 ever found on the high seas. Colonial legis- 
 latures, on their own responsibility, took steps 
 in the same direction while Washington him- 
 self, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of 
 the American Army, issued commissions for 
 several armed vessels, owned by Massachusetts, 
 with a view to intercepting military supplies for 
 the British at Boston and Quebec. 
 
 So successful were some of these ventures, 
 in the first eighteen months of the war, that 
 [68] 
 
FORMIDABLE PRIVATEERS 
 
 nearly a regiment of British soldiers was cap- 
 tured on the high seas and a large quantity 
 of war-like stores were diverted from their orig- 
 inal destination to the use of the rebelling 
 colonists. 
 
 At first the Americans sent out only small 
 craft — any merchantman that could be hastily 
 armed and fitted to attack the enemy. But as 
 the war progressed a number of private ves- 
 sels, especially adapted for the purpose, mount- 
 ing from twenty to thirty guns and manned by 
 crews numbering from one hundred to two hun- 
 dred men — veritable corvets — were built and 
 commissioned. In some instances these power- 
 ful ships made successful attacks on the regular 
 cruisers of the royal navy. 
 
 A number of these war-ships were named 
 after the leading American generals, such as 
 the General Arnold, General Hancock, General 
 Mercer, General Mifflin, General Montgomery, 
 General Pickering, General Putnam and Gen- 
 eral Washington. The General Arnold be- 
 longed to Newburyport, from which place she 
 [69] 
 
FIRST COMMAND OF A WAR-SHIP 
 
 was commissioned in 1778. Captain Brown's 
 connection with her in her eventful career is 
 modestly described by the hero in his diary. 
 
 As we have seen, Brown arrived at Newbury- 
 port after his tempestuous " land passage of 
 seventeen days " from Philadelphia, December 
 21, 1776. " Finding our country all in arms, 
 I tarried at home till April, 1777, when I took 
 command of the brig Harmah and sailed for 
 the West Indies. But in forty-eight hours we 
 were captured by the British 32-gun frigate 
 Diamond and, of course, I passed some time 
 aboard a prison ship at Rhode Island." 
 
 How he got out of this confinement Brown 
 does not state but it is inferential that it was 
 by an exchange of prisoners for he says : " In 
 July I returned home. In August I took com- 
 mand of the ship General Arnold, then at Ports- 
 mouth, N. H., for a voyage to Bordeaux." 
 The General Arnold belonged to Nathaniel 
 Tracy of Newburyport. 
 
 Captain Brown's first experiences with this 
 private-armed cruiser were even more discourag- 
 [70] 
 
AN INDUCEMENT TO MUTINY 
 ing than those he had faced in his brief career 
 in the Hannah, His troubles began even be- 
 fore he sailed for he says : " Being ready for 
 sea in November, I discovered that there was a 
 conspiracy among my crew to murder me and 
 all my officers and to take the ship to Halifax." 
 Doubtless, there were British seamen in the 
 General Arnold's complement who, with some of 
 the unconscionable adventurers who were fre- 
 quently found in almost every ship's company 
 in those unsettled times, had conceived the idea 
 of capturing the ship as soon as she cleared 
 port and of turning her over to the enemy. 
 
 This seems the more plausible when we re- 
 member that British naval authorities on the 
 North American station at that time held out 
 special inducements for British sailors — and, 
 in fact, to anyone who would perform the 
 treachery — to rise on officers in American ships 
 and seize the craft — a substantial reward being 
 offered if they carried the prize into a British 
 harbor or turned it over to an English naval 
 force at sea. 
 
 [71] 
 
FIRST COMMAND OF A WAR-SHIP 
 
 Fortunately, Captain Brown detected the 
 plot before it could be carried into execution 
 and, throwing the ringleaders into prison, he 
 sailed the General Arnold to Newburyport 
 where he unloaded her, took off her upper deck 
 and, placing eighteen 6-pounders aboard, fitted 
 her out for a general privateering cruise. 
 These extensive alterations occupied the winter 
 of 1777-1778, so that it was not until in the 
 following summer that she got to sea. 
 
 Of course, the first thing a prudent com- 
 mander in a new war-ship would do was to 
 make sure that his armament was in good con- 
 dition. The eighteen 6-pounders Captain 
 Brown had placed aboard had never been tested, 
 so far as he knew, and with a view to trying 
 them he ordered — soon after leaving port — 
 the battery to be manned. The first gun that 
 was fired burst, killing or wounding all of the 
 officers. 
 
 It is in this disastrous incident that we have 
 an illustration of the affection Captain Brown 
 always managed to inspire in his worthy men 
 [72] 
 
"I'LL DIE DIRECTLY, SIR" 
 
 for himself. The episode is supplied by a man 
 who was in the privateer at the time. One of 
 the persons injured was an Irishman and, be- 
 lieving that his injury was fatal, he called for 
 Captain Brown saying that he wished to speak 
 with him. The Captain went below to see what 
 his request might be when the man said that he 
 knew he was going to die and begged that he 
 might not be " thrown overboard like a dog " 
 but might have prayers read over him. Cap- 
 tain Brown, after failing to inspire him with 
 hope of recovery, assented to his request say- 
 ing: 
 
 " Very well, Pat. I will tell Mr. Blank to 
 read prayers for you." 
 
 It seems that this " Mr. Blank " was not 
 popular with some of the crew and had es- 
 pecially aroused the ire of this Irishman. When 
 Pat heard that this same " Mr. Blank " was 
 to perform the last rites over him, he half rose 
 from his bunk and remarked: 
 
 " No, faith, no ! Then I shall not die ; Mr. 
 Blank shall never read prayers over me ! " 
 [73] 
 
FIRST COMMAND OF A WAR-SHIP 
 
 Realizing that the man was in earnest in the 
 matter, Captain Brown promised that he would 
 read the prayers himself. With a gleam of 
 satisfaction stealing over his honest features, 
 Pat sank back on his rude couch and said: 
 
 "God bless ye. Captain. Then Til die 
 directly." 
 
 After such a disastrous experience with the 
 battery on the first trial, there was nothing to 
 do but to return to Newburyport and test the 
 remaining guns under conditions where an ex- 
 plosion would harm neither the ship nor her 
 people. This, accordingly, was done and, land- 
 ing his armament. Captain Brown " proved " 
 them with the result that four more burst. The 
 remaining guns were then discarded and, secur- 
 ing new ones. Captain Brown, in August, again 
 put to sea. After scouring the ocean for three 
 months, in places where he was most likely to 
 fall in with British merchantmen, he returned 
 to Newburyport in November, 1778, having 
 made only one prize, a brig; and that was re- 
 taken by the enemy before it could reach port. 
 [74] 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 A MONG the papers left by Captain Moses 
 r-^ Brown is an account of an action 
 fought between the United States pri- 
 vateer General Arnold and a British armed ship 
 which seems to have been entirely overlooked in 
 our historical literature and official records. 
 After exhaustive researches the writer has been 
 able to gather sufficient corroborative material 
 from independent sources, not only to clearly 
 establish the fact that such a battle was fought 
 but that the privateer was engaged in another 
 action, of smaller importance, to be sure, but 
 none the less valuable historically and of inter- 
 est to the reading public. 
 
 So far as previously established accounts have 
 gone, it is only known that on January 7, 
 1779, one of the newest and best of our armed 
 [75] 
 
A " WARM BATTLE " 
 craft, the 20-gun brig General Arnold, Captain 
 J. Magee, of Massachusetts, was driven ashore 
 near Plymouth and seventy-five of her comple- 
 ment of one hundred and twenty men perished. 
 This is the only authoritative record we have 
 had of this formidable privateer. It is given in 
 Lieutenant Emmons' " Statistical History of 
 the United States Navy," published in 1850. 
 
 Lieutenant Emmons spent several years^ 
 under the direction of the Navy Department, 
 in gathering all possible data bearing on our 
 early navy, and published a most valuable com- 
 pendium of our maritime career from the earli- 
 est records down to the date of publication. 
 That he was entirely in error in regard to the 
 General Arnold — though his work in general 
 is remarkably accurate — ^is here shown most 
 conclusively. From the data dug up in the 
 Brown papers, and from other reliable sources, 
 the writer is able to give a complete account of 
 the interesting career of this vessel. 
 
 It was in his third cruise in the General 
 Arnold that Captain Brown's perseverance, in 
 [76] 
 
A MODEST REPORT 
 
 the face of appalling difficulties, enabled him 
 to fight a battle that was highly creditable to 
 his professional career and to the pluck and 
 determination of the men under his command. 
 Were we to rely on Captain Brown himself for 
 an account of this brilliant achievement we 
 would be left almost as much in the dark as 
 before but, fortunately, we have several records 
 from English sources and from eye-witnesses 
 which throw a flood of light on these impor- 
 tant sea fights. 
 
 In his diary Captain Brown modestly dis- 
 misses the incident in these few words : " In 
 February [1779] I sailed on a third cruise in 
 the General Arnold. After cruising four 
 months, taking several prizes and fighting 
 some warm battles, I was captured by His 
 Majesty's ship Experiment of fifty guns. Sir 
 James Wallace, commander, June [1779], and 
 was escorted to Madeira, thence to Savannah 
 in Georgia where I had my second degree on 
 board a prison ship." 
 
 The journal of Thomas Greele, who was sail- 
 [77] 
 
A " WARM BATTLE " 
 
 ing-master in the General Arnold, the " narra- 
 tive " of Ignatius Webber, who was prize- 
 master in the same vessel, and a copy of the 
 official report of Captain Thomas Beynon 
 (as published in an English newspaper of the 
 day) who was commander of one of the British 
 ships engaged, have been unearthed and throw 
 some really valuable side-lights on this remark- 
 able cruise which Captain Brown so modestly 
 dismisses with : " taking several prizes and 
 fighting some warm battles." 
 
 Instead of giving these various narratives 
 separately the writer will endeavor to weave a 
 continuous account of the venture in his own 
 words. Thomas Greele gives us our starting 
 point of this cruise when he entered in his jour- 
 nal : " February 25, 1779. Sailed from Cape 
 Ann " and, in the next entry, under date of 
 March 4th, he noted that : " Samuel Dyer, the 
 cook, died." 
 
 Whether or not the early loss of the knight 
 of the ship's galley was taken by the gallant 
 tars in the General Arnold as presaging ill- 
 [78] 
 
HIS HIGHNESS,— THE SEA-COOK 
 
 luck on this venture, we have no means of know- 
 ing. We do know, however, that among sea- 
 men of that day the sea-cook occupied a posi- 
 tion of importance (in the estimation of the 
 ship's company) second only to that held by the 
 commander himself. No landlubber can fully 
 appreciate the tender solicitude true-blue sailors 
 have for the ship's cook. He was a privileged 
 character and could take liberties which no 
 other member of the crew would dare to at- 
 tempt. The officers, and even the captain him- 
 self, were exceedingly deferential to this august 
 person and when the United States cruiser 
 Reprisal foundered at sea, 1777, all hands per- 
 ishing excepting the cook, it was generally re- 
 garded among sailor folk as being another 
 beautiful manifestation of a benign Providence. 
 Singularly enough, in the action between the 
 General Arnold and Nanny y the only person 
 killed was the Nanny* s cook. 
 
 At all events, the death of the General Ar- 
 nold's cook did not check her quest for British 
 gore; but it is somewhat remarkable that, 
 [79] 
 
A " WARM BATTLE " 
 
 shortly after this loss, the brig began to de- 
 velop alarming defects in her spars which, in 
 a large degree, militated against her efficiency 
 in the battle royal which was so soon to follow. 
 On March 11th, seven days after Dyer's death, 
 the mainmast was found to be sprung and two 
 days later the foremast developed the same 
 weakness. 
 
 In spite of these discouragements, Captain 
 Brown continued to push his way over the At- 
 lantic and, at six o'clock Sunday morning, 
 March 28th, sighted land which proved to be 
 St. Michael's of the Western Islands ; distant 
 nine or ten miles, bearing south-southeast. As 
 the weather was a little hazy at the time, it 
 had not been discovered until the ship was quite 
 close inshore and about the same time a large 
 sail was descried in the shadow of St. Mi- 
 chael's which immediately put about and gave 
 chase to the venturesome privateer from the 
 New World. Notwithstanding the fact that 
 his two masts had been sprung — and conse- 
 quently all his spars and rigging in a precari- 
 [80] 
 
AT CLOSE QUARTERS 
 
 ous condition — Captain Brown, after having 
 satisfied himself that the stranger was not a 
 regular man-of-war, allowed her to draw near. 
 " At about ten o'clock," wrote Ignatius 
 Webber, " she hove out English colors, we at 
 the same time showing American. She began to 
 fire bow chase guns. At eleven o'clock we came 
 to a general engagement which continued about 
 four glasses [two hours ; but, according to the 
 account of Sailing-Master Greele, the action 
 lasted " two hours and fifteen minutes "] the 
 General Arnold being the weathermost ship. 
 Captain Brown had determined to bear down 
 and lay her close aboard, notwithstanding the 
 fact that she was greatly superior in force and 
 bulk to the Yankee. We bore down upon her ; 
 she at the same time bore away with several of 
 her guns disabled. She having greatly the ad- 
 vantage in sailing and Captain Brown, per- 
 ceiving that she was going from us, ordered the 
 guns to be well loaded and, rounding-to, gave 
 her the contents of the broadside which raked 
 her fore and aft." 
 
 [81] 
 
A " WARM BATTLE " 
 
 It was here that the springing of the Gen- 
 eral Arnold's masts worked to her detriment 
 for, although her spars and rigging had been 
 badly cut up, Captain Brown was so well satis- 
 fied that he had defeated the enemy that he 
 was anxious to continue the fight. He made 
 every effort to again come within gunshot but 
 was unable to do so, as the comparatively unin- 
 jured state of the stranger's masts and sails 
 enabled her to escape. 
 
 All through the action it seems to have been 
 the Englishman's aim to cripple the General 
 Arnold's rigging while the American gunners 
 devoted most of their attention to the enemy's 
 hull; with the result that, while the Americans 
 had scarcely a man killed or wounded, their 
 rigging had been cut to pieces so they could 
 make little headway in a chase. The English- 
 man suffered heavily in killed and wounded 
 but his spars and rigging were almost intact. 
 
 Shortly afterward Captain Brown learned 
 that his antagonist was the British privateer 
 Gregson, from Liverpool, mounting twenty 12- 
 [82] 
 
A COMPLIMENT 
 
 pounders and manned by one hundred and 
 eighty men — nearly double the force of the 
 General Arnold, which carried only 6-pounders. 
 From an account published in an English news- 
 paper the Americans learned that the Gregson 
 had had her first lieutenant and seventeen men 
 killed and a number wounded. The British 
 commander reported that he had had a battle 
 with " A rebel frigate of thirty-two guns and 
 beat her off." 
 
 It certainly is an unbiased compliment to the 
 efficiency of the General Arnold's gunners that 
 they wielded their battery of 6-pounders 
 against the 12-pounders of their opponent with 
 such effect as to induce the commander of the 
 Gregson to honestly believe that he had been 
 fighting a 32-gun frigate. After the action, 
 the Gregson put into St. Michael's to recu- 
 perate. 
 
 [83] 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 A FORGOTTEN SEA EIGHT 
 
 ON the day following her desperate en- 
 gagement with the privateer Gregson, 
 the General Arnold hovered off St. 
 Michael's at a distance of about nine miles 
 hoping that her antagonist might come out 
 and bring the fight to a finish. But in this 
 Captain Brown was disappointed and, after 
 having repaired his extensive injuries the best 
 he could in the open sea, he resumed his search 
 for British traders. 
 
 On April 4th he had the good fortune to fall 
 in with the valuable English merchant ship 
 William, John Gregory, master, which had re- 
 cently sailed from Gibraltar bound for New 
 York. Placing Samuel Robinson and a prize 
 crew aboard, with directions to make the best 
 of their way to a home port, the ships parted 
 [84] 
 
"GENTLEMEN SAILORS" 
 
 company — the William arriving safely in New- 
 buryport a few weeks later. 
 
 That the discipline of a regular man-of-war 
 was maintained aboard the General Arnold is 
 evidenced by the fact that a part of her crew 
 were especially enlisted as " marines " or soldiers 
 who serve aboard fighting craft to maintain 
 order and to uphold the authority of the officers. 
 Thomas Greele, in his journal under date April 
 7th, notes : " WilHam Johnson, officer of the 
 marines, died." 
 
 In nearly all New England seaports at this 
 time a number of adventure-loving young men 
 — usually of respectable parentage — were to 
 be found who were ready to embark on any 
 devil-daring enterprise that gave promise of 
 excitement and pecuniary remuneration. They 
 were generally known as " gentlemen sailors." 
 As a rule they were proficient in the use of fire- 
 arms, had more or less knowledge of infantry 
 tactics and enlisted as "marines" — perform- 
 ing the customary guard duty while the drudg- 
 ery of ship work was left to those who enlisted 
 [85] 
 
A FORGOTTEN SEA FIGHT 
 
 as sailors. That the General Arnold had a 
 regularly enhsted corps of " marines " aboard 
 is evidence of her excellent arrangement and of 
 the discipline maintained throughout the brig. 
 
 Under the same date Greele notes that 
 " Thomas Brown fell overboard and was 
 drowned " and, five days later, he adds : " Wil- 
 liam Cooper fell overboard — but we got him 
 again." 
 
 On the 19th of April the General Arnold 
 dropped anchor in the harbor of Coruna where 
 she remained, replenishing her ammunition and 
 repairing her damages, until May 19th when 
 she again put to sea. For a month the priva- 
 teer knocked about the broad Atlantic without 
 falling in with anything worth taking but, at 
 six o'clock on the morning of May 20th, with 
 Cape Finisterre bearing southwest distant some 
 twenty-four miles, a sail showed up above the 
 horizon. In a moment all was attention and 
 interest aboard the war craft as she pricked 
 up her ears and prepared to crawl stealthily 
 upon her supposed prey. 
 [86] 
 
AT CLOSE QUARTERS 
 
 It was not long before the swift-sailing 
 American came within observing distance when 
 it was evident that the stranger was an enemy. 
 All doubt on this point was soon dispelled as 
 she, soon afterward, showed English colors 
 and the Americans responded with theirs. The 
 two vessels seemed to be evenly matched and 
 their commanders went through a series of 
 maneuvers with a view to gaining the most 
 advantageous position for beginning the at- 
 tack. After this preliminary " sparring " had 
 lasted a few moments the two ships came to 
 close quarters, the first broadsides being almost 
 simultaneous. 
 
 The Americans resorted to their old tactics 
 of firing into the enemy's hull while the English 
 aimed high and soon played havoc with the 
 privateer's masts, spars and rigging. The 
 accuracy and regularity of American gunnery 
 have seldom been shown to better advantage 
 than in this action. After a struggle lasting 
 about an hour the stranger surrendered but she 
 had been so riddled with shot, close to the water 
 [87] 
 
A FORGOTTEN SEA FIGHT 
 
 line, that she sank in a short time after lower- 
 ing her colors — her crew, numbering fifty-seven 
 men all told, scarcely having time in which to 
 get into their boats. 
 
 She proved to be the English privateer 
 Nanny, of three hundred and fifty tons, com- 
 manded by Thomas Beynon, from Liverpool 
 laden with coal for Oporto. She carried six- 
 teen 9- and 6-pounders. That Captain Beynon 
 had made a heroic defense is attested, not only 
 by the circumstance that his own ship sank in 
 a short time after her surrender but by the 
 fact that he had inflicted irreparable injury on 
 his antagonist. The General Arnold'' s foreyard 
 had been shot away and was on the forecastle, 
 while her mainmast, yards and rigging had 
 been severely damaged. It really seemed fated 
 that Captain Brown was destined to receive 
 little but hard knocks with little remuneration 
 on this cruise. 
 
 Nine days after the action, Captain Brown 
 fell in with a Spanish brig bound for Cadiz and 
 very kindly placed Captain Beynon and two 
 [88] 
 
THE BRITON'S PLUCKY FIGHT 
 
 other prisoners aboard so they could report the 
 engagement to the owners of the Nanny, In 
 his official report of the action dated at Cadiz, 
 June 2, 1779, Beynon gives a manly and 
 graphic account of his misfortune, besides some 
 interesting details of the way the Americans 
 used " fire-pots " or large packages of powder 
 hung at their yard arms which were to be 
 dropped onto the enemy's deck when at close 
 quarters and cause a conflagration. 
 
