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A YOUTHFUL 
 MAN-O'-WARSMAN 
 
 From the diary of an English lad (a protege of the 
 duchess of the fifth Duke of Marlborough) who 
 served in the British ixxg^tt Macedonian during her 
 memorable action with the American frigate United 
 States; who afterward deserted and entered the Amer- 
 ican Navy, was recaptured by the British and con- 
 fined in a South African prison and, on being re- 
 leased, again enlisted in the United States Navy 
 
 BY 
 
 EDGAR STANTON MACLAY 
 
 Author of A History of the United States Navy, A History 
 of American Privateers, Reminiscences of the Old 
 Navy, Life and Adventures of Admiral Philip, 
 Life of Captain Moses Brovjn, U. S. N.; 
 Editor of the Journal of IFilliam Maclay 
 (U. S. Senator from Pennsylvania, 
 1789-1791), Editor of the Diary of 
 Samuel Maclay (U. S. Sen- 
 ator from Pennsylvania, 
 1803-1809) 
 
 GREENLAWN, N. Y. 
 
 NAVY BLUE COMPANY 
 
 1910 
 
The Registered Number of this copy is No 
 
 .&^so 
 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY 
 
 NAVY BLUE COMPANY 
 
 ©C!.A27U;'^9 
 
To the Memory of 
 
 Rear Admiral Sir Edward Chichester, R.N. 
 
 As an Expression of American Appreciation for His 
 
 Very Handsome Conduct in Manila Bay 
 
 May 3 to August 14, 1898 
 
 This Work is Respectfully Dedicated 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Prefatory. p^^,^ 
 
 Neglect of the enlisted man — Brave but not given 
 to writing — Leech a typical man-o'-warsman — • 
 Rear Admiral Mahan's testimony of the value 
 of Leech's diary — A protege of the Duchess of 
 Marlborough — Importance of the 1812 frigate 
 actions — A revolution in naval warfare 15 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Wanstead and Blenheim. 
 
 Boyhood of Samuel Leech — Narrow escape from 
 death — The Turner sailor boys — Visit to West 
 India Docks — Life at Blenheim — In the Duke 
 of Marlborough's employ — Winter tales of the 
 sea — Lady Spencer interests Lord Fitzroy in 
 young Leech — " I will take that boy under my 
 personal care " 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Aboard the Macedonian. 
 
 Village interest in the new Powder-monkey — A 
 deluge of advice — Off for Gravesend — Buying 
 a sailor suit, " a prayer-book, a Bible and a 
 
Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 pack of cards " — Enlisted " for life "—First ex- 
 periences aboard a frigate — A poor Irish lad — 
 Scenes at Lisbon — The wardroom steward de- 
 serts — A brutal murder — Execution of a Portu- 
 guese criminal — Murder of the sergeant of 
 marines — Prompt execution of the murderers — 
 Honorable discharge arrives just too late 32 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Life Aboard a Frigate. 
 
 Division of labor in a frigate in 1810 — Peculiar duty 
 of the '■' boys " — Arrangement of the " messes " 
 — Food and grog allowances — The brutality of 
 flogging — " Three hundred lashes through the 
 fleet for stealing a handkerchief " — " A crawl- 
 ing, servile, cringing slave" — A shocking illus- 
 tration — " Happy Jack " arrives and cheers the 
 men 43 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Lively Incidents Aboard. 
 
 In search of the French fleet — Rescuing the ship- 
 wrecked — A breach of discipline — Lord Fitzroy 
 cashiered — Recapturing a deserter — Impressing 
 seamen — Leech becomes an involuntary deserter 
 — It happens a second time — Narrow escape 
 from the lash — The Macedonian nearly founders 
 in a terrific gale — Leech dangerously injured by 
 the wardroom steward — In the Sick Bay — A 
 grewsome burial — " My turn next? " 54 
 
Contents. 7 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Captain Carden's Discipline. 
 
 A band of musicians aboard the frigate — The " sea- 
 musician's lot not a happy one " — " Man over- 
 board !"— The rescue— A midnight call to "Clear 
 ship for action " — Wives of seamen aboard — 
 Two births in one week — Bob Hammond gets 
 drunk again — Jack Sadler attempts to escape — 
 Bob and his " horn o' malt " — Bob is " per- 
 mitted " to desert 65 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 Foreshadowing a Great Battle. 
 
 A trip across the Atlantic to Norfolk, Va.— Pleasure 
 of hearing the English language— Not permitted 
 to go ashore — Decatur and Carden exchange 
 visits — Joking about a possible battle between 
 their respective frigates — Return trip across 
 the Atlantic— Homeward bound— Joyful antici- 
 pations — Arrival at Plymouth — Off for the 
 French coast — Capture of escaped French pris- 
 oners — Cutting-out expeditions off Brest — A 
 rich prize 75 
 
 CHAPTER VHI. 
 
 A Momentous Naval Battle. 
 
 Importance of the 1812 frigate actions— Value of 
 Leech's account of the battle between the 
 United States and Macedonian— EuTope3in crit- 
 icism of the early American frigates — American 
 
8 Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 44-gun frigates zuere overvveighed — The de- 
 fect remedied — Admiralty compelled to imitate 
 American models — English admissions of the 
 superiority of American naval construction — 
 Confidence among the Macedonians 85 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 In Battle's Awful Din. 
 
 (Leech's own narrative.) 
 
 Keeping the news of war against America from 
 the Macedonians — Escorting a huge East India- 
 man to Madeira — Carden's anxious inquiries — 
 A shark that was kept busy — A beautiful Sab- 
 bath morn — " Sail ho ! " — " What does she look 
 like?" — Macedonians in "high spirits" — Amer- 
 icans in the Macedonian compelled to fight 
 against their flag — Poor John Card — Grim 
 preparations for the fight — Opening shots — A 
 strange noise — " The whole scene grew inde- 
 scribably confused and horrible " — Cries of the 
 wounded — Havoc among the Macedonian's 
 boys — " That shark ! " — Revolting scenes — " A 
 slaughter house " — Dreadful carnage 92 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Scenes After the Battle. 
 
 (Leech's narrative concluded.) 
 
 " Our men fought like tigers "— " Well done, my 
 boy " — Death-dealing splinters — A complete 
 wreck — Council of war — "Let us sink along- 
 
Contents. 9 
 
 PAGE 
 
 side " — Surrender — A sad spectacle — Cockpit, 
 steerage and wardroom crowded with wounded 
 — " Smeared with blood from head to foot " — 
 "How do you do, doctor?" — Heart-rending 
 scenes — No time for refined surgery — Survivors 
 break into the spirit-room — Killed by ill-ad- 
 vised kindness — Unceremonious burials — Sur- 
 geons work all night — " Bled to death " — 
 Cleaning up — Decatur's magnanimity — " Away 
 JVagoncrs, away ! " 105 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Triumphant Return to Port. 
 
 Astonishing disproportion of losses — Comparative 
 forces — Effect of the news in London — " Sed 
 tempora mutantur" — The "Thunderer's" rage 
 — "Our sea-spell is broken !" — Arrival in Amer- 
 ica — Kindness to prisoners — Prisoners escape 
 from a barn — Showing visitors over the cap- 
 tured frigate — That "bright English lad" — 
 Hoisting the ladies aboard — A scheme to desert 
 — Leech and Day take a big risk — Safe landing 
 on American soil — Kind treatment at a tavern — 
 Sleeping in a bed again 118 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 Trials of a Deserter. 
 
 Arrival in New York — Meeting other deserters — 
 The banquet of victory — " Save the pieces " — 
 Decatur's appearance at the theater — Foxy old 
 tars make successful appeals to Mrs. Decatur — 
 
10 Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "Don't preach about the king but about Con- 
 gress" — Enlisting in the United States navy — 
 Embarrassing questions — A tell-tale button — A 
 brief stay in Salem, Mass. — Narrow escape of a 
 fishing party — Leech ships in the Siren — A 
 singular head-gear 130 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Siren's Lively Cruise. 
 
 In company with the Grand Turk — Death of Cap- 
 tain Parker — His coffin floats — On the African 
 coast — Trading with the natives — Inestimable 
 value of water — " Some drank sea water " — 
 Hot chase by a British frigate — Saved by a 
 shrewd Yankee trick — " The Battle of Senegal " 
 — An unlucky broadside — Tricked by an Eng- 
 lishman — A rich prize — Burning the Barton — 
 An African prince ships in the Siren — A tyran- 
 nical gunner — Leech "gets square" with him — 
 A new lock on the door 141 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Prisoners of War. 
 
 Precautions against recapture — Sailing for America 
 — " Sail, ho " — Chased by a huge seventy-four — 
 Throwing overboard guns and ammunition — 
 Overhauled and captured — Danger of detection 
 — Arrival at Simon's Bay — A painful land 
 march in burning sands — Arrival in the Cape 
 Town prison— Life in the prison—" Curing " 
 
Contents. ii 
 
 PACE 
 
 a tyrannical officer — " That Dutcliman Ba- 
 diem " — A kind-hearted old general — Leech be- 
 comes ill — In the Cape Town hospital — Cured 
 of feigning illness 154 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Under the Halter's Shadow. 
 
 An over-bearing prison surgeon — Prisoners mutiny 
 — "Fire away; it will be our turn next!" — A 
 Dutch wedding — Kindness of an English mis- 
 sionary — " He shot away my colors " — Trans- 
 portation to England fraught with peril — A 
 terrible fright — " Your master wants you " — 
 Arrival in England — Prisoners paraded before 
 thousands of English officers and sailors to de- 
 tect deserters — A narrow escape — A mother 
 unwittingly betrays her son to the halter — In 
 mortal fear of discovery 166 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Homeward Bound. 
 
 Sailing for America — Counterfeit money — Many 
 resolutions to quit the sea and become farmers 
 — A terrific storm — A night of terror — Arrival 
 in New York — Leech ships in the Boxer — Cap- 
 tain Porter's discipline — Leech settles in Con- 
 necticut — Becomes a peddler and afterward a 
 merchant — Joins the church and marries — A 
 letter from his mother — Revisits the Mace- 
 donian 178 
 
12 Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Again at Blenheim. 
 
 A long postponed trip to England — Arrival in 
 Liverpool — A thoroughly " engrafted " Ameri- 
 can — " Innumerable beggars and vagrants " — 
 Affecting meeting with his mother — Visiting 
 friends of his boyhood — Final parting w^ith his « 
 
 mother — A tempestuous return passage of sev- | 
 
 enty-Uve days to America — Death of Samuel j 
 
 Leech in 1848 190 | 
 
 1 
 Index i97 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "Three Cheers for the Stars and Stripes ", .frontispiece : 
 
 Model of an American 44-gun frigate 18 
 
 A pressgang at work 36 '^ 
 
 Flogging 48 
 
 A boat putting off from an English war ship 56 
 
 English naval officers dining 78 
 
 A midnight boat attack 84 
 
 The United States raking the Macedonian 96 
 
 Carrying a wounded British officer below 102 
 
 View of an English cockpit 109 
 
 An 1812 powder-boy carrying cartridges 122 
 
 An American man-o'-warsman in 1812 136 
 
 Mcdway chasing the Siren 156 
 
 View of a gundeck in an English line of battle ship. 172 
 
 Deck scene in a large English war ship in 1814 176 
 
 An American 44-gun frigate riding out a gale 182 
 
i 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 PREFATORY. 
 
 Too little is known by the American public 
 to-day of the trials, privations and, in many in- 
 stances, indescribable hardships endured by the 
 enlisted men who so gallantly manned and fought 
 our armed craft in the war of 1812. While too 
 much praise cannot be given to our officers for 
 the splendid work they did while in charge of 
 these ships, the " men behind the guns " who 
 bore the heat of the day and the brunt of the 
 battle seem to have been forgotten. 
 
 Not that this neglect of the enlisted man was 
 in any way intentional. It was the logical result 
 of unavoidable conditions. Brave, daring and 
 patriotic as our men-o'-warsmen early in the 
 last century unquestionably were, they were not, 
 as a rule, given to letters. Their education as 
 seamen was superbly practical but seldom aca- 
 demic. They had no official reports to pen and, 
 in view of the cumbersome process of chirog- 
 raphy in those days, it is not strange that Jack 
 neglected to record in black and white the noble 
 part he played in our " second war for inde- 
 
i6 Prefatory. 
 
 pendence " ; and the inevitable result was that the 
 great-hearted American public for nearly a cen- 
 tury has remained scarce acquainted with his 
 magnificent achievements. 
 
 It is for these reasons that the diary of Samuel 
 Leech, who took an active part as an enlisted 
 man all through this war, becomes especially 
 valuable. In 1843 his diary was privately printed 
 and a few copies were circulated but the volume, 
 long since, has been out of print. In all his 
 extensive researches the writer has discovered 
 only one copy so that the present work may well 
 be considered '' new material." To the courtesy 
 of the Hon. William Ward Carruth of Massa- 
 chusetts the writer is indebted for this copy of 
 Leech's diary. 
 
 It is, probably, the only connected narrative in 
 existence of an enlisted man who served in our 
 navy in the war of 181 2, and for that reason 
 alone, it should be sacredly preserved. Its value 
 is attested by Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Ma- 
 han, U. S. N., who has inscribed on one of its 
 fly leaves the following : '' This book possesses 
 a singular interest from its personal testimony to 
 conditions, once of common knowledge, but of 
 which it is now difficult to obtain specific, authen- 
 tic description. A. T. Mahan, March 15, 1904." 
 
 Samuel Leech was a hereditary servant of the 
 
iMarlborougii Influence. 17 
 
 House of Marlboroii«^li, his father having" been 
 I'alct dc choDibrc to Lord WilHani Fitzroy, son 
 of the Duke of Grafton ; while his mother, for 
 more than thirty years, was one of the trusted 
 and confidential maids of Lady Francis Churchill, 
 duchess of the fifth Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 It nv^as through the personal influence of the, 
 then, Lady Francis Spencer that our hero ob- 
 tained what promised to be an unusually advan- 
 tageous appointment in the royal navy ; and, had 
 it not been for an unfortunate incident (as related 
 in Chapter V) through which Lord Fitzroy — 
 brother of Lady Churchill — was relieved of the 
 command of the Macedonian, the subject of this 
 work, undoubtedly, w^ould have remained in His 
 Britannic Majesty's service. As it turned out. 
 Leech was captured in the Maccdo}iian, deserted 
 from the royal navy, entered the American ser- 
 vice, was recaptured by the English, was confined 
 in a South African prison and. on being released, 
 re-entered the American navy and, eventually, 
 became a respected citizen of the Laiited States. 
 The fact that the present Duke of Marlborough 
 has for his duchess a member of a well-known 
 New York family, gives to Americans a special 
 interest in the truly remarkable career of Samuel 
 Leech. 
 
 Another feature of commanding interest in 
 
1 8 Prefatory. 
 
 Leech's life is his graphic and detailed description 
 (as given in Chapters IX and X) of the naval 
 battle between the United States and Macedonian, 
 fought October 25, 18 12. As a specimen of 
 unaffected, yet vivid, word-picturing it will re- 
 main a standard. 
 
 This engagement was one of the crucial single- 
 ship actions of naval history. Taken in connec- 
 tion with the other great frigate actions of this 
 war, it resulted in the first revolution in the 
 science of naval warfare in the nineteenth cen- 
 tury — just as the duel between the Monitor and 
 Merrimac, half a century later, relegated the 
 wooden fleets of the world to Rotten Row in 
 order to give place to ironclads. 
 
 When the naval experts of Europe began to 
 study these frigate actions of 18 12 (that between 
 the Constitution and Guerriere, the United States 
 and Macedonian and the Constitution and Java) 
 they, for the first time, appreciated the marked 
 advance Yankee ingenuity had made in marine 
 warfare; and remodeled their frigates accord- 
 ingly — or as the London Times, in its issue of 
 March 17, 1814, said: "exactly upon the plan 
 of the large American frigates." 
 
 So completely did our 44-gun frigates dem-on- 
 strate their superiority over British ships of the 
 same class that the Admiralty issued a confidential 
 

 z ^ 
 
 oe 
 
Admiralty's Strangk Order. 19 
 
 circular, direc.tincf commanders of British frij^ates 
 to run aivay from the President, United States 
 and Constitution as the following extraordinary 
 command will show : " In the event of one of 
 his Majesty's frig-atcs under your orders falling 
 in with one of these ships [the American 44-gun 
 frigates], his captain should endeavor in the first 
 instance to secure the retreat of his Majesty's 
 ship but, if he find that he has an advantage in 
 sailing, he should endeavor to maneuver and 
 keep company with her without coming to action 
 in the hope of falling in with some other of his 
 Majesty's ships, with whose assistance the enemy 
 might be attacked with a reasonable hope of 
 success." 
 
 Unfortunately, we have little detail of the 
 battles between the Constitution and Guerriere 
 and the Constitution and Java but, in that be- 
 tween the United States and Macedonian, Leech 
 has given us a battle scene of lasting historical 
 value — doubly valuable because wTitten from the 
 enemy's viewpoint — in his vivid narration of the 
 awfully destructive powers of the American frig- 
 ate, as compared with those of a similar class in 
 the English navy. 
 
 Aside from his invaluable account of the United 
 States-Macedonian fight. Leech has given us 
 many side-lights on the career of our navy which 
 
20 Prefatory. 
 
 are of popular and historical interest. In short, 
 his narrative is one of unusual lucidity and perti- 
 nency on the points touched upon and, on careful 
 examination, the writer is satisfied that Leech's 
 account, in general, may be relied upon. Yet, 
 the writer has taken the liberty of culling such 
 of Leech's statements as might be open to dispute 
 so, it is believed, that the residuum, as it appears 
 in these pages, is founded on the solid rock of 
 well-established fact. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 WANSTEAD AND BLENHEIM. 
 
 On the nineteenth day of March, in tlic good 
 year 1798, there was born in Wanstead, England, 
 a boy. Such things had happened in this sedate 
 village (so folk say) before the said " good year 
 1798" and the parish register bears out the 
 assertion that it has happened frequently since. 
 
 His name was Samuel Leech — certainly not a 
 name to arrest attention in these days when blood- 
 letting has long since ceased to be the medical 
 panacea for all ailments. Neither was there any- 
 thing- sufficiently remarkable about the first ten 
 years of the Wanstead boy's life to merit a 
 chronicle. But there was something about his 
 parentage and subsequent career that is of pe- 
 culiar interest to Americans. 
 
 Wanstead, to-day, has been swallowed up in 
 the gigantic metropolitan growth of London but 
 at the time of Samuel's birth it was a lovely 
 suburb, reckoned to be some " seven miles froiu 
 the city." It was when he was a mere lad that 
 Samuel delighted in wandering through its beau- 
 
22 Wanstead and Blenheim. 
 
 tifiil park, tossing " crums of comfort " to the 
 timid deer as they grazed under massive oaks that 
 had withstood storms for centuries. 
 
 Often did he pass the venerable mansion, seated 
 in the sylvan scene like a queen, to the old parish 
 church with its gorgeous stained-glass windows, 
 to attend Sunday School and, with his fellow 
 scholars primly arranged around the deep-toned 
 organ, wait for the curate to discourse. 
 
 But Samuel's greatest delight was the annual 
 Easter hunt in Epping Forest when the young- 
 sters were permitted to chase the deer over hill 
 and dale in hopeless but none the less joyous 
 effort to overtake them. When tired of the 
 " hunt " the boys would wander through the 
 forest, picking flowers, playing games or listen- 
 ing to the sweet-singing birds. 
 
 Quite appropriately, Samuel's home was in that 
 part of Wanstead called Nightingale Place, on 
 account of the number of these birds in that vicin- 
 ity. Those were days to which Samuel, in later 
 years, always looked upon as the one great " sun- 
 light spot " of his life. 
 
 Samuel's father was a valet de chamhre or con- 
 fidential body servant of Lord William Fitzroy, 
 son of the Duke of Grafton and brother of the 
 Duchess of the fifth Duke of Marlborough. As 
 Mr. Leech died while Samuel was scarcely three 
 
Early Boyhood. 23 
 
 years oUl, our hero had only a vap^ue recollection 
 of him. 
 
 Indeed, it was while retiirninq- from the funeral 
 that Samuel himself came near losin^^ his life. 
 Dressed in mourning-, in keeping- with the occa- 
 sion, he was coming- from the parish church at 
 Walthamstow, where the services had been held 
 and, noticing some large boys amusing themselves 
 by swinging on the rail of a fence, thought he 
 would try it also. The result was that he lost 
 his hold and fell into a muddy ditch where he was 
 almost suffocated before he could be pulled out. 
 
 Two years after his father's death, Samuel's 
 mother became an inmate of the family of Lady 
 Francis Spencer, daughter of the Duke of Graf- 
 ton and wife of Lord Spencer who afterward 
 became Lord Churchill. It was through his 
 mother's influence that Lord and Lady Churchill 
 took such an interest in young Leech, seeing to 
 it that he was placed in a good berth in the royal 
 navy. The succeeding Duke and his Duchess 
 arranged for Samuel's return to England in 
 1841 after his desertion from the English service. 
 
 As it was impossible for young Samuel to live 
 with his mother in her new position he was placed 
 in the care of an aunt, Mrs. Turner, who was 
 blessed with a family of twenty-two sons and two 
 daughters. It was while he lived with his prolific 
 
24 Wanstead and Blenheim. 
 
 aunt and numerous cousins that Samuel first got 
 his idea of going to sea. Most of the Turner boys 
 were sailors and were constantly going and com- 
 ing from voyages so that our hero soon had his 
 mind filled with sea yarns and such stories of 
 adventure as sailor folk delight in spinning before 
 credulous landmen. 
 
 Seated around the bright fireside of a winter's 
 evening young Leech drank in the wild stories of 
 adventure and hair-breadth escapes in unquestion- 
 ing gulps and he soon came to regard the sailor 
 as superior to all other beings and the seaman's 
 life the ideal of human existence. Nor did the 
 fact that three of the Turner boys died at sea 
 through hardship and exposure and that two 
 more went down in the 74-gun ship of the line 
 Blenheim, when she foundered off the Cape of 
 Good Hope with seven hundred souls on board, 
 in the least abate his desire for the sea. 
 
 Thus five sturdy young men from one family 
 perished at sea within the three years of Samuel's 
 stay at his aunt's home. Had he been supersti- 
 tious he would have augured evil omen from 
 the fact that the Blenheim was named after the 
 place where his mother was then living. 
 
 When Samuel was about six years old it be- 
 came inconvenient to have him at the Turner 
 home and he was placed in charge of a widowed 
 
"A Smaki', J()I-lv Tak." 25 
 
 aunt. This was a sacl cliaii.c:c for tlic larl's new 
 guardian proved very unkind and severe ; clias- 
 tisinix him for the breaka.c^e of a cup or any other 
 sHc'ht accident. Occasionallv, Samuel would earn 
 a few pennies by holding: a horse or runnin.c: er- 
 rands for neii^hbors, which his aunt would take 
 from him as payment for crokery he broke. 
 
 One day a smart, jolly tar, fully six feet tall, 
 knocked at the front door. He said that he had 
 just returned from that far distant country called 
 America where he had met a young man named 
 George Turner, her nephew and Samuel's cousin. 
 He proceeded to tell many fine stories about 
 George and finally asked Samuel's aunt if she 
 would like to see him and if she would know him. 
 
 " I don't believe I would know him," said the 
 widow, " for he has been away so long." 
 
 " Well, then," he replied, " I am George 
 Turner." 
 
 The young man had been away eleven years 
 and after visiting his parents had taken this 
 method of surprising his aunt. Many were the 
 yarns he told and many the little gifts and kind 
 words he bestowed on lonesome, heartsore Sam- 
 uel. Was it any wonder, then, that the lad came 
 to regard sailors as the noblest of human kind ? 
 
 While at this place an uncle from the West 
 Indies visited the house. He had been one of two 
 
26 Wanstead and Blenheim. 
 
 brothers of Samuers mother who had been edu- 
 cated in Greenwich for the navy. One of them 
 entered the service and, by dint of hard work, 
 finally obtained a commission but soon afterward 
 perished at sea. The other brother had entered 
 the merchant service and, settling in Antigua in 
 the West Indies, accumulated a competence. 
 
 One day this uncle took Samuel to London and 
 visited the West India Docks. He was well 
 acquainted with the captains and they paid special 
 attention to our hero — patting him on the head 
 and remarking what a fine sailor lad he would 
 make and asking if he would not like to ship as a 
 cabin boy etc. These flattering attentions served 
 to increase Samuel's desire to go to sea and he 
 returned to Wanstead more dissatisfied than 
 ever with the quiet village life. Soon afterward 
 this uncle went to Trinidad where he died. 
 
 It was not long after this that Mrs. Leech, 
 tiring of widowhood, married a Mr. Newman 
 who was a carpenter employed by the Duke of 
 Marlborough and, now having a home of her 
 own, she decided to take Samuel with her. It 
 was a joyful day when this boy mounted the 
 stage coach with his mother and, bidding goodby 
 to his relatives, set out on the long sixty-mile ride 
 to Woodstock. 
 
 The tediousness of the journey was relieved 
 
Antics of a Sailor. 27 
 
 by the antics of a fellow passenger, a sailor, who 
 cut all sorts of pranks. From spinning yarns he 
 would execute a hornpipe on the roof of the 
 coach. Whenever the vehicle arrived at the foot 
 of a hill he would jump off, run a short distance 
 and then spring back again with the agility of a 
 monkey — much to the amusement of the other 
 passengers and to the no small admiration of our 
 hero. 
 
 At Woodstock our friends left the stage and 
 covered the remaining distance on foot. Pro- 
 ceeding through the magnificent park of Blen- 
 heim they passed under the triumphal arch erected 
 to the memory of John Churchill, the first Duke 
 of Marlborough, by his duchess, Sarah Jennings. 
 Samuel was much impressed by the grandeur of 
 Blenheim Palace, which was built at public ex- 
 pense and presented to John Churchill for his 
 victories over the French and Bavarians ; but 
 more especially for his great victory at Blenheim 
 on the banks of the Danube, August, 1704. 
 
 Crossing the park toward Bladen, Samuel was 
 kindly received by his stepfather. He was a 
 man in comfortable circumstances, owning the 
 house in which he lived ; a stone structure, shaded 
 by a noble apricot tree and surrounded by a 
 pretty garden. 
 
 Samuel found Bladen and the surrounding 
 
 3 
 
28 Wanstead and Blenheim. 
 
 country quite as beautiful as that at Wanstead. 
 Well-tended farms, flocks of sheep quietly graz- 
 ing on the hillsides, expansive fields surrounded 
 by hawthorn hedges, massive wheatricks and 
 quaint, old-fashioned farm houses with thatched 
 roofs met the eye on all sides ; while carefully 
 cultivated gardens and numerous wild flowers 
 offered gentle, soothing incense. 
 
 The people here were very sociable in their 
 habits and gave the newcomer a hearty greeting. 
 Once a year they held a great feast called the 
 Bladen Festival at which they invited all their 
 friends from surrounding towns. The ceremony 
 began on a Sunday and for three days eating, 
 drinking, gossiping and all manner of games were 
 the order. 
 
 Amid such happy scenes time flew rapidly 
 with our hero. At the age of eleven years he 
 completed his schooling and was taken into the 
 Duke of Marlborough's employ as a gardener's 
 assistant in Blenheim Park. Samuel's early long- 
 ing for the sea, however, had not left him and 
 the flame was fanned by tales related by some of 
 the servants in Blenheim Palace who visited his 
 home. 
 
 One of the frequent visitors at the Newman 
 home was a fine, tall fellow, a footman in Blen- 
 heim Palace who had been, in his earlier days, a 
 
Winter Evening Stories. 29 
 
 sailor. He possessed a good voice and wliilcd 
 away many an evening- with sonc^s, some of 
 wln'ch were in a nautical strain. One of them, 
 in spite of its somewhat rueful title, " Poor Little 
 Sailor Roy," especially commended itself to Sam- 
 uel and he frequently asked for it. 
 
 Another visitor was a sergeant in Lord Francis 
 Spencer's regiment of cavalry and was then at- 
 tending his Lordship at Blenheim '* on duty with 
 leave of absence." This old soldier also had been 
 a sailor in his youth and many were the hours 
 pleasantly beguiled around the Newman fireside 
 on cold winter evenings listening to his stories 
 of adventure in foreign parts. 
 
 Samuel's mother also showed that she had 
 inherited some liking for the sea for frequently 
 she would emphasize these yams in the lad's 
 mind by remarking on the noble appearance made 
 by the ships she had seen when on a visit to 
 Brighton. 
 
 As a result of these converging influences it 
 soon came to a pass where Samuel could content 
 himself no longer with the quiet life at Blenheim 
 and, one day, his mother mentioned the circum- 
 stances to Lady Spencer. It just happened at 
 that time that Lady Spencer's brother. Lord 
 \\'^illiam Fitzroy, was expecting to command the 
 frigate Macedonian and was at that moment at 
 Blenheim on a visit, preparing to go to sea. 
 