 Captain Beynon says : " On the 20th of May, 
 when off^ Cape Finisterre, we saw a ship in pur- 
 suit of us and, being resolved to know the weight 
 of her metal before I gave up your property, 
 I prepared to make the best defense I could. 
 Between eight and nine o'clock he came along- 
 side with American colors and three fire-pots 
 out, one at each end of his foreyard arm and 
 one at his jibboom end. He hailed and told 
 me to haul down my colors. I told him to 
 begin and blaze away for I was determined to 
 know his force before I gave up to him. The 
 battle began and lasted two hours, our ships 
 [89] 
 
A FORGOTTEN SEA FIGHT 
 
 being close together, having only room enough 
 to keep clear of each other. 
 
 " Our guns told well on both sides and we 
 were soon left destitute of rigging and sails. 
 As I engaged under topsails and jib we were 
 soon shattered below and aloft. I got the 
 Nanny before the wind and fought an hour 
 that way, one pump going till we had seven 
 feet of water in the hold. I thought it then 
 almost time to give up the battle, as our ship 
 was a long time in recovering her sallies and 
 began to be water-logged. We were so close 
 that I told him I had struck and then hauled 
 down my colors. 
 
 " The privateer [General Arnold^ was in a 
 shattered condition. Her foreyard was shot 
 away and lying on the forecastle; a piece was 
 out of her mainmast so that he could make no 
 sail until it was fished; all her running rigging 
 was entirely gone and a great part of her 
 shrouds and back stays. None of her sails es- 
 caped injury except his mainsail. By the time 
 we were out of the Nanny the water was up to 
 [90] 
 
ONLY THE COOK KILLED 
 
 her lower deck. When Captain Brown heard 
 of the small number of men I had he asked me 
 what I meant by engaging him so long. I 
 told him I was then his prisoner and hoped 
 he would not call me to account for what I had 
 done before I hauled down my colors. He said 
 that he approved of all that I had done and 
 treated my officers and myself like gentlemen 
 and my people as his own. 
 
 " I had only two men wounded — and they 
 with splinters. The cook, I believe, was 
 drowned as he never came on board the priva- 
 teer. Nothing was saved but the ensign and 
 that was full of holes. We received sixty 
 dozen musket shot from their marines, accord- 
 ing to their own account, besides from their 
 tops. The privateer had six men wounded and 
 is the same that fought the Gregson of Liver- 
 pool. I was put aboard a Spanish brig, and 
 arrived at Cadiz." 
 
 [91] 
 
T^ 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A PRISONER OF WAR 
 
 HE audacity of Captain Brown's at- 
 ■ tack on the Nanny is enhanced when 
 it is learned that throughout the 
 battle a fleet of sixty-eight English merchant- 
 men, convoyed by eight ships-of-the-line and 
 several frigates, were in plain sight. Three of 
 the frigates made every effort to come upon 
 the scene of action but, as the wind failed, they 
 were compelled to remain helpless spectators 
 of the drubbing the " impudent " Yankee was 
 giving to their countrymen. 
 
 It was fortunate, indeed, for the General 
 Arnold that lack of wind prevented the frig- 
 ates from coming up with her. As it was. 
 Captain Brown made all haste to repair his 
 shattered spars and, under cover of night, 
 
 [9a] 
 
SIR JAMES WALLACE— GENTLEMAN 
 
 availed himself of a fine breeze and by morn- 
 ing had eluded the clutches of the fleet. 
 
 Resuming his search for prizes, Captain 
 Brown, on the 30th of May, captured the 
 British merchantman George, Captain Willicat, 
 from Newfoundland for Oporto. Ignatius 
 Webber was placed aboard the George with a 
 prize crew and was ordered to Coruna. " About 
 a week afterward," records Webber, " I had the 
 ill luck to be taken by three English cutters 
 from Dover bound on a cruise to the Mediterra- 
 nean. They all went into Oporto with their 
 prize, it being the first they had taken." 
 
 Three days after her capture of the George, 
 the career of the privateer was cut short; she 
 being captured by the 50-gun ship Experiment, 
 Captain Sir James Wallace. It is related that 
 when Captain Brown gained the deck of the 
 Experiment, Sir James asked him if he was the 
 " Captain of that rebel ship." Brown replied : 
 " I was very lately ; you are now," and 
 offered to surrender his sword. Captain Wal- 
 lace refused to receive it, saying: 
 [93] 
 
A PRISONER OF WAR 
 
 " I never take a sword from a brave 
 man." 
 
 Sir James continued to extend every courtesy 
 to his prisoner, treating him more as a guest. 
 Taking Captain Brown into his private cabiuj 
 where he met other officers of the ship, a gen- 
 eral conversation followed (over the traditional 
 " glass of wine " ) upon the affairs of the two 
 countries when Sir James proposed as a toast 
 '• His Majesty, King George the Third." It 
 was rather hard for the doughty Yankee skip- 
 per to accept but he swallowed his wine with- 
 out remark. Sir James now called on Brown 
 for a return toast — thinking, from Brown's 
 silence, that he had acquiesced in the senti- 
 ment and would respond with something of the 
 like. Rising with much dignity and unawed 
 by his position as a prisoner aboard a powerful 
 enemy's war-ship, Captain Brown gave as a 
 toast: 
 
 " His Excellency, General George Washing- 
 ton, the Commander-in-Chief of the American 
 forces ! " 
 
 [94] 
 
A TOAST TO WASHINGTON 
 
 The glass which Sir James had raised to his 
 lips was hastily lowered and, turning fiercely 
 on his prisoner, he asked : 
 
 " Do you mean to insult me, sir, in my own 
 ship, by proposing the name of that arch 
 rebel? " 
 
 " No," replied Captain Brown. " If there 
 was any insult it was in your giving, as a 
 toast, ' George the Third,' which, however, I 
 did not hesitate to drink to, although you must 
 have known it could not be agreeable to me 
 who, at this moment, am a guest though a 
 prisoner." 
 
 Sir James at once perceived that if there had 
 been a breach of etiquette he had led the way 
 and, like the honorable man he was, suppressed 
 his anger and drank to that " arch rebel," 
 Washington ! 
 
 The Experiment escorted her prize to Ma- 
 deira and from that place Sir James carried 
 his prisoner to Savannah where Captain 
 Brown was, for the third time, placed aboard a 
 prison ship. Shortly afterward the Experiment 
 [95] 
 
A PRISONER OF WAR 
 
 was captured by the fleet under Count d'Es- 
 taing. 
 
 In November Brown was released, through an 
 exchange of prisoners, and proceeded to 
 Charleston, S. C, where he took passage in the 
 ship Eustace, Captain Bishop, for Boston. 
 The Eustace had proceeded on this voyage far 
 enough to sight Rhode Island Light when she 
 met a succession of terrific northeast gales 
 which actually blew her all the way to St. 
 Eustatius in the West Indies. In these storms 
 the ship frequently was in danger of founder- 
 ing and, by the time she gained the West Indian 
 port, she had lost fourteen of her original crew 
 of thirty-one men. 
 
 Believing that he could make quicker time 
 home by a different route, Captain Brown took 
 passage from St. Eustatius in the brig Sailor's 
 Delight, Captain David Coats, of Newburyport 
 which vessel, after a fair run, put into Cape 
 Ann Roads where Captain Brown landed, in- 
 tending to make the rest of his way home by 
 land. 
 
 [96] 
 
A " LAND CRUISE " 
 
 Rough as Captain Brown's experiences had 
 been at sea, he seemed fated to receive severer 
 usage whenever he ventured to set foot on terra 
 firma. We remember his stormy " land voy- 
 age " of seventeen days from Philadelphia to 
 Boston, in which he and his horse could not 
 agree — with the result that the gallant captain 
 was thrown and had his shoulder dislocated. 
 On this second " land cruise " Captain Brown 
 again entrusted himself to the tender mercies 
 of a horse — this time on its back. In the course 
 of the " passage " from Cape Ann to New- 
 buryport, the nag stumbled and, falling on 
 Captain Brown, " bruised me very much." 
 
 Captain Brown comments on his arrival at 
 Newburyport as follows: 
 
 " I arrived home after fourteen months, like 
 the Frenchman at St. Eustatius, without money 
 or goods; only one poor heart — and that was 
 broken too." 
 
 [97] 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 PERILOUS TIMES FOR MERCHANTMEN 
 
 WHAT was left of the winter of 1779- 
 1780 was spent by Captain Brown 
 in his cozy home in Newburyport 
 and in April, 1780, he made a voyage in the brig 
 Mercury to Amsterdam and returned in the, 
 then, remarkably short time of four months — 
 and in November he completed the round trip to 
 Cape Fran9ois in seventy days. The voyage to 
 Amsterdam was repeated in 1781 and, in the 
 following year. Brown was placed in command 
 of the splendid privateer Intrepid, owned and 
 fitted out by Nathaniel Tracy of Newburyport, 
 carrying twenty 12-pounders and a complement 
 of one hundred and sixty men and boys. 
 
 Captain Brown's first ofiicer in the Intrepid 
 was Lieutenant Henry Lunt of the United 
 States Navy. Lunt had just returned to his 
 [98] 
 
JOHN PAUL JONES 
 
 home in Newburyport after an absence of four 
 years and seven months in the naval service. He 
 had fought under John Paul Jones in the 
 famous Bonhomme Richard-Serapis battle and 
 was with Jones in the Alliance and Ariel. When 
 Lunt left Philadelphia, in the winter of 1781, 
 for his home he took with him an open letter 
 of recommendation from Captain Jones and the 
 owner of the Intrepid was glad to secure him. 
 
 Soon after the Intrepid sailed, John Paul 
 Jones himself came to Newburyport to inquire 
 after his second lieutenant, Mr. Lunt, wishing to 
 induce him to again enter the navy as a lieu- 
 tenant in the splendid 74-gun ship-of-the-line 
 America^ then nearly completed at Portsmouth. 
 Captain Jones expressed much regret at not 
 finding him. The America, subsequently, was 
 presented to France in compensation for the 74- 
 gun ship Magnifique, which had been lost in 
 Boston harbor. Jones and Lunt were so nearly 
 of the same size that their clothes fitted each 
 other. 
 
 Although so heavily armed and manned, it 
 .LcfC. [99] 
 
PERILOUS TIMES 
 
 was not intended to have the Intrepid go on a 
 general cruise; her mission being to transport 
 a cargo of drjgoods valued at half a million 
 dollars from I'Orient, France, to Baltimore. It 
 was an errand of unusual danger. Cut off 
 from their ordinary supplies from the Old 
 World, the colonists experienced difficulty in 
 securing the ordinary necessities of civilization. 
 Nearly all of our regular cruisers had been cap- 
 tured or destroyed so that the only avenue of 
 communication with the outside world was by 
 means of a few heavily armed, fast-sailing 
 craft which were specially prepared to make 
 quick runs to and from foreign ports. 
 
 The war with England was still on and 
 (though British commerce had been almost 
 swept from the seas) English cruisers were 
 swarming about our ports and coast, eager to 
 intercept and punish the daring seamen who had 
 occasioned them such unprecedented injury. It 
 was Captain Brown's duty to slip through the 
 meshes of network the Admiralty had woven 
 about our coast, elude their swiftest cruisers 
 [100] 
 
WRECKED 
 
 on the high seas, gain the French port and 
 bring the precious cargo to Baltimore in safety. 
 This difficult task was safely accomplished in the 
 summer and fall of 1782, much to the gratifica- 
 tion of the privateer's owners. 
 
 Although the cessation of hostilities between 
 England and the colonists relieved our seamen 
 of much of these exciting war conditions, the 
 times, for several decades afterward, were 
 greatly unsettled. Acts of unwarranted se- 
 verity and absolute outrage on the ocean were 
 frequent so that our mariners were compelled to 
 be almost as much on their guard as when the 
 war was on. Captain Brown discovered this 
 several times, to his sorrow. 
 
 In April, 1783, he carried the Intrepid to 
 Havana, where the vessel was sold, when Brown 
 took passage in a brig for Boston but was 
 wrecked off Cape Lookout, S. C, and nearly; 
 perished. Making his way to Beaufort and 
 thence to New York, he was in time to witness 
 the evacuation of that city by the British. 
 
 Not only on the high seas but in friendly 
 [101] 
 
PERILOUS TIMES 
 
 ports our merchantmen were subjected to un- 
 just proceedings. Early in 1784, Captain 
 Brown navigated the brig Wexford to Limer- 
 ick, Ireland, where she was seized " and kept six 
 months in the law which cost four hundred 
 guineas (over two thousand dollars) with 
 a loss of a part of the cargo." After get- 
 ting clear of the land-sharks, Brown returned 
 to Newburyport via Lisbon. 
 
 In the year 1785, Brown made voyages to 
 the West Indies and two more in the following 
 year. The hardy sailor now planned a more 
 ambitious voyage than any he had yet un- 
 dertaken — India being the goal on which he 
 fixed his eye. He says : " Some change taking 
 place in Mr. Tracy's^ business, I tarried at 
 
 ^ From 1775 to 1783 Nathaniel Tracy was principal 
 owner of one hundred and ten vessels, aggregating over 
 fifteen thousand tons which, with their cargoes, were 
 valued at $2,733,300. Twenty-three of these vessels were 
 letters-of -marque, mounting two hundred and ninety- 
 eight carriage guns, and registering sixteen hundred and 
 eighteen men. Of this one hundred and ten sail but 
 thirteen were left by the end of the war, all the rest 
 having been taken by the enemy or lost. Tracy was also 
 
 [102] 
 
PRIVATEER " HERCULES " 
 
 home until the winter of 1787 when the brig 
 became the property of Mr. John Lane, of Lon- 
 don. He fitted her out for the Isle of France 
 but we stopped at Senegal and found the garri- 
 son in want of provisions. We sold our cargo 
 and went to Buena Vista and loaded with salt 
 and returned to Boston where I quit her and 
 returned to Newburyport in September, to take 
 charge of the ship Hercules, then in the stocks 
 belonging to the same owner. 
 
 " In October we launched her and in Janu- 
 
 the principal owner of twenty- four cruising (privateers) 
 sHips, the combined tonnage of which was over six 
 thousand, carrying three hundred and forty guns, 6-, 
 9- and 12-pounders, and navigated by twenty-eight 
 hundred men. " When it is considered that these were 
 in addition to the letters-of -marque, it exhibits Mr. 
 Tracy as a naval, rather than a merchant, prince." 
 
 But of these twenty-four cruisers, only one remained 
 at the close of the war. Nevertheless they had not been 
 idle, nor were they ignobly surrendered. These ships 
 captured from the enemy one hundred and twenty sail, 
 amounting to over twenty-three thousand tons which, 
 with their cargoes, were sold for $3,950,000 and with 
 these prizes were taken two thousand, two hundred and 
 twenty-five prisoners of war. 
 
 [103] 
 
PERILOUS TIMES 
 
 ary, 1788, went to Portsmouth, loaded with 
 masts and sailed in March for London with a 
 view to going from thence to India. But Mr. 
 Lane's partner, not liking the plan, it was given 
 up and the ship was chartered for the Cape de 
 Verde Islands, where I went and loaded at the 
 Isle of May and returned to Boston in October. 
 I went home to my family, the ship being laid 
 up with the salt on board. In November I re- 
 ceived a letter from Mr. Alexander Moore, who 
 was agent for Mr. Lane, requesting me to come 
 to Boston and take charge of the ship for 
 another India voyage but, as I had spent two 
 years, and made nothing for my trouble, and 
 the voyage being uncertain as to its length, I 
 quit and gave her up to my first officer, Mr. 
 Patrick Fletcher [afterward a captain in the 
 United States Navy. He commanded the 40- 
 gun frigate Insurgent in 1800, when that ill- 
 fated vessel sailed on a cruise and was never 
 after heard from], of Boston and returned 
 home — throwing myself once more on the wide 
 world for employment to earn bread for myself 
 [104] 
 
HARDSHIPS OF SEA LIFE 
 
 and family. After lying ahull for some time 
 and seeing nothing to advantage, I thought it 
 time to call all hands and veer ship and make 
 sail in chase of Industry, from which I have 
 always found a sufficiency to feed and clothe 
 my family." 
 
 In a short time Captain Brown purchased 
 " a small part of the brig Essex " and sailed in 
 her for Surinam, January 25, 1788, with a 
 small cargo of fish and lumber, " one-eighth of 
 which was my all, having met with many crosses, 
 losses and disappointments in life. I made this 
 voyage with some success and returned to Bos- 
 ton in June when I sold my cargo and returned 
 to Newburyport, where I found my eldest son 
 whom I had not seen in seven years." 
 
 The peculiar hardships of seafaring life in 
 those days are well illustrated in the last words 
 of the above quotation : " My eldest son, whom I 
 had not seen in seven years." This son, also, 
 had followed the sea and had been fairly suc- 
 cessful — as success was estimated among sea- 
 faring people. That the father and son had 
 [105] 
 
PERILOUS TIMES 
 
 not met in " seven years " is not surprising. 
 The average voyage in those days was from 
 two to six months — some of those undertaken 
 by Captain Brown had lasted over two 
 years — while the visits home were from two to 
 six weeks so we can easily understand how 
 the son's visits home came at a time when the 
 father was away. 
 
 The final entries in Moses Brown's diary are 
 full of pathos. In these notes we can see the 
 good man nearing that stage of life when 
 human clay begins to show its weakness, when 
 the encroachments of time, hardships, disease 
 and care alarmingly assert themselves in the 
 frail body that encases the soul while on earth: 
 " thirty-two years of toil, trouble and almost 
 death," as he expressed it. Yet, although 
 weighted down with cares and disappointments, 
 we detect the indomitable spirit and courage of 
 the man's soul breaking through all mortal bar- 
 riers in a ringing, triumphant note when he 
 records : " It being folly for a person with 
 spirits like mine to despair, I started out again 
 [106] 
 
AT SURINAM 
 
 on this present voyage the 2d of December, for 
 Surinam and am this day, December 18, 1789, 
 in latitude 2T 30' N. ; and longitude 49° 30' 
 W., with a fine breeze west-southwest — and may 
 the blessing of God attend this voyage." 
 
 On the 13th of January, 1790, Captain 
 Brown arrived safely in the Surinam River and 
 went up to Paramaribo, where he found the 
 market very dull. He says : " I sold my cargo 
 and on the 15th got my vessel up and found- 
 some of my fish damaged. On Saturday, Janu- 
 ary 23d, being the forty-eighth anniversary 
 of my birth. Captains Willis, Wheelright and 
 Holland, all of Newburyport, dined with me." 
 
 Having experienced many fatiguing delays. 
 Brown, after three months spent in this port, 
 completed his cargo and sailed for home April 
 14th. This is the last entry in Captain Brown's 
 diary. His subsequent career as a merchant 
 commander and as a captain in the regular 
 navy during our naval war with France, is 
 gathered from records left by his contempo- 
 raries. 
 
 [107] 
 
PERILOUS TIMES 
 
 On another page, as if in conclusion to the 
 sketch of his Hfe, Captain Brown makes the 
 following comments and enters a few lines of 
 verse : 
 
 A man of fortune is like a tree loaded with fruit 
 which people crowd about till it is all off, and then pass 
 it unnoticed to another. 
 
 What is our God, or what his name, 
 Nor man can learn, nor angels teach. 
 
 He dwells concealed in radiant flame, 
 Where neither eye nor thought can reach. 
 
 ON LOSING SOME TEETH. 
 
 How weak the prison where we dwell. 
 
 Flesh's but a tottering wall, 
 The breaches every day foretell 
 
 The house must shortly fall. 
 
 And happy those who are prepared for the dissolu- 
 tion." 
 
 Moses Brown. 
 
 In no place in Brown's diary or in any other 
 document do we find mention made of his com- 
 mand of the 22-gun privateer Minerva. Em- 
 mons, in his " Statistical History of the United 
 States Navy," enters the Minerva as a 16-gun 
 [108] 
 
^J 
 
 
 ■> /V VC 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 o5 
 
 < 
 
 U§ 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 %■ 
 
 H.> .V 
 
 ■^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
MINERVA'S COMMISSION 
 
 brig of sixty men of New Hampshire and com- 
 manded by M. Brown. We give, in this work, 
 a facsimile reproduction (reduced one-tenth 
 from the original) of Captain Brown's com- 
 mission, dated February 24, 1781, and signed 
 by Samuel Huntington, President of the United 
 States Congress, which shows plainly enough 
 that he was in command of such a ship — 
 though it is probable that he did not get to 
 sea with her except for a short run from one 
 port to another. 
 
 There is a singular clause in this as in nearly 
 all commissions issued by Congress, namely, 
 that no cargoes or vessels belonging to the 
 inhabitants of Bermuda should be molested. 
 
 [109] 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 TRADING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 
 
 IN spite of his poor luck at Surinam, as nar- 
 rated in the last chapter, Captain Brown 
 made several more voyages to that port. 
 On his return from his last trip he was afflicted 
 with a " very dangerous abscess in his thigh " 
 and, during his convalescence, the brig was 
 fitted for Port au Prince in charge of his son 
 William. 
 
 Returning from that place with a freight for 
 Baltimore the brig was captured by an Enghsh 
 privateer and carried into New Providence, on 
 the island of Nassau, where she was detained 
 some months because a part of her cargo was 
 declared by some official to be French property. 
 It was on such flimsy pretexts as this that 
 many honest American merchantmen were seized 
 by English authorities and, after being de- 
 [110] 
 
IN THE " HANNAH » 
 
 tained for months in litigation on mere " sus- 
 picion," — at ruinous loss to their owners, — 
 were released " on a mistake in detention." In 
 many cases the " suspicion " on the part of 
 British authorities amounted to nothing else 
 than a desire to discourage " carrying trade " 
 in American bottoms and, in this instance, it evi- 
 dently was a malicious desire on the part of 
 the Nassau officials to hamper the Yankees as 
 common carriers. Captain Brown's son notes 
 that the brig " finally proceeded to Baltimore 
 and thence to Newburyport after making a 
 poor voyage. After some repairs the brig was 
 sold." 
 
 Not discouraged by his Surinam experiences 
 Captain Brown, with Mr. Anthony Davenport, 
 purchased the schooner Hannah of ninety tons 
 and loaded her for the South American port — 
 his son Joseph, then twenty years old, going in 
 her as cooper; it being his first voyage. The 
 Hannah sailed early in December, 1794, and 
 four days after leaving port encountered a 
 heavy gale and shipped a sea while scudding 
 
 [111] 
 
TRADING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 
 
 before the wind which washed the mate and 
 two men overboard. " As we were reefing the 
 foresail," notes Joseph Brown, " the mate and 
 one man were caught in the bag of the sail, 
 which hung alongside, and we saved them. But 
 one man (Moses Bennett) was lost. This was 
 about three o'clock in the morning when it was 
 pitch dark and a very heavy sea was running." 
 
 The Hannah made a fairly profitable voy- 
 age and returned to Boston in May, 1795, 
 where her cargo was sold and she proceeded to 
 her old home in the Merrimac. 
 
 In the following July the brig sailed for 
 Guadeloupe. When in a dangerous part of the 
 West Indies she encountered a heavy squall 
 which, in spite of the utmost exertions of her 
 crew, threw her on the reefs. As the channel 
 was intricate it became necessary to throw the 
 deck load of lumber into the sea. 
 
 When the weather moderated, the crew — with 
 
 the assistance of thirty negroes — landed the 
 
 cargo and in two days succeeded in getting the 
 
 brig afloat, when she proceeded to Point Petre. 
 
 [112] 
 
CAPTURED BY THE ENGLISH 
 
 As the French officials would not allow the 
 Yankees to sell their cargo at that place it was 
 taken aboard again to be carried back to New 
 England. 
 
 On the passage home, when the Hannah was 
 nearly on soundings off the southeast part of 
 St. George's Bank, she was captured by the 
 English privateer Dove, Robert Tucker, master^ 
 of Bermuda. Placing a prize crew aboard the 
 Hannah the Dove made sail for her home port 
 but, owing to very severe weather and heavy 
 gales, the passage was protracted. Before 
 reaching port Captain Brown was taken down 
 with fever and, at one time, his life was de- 
 spaired of. 
 
 There were no surgeons aboard vessels of this 
 class in those days but, usually, some member 
 of the ship's company was selected because of 
 his greater familiarity with medicine and 
 drugs. The mate of the Hannah was the ama- 
 teur physician on this cruise and Captain 
 Brown asked that he be allowed to attend to 
 him. Captain Tucker, however, had already 
 [113] 
 
TRADING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 
 
 placed the mate aboard the privateer for safe 
 keeping and would not permit him to again go 
 aboard the Hannah. 
 
 While the Dove and her prize were yet some 
 days from port they became separated in a 
 violent gale and did not meet again until they 
 reached Bermuda. For several days young 
 Joseph Brown was alone with his sick father 
 aboard the Hannah, with only one small boy, 
 three whites and two negroes, under the charge 
 of a drunken prize-master named Newbold. It 
 was only by the most unremitting efforts that 
 the Hannah was saved from foundering and 
 finally brought into port. 
 
 Here the Hannah was detained three or four 
 months to await the decision of the courts. 
 The vessel and her cargo were finally most un- 
 justly sold at auction. Captain Brown bought 
 the vessel for eight hundred dollars and drew on 
 his partners for the money, giving a bottomry 
 bond on the vessel for security. The Han/nah 
 then returned to Newburyport by way of 
 Martha's Vineyard. 
 
 [114] 
 
SOUTH AMERICAN VOYAGES 
 
 Captain Brown made several more voyages 
 to the West Indies and South America until 
 the naval war with France broke out when he 
 began his career as a captain in the regular 
 navy. 
 
 [115] 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 PREPARING FOR WAR WITH FRANCE 
 
 A LTHOUGH peace between the colonies 
 A-% and the mother country was proclaimed 
 in the United States April 11, 1783, 
 our merchantmen, for a number of years after- 
 ward, found that they were almost as much 
 harassed on the high seas as before. This was 
 owing largely to our legislators making the 
 serious mistake of attempting to secure mari- 
 time rights abroad without an adequate navy 
 to maintain those claims. 
 
 The total number of regular Continental war- 
 ships in the Revolution (not including priva- 
 teers or the flotilla on Lake Champlain) was 
 forty-seven, carrying a total of one thousand 
 guns. By the time peace was declared, of these 
 forty-seven war craft only three remained and 
 these were quickly disposed of, so that from 
 [116] 
 
FALSE ECONOMY 
 1783 to 1797 the country was without naval 
 protection; for even the officers and sailors had 
 been discharged and had sought new fields of 
 activity. 
 
 The folly of such " economy " soon became 
 seriously apparent. As we have seen, in the 
 career of Moses Brown alone, his ship in time of 
 peace had been detained in an Irish port at ruin- 
 ous loss of time and money and he was twice cap- 
 tured by British privateers on the high seas. 
 This is the record of only one seaman. That 
 there were many other such instances is well 
 known. The very fact that such outrages not 
 only had been perpetrated but were likely to 
 become more frequent with each repetition, 
 compelled our merchants to incur the great ex- 
 pense of engaging larger complements and to 
 devote much of their cargo space to the ac- 
 commodation of heavy ordnance and ammuni- 
 tion. 
 
 Not only English but French privateers ( and 
 even the cruisers of the piratical States of Bar- 
 bary) seized our traders — in some instances 
 
 [in] 
 
PREPARING FOR WAR 
 
 detaining entire ship companies in prisons or 
 in slavery many months. In 1794 Edmund 
 Randolph gave a list of thirty-eight American 
 vessels which had been taken and carried into 
 French ports by French cruisers and privateers. 
 We get a better idea of the humihating and 
 insecure position in which the United States 
 was placed by the false economy of those who 
 opposed the establishment of a navy, by the 
 following note in an American newspaper: 
 
 Portsmouth, N. H., January 20, 1798. — On Thursday 
 morning about sunrise a gun was discharged from the 
 frigate Crescent as a signal for getting under way and, 
 at 10 A. M., she cleared the harbor with a fine leading 
 breeze. Our best wishes follow Captain Newman, his 
 officers and men. May they arrive in safety at the place 
 of their destination and present to the Dey of Algiers 
 one of the finest specimens of elegent naval architecture 
 which was ever borne on the Piscataqua's waters. 
 
 The Crescent is a present from the United States to 
 the Dey of Algiers as a compensation for delay in not 
 fulfilling our treaty stipulations in proper time. Rich- 
 ard O'Brien, Esq., who was ten years a prisoner at 
 Algiers, took passage in the above frigate and is to 
 reside at Algiers as Consul-General of the United 
 States to all the Barbary States. 
 
 The Crescent has many valuable presents on board 
 
 [118] 
 
OUR FRIGATE " CRESCENT " 
 
 for the Dey and when she sailed was supposed to be 
 worth at least three hundred thousand dollars. Twenty- 
 six barrels of dollars constituted a part of her cargo. 
 It is worthy of remark that the captain, chief of the 
 officers and many of the privates of the Crescent frigate 
 have been prisoners at Algiers. 
 
 The Crescent belonged to that famous group 
 of frigates built from 1794 to 1800, which 
 formed the nucleus of our navy in the war of 
 1812. They were the 44-gun frigates United 
 States, Constitution and President, and the 36- 
 gun frigates Constellation, Congress, Chesa- 
 peake, Philadelphia and Crescent, 
 
 The nomenclature of these celebrated ships 
 is worthy of note. With the exception of the 
 Chesapeake, they were named after the new 
 government; Congress then being in session at 
 Philadelphia so that city was very properly 
 regarded as the capital of the country. It was 
 a " pet " phrase in those days to speak of the 
 United States as a " new constellation " among 
 the nations of the earth, hence the apphcation 
 of the name Constellation to a frigate. The 
 Crescent, of course, was so named after the 
 [119] 
 
PREPARING FOR WAR 
 
 national emblem of Turkey, Algiers being a 
 tributary State. It was the degrading spectacle 
 of this land of liberty paying tribute to the 
 petty States of Barbary that gave rise to that 
 famous exclamation : " Millions for defense ; not 
 a penny for tribute ! " Depredations on Ameri- 
 can commerce by French cruisers reached such 
 an extent that on July 7, 1798, all our treaties 
 with that country were abrogated and American 
 cruisers were ordered to capture French vessels 
 when found in the limits and, two days after- 
 ward, they were permitted to attack them any- 
 where. 
 
 Steps had already been taken to establish a 
 naval personnel. By an act of June 5, 1794, 
 the following well-known men were selected to 
 be captains in the new navy : John Barry, Sam- 
 uel Nicholson, Silas Talbot, Joshua Barney, 
 Richard Dale and Thomas Truxtun. On De- 
 cember 24, 1798, according to a report of the 
 Secretary of the Navy, the United States navy 
 consisted of two 44-gun and one 36-gun frig- 
 ates, four 24-gun ships, seven 20- or 18-gun 
 [ 120] 
 
THE NAVY IN 1798 
 ships, seven 14- and 12-gun brigs or schooners 
 and one 10-gun sloop. 
 
 The following table will be found convenient 
 for reference in narrative of Captain Brown's 
 cruises in this war. 
 
 The United States Navy in 1798. 
 
 rate. name. commander. 
 
 44-gun United States Captain John Barry. 
 
 44-gun Constitution Captain Silas Talbot. 
 
 36-gun Constellation Captain Thomas Truxtun. 
 
 24-gun Ganges Captain Thomas Tingey. 
 
 24-gun George Was^iw^f^ow. Captain Patrick Fletcher. 
 
 24-gun Merrimac Captain Moses Brown. 
 
 24-gun Portsmouth Captain Daniel McNiell. 
 
 90-gun Baltimore Captain Isaac Phillips. 
 
 20-gun Delaioare Captain Stephen Decatur, Sr. 
 
 20-gun Montezuma Captain Alexander Murray. 
 
 18-gun Herald Captain James Sever. 
 
 18-gun Norfolk Captain Thomas Williams. 
 
 18-gun Pinckney Captain Samuel Hejrwood. 
 
 18-gun Richmond Captain Samuel Barron. 
 
 Besides these regular vessels of the navy 
 
 there were eight revenue cutters, mounting from 
 
 ten to fourteen guns. They did very effective 
 
 service. Their names were: Diligence, Eagle, 
 
 [121] 
 
PREPARING FOR WAR 
 
 General Greene, Governor Jay, Pickering, 
 Scammelly South Carolina and Virginia. 
 
 With the exception of the three frigates and 
 revenue cutters, nearly all of these vessels were 
 merchantmen hastily fitted out for the emer- 
 gency. To officer and man them the Govern- 
 ment called on those men who handled our in- 
 fant maritime forces with such masterful skill 
 and unprecedented audacity in our struggle for 
 independence. All of these men are well known 
 in naval history, most of them afterward at- 
 taining high distinction in the service. 
 
 [122] 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE FIRST " MERRIMAC " 
 
 THE name " Merrimac " is one that will 
 always be famous in American naval 
 history. When that bulky colKer Mer- 
 rimac was carried into the jaws of Santiago 
 harbor by the gallant Hobson, new luster was 
 added to the glory of our navy. When, on 
 that Saturday morning, March 8, 1862, the 
 iron-mailed leviathan Merrimac began her awful 
 work in Hampton Roads, the name sent un- 
 speakable terror throughout the North and cor- 
 responding joy throughout the Confederacy. 
 It was the blackest night to the one ; the bright- 
 est day to the other. Then, on the following 
 day, took place that terrific struggle between 
 those hideous, newly created monsters, the Moni- 
 tor and the Merrimac; the result of which 
 [ 123 ] 
 
THE FIRST " MERRIMAC " 
 sounded the death knell of wooden war-ships the 
 world over. 
 
 In all, there have been three Merrimacs in the 
 United States navy. Of the two just mentioned 
 nothing further need be said. Their fame is 
 world-wide. But of the first Merrimac little is 
 known, although her career was highly credit- 
 able to the service while the story of her con- 
 struction and entry into the navy is so singular 
 as to be deserving of special notice. 
 
 As we have already noted, in the last chapter, 
 depredations on our commerce by English, 
 French and Barbary cruisers continued long 
 after the nominal cessation of hostihties be- 
 tween the colonies and England and, finally, be- 
 came so serious that Congress was compelled to 
 create a new navy. 
 
 The seaports of New England seem to have 
 been the principal sufferers in these outrages 
 and they were the first to take steps looking 
 toward relief. Our Government, at this time, 
 was sadly embarrassed for want of money and 
 was in the generally chaotic state of every or- 
 [124] 
 
PATRIOTISM— IN 1798 
 
 ganization in its initial stage. At Salem 
 the leading men met in the court-house, Octo- 
 ber, 1798, and passed resolutions with the re- 
 sult that the famous 32-gun frigate Essex was 
 built at the expense of a few citizens and pre- 
 sented to the Government. But some months 
 before this patriotic move on the part of the 
 Salemites, the merchants of Newburyport had 
 preconceived a similar idea. In the columns of 
 a local newspaper, under the caption " Pa- 
 triotic Letter," dated June 1, 1798, we have an 
 interesting account of how the first Merrimac 
 came into existence. The letter was addressed 
 to the Hon. Bailey Bartlett, of Haverhill, who 
 represented the Salem district in Congress: 
 
 Sir: A number of the inhabitants of this town have 
 agreed to build and equip a ship of three hundred and 
 fiftj^-five tons to be mounted with twenty 6-pounder can- 
 non and to offer her to the Government of the United 
 States for its use. They have also voted that they will 
 not accept of any other or further compensation from 
 the Government than an interest of six per cent, on the 
 net cost of the ship and equipment and a final reimburse- 
 ment at the convenience of the Government of the said 
 net cost; and they have appointed us a committee to 
 
 [125] 
 
THE FIRST " MERRIMAC " 
 
 inform you of their intention and to request you to pro- 
 mote a provision whereby they may be enabled to carry 
 their designs into execution by the countenance of 
 Government, so far as the same shall appear neces- 
 sary. 
 
 As we indulge in a hope that this intention of the citi- 
 zens of Newburyport will lead to proportionate exertion 
 in larger and wealthier towns, we beg leave to suggest the 
 convenience that any provision which may be thought 
 proper and applicable to this case might be made gen- 
 eral. The inhabitants of the town at the present moment 
 are animated with the most zealous purpose to support 
 and defend with their lives and property the Government 
 of their country, as well against the open attacks of 
 foreign enemies as the insidious attempts of domestic 
 traitors. They heartily wish their abilities extended 
 beyond the present offer, but the immense ravages which 
 have been committed on their property by sea, and the 
 present of the remnant yet at risk, forbids the further 
 indulgence of their inclinations. It may be that with an 
 act of Government, authorizing the Executive to pur- 
 chase ships of war, the proposal may be closed without 
 legislative aid. If such should be your opinion, we wish 
 you to lay the plan before the Executive, and we shall 
 be the more gratified in this way, as the whole business 
 may probably be thus considerably expedited. 
 
 The materials are already in forwardness, and pro- 
 visional contracts will be entered into, so that probably 
 in ninety days from our receiving assurance that Gov- 
 ernment patronizes our design, the ship may be afloat. 
 The best calculations we have been able to make of the 
 whole expense reduces it below thirty thousand dollars, 
 
 [126] 
 
A HANDSOME OFFER 
 
 and if the utmost attention to economy and despatch 
 can affect anything, the cost will fall considerably within 
 that sum. 
 
 Among the good effects of the present proposal, we 
 have contemplated that in this way Government may, at 
 this period, when so many calls for money exists, procure 
 the means of defense without actual advances; perhaps 
 with more promptitude and undoubtedly with consid- 
 erably less expense than in the common contract mode of 
 contracts. 
 
 With wishes for your health and happiness, we 
 are, Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient, humble servants, 
 
 William Bartlett, 
 William Coombs, 
 Dudley A. Tyng, 
 Moses Brown, 
 William P. Johnson, 
 Nicholas Johnson, 
 Ebenezer Stocker, 
 Samuel A. Otis, Jr. 
 Hon. Bailey Bartlett. 
 
 This handsome offer was promptly accepted, 
 and without loss of time work was begun. 
 Within seventy-five working days from the time 
 the keel was laid, the vessel was launched, on 
 October 12th. William Hackett superintended 
 [127] 
 
THE FIRST " MERRIMAC " 
 
 the construction, while William Cross and 
 Thomas M. Clark were the contractors. 
 
 Hackett at that time was one of the best ship- 
 builders in the world. When he undertook the 
 Merrimac his reputation had become well es- 
 tablished — extending beyond the seas. It was 
 he who built the superb Alliance which took 
 part in the famous Bonhomme Richard-Serapis 
 fight, September 23, 1799. At the time, there 
 was not a finer war-ship of her class afloat. 
 When the Government ordered the Alliance, 
 other shipwrights hesitated to undertake her 
 construction, for the fate of the Revolution 
 was then trembling in the balance, and it was 
 far from a certainty that the work would ever 
 be paid for. William Hackett undertook the 
 contract, and turned out one of the most suc- 
 cessful vessels in our first navy. The spot 
 where the Alliance was built is marked by a 
 bronze tablet given by the Town Improvement 
 Society of Newburyport. 
 
 Hackett had also built the highly successful 
 privateers Intrepid (which we have already 
 [128] 
 
WILLIAM HACKETT 
 
 noted as having once been under the command 
 of Captain Brown) and Tyrannicide. Besides 
 contriving two fire-rafts for the defense of 
 Sahsbury against a possible attack by British 
 naval forces, Hackett, in 1787, built, at Quincy, 
 Mass., the largest merchant ship that had ever 
 been launched in the United States down to that 
 period. " She created quite a sensation at the 
 time; people of every rank came to see and 
 admire her. On her arrival at Batavia and 
 Canton the commanders of English and Dutch 
 vessels came on board and acknowledged her 
 to be the handsomest vessel in the two ports." 
 