30 Wanstead and Blenheim. 
 
 It will be remembered that Samuel's father, at 
 the time of his death, was Lord Fitzroy's valet. 
 Any one understanding the affection (unob- 
 trusive and inconspicuous though it may have 
 been) that exists between hereditary master and 
 servant in old English famihes, will at once ap- 
 preciate the strong claim the boy Samuel had on 
 the kind offices of Lord Fitzroy. 
 
 So, when Mrs. Newman broached the subject 
 to Lady Spencer, it is not surprising that we find 
 that she took an immediate interest in the boy; 
 not only because of the lad's feudal connection 
 with the family but because she held Mrs. New- 
 man herself in the highest esteem — having had 
 her as a personal attendant many years. At the 
 first opportunity Lady Spencer submitted the case 
 to her brother. 
 
 Lord Fitzroy at once sent for Samuel. Tremb- 
 ling in every limb, the boy was ushered into the 
 august presence and to the kindly inquiry if he 
 would like to go to sea, gasped : 
 
 " Ye — er — yes, my lord, I would." 
 
 After some further questioning the lad was 
 dismissed and it is a tradition in the Newman 
 family (many members of which are living to-day 
 in or near Blenheim) that his Lordship was heard 
 to say : 
 
 " I will take that lad under my personal care 
 and see to his future advancement." 
 
Sam Becomes a Sailor. 31 
 
 Such a hl.qli honor from their licrccHtary lord 
 and master was sufficient to overcome any scruj)lc 
 the fond luothcr had ahout her hoy venturinjT;- on 
 the sea and from that moment it was decided in 
 tlie Newman household that Samuel " a sailor 
 shall he." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 ABOARD THE MACEDONIAN. 
 
 This great question having at last been defi- 
 nitely settled, namely: that the boy Leech would 
 go to sea, everything was shaped accordingly. 
 Visits of congratulation seemed to be inter- 
 minable. Many and various were the advices so 
 generously offered. In fact, the whole village 
 seemed to have appointed itself a Committee of 
 One to see that the budding sailor was " profes- 
 sionally " sent off on his new career. 
 
 While much of this counsel was honestly in- 
 tended and, as a rule, painted the future of the 
 boy in glowing colors, there were (it must be 
 confessed) some doubting shrugs of the shoulder 
 and sotto voce remarks dropped that: it was not 
 so pleasant aboard a man-of-war after all — even 
 if the chick of a powder-monkey were placed 
 under the protecting wing of the commander. 
 Ominous hints about " flogging " were surrep- 
 titiously dropped and other equally harsh punish- 
 ments were darkly insinuated. 
 
 But few of these sobering ideas seemed to 
 have reached the ear of our hero or, if they did, 
 
Congratulations. 33 
 
 thev had lost their effect for so full was he with 
 joy of at last beinj;- permitted to ^et on his 
 favorite element that he was deaf to everything 
 save praise for his new calling". 
 
 At last the great day, July 12, 181 o, arrived. 
 That it was a " red-letter " day for Bladen it is 
 not necessary to say for was not the youthful 
 seaman the special protege of Lord William 
 Fitzroy, brother of the future Duchess of Marl- 
 borough ? The whole village turned out in honor 
 of the occasion and amid many honest tears, 
 godspeeds and unnecessary advice, Samuel Leech 
 (attended by his mother, for that good woman 
 was going to see him to the last moment) set 
 out from the Marlborough Arms for London to 
 enter upon his new career. 
 
 Instead of going direct to the metropolis, 
 Samuel and his mother paid a short visit to 
 Wanstead where they were very hospitably and 
 affectionately entertained by friends and rela- 
 tives. Proceeding to London they engaged a 
 boat and were taken down the Thames to Graves- 
 end where they stayed over night — for it was 
 near this place that the Macedonian was fitting. 
 
 Bright and early on the following morning 
 Samuel, attended by his mother, visited some of 
 the shops in this shipping center and in a short 
 
34 Aboard the Macedonian. 
 
 time, much to the lad's glory, he was rigged in 
 a " real " sailor suit. 
 
 " At last," thought Samuel, " I am a sailor " ; 
 and he strutted along the streets in a boyish effort 
 to assume the rolling gait of the true man-of- 
 warsman, feeUng several pegs taller than nature 
 warranted. 
 
 That he should not lack some of the comforts 
 of life, his good mother purchased for him a chest 
 filled with wearing apparel and, as her last token 
 of maternal affection, she gave him a prayer- 
 book, a Bible and a pack of cards. 
 
 Thus equipped, mother and son hired a boat 
 and, proceeding down the river some two miles, 
 boarded the frigate Macedonian in all the confi- 
 dence bred of well-assured " influence " with her 
 commander. Much to their disappointment, Lord 
 Fitzroy was not aboard so the boy was turned 
 over to the not too tender mercies of an underling 
 who took it upon himself to enlist Samuel in 
 the royal navy " for life." 
 
 The lad, however, was inclined to regard this 
 more as a compliment than a draw-back and, 
 having his mother with him all day to give advice 
 about personal deportment and things generally 
 not in the least pertaining to the sea — as only an 
 affectionate mother can — he passed the happiest 
 day of his life. Toward night Mrs. Newman 
 
First Day Aboard. 35 
 
 bade her son an afTectionate goodby. The lad 
 leaned far over the rail as he watched the re- 
 treating boat, bearing his mother away, and 
 waved adieus to her until the craft disappeared 
 around a bdid in the stream ; when he lost sight 
 of her — not to see her again until thirty years 
 had rolled past. 
 
 The next morning Samuel was put in a 
 " mess," the crew being divided into messes of 
 eight each, who had their meals at one table. 
 This mess proved unfortunate for our hero for 
 it was composed of old tars who did not relish 
 the idea of being so intimately associated with the 
 stripling landlubber. 
 
 One of the men, named Hudson, took a special 
 dislike to young Leech and became so persistently 
 abusive in his manner that other members of the 
 mess, out of humanity, advised our hero to 
 change. This is a privilege that was granted in a 
 man-of-war, men being allowed to change around 
 until they find congenial associates. For those 
 unfortunate ones who cannot find desirable 
 messes, a separate table is reserved. 
 
 At first, Samuel found it hard to accustom him- 
 self to the rough ways of the men about him but, 
 keeping a stout heart, he made honest effort to 
 please and soon had friends. He had the satis- 
 
36 Aboard the Macedonian. 
 
 faction of seeing other boys fare worse than 
 himself. 
 
 One poor Irish lad, named Billy Garvey, had 
 been seized on shore and was compelled to enter 
 the ship's company. He knew nothing whatever 
 about the sea or sailors and one of his first 
 inquiries on coming aboard was, where he would 
 find his " bed." His messmates told him to inquire 
 of the burly boatswain. That important official 
 looked at the greenhorn a moment and, turning 
 the huge lump of tobacco into another corner of 
 his mouth, asked : 
 
 " Have you got a knife? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Well, stick it into the softest plank in the 
 ship and take that for a bed." 
 
 The poor fellow keenly felt the rudeness for 
 he had been brought up in comfortable circum- 
 stances. One day he confided to Samuel: 
 
 " When I was at home, I could walk in my 
 father's garden in the morning until the maid 
 would come and say: 
 
 " ' William, will you come to your .ta, or your 
 coffee-ta or your chocolara-ta? ' But oh! The 
 case is altered now. It's nothing but ' bear a 
 hand, lash and carry.' Oh dear ! " 
 
 At last, everything being in readiness, the order 
 " Up anchor, ahoy," was given and, for the first 
 

 
 
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"Charming" Lisbon. 37 
 
 time in his life, Samuel experienced that inde- 
 scribable thrill of being in a moving ship. Clear- 
 ing the Thames, the Macedonian put into Spit- 
 head where she was to take on board about three 
 hundred soldiers, who were to be transported to 
 Lisbon to assist the Portuguese in their fight 
 against Napoleon's army. The soldiers were 
 stowed away very uncomfortably on the main 
 deck while their officers messed and bunked with 
 the officers of the ship. 
 
 After a pleasant passage of about a week, the 
 coast of Portugal was sighted and, taking aboard 
 a pilot, the Macedonian beat about the mouth of 
 the Tagus (which, at the coast, is nine miles 
 wide) for nearly a whole day, waiting for a 
 favorable breeze ; for Lisbon was situated some 
 ten miles up the river and the current was rapid. 
 At last, favored by a fine breeze, the noble frigate 
 passed up between the steep, fertile banks of the 
 Tagus and, passing Half-Moon Battery, shot past 
 Belem Castle into the port of Lisbon ; which, at 
 that time, was crowded with men-of-war and 
 transports. 
 
 As Samuel stood on the deck of the ship and 
 looked over the picturesque battlements, cathedral 
 spires and towers, the city presented a charming 
 appearance ; at least, so he thought. But he 
 changed his mind when he took a stroll on shore, 
 
38 Aboard the Macedonian. 
 
 through the narrow, ill-kept streets, beset at every 
 hand by beggars ; and he returned to the frigate, 
 satisfied to abide there while she was in port. 
 
 It was while at Lisbon that a " great mis- 
 fortune " befel the Macedonian — so her officers 
 declared — for the wardroom steward (Mr. San- 
 ders) deserted. He had long been in the service, 
 was an exceptionally fine provider and knew, to 
 a nicety, how to tickle the palates of his masters. 
 Unlike many men in his profession, Mr. Sanders 
 had carefully saved his prize money, wages, tips 
 etc., and had accumulated a comfortable little 
 fortune. 
 
 Not being permitted, by the regulations, to 
 retire from^ the service he decided to desert and, 
 speaking the Spanish language fluently, he en- 
 gaged a native boatman to run his boat under 
 the stern of the frigate. Passing through one of 
 the cabin windows, Sanders dropped into the 
 boat and was rowed away — the boatmen con- 
 cealing him with their flowing garments. It was 
 lucky for Sanders that he was not retaken for, 
 if he had, he would have been subjected to the 
 severest flogging — or hung. 
 
 Samuel's exact position on board the frigate 
 was that of servant to the surgeon (and in time 
 of battle he was " powder-monkey," one of the 
 lads who supplied the guns with cartridges) in 
 
Cowardly Natives. 39 
 
 which capacity he was compelled to p^o ashore 
 many times on errands. On one of these occa- 
 sions he was shocked by witnessing;- a brutal 
 murder, in true Portui^uese style. The victim 
 had aroused the jealousy of a rival, the latter 
 crept up behind the former and thrust a long 
 knife, up to its hilt, in his back. It was a 
 cowardly attack but Samuel soon learned that it 
 was typical of the natives. 
 
 In fact, it soon became well understood that a 
 calm front was the safest possible protection 
 against a Portuguese. The Macedonians dis- 
 covered this on several occasions. At one time 
 six marines, not understanding the language, 
 trespassed on the private grounds of the queen. 
 Some twenty natives rush at them, in a most 
 ferocious manner, wdth drawn knives. The Eng- 
 lishmen drew their bayonets and awaited the 
 onslaught. But, before they came to close 
 quarters, the natives thought better of their valor 
 and retreated. 
 
 While walking along the streets of Lisbon, 
 on another occasion, Samuel learned something 
 about their way of punishing criminals. Noticing 
 a noisy crowd, he looked up and saw a human 
 head with a pair of hands nailed to a barber's 
 pole. On inquiry, he found that they belonged 
 
40 Aboard the Macedonian. 
 
 to a barber who murdered a gentleman he was 
 shaving in order to get a beautiful watch. 
 
 It was while the Macedonian was at Lisbon 
 that young Leech witnessed a punishment that 
 made a lasting effect on his tender mind. Near 
 where the frigate lay, was anchored an English 
 74-gun ship of the line. It seems that a sergeant 
 of marines in that ship has especially aroused the 
 anger of those immediately under him by re- 
 peated acts of tyranny; and two of the marines 
 determined to take his life. 
 
 Waiting for a favorable opportunity, these 
 men one dark night when the deck was com- 
 paratively deserted, seized the sergeant and, hur- 
 rying him to the side of the ship, threw him into 
 the river. The tide was running swiftly and, as 
 he was securely gagged and bound, he soon per- 
 ished; no one, save the two marines, being cog- 
 nizant of the deed. It was not likely that the 
 murder would ever have been found out had it 
 not been for the indiscretion of the marines 
 themselves. 
 
 One night, after they had had a day of " lib- 
 erty " on shore, they came aboard under the 
 influence of liquor and were so loud in discussing 
 the details of the foul act and in congratulating 
 themselves in having rid the ship of the tyrant, 
 that they were overheard by an officer. 
 
First Christmas Ai-loat. 41 
 
 A conrt-martial was convened, the two marines 
 were tried and found i^uilty. It was an offense 
 that admitted of no delay or triHini^ for it 
 touched upon tlie hfe of discipHne in a war ship. 
 On the following mornin^q". the entire ship's com- 
 pany was assembled on the main deck. The two 
 criminals, with halters around their necks, were 
 placed under yard-arms and two guns were fired. 
 When the smoke had cleared away, two human 
 bodies were seen dangling at a dizzy height and, 
 in a few moments, all was again quiet — two lives 
 had been snuffed out. Only the day before, a 
 letter had arrived honorably discharging from 
 the service one of the men executed. 
 
 The first Christmas aboard the Macedonian 
 for our hero, tended largely to chill his ardor for 
 the service. " On this day," said Leech in his 
 diary, " the men were permitted to have full 
 swing. Drunkeness ruled the ship. Nearly every 
 man, with most of the officers, was in a state of 
 beastly intoxication by night. 
 
 " Some were fighting but were so insensibly 
 drunk that they hardly knew whether they struck 
 the guns or their opponents. Yonder, a party 
 was singing bacchanalian songs, such as they 
 would not have been permitted to do aboard any 
 ship under normal conditions. All were laugh- 
 ing, cursing, swearing or hallooing. Confusion 
 
42 Aboard the Macedonian. 
 
 reigned in glorious triumph ; it was the very 
 chaos of humanity. Had we been at sea, a 
 sudden gale must have proved our destruction. 
 Had we been exposed to sudden attack from an 
 enemy's vessel, we would have fallen an easy 
 prey — just as the poor Hessians at Trenton fell 
 before the well-timed blow struck by Washington, 
 Christmas night, 1776." 
 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 LIFE ABOARD A FRIGATE. 
 
 In tlicse days when war ships are built of steel, 
 with every imag;inable contrivance of modern 
 invention going into their equipment and arma- 
 ment, much of the old-time romance of sea life 
 is lost. It was a very different condition that 
 Samuel found when he became fairly settled in 
 the frigate Macedonian. Here, he discovered 
 an isolated community, cut off for the time being 
 from the rest of the world and governed by a 
 code of regulations peculiar to itself. 
 
 He soon learned that every man in that great 
 ship's company had a certain task alotted ex- 
 clusively to him and, on its proper performance, 
 depended his good standing on the frigate's 
 merit-roll. One set of men (called topmen) was 
 assigned to the duty of handling the sails aloft. 
 They were divided into three divisions namely, 
 fore- main- and mizzen-topmen, according to the 
 number of masts in the ship. It was their duty 
 to ascend their respective masts and to take in, 
 reef or let out sails. 
 
I 
 
 44 Life Aboard a Frigate. 
 
 Assisting these topmen was a corresponding 
 set of men who handled the sails from the deck. 
 They, also, were divided according to the number 
 of masts and were called forecastle men, waisters 
 (or mainmast men) and the after-guard or 
 those attending to the last (or mizzen) mast in a 
 three-masted ship. They looked after the courses 
 (or lowest sails in a ship), set or took in the jibs, 
 lower studding sails and spanker ; and were re- 
 quired to coil up or properly replace all ropes on 
 deck after they had been used. 
 
 Another set of men, called scavengers, were re- 
 quired to keep the decks clean ; that is, .to sweep 
 up and clear away all dirt or refuse from any 
 part of the ship and throw it overboard. 
 
 Then came the " boys," among whom Samuel 
 found himself enlisted. They acted mostly as 
 servants for officers and there were from twenty 
 to forty of them in each frigate. The entire ship's 
 company (with the exception of the commander, 
 purser, surgeon and a few other officers and the 
 boys) were divided into two watches, called the 
 larboard (port) and starboard watch, which re- 
 lieved each other alternately so that when at sea, 
 one watch was constantly on duty. 
 
 Every evening the entire ship's company was 
 drilled at the guns. When the drummer beat to 
 quarters, every man and boy hastened to his 
 
Division of Labor. 45 
 
 prescribed station. There were twenty- four guns 
 in each of the broadsides of the ordinary British 
 frigate in those days, eiglit men and a boy being 
 assigned to each ])icce : the men to load, fire, 
 sponge and handle the cannon while the boy was 
 to run to and from the gun to the magazine, to 
 secure supplies of ammunition. 
 
 Besides the men and boys mentioned, there 
 were from thirty to forty marines (or soldiers 
 who serve aboard ship) in every frigate. They 
 acted as the police, upholding the authority of 
 the officers, standing guard at various points 
 and, in time of battle, some of them were placed 
 in the rigging so as to attack the enemy with 
 their muskets. 
 
 The crew slept in hammocks, swung on the 
 berth deck (or that just below the gun or main 
 deck) and, when called to action, they sprang up, 
 dressed, rolled up their hammocks with a rapidity 
 that a landman could hardly believe possible — 
 each hainmock being numbered and placed in the 
 bulwark nettings which had a corresponding 
 number; so that, even on the darkest night, the 
 men knew exactly where to place them. 
 
 It was some time before Samuel became accus- 
 tomed to the food aboard ship — it being so differ- 
 ent from that he had had on shore. While in 
 port, the men had fresh bread and meat but, at 
 
46 Life Aboard a Frigate. 
 
 sea, they were confined to salt pork, hard biscuits 
 and pea soup. Once a week they had flour and 
 raisins with which they made a pudding called 
 " plum duff." 
 
 While eating, the men were divided into messes 
 of eight, each mess having its cook who drew the 
 allowances, cooked the meals and washed the 
 " kids " or eating utensils. This cook also drew 
 the grog or liquor for the men, which consisted 
 of a gill of rum per man. This was served at 
 noon every day, under the mistaken idea that it 
 made the men stout, hardy and brave. At four 
 o'clock every afternoon every man received half 
 a pint of wine. 
 
 In the American service this, worse than use- 
 less '* grog," was soon done away with and it is 
 related that when the Constitution went into 
 battle with the Cyane and Levant, some officer 
 thought he was doing right by offering our 
 sailors a tub with which to " brace up their 
 courage." The Yankee tars kicked the tub over 
 saying that they needed no " Dutch courage " in 
 entering a fight. 
 
 Samuel had not been in the Macedonian long 
 before he was called upon to witness that most 
 brutal and degrading of punishments — flogging. 
 While it was practiced in other European navies 
 of that day with even greater severity than in 
 
Severe Punishment. 47 
 
 the British, it was sufficiently cruel in llie latter 
 to deserve the brand of condemnation. Although 
 the details of this form of punishment are re- 
 volting, it will be necessary to give some descrip- 
 tion of it, if the reader is to fully appreciate the 
 dreadful anxieties our hero passed through after 
 his desertion from the royal navy and subsequent 
 capture by the English. 
 
 One of the Macedonian's midshipmen was 
 named Gale, whom Samuel describes as a " ras- 
 cally, unprincipled fellow." Finding his handker- 
 chief one day in the possession of a seaman, Gale 
 accused him of theft — although the tar protested 
 that he had found it under his hammock ; which 
 was quite possible as the midshipmen often passed 
 through the berth deck on inspection and other 
 duties. The case was reported, a court-martial 
 convened and Captain Garden sentenced the un- 
 fortunate seaman to receive three hundred lashes 
 through the fleet and imprisonment for one year! 
 
 To be sure, stealing, in a man-of-war is one 
 of the gravest petty offenses but, in this case, the 
 crime was a very long way from fitting the pun- 
 ishment — especially as there was reasonable doubt 
 of intentional theft. 
 
 On the day appointed the prisoner was taken 
 into the frigate's launch. This boat had been 
 rigged for the occasion with poles and grating 
 
48 Life Aboard a Frigate. 
 
 to which the prisoner, stripped to the waist, was 
 firmly bound at his wrists and ankles with rope. 
 The Macedonian's surgeon took his place in the 
 launch, so as to determine when nature had 
 reached the extreme limit of endurance and a 
 boat from every ship in the fleet attended and was 
 connected by a tow-line with the " execution " 
 launch — so as to give greater humiliation to the 
 prisoner. 
 
 These preliminaries being completed, the crew 
 of the victim's ship manned the rigging to better 
 view the proceedings — for the ordeal was de- 
 signed as a warning for them also. At the word 
 from the officer in charge, the Macedonian's 
 boatswain, with coat off and sleeves rolled up, 
 carefully spread out the nine cords of the " cat " 
 or whip and brought it down with all his strength 
 on the bare back of the victim. The flesh crept 
 and reddened. Lash followed lash with nothing 
 to break the awful silence save the swish of the 
 nine cords cutting through the air and landing 
 with a sickening thud on human flesh, or the 
 agonizing cries of the prisoner. 
 
 In order that the blows might be delivered with 
 undiminished vigor to the last, the boatswain, on 
 completing one dozen lashes, handed the brutal 
 instrument to one of his mates ; they delivering 
 
A Ghastly SriicxACLE. 49 
 
 one dozen lashes each. Tlic first sixty lashes 
 were given alongside the Macedonian, in con- 
 formity with the custom of giving the greatest 
 number of blows alongside the prisoner's shij) 
 so that his gory back might strike terror in the 
 crews of the other ships. 
 
 By this time the prisoner's back had been 
 lacerated beyond description, the flesh resembling 
 " roasted meat, burned nearly black before a 
 scorching fire," as Samuel described it. His 
 shirt was now thrown over his wounds, the boat- 
 swain and mates returned to their ship, all hands 
 were piped down ; and as the procession pro- 
 ceeded to the next ship, the drummer beat the 
 Rogue's March. 
 
 At the next man-of-war, the crew manned the 
 yards and rigging as before and her boatswain 
 and his mates descended into the launch, cat in 
 hand. Removing his shirt, he revealed the 
 ghastly spectacle to his shipmates aloft. Then 
 they proceeded to deliver one, two or three dozen 
 lashes, according to the number of ships in the 
 fleet. 
 
 This horrible drama was to be enacted at the 
 side of every ship, until the three hundred lashes 
 were given. In this case, however, the attending 
 surgeon, at the end of two hundred and twenty 
 
50 Life Aboard a Frigate. 
 
 blows, pronounced the prisoner unfit to endure 
 any more. Galled, bruised and agonized as he 
 was, he begged them to deliver the remaining, 
 so that he would not again be compelled to pass 
 through the degrading ordeal. His request was 
 denied. Taken aboard the Macedonian the sur- 
 geon dressed the wounds and, when partially 
 healed (for human flesh could never recover from 
 such mutilation) the other eighty lashes were 
 delivered before the year of imprisonment began. 
 
 Thus the mangled wretch was ruined for life, 
 broken in spirit, all sense of self-respect gone — to 
 be for all his remaining days a crawling, servile, 
 cringing slave to the beck and nod of his fellow 
 men; ready, with sullen alacrity, to obey their 
 slightest wish. 
 
 This, of course, was a case of extreme severity 
 but the punishment of " flogging through the 
 fleet " was not uncommon in the British or Con- 
 tinental navies of that day. When the United 
 States 32-gun frigate Essex, Captain Smithy 
 visited England shortly before the war of 18 12, 
 a deserter from an English war ship sought 
 refuge in her. A British officer came on board 
 and made formal demand for him. On being 
 sent below to get his clothes, the deserter ap- 
 proached a carpenter's bench and with one blow, 
 
Boys to Flog Boys. 51 
 
 cut off his left hand with an ax. Pickinp^ up the 
 severed member with his right hand, he returned 
 to the quarter deck and flung it at the feet of his 
 captors saying, that before he would again serve 
 in a British man-of-war he woukl cut oflF his left 
 foot. Horrified at the sight, the lieutenant left 
 the Essex without his prisoner. 
 
 It was a peculiar feature of the punishment of 
 flogging that officers who, at first, sickened and 
 fainted at the sight, gradually grew indiflferent 
 and, in some instances, acquired a fiendish crav- 
 ing for it. Not even the tender flesh of the ship's 
 boys was safe from this brutal ordeal ; only, in 
 their case, hoys were called upon to handle the 
 lash instead of men. 
 
 Such being the severity of discipline maintained 
 in the royal navy at this time, it is no wonder 
 that we find that so many attempted to run 
 away. With the more desirable men, however, 
 the British commanders were lenient. While the 
 Macedonian was under the orders of Lord Fitz- 
 roy, a fine sailor named Richard Suttonwood es- 
 caped to an English merchant brig. When too 
 late, Dick found that this brig was laden with 
 powder for the Macedonian and, on the following 
 day, she ran alongside. Realizing that he was 
 caught, Dick made the best of a bad case by 
 
52 Life Aboard a Frigate. 
 
 boldly going aboard the frigate and surrendering 
 himself — and Lord Fitzroy pardoned him. 
 
 ** The crew," records Samuel, " were all de- 
 lighted at his return on account of his lively dis- 
 position and ability, to sing comic songs. So 
 joyous were we all at his escape from punishment 
 that we insisted on his giving a concert. Seated 
 on a gun, surrounded by scores of sailors, Dick 
 sang a number of favorite songs " to which even 
 some of the officers listened — although, of course, 
 they did not show it. 
 
 Lord Fitzroy appreciated the hard life of the 
 men under him and did every thing to make it 
 pleasanter. While at Lisbon a peculiar character 
 was induced to come aboard the Macedonian who 
 did much to " 'liven up things." " We had just 
 finished breakfast," said Samuel, " when a num- 
 ber our men were seen running, in high glee, 
 toward the main hatchway. Wondering what 
 was going on, I watched their proceedings with 
 curious eye. The cause of their joy soon appeared 
 in the person of a short, round-faced, merry-look- 
 ing tar who descended the hatchway amid cries 
 of: 
 
 " ' Hurrah ! Here's Happy Jack ! ' 
 
 " As soon as the jovial little man had set his 
 foot on the berth deck he began to sing. It was 
 a song of triumph, of England's naval glories. 
 
tt 
 
 Happy Jack." 53 
 
 Every voice was luislicd, all work was 1)roii,L;]it 
 to a standstill while the crew g^athered round in 
 groups to listen to his unequalled performance. 
 Happy Jack succeeded in imparting his joyous 
 feelings to our people and they parted with him 
 that night with deep regret.^' 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 LIVELY INCIDENTS ABOARD. 
 
 Onl}^ a few days after the Christmas carousal 
 (as described in Chapter III), word reached the 
 British admiral at Lisbon that nine French frig- 
 ates were cruising along the western Spanish 
 coast. In a moment all was excitement and con- 
 fusion as the English war craft, then in that 
 port, hastened to put to sea in search of the 
 enemy. The 74-gun ships-of-the-line Hannibal, 
 Norihumberland and Caesar, with the Macedon- 
 ian and a few smaller war ships, at once dropped 
 down the river in pursuit; every man animated 
 with the keenest desire to fight. But after cruis- 
 insf several days in a futile effort to discover the 
 French fleet, the Admiral signaled ''Return to 
 port." 
 
 On the passage back, the English fell in with a 
 Scotch ship from Greenock which had been 
 reduced, by a succession of gales, to a most 
 perilous condition. Her masts and rudder were 
 gone while numerous leaks were gaining on the 
 pumps. Finding that it was impossible to save 
 the craft, her people were taken off and she was 
 left to sink. 
 
The Captain Casiiierkd. 55 
 
 Before qaininj^ port from tliis short cruise, an 
 incident happened that seriously affected Sam- 
 uel's future career ; indeed, also that of Lord 
 Fitzroy himself. One night while the topsails 
 were beings reefed the sailing-master, Mr. Lewis, 
 in a fit of ill-humor, threatened to flog- one of the 
 seamen — which, by the regulations, he had no 
 right to do. Lord Fitzroy was a strict disciplin- 
 arian — not only with the crew but with his 
 officers — and he would have been the last to have 
 had even the humblest of his ship's company sub- 
 jected to injustice ; not even at the hands of his 
 sailing-master. The latter held a position of 
 responsibility and authority in the ship equal, 
 almost, to that of the commander himself. 
 
 Overhearing Mr. Lewis' threat. Lord Fitzroy 
 took him severely to task and the sailing-master 
 so far forgot himself as to enter into a dispute 
 with his superior. The affair reached such a 
 stage that, on their return to Lisbon, the Admiral 
 ordered a court-martial. Unfortunately the sail- 
 ing-master had considerable influence with naval 
 authorities and, although Lord Fitzroy w^as per- 
 fectly justified in taking the course he did, the 
 court-martial compromised the matter with the 
 result that both officers were cashiered. 
 
 This was a bitter disappointment for Lord Fitz- 
 roy for he had just entered upon his cherished 
 
56 Lively Incidents Aboard. 
 
 profession. He was relieved of his command and 
 was succeeded, in rapid succession, by Captains 
 Carson, Waldgrave and John Surman Carden. 
 The fact that it was so hard to find a commander 
 of abihty equal to Lord Fitzroy, showed, plainly 
 enough, how well his professional qualities had 
 commended themselves to the Admiralty. 
 