 It was Hackett who built the famous frig- 
 ate Essex, which, after her capture by the 
 British squadron at Valparaiso in 1814, was 
 taken to England, and was used as a model by 
 their shipwrights. Hackett also had the unique 
 distinction of owning what was probably the 
 nearest approach to an automobile in the 
 eighteenth century. It is recorded that in 1762 
 he bought for his wife Nanna (daughter of 
 Captain William Osgood) a " Top Shase for 
 [129] 
 
THE FIRST " MERRIMAC " 
 
 which he paid one hundred pounds. This was 
 probably the first chaise owned in SaHsbury. 
 He had his initials ' W. H.' painted on the 
 back." This chaise was the subject of vivacious 
 discussion in the local sewing circles for three 
 consecutive winters. 
 
 It is difficult, in these days of a cosmopolitan 
 population, to appreciate the intense patriot- 
 ism that animated our people in the early 
 stages of our national history. We get some 
 inkling of it in the few extracts from a local 
 newspaper printed at the time, relative to the 
 construction of the Merrimac. The paper bears 
 date of July 6? 1798, and the following extract 
 refers to the preceding Fourth of July cele- 
 bration : " The twenty-third anniversary of our 
 independence was celebrated in this town [New- 
 buryport] with greater spirit and unanimity 
 than ever before. The day was ushered in with 
 martial music, the discharge of artillery and 
 the ringing of bells. All the shipping in the 
 harbor and many of the buildings of the town 
 were decorated with American flags. A public 
 [130] 
 
A PATRIOTIC PARADE 
 
 dinner was provided at the hall on Deer Island, 
 of which a large number of gentlemen partook. 
 
 ** In the afternoon a large number of our 
 young men (which was the most animating 
 feature of the day) were formed on State Street 
 with a respectable band of music at their head 
 under the leadership of Mr. S. Holyoke. Cap- 
 tain Moses Brown accidentally appearing as the 
 young men were forming, was saluted with 
 three cheers and unanimously requested to lead 
 the procession, to which he obligingly con- 
 sented. 
 
 " They first moved down the street to the Fed- 
 eral Street shipyard, where a large number of 
 men were at work on the 20-gun ship \_Merri- 
 mac] now building for the use of the Govern- 
 ment, when Captain Brown addressed them in 
 the following words : ' Gentlemen : This being the 
 anniversary of the independence and sover- 
 eignty of our nation, which our predecessors 
 gained with their lives and their fortunes, I 
 trust their sons will ever defend them with 
 theirs; and you, gentlemen, being employed in 
 [131] 
 
THE FIRST " MERRIMAC '' 
 
 the laudable business of building a ship for this 
 purpose, the gentlemen forming the procession 
 have thought fit to make this our first stand 
 and give you the salutation of three cheers.' 
 
 " The procession then moved through the 
 principal streets of the town, and as they passed 
 the houses of those who patriotically set on 
 foot the subscription for the ship, they repeated 
 the salutation of grateful cheers. Every coun- 
 tenance seemed animated by that virtuous ardor 
 which in men who feel themselves free, and are 
 determined to support the independence of their 
 country at the hazard of their all, appears with 
 grandeur and effect inconceivable to those who 
 have not seen it." 
 
 Referring to the appointment of Captain 
 Brown to the command of this vessel, the New- 
 buryport Herald of September 11, 1798, says: 
 " No appointment in our growing navy has 
 given more genuine satisfaction than that of 
 Captain Moses Brown to the command of the 
 fine 20-gun ship now building in this town. 
 The work progresses rapidly and the best 
 [132] 
 
DAY OF THE LAUNCHING 
 
 judges pronounce it to be as well done as that 
 of any ship ever built in so short a time. She 
 will undoubtedly be launched by the 10th of next 
 month, as she is planked up and the gun deck 
 laid." 
 
 The day of launching was, of course, long 
 remembered in Newburyport. The enterpris- 
 ing Herald, under date of October 12th, said: 
 " This day at fifteen minutes past one [o'clockj 
 our beautiful, patriotic ship majestically de- 
 scended from her native land to the embrace 
 of the watery god without the least accident. 
 She is called the Merrimack, and will mount 
 twenty 9- and eight 6-pounders. She is finely 
 coppered, and the best judges say she will not 
 suffer by comparison with the finest vessels of 
 her size ever built. Captain William Hackett, 
 the constructor, and Major Cross, the contrac- 
 tor, are entitled to all the merit which can be 
 attached to the profession. 
 
 " Her [figure] head is a group composed of 
 an eagle supported on one side by a figure 
 representing Commerce and on the other by a 
 [ 133 ] 
 
THE FIRST " MERRIMAC *' 
 beautiful female, strikingly emblematic of 
 Justice, and in front are borne the arms of the 
 United States. The design is excellent and 
 does honor to the artist, Mr. Bearing, of Ports- 
 mouth. A vast concourse of people attended, 
 to be witnesses of the interesting scene. A 
 Federal salute from the artillery pieces an- 
 nounced to distant friends the happy issue of 
 the launch. The keel of the ship was laid on 
 the 9th of July, since which there have been 
 seventy-four working days, and we have pre- 
 sumed to say that from the spirit which has 
 attended the business, she will be ready for sea 
 in fourteen days, as numbers of the hardy sons 
 of Neptune stand ready to enlist under her 
 worthy commander, and who have long been 
 waiting for an opportunity to manifest their 
 zeal and ability in defense of their injured 
 country and seafaring brethren." 
 
 Samuel Swett, who was an eye-witness of the 
 launching, recorded, in 1846, that the Merrimac 
 rode " on the tide swan-like, buoyant and beau- 
 tiful; her tall masts soaring aloft to meet the 
 [134] 
 
A SPLENDID VESSEL 
 
 lightest zephyr " — this, of course, must have 
 been some days after the launching, when the 
 masts had been stepped. 
 
 Although the committee, which had presented 
 the proposal of building the Merrimac to their 
 Congressman, had promised a ship of only 
 three hundred and fifty-five tons, on launching 
 the cruiser was found to be of four hundred 
 and sixty-seven tons. Instead of only twenty 
 6-pounders she was mounted with twenty 9- 
 pounders and eight 6-pounders — a very heavy 
 armament for a ship of her class in those days. 
 She was rated at the Navy Department as a 
 " 24-gun sloop-of-war," the ratings usually 
 being below the actual number of guns carried. 
 
 A contemporary writer said of her : " The 
 Merrimac was the first and best vessel of her 
 size furnished on loan to the Government and 
 was built at a much less expense than any other 
 built for the Government. The inhabitants of 
 the river towns and vicinity seemed in danger of 
 falling in love with their ship, as the sculptor did 
 with his statue, and when we consider that all of 
 [ 135 ] 
 
THE FIRST " MERRIMAC " 
 
 her officers were citizens of Newburyport, and 
 that her commander was as great a favorite as 
 his ship, the deep and inexpressible interest this 
 single ship inspired can hardly be imagined." 
 
 Her officers were: Moses Brown, commander; 
 Michael Titcomb and Samuel Chase, first and 
 second lieutenant; Jonathan Titcomb, sailing 
 master; Joseph Brown, Nathan Fletcher, Ben- 
 jamin Whitmore, midshipmen; Nathaniel Brad- 
 street, surgeon. That the claim that the Mer- 
 rimac was built " at a much less expense than 
 any other [24-gun sloop-of-war of that year] 
 for the Government " is well substantiated, is 
 shown in the following table: 
 
 24-gun sloop-of-war Connecticut $57,260 
 
 24-gun sloop-of-war Ganges 80,665 
 
 24-gun sloop-of-war George Washington 69,025 
 
 24-gun sloop-of-war Portsmouth 59,560 
 
 24-gun sloop-of-war Merrimac 46,170 
 
 [136] 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ON THE SCENE OF HOSTILITIES 
 
 ALTHOUGH the Merrimac had been 
 /-\ launched October 12, 1798, so rapidly 
 was the work of equipment pushed that 
 she was ready to sail on a cruise January 1st of 
 the following year. By that time our naval 
 war against France had been under way nearly 
 six months. Many captures of French armed 
 craft had been made, with the result that a 
 larger number of American vessels had ven- 
 tured to sea. 
 
 Early in the year 1799 the Government put 
 into operation a comprehensive plan for the 
 protection of our commerce and the extermina- 
 tion of French privateers, which had been so suc- 
 cessfully plying their trade in the West Indies. 
 The entire naval force of the infant republic 
 was massed in these waters and, headed by the 
 [137] 
 
SCENE OF HOSTILITIES 
 
 massive frigates Constitution^ United States 
 and Constellation, a brave showing thej made. 
 
 One squadron under the immediate command 
 of Captain John Barry, in the United States, 
 had its rendezvous at Prince Rupert's Bay, 
 with orders to cruise windward of St. Kitts, 
 and as far south as Barbadoes and Tobago. It 
 consisted of the flagship United States; the 
 Constitution, Captain Samuel Nicholson; the 
 George Washington, Captain Patrick Fletcher 
 (whom we remember as having once served 
 under Captain Moses Brown); the Merrimac, 
 Captain Moses Brown ; the Portsmouth, Cap- 
 tain Daniel McNiell; the Pickering, Master- 
 Commandant Edward Preble; the Eagle, Lieu- 
 tenant Hugh George Campbell; the Herald, 
 Lieutenant Charles C. Russell; the Scammell, 
 Lieutenant J. Adams; and the Diligence, Lieu- 
 tenant John Brown. 
 
 A second squadron under Captain Truxtun 
 
 in the Constellation, was directed to cruise in 
 
 the vicinity of Porto Rico, St. Martin and 
 
 Virgin Gorda. It consisted of the flagship 
 
 [138] 
 
SCENE OF HOSTILITIES 
 
 Constellation, the Baltimorey Captain Isaac 
 Phillips; the Norfolk, Captain Thomas Wil- 
 liams; the Richmond, Captain Samuel Barron; 
 and the Virginia, Captain Francis Bright. 
 How thoroughly these two squadrons scoured 
 the sea in this part of the West Indies is en- 
 gagingly set forth in the original log of the 
 Merrimac, which was kept by Midshipman 
 Joseph Brown (a son of Captain Brown) of 
 that ship. 
 
 The logbook itself is one of singular beauty, 
 a reduced facsimile of the title-page and of 
 one other page being given in this work. 
 Evidently the book was printed especially for 
 the Merrimac, Each one of the one hundred 
 and seventy pages is elaborately ornamented, 
 and, though somewhat stained with over one 
 hundred years of existence, the paper is still 
 in good condition, the print remarkably clear, 
 while the daily entries (though somewhat 
 faded) are made in ink and are legible to the 
 last letter. The entire work is an excellent 
 model of faithful and intelligent sea-recording. 
 [140] 
 
^^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 {^ 
 
 -- , f^ 
 
 
 -J -J > , > 
 
 fife , 
 
 Fathoms. 
 
 Knots. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 i I 
 
 c:^ 
 
 >H (S CO -^ ^^\0 t^OO CNO>-'M«N<ri'<4- w-)sO t^CO CT* O « N 
 
SAILING FROM BOSTON 
 
 As many overlooked items of historical and 
 popular interest are brought to light in this 
 log, a digest of it will be here given. Under 
 date of January S, 1799, young Brown re- 
 cords : " At 1 p. M. weighed our anchors and 
 made sail [from Boston] in company with two 
 ships. At 2 p. M. discharged our pilot. At 
 4 p. M. Boston Lighthouse distant about twelve 
 miles, from which I take my departure." 
 
 The " point of departure " was an important 
 feature in the navigation of those days. It 
 formed the base on which mariners reckoned 
 their position from the time land was lost sight 
 of till they again sighted terra firma, at the 
 other end of the voyage. 
 
 It was a dull winter's afternoon when the 
 Merrimac left Boston, on this, her maiden ven- 
 ture. Though the breeze was moderate, the 
 weather was cloudy, accompanied by snow 
 squalls and, as night fell over the sea, it came 
 on to a steady snow, leaving the ship enshrouded 
 in a pall of darkness, which only those who 
 have been at sea during a snowstorm at night 
 [141] 
 
SCENE OF HOSTILITIES 
 
 can understand. It certainly was not a situ- 
 ation calculated to enliven the spirits of the 
 crew. At best, the first night in a ship after 
 leaving port is one in which there is much con- 
 fusion. It requires time, even in old ships' com- 
 panies, to " shake down " again to sea routine. 
 
 In the Merrimac^s case the situation was es- 
 pecially trying. The ship was new in hull, 
 rigging and armament ; the crew was newly en- 
 listed — doubtless many green hands prostrated 
 by seasickness; the officers had not associated 
 together in ship duty, and had not had time in 
 which to inspire that confidence in each other 
 so necessary to the perfect handling of a ship's 
 company. Furthermore, the mission on which 
 the ship was going was a new one — new, at 
 least, to most of her people. 
 
 Under such conditions we can easily imagine 
 that, as the Merrimac blindly plowed her way 
 over the turbulent sea that blackest of black 
 nights — dismally creaking and groaning in her 
 timbers and new rig — her officers anxiously 
 watched each rope, the set of every sail, the 
 [142] 
 
A SCENE OF ANXIETY 
 
 sway of every spar, the slack of every shroud. 
 Possibly, in the general confusion of leaving 
 port the deck-lanterns had been misplaced. 
 Or, if lighted, their feeble rays only served to 
 render the surrounding gloom deeper and the 
 inboard shadows blacker. The forms of many 
 men, prostrated by sickness, lying about the 
 decks, the disordered arrangement of the ropes, 
 cannon, baggage, provisions; the encumber- 
 ment of sails, buckets, small arms; the decks 
 slippery with snow and a howling gale shriek- 
 ing through the rigging, all conspired to create 
 a scene of anxiety and horror. 
 
 All through that black night the sloop-of- 
 war rushed over the dark, snow-enshrouded bil- 
 lows, each lunging roll, each rising header car- 
 rying her nearer to her goal. Had she 
 collided with another craft that night we could 
 readily understand how easy it is to " leave port 
 and never be heard from again." 
 
 By dawn of day the Merrimac was one hun- 
 dred miles from Boston. Although it was still 
 snowing and there was a " large sea on," Cap- 
 [143] 
 
SCENE OF HOSTILITIES 
 
 tain Brown had " all sail set," and reduced 
 only when night came on. A weakness was 
 discovered in the topgallant yard. It was 
 promptly sent down, corrected and replaced 
 the next day, so that on January 5th the ship 
 made the truly creditable run of over two hun- 
 dred miles, or a total of nearly four hundred 
 from Boston in fifty hours. 
 
 On the fifth day the Merrimac had come 
 within the influence of the Gulf Stream and ex- 
 perienced one of the peculiar dangers to navi- 
 gation of that day. She had left Boston in 
 the dead of a New England winter, when the 
 mercury was having a chilly flirtation with the 
 zero point, and in five days found herself in 
 the semi-tropical latitude of Bermuda. Nearly 
 all of her rigging was of hemp rope and, al- 
 though it had been taut in Boston, the 
 warm influence of the Gulf Stream caused it 
 to slacken, so as to give her spars little or no 
 support. Should she be overtaken by a heavy 
 gale while in that condition there was great 
 danger of roUing her masts out; even in a 
 [144] 
 
SAIL HO! 
 
 moderate sea. It was to guard against such 
 a catastrophe that Captain Brown, on Janu- 
 ary 7th, " employed all hands setting up the 
 rigging." Nowadays, this danger is largely 
 avoided by having all standing rigging made 
 of iron or steel. 
 
 Scarcely had this task been accomphshed 
 when the first sail since leaving port was dis- 
 covered. It was to windward, and Captain 
 Brown at once began beating up to her. The 
 stranger, evidently, was anxious to avoid a 
 meeting and made sail to escape. The chase 
 lasted all day. Before evening it came on a 
 " heavy gale and rain," so that the chase was 
 lost to view, but throughout that night the 
 war-ship thrashed to windward in blind pursuit ; 
 hoping to obtain another view of the stranger 
 at daybreak. 
 
 About at midnight the wind suddenly shifted 
 in the Merrimac's favor, and in a short time she 
 was " scudding before a heavy gale, goose- 
 winged," that IS, with studding sails set on 
 each side. Much to the disappointment of all, 
 [145] 
 
SCENE OF HOSTILITIES 
 
 when day returned, no trace of the stranger 
 was seen, but the Merrimac persisted in the 
 chase. By noon the weather moderated, but 
 it was still cloudy, so that it was impossible to 
 see very far. At half -past eight o'clock that 
 night, just after a rain squall had passed over, 
 the weather lifted, and the stranger was dis- 
 covered. Captain Brown immediately altered 
 his course and, by putting on a heavy pressure 
 of sail, managed to keep her in sight through- 
 out the night, and on the following morning — 
 the American crew all the time being at quar- 
 ters — came within gunshot. Not wishing to 
 injure a possible friend Captain Brown re- 
 frained from firing, and by 3 p. m., ran along- 
 side and boarded. The chase proved to be the 
 English merchant ship Carterett, John Tre- 
 ludden, master, bound for Falmouth. The 
 Carterett had mistaken the Merrimac for a 
 French war-ship. 
 
 Although disappointed at not meeting an 
 enemy, the chase had been an exciting one and 
 had given the green crew that much-to-be- 
 [146] 
 
A CHASE! 
 
 desired opportunity of drilling ander actual 
 war conditions. Resuming her course south- 
 ward, the Merrimac, at nine o'clock on the fol- 
 lowing morning, January 10th, discovered an- 
 other sail and, shaking out her reefs, gave chase. 
 At 11.30 A. M. she came up with her and, on 
 boarding, found her to be the brig Three 
 Friends, William Blanchard, master, from 
 Thomastown bound for Barbadoes, eleven days 
 out. As she was Enghsh property Captain 
 Brown allowed her to proceed. 
 
 For the two days following the weather was 
 hazy and fitful, with frequent rain squalls. As 
 the ship had now reached a point some eight hun- 
 dred miles further south and, consequently was 
 in much warmer weather, it again became neces- 
 sary to " set up the rigging." This work en- 
 gaged all hands through the afternoon of the 
 12th. 
 
 From January 13th to the 16th, inclusive, 
 
 the Merrimac enjoyed fairly good weather m 
 
 her course southward, the ship logging about 
 
 two hundred miles a day. On the last day men- 
 
 [147] 
 
SCENE OF HOSTILITIES 
 
 tioned, Captain Brown exercised his crew by 
 going " through the maneuvers of a sham 
 action." Reahzing that he was now nearing 
 that part of the West Indies where he might, 
 at any moment, expect to meet the enemy, he 
 improved the moderate weather of the next few 
 days by daily exercise of the crew at the great 
 guns, small arms and rapid maneuvering of 
 the ship, as if in action. On the evening of 
 January 18th the island of Dominica was 
 sighted, and at six o'clock on the following 
 morning " we saw the High land of Guade- 
 loupe." 
 
 The Merrimac was now close to the rendez- 
 vous to which she had been ordered. Prince 
 Rupert's Bay, in the island of Dominica, and 
 an extraordinary lookout was maintained not 
 only for French war-ships and merchantmen, 
 but for our own ships, in order to avoid an 
 action with them by mistake on a dark night. 
 We discover this precaution in the frequent 
 entries in the Mernmac's log of such data as 
 the following : "At 7 p. m. the Saints bore 
 [148] 
 
EXTRA PRECAUTIONS 
 
 northwest. At midnight [January 19-20] the 
 north point of Dominica distant three leagues. 
 At half -past 1 a. m. hove-to. At 2 a. m. saw- 
 two sail to leeward. Bore away and made sail 
 for the high land of Dominica. At 9 a. m. 
 hove-to, and the first lieutenant [Michael Tit- 
 comb] went ashore to the fort [probably seek- 
 ing information as to the whereabouts of the 
 American fleet]. At ten o'clock the boat re- 
 turned. Bore away again. At eleven tacked 
 ship several times." 
 
 All these unusual details in the log indicate 
 plainly enough that the Merrimac was now 
 on the scene of immediate action and that 
 extra caution was necessary in her maneu- 
 vers — especially as it was known that 
 several large French frigates were in the 
 vicinity. 
 
 The next entry in the log, that of the fol- 
 lowing day, reads : " First part [of the day] 
 pleasant weather. At 1 p. m. bore away for 
 two large ships. Ran within one and a half 
 leagues of the same and showed our signals 
 [149] 
 
SCENE OF HOSTILITIES 
 
 but they, not answering them, at 2 p. m. hauled 
 our wind and made sail for Dominica. At 5 
 p. M. came-to in Prince Rupert's Bay, and 
 moored ship, the Captain going on shore. 
 Saw a large ship running down the north side 
 of the island. 
 