 Among the popular members of the Mace- 
 donian's ship's company was a negro named 
 Nugent. He had a fine presence, polite manners 
 and easy address which had won for him " pro- 
 motion " to a wardroom servant. As he was an 
 American, however, and had been unjustly im- 
 pressed in the British service, he had long kept a 
 " weather eye " open for an opportunity to escape. 
 
 Soon after the return of the squadron to Lis- 
 bon, as just narrated, Nugent found his chance 
 and managed to get aboard an American ship that 
 was shortly to sail for the other side of the At- 
 lantic. So far, his effort to escape had been 
 entirely successful for the British officers had not 
 been able to trace him. 
 
 But one unlucky day, while Nugent was stand- 
 ing in full view on the deck of his ship, an officer 
 on the Macedonian's quarter deck, who had the 
 very professional habit of leveling his spyglass at 
 any and every thing in sight, happened to bring 
 Nugent within the field of his vision ; and, recog- 
 
A BOAT ITTTIXc; Oil- 1-RuM AX EX(JLISH WAUSIIII' 
 From the original painting by R. Wcstall. 
 
« 
 
Impressing Skamrn. 57 
 
 nizinq- the deserter, sent a boat off which soon 
 returned with the ofTender. Punishment for de- 
 sertion from the Britisli navy, at that time, was 
 exceedingly brutal. Nu^c^cnt was placed in irons 
 until the ship again ^rot to sea but, owing to his 
 general popularity and favor with the officers, he 
 got off without the dreaded flogging. 
 
 In those days British officers were unscru- 
 pulous in impressing men into their service, it 
 frequently happening that citizens of other na- 
 tions were seized in the streets and hurried off to 
 British war ships. Of course, these men could 
 appeal to their consuls and, in some cases, were 
 released. But, in many instances (such as Nu- 
 gent's) the pressgang was sent ashore on the eve 
 of the ship's sailing so that, before word could 
 reach the consul, the ship was far out to sea — 
 beyond the hope of recall. 
 
 It was W'hile at Lisbon that Samuel himself 
 came near being an involuntary deserter and, 
 consequently, incurring the dreadful penalty for 
 that offense. 
 
 One day some of the Macedonian s officers 
 took him ashore to assist them in making pur- 
 chases for the ship's stores. Proceeding to a 
 distant part of the city, where the lad never 
 before had gone, they gave him a small com- 
 mission to execute. When he endeavored to re- 
 
58 Lively Incidents Aboard. 
 
 turn he got lost in the labyrinth of crooked, nar- 
 row streets and, not understanding a word of 
 the native language, he failed to get back until 
 the last ship's boat had left. 
 
 Here was a predicament, indeed, for our youth- 
 ful hero! He rightly conjectured that his ab- 
 sence would be construed as wilful desertion and 
 that a police alarm would at once be sent out for 
 his apprehension. If so taken, no excuse of his 
 would be listened to for the local officials would 
 insist on receiving the large reward offered by 
 the Admiralty for the apprehension of deserters 
 from the royal navy ; and the Macedonian's offi- 
 cers could not pay that reward without recording 
 the punishment in the ship's books. 
 
 Almost distracted by the prospect, Samuel set 
 out to find the Fish Market, for he knew that 
 the landing place was near that spot. It was the 
 only bit of Portuguese geography he had the 
 least familiarity with. Addressing, in English, 
 one person and another, he was answered by 
 empty stares and occasionally (from some citizen 
 more intelligent than his fellows) with an " No 
 entender Englis." 
 
 Finally, espying a British soldier, he joyfully 
 ran up to him and exclaimed : 
 
 " Good luck to you ! Do tell me where Fish 
 Market is, for these stupid Portuguese, bad 
 
Narrow Escapes. 59 
 
 luck to them, can't iitiderstand a word I say ; for 
 it is all * No entcndcr Englis.' " 
 
 The soldier lan.qhcd at this cxhihititMi of Brit- 
 ish temper and very kindly showed the desired 
 way. 
 
 It was now very late at night and few people 
 were about. Finally, Samuel saw a native boat- 
 man but he could not understand what ship the 
 lad wanted to board. It happened that the Mace- 
 donian, at this time, had her mainmast out so 
 that by pointing- and holding up two fingers he 
 manasfcd to make the boatman understand. 
 
 On another occasion Samuel was an unwilling 
 deserter while his ship was in the Bight o' Lis- 
 bon. Happening on shore with two other boys, 
 thev overstaved their time and had to remain in 
 the city all night. Not being provided with 
 money they were compelled to wander about the 
 streets until morning. 
 
 All that night they were in constant fear of 
 being apprehended by the local officials as de- 
 serters. To guard against this, they practiced a 
 deception. Samuel was selected to represent a 
 midshipman for, if there was an officer present, 
 they could not be arrested for desertion. By 
 means of a piece of chalk, a stripe was marked 
 around his collar which, in the uncertain light 
 of street lamps, made a fairly good imitation of 
 the silver lace around a midshipman's collar. 
 
 5 
 
6o Lively Incidents Aboard. 
 
 Getting safely on board the following morning, 
 the boys were separated for examination ; to see if 
 they would tell the same story of their absence. 
 That they were in for punishment, they could not 
 doubt for, in Leech's case, at least, this all-night 
 absence had happened twice in a very short 
 period. Fortunately for the boys, one of them 
 happened to be the servant of First Lieutenant 
 David Hope and a favorite. If the Heutenant's 
 boy was flogged, all must be similarly punished 
 so, in order to save the back of his own boy, all 
 were let off with an admonition. 
 
 About this time the Macedonian was ordered 
 on another cruise and, being short of men, a 
 pressgang (made up of the most loyal men 
 aboard, armed to the teeth) was sent ashore to 
 seize any desirable man they might meet. They 
 returned with the required number. Some of 
 them were Americans but their protection papers 
 were taken from them and destroyed so that 
 proof of the outrage was lost. 
 
 Every thing being in readiness, the Mace- 
 donian put to sea for a cruise in the Bay of 
 Biscay. Scarcely had she been out two days 
 when she encountered a gale in which she nearly 
 foundered. In his diary Samuel says : " We had 
 just finished dinner when a tremendous sea broke 
 over us, pouring down the hatchway, sweeping 
 
" Man the Pumps." 6i 
 
 the galley of all its lialf-cookcd contents, then 
 being- prepared for the officers' dinner, and cov- 
 ering the berth deck with a perfect Hood. It 
 seemed as if Old Neptune really intended that 
 wave to sink ns in Davy Jones' locker. 
 
 " As the water rolled from side to side within 
 and the rude waves from without beat against 
 her, our good ship trembled from stem to stern 
 and seemed like a human being gasping for 
 breath in a struggle with death. The women 
 (there were several on board) set up a shriek, a 
 thing I had never heard them do before. Some 
 of the men turned pale, others cursed and tried to 
 say witty things. The officers started, orders ran 
 along the ship to " Man the chain pumps " and 
 to cut holes through the berth deck so as to let 
 the water into the hold. These orders being rap- 
 idly obeyed, the ship was freed from her danger. 
 The confusion of the moment before was fol- 
 lowed by laughing and pleasantries. That gale 
 was long spoken of as one of great danger." 
 
 Soon after this narrow escape, the Macedonian 
 gave chase to two West Indiamen. During the 
 night it blew so hard that it became necessary to 
 take in the topsails and it was while in the per- 
 formance of this duty that one of the impressed 
 sailors (an American named John Thomson) fell 
 from the yard, struck some part of the ship and 
 disappeared in the sea — never to rise again. 
 
62 Lively Incidents Aboard. 
 
 Leech records that : " He was greatly beloved 
 by his messmates, by whom his death was as 
 severely felt as when a member of a family dies 
 on shore. His loss created a dull and gloomy 
 atmosphere throughout the ship and it was sev- 
 eral days before the hands regained their wonted 
 elasticity of mind and appearance." 
 
 While on this cruise, one of Samuel's duties 
 was the cleaning of knives, forks, dish-covers 
 etc., for the wardroom. This work devolved on 
 the wardroom boys in succession. One day, hav- 
 ing finished his allotted task, the wardroom stew- 
 ard, a quick tempered man from the East Indies, 
 came to Samuel at dinner time to inquire for the 
 knives. Not recollecting, at the moment, where 
 he had put them, the lad made no reply ; where- 
 upon the steward pushed Samuel over a sack of 
 bread and, in falling, his head struck the corner 
 of a locker. 
 
 As he felt much pain and the blood was flowing 
 freely, Samuel went to Mr. Marsh, the surgeon, 
 who dressed the wound and advised the lad to 
 take care of it. 
 
 Without doubt, the cut would have healed 
 speedily had it not been for the freak of a sailor, 
 a few davs afterward. It was one of the 
 " sports " of the seamen, while holystoning and 
 washing down the decks of the frigate, to 
 
Sick Unto Death. 6^ 
 
 " souse " the ship's boys. Owing- to the injury 
 on his head and renicmbcrini;- the admonition 
 g:ivcn by the surireon, Samuel had carefully 
 avoided this '* medicine." This, of course, was 
 the surest way of courting its application, for 
 sailor-folk are quick to note any shirking of what 
 they believe to be each one's due. 
 
 Observing that Samuel was trying to avoid his 
 " dose," an old tar stole up behind him one 
 morning and poured a bucketful of cold water on 
 his head. That night Samuel felt violent pains 
 in his neck, ears and head and, being no better on 
 the following morning, he was examined by the 
 surgeon and excused from duty. Continuing to 
 grow worse, he was sent to the Sick Bay where 
 he remained several weeks. Although carefully 
 attended by the surgeon and most kindly treated 
 by his shipmates (who, rough as they were, 
 were honestly sorry for him) he continued failing 
 until his life was despaired of. 
 
 With him, in .the Sick Bay, was a tough old 
 negro named Black Tom whose strong frame had 
 long since been weakened by dissipation. Black 
 Tom soon died and it was with peculiarly painful 
 feelings that Samuel watched them sew his body 
 up in his hammock and heard them read a short 
 burial service on the deck above. It was not 
 necessary for any one to tell the lad what " that 
 
64 Lively Incidents Aboard. 
 
 splash " in .the water was. He heard the ominous 
 sound as Black Tom's body plunged into the deep, 
 and felt sure that the scene would soon be re- 
 enacted over his own remains. 
 
 Indeed, he could tell by the lowered voices 
 about him that all hope of his recovery had gone. 
 But, thanks to a strong constitution and discreet 
 living, Samuel gradually recovered and, by the 
 time the frigate returned to Lisbon from this 
 cruise, he was pronounced fit for duty again. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 CAPTAIN GARDEN'S DISCIPLINE. 
 
 On return to Lisbon after the cruise in which 
 Samuel Leech so nearly lost his life, as described 
 in the last chapter, our hero found that his master 
 had secured the services of another boy and Leech 
 was temporarily assigned to the duty of mes- 
 senger for the officers. It was now that Captain 
 John Surman Carden became commander of the 
 frigate. The men fondly believed that he would 
 prove less severe in discipline, for his appear- 
 ance gave promise of it. In order to propitnate 
 him they called him a " kind, fatherly old gentle- 
 man." But their hopes and arts proved of no 
 avail for he soon demonstrated that he was 
 severer than any of his predecessors. The slight- 
 est offense was severely punished and the men 
 were soon wishing that they had the really kind- 
 hearted Lord Fitzroy with them again. 
 
 Just before sailing from Lisbon on another 
 cruise, the sailing-master's boy ran away. He 
 was caught, flogged and dismissed the service 
 and our hero took his place so that he once more 
 
66 Captain Garden's Discipline. 
 
 was housed under the partially protecting wing 
 of a " master." 
 
 Captain Carden, in spite of the severity of his 
 manner, was a man of refined tastes and one of 
 his first official acts was to enlist a band of musi- 
 cians composed of Germans, Italians and French- 
 men. They had been in a French vessel which 
 had been captured by the Portuguese. As soon 
 as Carden learned of this he at once engaged 
 them for the Macedonian with the stipulation that 
 in case of battle they were not to be called on to 
 fight but were to be stowed away in the cable tier 
 until " the clouds blew over." Also, they insisted 
 that they were not to be flogged. 
 
 It was fortunate for these men that they made 
 the stipulations they did for, soon afterward, the 
 Macedonian was engaged in battle with the 
 American frigate United States and had they 
 been exposed on deck some of them, undoubtedly, 
 would have been put, permanently, out of tune. 
 
 The career of this band was singular. Cap- 
 tured from the French by the Portuguese, they 
 enlisted in the British navy. Captured from the 
 English by the United States they entered the 
 American service and became the second band of 
 musicians in our navy — the first having been kid- 
 napped by Captain McNiell at Messina several 
 years before and carried across the Atlantic, in 
 
Early Sea-Musicians. (iy 
 
 spite of their tearful protests that they had not 
 provided for the maintenance of their faniihes 
 during their enforced absence. This first band 
 was being returned to Italy in the Chesapeake 
 when that shio was captured by the British frig- 
 ate Leopard in 1807, and again they were drawn 
 into sharps and flats — from all of which we can 
 readily believe that the lot of the early sea- 
 musician was not a happy one. 
 
 During the cruise on which the Macedonian 
 had now entered, these musicians played when- 
 ever Captain Garden dined and when the ward- 
 room officers messed they played before the door 
 of that sanctum ; except on Sundays when Garden 
 was in the habit of honoring the wardroom with 
 his presence, the band accompanying him. On 
 the whole, the crew was much pleased to have the 
 " artists " with them for they enlivened the mon- 
 otony of the cruise and formed a shining target 
 for the amateur musicians among the sailors to 
 hurl their scornful criticisms at. 
 
 A few days after leaving port an incident oc- 
 curred which will be described in Samuel's own 
 words. *' The thrilling cry * A man overboard ! ' 
 ran through the ship with electrical efifect. It 
 was followed by : 
 
 Heave out a rope ! ' then by still another : 
 Gut away the life buoy ! ' Then came the 
 order : 
 
 
68 Captain Garden's Discipline. 
 
 " ' Lower a boat ! ' 
 
 " Notwithstanding the rapidity of these com- 
 mands and the confusion occasioned by the antic- 
 ipated loss of a man, they were rapidly obeyed. 
 The ship was hove-to. By that time, however, 
 the cause of all this excitement was at a consid- 
 erable distance from the ship. He was a poor 
 Swede named Logholm who, while engaged in 
 lashing the larboard [port] anchor stock, lost 
 his hold and fell into the sea. 
 
 " He could not swim but somehow managed 
 to keep afloat until the boat reached him, when 
 he began to sink. The man at the bow ran his 
 boat-hook down and caught the drowning man 
 by his clothes. The cloth giving way, the man 
 lost his hold and the Swede once more sank. 
 Again the active bowman ran the hook down, 
 leaning far over the side. Fortunately he got 
 hold of the dying man's shirt collar. Dripping 
 and apparently lifeless, he was drawn into the 
 boat. He was soon under the surgeon's care, 
 whose skill restored him to life." Poor Logholm ! 
 He had escaped death from drowning to await a 
 more dreadful fate in battle, as we shall soon see. 
 
 Awaking one morning, soon after this, Samuel 
 discovered that he had had the narrowest escape 
 of his life from getting the lash. He learned 
 that, during the night, a strange vessel had ap- 
 
Midnight Call to Arms. 69 
 
 proachcd and believing- her to ])c an armed enemy, 
 the entire ship's company had been called to quar- 
 ters. The drums beat, the bugle sounded to arms, 
 the great guns were got in readiness for action, 
 the battle lanterns lighted while the officers and 
 men mustered at each division. When all was in 
 readiness, it was discovered that the stranger was 
 a harmless merchantman ; upon which the ofif- 
 watch returned to their hanmiocks. Samuel had 
 slept soundly all ■ through the bustle and con- 
 fusion and, luckily for him, his absence from the 
 assembly for action was not noticed. 
 
 Arriving at Madeira, the Portuguese boy who 
 had taken Samuel's place as servant to the sur- 
 geon, was dismissed as being unfit for Anglo- 
 Saxon company and it is a high compliment to 
 Samuel's character that the surgeon made strong 
 (though futile) efforts to have our hero again 
 for his needs. 
 
 From Madeira the Macedonian proceeded to 
 St. Michael's when one of the women on board 
 (wife of one of the crew) gave birth to a fine, 
 plump boy. This happy incident was quickly 
 followed by another birth which tended greatly 
 to relieve the monotony of the cruise. Appar- 
 ently, Captain Carden did not relish the idea of 
 having his gallant frigate turned into a nursery 
 and, on the return of that ship to Lisbon in a few 
 
70 Captain Garden's Discipline. 
 
 days, he ordered all the v\^omen aboard to enter 
 a vessel about to sail for England. 
 
 It was while the Macedonian was in Lisbon on 
 this trip that our old friend, Bob Hammond, got 
 into trouble again. While below deck, one day, 
 he was vexed by the taunts of a shipmate and, 
 raising his huge fist, aimed a blow which, instead 
 of striking the offender landed on another sea- 
 man. Bob was too angry to apologize and only 
 remarked : 
 
 " I have killed two birds with one stone." 
 
 Fighting among the crew is a serious offense 
 aboard a war ship and the next morning Bob 
 was ordered before Captain Carden and asked 
 if he had struck the man. Unhesitatingly Bob 
 replied that he had and was glad of it. Two 
 dozen lashes were immediately laid on him and, 
 being taken down from the grating the Captain 
 questioned him again. But Bob only replied that : 
 
 " The man who reported me is a scoundrel " — 
 Bob used a stronger word. ' 
 
 For this, the Irishman got another dozen lashes. 
 All the strokes were received without eliciting 
 the slightest groan or twitch from the victim and, 
 thoroughly discouraged, Captain Carden sent him 
 below. 
 
 One of the finest sailors in the Macedonian — 
 a man popular not only with the crew but with the 
 
A Desperatr Deskrtef^. 71 
 
 officers — named Jack Sadler, crrowinc;' weary of 
 the service, determined to desert. One nii^lit he 
 lowered himself over the side into the river and 
 began swimming toward the shore. As it was 
 not very dark, he was discovered and the sentry 
 fired at him but without efiFect. Then a boat was 
 lowered and went in chase. Jack was soon over- 
 taken, when the officer in charge said : 
 
 " Well, Mr. Sadler, you thought you had got 
 away, did you ? " to which Jack replied : 
 
 " You are not so sure that you have me now." 
 
 And with that he sprang into the river and 
 would have escaped had not a boat from another 
 war ship headed him ofif ; for he was an expert 
 swimmer and could remain under water a long 
 time. On account of his popularity he was let 
 off with three dozen lashes — a remarkably light 
 punishment for desertion. 
 
 One of Sadler's " besetting sins " was that of 
 drunkenness and a few days after this attempted 
 escape he applied himself lustily to the bottle — 
 with the usual result — and was placed in irons. 
 Jack was Bob Hammond's messmate and the lat- 
 ter, observing his " chum's " condition, instantly 
 became so sympathetic that he got drunk too — 
 so that he could '* be with him." 
 
 While in this condition. Bob purposely placed 
 himself in the wav of the officers and in a short 
 
'J2 Captain Garden's Discipline. 
 
 time had the satisfaction of sharing Jack's irons 
 where the sympathetic souls were soon pouring 
 their commiserations into each others ears. The 
 united effect of their distressed feeHngs was re- 
 markable for in a short time they began singing 
 and throughout that live-long night they kept up 
 such a yelling and hallooing that not one of the 
 great ship's company could sleep — especially the 
 officers whose rooms were near the "brig"; 
 and the}^ were too dignified to order a change. 
 
 When the culprits were hauled up for punish- 
 ment the following morning, Captain Carden 
 turned to Jack and said : 
 
 '* Well, Mr. Sadler, you were drunk, were you 
 last night ? " 
 
 " I was, sir," replied the oflfender. Jack's of- 
 fense merited severe handling but he was a fav- 
 orite of the commander and Captain Carden 
 wished to be lenient. So he said : 
 Do you feel sorry for it, sir?" 
 I do, sir." 
 
 Will you try to keep sober if I forgive you ? " 
 continued Captain Carden. 
 
 I will try, sir," was the reply. 
 Then, sir, I forgive you." 
 
 Then turning with great severity to Bob Ham- 
 mond, the British commander said : 
 
 " Well, Mr. Hammond, you got drunk, did you, 
 
 
 
 sir?" 
 
P)Oh's TTorn o' Malt. 73 
 
 Bob shrnc^q^cd his shoulders and shiflinp;- the 
 enormous quid of tobacco to a convenient position 
 in his mouth, rephcd : 
 
 " I can't say but what I had a horn of malt, 
 Sir. 
 
 In a voice of thunder Garden asked : " A 
 horn of malt? You rascal! What do you call 
 a horn of malt ? " 
 
 Bob shifted the w^eight of his body to the other 
 leg and, giving a nautical hitch to his trousers, 
 drolly said : 
 
 " When I was in Bengal, Madras and Batavia 
 I used to get some stuflF called arrack — we used 
 to call it a horn of malt ; but what I had yesterday 
 was some good rum." 
 
 While delivering this explanation Bob's manner 
 was so exquisitely ludicrous that both the officers 
 and men burst out laughing. Captain Garden 
 was confused but recovering himself said to First 
 Lieutenant Hope : 
 
 " Put that rascal in irons ! It's of no use to 
 flog him." 
 
 One of Gaptain Garden's hobbies was to pick 
 out only the finest seamen for his ship and to 
 make room for them he managed to weed out 
 the drones by giving them every opportunity to 
 desert. Once in a while he would call on the 
 men he wished to lose, to go ashore and " cut 
 
74 Captain Garden's Discipline. 
 
 stuff to make brooms of," as he significantly 
 expressed it. These men soon came to be known 
 as the " Broomers " and it was generally under- 
 stood that, if they did not return to the ship, no 
 special effort would be made to capture them. 
 
 Now, while Bob was an excellent seaman when 
 sober. Captain Carden was fearful of the effect 
 his influence would have on other members of the 
 ship's company and one day, when the " Broom- 
 ers " were called, Carden said to Hammond in a 
 very knowing manner : 
 
 " Mr. Hammond, you may go with these fel- 
 lows to cut broom stuff." Bob took the hint, 
 replying : 
 
 *' Ay, ay, sir, and I will cut a long handle to 
 it." 
 
 True to his word, he " cut a long handle to it " 
 for he never appeared on the Macedonians deck 
 again. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 FORESHADOWING A GREAT BATTLE. 
 
 About this time, 1811, the prevailing topic of 
 conversation among British sailors was the prob- 
 ability of war with the United States and it will 
 prove interesting to observe the confidence gen- 
 erally expressed of the easy victories England 
 would have, at least, on the sea. 
 
 Down to this time Samuel had been a loyal 
 Briton and he well expressed the sentiment of his 
 shipmates when he said : " The prevailing feel- 
 ing through the fleet was that of confidence in 
 our own success and of contempt for the inferior 
 naval force of our anticipated enemy. Every 
 man, and especially the officers, predicted, as his 
 eye glanced proudly on the fine fleet which was 
 anchored off Lisbon, a speedy and successful 
 issue of the approaching conflict." 
 
 Shortly after this the Macedonian received 
 orders to carry dispatches to Norfolk, Virginia, 
 and she put to sea accordingly. It was then in 
 the " dead of winter " and young Leech, as the 
 frigate neared her haven, began to feel the sharp 
 cold of the American climate. It was the first 
 6 
 
76 Foreshadowing a Great Battle. 
 
 time he had experienced really cold weather and 
 he listened with unusual interest to the " cold 
 weather" yarns the sailors began to spin. One 
 story particularly impressed itself on his mind. 
 
 It was that about a tyrannical lieutenant who 
 delighted in imposing extra tasks on the crew. 
 Although it was never his watch on deck at the 
 hour holystoning was done, he managed to ap- 
 pear before the task was completed and made the 
 men do it over again. This, in a severe climate, 
 was a great hardship so that many a curse or 
 prayer was offered that he might be taken else- 
 where. 
 
 One morning, the weather being unusually 
 cold, the men sprang to their work hoping to 
 finish holystoning the decks before their tor- 
 menter came up. They had just completed the 
 task when the lieutenant appeared and angrily 
 ordered them to do it all over again. With mut- 
 tered imprecations they got down to the wet 
 decks on their knees, earnestly hoping that 
 he might never again appear on deck alive. 
 Strangely enough their wish was granted for the 
 officer was taken sick and died the next day. 
 
 Dropping anchor in Hampton Roads, the frig- 
 ate was made snug for a short stay in American 
 waters. Samuel Leech records : " The sound of 
 our own familiar tongue from strangers was very 
 
" Fine Eating in America." 'jy 
 
 agreeable after bciiii;* so lonp; accustomed to Por- 
 tuguese lingo and a thrill of home remembrances 
 shot through our hearts as the American pilot, 
 on stepping on board said : ' It's very cold.* " 
 
 "While in Hampton Roads we fared well. Boats 
 were alongside every day with plenty of beef and 
 pork, which was declared by universal consent to 
 be infinitely superior to that we had obtained in 
 Portugal. Our men said that Yankee pork would 
 swell in the pot, which they very sagely accounted 
 for on the supposition that the pigs were killed 
 in the full of the moon." 
 
 The principal drawback to the enjoyment of the 
 stay at Norfolk was the denial of liberty to go 
 ashore. The strictest care was taken to prevent 
 communication with the land, either personally 
 or by letter lest the men would desert or might 
 learn of the impending war. Many of the crew 
 were Americans wrongfully impressed. 
 
 Speaking of the interchange of visits between 
 the officers and Americans, Samuel touches on one 
 of the historical episodes in the American navy. 
 He said : " Our officers never enjoyed them- 
 selves better than during our stay at this port. 
 Besides feasting among themselves on the fine, 
 fat beef, geese and turkeys which came alongside 
 in abundance, they exchanged visits with Com- 
 modore Decatur and his officers of the frigate 
 
78 Foreshadowing a Great Battle. 
 
 United States, then lying at Norfolk. I remember 
 hearing Commodore Decatur and the captain of 
 the Macedonian joking about taking each other's 
 ships in case of war." 
 
 From Captain Mackenzie's Life of Decatur we 
 get the details of this conversation which, as will 
 soon be seen, was prophetic — though, according 
 to another account it took place in Lisbon instead 
 of at Norfolk. " Garden particularly pointed out 
 the inefficiency of the 24-pounders on the main 
 deck of the United States and said that they 
 could not be handled with ease and rapidity in 
 action and that long i8-pounders would do as 
 much execution and were as heavy as experience 
 had proved that a frigate ought to carry. ' Be- 
 sides, Decatur,' said Garden, ' though your ships 
 may be good enough, and you are a clever set of 
 fellows, what practice have you had in war? 
 There's the rub.' " 
 
 After a quick run across the Atlantic, the 
 Macedonian arrived at her old quarters in Lisbon 
 where, much to the joy of all on board, orders 
 were found awaiting her to convoy a fleet of 
 merchantmen home. It was now over two years 
 since Samuel had seen Merry England and he 
 describes the departure from Lisbon in the fol- 
 lowing graphic style : " One morning a gun was 
 fired to give notice to our convoy to get under 
 

 ^ - 
 
 ^■^? 
 
 •/: ■:2 
 
 y. 
 
Off for Merry England. 79 
 
 weigh. Immediately the harhor was ahvc with 
 noise and activity. The son^^ of the sailors weigh- 
 ing anchor, the creaking of pullies, the flapping 
 of sails, the loud, gruff voices of the officers and 
 the splashing of the waters created what to us, 
 now that we were homeward bound, was a sweet 
 harmony of sounds. 
 
 " Amid all this animation, our own stately 
 frigate spread her bellying sails to a light but 
 favoring breeze. With colors flying, our band 
 playing lively airs and the captain with his speak- 
 ing trumpet urging the lagging merchant ships to 
 more activity, we passed gaily through the fleet 
 consigned to our care. In this gallant style we 
 scudded past the straggling ruins of old Lisbon, 
 which still bore marks of the earthquake that 
 destroyed it. Very soon the merry fishermen, 
 who abound in the Tagus, were far at our stern. 
 Next we glided past the tall granite pinnacles of 
 towering Mount Cintra. The highlands passed 
 from our vision like scenes in a panorama and in 
 a few hours, instead of the companionship of the 
 large flock of seagulls, which hover over this 
 river, we were attended, here and there, by only 
 one of these restless wanderers of the deep. 
 Now we were fairly at sea and were enjoying the 
 rare luxury of fond anticipations. Visions of 
 many an old fireside, of many an humble hearth- 
 
8o Foreshadowing a Great Battle. 
 
 stone, poor, but precious, flitted through the 
 minds of many of our crew that night. Hard- 
 ships and severe discipHne were for the time for- 
 gotten. in dreams of hope." 
 
 After a pleasant passage of a few days the 
 beautiful shores of Old England greeted the 
 longing eyes of the Macedonian's crew and in a 
 short time the noble frigate was snugly anchored 
 in the harbor of Plymouth. But now Samuel ex- 
 perienced another (and perhaps the most trying 
 hardship) of the sailor's life. Lest the men might 
 desert, they were not permitted to go ashore al- 
 though the ship was under orders to undergo 
 thorough repairs which necessitated a long stay 
 in that port. 
 
 To our hero this was a bitter disappointment, 
 for he had fondly counted on paying a short visit 
 to Bladen and again seeing his mother. As a 
 special favor he was permitted to go ashore with 
 another boy and this delicious taste of terra iirma 
 is described by the lad in the following words: 
 " One fine Sabbath morning I went ashore with a 
 messmate who lived in Plymouth and in company 
 with some children we wandered into the fields 
 where the merry notes of the numerous birds, the 
 rich perfume of the blooming trees, the tall green 
 hedges and the modest primroses, cowslips and 
 violets, which adorned the banks by the roadside, 
 filled me with inexpressible delight." 
 
" Actually Sober." 8i 
 
 True to the pious teachings of his mother, 
 Samuel did not abuse the privilege of going 
 ashore, as some of the other boys in the Mace- 
 donian did. He kept away from the alehouses 
 and at sunset returned aboard and reported him- 
 self to the officer of the deck. The latter seemed 
 surprised to find the youngster sober and dis- 
 missed him with a kind word. 
 
 About the same time some of the other lads 
 returned from liberty in a condition that showed, 
 too plainly, that they had been over indulging in 
 liquor. They loudly berated Samuel for being 
 so " white-livered and unscamanlike " as not to 
 get drunk, declaring that he was fit only for the 
 company of babies and womenfolk. On the fol- 
 lowing morning, however, these same boys were 
 summoned to the grating and were soundly 
 flogged for their conduct ; so that, after all, Sam- 
 uel had the laugh on them. 
 
 While at Plvmouth the Macedonian was taken 
 into one of the magnificent drydocks of that port 
 and was thoroughly overhauled. New rigging 
 was rove, alterations made and, being repainted 
 inside and out, she looked like a new ship. 
 
 Finally, everything being in readiness, the frig- 
 ate made a quick run over to the French port 
 of Rochelle from which place she proceeded to 
 Brest where a formidable English fleet was found 
 
82 Foreshadowing a Great Battle. 
 
 blockading .the port. A superior French fleet was 
 in this harbor and it was the plan of the British 
 commander-in-chief to lure it out to a general 
 engagement. 
 
 Our hero records : " With all our maneuver- 
 ing, we could not entice them from their snug 
 berth in the harbor, where they were safely 
 moored, defended by a heavy fort and by a chain 
 
 crossing the harbor Sometimes we sent a 
 
 frigate or two as near their fort as we dared. 
 At other times the whole fleet would get under 
 weigh and stand out to sea — but without success. 
 Once in a while their frigates would creep outside 
 the forts, when we gave them chase but seldom 
 went beyond the exchange of a few harmless 
 shots." 
 
 Returning to Plymouth and then again making 
 for the coast of France, the Macedonian had 
 nearly accomplished the distance of the return 
 passage when, one day, the man at the masthead 
 cried out : 
 Sail, ho!" 
 
 Where away?" inquired the officer of the 
 deck. Being informed, the officer asked : 
 "What does she look like? " 
 " She looks small ; I cannot tell, sir." 
 Waiting a few minutes, until the stranger was 
 nearer, the officer again hailed : 
 
 
Capturing Fugitives. 83 
 
 
 Masthead, there ! What does she look like? " 
 She looks like a small sail boat, sir." 
 
 So small, indeed, was this sail boat that it was 
 not until the frigate had almost run her down 
 that she could be seen from the deck, when it was 
 found that it contained a man and a boy. That 
 sucli a frail craft should be alone in these danger- 
 ous waters was, in itself, enough to arouse sus- 
 picion and running alongside the English took 
 them aboard. They proved to be two French 
 prisoners who had escaped from a British prison 
 and, having stolen a skiff, had ventured on this 
 voyage for liberty. 
 
 " Poor fellows," said Samuel. " They looked 
 sadly disappointed in finding themselves again in 
 British hands when in sight of their own sunny 
 
 France I am sure we all would have been 
 
 glad to have missed them." 
 
 Returning to the blockading fleet off Brest, the 
 Macedonian entered upon a service that was more 
 '* active " than that she had previously engaged 
 in. Finding that the French would not come out, 
 boat expeditions were organized and went out at 
 night to pick up whatever might come in the way. 
 
 One night a more formidable expedition than 
 usual was under way and Samuel records that 
 *' the oars were muffled, the boats' crews increased 
 and every man was armed to the teeth. The cots 
 
84 Foreshadowing a Great Battle. 
 
 were got in readiness in case any of the party 
 
 came back wounded Notwithstanding these 
 
 omnious preparations, the brave fellows went off 
 in fine spirits as if they had been going ashore 
 on liberty. We had no tidings of this adventure 
 until morning when I was startled by hearing 
 three cheers from the watch on deck which were 
 answered by a party that seemed to be approach- 
 ing us. i 
 " I ran on deck just as our men came along- i 
 side with their bloodless prize, a lugger, laden 
 with French brandy, wine and castile soap. As 
 this was our first prize we christened her Young 
 Macedonian. Before sending her to England for 
 condemnation, some of our people replenished 
 their empty bottles with the brandy. 
 
A MIDNIGHT BOAT ATTACK. 
 
 From the original paiiitivg by R. Jack. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 A MOMENTOUS NAVAL BATTLE. 
 
 We now come to that part of Samuel Leech's 
 diary which forms one of the most important 
 documents in our naval history and, in considera- 
 tion of its great value, it will be given in the 
 hero's own words. 
 
 The expression " most important " has been 
 used advisedly. There have been more spec- 
 tacular and more dramatic actions between single 
 warships in the nineteenth century but none (with 
 one exception — that between the Monitor and 
 Merrimac) has exerted such influence in revo- 
 lutionizing the science of sea fighting and naval 
 architecture as that group of single-frigate battles 
 in i8i 2, namely : that between the Constitution and 
 Guerricre, the United States and Macedonimi and 
 the Constitution and Java. 
 
 Unfortunately we have but scanty details of 
 the first and last mentioned engagements but in 
 the second we have the fullest account in Leech's 
 diary ; and it may, unhesitatingly, be accepted as 
 being typical of the three. Leech's account is 
 doubly valuable inasmuch as it is given from 
 
86 A Momentous Naval Battle. 
 
 the enemy's view-point ; therefore, unbiased in its 
 acknowledgment of the marvelous accuracy of 
 American gunnery and the general efficiency 
 of the early American-built frigate. 
 
 It is undeniable that the direct result of this 
 group of single-frigate actions was the first 
 revolutionizing of the fleets of the world in the 
 nineteenth century and the change from European 
 traditions and methods in naval architecture to 
 American ideals — just as the battle between the 
 Monitor and Merrimac resulted in the relegation 
 of wooden war craft to the Rotten Row, to make 
 room for ironclads. 
 
 In order that we may more intelligently follow 
 the momentous sea fight in which the Macedonian 
 was soon to engage, a few words descriptive of 
 the opposing ships will be necessary. 
 
 The United States belonged to that famous 
 group of frigates — having for her sisters the 
 Constitution and President — built at the close of 
 the eighteenth century. These ships embodied 
 many new ideas in naval construction which were 
 unsparingly criticised by European experts as 
 " rash innovations,*' " unprofessional vagaries " 
 and " visionary schemes." So deeply rooted was 
 English conservatism in this matter that even 
 Captain Garden himself, after visiting the frigate 
 United States (the ship he was fated to fight) 
 
Heavy Yankee Guns. 87 
 
 and liavinq- thoroughly inspected her, frankly 
 declared his belief that the Macedonian was 
 more than her match. 
 
 Aside from many details of minor importance, 
 the main difference between the class of large 
 American and British frigates at that day was 
 that the former carried 24-pounders to the lat- 
 ter's i8-pounders on the main deck, and 42- 
 poimders to their 32-pounders on the quarterdeck 
 and forecastle. 
 
 But it was just this superiority of weight that 
 Englishmen declared would work detrimentally. 
 They insisted that 24- and 42-pounders could 
 not be handled as efficiently in the heat of action 
 as 18- and 32-pounders. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the American 44-gun frig- 
 ate zvas overweighted (carrying fifty-five guns 
 to the English forty-nine) and the experience of 
 the first three frigate actions proved it ; with the 
 result that before hostilities ceased our number of 
 guns had been reduced to fifty-one. It was with 
 this reduced armament that the Constitution cap- 
 tured with marvelous immunity to herself the 
 Cyane and Levant whose combined armaments 
 made fifty-five guns with a total shot weight of 
 754 pounds to the broadside as opposed to the 
 644 pounds in the Yankee. To a limited extent, 
 then, we find Captain Garden's remark about the 
 
88 A Momentous Naval Battle. 
 
 overweight of our frigates well founded and that 
 the Constitution, United States and President 
 were more formidable with the reduction. 
 
 It was fashionable in European court circles, 
 in those days, to refer to anything American in 
 terms of derision and contempt and our gallant 
 little navy bore the brunt of these unkindnesses. 
 At the outbreak of the war of 1812, English 
 newspapers spoke of our frigates as *' bundles of 
 fir planks, flying a gridiron flag " while the Lon- 
 don Statesman, in its issue early in June, 1812, 
 solemnly declared ' *' America certainly cannot 
 pretend to wage war with us; she has not the 
 navy to do it with." 
 
 Before the war was over, however, England, 
 in self defense, was compelled to follow our 
 models: as will be seen in the following extract 
 from the London Times of March 17, 1814: 
 " Sir G. Collier was to sail yesterday from Ports- 
 mouth for the American station in the Leander, 
 54. This ship has been built and fitted out exactly 
 upon the plan of the large American frigates." 
 
 Like all of its European contemporaries, The 
 Thunderer expressed unlimited confidence in the 
 ability of the British navy to " sweep the con- 
 temptible flag of the United States from the seas " 
 and to " reduce our marine arsenals to a heap of 
 ruins within six months " but, when it heard of 
 
" Our Backs Ykt Bleeding." 89 
 
 the loss of the Macedonian, so quickly follovviiij:^ 
 tliat of the Gucrridre, it exclaimed : 
 
 " In the name of God, what was done with this 
 immense superiority of force? " 
 
 Summing up the results of the naval war of 
 1 81 2 the London Times, in its issue of December 
 30, 1814, said: "We have retired from the 
 combat with the stripes yet bleeding on our 
 backs. Even yet, however, if we could but close 
 the war wnth some great naval triumph the repu- 
 tation of our maritime greatness might be par- 
 tially restored. But to say that it has not hitherto 
 suffered in the estimation of all Europe and, what 
 is worse, of America herself, is to belie common- 
 sense and universal experience. 
 
 " ' Two or three of our ships have struck to a 
 force vastly inferior.' No ! Not two or three 
 but many on the ocean and whole squadrons on 
 the lakes ; and the numbers are to be viewed with 
 relation to the comparative magnitude of the 
 two navies. Scarcely is there an American ship 
 of war which has not to boast a victory over the 
 British flag ; scarcely one British ship in thirty or 
 forty that has beaten an American. With the 
 bravest seamen and the most powerful navy in the 
 world, we retire from the contest when the bal- 
 ance of defeat is so heavy against us " — and these 
 extraordinary admissions were penned before the 
 
 li^ 
 
90 A Momentous Naval Battle. 
 
 editor had learned of the capture of the Cyane 
 and Levant by the Constitution, the disabling of 
 the Endymion by the President, the capture of 
 the Nautilus by the Peacock, the disastrous action 
 on Lake Borgne, the repulse of the British boat 
 attack on the General Armstrong in Fayal, or the 
 brilliant victory of the Hornet over the Penguin! 
 
 Such being the peculiarly discouraging condi- 
 tions under which our little navy entered into the 
 naval struggle of i8i2-'i5, it is with special in- 
 terest that we follow the graphic details Samuel 
 Leech has given us relative to the second great 
 frigate action of that war. 
 
 That the officers and crew of the Macedonian 
 were thoroughly imbued with that overweening 
 pride in England's naval prowess, so prevalent at 
 that date, is shown in a quotation from Leech's 
 diary which bore on a rumor that war was immi- 
 nent between Great Britain and the United States 
 in 1811. He said: "Every man, and especially 
 the officers [in the Macedonian'], predicted, as 
 his eye glanced proudly on the fine fleet which 
 was anchored off Lisbon, a speedy and successful 
 issue to the approaching conflict. The prevailing 
 feehng through the whole fleet was that of con- 
 fidence in our own success and contempt for the 
 inferior naval force of our anticipated enemies." 
 
 And why should not " every man, and espe- 
 
English Ovkr-Confidf.mt. 91 
 
 cially the officers " in the Macedonian so " pre- 
 dict " when tlicir ship was one of the newest and 
 finest products of British naval construction, 
 whereas, every one of her possible Yankee rivals 
 of the same class were ** old tubs " built in the 
 preceding century ? 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IN BATTLE'S AWFUL DIN. 
 (Leech's own narrative.) 
 
 At Plymouth we heard some vague rumors of 
 a declaration of war against the United States. 
 More than this, we could not learn since the 
 utmost care was taken to prevent our being fully 
 informed. The reason of this secrecy was, prob- 
 ably, because we had several Americans in our 
 crew, most of whom were impressed men. These 
 men, had they been certain that war had broken 
 out, would have given themselves up as prisoners 
 of war and claimed exemption from that unjust 
 service which compelled them to fight against 
 their country. 
 
 This was a privilege which the magnanimity 
 of the officers ought to have offered them. They 
 had already perpetrated a grievous wrong upon 
 them in impressing them. It was adding cruelty 
 to injustice to compel their service against their 
 own nation. 
 
 Leaving Plymouth we next anchored, for a 
 brief space, at Torbay, a small port in the British 
 
" Masthkad There! " 93 
 
 Channel. \\'c were ordered thence to convoy a 
 Inline East IiuHa merchant vessel, much larger 
 than our frip^ate and havin^: five hundred troops 
 on board, bound to the East Indies with money 
 to pay the troops there. 
 
 We set sail in a tremendous g-ale of wind. 
 Both ships stopped two days at Madeira to take 
 in wine and a few other articles. After leaving 
 this island, we kept her company two days more 
 and then, according to orders, having wished her 
 success, w^e left her to pursue her voyage while 
 we returned to finish our cruise. 
 
 Though without any positive information, we 
 now^ felt pretty certain that our Government was 
 at war with America. Among other things our 
 captain appeared more anxious than usual. He 
 was on deck almost all the time. The lookout 
 aloft was more rigidly observed and every little 
 while the cry : 
 
 " Masthead, there ! " arrested our attention. 
 
 It is customary in men-of-war to keep men at 
 the fore and mainmast heads, whose duty it is 
 to give notice of every new object that may ap- 
 pear. They are stationed at the royal yards, if 
 those are up but, if not, on the topgallant yards. 
 At night a lookout is kept on the foreyard only. 
 
 Thus we passed several days, the captain run- 
 ning up and down, constantly hailing the man 
 
94 In Battle's Awful Din. 
 
 at the masthead. Early in the morning he began 
 his charge : 
 
 " Keep a good lookout " and continued to re- 
 peat it until night. Indeed he seemed almost 
 crazy with some pressing anxiety. 
 
 The men felt that there was something antici- 
 pated of which they were ignorant and had the 
 captain heard all their remarks upon his conduct 
 he would not have felt highly flattered. Still, 
 everything went on as usual. The day was spent 
 in the ordinary duties of man-of-war life at sea 
 and in the evening in telling stories of things 
 most rare and wonderful — for your genuine old 
 tar is an adept in spinning yarns. 
 
 To this yam-spinning was added the most hum- 
 orous singing, sometimes dashed with a streak of 
 the pathetic which, I assure you, was most touch- 
 ing ; especially in one very plaintive melody with 
 a chorus beginning with : 
 
 Now if our ship should be cast away, 
 
 It would be our lot to see Old England no more. 
 
 This song made rather a melancholy impression 
 on my mind and gave rise to a sort of presenti- 
 ment that the Macedonian would never return 
 home again. The presence of a shark following 
 our frigate for several days, with its attendant 
 pilot fish, tended to strengthen this prevalent 
 
Sail Ho!" 
 
 95 
 
 idea. [That shark was destined to be kept ex- 
 ceedingly busy for the next few days.— E. S. M.] 
 
 The Sabbath [October 25, 181 2] came and 
 brought with it a still breeze. We usually made 
 a sort of a holiday of this sacred day. After 
 breakfast it was common to muster the entire 
 crew on the spar deck, dressed as the fancy of the 
 captain might dictate: sometimes in blue jackets 
 and white trousers or blue jackets and blue 
 trousers; at other times in blue jackets, scarlet 
 vests and blue or white trousers with our bright 
 anchor buttons glancing in the sun and our black 
 glossy hats ornamented with black ribbons and 
 with the name of our ship painted on them. 
 
 After muster we frequently had church service, 
 read by the captain. The rest of the day was 
 devoted to idleness. But we were destined to 
 spend this Sabbath in a very different manner. 
 
 We had scarcely finished breakfast before the 
 man at the masthead shouted: 
 
 " Sail ho ! " The captain rushed upon deck, 
 exclaiming : 
 
 '' Masthead, there ! " 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 " Where away is the sail ? " The precise an- 
 swer to this question I do not recollect but the 
 captain proceeded to ask: 
 
 **What does she look like?" 
 
96 
 
 In Battle's Awful Din. 
 
 " A square rigged vessel, sir," was the reply of 
 the lookout. A few minutes afterward, the cap- 
 tain shouted again: 
 " Masthead, there ! " 
 " Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 " What does she look like ? " 
 " A large ship, sir, standing toward us." 
 By this time most of the crew were on deck, 
 eagerly straining their eyes to obtain a glimpse 
 of the approaching ship and murmering their 
 opinions to each other on her probable character. 
 Then came the voice of the captain shouting: 
 
 " Keep silence, fore and aft ! " Silence being 
 secured, he hailed the lookout: 
 
 "What does she look like?" to which the 
 lookout replied: 
 
 " A large frigate, bearing down upon us, sir." 
 A whisper ran along the crew that the stranger 
 was a Yankee frigate. The thought was con- 
 firmed by the command : 
 
 " All hands clear ship for action, ahoy ! " 
 The drum and fife beat to quarters, bulkheads 
 were knocked away, the guns were released from 
 their lashings and the whole dread paraphernalia 
 of battle was produced. And, after the lapse of a 
 few minutes of hurry and confusion, every man 
 and boy was at his post, ready to do his best 
 service for his country — except the band of musi- 
 
x. 
 
 Y. 
 
 
 
 /: 
 
 >: 
 
.( 
 
 I 
 
In Grim Battle Array. 97 
 
 cians who came aft in a body and claimed exemp- 
 tion from the affray l)y virtue of llieir contract. 
 And, with the Captain's permission, they safely 
 stowed themselves away in the cable tier. 
 
 We had only one sick man on the list [the 
 boatswain] and he, at the cry of battle, hurried 
 from his cot, feeble as he was, to take his post 
 of danger. A few of the junior midshipmen were 
 stationed on the berthdeck below with orders 
 given in our hearing to shoot any man who 
 attempted to run from his quarters. 
 
 Our men were all in good spirits, though they 
 did not scruple to express the wish that the 
 coming foe was a Frenchman rather than a 
 Yankee. We had been told by the Americans on 
 board, that frigates in the American service car- 
 ried more and heavier metal than ours. This, 
 together with our consciousness of superiority 
 over the French at sea, led us to a preference for 
 a French antagonist. 
 
 The Americans among our number felt quite 
 disconcerted by the necessity that compelled them 
 to fight against their own countrymen. One of 
 them, named John Card, as brave a seaman as 
 ever trod a plank, ventured to present himself 
 to the captain as a prisoner, frankly declaring his 
 objections to fight. Captain Carden, very ungen- 
 erously ordered him to his quarters, threatening 
 
98 In Battle's Awful Din. 
 
 to shoot him if he made the request again. Poor 
 fellow ! He obeyed the unjust command and was 
 killed by a shot from his own countrymen. 
 
 As the approaching ship showed American 
 colors, all doubt of her character was at an end. 
 " We must fight her " was the conviction in every 
 breast. Every possible arrangement that could 
 insure success was accordingly made. The guns 
 were shotted, the matches [long pieces of slow- 
 burning rope for igniting guns] were lighted ; 
 for, although our guns were furnished with 
 first-rate locks, they were also provided with 
 matches, attached by lanyards, in case the lock 
 should miss fire. 
 
 A lieutenant then passed through the ship 
 directing the marines and boarders, who were 
 furnished with pikes, cutlasses and pistols, how 
 to proceed if it became necessary to board the 
 enemy. He was followed by the captain who 
 exhorted the men to fidelity and courage, urging 
 upon their consideration the well-known motto 
 of brave Nelson : " England expects every man 
 to do his duty." 
 
 In addition to all these preparations on deck, 
 some men were stationed in the tops with small 
 arms, whose duty it was to attend to trimming 
 the sails and to use their muskets, provided we 
 came to close action. There were others also be- 
 
Beginning the Fight. 99 
 
 low, on deck, called " sail trimmers " to assist 
 in working the ship, should it be necessary to 
 shift her position during- the action. 
 
 My station was at the fifth gun on the main 
 deck. It was my duty to supply my gun with 
 powder, a boy being appointed to each gun in a 
 ship on the side we engaged, for that purpose. 
 A woolen screen, saturated with water, was 
 placed before the entrance to the magazine, with a 
 hole in it, through which cartridges were passed 
 to the boys. We received them there and, cover- 
 ing them with our jackets [to prevent sparks 
 from prematurely exploding them] hurried to our 
 respective guns. These precautions are taken to 
 prevent the powder taking fire before it reaches 
 the gun. 
 
 Thus we all stood, awaiting orders, in motion- 
 less suspense. At last we fired three guns from 
 the larboard [port] side. This was followed by 
 the command : 
 
 *' Cease firing ; you are throwing away your 
 shot." Then came the order : 
 
 " Wear ship and prepare to attack enemy with 
 your starboard guns." 
 
 Soon after this I heard firing from some other 
 quarter which I, at first, supposed to be a dis- 
 charge from our quarter deck guns, though it 
 
loo In Battle's Awful Din. 
 
 proved to be the roar of the enemy's cannon. 
 A strange noise, such as I had never before 
 heard, next arrested my attention. It sounded 
 Hke the tearing of sails, just over our heads. 
 This, I soon ascertained, was the wind or whist- 
 Hng of the enemy's shot through the air. 
 
 After a few minutes cessation, the firing re- 
 commenced. The roaring of cannon could now 
 be heard from all parts of our trembling ship and, 
 mingling as it did with that of our foe, it made 
 a most hideous noise. By and by I heard the 
 shot strike the side of our ship. 
 
 Then the whole scene grew indescribably con- 
 fused and horrible. It was like some awfully 
 tremendous thunder storm, whose deafening roar 
 is attended by incessant streaks of lightning, 
 carrying death in every flash and strewing the 
 ground with victims of its wrath. Only, in our 
 case the scene was rendered more horrible than 
 that by the presence of torrents of blood which 
 dyed our decks. 
 
 Though the recital may be painful yet, as it 
 will reveal the horrors of war and show at what 
 a fearful price a victory is won or lost, I will 
 record the incidents as they met my eye during 
 the progress of this dreadful fight. 
 
 I was busily supplying my gun with powder 
 when I saw blood suddenly fly from the arm of 
 
A Scene of IIorrok. ioi 
 
 a man stationed at our i^un, I saw nothing 
 strike him. The effect alone was visible. In an 
 instant, the third lieutenant tied his handkerchief 
 round the wounded arm and sent the groaning 
 wretch below to the surgeon. 
 
 The cries of the wounded now rang through 
 all parts of the ship. These were carried to the 
 cockpit as fast as they fell, while those more 
 fortunate men who were killed outright were 
 immediately thrown overboard [to that shark!] 
 
 As I was stationed but a short distance from 
 the main hatchway, I could catch a glimpse at 
 all who were carried below. A glance was all I 
 could indulge in for the boys belonging to the 
 guns next to mine were wounded in the early 
 part of the action and I had to spring with all 
 my might to keep three or four guns supplied 
 with cartridges. 
 
 I saw two or three of these lads fall nearly 
 together. One of them was struck in the leg by 
 a large shot. He had to suffer amputation above 
 the wound. The other had a grape or canister 
 shot sent through his ankle. A stout Yorkshire 
 man lifted him in his arms and hurried him to the 
 cockpit. He had his foot cut off and was thus 
 made lame for life. 
 
 Two of the boys stationed on the quarterdeck 
 were killed. They were both Portuguese. A 
 
I02 In Battle's Awful Din. 
 
 man who saw one of them killed, afterward told 
 me that his powder [cartridge] caught fire and 
 burnt the flesh almost off his face. In this pitiable 
 condition the agonized boy lifted up both hands, 
 as if imploring relief, when a passing shot cut 
 him in two. 
 
 I was an eye-witness to a sight equally revolt- 
 ing. A man named Aldrich had one of his hands 
 cut off by a shot and, almost at the same moment, 
 he received another shot which tore open his 
 bowels in a terrible manner. As he fell, two or 
 three men caught him in their arms and (as he 
 could not possibly live) threw him overboard to 
 find relief by death in the waves. 
 
 One of the officers in my division, also fell in 
 my sight. He was a noble-hearted fellow named 
 Nan Kivell. A grape or canister shot struck him 
 near the heart. Exclaiming: 
 
 "Oh! My God!" he fell and was carried 
 below, where, shortly afterward, he died. 
 
 Mr. Hope, our first lieutenant, was wounded 
 by a grummet or small iron ring, probably torn 
 from a hammock clew by a shot. He went below, 
 shouting to the men to fight on. Having had his 
 wound dressed, he came up again, shouting at 
 the top of his voice, bidding us to fight with all 
 our might. 
 
 The battle went on. Our men kept cheering 
 

 <3 
 
 2 § 
 
 w' tC 
 
 ■r. '7 . 
 
 ^ -r: 5) 
 
 
 
Dreadful Carnac.r. 103 
 
 with all their strength. I cheered with tliem, 
 though I confess I scarcely knew what for. Cer- 
 tainly there was nothing very inspiriting in the as- 
 pect of things where I was stationed. So terrible 
 had been the work of destrnction around us, it 
 was termed a slaughter house. Not only had we 
 had several boys killed or wounded but several 
 of the guns were disabled. The one I belonged 
 to had a piece of the muzzle knocked out and 
 when the ship rolled, it struck a beam of the 
 upper deck with such force as to become jammed 
 and fixed in that position. 
 
 A 24-pound shot also passed through the screen 
 of the magazine, immediately over the orifice 
 through which we passed the powder. The 
 school master received a death wound. The 
 brave boatswain, who came from the Sick Bay to 
 the din of battle, was fastening a stopper to a 
 back stav which had been shot awav, when his 
 head was smashed to pieces by a cannon ball. 
 Another man, going to complete the unfinished 
 task, also was struck down. Another of our mid- 
 shipmen received a severe wound. 
 
 The unfortunate wardroom steward, who at- 
 tempted to cut his throat on a former occasion, 
 was killed. A fellow named John, who for some 
 petty oflfense had been sent on board as punish- 
 ment, was carried past me wounded. I dis- 
 
104 
 
 In Battle's Awful Din. 
 
 tinctly heard the large blood-drops fall pat, pat, 
 pat on the deck. His wounds were mortal. 
 Even a poor goat, kept by the officers for her 
 milk, did not escape the general carnage. Her 
 hind legs were shot off and poor Nan was thrown 
 overboard. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 SCENES AFTER THE BATTLE. 
 (Leech's narrative concluded.) 
 
 Such were the terrible scenes amid which we 
 kept on our shouting- and firing-. Our men fought 
 hke tigers. Some of them pulled off their jackets, 
 others their jackets and waists ; while some, still 
 more determined, had taken off their shirts and 
 with nothing but a handkerchief tied around the 
 waistbands of their trousers, fought like heroes. 
 Jack Sadler was one of these. 
 
 I also observed a boy named Cooper stationed 
 at a gun some distance from the magazine. He 
 came to and fro on the full run and appeared to 
 be as " merry as a cricket." The third lieutenant 
 cheered him along occasionally by saying: 
 
 " Well done, my boy. You are worth your 
 weight in gold." 
 
 I have often been asked what my feelings were 
 during this fight. I felt pretty much as I sup- 
 pose every one does at such a time. That men 
 are without thought when they stand amid the 
 dying and dead is too absurd an idea to be enter- 
 tained for a moment. We all appeared cheerful 
 
io6 Scenes After the Battle. 
 
 bat I know that many a serious thought ran 
 through my mind. Still, what could we do but 
 keep up a semblance at least of animation? 
 
 To run from our quarters would have been 
 certain death at the hands of our own officers. 
 To give way to gloom and fear or to show fear 
 would do no good and might brand us with the 
 name of cowards and insure certain defeat. Our 
 only true philosophy, therefore, was to make the 
 best of our situation by fighting bravely and 
 cheerfully. I thought a great deal, however, of 
 the other world. Every groan, every falling man 
 told me that the next instant I might be before 
 the Judge of all the earth. 
 