 " January 21st. — Took on board thirty- 
 seven casks of water and one boat-load of bal- 
 last to trim the ship. There arrived from a 
 cruise [in tliis port] the British frigate Pearly 
 Captain Ballard." 
 
 That Captain Brown had reached Prince 
 Rupert's Bay and had found none of our ships 
 at that rendezvous, occasioned some anxiety, for 
 the sloop-of-war Merrimac would have had 
 little chance if once she got under the guns of 
 one of the French corvets or frigates that were 
 cruising in these parts. With a view to falhng 
 in with some of our ships, and thus learning 
 where the fleet was. Captain Brown determined 
 to make several short runs; having Prince Ru- 
 pert's Bay for his base. 
 
 Accordingly, at seven o'clock on the morning 
 [150] 
 
UNDER FIRE 
 
 of January 22d he " unmoored ship ; at 9 a. m. 
 got under way ; set all sail on the wind. Plying 
 to windward and tacking ship occasionally. 
 At four o'clock in the afternoon saw a 
 sloop. Gave her a gun, brought her to and 
 boarded. She was from Roseau bound for the 
 Saints." 
 
 During the next forty-eight hours the Mer- 
 rimac plied to windward and tacked occasion- 
 ally, waiting to get some news of the squadron. 
 At noon, January 23d, she had worked her way 
 north of Dominica and, standing in too close 
 to the French island of Marie Galante, she re- 
 ceived two shots from the fort which, however, 
 did no damage. 
 
 By daybreak, January 25th, Captain Brown 
 had so far worked his way to windward as to 
 sight the island of Desirade and at six o'clock 
 in the evening sighted and gave chase to a sail 
 which bore away for the Merrimac as if anxious 
 to meet her. Shortly afterward Captain Brown 
 showed his signals which were answered and at 
 eleven o'clock, being within hailing distance, 
 [151] 
 
SCENE OF HOSTILITIES 
 
 found the stranger to be the George Washing- 
 ton, In a short time Captain Brown was snugly 
 ensconced in the George Washington's cabin 
 learning all the news from his old shipmate, 
 Captain Patrick Fletcher. 
 
 [152] 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 CONVOYING A GREAT FLEET 
 
 )1 FTER cruising in the vicinity of Desirade 
 /-\ and Marie Galante, in company with 
 the George Washington, for two days, 
 the Merrimac returned to Prince Rupert's Bay 
 where she found the flagship United States and 
 Constitution at anchor. Captain Brown now 
 learned that a number of American merchant- 
 men from various points in the West Indies and 
 South America were making for Prince Rupert's 
 Bay, where they were to be formed in a great 
 fleet and escorted home; the Merrimac having 
 been selected as the convoying ship. 
 
 From January 28th to February 2d the 
 Merrimac took in casks of water and stone bal- 
 last, preparatory to her long voyage. At four 
 o'clock on the afternoon of February 2d, the 
 United States signaled the ships to get under 
 [153] 
 
CONVOYING A GREAT FLEET 
 
 way anci followed by the Constitution^ Merri- 
 mac and George Washington, and the mer- 
 chantmen, they moved out of the roads in an im- 
 posing array. The fleet put into the port of 
 Martinique to await the arrival of other mer- 
 chantmen ; meantime the men-of-war made short 
 cruises. 
 
 At eleven o'clock on the morning of February 
 7th, while the Merrimac was thirty-five miles to 
 north of the Desirade, a sail was discovered 
 northward, to which chase was given. As the 
 stranger proved to be a remarkably fast sailer, 
 the chase lasted all the following night and well 
 into the next day. At four o'clock in the 
 afternoon the Merrimac fell in with the Consti- 
 tution and was informed that she had spoke the 
 chase, which was a British packet from Antigua 
 to Barbadoes. 
 
 Scarcely a day now passed without some ex- 
 citing incident, which kept the men in the 
 squadron at quarters most of the time. A few 
 extracts from the log will give a better idea of 
 the excitement ; " At 2 p. m., February 9th, saw 
 [154] 
 
KEEPING A SHARP LOOKOUT 
 
 the Constitution on our lee bow, under full sail, 
 in chase of a schooner to windward. We let out 
 our reefs, set all sail and joined in the chase. 
 Night coming on, we lost sight of the ship and 
 gave it up. 
 
 " February 11th. — ^At 4 p. m. saw a craft to 
 the south. Made sail for the same. At 6 p. m., 
 finding that the above sail was standing for us, 
 we hauled our courses and got all ready for 
 action. At seven o'clock she came alongside of 
 us and proved to be a British frigate. A ship 
 in sight to windward, supposed to be the Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 " February 14th. — At 11 p. m. saw two 
 strange sail bearing down on the fleet. Hauled 
 up the mainsail and bore away for them. Found 
 them to be armed ships. Showed them signals 
 and was answered by them. At meridian spoke 
 them, the one an English 20-gun ship, the other 
 a transport mounting twelve guns." 
 
 At four o'clock on the morning of February 
 15th, the Merrimac gave chase to a sail, which 
 ran into Basse Terre for refuge. Evidently it 
 [155] 
 
CONVOYING A GREAT FLEET 
 
 was a French privateer, which had hoped to 
 make a prize or two under cover of night. 
 
 Getting under way from Martinique, the cum- 
 bersome fleet worked its way northward, passing 
 in full view of Martinique and Guadeloupe, 
 and on the morning of the 16th sighted Mont- 
 serrat. It was here that a stranger was dis- 
 covered in the midst of the fleet. The Merrimac 
 promptly gave her a shot and brought her to. 
 She proved to be a harmless English schooner 
 from Montserrat, but the fact that she had come 
 into the fleet and had remained there undetected 
 until daylight, shows how difficult was the task 
 in which Captain Brown was engaged. It was 
 this danger, and the difficulty of keeping so 
 many vessels of widely varying sailing qualities, 
 together, that led Captain Brown to write: 
 " You may think there is an honor in this busi- 
 ness [convoying], but there is more trouble to 
 keep them together. ... I don't expect 
 much idle bread. I have been but four days at a 
 time in port since my arrival at the rendezvous." 
 
 As the great fleet passed the bay of Nevis, the 
 [166] 
 
STRANGERS IN THE FLEET 
 
 Merrimac's second lieutenant went ashore in a 
 boat to ascertain if any American merchantmen 
 were there desiring convoy. Finding none, he 
 returned, and the fleet bore away for St. Kitts, 
 coming to anchor in Basseterre before night. 
 Here they found the 36-gun frigate Constella- 
 Hon with her prize, the 40-gun French frigate 
 Insurgent, On the following day the Monte- 
 zuma arrived at Basseterre with twenty sail of 
 American merchantmen, increasing the fleet to a 
 total of forty-two sail. 
 
 At noon, February 18th, the fleet got under 
 way and began the final passage homeward. 
 Sweeping majestically past the Dutch islands of 
 St. Eustatius and Saba, with the Merrimac in 
 the lead, the armada was thrown into some con- 
 fusion by two incidents. At half-past four 
 o'clock in the morning, when it was still dark, a 
 strange sail was discovered. The Merrimac 
 promptly gave chase, and fired three shots be- 
 fore she hove-to. She was an English privateer 
 brig of fourteen guns. 
 
 In a number of instances English war-ships 
 [157] 
 
CONVOYING A GREAT FLEET 
 
 had intercepted our merchantmen and, had it 
 not been for the protection afforded by the Mer- 
 rimac in this case, it is probable that the priva- 
 teer would not have resisted the temptation of 
 " seizing " one or more of the fleet. As it was, 
 she was requested to " move on." 
 
 Scarcely had the affair of the privateer been 
 dismissed when, at 7 a. m., a large ship was dis- 
 covered to leeward, to which the swift-sailing 
 Merrimac gave chase. When quite near, the 
 stranger showed English colors. Of course, any 
 French craft could easily have used this flag to 
 escape molestation. To guard against such a 
 trick, the American and English officers had ar- 
 ranged a secret code by which they could dis- 
 tinguish each other. It was this secret signal 
 that Captain Brown now displayed, but finding 
 that the stranger did not answer, the Americans 
 cleared for action and fired several shots. This 
 was answered by the stranger firing several 
 guns, " some to leeward and some to windward." 
 
 Determined to remove all doubt, Captain 
 Brown crowded on sail and by ten o'clock came 
 [158] 
 
SEVERE DISCIPLINE 
 
 up with her and, on hailing, learned that she was 
 an English war-ship on a cruise. In response 
 to the sharp inquiry why they had so nearly 
 precipitated a battle between the two men-of- 
 war, the Englishman said that he had not been 
 able to make out the Merrimac^s signals. 
 
 Greatly vexed by the incident, Captain Brown 
 rejoined his fleet and on the following day ex- 
 ercised a little discipline on one of his own con- 
 voy, when her master paid no attention to sig- 
 nals. Early in the morning, observing a mer- 
 chantman disobeying the fleet signals, Captain 
 Brown fired three shots into the offender, and 
 then sent his second lieutenant, Samuel Chase, 
 aboard her to give her master a severe lecture. 
 
 About four o'clock on the following morning, 
 the Merrimac brought-to and boarded an Eng- 
 lish lugger of ten guns that was found among 
 the merchantmen that morning after a dark 
 night. It was really singular how many Brit- 
 ish armed craft managed to make their way 
 into this fleet under cover of night. 
 
 After remaining at St. Thomas several days, 
 [159] 
 
CONVOYING A GREAT FLEET 
 
 the fleet, on February 22d, got under way 
 again, when Midshipman Brown notes : " We 
 fired a salute of seventeen guns which was an- 
 swered by a number of American vessels [in the 
 convoy] in honor to General Washington, it 
 being his birthday." 
 
 The great fleet had now, after several narrow 
 escapes, cleared the dangers of the West Indies 
 and was boldly heading into the Atlantic Ocean 
 for a quick run up the coast of the United States 
 to the various home ports. On the second day 
 out from St. Thomas, the Merrimac (always in 
 the lead of the imposing armada, like a general 
 marshaling his forces), chased two strangers, 
 who proved to be Americans bound for St. 
 Thomas. 
 
 Having escorted the merchantmen well on 
 their last stretch of the voyage to the United 
 States, the Merrimac, on February 28th, sig- 
 naled : " Make the best of your way home," 
 headed about, and shaped her course so as to 
 make a broad sweep to the eastward of the 
 Lesser Antilles, in the hope of falling in with 
 [ 160 ] 
 
A HARD CHASE 
 
 some of the enemy's cruisers on her way back to 
 Prince Rupert's Bay. On several occasions 
 Captain Brown's expectations seemed about to 
 be fulfilled. 
 
 At two o'clock on the morning following his 
 farewell to his fleet, he discovered two strange 
 sails, one to the northeast and one to the south- 
 east. An hour later he made out the first to be 
 a ship standing for the Merrimac. Finding, on 
 exchange of signals, that she was English, Cap- 
 tain Brown, at four o'clock, tacked to the south 
 and overhauled the schooner Victory, fourteen 
 days out from Norfolk. 
 
 At ten o'clock on the night of March 6th the 
 Merrimac discovered and gave chase to a sail 
 directly ahead. In spite of rain squalls and the 
 darkness. Captain Brown managed to keep on 
 the track of the stranger and, at 3 a. m., picked 
 up a small boat which, evidently, had been 
 thrown overboard from the chase. All that day 
 the race continued, the stranger being fore-and- 
 aft-rigged, making a better course of it to 
 windward than the square-rigged Merrimac. 
 [161] 
 
CONVOYING A GREAT FLEET 
 
 By nightfall the chase had greatly increased her 
 lead and, during the night, escaped. 
 
 No further sign of a sail was discovered until 
 on the morning of March 10th, when two large 
 ships were descried off the northern end of the 
 island of Desirade, at which point the Merrimac 
 had now arrived on her return voyage to the 
 rendezvous. Making signals, Captain Brown 
 soon learned that they were the Constellation 
 and the British war-ship Santa Margarita. The 
 Merrimac now laid a direct course for Prince 
 Rupert's Bay, arriving there on the following 
 day. 
 
 [16S] 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 CAPTURING FRENCH WAR-SHIPS 
 
 /4 FTER remaining in port two weeks, the 
 /"-% Merrimac, on March 20th, put to sea 
 in company with the United States, 
 Constitution and Eagle for a cruise. Making 
 their course for Guadeloupe, they took a look 
 into the harbor of St. Pierre, Martinique, where 
 they saw a number of vessels. Becoming sepa- 
 rated from her consorts, the Merrimac made her 
 way up to Antigua and, on the evening of 
 March 25th, gave chase to a brig which made 
 every effort to escape. The pursuit lasted all 
 night but at half -past five o'clock in the morn- 
 ing the Merrimac was sufficiently near to bring 
 the chase to with a shot. She proved to be the 
 Harmony of Baltimore, which had been captured 
 by the French privateer, Resolue, and had on 
 board a prize-master and eight negroes. Tak- 
 [163] 
 
CAPTURING FRENCH WAR-SHIPS 
 
 ing his prisoners on board the Merrimac, Cap- 
 tain Brown placed a prize crew in the Harmony 
 and escorted her to St. Pierre, where they ar- 
 rived March 30th. 
 
 Remaining in port only long enough to re- 
 plenish his water casks, Captain Brown put to 
 sea again on April 1st for a general cruise 
 among the islands. A number of sails were 
 spoken and meetings with war-ships were 
 frequent. 
 
 At one o'clock on the morning of April 10th a 
 large ship was discovered bearing down on the 
 Merrimac, Captain Brown made the neces- 
 sary night signals but, as they were not an- 
 swered, he hastily cleared for action. At 
 daylight the stranger proved to be the Consti- 
 tution. 
 
 On the following day the Constitution spoke 
 a brig from Surinam and learned that the 
 Portsmouth was at that port with a fleet of sixty 
 American merchantmen ready to sail for the 
 United States. It was also learned that a num- 
 ber of French privateers were fitting in the 
 [164] 
 
A BRIEF VISIT HOME 
 
 vicinity with a view to attacking the merchant- 
 men whenever opportunity offered. 
 
 Two weeks later, while the Merrvmac was 
 cruising near St. Thomas, a number of sails were 
 descried to leeward and, on running down and 
 exchanging signals, they proved to be the 
 Surinam convoy under the protection of the 
 Constitution. The next few days the Merrimac 
 was engaged in " drumming up " the rear of the 
 fleet — that is, towing the dull sailers so that 
 the convoy might remain in compact form. 
 
 After remaining near the fleet several days, 
 the Merrimac shaped her course northward and 
 on May 12th anchored in Nantucket Roads 
 from which place she went to Boston, anchoring 
 in President's Roads May 15th, thus giving the 
 officers and men of the ship an opportunity to 
 see their families and friends. Remaining in this 
 port only a few days, the Merrimac again got 
 under way and on June 7th sailed from Boston 
 to return to her station in the West Indies. 
 
 At two o'clock on the morning of June 20th, 
 while on her old cruising ground, the Merrimac 
 [165] 
 
CAPTURING FRENCH WAR-SHIPS 
 
 gave chase to a suspicious sail and, after a hard 
 run, in which she fired twenty-three shots, the 
 cruiser came up with her and, giving a broad- 
 side, compelled the stranger to haul down her 
 flag. She proved to be the French national 
 schooner Magicienne, of fourteen guns and six- 
 tj^-three men. The prisoners were taken aboard 
 the Merrimac and, placing a prize crew of ten 
 men aboard the Magicienne, Captain Brown re- 
 sumed his cruise, having his prize in company. 
 
 At one o'clock on the morning of the follow- 
 ing day, while near the island of Desirade, a sail 
 was discovered northward and, standing for her, 
 the Merrimac fired three shots and brought her 
 to. Owing to the extreme darkness and vio- 
 lent squalls the Americans were unable to board 
 their prize. Captain Brown ordered the French- 
 men to hoist a light and to remain close by until 
 daylight. During a terrific storm of thunder 
 and lightning the Merrimac lost sight of the 
 second vessel but managed to retain the Magi- 
 cienne. 
 
 It was on this dark night that Captain 
 [166] 
 
A TERRIBLE TROPICAL STORM 
 
 Brown gave proof of those sterling qualities 
 which so distinguished him as a commander. 
 The incident was narrated in 1846 by Dr. Na- 
 thaniel Bradstreet who, for many years, was a 
 prominent physician in Newburyport. Dr. 
 Bradstreet, as a young man, entered the navy, 
 his first service being that of surgeon in the 
 Merrimac on this cruise. The following is taken 
 from Samuel Swett's sketch of Moses Brown's 
 life, privately published in 1846. 
 
 " Dr. Bradstreet relates," says Mr. Swett, 
 " how they were visited by one of those tre- 
 mendous storms which are known only within 
 the tropics, accompanied by the most terrific 
 thunder and lightning he had ever witnessed. 
 Every man on board was thoroughly appalled 
 at the instant, inevitable destruction which 
 seemed impending over them — excepting their 
 commander who, in the height of the tempest, 
 was walking his quarter deck in total, absolute, 
 unruffled composure. 
 
 " Dr. Bradstreet, though a very firm man, 
 observing him was tempted by his anxious ap- 
 [167] 
 
CAPTURING FRENCH WAR-SHIPS 
 
 prehension to venture the bounds of formal pro- 
 priety and put this question to him: 
 
 " ' Don't you think we are in danger from the 
 storm, sir? ' 
 
 To which Captain Brown repHed, very 
 calmly : " ' Why, doctor, it has not hurt us 
 yet.' 
 
 " And there was no stage acting here. In 
 the midst of this war of worlds, his impassive 
 intellect framed at once his instant, most logi- 
 cal answer to a very logical man; and even 
 threw in a gleam of his own sportive humor be- 
 sides for the encouragement of those about 
 him. There is a surpassing interest in all this 
 and a lofty sublimity indeed, that would render 
 all further comment superfluous." 
 
 At eight o'clock on the following morning 
 chase was given to a schooner and on bringing 
 her to she was found to be the Isabella from 
 Baltimore ; the same the Merrimac had brought- 
 to the night before. Captain Brown now made 
 for Basseterre Roads, arriving there with his 
 prize June 30th, and landed his prisoners. 
 [168] 
 
CRUISING IN COMPANY 
 
 Remaining in port only long enough to refit 
 and take on board provisions, Captain Brown got 
 under way again July 5th for a cruise to the 
 southeast. After speaking the English letter- 
 of -marque Lucretia and the American privateer 
 Polly, of North Carolina, John Chadwick, 
 master, and meeting a large number of vessels 
 daily, the Merrimac made her way to the east 
 side of Guadeloupe and Desirade; where she 
 would be most likely to fall in with outward and 
 homeward bound ships. She frequently met 
 other vessels of our fleet and at times cruised in 
 company with the Ganges, George Washington 
 and Norfolk, 
 
 Under date of July 15th Joseph Brown notes : 
 " At 5 A. M. saw a sail. Gave chase but at 8 
 A. M. lost sight of her. At 10 a. m. saw a sail to 
 the south and gave chase to it. At 11 a. m. saw 
 a Danish schooner to windward. Gave her a 
 gun. The Norfolk spoke her. Continued chas- 
 ing the other sail, which was a small schooner. 
 Fired two shots at her. At noon gave over the 
 chase, the schooner being close inshore." 
 [169] 
 
CAPTURING FRENCH WAR-SHIPS 
 
 On July 19th, while the Merrimac, Ganges 
 and Norfolk were scudding before a heavy 
 squall, the Norfolk carried away her maintop- 
 mast. Captain Brown immediately bore down 
 to his consort and went aboard with proffers of 
 assistance. The injury was a slight one but, 
 fortunately, none of the crew was hurt. As the 
 Norfolk would be placed in a precarious position 
 if she met a French war-ship while in this par- 
 tially crippled condition, the Merrimac and 
 Ganges accompanied their consort to Prince 
 Rupert's Bay, arriving there on the day follow- 
 ing the accident. 
 