 For this, I felt unprepared. But, being with- 
 out any particular knowledge of religious truth, 
 I satisfied myself by repeating again and again 
 the Lord's prayer and promising that, if spared, 
 I would be more attentive to religious duties 
 than ever before. This promise, at the time, 
 I had no doubt of keeping. But I have since 
 learned that it is easier to make promises, amidst 
 the roar of cannon in battle or in the horrors of 
 shipwreck, than to keep them when danger is 
 over and safety smiles upon our path. 
 
 While these thoughts secretly agitated my 
 mind, the din of battle continued. Grape and 
 canister shot were pouring through our port holes 
 
A Storm of Shot. 107 
 
 like leaden rain, carrying;' death in their train. 
 The larg^e shot crashed a.qainst the sides of the 
 shii) like monstrous sledge hammers, shakinj:^ 
 her to the very keel, or passing through her 
 timbers scatte**ed terrific splinters which did more 
 appalling" work than even their death-dealing 
 blows. 
 
 Some idea may be formed of the effect of grape 
 and canister when it is known that grapeshot is 
 fonned bv seven or eight balls confined to an iron 
 ring and tied in a cloth. These balls are scattered 
 by the explosion of the powder. Canister shot is 
 made by filling a powder canister with balls, 
 each as large as two or three musket balls. These 
 also scatter with direful effect when discharged. 
 
 What, then, with splinters, cannon balls, grape 
 and canister poured incessantly upon us, you may 
 be assured that the work of destruction went on 
 in a manner which must have been satisfactory 
 even to the King of Terrors himself. 
 
 Suddenly, the rattling of the iron hail ceased. 
 We were ordered to stop firing. A profound 
 silence ensued, broken only by the stifled groans 
 of the brave sufferers below. It was soon ascer- 
 tained that the enemy had forged ahead to repair 
 damages, for she was not so disabled but what 
 she could sail without difificulty while we were 
 so utterly cut up that we were completely helpless. 
 8 
 
io8 Scenes After the Battle. 
 
 Our head braces were shot away. The fore 
 and main topmasts were gone. The mizzen mast 
 hung over the stern, having carried several men 
 over with its fall. We were in a state of complete 
 wreck. 
 
 A council was now held among the officers on 
 the quarterdeck. Our condition was perilous in 
 the extreme. Victory or escape were alike im- 
 possible. Our ship was disabled, many of our 
 men were killed and many more wounded. The 
 enemy would, without doubt, bear down on us in 
 a few moments and, as she could now choose her 
 own position, would rake us fore and aft. Any 
 further resistance, therefore, was folly. So, in 
 spite of Lieutenant Hope, who was for fighting 
 to the last and sinking alongside, it was deter- 
 mined to strike our bunting. 
 
 This was done by the hands of a brave fellow 
 named Watson, whose saddened brow told how 
 severely it pained his lion heart to do it. To me 
 it was a pleasing sight, for I had seen enough 
 fighting for one Sabbath. His Britannic Maj- 
 esty's frigate Macedonmt was now a prize of the 
 American frigate United States. 
 
 [When the news of this battle reached England 
 Lord Churchill, very kindly, sent a copy of 
 Captain Carden's official report with the list of 
 killed and wounded to Samuel's mother at Blen- 
 

 < 
 
 P-, 
 
 O b/: 
 
 "-> .5 
 
 CO t^ 
 
 1^ 
 
 J 
 
 -ex. 
 
 >^ "^ 
 
 y. 
 
 fi 
 
 
(< 
 
 Strkwn with Wounded." 109 
 
 heim ; calling attention to the fact that Leech's 
 name did not appear in the list of casualties.] 
 
 Inimcdiately upon the surrender I went below 
 to see how matters appeared there. The first 
 object I met v;as a man bearing a limb which had 
 just been detached from some suffering wretch. 
 The leg was thrown overboard. Pursuing my 
 way to the wardroom I necessarily passed 
 through the steerage, which was strewn with the 
 wounded. 
 
 It was a sad spectacle, made more appalling by 
 the groans and cries which rent the air. Some 
 •were groaning, others were swearing most bit- 
 terly, a few were praying, while those last arrived 
 were begging most piteously to have their wounds 
 dressed next. The surgeon and his mate were 
 smeared with blood from head to foot. They 
 looked more like butchers than doctors. 
 
 Having so many patients, they had once shifted 
 their quarters from the cockpit to the steerage. 
 They now moved to the wardroom and the long 
 table, round which the officers had sat over many 
 a merry feast, was soon covered with bleeding 
 forms of maimed and mutilated seamen. 
 
 While looking around the wardroom I heard 
 a noise above, occasioned by the arrival of the 
 boats from the conquering frigate. Very soon a 
 lieutenant, I think his name was [John B.] Nich- 
 
no Scenes After the Battle. 
 
 olson, came into the wardroom and said to the 
 busy surgeon : 
 
 " How do you do, doctor ? " 
 
 " I have enough to do," repHed he shaking his 
 head sadly, " You have made wretched work for 
 
 us." 
 
 These officers were not strangers to each other 
 for they had met when the two frigates were 
 lying at Norfolk, some months before. 
 
 I now set to work to render all the aid in my 
 power to the sufferers. Our carpenter, named 
 Reed, had his leg cut off. I helped to carry him 
 to the after wardroom ; but he soon breathed out 
 his life there — and then I assisted in throwing 
 his mangled remains overboard. 
 
 We got out the cots as fast as possible for most 
 of the wounded were stretched out on the gory 
 deck. One poor fellow who laid with a broken 
 thigh, begged me to give him a drink of water. 
 I gave him some. He looked unutterable grati- 
 tude, drank — and died. 
 
 It was with exceeding difficulty that I moved 
 through the steerage, it was so covered with 
 mangled men and so slippery with streams of 
 blood. There was a poor boy crying as if his 
 heart would break. He had been the servant to 
 the bold boatswain whose head had been dashed 
 to pieces by a cannon ball. Poor boy ! He felt 
 
Heartrending Scenes. hi 
 
 that he lost his only friend. I tried to comfort him 
 by reminding him that he onj;'ht to be thankful 
 for havings escaped deatli himself. 
 
 Here also I met one of my messmates who 
 showed the utmost joy at seeinf]^ me alive for he 
 had heard that I had been killed. He was look- 
 ing up his messmates which, he said, was always 
 done by sailors after a battle. We found two of 
 our mess wounded. One was the Swede, Log- 
 holm, who came so near drowning, a few months 
 before. We held him while the surgeon cut off 
 his leg above the knee. 
 
 The task was most painful to behold, the sur- 
 geon using his knife and saw on human flesh 
 and bones as freely as the butcher at the shambles 
 on the carcass of a beast. Our other messmate 
 suffered still more than the Swede. He was sadly 
 mutilated about the legs and thighs with splinters. 
 Such scenes of suffering as I saw in that ward- 
 room I hope never to witness again. 
 
 Most of our officers and men were taken on 
 board the victor ship. I was left, with a few 
 others, to take care of the wounded. My master, 
 the sailing master, was also among the officers 
 who continued in our ship. Most of the men 
 who remained were unfit for any service, having 
 broken into the spirit room and made themselves 
 drunk. Some broke into the purser's room and 
 
112 Scenes After the Battle. 
 
 helped themselves to clothing while others, by 
 previous agreement, took possession of their 
 dead messmates' property. 
 
 For my own part I was content to help myself 
 to a little of the officers' provisions which did 
 me more good than could be obtained from rum. 
 What was worse than all, however, was the folly 
 of the sailors in giving spirits to their wounded 
 messmates, since it only served to aggravate their 
 distress. 
 
 Among the wounded was a brave fellow named 
 Wells. After the surgeon had amputated and 
 dressed his arm, he walked about in fine spirits — 
 as if he had received only a slight injury. Indeed, 
 under the operation he manifested a similar hero- 
 ism, observing to the surgeon: 
 
 " I have lost my arm in the service of my 
 country but I don't mind it doctor, it's the fortune 
 of war." 
 
 Cheerful and gay as he was he soon died. His 
 companions gave him rum; he was attacked by 
 fever and died. Thus his messmates actually 
 killed him with kindness. 
 
 We had all sorts of dispositions and tempera- 
 ments among our crew. To me it was a matter 
 of ereat interest to watch their various manifesta- 
 tions. Some who had lost their messmates, ap- 
 peared to care nothing about it while others were 
 
"Oil Bill!" 113 
 
 grieving- witli all the tenderness of women. Of 
 these was the survivor of two seamen who had 
 formerly been soldiers in the same regiment. He 
 bemoaned the loss of his comrade with expres- 
 sions of profoimdest grief. 
 
 There were, also, two boatswain's mates named 
 Adams and Brown, who had been messmates for 
 several years in the same ship. Brown was 
 killed or so wounded that he died soon after the 
 battle. It was really a touching spectacle to see 
 the rough, hardy features of the brave old sailor, 
 streaming with tears as he picked the dead body 
 of his friend from among the wounded and 
 gently carried it to the ship's side, saying to the 
 inanimate form he bore : 
 
 *' Oh Bill ! We have sailed together in a number 
 of ships, we have been in many gales and some 
 battles. But this is the worst day I have seen ! 
 We must now part ! " 
 
 Here he dropped the body into the sea and 
 then a fresh torrent of tears streaming over his 
 weather-beaten face, he added : 
 
 " I can do no more for you. Bill. Farewell ! 
 God be with you ! " 
 
 Here was an instance of genuine friendship, 
 worth more than the heartless professions of 
 thousands who, in the fancied superiorty of their 
 elevated position in the social circle, will deign 
 
114 
 
 Scenes After the Battle. 
 
 nothing but a silly sneer at this record of a 
 sailor's grief. 
 
 It was a rather singular circumstance that, in 
 both the contending frigates, the second boat- 
 swain's mate bore the name of William Brown ; 
 and that they were both killed. Yet such was 
 the fact. 
 
 The great number of wounded kept our sur- 
 geon and his mate busily employed at their horrid 
 work until late at night and it was a long time 
 before they had much leisure. 
 
 I remember passing round the ship on the day 
 after the battle. Coming to a hammock, I found 
 some one in it, apparently asleep. I spoke. He 
 made no answer. I looked into the hammock — 
 he was dead. My messmates coming up, we 
 threw the corpse overboard — it was no time for 
 useless ceremxOny. The man had probably crawled 
 into his hammock (badly wounded) the day be- 
 fore and, not being noticed in the general distress, 
 bled to death ! 
 
 When the prize crew from the United States 
 first boarded our frigate to take possession our 
 men, heated with the fury of the battle, exasper- 
 ated by the sight of their dead and wounded ship- 
 mates (and rendered dangerous by the rum they 
 had obtained from the spirit room) felt and ex- 
 hibited some disposition to fight their captors. 
 
Cleaning the Wreck. 115 
 
 But after the confusion had subsided and part of 
 our men were snugly stowed away in the Ameri- 
 can ship and the remainder found themselves 
 kindly used in tlieir own, the utmost good feeling 
 began to prevail. 
 
 We took hold and cleansed the ship, using hot 
 vinegar to take out the scent of the blood that 
 dyed the white of our planks with crimson. We 
 also took hold and aided in fitting out our dis- 
 abled frigate for her voyage. This [after two 
 days of hard work] being accomplished, both 
 ships sailed in company for the American coast. 
 
 I soon felt myself perfectly at home with the 
 American seamen ; so much so that I preferred 
 to mess with them. My shipmates also partici- 
 pated in similar feelings in both ships. All idea 
 that we had been trying to shoot each other's 
 brains out so shortly before, seemed forgotten. 
 We ate together, drank together, joked, sang, 
 laughed and told yarns. In short, a perfect union 
 of ideas, feelings and purposes seemed to exist 
 among all hands. 
 
 A corresponding state of unanimity existed, I 
 was told, among the officers. Commodore De- 
 catur showed himself to be a gentleman as well 
 as a hero in his treatment of the officers of the 
 Macedonian. When Captain Carden oflfered his 
 sword to the commodore, he remarked as he did 
 so: 
 
ii6 
 
 Scenes After the Battle. 
 
 " I am an undone man. I am the first British 
 naval officer that has struck his flag to an 
 American ! " 
 
 The noble commodore either refused to receive 
 the sword or immediately returned it, smiling as 
 he said : 
 
 " You are mistaken, sir. Your Guerriere has 
 been taken by us, so the flag of a frigate was 
 struck before yours." 
 
 This news somewhat revived the spirits of the 
 old captain. But, no doubt, he still felt his soul 
 sting with shame and mortification at the loss of 
 his ship. Participating as he did in the haughty 
 spirit of the British aristocracy, it was natural for 
 him to feel galled and wounded to the quick in 
 the position of a conquered man. 
 
 We were now making the best of our way to 
 America. Notwithstanding the patched up con- 
 dition of the Macedonian, she was far superior 
 in a sailing capacity to her conqueror. The 
 United States had always been a dull sailer and 
 had been christened by the name of Old Wagon. 
 Whenever a boat came alongside of our frigate 
 and the boatswain's mate was ordered to " pipe 
 away " the boat's crew, he used to sound his 
 shrill call on the whistle and bawl out : 
 
 " Away, Wagoners, away ! " instead of *' Away, 
 United States men, away ! " 
 
"Away, Wagoners, Away!" 117 
 
 This piece of pleasantry used to be rebuked by 
 the officers but in a manner that showed that they 
 enjoyed tb.e joke. They usually replied : 
 
 " Boatswain's mate, you rascal, pipe away 
 United States men, not Wagoners. We have 
 no wagoners on board of a ship ! " 
 
 Still, in spite of rebuke, the joke went on until 
 it grew stale by repetition. One thing was made 
 certain, however, by the sailing qualities of the 
 Macedonian; which was, that if we had been 
 disposed to escape from our foe before the action, 
 we could have done so with all imaginable ease. 
 This, however, would justly have exposed us to 
 disgrace, while our capture did not. 
 
 {End of Leech's narrative.) 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO PORT. 
 
 Captain Carden had entered into this momen- 
 tous battle with consummate skill and shrewd- 
 ness — but he was fatally mistaken in his surmises. 
 He at first supposed that his antagonist was the 
 American frigate Essex which, as he knew, was 
 armed almost entirel}- with short range guns and, 
 quickly discovering that he had the superiority 
 in sailing, he held his ship at long range so that 
 his long i8-pounders would be effective beyond 
 the reach of the American short cannon. He 
 soon discovered his mistake and gallantly came 
 to close quarters — but not before he had sustained 
 irreparable damage. 
 
 While the loss in the Macedonian had been 
 frightful (amounting to more than one-third of 
 the entire ship's company), as so graphically de- 
 scribed by young Leech, the casualties in the 
 United States were insignificant : there being only 
 five men killed and seven wounded as opposed .to 
 the thirty-six killed and sixty-eight wounded in 
 the English ship. The United States was only 
 ten or twelve feet longer than her rival and, 
 
Disproportionate Losses. i 19 
 
 tlion.qh 1)cincr inferior in sailinc;' qualities, slic 
 was stronc^cr and better armed and equij^pcd — as 
 Captain Garden well knew in advance. The fol- 
 lowing table will fairly represent tbc strenj^ilb of 
 tbc contending: frij^ates : 
 
 Comparative Forces and Losses. 
 
 Gnn« Lbn. Crew Kllle.l Wounded Total Tlm« 
 
 United States 54 787 478 5 7 12 ih. 30m. 
 
 RIacedonian 49 555 297 36 68 104 
 
 Scarcely any injury was sustained in tbe 
 American's hull or riggino^ so that, after splicing 
 some ropes and making a few repairs, she was 
 in a condition to enter upon a similar action two 
 hours after the Macedonian surrendered. The 
 English frigate, on the other hand, was com- 
 pletely dismantled — clearly showing the immense 
 superiority of American naval construction, arma- 
 ment and equipment. 
 
 When the news of this second frigate action 
 reached England, it created the deepest gloom. 
 At first it was not believed for the London Times, 
 in its issue of December 28, 1812, said: *' There 
 is a report that another English frigate, the 
 Macedonian, has been captured by an American. 
 We shall certainly be very backward in believing 
 a second recurrence of such a national disgrace. 
 .... We have heard that the statement is dis- 
 credited at the Admiralty but we know not on 
 
I20 Triumphant Return to Port. 
 
 what precise grounds. Certainly there was a 
 time when it would not have been believed that 
 the American navy could have appeared upon 
 the seas after a six months' war with England ; 
 much less that it could, within that period, have 
 been twice victorious. Sed tempora mutantur! " 
 
 The uncomfortable suspicion evidently grew 
 and, on the next day, the acute pang of confirma- 
 tion extorted from the British Hon the following 
 cry : " Oh miserable advocates ! Why, this 
 renders the charge of mismanagement far heavier 
 than before! In the name of God, what was 
 done with this immense superiority of force? 
 Why was not a squadron of observation ofif every 
 port which contained an American ship of war? 
 W^hy was not Rodgers intercepted with his whole 
 squadron and taken within sight of his own 
 coasts ? " 
 
 On the following day The Thunderer's rage 
 subsided into the following lament : " Oh, what 
 a charm is hereby dissolved! What hopes will 
 be excited in the breasts of our enemies ! The 
 land spell of the French is broken [alluding to 
 Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow] and 
 so is our sea spell." 
 
 In its issue of December 26, 1812, The London 
 Morning Chronicle, with greater moderation 
 asks : " Is it not sickening to see that no ex- 
 
A Hazardous Return. 121 
 
 pcricncc has been sufficient to rouse our Ad- 
 miralty to take measures that may protect the 
 British flai^ from such disp^race?" 
 
 Although the United States had won a signal 
 victory over the Macedonian, it was yet far from 
 certain that she would secure the fruits of the 
 battle. The vessels were on the eastern side of 
 the Atlantic and had a long distance to sail be- 
 fore they could reach an American port. 
 
 Young Leech describes the home passage as 
 follows : " Our voyage was one of considerable 
 excitement. The seas swarmed with British 
 cruisers and it was extremely doubtful whether 
 the United States would elude their grasp and 
 reach the protection of an American port with her 
 prize. I hoped most sincerely to avoid them, as 
 did most of my old shipmates. Our former offi- 
 cers, of course, were anxious for a sight of a 
 British flag. 
 
 " But we saw none and, after a prosperous 
 voyage, the welcome cry of * Land ho ! ' was 
 heard." 
 
 Entering the eastern end of Long Island 
 Sound, the frigates made the port of New Lon- 
 don. The United States came safely to anchor 
 but the Macedonian, owing to a sudden shift 
 in the wind, was compelled to remain in the 
 offing several hours. Finally, fearing that she 
 
122 Triumphant Return to Port. 
 
 might fall into the hands of a hostile squadron, 
 she made for Newport where the prize was 
 warmly greeted. 
 
 By this time most of the English wounded 
 were well on the road to recovery. The last one 
 to die was Thomas Whittaker, who had been 
 badly injured by splinters. He suffered such 
 pain that he finally became crazed so that it was 
 necessary to confine him. Just before land was 
 sighted he was mercifully relieved from his 
 sufferings by death. Sewing up his body in his 
 hammock his messmates placed it on a grating in 
 a bow port. Midshipman Archer of the Mace- 
 donian read the beautiful burial service of the 
 Church of England and at the words : 
 
 " We commit the body of our brother to the 
 deep/' the grating was elevated and, amid pro- 
 found silence, the body splashed heavily into the 
 sea. 
 
 The wounded were now sent ashore where 
 they received every attention while the prisoners 
 were confined in a barn under a not very strict 
 guard ; for it appears many of them escaped — not 
 to return to the British service but to keep away 
 from it. 
 
 After a short stay at Newport the Macedonian 
 got under weigh and, joining the United States 
 at New London, both ships proceeded to New 
 
AN 1812 POWDER P,OV CARRYING CARTRIDGES 
 Drau.')i from a contemporaneous sketch. 
 
Showing Visitors About. 123 
 
 York by the Hell Gate route; the men in both 
 ships being kept busy answering cheers from 
 passing craft. 
 
 Dropping anchor near Ward Island, the frig- 
 ates were visited by many thousand j)eople and 
 as Samuel records : " Finding them extremely 
 inquisitive and being tolerably good natured my- 
 self, I found profitable business in conducting 
 them about the ship, describing the action and 
 pointing out the places where particular individ- 
 uals fell. For these services I gained some money 
 and much good will. 
 
 " The people who had been to see us, on return- 
 ing to the shore, used to tell how an English boy 
 had conducted them all over the ship and told 
 them the particulars of the fight. It soon became 
 quite common, for those who came afterward, 
 to inquire if I was ' that English boy taken ' in 
 her?" 
 
 It was by means of the money and good will 
 thus earned that Samuel finally made his escape 
 from the British service. Of course, the Ameri- 
 can officers could not let him go free because they 
 were responsible for their prisoners so that, when 
 an exchange was efifected, they could be pro- 
 duced. Then again, as Leech well knew, if 
 he attempted to escape a horrible punishment 
 awaited him from the lash or noose — possibly 
 
 9 
 
124 Triumphant Return to Port. 
 
 both — if he ever again was caught by the British, 
 for his act would be deemed desertion. Further- 
 more, the Admiralty offered special bounty for 
 the apprehension of any deserter who had been 
 captured by the Americans. 
 
 Fully alive to the danger attending it, Samuel 
 determined to escape and made his plans accord- 
 ingly. Mr. Tinker, the pilot who took the frig- 
 ates from New London to New York, very 
 kindly offered to take Leech as an apprentice if 
 he once got free ; in fact, many of the visitors to 
 the frigate were so pleased with the " bright 
 English lad " that they offered him any assistance 
 he might desire. 
 
 No time was to be lost, however, if Leech was 
 to embrace this, probably, his only opportunity 
 ever to escape from the British for he learned 
 that a cartel was on its way to New York for 
 the purpose of conveying all the English officers 
 and seamen to Halifax. Indeed, the boat was ex- 
 pected to arrive at any moment. 
 
 On the day before Christmas there was an 
 unusual number of visitors aboard the prize frig- 
 ate and, as there was a large proportion of women 
 who could not very well climb the rope ladder 
 up the Macedonian's steep sides, Captain Carden 
 very gallantly caused a hogshead to be rigged so 
 that after one head had been knocked in and part 
 
Getting Ladies Aboard. 125 
 
 of tlic front cut out, a comfortable '* elevator car " 
 was produced by placinq- a scat atluvart it. 
 
 This " hog^shead " was lowered from a yard- 
 arm into the shore boat alonp^side of the frip^atc. 
 One lady at a time seated herself in the " car " 
 and, throwing a fla,c: around her feet, was merrily 
 hoisted up by a c^ang^ of jolly tars. Gaining the 
 level of the deck, the hogshead was swung inboard 
 and the lady could step out with ease. " This 
 contrivance," records Leech, " afforded a great 
 deal of amusement and kept the British officers 
 and merry tars agreeably busy waiting on their 
 fair visitors. 
 
 It was when this scene of unusual activity was 
 at its height, that Samuel made his bold dash 
 for liberty. He made arrangements with the 
 American boatswain, Mr. Dawson, to have his 
 clothing sent to New York if he (Leech) suc- 
 ceeded in getting clear. Noticing a small colored 
 boy in a boat alongside the Macedonian, Leech 
 quietly asked : 
 
 *' Can you tell me where I can get some geese 
 and turkeys on shore for our officers ? " 
 
 " I guess you can get some at the houses," 
 responded the youth." 
 
 " Well, then," continued Leech. '' will you set 
 me ashore. I want to get some for our officers." 
 To this the colored boy replied : 
 
 t 
 
126 Triumphant Return to Port. 
 
 " Yes, if you will go and ask my master who 
 is on board your ship." 
 
 This was an obstacle to Samuel's plans he had 
 not foreseen. He knew that the master would 
 not give the desired permission so he gave over 
 the attempt in despair. 
 
 Going below, he met one of his shipmates, a 
 boy two years younger than himself, named James 
 Day. Leech revealed to him his plan to escape 
 and urged him to go with him. Day at first 
 declined to take the risk, giving as his reason that 
 he had no money with which to pay expenses. 
 
 " But I have money," replied Leech, '' and as 
 long as I have a shilling you shall have half of it." 
 
 " But I am afraid we cannot get away without 
 being caught and so get a thorough flogging — 
 and perhaps be hung," protested Day. 
 
 A new idea had now struck our hero and 
 clutching Day by the arm he said : 
 
 " Never mind that. I have contrived that busi- 
 ness. The boat's waiting to set us on shore. 
 Come along, Jim, don't be frightened. * Nothing 
 venture, nothing have,' you know. Come, come. 
 Here's the boat alongside," and, fairly dragging 
 the boy. Leech returned to the gangway and 
 boldly assured the colored lad that his master had 
 given the desired consent, provided haste was 
 made. The two runaways jumped into the boat 
 
 i 
 
A Dash for Liberty. 127 
 
 and, ill a jifly, were being pnlled toward tlie 
 shore. 
 
 This was the critical moment of the undertak- 
 ing- and Sanuiel's heart was fairly pumping with 
 anxiety and fear. Every moment he imagined 
 he heard a stern command from the frigate to 
 return. Every rattle aboard he construed to be 
 a pursuing boat making after him. 
 
 At one moment his heart fairly jumped into his 
 throat, when a harsh voice did hail them from 
 the frigate. It was not from a British officer, 
 however, but from the colored boy's master who 
 shouted out: 
 
 '* Where are you going with that boat ? " 
 
 Recovering from the fright. Leech pursuaded 
 the negro that his master was only bidding him 
 to make haste, so the lad replied : 
 
 " I am going to get some geese, sir," and pulled 
 on so they were beyond reach of hearing. In 
 another moment Leech, for the first time and to 
 his unspeakable delight, stood on American soil — 
 a free lad. He never learned if the colored boy's 
 master ever asked if he was not the biggest 
 " goose " he was going after. Leech gladly 
 gave him half a dollar and set out on foot for 
 New York, some ten miles distant. 
 
 A ten-mile walk, in former days was a mere 
 trifle to the sturdy English runaway. Many a 
 
128 Triumphant Return to Port. 
 
 time had he covered that distance among the 
 pleasant fields and parks about Wanstead and 
 Blenheim. But now he discovered that he had 
 been aboard ship so long that less than half that 
 distance exhausted him — it required time to re- 
 gain his " land legs." So, when yet some distance 
 from the city, the boys put up at a roadside 
 tavern. 
 
 The inm.ates seemed somewhat surprised to see 
 two lads asking for lodgings in such a confident 
 manner but, when they learned that they were 
 deserters from the British frigate, they extended 
 every hospitality. Forming a circle round the 
 fireplace in the public room, they listened atten- 
 tively to the narrative and songs of the runaways. 
 At a late hour the boys were shown into a clean 
 room and, for the first time in years, they slept 
 in a bed. 
 
 It seemed strange to us," recorded Leech, 
 
 to find ourselves in a bed after sleeping so long 
 in hammocks. Nevertheless we slept soundly 
 and, to our inexpressible pleasure, arose on the 
 following morning at our leisure instead of being 
 driven out by a swearing boatswain at our heels." 
 
 After a hearty breakfast (doubly delicious on 
 account of the shore cooking and fresh provi- 
 sions) Leech, with all the dignity he could sum- 
 mon, marched proudly up to the " captain's 
 
 (I 
 
A Kind Tavern-Keki'Kk. 129 
 
 office " and asked for a sctllcnient, clinking the 
 money noisily in the palm of his hand as an 
 earnest of his good faith and *' financial ability." 
 Truly, it was one of the proudest moments of his 
 life. He was somewhat crestfallen (though none 
 the less pleased) when the host refused to take a 
 cent for the entertainment. 
 
 Three days after Leech's escape from the 
 Macedonian, the cartel arrived and on the same 
 day sailed for Nova Scotia with the remaining 
 English prisoners. Luck}', indeed, was it that our 
 hero made the venture when he did. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 TRIALS OF A DESERTER. 
 
 Arriving in New York .the runaways met sev- 
 eral other deserters from the Macedonian and 
 through them found lodgings in a sailors' board- 
 ing house kept by a widow named Elms, near the 
 old Fly Market in Front Street. After spending 
 a week in gratifying a natural desire to see a 
 strange city, Leech was startled one day by the 
 roaring of cannon. It proved to be salutes in 
 honor of the United States' and Macedonian's 
 arrival in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, those ships 
 having made the, then, dangerous passage 
 through Hell Gate. 
 
 Leech now ventured aboard his old home ship, 
 to get his clothes from Boatswain Dawson as 
 pre-arranged — and the first person he met gave 
 him a fright. It was none other than Lieutenant 
 Nicholson of the United States who eyed our 
 hero sharply but afterward gave him a kindly 
 reception. The American sailors, also congrat- 
 ulated him on his success in getting clear of the 
 British frigate. 
 
 It was about this time that the citizens of New 
 
Banquet of Victory. 131 
 
 York gave to the officers and men of the United 
 States a public dinner at the City Hotel and free 
 admission to a theatrical entertainment. As a 
 promising citizen of America, young Leech was 
 invited to attend. He accepted but, on overhaul- 
 ing his wardrobe, found that his English uniform 
 would be unpleasantly conspicuous on account 
 of the regulation buttons. This difficulty was 
 overcome, however, by the skill of his widowed 
 landlady who managed to cover the metal buttons 
 with blue cloth. 
 