 The next day, however, the Merrimac^ having 
 refilled her water casks, put to sea again in 
 company with the Ganges. That day they fell 
 in with a great fleet of American and English 
 merchantmen bound for St. Kitts under the 
 protection of the United States and other war- 
 ships. By order of Captain Barry, the Merri- 
 mac and Ganges were ordered to escort the mer- 
 chantmen to their destination. Taking a dull 
 sailing sloop in tow, the Merrimac resumed her 
 [170] 
 
A FLEET OF 100 MERCHANTMEN 
 
 convoy duties. Having seen the fleet safely 
 into Basseterre, St. Kitts, the Merr'imac, at the 
 special request of the American agent at that 
 place, Mr. Clarkson, convoyed a schooner to St. 
 Bartholomew, Mr. Clarkson being a passenger. 
 
 While returning from this errand, the Merri- 
 mac gave chase to a schooner which failed to 
 answer the signals and, after tacking several 
 times, and finding that the schooner was gaining 
 on him. Captain Brown fired two shots to induce 
 her to heave-to. It proved to be the EngHsh 
 sloop Neptune, William P. Robertson, master. 
 
 By the time Captain Brown returned to Bas- 
 seterre he found there assembled a fleet of one 
 hundred merchantmen* awaiting convoy to the 
 United States. As so many ships were too 
 bulky a mass to be conveniently navigated in 
 the comparatively narrow waters of the West 
 Indies, they were divided into squadrons, and 
 escorted one at a time to St. Thomas, and 
 thence homeward. 
 
 While lying in Basseterre Roads waiting to 
 take his turn at this work. Captain Barry re- 
 [171] 
 
CAPTURING FRENCH WAR-SHIPS 
 
 ceived word that several French privateers were 
 cruising to the southward and he sent the Mer- 
 rimac, post-haste, after them, with the result 
 that one of the most dangerous French letters- 
 cf-marque in the West Indies was captured. 
 The details of this affair are given in the Mer- 
 rimac^s log as follows: 
 
 " Aug. 6th. — At 1 p. M. hove up [anchor] 
 and got under way. Saw a small fleet of Ameri- 
 cans running down under the convoy of an 
 English letter-of-marque, from Martinique 
 bound to America. Took them under my own 
 convoy. At 4 p. m. saw the Commodore 
 [Barry] with a prize which he had captured, 
 from Guadeloupe, laden with sugar and coffee. 
 At 5 p. M. went on board with the Commodore 
 [probably in obedience to a signal]. At half- 
 past five o'clock the Captain returned and made 
 sail. Left the fleet to proceed on under convoy 
 of the English [letter-of-marque] brig. [Evi- 
 dently Captain Barry had received information 
 about French privateers and had dispatched 
 the Merrimac after them.] At 11 a. m. spoke 
 [172] 
 
CAPTURE OF THE " BONAPARTE " 
 
 a Danish schooner from Martinique. At 11.30 
 A. M. boarded an EngHsh brig from Hahfax 
 bound to Antigua, out twenty-one days. A sail 
 in sight running down. 
 
 " Aug. 7th. — Begins with fresh breezes and 
 squally weather. Employed beating to wind- 
 ward. At 1 p. M. boarded the schooner Neutral- 
 ity, from New Haven bound for St. Kitts, out 
 thirty-four days. At 8 a. m. saw a sail. Bore 
 away and gave chase. Fired three shots and at 
 nine o'clock brought her to. She proved to be 
 the French letter-of -marque Bonaparte, of eight 
 guns and thirty-four men. Took the prisoners 
 on board, and manned her with a prize crew. 
 The island of Nevis bearing southwest, one-half 
 south, distant four leagues." 
 
 Although one of the smallest privateers in the 
 West Indies, the Bonaparte had contrived to do 
 more injury to American commerce than any 
 other French armed vessel. The Merrimac re- 
 turned to Basseterre with her prize. 
 
 [173] 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 VERY ACTIVE CRUISING 
 
 THAT Captain Brown did not earn 
 " idle bread " while in the service of 
 the Government is fully shown by the 
 log of the Merrimac. As we have seen in the 
 last chapter, he entered the port of Basseterre 
 with his prize, the Bonaparte, on the night of 
 July 7th. Leaving a midshipman and two men 
 in charge of the privateer, he sailed again 
 early in the morning of the 9th, and resumed 
 his search of the enemy. 
 
 On the evening of the next day, while in com- 
 pany with the Pickering, he gave chase to a 
 strange sail. Managing to keep in sight of 
 the stranger all that night the Merrimac, on 
 the following morning, came up with it and 
 found her to be a French cartel — " with a cargo 
 of prisoners on board " — from Guadeloupe 
 [174] 
 
A SOCIABLE DINNER AT SEA 
 
 bound to Charleston, S. C. Most of the cap- 
 tives were American sailors who had been 
 taken in trading vessels by French men-of-war 
 and privateers and had been confined in the 
 dungeons of Guadeloupe. Many of them had 
 been brutally treated and, packed in the nar- 
 row confines of the cartel, presented a pitiable 
 appearance. 
 
 To break the monotony of the cruise, the 
 officers of our different war-ships frequently 
 dined with one another while sailing in company. 
 It was while Master-Commandant Edward Pre- 
 ble, of the Pickering, was dining with Captain 
 Brown aboard the Merrimac, August 12th, that 
 word was sent down to the Captain's cabin that 
 a strange sail had been sighted. Young Joseph 
 Brown does not say what the sturdy sea fighters 
 had for dinner but that is immaterial to this 
 narrative, for Preble immediately rushed up on 
 deck, threw himself into his gig and urged his 
 oarsmen, at a thirty-two-a-minute stroke, to 
 hasten back to the Pickering, while Captain 
 Brown was setting all sail — chuckling with glee 
 [175] 
 
VERY ACTIVE CRUISING 
 
 to find that he had got a five-minutes' start of 
 the Pickering. 
 
 All this haste was futile, and the good din- 
 ner was wasted, however, for the stranger proved 
 to be the good United States ship Ganges, Cap- 
 tain Thomas Tingey. Determined to have a 
 fine feast, anyway. Captain Brown went 
 aboard the Ganges " at 8 p. m. and returned 
 at half -past nine o'clock " [so the log reads] — • 
 ample time for a man with a forty-eight-inch 
 waist to enjoy the good things of life. 
 
 The three vessels, Merrimac, Ganges and 
 Pickering, now cruised in company for several 
 days. On the 14th the Merrimac chased a 
 stranger into a port in Guadeloupe. Captain 
 Brown persisted so long in the effort that he 
 got under the guns of the fort and had to haul 
 aboard his tacks so sharply that the good ship 
 was taken by surprise — or at least got her head 
 into the wind and was taken " aback." As there 
 was a stiff breeze at the time it was really a 
 critical moment for the ship — as she began to 
 gather stern-board. With good management, 
 [176] 
 
SEARCHING FOR A PRIVATEER 
 
 however, the sloop-of-war was put about and 
 " showed a clean pair of heels " to the fort. 
 
 On the evening of the 15th of August the 
 squadron gave chase to a stranger. All night 
 long the ships crowded on every stitch of canvas 
 that would draw but the Ganf^es, having the 
 advantage in position, had the honor of running 
 down the game on the following morning. It 
 proved to be an American schooner that had 
 been captured by a French privateer and was 
 now making for Guadeloupe with a French 
 prize crew aboard. 
 
 From the American prisoners on board it was 
 learned that the privateer was near by and, 
 shaping their course in the direction given, the 
 Americans soon descried her sails and made all 
 haste in pursuit. The vessels were now in sight 
 of Guadeloupe and the chase — after receiving 
 four shots from the cruiser — managed to make 
 the port in safety. 
 
 Under dates of August 17th Joseph Brown 
 notes : " At three o'clock in the afternoon, hove- 
 to off Basseterre, St. Kitts. At 5 p. m. lost a 
 [177] 
 
VERY ACTIVE CRUISING 
 
 man overboard by the name of Martin Maden." 
 Getting under way again the next day, the 
 Merrimac fell in with a fleet of nine American 
 and one English merchantmen and convoyed 
 them to St. Thomas. After cruising several 
 weeks to the windward of the Lesser Antilles, in 
 company with several other American war-ships, 
 the Merrimac, on September 6th, put into 
 Prince Rupert's Bay for water. 
 
 As illustrating the ceaseless activity of this 
 service, it will be noted that on the second day 
 in port, while engaged in filling up her water- 
 casks, a squadron of seven sail appeared pass- 
 ing the entrance of the harbor making north- 
 ward. In obedience to signals from Captain 
 Barry the Merrimac was at once put under sail, 
 ran out to investigate and, on ascertaining that 
 the strangers were not French, returned to her 
 moorings. 
 
 On the 10th of September the Merrimac 
 
 again got to sea, in company with the Ganges, 
 
 for a cruise northward. After beating for a 
 
 week against a strong head wind and a lee cur- 
 
 [178] 
 
A RECAPTURE 
 
 rent, the Merrimac, while off Dcsirade, gave 
 chase to two large sails. Much to the disap- 
 pointment of all, they proved to be the English 
 sloop-of-war Bittern with her prize, a French 
 privateer recently captured. 
 
 Working her way northward, the Merrimac 
 put into Basseterre, St. Kitts, for provisions 
 and, on the evening of the 24th of September, 
 while cruising in sight of Porto Rico, gave 
 chase to a strange sail. The pursuit lasted all 
 night, and on the following morning Captain 
 Brown came up with and boarded the English 
 schooner Charming Nancy, which had recently 
 been captured by a French privateer and was 
 in the possession of a French prize crew. The 
 Charming Nancy was bound for New York. 
 Captain Brown took the Frenchmen aboard the 
 Merrimac and, placing a midshipman and five 
 men aboard the schooner, ordered them to make 
 the best of their way to that port. 
 
 Scarcely had the Americans completed the 
 change when another sail hove in sight and, 
 giving chase, the Merrimac, at 7 p. m., over- 
 [179] 
 
VERY ACTIVE CRUISING 
 
 hauled the American sloop Elizabeth, from New 
 York bound for Cura9ao which, also, had been 
 captured by the French and was in the hands of 
 a prize crew. Transferring the prisoners to the 
 Merrimac, Captain Brown worked his way along 
 the southern side of Porto Rico and on the 
 afternoon of September 28th made sail after a 
 stranger which led him a hard chase all that 
 night. Early on the following morning he came 
 up with it. It proved to be a French schooner 
 with a number of passengers aboard from Jac- 
 quemel, bound for St. Domingo. As the ship 
 was not armed, Captain Brown, after placing 
 on board three of his prisoners, allowed the 
 schooner to proceed. A few hours afterward 
 chase was given to another sail but, after 
 getting within gunshot and firing a few shots, 
 the Merrimac lost her in the night. 
 
 While cruising to the south of Porto Rico 
 the Merrimac, on the 30th of September and 
 the 1st of October, boarded two Spanish vessels 
 and two English privateers but did not molest 
 them. While near the Grand Cayman, on the 
 [180] 
 
AT VERA CRUZ 
 
 5th of October, two boats put off from the 
 shore and, thinking that they might have in- 
 formation of value to him. Captain Brown 
 hove-to. On coming alongside they proved to 
 be " bumboats," manned by negroes anxious to 
 sell fresh provisions. Captain Brown purchased 
 some turtles from them and resumed his 
 cruise. 
 
 Making his way into the Gulf of Mexico 
 and signaling vessels almost every day. Captain 
 Brown, on the 20th of October, anchored in the 
 harbor of Vera Cruz, where he filled his water 
 casks and replenished his stock of provisions. 
 Three days later the ship was ready for sea, 
 waiting only for a favorable wind. The wind, 
 however, blew steadily from the wrong direction 
 for forty-eight hours, compelling the Merrimac 
 to remain in port. 
 
 At one time the gale was so heavy that the 
 cruiser dragged her anchors and was com- 
 pelled to run a hawser to a Spanish frigate and 
 hang on to her. Finally, on the afternoon of 
 the 25th, the wind served and, firing a salute 
 [181] 
 
VERY ACTIVE CRUISING 
 
 of thirteen guns, which was answered by 
 the Spanish frigate, the Merrimac put to 
 sea. 
 
 Shaping his course back to his old cruising 
 ground. Captain Brown, on the evening of No- 
 vember 18th, gave chase to a suspicious sail 
 which appeared to the west. As the stranger 
 seemed anxious to avoid a meeting. Captain 
 Brown crowded on all sail, notwithstanding the 
 fact that a terrific gale was blowing at the time. 
 All that night the Merrimac staggered and 
 groaned under a fearful pressure of canvas — 
 the chase also bordering on the danger point 
 in sail-carrying in her evident eagerness to es- 
 cape. It was not until five o'clock the next 
 morning that the Merrimac finally reached the 
 chase and, even then, it was not until the Ameri- 
 cans had fired three shots that the stranger was 
 induced to heave-to. Much to the chagrin of 
 all, she proved to be a Spanish sloop out of 
 Havana. As it was blowing a heavy gale, with 
 a boisterous sea. Captain Brown did not board 
 and permitted her to proceed. The Spaniards 
 [182] 
 
A SERIOUS LEAK 
 
 had mistaken the Merrimac for an EngUsh war- 
 ship. 
 
 On the 21st of November the Merrimac put 
 into Havana for water and provisions, where 
 she found the Norfolk, Captain Brown had 
 now received his homeward-bound orders and, 
 taking on board eleven French prisoners from 
 the Norfolk he left Havana on the 25th of No- 
 vember and shaped his course northward. 
 
 When four days out a dangerous leak was 
 discovered in the f orehold. The weather, at the 
 time, was stormy and heavy seas made it ex- 
 ceedingly difficult to get at the place. It seems 
 that the Merrimac had a quantity of coal 
 aboard for ballast and it got in the pumps in 
 such a way as to prevent them from working. 
 
 All hands that could be spared from navigat- 
 ing the ship, were at once put to work getting 
 the coal out of the hold. The task was not com- 
 pleted until the next morning, when the car- 
 penter found that the leak could not be reached 
 until the ship made port. A passage was cleared 
 for the water, however, and by working one 
 [183] 
 
VERY ACTIVE CRUISING 
 
 pump all the time the leakage was kept 
 down. 
 
 From this time on the Merrimac encountered 
 a series of gales and, on the 1st of December, 
 Captain Brown placed his quarter-deck guns in 
 the hold in order to steady his ship. The Mer- 
 rimac put into Cape Ann Roads December 8th 
 and anchored, after an absence from home of 
 six months, nearly all of that time having been 
 spent on the open sea. Young Joseph Brown 
 now resigned from his position as midshipman 
 and left the navy for mercantile pursuits. 
 
 [184] 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 CLOSING SCENES 
 
 THE year 1800 opened auspiciously for 
 American arms in the West Indies. 
 Early in February, the 36-gun frigate 
 Constellation again had the envied opportunity 
 of meeting a worthy foe — her antagonist this 
 time being the 4)0-gun French frigate Venge- 
 ance. Our navy was materially increased and 
 a larger force was detailed for patrol and 
 convoy duty in the West Indies. 
 
 As might be expected, such a powerful and 
 successful cruiser as the Merrimac was not per- 
 mitted to remain long in port and, early in 
 1800, Captain Brown again found himself on 
 his way to the scene of hostihties. In the course 
 of the naval campaign of this year the Merri- 
 mac captured two French privateers, the 
 Brillante, of sixteen guns, and the Phenix, of 
 [186] 
 
CLOSING SCENES 
 fourteen guns and one hundred ai;d twenty- 
 eight men — besides rendering valuable services 
 in the hne of convoying merchantmen and re- 
 capturing American traders which had fallen 
 into the enemy's hands. 
 
 At one time Captain Brown was intrusted 
 with the command of a small squadron, consist- 
 ing of the Merrimac and the 20-gun sloop-of- 
 war Patapsco, Captain Henry Geddes, to 
 disperse a fleet of French armed craft, mostly 
 letters-of-marque and picaroons, which had 
 sailed from Guadeloupe and had made a 
 descent on the island of Cura9ao. This place 
 had been captured from the Dutch by the 
 English only two years before and so became 
 a legitimate object of attack for Frenchmen. 
 Had they confined their acts of violence to 
 Englishmen, there would have been no ground 
 for American intervention but our interests 
 had been infringed upon and so this squadron, 
 with Captain Brown as its " commodore," was 
 sent out. 
 
 Midshipman Benjamin Whitraore, who was in 
 [186] 
 
EXPEDITION TO CURACAO 
 
 the Merrimac on that expedition, says in a pri- 
 vate letter, written in 1846: "They (the ban- 
 ditti) took Outer Banda, or the west side of the 
 river, and plundered the inhabitants of. nearly 
 everything. Our ship [the Merrimac'], with the 
 Patapsco, was ordered there, and on our appear- 
 ance at the island they all cut and ran. But 
 before they could reach Guadeloupe, whence 
 they sailed, we captured the Brilliante. Other 
 of our cruisers captured two or three more of 
 the picaroons." 
 
 After this blow, French privateering in the 
 West Indies steadily declined so that many of 
 our cruisers were ordered home. A treaty of 
 peace with France, which had been in course of 
 negotiation some time, was ratified by the Senate 
 February 3, 1801, and all our cruisers were re- 
 called. 
 
 It has been noted in a previous chapter that 
 when Congress tried the costly experiment of 
 " running a government " without a naval force 
 sufficiently large to protect its commerce and 
 interests abroad, our merchants suffered losses 
 [187] 
 
CLOSING SCENES 
 which, in the aggregate, amounted to many 
 times the sum saved by not maintaining a naval 
 force commensurate with the growth of the 
 country. 
 
 As a result of the brief protection afforded by 
 the little navy called into existence by our war 
 with France, the exports from the United States 
 increased from $57,000,000 in 1797— when not 
 a single American cruiser was in commission — 
 to $78,665,528 in 1799: an increase of over 
 $21,000,000. In the same period the revenue 
 on imports rose from $6,000,000 to $9,080,932. 
 The entire cost of this naval force, including 
 construction, equipment and maintenance, was 
 not over $6,000,000 — a fairly good commen- 
 tary on the sound common sense of insuring the 
 safety and prosperity of the country by main- 
 taining a navy of a size proportionate with 
 its wealth. As if the lesson of the French war 
 was not sufficient, the Government, on the con- 
 clusion of peace with France, immediately began 
 to cut down the navy. It was under John 
 Adams that the Navy Department had been es- 
 [188] 
 
REDUCING THE NAVY 
 
 tablished and the new navy created. In fact, 
 Adams all through the Revolution was one of 
 the master minds who recognized the necessity 
 of a naval establishment and did his utmost to 
 advance the interests of our mercantile marine. 
 In the Presidential campaign of 1800, John 
 Adams was defeated and Thomas Jefferson was 
 elected President of the United States. As 
 Jefferson represented the extreme democratic 
 view of government — which at that time was as 
 much opposed to a permanent navy as the country 
 at large was to a standing army — it was gen- 
 erally believed that the newly created navy was 
 doomed. In justice to the broad, discriminat- 
 ing statesmanship of Jefferson, however, it must 
 be admitted that, on his accession to power, he 
 placed the navy on a peace footing in a manner 
 that would have done credit to John Adams 
 himself.^ 
 
 ^That the opposition of the Democrats (as they may 
 properly be called) to a standing army and a navy was, at 
 that time, reasonable, will be seen in the following ex- 
 tracts from the private journal of William Maclay who, 
 with Robert Morris, represented Pennsylvania in the first 
 
 [189] 
 
CLOSING SCENES 
 
 It is true that there was a large reduction 
 in the materiel and personnel, but on a careful 
 inspection of this " cutting down " process it 
 will be found that Jefferson, while making 
 radical changes in almost every other de- 
 Congress, 1789-1791. It was a time when precedents 
 were to be established and a strong effort was made by 
 some to have the new government conform as much as 
 possible to the pomp and parade of Old World courts, 
 after so much had been done to establish a real Republic 
 in America. In the absence of Thomas Jefferson in 
 Europe, William Maclay, unquestionably, was the leader 
 of democratic ideas and principles in the first Congress, 
 and did much to frustrate the attempts of the " mon- 
 archists," as they were called by some, to ape the mon- 
 archical functions of European courts. 
 