 This celebrated dinner (and after performance) 
 is a matter of history but Leech has thrown some 
 interesting side-lights on it in his own peculiar 
 fashion. He said the dinner was " followed by 
 more than the usual amount of drinking, laughing 
 and talking ; for, as liquor was furnished in great 
 abundance, the men could not resist the tempta- 
 tion to get drunk. As they left the room to go to 
 the theater, the poor plates on the sideboard 
 proclaimed that ' Jack was full three sheets in the 
 wind.' Almost everyone, as he passed, gave 
 them a crack crying out as they fell : 
 
 " ' Save the pieces.' " 
 
 At the theater Samuel saw Decatur and re- 
 cords : " I was much struck with the appearance 
 of Decatur that evening as he sat in full uniform, 
 his pleasant face alive with the excitement of the 
 
132 Trials of a Deserter. 
 
 occasion. He formed a striking contrast to the 
 appearance he made when he visited our ship 
 on the passage to New York. Then he wore an 
 old straw hat and a plain suit of clothes which 
 made him look more like a farmer than a naval 
 commander." 
 
 Leech concludes his account by saying that, 
 after the theater, the men were ordered to report 
 to the frigate the next morning but : 
 
 " It was a week before they all returned." 
 
 Another interesting piece of information Sam- 
 uel gives us relates to a little trick these Yankee 
 tars played on Decatur. He says : 
 
 '' Of course, this profusion of praise turned the 
 brains of some of these old tars and at every 
 opportunity they would steal ashore for a spree. 
 This brought them into trouble and some to the 
 gangway to be flogged. To avoid the punishment 
 the foxy old salts would visit the commodore's 
 lady with some piteous tale, begging her to inter- 
 cede for them with the captain. This she did with 
 almost constant success. The lucky tar would 
 then go on board telling his shipmates that: 
 
 " ' She has a soul to be saved.' " 
 
 Mention has been made in these pages of Jack 
 Sadler, the bosom friend of the redoubtable Bob 
 Hammond. Sadler managed to get ashore and 
 became an enthusiastic Yankee. He enlisted in 
 
Disturbing the Meeting. 133 
 
 the army and was quartered at Hartford. One 
 Sunday his company was marched to church and 
 the good minister announced as his text : 
 
 " Fear God and honor the King." Jack, with 
 vivid recollection of many a cruel lash on his 
 back, so far forgot himself as to jump up in his 
 pew and shout : " Don't let us hear about the 
 king — but about Congress ! " 
 
 The dangers and difficulties English seamen 
 experienced in entering the American service in 
 those days, is amusingly described by Leech as 
 follows : " One day, I was sauntering around the 
 wharves with my companion, James Day, when I 
 met a number of the Macedonian crew who had 
 shipped aboard the John Adams and they dragged 
 me aboard with them. 
 
 " To avoid being detected it was usual for our 
 men to assume new names and to hail from some 
 American port. I had some objection to this, as 
 I feared it might bring me into the awkward 
 dilemma of the Irishman who was caught aboard 
 an American vessel by a British cruiser. After 
 he declared himself an American the officer asked 
 him : 
 
 " ' What part of America did you come from ? * 
 
 '' ' I used to belong to Philmadelph but now I 
 belong to Philmaph York,' replied Paddy, in a 
 vain endeavor to conceal the ' flannel ' in his 
 brogue. 
 
134 Trials of a Deserter. 
 
 (( ( 
 
 
 Well, can you say peas ? ' continued the 
 officer. 
 
 " ' Pase, sir/ answered Pat and he was duly 
 transferred to the English ship." 
 
 On the advice of his former shipmates, Leech 
 assumed the name of William Harper from Pine 
 Street, Philadelphia ; and, going aboard the cor- 
 vet, was duly paraded before the officers for " in- 
 spection." One of them said : 
 
 " Well, my boy, what is your name ? " 
 
 " William Harper, sir," confidently responded 
 the lad. 
 
 What part of America do you belong to? " 
 Philadelphia, sir." Here one of the officers 
 smiled and remarked : " Ah, a fellow townsman. 
 What street in Philadelphia? " 
 
 " Pine street, sir," replied Samuel with the ex- 
 pression of one who was being drawn into a net. 
 
 " What street joins Pine street, my lad ? " con- 
 tinued his tormenter with a knowing laugh. 
 
 " I don't remember, sir," said Leech with fast 
 ebbing confidence. 
 
 " Ah, you don't remember, do you ? Quite pos- 
 sibly," said the mischief-loving officer, for he 
 knew pretty well all about Samuel's antecedents. 
 " But, at least, you can tell us in what state 
 Philadelphia is situated ? " 
 
 This was a poser for the poor lad and, thinking 
 
A Tell-talk Button. 135 
 
 to ^et ofT with the honors of war he gaspingly 
 repHecl (not really knowing what he was saying) : 
 
 " Gentlemen, it is so long since I have been 
 in Philadelphia that — that — I — I — I — really for- 
 get what state the city is in unless it is in the 
 state of rest." 
 
 This answer seemed to please some of the 
 officers immensely, for they burst out laughing: 
 but the one questioning Leech (he who claimed 
 to be " a fellow townsman ") appeared vexed, for 
 he pointed to one of Leech's English buttons, 
 which had (unknown to him) relieved itself of 
 its cloth covering, and said : 
 
 " Where did you get that English button ? Did 
 you pick it up in Philadelphia ? " 
 
 This was a shot that raked Samuel fore and aft. 
 He hauled down his colors and remained silent. 
 The officers laughed heartily and one of them 
 said: 
 
 " Go below, my lad ; you will make a pretty 
 good Yankee." 
 
 The next morning Leech was taken ashore to 
 sign the shipping papers but, with that strong 
 commonsense, characteristic of him, he argued to 
 himself that there were too many men from the 
 Macedonian already aboard the John Adams and, 
 if she were captured there would be small chance 
 of escaping discovery and a noose at the yard- 
 arm would be his reward. 
 
136 Trials of a Deserter. 
 
 So he did not enlist in her. This decision was 
 backed by his knowledge that strict orders had 
 been issued from the Admiralty to keep a sharp 
 watch for men who had been captured by Ameri- 
 can war ships. While Samuel's reasoning was 
 correct in theory, the fact was that the John 
 Adams was not captured by the enemy. 
 
 After two weeks of idleness and, finding that 
 his stock of money accumulated aboard the 
 Macedonian was fast ebbing away, Leech ac- 
 cepted the offer of an Englishman by the name of 
 Smith (who was a deserter from the British army 
 but was then employed as a bootmaker in the 
 firm of Benton & Co., in Broadway) to become 
 an apprentice in the " art, science, secrets and 
 mysteries of a cordwainer.*' 
 
 " Behold me, then," records our hero, " trans- 
 formed from the character of a runaway British 
 sailor into that of a quiet scholar, at the feet of 
 St. Crispin ; where, in the matter of awls, wax- 
 ends, lapstones and pegs, I soon became quite 
 proficient." 
 
 It is altogether likely that our hero would have 
 passed the remainder of his days in the " art " 
 of shoemaking had it not been for a rumor that 
 reached him one day, after he had been about two 
 months in his new service, that a tall, stout sailor 
 named George Turner was in the crew of the 
 
AX A.MKKICAX MAX-O'-WAKSMAN IN 1812. 
 Drazi'ti from a contci)'.f>on:iicous shrtcli. 
 
Looking ur a Relativk. 137 
 
 United States. Dctcrniincd to invcstij^atc, Sam- 
 uel, one fine Sunday morninc;- went a1)oarcl that 
 fri<:]^ate and was heartily received hy some of his 
 former shipmates of the Macedonian who had 
 entered the American service. 
 
 Leech soon presented himself to his cousin and. 
 after remindinci^ him of several incidents con- 
 nected with their relatives and home at Wanstead, 
 established his identity before that worthy tar. 
 Turner advised the youth to give up the sea and, 
 very kindly, oflfered him a home in Salem where 
 he had a wife and family. 
 
 Severing his connection with his kind em- 
 ployer in the cordwainer shop, Leech engaged 
 steerage passage in a sloop bound for Providence, 
 for five dollars. Before that vessel sailed, Sam- 
 uel found that his clothes bag had been robbed by 
 a negro and the master of the craft, to save the 
 good name of his packet, returned to Leech two 
 dollars of the passage money as compensation. 
 From Providence he proceeded to Boston in a 
 coach chartered for the exclusive use of a party 
 of merry sailors. 
 
 On his arrival in Salem, Samuel was warmly 
 welcomed by Mrs. Turner who, being very super- 
 stitious, declared that she knew of his coming 
 because of some peculiar antics of tea leaves in 
 her cup that morning. 
 
138 Trials of a Deserter. 
 
 A few weeks afterward the good woman 
 aroused Samuel early one morning and hurried 
 him off to the post office because she had dreamed 
 of " catching fish." Surely enough, our hero 
 soon returned with a letter containing a hundred 
 dollar bill from her husband. 
 
 Having no steady employment, young Leech 
 spent most of his time around the wharves and 
 shipping where he saw a number of privateers. 
 He also went on a number of fishing trips in 
 schooners. On one of these occasions, Leech and 
 his party came near being captured by an English 
 war ship. The party had been out all night and 
 toward morning, being tired out, nearly every one 
 aboard went to sleep. 
 
 Luckily, one of the party, Lewis Deal, who had 
 once been a quartermaster aboard the United 
 States, kept a weather eye open ; for he knew 
 that the coast was alive with British cruisers. 
 Just at dawn, the report of a cannon close by, 
 startled every one from his slumber and Deal 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " There ! I told you to look out for Johnny 
 Bull ! " 
 
 Looking about, .they saw an English gun- 
 brig in full chase of a Boston sloop, within easy 
 gunshot of them. Hastily weighing anchor, the 
 fishing party made sail and soon reached port in 
 
A Narrow Escape. 139 
 
 safety — the p^un-brii;' bcinp^ so intent on licr chase 
 that she failed to discover the excursionists in the 
 uncertain H^ht of dawn. For a moment, liow- 
 ever, Samuel has painful visions of swinpi^in^i^ at a 
 yard-arm which did not leave him until the brig^ 
 was fairly out of gunshot. 
 
 In the summer of 1813 young Leech deter- 
 mined to enter the American navy and, as the 
 Constitution, Frolic and Siren were at that time 
 in Boston, shipping crews, he had the choice of 
 those vessels. His preference was for Old Iron- 
 sides but, as his cousin Turner had once sailed 
 under the commander of the Siren, George 
 Parker, and highly commended that officer, Leech 
 enlisted in that brig. 
 
 The Siren, owing to the blockade was unable 
 to get to sea for several months. A\\ this time 
 her crew was exercised in various drills. Samuel 
 records : " My first impressions of the American 
 service were very favorable. The captain and 
 officers were kind, while there was a total exemp- 
 tion from that petty tyranny exercised by the up- 
 start midshipmen in the British service. Our 
 men were as happy as men ever were in a man- 
 of-war. 
 
 " We were all supplied with stout leather caps, 
 something like those used by firemen. These 
 were crossed by two strips of iron, covered with 
 10 
 
140 Trials of a Deserter. 
 
 bear skin and were designed to defend the head, 
 in boarding an enemy's ship, from cutlass strokes. 
 Strips of bear skin were used to fasten them on 
 and, having the fur on, served the purpose of 
 false whiskers and causing us to look as fierce as 
 hungry wolves." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 SIREN'S LIVELY CRUISE. 
 
 Early in June, 1814, the Sirc}i was ready for 
 sea and, getting under weigh in company with 
 the famous privateer Grand Turk, stood down 
 the harbor bound for a cruise on the west coast 
 of Africa. In passing the fort, the Siren received 
 the usual hail : 
 
 " Brig, ahoy ! Where are you bound to? " 
 
 To this First Lieutenant John B. Nicholson 
 (whom Samuel had met in the United States 
 after her action with the Macedonian) jocosely 
 replied : 
 
 " There and back again, on a man-of-war's 
 cruise! " 
 
 " Such a reply," said Leech, " would not have 
 satisfied a British sentry but we shot past the fort 
 unmolested " ; the officers of the fort probably 
 knowing, full well, the characters of the passing 
 ships. 
 
 When two days out the Grand Turk parted 
 company, not to be seen again until on the other 
 side of the Atlantic — and then, under peculiar 
 circumstances, as will soon appear. 
 
142 Siren's Lively Cruise. 
 
 Keeping a sharp lookout the Siren touched at 
 the Canary Islands and then made for the coast 
 of Africa where Captain Parker died. A service 
 was read over his body and it was committed to 
 the deep. Scarcely had the brig got under sail 
 again when, to the horror of all, the coMn was 
 seen to he floating in the wake of the ship. 
 " The reason for this," said Leech, " was that the 
 carpenter bored holes in the top and bottom, 
 when he should have made them in the top only." 
 
 Such a grewsome accident would have deterred 
 a more superstitious crew from continuing on the 
 voyage but Captain Nicholson called all hands 
 together and frankly laid the situation before 
 them ; offering the choice of returning home or of 
 continuing the cruise. With three hearty cheers 
 the men expressed their unanimous desire to con- 
 tinue and the Siren held a course accordingly. 
 
 Leech spoke in the highest terms of Nicholson, 
 saying : " He was a noble-minded man, very kind 
 and civil to his crew. Seeing me one day with 
 rather a poor hat on, he called me aft and pre- 
 sented me with one of his own." 
 
 One morning the welcome cry " Sail ho ! " 
 aroused every man in the brig and attention was 
 attracted to a strange vessel which had hove-to, 
 with her courses hauled up. At first it was 
 thought that she might be a British man-of-war. 
 
On the African Coast. 143 
 
 The Siren was cleared for action and the ertw 
 sent to battle quarters but on nearer approacli the 
 stranger was recoi^nized as their old friend, the 
 privateer Grand Turk. Her commander (hd not 
 seem to know tlie Siren for, after assuring him- 
 self that she was a brig- of war, he crowded on 
 all sail to escape. As Captain Nicholson did not 
 care to chase, she was soon out of sight. 
 
 Running close along the African coast, the 
 Americans, one day, saw several fires burning on 
 the hills which, on investigation, they learned was 
 the native method of indicating that they desired 
 trade with the passing ship. The Siren hove-to, 
 the negroes put off in canoes and a quantity of 
 oranges, limes, cocoanuts, tamarinds, plantains, 
 yams and bananas were taken aboard as welcome 
 additions to the ship's larder. The brig remained 
 here several days in the vain hope of falling in 
 with English traders. 
 
 It was while here that Leech first, really, ap- 
 preciated the great value of water. He records : 
 " We began to experience the inconvenience of a 
 hot climate. Our men were covered with blotches 
 or boils. To make it worse, was the want of 
 fresh water. We were placed on an allowance of 
 two quarts a day for each man. This occasioned 
 much suffering for, after mixing our Indian meal 
 for pudding, our cassava [a root which, on being 
 
144 Siren's Lively Cruise. 
 
 ground made tolerable bread] and our whiskey 
 for grog, we had little left to assuage our burning 
 thirst. 
 
 " Some, in their distress, drank large quantities 
 of sea water which only increased their thirst 
 and made them sick. Others sought relief in 
 chewing lead, tea leaves or anything that would 
 create moisture. Never did we feel more de- 
 lighted than when our boat's crew announced the 
 discovery of a pool of fine, clear water near the 
 shore. We could have joined in the most enthu- 
 siastic cold-water song ever sung." 
 
 One night, while cruising along the coast, a 
 large ship was discovered at anchor near the 
 shore. Owing to the darkness it could not be 
 determined whether she was a merchantman or 
 a man-of-war, so the utmost caution was exer- 
 cised in approaching her. It was not long before 
 all doubt as to her character was dispelled for, 
 suddenly, she set sail and made chase after the 
 Siren. 
 
 By the aid of powerful night glasses Captain 
 Nicholson saw that she was a British frigate — 
 and " meant business." The Siren was cleared 
 for action, the cannon loaded, matches lit and the 
 men laid down by their guns, fully expecting to 
 be prisoners of war before morning; for the 
 wind was in a direction favorable for the frigate 
 outcarrying the brig. 
 
A SiiRKwn Yankkic Trick. 145 
 
 Ag^ain visions of s\viii,G:inj:^ at a yard-arm passer! 
 unpleasantly through the mind of our youthful 
 hero for, to all appearances, it was only a ques- 
 tion of a few hours when the steadily pi'aining 
 pursuer would have the brig under her guns. 
 
 But Leech had not counted on the resourceful- 
 ness of Yankee commanders. When Nicholson 
 realized that his powerful foe was rapidly gain- 
 ing on him, he resorted to one of those tricks so 
 successfully practiced by our privateersmen in 
 that war. 
 
 He had purposely kept a light in full view of 
 the frigate, as if bent on a suicidal desire to be 
 captured. When his pursuer was nearly within 
 gunshot, however, he rigged out a hogshead, 
 which was sealed up and so weighted that it 
 would float in an upright position ; and on top of 
 it he affixed a light, similar to the one he had 
 been carrying. Dropping the hogshead carefully 
 overboard with its decoy signal in full view, he 
 " doused " the Siren s light. Then, changing his 
 course, he made off in another direction leaving 
 the frigate in her furious pursuit of the hogshead 
 and its deceptive light. By daybreak the frigate 
 was nowhere to be seen. Without doubt she 
 " captured " the hogshead and her commander 
 probably indulged in a prolonged soliloquy over 
 the " singular ingenuity of these Yankees — as 
 respects seamanship." 
 
146 Siren's Lively Cruise. 
 
 The next adventure the Siren had was equally 
 sharp. Discovering, one night, an English mer- 
 chantman at anchor in Senegal river, Captain 
 Nicholson ran down to her and hailed. Receiving 
 an insolent reply, he gave the order to fire — but 
 instantly countermanded it. But it was too late. 
 The guns had been loaded and carefully trained. 
 The men, with burning matches, stood ready at 
 the first order and before the countermand came 
 they had discharged the broadside. 
 
 The swift current of the river carried the 
 Siren past the merchantman, down the river. She 
 attempted to beat up again but the unfortunate 
 broadside had aroused the garrison of the fort, 
 which commanded the river, and soon a rattling 
 hail of " large size " cannon balls began to pass 
 unpleasantly close to the heads of the Yankee 
 crew. As it was useless to attempt the capture 
 under such circumstances, Captain Nicholson 
 dropped down the river, beyond the reach of the 
 fort, to await daylight. 
 
 Next morning the merchantman was seen 
 snugly moored under the guns of the fort and, 
 as she was filled with soldiers and had the pro- 
 tection of the fort, it was clear that a stubborn 
 resistance would be made. At first the Ameri- 
 cans contemplated making a boat attack upon her, 
 under cover of night. The Siren's crew begged 
 
(( 
 
 Battle of Senegal." 147 
 
 Captain Nicholson for permission but, after care- 
 fully considering- the great risks he, very prop- 
 erly, decided to give it over. 
 
 Several men in the merchantman were, un- 
 doubtedly, killed or wounded and had it not been 
 for the hasty broadside, she might have been 
 captured by boarding and carried beyond the 
 reach of the fort without the garrison knowing 
 anything about it until morning. The Siren's 
 crew humorously dubbed this affair " The Battle 
 of Senegal." 
 
 After visiting Cape Three Points, Captain 
 Nicholson shaped his course for St. Thomas ; and 
 it was on this run that he met his match in Yankee 
 nautical cunning. The English merchantman 
 Jane of Liverpool, was discovered and in the 
 hope of decoying her under his guns Captain 
 Nicholson displayed English colors — it not yet 
 being known to the Americans what the na- 
 tionality of the stranger was. The Jane promptly 
 responded with the Stars and Stripes and, in 
 return, the Siren showed American colors. 
 
 This was all the British master wanted to know 
 and, making all sail, he shaped his course for 
 St. Thomas which was a neutral port. The Siren 
 crowded on every stitch of canvas that would 
 hold the wind but the Jane proved to be the 
 better sailer of the two and gained the harbor in 
 
 1 
 
148 Siren's Lively Cruise. 
 
 safety. In the hope of catching this and another 
 English merchantman that was in the port, the 
 Siren hovered in the vicinity several days and 
 was rewarded by a rich prize. 
 
 In a few days a sail was discovered making 
 for St. Thomas. Hoisting English colors and 
 dressing his officers in British uniforms (placing 
 them in conspicuous places so that they could be 
 readily seen by the approaching ship) Captain 
 Nicholson — doubtlessly piqued by the trick the 
 other Britisher had played on him and determined 
 to show that Yankee ingenuity had not fallen 
 below par — leisurely brought his brig within hail- 
 ing distance of the Englishman when he called 
 out: 
 
 " Ship, ahoy ! " 
 
 " Hello ! " was the reply. 
 
 "What ship is that?" asked the American. 
 
 " The ship Barton/' 
 
 " Where do you belong? " 
 
 " To Liverpool." 
 
 " What is your cargo? " 
 
 " Redwood, palm oil and ivory." 
 
 " Where are you bound to ? " 
 
 " To St. Thomas." 
 
 At this moment the English flag on the Siren 
 was hauled down and in its place was run up the 
 Stars and Stripes and, to the inexpressible annoy- 
 
A Surprised Captain. 149 
 
 ance of the Enc^lisliiiian, Captain Nicholson 
 hailed : 
 
 " Haul down your colors ! " 
 
 Young Leech records: "The old captain [of 
 the prize] who, up to this time had heen enjoying 
 a nap in his very comfortahle cabin, now came on 
 deck in his shirt sleeves, rubbing his eyes and 
 looking so exquisitely ridiculous, it was scarcely 
 possible to avoid laughing. So surprised was he, 
 at the unexpected termination of his dreams, that 
 he could not command skill enough to strike his 
 colors ; which was, accordingly, done by his mate. 
 As they had two or three guns aboard, and as 
 some of the men looked as if they would like to 
 fight, our captain told us, if they fired, not to 
 leave enough of her ' to boil a tin pot with.' 
 After this expressive threat, we lowered a boat 
 and took possession of our prize." 
 
 After taking out what goods they wanted, the 
 Americans set fire to her. As the flames got fully 
 under headway that night the burning ship pre- 
 sented an impressive sight which Leech has 
 described as follows : " It was an imposing sight 
 to behold the antics of the flames leaping from 
 rope to rope and from spar to spar until she looked 
 like a fire-cloud resting on the dark surface of the 
 water. 
 
 " Presently her spars began to fall, her masts 
 
150 Siren's Lively Cruise. 
 
 went by the board, her loaded guns went off, 
 shaking up a shower of sparks which were car- 
 ried high up in the heaven by the hot current of 
 air, until they flickered out of sight. The hull 
 was burned to the water's edge and, what was a 
 few hours before a fine, trim ship, looking like a 
 living creature of the deep, lay a shapeless 
 charred mass, whose blackened outlines shadowed 
 in the clear, still waves, seemed like the grim 
 spirit of war seeking its prey." 
 
 The men in the Barton were taken to St. 
 Thomas where they were transferred to the 
 aforementioned Jane. Sailing again on a new 
 venture, the Siren captured the Enghsh brig 
 Adventure, laden with " monkeys, an African 
 prince " — and other things. The monkeys were 
 destroyed with the brig but the African who, by 
 the way, had received a tolerably fair education in 
 England and was strikingly polite and pleasant in 
 his ways, shipped aboard the Siren. He gave his 
 name as Samuel Quaqua. 
 
 Again returning to St. Thomas to rid herself 
 of prisoners, the Siren remained in that port 
 several days. The Americans improved this op- 
 portunity to make purchases, receiving all kinds 
 of fruit, birds and gold dust for articles of cloth- 
 ing, knives, tobacco etc. For an old vest our 
 hero bought a basket of oranges and for a hand- 
 
Taming a Prtty Officf.r. 151 
 
 fill of tobacco five larq^c cocnanuts. This was a 
 most valuable transaction for ibc lad inasmuch as, 
 though he drew his daily allowance of tobacco, he 
 had not acquired the habit of using it. The milk 
 of the cocoanuts was hiq-hly appreciated when the 
 Siren ap^ain ran short of water. 
 
 It was while the Siren was in St. Thomas, that 
 Samuel had the first and only real occasion to 
 complain of the tyranny of the petty officers in 
 the American navy — and the style in wdiich it was 
 handled by Captain Nicholson is sufficient com- 
 mentary of the humanity of our service in those 
 davs. 
 
 The petty officers messed by themselves and 
 had a large, awkward boy, entirely unaccustomed 
 to sea life, to wait on them. This led to some 
 of the officers imposing upon him, even to the 
 extent of knocking him around and using a rope's 
 end on his back. For some reason Leech was 
 ordered to take this boy's place and he, from the 
 start, determined to resent this treatment. 
 
 One day the gunner came below for his share 
 of whiskey and found it gone, his messmates hav- 
 ing drank it all. He turned upon Samuel and 
 asked for the whiskey. The lad boldly answered : 
 
 '' I know nothing about it," upon which the 
 gunner broke into a violent rage using the most 
 improper language. 
 
152 Siren's Lively Cruise. 
 
 Leech at once went on deck and reported the 
 matter to Captain Nicholson. The gunner was 
 summoned and was warned that if he ever re- 
 peated the offense he would be punished. Leech 
 had no further difficulty on that score. 
 
 Soon after this our hero had the satisfaction of 
 playing a practical joke on this same gunner. 
 Putting to sea the Siren, as usual, ran short of 
 water (on account of the supply becoming foul) ; 
 but the gunner, being " an old bird," had provided 
 against such a contingency by having a keg of it 
 securely locked in a room for his private use. 
 
 One hot night, when the throats of all were 
 parched with thirst, Samuel met the boatswain's 
 mate and said : 
 
 " If T were minded to play the rogue I could 
 hook some water." 
 
 "Where?" eagerly asked the mate, who was 
 almost dying with thirst. 
 
 " I have a key that will fit the lock of the room 
 where the gunner keeps his water keg." 
 
 " Well," said he, " give me the key and I will 
 be the rogue while you keep watch for the old 
 
 sinner." 
 
 After drinking all they wanted of the delicious 
 liquid, they locked the door and returned to their 
 posts. The following day the gunner began 
 throwing out hints, broadcast, about " sneak " 
 
Playing tiik Roguk. 153 
 
 thieving-, what an unpardonahlc crime it was 
 aboard a war ship and how he would just hkc to 
 catch anyone doing such a thing aboard the Siren. 
 Of course, no one had the sHghtest idea what he 
 was raving about (excepting Samuel and the 
 mate), the rest of the crew innocently supposing 
 the want of water was driving the poor man out 
 of his senses. 
 
 When Samuel and the mate next attempted to 
 visit the keg, they found a new and stronger lock 
 on the door. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 PRISONERS OF WAR. 
 
 Leaving St. Thomas, the Siren proceeded to 
 Angola where she remained long enough to un- 
 dergo a thorough overhauling and, after being 
 cleaned and painted, she sailed for Boston — 
 hoping to pick up a prize or two on the run 
 across the Atlantic. So afraid was our hero of 
 being retaken by the British that while at this 
 place, he seriously considered the plan of desert- 
 ing and finding refuge among the Africans. 
 Better judgment prevailed, however, and he 
 sailed with his ship. 
 
 Still, he employed every device to prevent 
 recognition in case of capture. He allowed his 
 hair to grow long but instead of tying it in a 
 queue behind (a fashion then commonly affected 
 by seamen) he trained it so it fell in ringlets 
 about his face. This, together with several 
 years growth, he hoped would prevent any of 
 his former associates from recognizing him 
 should he ever be paraded before them. He also 
 adopted the peculiar dress affected by American 
 seamen which was to open his shirt at the neck 
 
A Suspicious Strangkr. 155 
 
 witli the corners thrown back ; on these corners 
 being embroidered the stars of the American 
 flag", with the r)ritish colors below. 
 
 Sailinq- from Angola, the Siren reached the 
 island of Ascension in safety where she stopped 
 long- enough to examine the " post office." This 
 was a box nailed to a tree near the shore where 
 passing- ships left letters and messages for other 
 vessels to receive or carry to such different parts 
 of the world as the directions called for. 
 
 Scarcely had the brig left this island when on 
 July 12, 1814, the cry: "Sail ho!" arrested the 
 attention of all on board. In a short time a 
 large ship, which was taken for a merchantman, 
 rose above the horizon but Captain Nicholson 
 exercised great caution in his approach. He had 
 no relish for placing himself in the dilemma of 
 the bold Yankee privateersman who unhesitat- 
 ingly ran under the guns of a 74.-gun ship, be- 
 lieving that she was an Indiaman. He was not 
 undeceived until he had called on her to sur- 
 render and the supposed Indiaman had run out a 
 double row^ of huge guns. 
 
 " Oh ! very well, then," smartly said the pri- 
 vateersman, " if vou won't haul down your colors, 
 I will." 
 