 In his private journal, Mr. Maclay says: "It is the 
 design of the Court party [referring to those who wished 
 the new government to conform as much as possible to 
 the monarchical ideas of the Old World] to have a 
 fleet and an army. This was but the entering wedge of 
 the new monarchy in America, after all the bloodshed 
 and sufferings of a seven-years' war to establish a repub- 
 lic. The Indian war is forced forward to justify our 
 having a standing army, and eleven unfortunate men now 
 in slavery in Algiers is the pretext for fitting out a fleet." 
 In another place he says : " I have heard it break out 
 often. It is another menace to our republican institu- 
 tions." — See William Maclay's Journal, p. 383. 
 
 [190] 
 
« HONORABLY DISCHARGED " 
 partment, left the navy practically unim- 
 paired. 
 
 When peace was proclaimed there were thirty- 
 four war-ships in the navy, nineteen of which 
 were disposed of ; leaving only fifteen in the ser- 
 vice. This, at first glance, might seem like a 
 sweeping reduction but the sifting out had been 
 done advisedly so that, while nineteen out of 
 thirty-four ships had been retired, the actual 
 strength of the navy had been reduced only 
 one-fifth — the vessels retained being the largest 
 and most formidable while those discarded were 
 of the lower ratings. 
 
 In reducing the personnel, however, there was, 
 necessarily, much injustice done. It is easy to 
 discriminate between the fair and poor qualities 
 of competitive ships, so as to determine which 
 are the more valuable but when such choice is 
 made between a given number of officers the 
 difficulties are obvious. It cannot be denied that 
 Captain Brown's record in the two-years' war 
 against France had been exemplary — if not dis- 
 tinguished. He did not have the coveted oppor- 
 [191] 
 
CLOSING SCENES 
 
 tunity of meeting a foe worthy of his steel and, 
 while his service was one of constant activity, 
 watchfulness, anxiety and strain, there was 
 nothing about it which we can point out as dis- 
 tinguishing it from that performed by a score 
 of his brother officers. 
 
 When the personnel of the navy was cut 
 down to nine captains, thirty-six lieutenants 
 and one hundred and fifty midshipmen. Cap- 
 tain Brown was one of the twenty-eight cap- 
 tains who were " honorably discharged." It is 
 possible that politics had something to do with 
 the venerable sailor's retirement, as he was a 
 decided Federalist (though not a warm parti- 
 san), the party that formed the opposition to 
 the newly elected President. To use his own 
 words, spoken twelve years before, he found 
 himself thrown " once more on the wide world 
 for employment to earn bread for myself and 
 family." 
 
 Thus, after forty-four years of continuous 
 service on the ocean, the last two of which had 
 been spent in Uncle Sam's navy. Captain Brown 
 [192] 
 
END OF THE MERRIMAC 
 
 found himself turned adrift on the world to 
 shift for himself, with nothing to show for 
 these long years of toil but a weakened frame, 
 a goodly shock of white hair and a rich fund 
 of experience — assets that seldom profit a for- 
 tune-seeker at the age of threescore. 
 
 The gallant Merrimac, shortly after her ar- 
 rival in Boston from her West Indian service, 
 was sold in 1801 for $21,154, nearly half of 
 her original cost to the Government, which was 
 $46,170. Her name was changed to Monti- 
 cello, in honor of Thomas Jefferson's home, and 
 she was fitted out as a merchantman. " As 
 though indignant at the insult " [i. e., the 
 transformation from a noble war-ship to a mer- 
 chant tramp] , writes Mr. Swett, " she soon lay 
 a wreck on the sands of Cape Cod in one com- 
 mon tomb with her new commander; as the 
 Scythian warrior and his war-horse of old 
 shared one common grave." 
 
 Captain Brown, however, pluckily kept the 
 faith and made a good fight. He turned to his 
 old employers, and soon found a berth as cap- 
 [193] 
 
CLOSING SCENES 
 
 tain of a merchantman. He made several voy- 
 ages to the West Indies with varying success. 
 While returning from Guadeloupe, he was seized 
 with apoplexy, January 1, 1804. The ship, at 
 the time, was in sight of the Long Island shore. 
 Realizing the seriousness of the stroke. Captain 
 Brown — toward sundown, the weather being 
 fine — asked to be carried on deck in order that 
 he might see his native land before he died. 
 Tenderly the rough seamen lifted the dying 
 sea warrior on deck, and placed him in his arm- 
 chair. At his request he was then turned slowly 
 around so as to view all points of the horizon 
 in succession. Having completed the circle 
 and taking a last look at his beloved native 
 land, he feebly remarked : " I have seen enough. 
 Carry me below." He was taken to his cabin 
 and died in an hour. When the news arrived in 
 Newburyport all the shipping in port half- 
 masted their colors. 
 
 Although the ship was only a few days' sail 
 from her home port. Captain Brown was buried 
 at sea. At first, much surprise was expressed by 
 [194] 
 
DEATH OF MOSES BROWN 
 
 members of his family that his remains had not 
 been kept until arrival in port but it was after- 
 ward believed that the venerable mariner him- 
 self had asked to have a sailor's burial. " His 
 funeral rites," said Mr. Swett, " were entirely 
 appropriate and perfectly in keeping with the 
 whole tenor of his life. The only appropriate 
 tomb for him was the deep where, during the 
 whole of his protracted life, had been his home. 
 The only proper mausoleum for him was the 
 mountain wave which he had so long made sub- 
 servient to his will." 
 
 The ocean he sailed on while living, 
 Will sigh o'er him when he is gone. 
 
 [1951 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 IN this work the writer has endeavored to 
 give, not so much a life of Moses Brown, 
 as a picture of the daily perils, hardships, 
 privations and adventures of the average naval 
 officer, in the early days of the service. But 
 Brown's adventures, extraordinary as they cer- 
 tainly were, are only a counterpart of those ex- 
 perienced (with some variation) by dozens of 
 brother officers of his day and scores and hun- 
 dreds of those who succeeded him. 
 
 His experiences are startling to the reading 
 public because we know them to be true. Fic- 
 tion would fear to follow where these facts have 
 led the way. It has been this dearth of detail 
 in the personality of our seamen that has, to a 
 large extent, deadened public interest in the 
 navy. As we have seen, the bare outlines of the 
 [196] 
 
UNOFFICIAL OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 life of Moses Brown furnish material for several 
 works of fiction. 
 
 In the Explanatory note introducing this 
 volume mention is made of Dame Opportunity. 
 In that preface the every-day, unofficial oppor- 
 tunity — the opportunity that does not catch the 
 public ear or dazzle the pubHc eye — was not 
 touched upon. The writer doubts not that 
 every man in the United States navy to-day, of 
 twenty or more years' service, can recall acts of 
 heroism on the part of officers or men of the 
 ship's company, performed in the ordinary, 
 every-day routine of ship life, that were fully 
 equal in point of personal bravery or patriotic 
 fervor to any that have been exploited in page 
 after page of popular literature. 
 
 It has been the writer's privilege to visit fre- 
 quently war-ships of the United States — and 
 those of other nations — in foreign ports. At 
 one time, while in Yokohama, Japan, he wit- 
 nessed the rescue of the crew of a Japanese 
 junk, that had been entangled in the wreck of 
 the Pacific Mail steamer America near the 
 [197] 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 Kanagawa forts. The Bund was lined with 
 American, English, French and native specta- 
 tors — a terrific typhoon being under full head 
 at the time. Two boats put out from an Ameri- 
 can war-ship and, in spite of the appalling 
 chop seas, saved the Islanders. 
 
 Some years later the writer witnessed an or- 
 dinary maneuver in the Thames, England, on 
 the part of a United States war-ship when the 
 lives of several hundred excursionists depended 
 on the calmness of one officer. As many know, 
 the ebb and flood tide in the Thames, when at 
 " full rush," is tremendous. Few steamers can 
 stem it. The war-ship in question was obliged 
 to change her moorings and had got under 
 way, when an excursion steamer came dashing 
 around a bend in the river with the ebb 
 tide at its strongest — crowded with pleasure- 
 seekers. 
 
 Unluckily, the Yankee war craft, getting her 
 " nose caught afoul of the stream," swung 
 broadly across the narrow river, so that a disas- 
 trous collision with the excursion boat seemed 
 [198] 
 
A CRITICAL MOMENT 
 
 unavoidable. The captain of the cruiser being 
 absent, a young officer was in command. As 
 the fearful situation dawned upon the crew 
 every eye in that well-drilled ship's company 
 was instinctively fixed on the young officer and, 
 for an instant, a dead silence fell over the men, 
 as they awaited his next order. It was a trying 
 moment, just such as confronted Farragut in 
 Mobile Bay, when he said, " Damn the torpe- 
 does ! " 
 
 Taking in the situation at a glance, the 
 officer leaned far over the rail of the quarter 
 deck and in a calm, harsh voice, that carried 
 inexpressible authority in it, said to the master 
 of an English coaster that was anchored in the 
 way, " I guess you'd better slip your anchor 
 chain." The Englishman promptly complied, 
 the swift tide carrying his craft downstream 
 sixty fathoms. The man-of-war then dropped 
 an anchor and, in less time than it takes to tell 
 it, straightened out in the berth so hastily va- 
 cated by the coaster — the excursion boat just 
 cleared the war-ship's stem. 
 [199] 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 The incident may seem trivial and trivial it 
 certainly was in its results, for no life was lost 
 and no injury was done; yet the maneuver was 
 cleverly conceived, quickly executed and called 
 for the qualities of a great commander in the 
 height of a naval engagement. Had the young 
 officer's nerve or wit failed at that critical mo- 
 ment, one of the greatest disasters in British 
 river navigation would have resulted. 
 
 These are merely two incidents that have 
 fallen within the obsei-vation of the writer. 
 That there have been hundreds and thousands, 
 equally praiseworthy in their nature, which have 
 never reached the public, is obvious. Captain 
 Brown belonged to that large class of patient, 
 conscientious, painstaking officers who, while 
 faithfully performing the every-day drudgery 
 of routine work, year after year, never received 
 even an official recognition of their worth be- 
 yond that of slow promotion. 
 
 In personal appearance Moses Brown was 
 about six feet high, with a well-knit figure, 
 broad shoulders and, in later years, somewhat 
 [200] 
 
BROWN'S CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 corpulent, though ever light and active on his 
 feet. He shaved his face smooth, after the 
 fashion of the day, and wore a wig with wavy 
 tresses — possibly in keeping with his life on the 
 ocean. It is estimated that in the forty-seven 
 years he spent at sea he made over sixty-five 
 voyages, some of them covering more than a 
 year, and one over two years. He was taken 
 prisoner three times, fought two full-fledged 
 battles, captured about ten of the enemy's ves- 
 sels and had the ghastly distinction of having 
 been buried ahve — at least his supposedly hfe- 
 less body was sewed up in a canvas shroud, with 
 heavy shot at his feet and the board was about 
 to be tipped up when signs of life were dis- 
 covered in him. 
 
 Captain Brown's toast to " General Wash- 
 ington, the Commander-in-chief of the Ameri- 
 can Army " — given while he was a prisoner 
 aboard the 50-gun frigate Experiment, Cap- 
 tain Sir James Wallace, and in the presence of 
 his officers — is of itself sufficient to mark him 
 as a man of strong character. It forms an 
 [201] 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 historical picture worthy of a place beside that 
 of Molly Pitcher, Nathan Hale and other lesser 
 lights of the Revolution. 
 
 While not loud in his religious professions, 
 Captain Brown practiced that quiet, unassum- 
 ing Christianity so frequently seen in the navy, 
 and so delightful to those who really " know 
 the man " and realize how bravely he is endeav- 
 oring to follow the higher ideals of life without 
 preaching or parading it before his brother 
 officers. 
 
 It is not probable that Moses Brown, on sail- 
 ing from port, ever went so far as to leave a 
 note for the minister asking for prayers that 
 " God would preserve him in his attempt to 
 scour the coast of our unnatural enemies " — 
 and incidentally show a handsome balance on 
 the books in the counting room of the pri- 
 vateer's owners. This is what the commander 
 of the Gamecock — a pert little sloop of thirty 
 tons and carrying four swivels — always did 
 and, being one of the first private-armed cruis- 
 ers to get to sea in the Revolution (sailing in 
 [202] 
 
HIGH IDEALS OF MORALITY 
 
 August, 1775), the precedent was more or less 
 religiously followed by many of our privateers- 
 men throughout that struggle. 
 
 That Captain Brown was not a superstitious 
 man is shown in the fact that he consented to 
 take command of the Merrimac with the full 
 knowledge of the baleful circumstances that her 
 keel was laid on a Friday and that she was 
 christened on that unlucky day — and, singu- 
 larly enough, her first prize was taken on a 
 Friday. 
 
 From all the evidence we have in hand we 
 conclude that Captain Brown had that 
 thoroughly gentlemanly accomplishment of re- 
 fraining from the use of profane or harsh ex- 
 pletives in his speech. In his treatment of his 
 subordinates — at least in his later years — ^he 
 refrained from " jumping at a conclusion," al- 
 lowed the man a chance to recover from that 
 " stage fright " or trepidation a true sailor 
 usually feels when addressing (out of the or- 
 dinary routine) an officer, encouraged the men 
 to explain themselves fully, and looked on both 
 [203] 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 sides of the question before coming to a de- 
 cision. 
 
 It must not be inferred from the foregoing 
 that Captain Brown was of the loblolly, soft- 
 hearted and soft-headed order. It is the testi- 
 mony of all who served under him that he was 
 a disciplinarian of the strictest kind; placing 
 no burden on the men that they could not prop- 
 erly perform, but exacting the utmost precision 
 and celerity for the task in hand. 
 
 Moses Brown died a poor man, that is, he 
 left no considerable property. He had always 
 managed, however, to maintain his family boun- 
 tifully and to educate his children. He was of 
 an exceedingly social disposition and affection- 
 ate in his family relations, an exhaustless story- 
 teller and a special favorite with the children, 
 of whom he was very fond.^ 
 
 1 As showing his tender regard for children, the fol- 
 lowing letter from Captain Brown to the widow of his 
 son William, who was lost at sea, 1799, is given: 
 
 St. Kitts, U. S. Ship Merrimack, Oct. ye 28 1800. 
 My Dear Catey, 
 
 it is with anctious simpithy I ira- 
 ploy my pen on so meloncoly a Subject; but a letter 
 [ 204 ] 
 
A SYMPATHETIC NATURE 
 We get an interesting side-light on the Cap- 
 tain's character in the following quotation from 
 the pamphlet of Samuel Swett : " In the Ar- 
 minian church, where he worshiped, — which, 
 
 Resiev'd from my Brother confirms my opinion of the 
 loss of my son & your husband; God in wisdom chastizes 
 us; and I hope it will be for our futer good my Dear 
 girl I know the stroke is heavey on you but Remember 
 tis the same hand that gave him that is ye author of 
 this fatal blow and put your trust in him who is the 
 widdows god and father of ye fatherless children, who 
 hath said leave thy fatherless children I will keep them 
 alive and let thy widdows trust in me. Breach on 
 breach has been made in my family & tis a dept we must 
 all pay (man was born to die) we know not when nor 
 where, tis therefore our duty to Endeavor to be Ready 
 for that Solom hour, my daughter I must beg you to 
 compose your Self as well as possible and Remember in 
 me you have a father and friend on earth & I hope 
 above a father that is better than all earthly parents. 
 
 how short and hasty is our day 
 Life's but a tottering wall 
 the daley breaches plainly tell 
 the house must shortly fall 
 
 I cannot but expect to follow my children soon Even 
 if I live to what is called the age of men — tis but a few 
 days at most. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 Moses Brown. 
 
 [205] 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 in his day was, by a great majority, deemed 
 to be heretical and its worshipers doomed to 
 destruction — preparations had been made, on 
 Sunday, for baptism of one of Captain Brown's 
 grandchildren. But when the time arrived for 
 the performance of the rite, the child was not 
 forthcoming. The erect, courteous and pa- 
 triarchal clergyman. Parson Cary, arose in his 
 pulpit and, knowing well his man and that he 
 could depend on his self-possession, inquired: 
 " Captain Brown, do you expect your grand- 
 child to be brought in for baptism to-day ? " 
 
 The Captain, rising in his pew, in his plain, 
 simple manner, replied: 
 
 " I did expect it, sir, but they seem to have 
 been detained ; " and the services proceeded as 
 usual, as if nothing uncommon had taken 
 place. 
 
 Although not a total abstainer (such char- 
 acters were few and far between in those days), 
 Captain Brown was a temperate man in the best 
 sense of the phrase, and endeavored to inculcate 
 his principles in those around him, as will be 
 [206] 
 
HONORED DESCENDANTS 
 
 seen in the following story : " Captain Brown 
 was very exemplary in his moderation. While 
 on a voyage and discovering that one of his 
 officers too frequently and immoderately re- 
 sorted to a small cask of spirits — a part of the 
 ship's stores — he did not hesitate to make what 
 he must have esteemed a very great sacrifice. 
 In his conciKatory manner he made an impercep- 
 tible leak in the cask by which it was effectually 
 drained. When this officer next resorted to the 
 cask and, putting his hand on it, discovered 
 that it was empty, so abject a slave had he be- 
 come to the enemy that was destroying him, 
 body and soul, and so appalled was he at the 
 sudden and instant sense of his deprivation, that 
 his whole strength failed him — he sank under it 
 helpless on the floor." 
 
 Two of Captain Brown's sons, William and 
 Moses, were lost at sea. 
 
 The descendants of Moses Brown have held 
 many honored positions — social and political — 
 in New England. The only male great-grand- 
 children now living, however, are Mr. Causten 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 Browne, a prominent lawyer in Boston, George 
 Brown, of Bangor, Me., and the Hon. Moses 
 Brown, of Newburyport, Mass. George Brown 
 was major in the First Maine Cavalry during 
 the Civil War. 
 
 [ 208 ] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Explanation of the "Minerva's" com- 
 mission : 
 
 At the upper left-hand corner is the seal of 
 the Navy Department, or Admiralty Office, as it 
 was then called. It shows a frigate under top- 
 sails and has crossed anchors below. In the 
 circle around the seal are the words : " U. S. A., 
 Sigil Naval," while the rest of the circle is 
 filled in with six-pointed stars. The commission 
 (which is a document 12x16 inches) reads as 
 follows : 
 
 THE CONGRESS 
 
 Of the United States of America, 
 
 To ALL to whom these presents shall come, 
 
 send GREETING. 
 
 KNOW YE 
 T H A T we have granted, and by these pres- 
 ents do grant license and authority to Moses 
 [209] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Brown, Esq. — Mariner, Commander of the 
 Ship called the Minerva — of the burthen of 
 Two hundred & twenty — tons or thereabouts, 
 belonging to Nathaniel and John Tracy of 
 Newburyport, County of Essex & Common- 
 wealth of Massachusetts, mounting sixteen car- 
 riage guns, and navigated by sixty men — men, 
 of out and set forth the said ship — in a war- 
 like manner, and by and with the said ship — 
 and officers and crew thereof, by force of arms, 
 to attack, subdue, seize and take all ships and 
 other vessels, goods, wares, and merchandizes 
 belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, or 
 any of the subjects thereof, (except the ships 
 or vessels together with their cargoes belonging 
 to the Inhabitants of Bermuda, and such other 
 ships or vessels bringing persons, with intent to 
 settle within any of the said United States, 
 which ships or vessels you shall suffer to pass 
 unmolested, Masters thereof permitting a 
 peaceable search, and giving satisfactory in- 
 formation of the lading and their destination) 
 or any other ships or vessels, goods, wares or 
 [210] 
 
THE MINERVA'S COMMISSION 
 merchandizes to whomsoever belonging which 
 are or shall be declared to be subjects of cap- 
 ture by any Resolutions of CONGRESS, 
 or which are so deemed by the L A W of N A - 
 T I O N S : And the said ships and vessels, 
 goods, wares and merchandizes so apprehended 
 as aforesaid and as prize taken, to bring into 
 port in order that proceedings may be had con- 
 cerning such captures in due Form of Law, and 
 as to Right and Justice appertaineth. And 
 we request all Kings, Princes, States, and Po- 
 tentates, being in Friendship or AlUance with 
 the said United States, and others to whom it 
 shall appertain to give the said Moses Brown 
 all aid, assistance and succour in their ports 
 with his said vessel, company and prizes. W E , 
 in the name and on behalf of the Good People 
 of the said United States, engaging to do the 
 like to all the Subjects of such Kings, Princes, 
 States and Potentates, who shall come into any 
 Ports in the said United States; and We will 
 and require all our officers whatsoever, to give 
 to the said Moses Brown all necessary aid, suc- 
 [211] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 cour and assistance in the premises. This Com- 
 mission shall continue in force during the pleas- 
 ure of the Congress, and no longer. 
 
 IN TESTIMONY whereof, We have caused 
 the Seal of the Admiralty of the United States 
 to be affixed hereunto. 
 
 WITNESS His Excellency, Samuel Hun- 
 tington, Esquire, President of the CONGRESS 
 of the United States of America, at Philadel- 
 phia this twenty-fourth day of February in the 
 Year of our Lord One thousand, seven hun- 
 dred and eighty-one and in the fifth year of our 
 Independence. 
 
 Samuel Huntington, 
 
 President. 
 Passed the Admiralty Office, 
 John Brown, 
 
 Secretary to the Board of Admiralty. 
 
 [212] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adams, John, 188, 189 
 Adams, J. (Lieut.), 138 
 Algiers, Dey of, 118, 119 
 AUen, Charles W., 23, 46 
 Alliance, 99, 128 
 America, 99 
 America, Steamer, 197 
 Amsterdam, 98 
 
 Basse Terre, 155 
 Batavia, 129 
 Bennett, Moses, 112 
 Bermuda, 109, 113, 144, 
 
 210 
 Bey on, Thomas, 78, 88-91 
 Biddle, Nicholas, 26 
 Bishop, Captain, 96 
 
 Antigua, 52, 55, 154, 163, Bittern, 179 
 
 173 
 Ariel, 99 
 Arnold, Benedict, 17 
 
 Blanchard, William, 147 
 Boardman, Offin, 36, 38, 39 
 Bonaparte, 173, 174 
 Bonhomme Richard, 16, 99, 
 
 128 
 Bordeaux, 70 
 Boston, 35, 36, 38, 45, 63, 68, 
 
 99, 101, 103, 112, 141, 143, 
 
 165, 193 
 Bowie, Archibald, 38 
 Bradstreet, Nathaniel, 136, 
 
 167, 168 
 
 Ballard, Captain, 150 
 Bainbridge, William, 26 
 Baltimore, 121, 140 
 Baltimore, 100, 101, 111, 163, 
 
 168 
 Barbadoes, 138, 147, 154 
 Barney, Joshua, 120 
 Barron, Samuel, 140 
 Barry, John, 120, 138, 170, Bright, Francis, 140 
 
 172, 178 BrillantS, 185, 187 
 
 Bartlett, Hon. Bailey, 125, Brown, Edward, 41 
 
 127 Brown, George (Major), 
 
 Bartlett, William, 127 208 
 
 Basseterre, 50, 157, 168, 170, Brown, John, 138 
 
 171, 173, 177, 179 Brown, John, 212 
 
 [213] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Brown, Joseph, 111, 112, 
 114, 136, 140, 160, 169, 
 175, 177, 184 
 
 Brown, Kate (Mrs.), 204 
 
 Brown, Moses (the Hon.), 
 21, 23 
 
 Brown, Moses (Captain U. 
 S. N.), 13, 16, 17, 21, 32, 
 33; ancestry, 41, 42; first 
 voyages, 43-45; first sea 
 battle, 48-50; early voy- 
 ages, 51-58; first Euro- 
 pean voyage, 59-67; in 
 the General Arnold, 68- 
 92; a prisoner in the Ex- 
 periment, 93-96; perilous 
 times at sea, 98-115; build- 
 ing the Merrimac, 130-132; 
 in the Merrimac, 137-185; 
 at Curasao, 186, 187; 
 " honorably discharged," 
 191, 192; again in the mer- 
 cantile service, 193; his 
 death, 194, 195; character- 
 istics, 201-207; descend- 
 ants, 208 
 
 Cadiz, 60, 88 
 Campbell, Hugh G., 138 
 Canton, 129 
 Cape Ann, 78, 97 
 Cape Ann Roads, 96, 184 
 Cape Cod, 193 
 Cape de Verdes, 104 
 Cape Finisterre, 86, 89 
 
 Cape Francois, 98 
 Cape Lookout, 101 
 Carey, Parson, 206 
 Carterett, 146 
 Cephalonia, 63 
 Chadwick, John, 169 
 Charleston, S. C, 18, 63, 96, 
 
 174 
 Charming Nancy, 179 
 Chase, Samuel, 136, 159 
 Chesapeake, 119 
 Clark, Thomas M., 128 
 Clarkson, Mr., 171 
 Coats, David, 96 
 Coffin, Sarah, 65 
 Coffin, William, 43, 44, 53 
 Collingwood, Lord, 26, 29 
 Congress, 119 
 Connecticut, 136 
 Constellation, 119, 121, 138, 
 
 140, 157, 162, 185 
 Cook, Sea, 78-80 
 Constitution, 14, 119, 121, 
 
 138, 153-155, 163-165 
 Conyngham, Gustavus, 59 
 Coombs, William, 127 
 Cooper, William, 86 
 Corufia, 86, 93 
 Cowdrey, L., 47 
 Crescent, frigate, 118, 119 
 Cross, William, 128, 133 
 Curasao, 21, 180, 186 
 
 Dale, Richard, 26, 120 
 Davenport, Anthony, 111 
 
 [S14] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Friends, 23, 36, 40 
 
 Gamecock, 202 
 
 Ganges, 121, 136, 169, 170, 
 
 Bearing, Mr., 134 
 
 Decatur, Stephen, 26 
 
 Deer Island, 131 
 
 Delaware, 121 176-178 
 
 Desirade, 151, 153, 154, 162, Geddes, Henry, 186 
 
 166, 169, 179 
 Dewey, George, 27, 30 
 d'Estaing, Count, 18, 96 
 Diamond, frigate, 70 
 Diligence, 121, 138 
 Dominica, 50, 148, 149, 151 
 Dove, 113, 114 
 Dover, 93 
 Dyer, Samuel, 78, 80 
 
 Eagle, 121, 138, 163 
 Elizabeth, 180 
 
 General Arnold, 13-18, 69- 
 
 72 
 General Greene, 122 
 General Hancock, 69 
 General Montgomery, 69 
 General Pickering , 69 
 General Putnam, 69 
 General Washington, 69 
 George, 93 
 George Washington, 121, 
 
 136, 138, 151-154, 169 
 Getchell, Emily A., 19, 20, 23 
 
 Emmons, George F., 13, 14, George the Third, 94, 95 
 
 76, 108 
 Engs, Captain, 35 
 Essex, brig, 105 
 Essex, frigate, 31, 125, 129 
 Eustace, 96 
 
 Gibraltar, 84 
 Goederson, John, 46, 47 
 Governor Jay, 122 
 Grand Cayman, 180 
 Gray, Thomas, 25 
 
 Experiment, 17, 18, 77, 93, Greele, Thomas, 18, 77, 78, 
 
 81, 85, 86 
 Greene, Nathaniel, 45 
 Gregory, John, 84 
 Gregson, 15, 82, 84, 91 
 Guadeloupe, 50, 53, 113, 148, 
 156, 163, 169, 172, 174- 
 177, 186, 187, 194 
 Gulf of Mexico, 180 
 Gulf Stream, 144 
 
 95, 201 
 
 Falmouth, 62, 146 
 Farragut, David G., 26, 29- 
 
 31, 99 
 Fletcher, Nathan, 136 
 Fletcher, Patrick, 13, 104, 
 
 138, 152 
 Eraser, Colonel, 49 
 
 Friday (unlucky day), 203 Hackett, William, 127-130, 
 Friend, WiUiam, 55-57 133 
 
 [215] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Hale, Nathan, 202 
 Halifax, 43, 44, 48, 56, 71, 
 
 173 
 Hampton Roads, 123 
 Hannah, brig, 70, 71 
 Hannah, schooner, 111-114 
 Harmony, 163, 164 
 Havana, 101, 182 
 Haverhill, 125 
 Herald, 121, 138 
 " Herald," Newburyport, 
 
 132, 133 
 Hercules, 103 
 Hobson, Richmond P., 20, 
 
 123 
 Holland, Captain, 107 
 Holyoke, S., 131 
 Hub, The, 36 
 Hull, Isaac, 28 
 Huntington, Samuel, 109, 
 
 212 
 
 Indenture, in apprentice- 
 ship, 45 
 
 India, 102, 104 
 
 Ingersol, Joseph, 43 
 
 Innbarrow, 41 
 
 Insurgent, 13, 104, 157 
 
 Intrepid (Ketch), 28 
 
 Intrepid (privateer) , 98- 
 101, 128 
 
 Ipswich, 35 
 
 Isabella, 168 
 
 Isle of France, 103 
 
 Isle of May, 104 
 
 Jacquemel, 180 
 
 Japan, 197 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 189, 190, 
 
 193 
 Johnson, Nicholas, 127 
 Johnson, William, 85 
 Johnson, William P., 127 
 Jones, John Paul, 16, 26, 59, 
 
 99 
 
 Kanagawa, forts, 198 
 I^ake Champlain, 116 
 Lake Champlain, battle of, 
 
 31 
 Lane, John, 103, 104 
 Lesser Antilles, 160, 178 
 Lexington, battle of, 16, 17, 
 
 60 
 Limerick, 102 
 Lisbon, 102 
 London, 36, 38, 63, 64 
 Long Island, 194 
 rOrient, 100 
 Louisburgh, 43, 45 
 Lowell, Captain, 52 
 Lucretia, 169 
 Lufsinson, Captain, 44 
 Lunt, Henry, 16, 98, 99 
 Lynn, 41 
 
 Macdonough, James, 26 
 Maclay, Senator William, 
 
 189, 190 
 Madeira, 77 
 Maden, Martin, 178 
 
 [216] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Magee, J., 14, 76 
 Magicienne, 166 
 Magniflquej 99 
 Maine Historical Society, 
 
 18 
 Marie Galante, 151, 153 
 Marigold, 58 
 Martha, 57 
 
 Martha's Vineyard, 58, 114 
 Martinique, 54, 55, 154, 156, 
 
 163, 172, 173 
 Matro, 60 
 
 May, Andrew, 58, 64 
 May, George, 64 
 McNiell, Daniel, 138 
 Mercury, 98 
 
 Merrimac, small sloop, 55 
 Merrimac (No. 1), sloop- 
 
 of-war, 19-22, 33, 42, 54, 
 
 121; building, 123-136; in 
 
 the West Indies, 137-188; 
 
 wreck of, 193 
 Merrimac (No. 2), ironclad, 
 
 20, 123 
 Merrimac (No. 3), collier, 
 
 20, 30, 123 
 Miller, James M., 30 
 " Millions for Defense," 
 
 120 
 Minerva, privateer, 108, 209- 
 
 212 
 Monitor, 123 
 Montezuma, 121, 157 
 Montgomery, 21 
 Monticello, 193 
 
 Montserrat, 156 
 Moore, Alexander, 104 
 Morris, Robert, 189 
 
 Nanny, 15, 79; capture of, 
 
 86-91, 192 
 Nantucket Roads, 165 
 Nassau, 110, 111 
 Naval Protection, 188-190 
 Nelson, Horatio, 26, 29 
 Neptune, schooner, 44 
 Neptune, sloop, 171 
 Neutrality, 173 
 Nevis, 45, 57, 156, 173 
 Newbold, prize master, 114 
 Newbury, 34 
 Newburyport, 20, 22, 34, 35, 
 
 40, 41, 44, 52, 53, 57, 58, 
 
 66, 69, 70, 85, 130, 136, 194 
 New Haven, 173 
 Newman, Captain, 118 
 New Orleans, 29 
 New Providence, 110 
 New York, 64, 101, 180 
 Nicholson, Samuel, 120, 138 
 Norfolk, 161 
 Norfolk, 121, 140, 169, 170, 
 
 183 
 Norton, 64 
 
 O'Brien, Richard, 118 
 Oporto, 93 
 " Opportunity," 27 
 Osgood, Nanna, 129 
 Osgood, William, 129 
 
 [217] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Otis, Samuel A., Jr., 127 
 
 Parker, Sir Peter, 63 
 Parsons, Jonathan, 58 
 Paramaribo, 107 
 Patapsco, 186, 187 
 Paulding, Hiram, 30, 31 
 Pearl, frigate, 150 
 Perry, Oliver H., 26 
 Petition for Merrimac, 126 
 Phenix, 185 
 Philadelphia, 58, 64, GQ, 68, 
 
 119 
 Philadelphia, 119 
 Philip, John O., 33 
 Phillips, Isaac, 140 
 Pickering, 122, 138, 174-176 
 Pike, Dorothy, 41 
 Pinckney, 121 
 Pitcher, Molly, 202 
 Plymouth, 76 
 Polly, 58 
 
 Polly, privateer, 169 
 Porter, David, 26 
 Porto Rico, 138, 179, 1*^0 
 Portsmouth, 52, 70, 99, 118, 
 
 134 
 Portsmouth, 121, 136, 138, 
 
 164 
 Phoebe, 48-50, 52, 53, 56 
 Piscataqua, 118 
 Point Petre, 50, 112 
 Port au Prince, 57, 110 
 Pffeble, Edward, 138, 175 
 Preble, George H., 26 
 
 President, 119 
 President's Roads, 165 
 Prince Rupert's Bay, 138, 
 
 148, 150, 153, 161, 162, 
 
 170, 178 
 Providence, R. I., 21 
 
 Quebec, 45, 68 
 Quincy, Mass., 129 
 
 Randolph, Edmund, 118 
 Ranger, sloop, 43, 45 
 Reprisal, 79 
 Resolue, 163 
 Rhode Island Light, 96 
 Richmond, 121, 140 
 Ring's Island, 42 
 Robertson, William P., 171 
 Robinson, James, 48, 49 
 Robinson, John, 84 
 Roseau, 151 
 Russell, Charles G., 138 
 
 Saba, 157 
 
 Sailor's Delight, 96 
 Salem, 40, 125 
 Salisbury, 42, 129, 130 
 Sampson, William T., 30 
 Saints, the, 148, 157 
 Santa Margarita, 162 
 Saquash Beach, 58 
 Savannah, 77, 95 
 Scammell, 122, 138 
 Sea Flower, 44 
 Sea Nymph, 45 
 
 [ 218 ] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Seely, Frederick, 46, 47 Tingey, Thomas, 176 
 
 Senegal, 103 
 SerapiSy 16, 99, 128 
 Smuggling, 53 
 South Carolina, 122 
 Staples, Captain, 44 
 St. Bartholomew, 171 
 
 Tilton, George P., 23 
 Titcomb, Jonathan, 136 
 Titcomb, Michael, 136, 149 
 Tobago, 138 
 
 Trenchard, Edward, 33 
 Trenchard, Stephen D., 33 
 
 St. Christopher (See St. Tracy, John, 210 
 
 Kitts) Tracy, Nathaniel, 18, 30, 98, 
 
 St. Cruz, 58 102, 103, 210 
 
 St. Domingo, 180 Trafalgar 
 
 St. Eustatius, 44, 50, 52, 58, Treludden, John, 146 
 
 64, 96, 157 Tripoli, 28 
 
 Stewart, Charles, 26 Truxtun, Thomas, 26, 120, 
 
 St. George's Bank, 113 138 
 
 St. Kitts, 44, 45, 50, 52, Tucker, Robert, 113 
 
 138, 157, 170-173, 177, 179, Tyng, Dudley A., 127 
 
 204 
 St. Martin, 52, 138 
 St. Michael's, 80, 83, 84 
 Stocker, Ebenezer, 127 
 St. Pierre, 163, 164 
 
 Tyrannicide, 129 
 
 United States, 119, 121, 138, 
 153, 163, 170 
 
 Valparaiso, 31, 129 
 
 St. Thomas, 54, 159, 160, V^^^geance, 185 
 
 165, 171, 178 
 Sukey, 22, 35, 39 
 Surinam, 105, 107, 165 
 Sicallow, 43 
 Swasey, William H., 23 
 
 Venice, 60, 62 
 Vera Cruz, 181 
 Victory, 161 
 Virgin Gorda, 138 
 Virginia, 122, 140 
 
 Swett, Samuel, 66, 134, 167, Wallace, Sir James, 17, 18, 
 
 193, 195, 205 
 
 Talbot, Silas, 120 
 Thames, England, 198 
 Thomastown, 147 
 Three Friends, 147 
 
 77, 93-96, 201 
 Washington, privateer, 35 
 Washington, George, 94, 95, 
 
 160, 201 
 Webber, Ignatius, 19, 78, 
 
 81, 93 
 
 [219] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Western Islands, 80 Winslow, John A., 26 
 
 Wexford, 102 Worcestershire, 41 
 
 Wheelwright, Captain, 107 Warden, John L., 26 
 
 Whitmore, Benjamin, 42, Wright, John or Jahan, 46, 
 
 136, 186, 187 
 William, 84, 85 
 Williams, Edward, 45 
 Williams, Thomas, 140 
 Willicat, Captain, 93 
 Willis, Captain, 107 
 
 47 
 Wright, Mary, 46, 47 
 
 Yokohama, 197 
 
 Zante, 63 
 
 THE END 
 
 [220] 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 "JACK" PHILIP 
 
 The ONLY BIOGRAPHY of the Distinguished Admiral 
 
 Edited by EDGAR STANTON MACLAY, Author of 
 
 "Moses Brown," "A History of the U. S. Navy," 
 
 etc., etc., Assisted by BARRETT PHILIP. 
 
 Large quarto, illustrated, net, $2.50. 
 
 It contains articles by 
 
 WILLIAM McKINLEY 
 
 Our Martyr President 
 ALFRED THAYER MAHAN 
 
 Captain U. S. N. (Retired) 
 JOHN DAVIS LONG 
 
 Ex-Secretary of the Navy 
 WILLIAM THOI^IAS SAIVIPSON 
 
 Rear- Admiral U. S. N. 
 MARY PHILIP WHEELOOK 
 
 Sister of Rear-Admiral Philip 
 
 And many distinguished naval officers. 
 
 A most interesting feature of the binding is the 
 COPPER TABLET (five inches long) of the "Texas" 
 which appears on the front cover. It is embossed 
 BO that the turret, sponsons, military masts, etc., 
 stand out from the surface. 
 
 As a gift it is peculiarly suitable, for it is a book 
 that appeals especially to all people interested in the 
 navy — and that means almost everv man, woman and 
 child in the United States. It will NOT be a COM- 
 MON GIFT, for the edition is limited to six hundred 
 copies. 
 
 The Baker & Taylor Co., Publishers 
 
 33-37 East 17th Street, Union Square North, New York 
 
SOCIAL PROGRESS 
 
 A YEAR BOOK AND ENCYCLOPEDIA 
 
 OF INDUSTRIAL, ECONOMIC, 
 
 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 STATISTICS. 
 
 Edited by Dr. JOSIAH STRONG 
 
 Cloth, net $i.oo Postage 8 cents 
 
 A compact statistical and descriptive Year Book 
 of social progress in the United States, and so far 
 as possible in the world. 
 
 The Year Book, under the editorship of Dr. 
 Josiah Strong, a guarantee both of the compre- 
 hensiveness and accuracy of th^ work, will give 
 each year, in compact form, the statistics and 
 facts, primarily for the United States, and less 
 minutely for the world at large, of all lines of 
 social advance, religious, moral, educational 
 economic, commercial, and legislative. 
 
 It will give the annual statistics of Labor 
 Unions, and especially report the progress of Ar- 
 bitration in the settlement of industrial difficul- 
 ties, and, better still, the prevention of difficul- 
 ties by Trade Agreements and Boards of Conaili- 
 ation. 
 
 It will report the statistics of Child Labor, 
 Civil Service, Cooperation, Divorce Reform, 
 Education, the Housing Problem, Institutional 
 Churches, Public Ownership, the Initiative and 
 Referendum, Social Settlements, Tax Reform, 
 Temperance, The Hours of Work and the Wages 
 of Men and Women. 
 
 The book will show the growth of the various 
 reform Political Movements, and especially of 
 Labor and Reform Legislation. 
 
 The Baker & Taylor Co., Publishers 
 
 33-37 Bast 17th Street, Union Square North, New York 
 
 W 72 
 

 
 
 
 
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