 It was to avoid such a mistake as this that 
 Captain Nicholson approached the stranger with 
 II 
 
156 Prisoners of War. 
 
 caution. It was soon discovered that she was 
 under all sail making- for the brig and, shortly 
 afterward, it was seen that she was a 74-gun ship 
 under English colors ; upon which the Siren was 
 promptly put about under all canvas to escape. 
 Unfortunately the enemy had a wind most fav- 
 orable for her and, as it was too evident that she 
 was rapidly gaining, the Americans began to 
 throw overboard their anchors, cables, hatches 
 and, finally, their guns and ammunition in order 
 to increase their speed. But the freshening 
 breeze gave the huge seventy-four too much ad- 
 vantage and she was soon outcarrying the little 
 brig and came lumbering down on her like an 
 elephant after a spaniel. 
 
 Observing that his pursuer was almost within 
 gunshot. Captain Nicholson ordered Quarter- 
 master George Watson to throw the private sig- 
 nals overboard. " This," said Samuel, " was a 
 hard task for the noble-hearted fellow. As he 
 pitched them into .the sea he said : ' Goodby, 
 brother Yankee ' ; an expression which, in spite 
 of the mortifying situation, forced a smile from 
 the officers." 
 
 The report of a heavy gun now came booming 
 through the air as a signal for the brig to heave- 
 to or look out for the consequences. It was well 
 that the Siren obeyed as promptly as she did for 
 
Mi'n\\'.\v cirAsixG the sirf.x. 
 
Captured. 157 
 
 they afterward learned that a division of the 
 seventy-four's p^iin crews had strict orders to sink 
 her if she made tlie least show of resistance. 
 Heaving-to, Captain Nicholson caused the colors 
 to be struck and waited while the enemy " came 
 rolling down on us like a huge avalanche rushing 
 down the mountain side to crush some poor 
 peasant's dwelling." 
 
 Surrounded by his officers on tlie cjuarter deck, 
 the British commander hailed : 
 What brig is that?" 
 
 The United States brig Siren/' replied Cap- 
 tain Nicholson. 
 
 "This is His Britannic Majesty's ship Med- 
 wayf' he answered. " I claim you as my lawful 
 prize." 
 
 Boats were now lowered and in a short time 
 the Americans were transferred to the seventy- 
 four ; the officers being comfortably quartered 
 with the British officers but the sailors were 
 stowed away in the poky cable tier where they 
 were formed in messes of twelve, each mess hav- 
 ing an allowance for only eight men. This harsh 
 treatment, in a short time, caused considerable 
 suffering from hunger. 
 
 To Samuel, however, this was a small matter 
 compared with his anxiety about the discovery of 
 
 n 
 (( 
 
158 Prisoners of War. 
 
 his real character. When first going aboard the 
 seventy-four " the sight of the marines," he said, 
 " made me tremble for my fancy pointed out 
 several of them as having formerly belonged to 
 the Macedonian. I really feared I was destined 
 to speedily swing at the yard-arm." 
 
 On the day after the capture, all the prisoners 
 were marched to the quarter deck of the Medway 
 with their clothes bags to undergo a strict search ; 
 for the English knew that the Siren had just 
 come from the African coast and it was believed 
 that many of her crew had gold dust with them. 
 A most thorough examination was made, the men 
 being required to remove their outer garments 
 so as to facilitate the search. What little gold the 
 Americans had, was taken from them without 
 ceremony and appropriated by the officers of the 
 ship. 
 
 Arriving at Simon's Bay, the prisoners were 
 landed and were compelled to make the remainder 
 of their journey to Cape Town, twenty-one miles 
 distant, on foot. Leech recorded : " We were 
 received at the beach by a file of Irish soldiers. 
 Under their escort we proceeded seven miles, 
 through heaps of burning sand, seeing nothing 
 worthy of interest but a number of men engaged 
 in cutting up dead whales on the seashore. 
 
An Exhausting March. 159 
 
 " After rcstinc^ a short time, wc recommenced 
 oiir march, g^uardccl by a new detachment of sol- 
 diers. Unused to walkin*:;-, as we were, wc bc^^n 
 to grow excessively fatii^iicd and, after wacUng 
 a stream of considerable dcplli, we were so 
 overcome that it seemed impossible to proceed 
 any further. We dropped down on the sand, dis- 
 couraged and wretched. The guard brought us 
 some bread and gave half a pint of wine to each 
 man. This revived us somewhat. 
 
 *' We were now placed under the guard of 
 dragoons. They were very kind and urged us to 
 attempt the remaining seven miles. To relieve 
 us, they carried our clothes bags on their horses 
 and, overtaking some Dutch farmers going to 
 the Cape with broom-stuff and brush, the officer 
 of the dragoons made them carry the most weary 
 among us in their wagons. It is not conmion for 
 men to desire the inside of a prison but we 
 heartily wished ourselves there. At last, about 
 nine o'clock that night, we reached Cape Town, 
 having left one of our number at Wineburg 
 through exhaustion, who rejoined us the next 
 day. Stiff*, sore and weary we threw ourselves 
 on the hard boards of our prison where we slept 
 soundly until late the next morning." 
 
 Wlien Saniucl awoke the following day he 
 
i6o Prisoners of War. 
 
 found himself in a prison that had recently been 
 occupied by several hundred American and 
 French sailors. It consisted of a large yard, 
 surrounded by high walls, strongly guarded by 
 soldiers. Within this inclosure was a shed di- 
 vided into three rooms ; none of which had a 
 floor, saving that afforded by Mother Earth. 
 Around the sides of the shed were three rows of 
 benches, one above the other and, by spreading 
 their clothing on them, tolerably comfortable 
 bunks for sleeping were formed. A few of the 
 Siren's men, however, preferred to swing their 
 hammocks ; so accustomed had they become to 
 that snug style of resting. 
 
 Most of the petty officers and soldiers were 
 very kind to the Americans but, at first, several 
 of them showed a disposition to be tyrannical. 
 They were quickly cured of this by an ingenious 
 Yankee device. Whenever one of these surly 
 petty officers was on duty, the Americans bothered 
 him by hiding so as to delay him in the morning 
 and evening " round-up " of the prisoners. This 
 protracted his time of duty when he was most 
 anxious to be relieved. 
 
 Of course, the relief would not permit the 
 former guard to go, until every prisoner had been 
 accounted for. When several were missing, 
 
That Dutchman I5adh:m. i6i 
 
 others were sent to find llicin and (ln'v, in turn, 
 would hide and, so did the third hatch of mes- 
 sengers. This vexatious delay sometimes kept 
 the obnoxious tyrant an hour lont^er on duty. As 
 these provokinc: delays occurred only when the 
 objectionable officer was concerned, he soon came 
 to understand it — and mended his ways accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 Having triumphed over this annoyance, the 
 Sirens next turned their attention to an old 
 Dutchman named Badiem, who had the contract 
 for supplying provisions for the prisoners. He 
 had already found that it was dangerous to at- 
 tempt cheating Yankees by supplying cheaper 
 and poorer bread and so he was now more cau- 
 tious. 
 
 It was not long before the Sirens found that a 
 very inferior quality of bread was being furnished 
 and, taking counsel among themselves, they de- 
 cided to •' fix " Badiem. According to British 
 prison regulations, a superior officer was required 
 to visit the prisoners every day and see to it that 
 they were properly treated. This officer hap- 
 pened to be a kind old gentleman who had seen 
 service in our war for independence and had 
 been in the Battle of Bunker Hill — consequently 
 he entertained the highest respect for Yankees. 
 
i62 Prisoners of War. 
 
 " He had the profoundest respect for American 
 character," said Leech, " and could not speak of 
 the Battle of Bunker Hill without tears." 
 
 One day a friendly sergeant being on duty, the 
 prisoners gave him a piece of the Dutchman's 
 bread, complaining that it was not fit to eat. At 
 the usual time the gallant old general, mounted 
 on a fine, dashing charger, came round and asked 
 the usual question: 
 
 Everything all right ? " 
 
 No, sir," replied the sergeant. 
 
 What is the matter ? " asked the veteran. 
 
 The prisoners complain of their bread, sir." 
 
 Let me see it," commanded the general. 
 The sergeant gave him the piece. The general 
 wrapped it carefully in a piece of paper, clapped 
 spurs to his horse and galloped of¥. On the fol- 
 lowing day the prisoners had better bread than 
 ever before and an order came for a man from 
 each of the three rooms to go with the sentry 
 every morning to Cape Town to examine their 
 daily provisions — and if it proved not what it 
 ought to be, to reject it at old Badiem's expense. 
 This upheaval of the Dutchman's dreams of ill- 
 gotten profit, put him into the wildest rage but, 
 so long as the Sirens were in that prison he never 
 dared to again foist poor fare on them. Old 
 
 (I 
 
 a 
 {( 
 (( 
 (I 
 
Xmas in South Africa. 163 
 
 Badiem declared that he would rather feed one 
 thousand Frenchmen than one hundred Yankees. 
 
 Leech records : " We now had an abundance 
 of beef and mutton and a full allowance of bread. 
 The mutton was excellent. Besides our prison 
 allowance, we had an opportunity to purchase as 
 many little luxuries as our slender finances would 
 permit. These were furnished by a slave who 
 was the property of the old Dutchman and who 
 was so far a favorite as to be indulged in two 
 wives and the privilege of selling small articles 
 to the inmates of the prison." 
 
 For reasonable charges this sable polygamist 
 provided coffee, tea, fish, sausages and fruit so 
 that on Christmas Day the Sirens had some 
 semblance of a jollification. In order to procure 
 money for these luxuries, the prisoners were per- 
 mitted to braid hats, make toy boats and such 
 fancy articles as would sell in the town. 
 
 One day, Samuel became quite ill in the prison 
 and his shipmates advised him to go to the hos- 
 pital in Cape Town. It seems that he had been 
 taken in a similar way when aboard the Siroi 
 and the surgeon had prescribed an ounce of salts 
 that caused him the most horrible nausea. So, 
 when the hospital was now suggested, Samuel 
 at once associated it with those dreaded salts. 
 
164 Prisoners of War. 
 
 " I would go to the hospital," he said, " if I 
 thought they would not give me salts." 
 
 His shipmates assured him that he would not 
 receive such a remedy so, under the guard of a 
 sentry, he sallied forth from the prison to the 
 hospital. 
 
 " Well, my boy," cheerily asked the Doctor, 
 " W^hat is the matter with you ? " 
 
 With many wry faces Samuel explained his 
 symptoms, whereupon, the docter promptly 
 turned to his assistant and said : 
 
 " Doctor Jack, six ounces of salts for this f 
 
 boy ! " j 
 
 Poor Samuel felt like jumping out of the win- 
 dow and he would have done so had he not 
 known that a bullet would have overtaken him. 
 An ounce of salts in the Siren had caused him 
 excruciating agony — ^^and now he was compelled 
 to swallow six! 
 
 But there was no way of evading the dose. He 
 took it and, much to his relief and surprise, found 
 that they were an entirely different and much 
 milder dose from that he had taken aboard the 
 brig; the former being Epsom and the latter 
 Glauber's salts. 
 
 So pleased was our hero with his trip to Cape 
 Town and the opportunity to stroll about the 
 
Feigning Illness Cured. 165 
 
 streets that, soon afterward, lie feigned illness. 
 He repeated this once too often, however. The 
 Doctor seeing through the trick, gave him a dose 
 of medicine which cured Samuel of any further 
 desire to visit the hospital. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 UNDER THE HALTER'S SHADOW. 
 
 There was a small prison at Cape Town called 
 The Trunk, so dubbed on account of its scanty 
 dimensions. To this place all the prisoners, 
 where the Siren's crew was confined, were trans- 
 ferred when they became too refractory. Here 
 they were kept on bread and water for such time 
 as their " judge " deemed necessary. And it must 
 be said that the Americans never complained 
 when any of their number was thus punished — 
 provided he was guilty. 
 
 One day, however, two of the Siren's crew 
 were threatened with banishment to The Trunk 
 most unjustly. It seems that two of the pris- 
 oners had washed their clothes and unwittingly 
 had hung them over a line directly in front of the 
 path leading to the prison doctor's office. Ob- 
 serving the clothing and being too proud to bend 
 his head or go around the wet clothing, the doc- 
 tor took out his knife and cut the line so the 
 clothes fell in the dirt and were soiled. 
 
 The owners of the " insulted shirts and trous- 
 ers " angrily inquired who had cut the line and 
 
Mutiny! 167 
 
 were told that it was the Kni^hsh doctor. This 
 hronght forth a volley of sailcjr profanity that 
 was not at all complimentary to the doctor who, 
 overhearing" it, ordered the two men to The 
 Trunk. 
 
 The Sirens determined to resist and when the 
 sergeant came to seize the men, all the Americans 
 turned out in a body declaring that they would all 
 go to The Trunk together. As the prisoners 
 were in a state of mutiny, the guard was called 
 out and ordered to load and fire. Upon this, the 
 Americans shouted : 
 
 " Fire away ! You will have but one fire and 
 then it will be our turn ! " 
 
 By this time all the broken bottles, stones and 
 sticks in the yard had been picked up and the 
 prisoners stood ready to open the battle. 
 
 Realizing that he would be overpowered, the 
 sergeant recalled his men and the Sirens never 
 heard any more about it — at least not from the 
 enemy's side. 
 
 Such experiences aflforded a welcome relief to 
 the dreary monotony of prison life at Cape Town 
 for the Siren s people had now been in '* durance 
 vile " seven months. Further excitement was 
 caused soon after the *'' mutiny " by a midnight 
 alarm. 
 , One night, when all in the prison save the 
 
i68 Under the Halter's Shadow. 
 
 guard were asleep, all hands were awakened by 
 the approach of a large party of shouting and 
 singing men and women, preceded by a band of 
 music. The prisoners turned out in a jifify — 
 hoping that they were about to be liberated by a 
 daring raid from some American war ship. They 
 rushed, in a body, to the prison gate ; ready to 
 perform their part in the rescue — if rescue it was. 
 
 Much to their chagrin — and afterward to their 
 no small amusement — they learned that the cause 
 of the commotion was a Dutch wedding party 
 going to the house of old Badiem, the prison 
 caterer, who lived nearby. The band of music, 
 very inappropriately, was playing that familiar 
 tune " A Free and Accepted Mason." 
 
 When the news of the capture and burning of 
 Washington reached this dreary prison, the Si- 
 rens decided to make a break for liberty. A 
 carefully laid plan to rise at night, overpower the 
 guards and proceeding to Simon's Bay, cut out 
 some ship and sail to America, was agreed to. 
 But through treachery it reached the ears of the 
 garrison, with the result that the guard was 
 doubled while the arrival of a company of dra- 
 goons rendered the project impossible of exe- 
 cution. 
 
 Shortly after this an English missionary, the 
 Rev. George Thom, asked permission of the 
 
A Kind Ministration. 169 
 
 prisoners to preach to tlicni on Sundays. Some 
 of the sailors ol^jjccted on the p^round that he 
 would laud the king hut the i)revailin.G: sentiment 
 was " Let him come and show him that Ameri- 
 cans know what good hehavior is." They re- 
 called the experiences of the eccentric Rowland 
 Hill, who, when attacked on a preaching tour, 
 was saved by a few sailors rallying about him 
 and dispersing the mob. 
 
 Cleaning up one of the rooms and arranging 
 benches, thev welcomed Mr. Thom and his ami- 
 able wife on the following Sabbath : Instead of 
 preaching about kings and princes, as some of the 
 Americans feared, he gave them an earnest, simple 
 discourse which so pleased the men that they 
 invited him to come every Sunday. As some of 
 the hardy seamen expressed it : " He shot away 
 my colors," " He gave me a broadside " etc. 
 
 During the week Mr. Thom would visit the 
 prisoners, distributing healthful literature for 
 them to read. The result of this little thoughtful- 
 ness was most touching on these mariners. So 
 little accustomed were they to any consideration 
 or attention, they were readily led by the kindly 
 ministrations of this good man and his wife. 
 Gambling, profanity and other vices became un- 
 popular and were finally discarded altogether. 
 
 As some expression of their appreciation, the 
 
170 Under the Halter's Shadow. 
 
 Sirens presented Mr. Thorn many gifts worked 
 in a rough way by their hands — doubly precious 
 to the good man on that account. One was the 
 model of a full rigged ship, another was a hat 
 made from bullocks' horns — the horn being 
 pealed into narrow strips and woven together in 
 shape for head gear. 
 
 About the middle of March, 1814, the 74-gun 
 ship of the line Cumberland arrived at Cape 
 Town to transfer the prisoners to England, pre- 
 paratory to their voyage to the United States. 
 While this was joyful news to most of the 
 Siren's people, it was full of seriousness for our 
 hero. 
 
 " The tidings filled me with fear," recorded 
 Samuel. " Directly to America I would gladly 
 have gone but to be carried to England, in one 
 of her ships of war, was like going to certain 
 death. How was it possible for me to escape 
 detection? How could I avoid meeting some of 
 the old Macedonians who would, of course, 
 recognize and betray me ? 
 
 " These questions tortured rne beyond endur- 
 ance and almost induced me to volunteer to re- 
 main at the Cape. I felt like an escaped criminal, 
 with the officers of justice at his heels. Death at 
 the yard-arm haunted me day and night. No one 
 can imagine my uneasiness unless he has been 
 similarly placed." 
 
In Dri:au uv Dktection. 171 
 
 After the usual delays, the Sirens were stowed 
 aboard the Cumberland in far more comfortable 
 quarters than they had had in the Medwa\ for, 
 instead of the stuffy cable tier, they had roomy 
 bunks on the upper gun-deck ; besides which they 
 had plenty of good food. 
 
 Arriving at St. Helena, part of the prisoners 
 were transferred to their captor, the Medzvay, 
 and the rest to the 50-gun frigate Grampus; 
 young Leech being sent to the latter. " This 
 transfer to the Grampus greatly alarmed me," 
 said Samuel, '' since the more men I saw the 
 greater was the chance of detection. I had 
 already escaped being known on board of two 
 seventy-fours with their half thousand men each 
 but I could not promise myself the same im- 
 munity much longer. However, as I saw no face 
 that was familiar when I went on board, I felt a 
 little more at ease." 
 
 That night, however, proved to be one long 
 remembered by our hero as one in which he grew 
 several years older in as many minutes. About 
 nine o'clock, when every thing in the great frig- 
 ate had settled down to the orderly quiet of the 
 hour, a call from the officer of the deck was 
 passed along the main deck which, in the stillness 
 of the night, sounded as if it had come from a 
 speaking trumpet. It was : 
 12 
 
172 Under the Halter's Shadow. 
 
 " Pass the word for the boy Leech ! " 
 
 For a moment SamtieFs heart stopped beating 
 and then began thumping like a trip hammer as, 
 in agonizing fear, he awaited the outcome of 
 this summons for " the boy Leech " — which was 
 always the way he had been summoned when 
 aboard the Macedonian. 
 
 " Pass the word for the boy Leech ! " was re- 
 peated by several gruff boatswain's mates and, as 
 each order came nearer to the place where our 
 hero was waiting, there seemed to be no doubt 
 but that it was intended for him. Indeed, several 
 of the American prisoners said to him : 
 
 " That means you." 
 
 Samuel was so terrified that he could make no 
 motion, nor could he control his voice so as to 
 answer. Perhaps it was fortunate for him that 
 he remained silent for, a moment later, he heard 
 some one say: 
 
 " Your master wants you." 
 
 This convinced Samuel that there was a " Boy 
 Leech " in the frigate's crew as well as among 
 the prisoners and so it proved — though our 
 friend declared that he did not breathe freely 
 again for a week afterward and that at night he 
 suffered from the most hideous nightmares. 
 
 When at St. Helena it was learned that war 
 with France was ended. This was gratifying 
 
v. 
 u: 
 
 b. 
 
 •f. ^ 
 
 X > 
 
 u: 
 
 ?: 
 
I 
 
Peace or War? 173 
 
 news to the sailors as tlicy were all liopinpf to j^ct 
 discharged. On the run from this island to Kiip^- 
 land, however, it was learned from a passing 
 ship that Napoleon had escaped from Elha and 
 was at Paris with sixty thousand men so that the 
 war was on again, " Nothing," said Samuel. 
 " could exceed the joy of the officers at this an- 
 nouncement and the corresponding vexation of 
 the crew. The former dreaded peace because it 
 meant half pay, no prize money, and little chance 
 of promotion." 
 
 At last the white clififs of Old England rose 
 above the horizon. To avoid suspicion our hero 
 pretended to be very much interested in every 
 thing about the " new " land, asking such ques- 
 tions as any foreigner might. ** I could not be- 
 hold myself approaching my native land," 
 records Samuel, " without many misgivings. To 
 a man who knows a halter is hanging over his 
 head, everything furnished cause for alarm ; a 
 piercing look, a whisper or the sudden mention 
 of my name caused me to tremble." 
 
 One day, before they made port, Captain Nich- 
 olson inadvertently came near disclosing Leech's 
 secret before the officers of the Grampus. It 
 seems some discussion had been going on be- 
 tween the American and British officers when 
 Nicholson sent for Samuel to clear up a point 
 
174 Under the Halter's Shadow. 
 
 involving Salem ; from which place, the American 
 officer all along had supposed the boy really came. 
 
 Appearing before the officers in fear and tremb- 
 ling he was asked a question about Mr. Crownin- 
 shield of Salem. Fortunately, Leech knew of him 
 and answered satisfactorily. It was with im- 
 measurable relief that he found no other questions 
 were to be asked for every moment Samuel 
 feared that he would get into the same trouble 
 he had relative to his " native city of Philama- 
 delph." 
 
 Nor was this an idle fear that Leech had, 
 about being betrayed unintentionally by his 
 friends. A case occurred only a short time be- 
 fore, in the very port for which the Grampus 
 was making, where a mother innocently revealed 
 the identity of her son. Not knowing that he 
 was a deserter from the royal navy, she went 
 aboard a newly arrived English man-of-war and 
 asked for him, giving his name and rating. They 
 replied that no one of that name was aboard. 
 
 " He is among the Yankees," unthinkingly re- 
 marked the good mother. 
 
 There happened to be some American prison- 
 ers and, hearing the remark, an officer summoned 
 up the prisoners and paraded them on the gun 
 deck. Seeing her son among the number the 
 poor woman exclaimed: 
 
An Unfortunate Cry. 175 
 
 "Oil, Tom! I have brought you a clean 
 shirt!" 
 
 The officer, who was standing- by, then stepped 
 up to the man and said : 
 
 "It's a clean shirt you want, is it? I'll give 
 you a clean handkerchief " — meaning that he 
 would be hung. The unfortunate lad was at 
 once placed in irons, in the presence of his 
 mother. A courtmartial was held and on the 
 following day he was hung at the yard-arm. It 
 was fortunate for our hero that Captain Nichol- 
 son did not question him too closely about Salem 
 in the presence of the British officers. 
 
 Arriving at Spithead the Americans were trans- 
 ferred to the prison-ship Puissant, a war vessel 
 which had been captured from the French. 
 " Here we were treated with great leniency," 
 records Samuel. " We were even allowed liberty 
 to go ashore. Had I dared, I would have run 
 away — but the dread of a halter restrained me. 
 I did not even venture to write to my mother, 
 lest she should be tempted to visit me, or even 
 write, as a letter from any place in England 
 might awaken suspicions as to my true character 
 and she might share the grief of the too-fond 
 mother who innocently sent her son to the gal- 
 lows." 
 
 After a stav of several weeks in the Puissant, 
 
176 Under the Halter's Shadow. 
 
 the Sirens were transferred to the gun-brig Rover 
 which was to transfer the prisoners to Plymouth, 
 England. 
 
 It seemed a part of the Admiralty's policy to 
 transfer American prisoners from one British 
 war ship to another as many times as possible — 
 evidently with the object of increasing the chances 
 of detecting deserters. So far, our hero had 
 passed under the surveillance of the English in 
 the Medway, in the prison at Cape Town and 
 of the people in the Cumberland, Grampus, Puis- 
 sant and Rover — numbering in all, several thou- 
 sand British officers and sailors ; certainly an 
 ordeal which nothing but Providence enabled 
 him to pass through without detection. 
 
 But a still severer ordeal was awaiting him. 
 In his diary Leech records in reference to his 
 induction on the Rover: " Here was a double 
 risk again before me. I had a risk of being 
 known by the crew of the Rover and by the many 
 people who had known me at Plymouth during 
 my previous stay at that port. However, the 
 good hand of Providence was with me to pre- 
 serve me. We reached our port in safety where, 
 to our great delight, we heard that the Woodrop 
 Simms, Captain Jones, of Philadelphia, was to be 
 the cartel to convey us to America." 
 
 Before the Americans were permitted to tread 
 

IncrilASing Perils. 177 
 
 her decks, however, the prisoners (ap^ain follow- 
 ing the policy of the Admiralty for detecting 
 deserters) were sent aboard the Royal Sovereii^n 
 where they would be exposed to the gaze of eight 
 hundred men — a large bounty being offered to 
 the man who would reveal the identity of British 
 deserters. Unfortunately for Samuel, this Royal 
 Sovereign, on a previous occasion, had sailed 
 in company with the Macedonian and Leech was 
 known to many of her people. 
 
 To avoid recognition our hero resorted to a 
 stratagem. He says : ** Whenever any of her 
 men came near our quarters, I endeavored to 
 look cross-eyed or closed one eye so as to appear 
 partially blind ; and in various other ways altered 
 my appearance so that even an old shipmate 
 would have been puzzled to recognize me at first." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 
 
 At last the grateful news that the Woodrop 
 Simms was ready, reached the prisoners and in 
 August, 1815, Samuel went aboard her the hap- 
 piest boy that ever breathed the breath of life. 
 Here he met a number of other Sirens who — 
 during their short stay at Plymouth — had been 
 confined in Dartmoor Prison. 
 
 It would be supposed that these men, after such 
 a protracted incarceration in British prisons, 
 would be without money. At least, so argued 
 Samuel. What must have been his surprise, then, 
 when he saw these same Dartmoor prisoners 
 purchasing large quantities of luxuries for their 
 voyage across the Atlantic — and they had the 
 coin to pay for them, too. 
 
 Later on, Samuel learned that this was counter- 
 feit money which these prisoners had made dur- 
 ing their involuntary stay at Dartmoor. How far 
 this spurious money circulated before the authori- 
 ties learned of it, Samuel does not state, neither 
 did he care for on the following day, the Wood- 
 rop Simms set sail for America. 
 
Removing Tiiii Mask. 179 
 
 It was one nioriiin^ when tlie cartel was well 
 on lier way across the Atlantic that the sccjuel to 
 Captain Nicholson's near approach to a betrayal 
 of Leech's identity before ]*)ritish officers in the 
 Gra})ipi(s, came about. Nicholson ap^ain asked 
 Samuel somcthini^ about Salem. Our hero j^ave 
 a knowing" laugh. The American commander, 
 somewhat indignant, asked : 
 
 "Why this levity?" 
 
 " Sir," replied the youth, ** Salem is not my 
 native place by a considerable." 
 
 ** What do you mean?" inquired Nicholson, 
 somewhat mvstified bv Samuel's manner. 
 
 It was then that Leech, for the first time, told 
 Nicholson how he had been captured in the 
 Macedonian, had deserted and had shipped in an 
 American war ship and had, all these months been 
 under the shadow of a halter. Captain Nicholson 
 warmly congratulated the lad on his many nar- 
 row escapes. 
 
 As showing the fickleness of the old-time sail- 
 or's whims, the following extract from Samuel's 
 diary will be given : " During the voyage a great 
 deal was said about quitting the sea and settling 
 down in quietness on shore. One of our ship- 
 mates, named William Carpenter who belonged 
 to Rhode Island, had a particular enthusiasm for 
 farming. He promised to take me with him 
 
i8o Homeward Bound. 
 
 where I could learn the art of cultivating the 
 soil. Many of us made strong resolutions to 
 embark in some such enterprise. The pleasures 
 of agriculture were sung and praised among us 
 in so ardent a manner that he must have been 
 incredulous indeed who could have doubted for a 
 moment the certainty of quite a number of our 
 hands becoming farmers whenever we should 
 gain land." 
 
 One night as they swung in their hammocks, 
 talking with great earnestness about their fav- 
 orite theme (farming), the wind blowing quite 
 freshly on deck, one said : 
 
 " If ever I get home, you won't catch me on 
 board of a ship again." 
 
 " Yes," said another, " farmers live well at 
 any rate. They are not put on an allowance but 
 have enough to eat. If they work hard at it all 
 day, they can turn in at night — and if it blows 
 hard the house won't rock and there are no sails 
 to reef." 
 
 While these and other good resolutions were 
 being formed, the wind began blowing harder 
 and harder. From occasional puffs it quickly 
 grew to a tremendous gale. Realizing that they 
 were in for a storm and thinking that all hands 
 might be required, those below went on deck to 
 assist. It was now blowing a hurricane, the 
 
A Night of Tickror. i8i 
 
 wind liowlinjT;- and whistlinp^ throiic^h tlic rippinj^, 
 the wilder roar of the angry sea, the shoiitinp of 
 the officers and the intense darkness all conspired 
 to present a scene of indescrihable terror. 
 
 Just as our hero stepped on deck, a heavy wave 
 broke over the cartel, drenching all hands and 
 threatening to carry her down. Shortly after- 
 ward the crash of a falling mast was heard. It 
 was a topmast going overboard, leaving a yard 
 in the slings. There were so many men on deck 
 now that they only encumbered each other's 
 movements ; so some went below with the full 
 expectation that the ship would founder before 
 morning; and, with true sailor-like philosophy, 
 they argued that it would be as well to drown in 
 their hammocks as on deck. 
 
 During this night of appalling danger the men 
 manifested curiously varying symptoms of alarm. 
 " Some prayed aloud," records Leech. " Others 
 cursed as if in bravado shouting ' We are all 
 going to perdition together ! ' For my own part 
 I kept repeating the Lord's prayer and renewing 
 those promises, so often made in moments of 
 apparent destruction." 
 
 At length day broke, revealing the sad havoc 
 made by the storm. The shattered state of the 
 cartel's masts and rigging reminded Samuel of 
 
1 82 Homeward Bound. 
 
 the condition of the Macedonian after her action 
 with the United States, excepting that there were 
 no wounded or dead encumbering the deck. 
 Captain Jones, who commanded the Woodrop 
 Simms, declared that, though he had been at sea 
 twenty-five years, he had never experienced such 
 a frightful storm. He had not left the deck all 
 that night. Fortunately for all hands, the ship 
 was nearly new, exceptionally strong and an ex- 
 cellent sea boat. 
 
 As the gale abated, repairs were made and the 
 cartel proceeded on her voyage, meeting a num- 
 ber of vessels that had suffered even worse than 
 she, while (as they afterward learned) many 
 craft went down with all hands on board. That 
 gale was on the 9th and loth of August, 181 5, 
 and was long remembered among sailor folk as 
 the worst in their experience. 
 
 When so many resolutions about " turning into 
 farmers " had, apparently, been " clinched " by 
 this close swish against the winding sheet of 
 Death, we would expect that the men making 
 them would exert all effort to get into the rural 
 districts as soon as possible after reaching port. 
 Such, however, did not prove to be the case. 
 
 Arriving in New York, safe and sound, they 
 were paid ofiF and, in a twinkling, the hardships 
 
Resolutions Soon Forgot. 183 
 
 and perils of the sea were forgotten as most of 
 the sailors plunged headlong into dissipation 
 which was continued so long as their money held 
 out. As Sanniel well expressed it : ** We felt as 
 if New York belonged to us and that we were 
 really the happiest, jolliest fellows in the world." 
 
 It is only in justice to our hero to say, however, 
 that at first he made honest effort to find employ- 
 ment on shore. He looked up the bootmaking 
 establishment in Broadway, where he had begun 
 an apprenticeship, and was truly disappointed on 
 learning that his employer had moved to Phila- 
 delphia. After this damper on his good reso- 
 lutions our hero, we fear, did not make other 
 serious attempts in this line. He had a hundred 
 dollars in his pocket and was content to float 
 about the city until that was gone when, like most 
 of his companions in the cartel, he enlisted again. 
 
 Samuel shipped in the United States war brig 
 Boxer which had been captured by the Enter- 
 prise, September, 181 3. The Boxer was now 
 commanded by the celebrated David Porter who 
 was captain of the Essex in her famous cruise 
 in the south Pacific, 1812-1814. " Although Cap- 
 tain Porter was stern and severe," said Samuel, 
 " he never used bad language. He always spoke 
 with the utmost deliberation but with such ob- 
 
184 Homeward Bound. 
 
 vious feeling that we often trembled to hear his 
 
 voice." 
 
 While in the Boxer, Samuel learned a new 
 " trick " in maintaining discipline which was far 
 more effective and less brutal than flogging. As 
 it was now in time of peace, night watches were 
 prone to steal a doze while on duty. 
 
 To check this habit, Captain Porter ordered 
 that any man caught sleeping was to be aroused 
 by a handspike — not too gently applied. The 
 offender was then obliged to take the handspike 
 and hold it in his hand as a badge of disgrace 
 throughout the watch, unless he discovered an- 
 other man asleep when he was to awake him in a 
 similar manner and pass the handspike to him. 
 By this simple means, the night watches were 
 sufficiently " interested " to keep awake. 
 
 After his service in the Boxer, Samuel, now 
 fourteen years old, renewed his resolutions about 
 seeking employment on shore and now, without 
 funds, he set out in the dead of winter and pain- 
 fully made his way — ragged, footsore and cold — 
 to New Haven, Hartford, Coventry and Mans- 
 field. At the last town he met an old shipmate 
 in the Macedonian who had wandered into Con- 
 necticut, married and was in fairly comfortable 
 circumstances. Through his influence Samuel 
 found steady work and attending a Methodist 
 
Joins the Church. 185 
 
 revival, he became a staunch supporter of that 
 faith the remainder of his days. 
 
 Our hero describes how he was induced to 
 attend the revival by some ** worldly younp men " 
 who thought to have sport with him : " Some 
 of the young men who spent their evenings with 
 me listening to my sea yarns invited me to attend 
 a meeting of the Methodist Church. lUit they 
 greatly misjudged the character of seamen. I 
 attended the meeting but not to make sport. One 
 Sabbath evening my friend Ella Dunham asked : 
 
 *' * When do you intend to set out and seek 
 religion ? ' I replied, somewhat evasively : 
 
 " ' Any time.' 
 
 " ' Well ' said he, * are you willing we should 
 pray for you and will you go forward for prayers 
 to-night ? ' 
 
 " To this I replied that I would think of it. 
 The meeting proved to be intensely interesting. 
 My desire to express the inward working of my 
 
 mind grew strong I determined to rise 
 
 and speak though the Evil One whispered * Not 
 yet, not yet ' in my ears. 
 
 " Just as I stood up, some one (not seeing me) 
 began to sing but my friend Dunham checked the 
 singing ' because a young man wished to speak.' 
 He had seen my move. Thus encouraged I told 
 
1 86 Homeward Bound. 
 
 them I was then nineteen years old and it seemed 
 to me too much of Hf e to spend in sin, that eternity 
 was a solemn idea and I desired them to tell me 
 how to enter upon it with joy. They proposed to 
 pray with me. We then all kneeled down to- 
 gether. Most fervently did they pray for the 
 divine blessing to rest on the stranger youth, 
 bowed in penitence before them and most sin- 
 cerely did I join my prayers with theirs before 
 the throne of God." 
 
 Samuel records that of all his shipmates who 
 survived the naval battle of October 25, 1812, he 
 knew of only one, besides himself, who embraced 
 religion ; and his name — singularly enough — was 
 John Whiskey. 
 
 In all his wanderings Samuel had not forgotten 
 his mother but, owing to his frequent changes of 
 address, he did not get a letter from her until he 
 had settled in Connecticut — some eight years after 
 leaving Blenheim. How eagerly the good woman 
 had followed the fortunes of her son is revealed 
 in the opening words of this, her heart's message : 
 " My dearly beloved Child. I cannot describe the 
 sensations I felt when I received a letter from 
 your dear hands. It was the greatest pleasure I 
 
 have enjoyed since you left me I sent 
 
 your letter to Lady Churchill, formerly Lady 
 
Fear of tin-: IIaitkr. 187 
 
 Francis Spencer. P.oth Lord and Lady Churchill 
 were glad to hear from you and are your well- 
 wishers. The Duke and Duchess of Marlbor- 
 ough are both dead Lord Francis makes a 
 
 very good master." 
 
 Much as Samuel desired to visit England and 
 again see his beloved mother, he was deterred 
 from so doing on account of his desertion from 
 the British navy. This fear was enhanced by a 
 conversation he liad with the traveler, Lorenzo 
 Dow, who assured Samuel that he had recently 
 seen four men hanged in England for just such 
 an ofTense as our hero had committed. 
 
 Samuel then endeavored to persuade his 
 mother and his step-father to emigrate to America 
 but, before his letter reached England, Mr. New- 
 man died and Mrs. Newman felt that it would 
 be unwise to migrate at her time of life. 
 
 Soon afterward Samuel left his employer in 
 Mansfield and, purchasing a horse and wagon, 
 started into business for himself ; traveling from 
 town to town, selling steelyards etc. Accumulat- 
 ing a small capital in this way he opened a store 
 in Mansfield. 
 
 Like nearly all New England stores in those 
 days the one opened by our hero had a corner 
 where intoxicating liquor could be obtained. But 
 
 13 
 
i88 Homeward Bound. 
 
 soon afterward, hearing a temperance sermon by 
 Dr. Hawses of Hartford, he gave up that lucrative 
 branch of the business. He said : " I could hold 
 out no longer, in spite of the example of our best 
 citizens (some of whom often drank, though spar- 
 ingly, at my house) I gave it up I have ever 
 
 regarded that act as among the best of my life." 
 
 In time, Samuel married a member of the 
 Methodist church and went to Somers, Conn., 
 from which place he soon moved and finally 
 settled in Wilbraham, Mass. Here the years 
 glided pleasantly and swiftly as our hero pros- 
 pered in business and grew in the esteem of his 
 fellow townsmen. 
 
 A matter of business calling him to New York, 
 Samuel learned that the Macedonian was in that 
 port; and, with true sailor-like attachment for 
 the " old ship," he visited her. He records : " I 
 stood on the spot where I had fought in the din 
 of battle and, with many a serious reflection, re- 
 called the horrors of that dreadful scene. The 
 sailors, on witnessing the care with which I 
 examined everything, and supposing me to be a 
 landman, eyed me rather closely. Seeing their 
 curiosity, I said : 
 
 '' ' Shipmates, I have seen this vessel before 
 to-day ; probably before any of you did.' 
 
Familiar SciiNtis. iStj 
 
 ** The old tars j^athcrcd around inc, eajjfcrly 
 listening to my tale of the battle and they l)orc 
 patiently and with becoming gravity the exhor- 
 tation to lead a religious life with which I closed 
 my address." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 AGAIN AT BLENHEIM. 
 
 As has already appeared in these pages, Mr. 
 Leech — we must now be more careful in men- 
 tioning him for, not only did he have a wife and 
 three children but he had attained the proud 
 distinction of being a sovereign American citizen 
 — had long intended to make a visit to England to 
 see his mother and the scenes of his boyhood 
 again, but had been deterred from so doing by 
 fear of death for desertion from the British navy. 
 
 To remove this obstacle his mother, through 
 the influence of Lady Churchill, secured the fol- 
 lowing official protection for our hero: 
 
 Lower Brook Street, Nov. 7, 182 1. 
 Mrs. Newman: 
 
 I consulted my brother William upon the subject on 
 which you wish for advice, as neither Lord C. nor 
 myself could undertake to answer your inquiry; and I 
 am glad to hear from him the following explanation in 
 reply : " There is nothing to prevent Mrs. Newman's 
 son from coming home; for when the war was termi- 
 nated, he was safe, even if he had entered the enemy's 
 
 4 
 
A Man of Family. k^i 
 
 service; but he will, of course, forfeit the pay and any 
 prize money due him." 
 
 I am, mucli yours, 
 
 F. Churchill. 
 
 While he was unmarried, a trip to Enc^land and 
 back would have been an easy matter for our 
 hero but now, that he was a man of family, the 
 items of passage money and incidental expenses, 
 assumed formidable proportions. It was this 
 serious aspect of the undertaking that induced 
 Mr. Leech to urge his mother to emigrate to 
 America, where he promised her a warm welcome 
 and a comfortable home. But the good woman 
 was too deeply attached to British soil to be up- 
 rooted in her old age and, between urging on one 
 side and entreating on the other, the years flew 
 
 by. 
 
 At last Mr. Leech received a letter from his 
 mother which decided him to tmdertake the voy- 
 age; so, one pleasant morning early in June, 1841, 
 the Leech family, formidably protected with 
 baggage, set out from Wilbraham and, after a 
 pleasant passage by way of Springfield and Hart- 
 ford, arrived in New York where they took 
 passage in the " splendid packet-ship George 
 Washington/' bound for Liverpool. 
 
 After a " quick run of twenty days," they 
 arrived at Liverpool and it was here that our 
 
192 Again at Blenheim. 
 
 hero's well engrafted Americanism began to 
 assert itself. Having bestowed due praise on the 
 magnificent docks, he had to contrast " the dark, 
 dingy aspect of Liverpool, everywhere discolored 
 by the fumes of coal-smoke, with the light, cheer- 
 ful aspect of our American cities; and giving 
 preference to the latter, notwithstanding my Eng- 
 lish prejudices." 
 
 After passing through the charming rural 
 scenery between Liverpool and Stafford, and di- 
 lating on the risk he ran of " being torn asunder 
 by the eagerness of two hackmen who, as we 
 were the only passengers left at the station, were 
 especially zealous for our patronage," Mr. Leech 
 and family were soon deposited at the door of his 
 sister, the wife of William Tills. 
 
 " Although I had not seen her for thirty years 
 yet, no sooner did she see me than, throw- 
 ing her arms around my neck, she exclaimed : 
 ' Oh, my Brother ! ' I need not add that our 
 reception was cordial and our stay with them 
 characterized by every trait of genuine hospi- 
 tality." 
 
 Here, also, our hero showed his good citizen- 
 ship when he records : " Having been so long 
 away from England, everything peculiarly Eng- 
 lish struck me with almost as much force as it 
 would a native American. Hence my feelings re- 
 
At the Old IIomk. 193 
 
 volted at the sij^ht of innunicrahlc hc^'-j^Mrs and 
 vagrants, who crowded the streets ; and liouscless 
 famihes iniplorinn^ a crust for tlieir half-naked 
 little ones with many a tale of sorrow, were sights 
 that greeted my eyes and pained mv heart every 
 day." 
 
 Remaining a week with the hospitable Tills 
 our American friends proceeded to Birmingliam 
 and thence by stage to Woodstock, " subject, how- 
 ever, to the incessant exactions of a host of 
 waiters, guards and coachmen who all wanted to 
 be * remembered.' " 
 
 '* Oh, I'll never forget you," was Mr. Leech's 
 vexed reply. 
 
 " The country through which we rode was 
 delightful," continued our hero. 
 
 About dusk, the stage drew up with the usual 
 bustle of importance and ceremony at the Marl- 
 borough Arms, the same hostlery from which our 
 hero had departed, thirty-one years before, in 
 search of fame and fortune. " The first object 
 that met my eye," he wrote, " was the revered 
 form of my mother, waiting on the sidewalk, 
 eager to embrace her much-loved but long absent 
 son. Springing to the ground I felt myself 
 locked in her fond embrace. That was a moment 
 of exquisite enjoyment. Although my mother 
 was deeply moved, she maintained a calm dignity 
 
194 Again at Blenheim. 
 
 of manner. In a few moments she was showing 
 the way with the agihty of a young woman. 
 She held a new-found grandchild at each hand. 
 Reaching her residence, which was near by, we 
 were soon seated around the well-loaded board, 
 the happiest family party in the world." 
 
 While at Blenheim, Mr. Leech paid a visit 
 to Oxford and saw the room in which John 
 Wesley studied and other places associated with 
 the birth of Methodism. Returning to Bladen, 
 our hero made preparations for the return trip to 
 America. He records : " After receiving the 
 utmost kindness, hospitality and evidences of 
 friendship from my family and friends, I took 
 leave of them forever. Many of the neighbors, 
 with my mother, accompanied me to Woodstock. 
 There I wished her adieu and, while the coach 
 whirled away, she stood following us with her 
 eyes, the last of the company, until a projection 
 of the park wall hid us from each other — and 
 forever. Who could forbear a tear in such a 
 moment ? I could not, and suffered the big drops 
 to roll down my cheeks at will." 
 
 Passing on to London, Mr. Leech visited Wan- 
 stead and learned that his aunt — she of the 
 twenty-two sons and two daughters — was yet 
 alive. Our hero says : " My brother asked her 
 if she knew me. Peering through her spectacles 
 
A Perilous Voyage. 195 
 
 and siiniinoniiio^ up the imaj^cry of tlic past, she 
 at length called to niiiul her former protege and 
 clasped me to her arms with evident ^^ratification." 
 
 On the 25th of August Mr. Leech and family 
 sailed from London " in a fine ship commanded 
 by Captain Eldridge, bound for Boston," and after 
 a most tempestuous passage of seventy-five days, 
 arrived at their destination. Returning to Wil- 
 braham, " we were hailed," says Mr. Leech, " with 
 joyful congratulations by our neighbors who had 
 begun to mourn us as among the lost at sea." 
 
 Shortly after his return to America our hero 
 received a letter announcing the death of his 
 mother. Samuel Leech died in the year 1848 in 
 Wilbraham. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adams, boatswain's mate, 
 
 113-. 
 A d mi rally's confidential 
 
 note, i8, 19. 
 Adventure, 150. 
 Aldrich, sailor, 102. 
 Angola, 152, 154, 155. 
 Antigua, 26. 
 
 Archer, midshipman, 122. 
 Ascension island, 155. 
 
 Badiem, Dutcliman, 161-163, 
 
 168. 
 Band of music, 66, 67, 168. 
 Banquet of victory, 131. 
 Barton, 148-150. 
 Bay of Bisca}^ 60, 61. 
 Belem Castle, 37. 
 Benton & Co., 136, 183. 
 Bight o' Lisbon, 59. 
 Black Tom, 63, 64. 
 Bladen festival, 28. 
 Bladen village, 27, 23> 80, 
 
 194. 
 Blenheim, 24. 
 Blenheim, battle of, 27. 
 Blenheim palace, 28, 29. 
 Blenheim park, 28. 
 Boston, 2>7- 
 Boxer, 183-184. 
 Brest, 81, 83. 
 " Broomers," 74. 
 Brown, William, 113, 114. 
 
 Bunker Hill, battle of. 161, 
 162. 
 
 Caesar, 54. 
 
 Canary Islands, 142. 
 
 Canister shot, 107. 
 
 Cape Three Points, 147. 
 
 Cape Town, 158. 162, 170. 
 
 Card, John, 97, 98. 
 
 Carden, John Surman, 47, 
 56 ; commands Macedo- 
 nian, 65 ; as a musician, 
 67, 72-74; at Norfolk, 78, 
 86, 87; in battle against 
 United States, 93-129. 
 
 Carpenter, William, 179, 180. 
 
 Carruth, William Ward, 16. 
 
 Carson, Captain, 56. 
 
 Chesapeake, 67. 
 
 Christnvi^-. aboard, 41, 42; in 
 prison, 163. 
 
 " Chronicle," London, 120, 
 121. 
 
 Churchill, John, 27. 
 
 Churchill, Lady Francis, 17. 
 187, 190. 
 
 Churchill, Lord, 23, 108, 191. 
 
 City Hotel, 131. 
 
 Collier, Sir George, 88. 
 
 Constitution, 18, 19, 85, 88, 
 
 90, 139- 
 Cooper, boy, 105. 
 Counterfeiting, 178. 
 
198 
 
 Index. 
 
 Coventry, 184. 
 Crowninshield, Mr., 174. 
 Cumberland, 170, 171. 
 Cyane, 46, 87, 90. 
 
 Danube river, 27. 
 Dartmoor prison, 178. 
 Dawson, boatswain, 125, 130. 
 Day, James, 125, 133. 
 Deal, Lewis, 138. 
 Decatur, Mrs., 132. 
 Decatur, Stephen, yy, 78, 
 
 115, 116, 131, 132. 
 Division of labor in frigates, 
 
 43-46. 
 Dow, Lorenzo, 187. 
 Dunham, Ella, 185. 
 Dutch courage, 46. 
 
 East Indies, 93. 
 
 Elba, 173. 
 
 Eldridge, Capt, 195. 
 
 Elms, Mrs., 130. 
 
 Endymion, 90. 
 
 Epping forest, 22. 
 
 Escaped French prisoners, 
 
 82, 83. 
 Essex, frigate, 50, 118. 
 
 Fayal, 90. 
 
 Fish Market, Lisbon, 58, 59. 
 
 Fitzroy, William, 17, 22, 29, 
 
 30, 33, 51, 52; cashiered, 
 
 55,56; 65. 
 Floggmg, 46, 47; through 
 
 the fleet, 48-50. 
 Fly Market, New York, 130. 
 Frolic, 139. 
 
 Gale, midshipman, 47. 
 Garvey, William, 36. 
 General Armstrong, 90. 
 
 George Washington, 191. 
 Goat, Macedonian's, 104. 
 Grafton, Duke of, 17, 22, 23. 
 Grampus, 171, 173, 174. 
 Grand Turk, 141, 143. 
 Grapeshot, 107. 
 Gravesend, 33. 
 Greenock, 54. 
 Grog, 46. 
 Guerriere, 18, 19, 85, 89, 116. 
 
 Half Moon Battery, 37. 
 
 Halifax, 124. 
 
 Hammond, Bob, 70-74. 
 
 Hampton Roads, 76, 77. 
 
 Hannibal, 54. 
 
 " Happy Jack," 52, 53. 
 
 Harper, William, 134. 
 
 Hartford, 133, 184. 
 
 Hawes, Rev., 188. 
 
 Hell Gate, 123. 
 
 Hessians, 42. 
 
 Hill, Rev. Rowland, 169. 
 
 Hope, David, 60, 73, 103, 108. 
 
 Hornet, go. 
 
 Hudson, sailor, 35. 
 
 Impressing sailors, 57, 60. 
 
 Jack, Dr., 164. 
 Jane, 147, 151. 
 Java, 18, 85. 
 Jennings, Sarah, 27. 
 John Adams, 133, 135, 156. 
 Jones, Captain, 176, 182. 
 
 Kivell, Nan, 102. 
 
 Lake Borgne, 90. 
 
 Leander, 88. 
 
 Leech, Mr., 17, 22, 30. 
 
Index. 
 
 199 
 
 Leech. Mrs.. 26. 30, 34, 35, 
 laS, 186, 187 190, 192-194. 
 
 Leech, Samuel, hirth and 
 childhood, 21-31 ; first ex- 
 periences ahoard, 32-36; 
 at Lisbon, 37-74; at Nor- 
 folk, 75-7<^; at Plymouth, 
 80, 81 ; on French coast, 
 82-84; his narrative of the 
 United States-Macedonian 
 battle, 92-117; Newport to 
 New York, 122, 123 ; es- 
 cape from Macedonian, 
 124-127; attends banquet, 
 131, 132; enlisting in U. 
 S. Navy, 134, 135; be- 
 comes a shoemaker, 136; 
 at Salem, 137-139; ships 
 in Siren, 139, 140; death 
 of Capt. Parker, 142 ; on 
 w^est coast of Africa, 143- 
 146; "Battle of Senegal," 
 147; learns value of water, 
 151-153; captured by Mcd- 
 zvay, 154-157; in south 
 African prison, 158-169; 
 dangerous passage to Eng- 
 land, 170-177; returning 
 to America, 178-183; in 
 Boxer, 184, 185; joins 
 church, 185, 186; visit to 
 England, 190-194; death, 
 195- 
 
 Leopard, 67. 
 
 Levant, 46, 87, 90. 
 
 Lewis, sailing-master, 55. 
 
 Lisbon, 37-42. 
 
 Liverpool, 192. 
 
 Logholm, sailor, 68, iii, 
 
 London, 26, 2)3- 
 
 Long Island Sound, 121. 
 
 Macedonian, 17-19, 29; fit- 
 ting at Ciravescnd, 33-37; 
 at Lisbon, 3742; nr.Trly 
 founders, 60, 61 ; at Hamp- 
 ton Roads, 75-7S; at Ply- 
 mouth, 80-82; battle with 
 the United States. 86-129; 
 in America, 130, 188. 
 
 ^Tackenzie, Capt. A. S., 78. 
 
 Madeira, 69, 93. 
 
 Mahan. Alfred Thayer, 16. 
 
 Mansfield, 184. 187. 
 
 Marlborough Arms, ^^, 193. 
 
 ^Larlborough, Duke of, 17, 
 26, 28, :^3. 
 
 Marsh, Surgeon, 62, no. 
 
 McNiell, Captain, 66, 67. 
 
 Medzcay, 157. 158, 171, 176. 
 
 Merrimac, 18, 85, 86. 
 
 Messina, 66. 
 
 Monitor, 18, 85, 86. 
 
 Moscow, 120. 
 
 Mount Cintra, 79. 
 
 Musicians in Macedonian, 
 66, 67; in battle, 96, 97. 
 
 Nan, ship's goat, 104. 
 Nan Kivell (see Kivell). 
 Napoleon, 120, 173. 
 Nautilus, go. 
 Nelson, Lord, 98. 
 New Haven, 184. 
 New London, 121, 122, 124. 
 Newman, Mr., 26, 27, 187. 
 Newman, Mrs. (see Leech, 
 
 Mrs.). 
 Newport, 122, 
 New York, 123, 124, 130, 
 
 182. 183. 
 Nicholson, John B., io(>, no, 
 
 130; in Siren, 141-15^, i/J. 
 
 175, 179. 
 
200 
 
 Index. 
 
 Nightingale Place, 22. 
 Norfolk, 75, 'j'j, no. 
 Northunberland, 54. 
 Nova Scotia, 129. 
 Nugent, negro, 56, 57. 
 
 Old Ironsides, 139. 
 Old Wagon, 116. 
 Oxford, 194. 
 
 Paris, 173. 
 
 Parker, George, 139, 142. 
 
 Peacock, 90. 
 
 Penguin, go. 
 
 Philadelphia, 133-135. 
 
 " Philamadelph," 133, 134. 
 
 Plum duff, 46. 
 
 Plymouth, 80-82, 92, 176. 
 
 Porter, David, 183, 184. 
 
 Portsmouth, 88. 
 
 " Post Office," 155. 
 
 Powder-monkey, 38. 
 
 President, 19, 86, 88, 90. 
 
 Pressgangs, 57, 60. 
 
 Prison at Cape Town, 160- 
 
 170. 
 Providence, 137. 
 Puissant, 175, 176. 
 
 Quaqua, Samuel, 150. 
 
 Reed, carpenter, no. 
 Rochelle, 81. 
 Rover, 176. 
 Royal Sovereign, 177. 
 
 Sadler, John, 71, 72, 105, 132, 
 
 133. 
 Salem, 137, 174, 175. 
 Sanders, steward, 38. 
 Senegal river, 146, 147. 
 
 Simon's Bay, 158, 168. 
 Siren, 139; cruise, 141-158. 
 Smith, Captain, 50. 
 Smith, soldier, 136. 
 Somers, Mass., 188. 
 Spencer, Lady Francis, 17, 
 
 23, 29, 30, 187. 
 Spencer, Lord Francis, 23, 
 
 29, 187. 
 Spithead, 37, 175. 
 " Statesman," London, 88. 
 St. Helena, 172. 
 St. Michael's, 69. 
 St. Thomas, 147, 148, 151, 
 
 154. 
 Suttonwood, Richard, 51, 52, 
 
 Tagus, 37,^ 79. 
 
 Thames river, 33. 
 
 Thom, Rev. George, 168-170. 
 
 Thompson, John, 61, 62. 
 
 "Thunderer," The (see 
 
 "Times"). 
 Tills, William, 192, 193. 
 " Times," London, 18, 88-90, 
 
 119, 120. 
 Tinker, N. Y. pilot, 124. 
 Torbay, 92. 
 Trenton, 42. 
 Trinidad, 26. 
 " Trunk," The, 166, 167. 
 Turner boys, 24. 
 Turner, George, 25, 136, 137. 
 Turner, Mrs., 23, 194, 195. 
 Turner, Mrs. Jr., 137. 
 
 United States, 18, 19; at 
 Norfolk, 78, 85; battle 
 with Macedonian, 86-129; 
 in New York, 130, 131. 
 
 Wagoners, 116, 117. 
 Waldgrave, Captain, 56. 
 
Index. 
 
 20I 
 
 Walthamstow, 23. 
 Wanstead, 21, 22, 26, 28, 194. 
 Ward Island, 123. 
 Washington, 42. 
 Watson, George, 156. 
 Watson, sailor, 108. 
 Wells, sailor, 112. 
 Wesley, John, 194. 
 West India Docks, 26. 
 Whisky, John, 186. 
 
 Whittakcr, Thomas, 122. 
 \Vil!)raham, 188, 191, 1Q5. 
 Winehurg, 159. 
 Women in men-of-war, 01, 
 
 69, 70. 
 Woodrop Simms, 176. 178- 
 
 182. 
 Woodstock, 26, 27, 193. 
 
 Voutig Macedonian, 84. 
 
 THE END. 
 
BY EDGAR STANTON MACLAY 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY, 
 
 From the earliest times to 1902 in three 8vo vols, with a total of 
 1832 pages and 170 maps, diagrams and illustrations. Index. 
 Third edition published in 1902. $3 a volume. 
 
 This monumental work, from the time it was first published, 
 1894, has been pronounced by the leading literary critics of | 
 America, Europe and Japan as THE STANDARD. ' 
 
 Extract from chapter on "Battle in Mobile Bay," vol. II, pp. 425- 
 426: "The view of the battle obtained from the tops of the National 
 vessels was one of appalling grandeur. To windward the fleet and 
 harbor were spread out in a beautiful panorama, the crews being dis- 
 tinctly seen firing and reloading their guns, while officers stood at the 
 back of their men to see that there was no flinching, and others ran to 
 and fro shouting orders in their endeavors to prevent a collision. To 
 leeward dense volumes of smoke, illuminated by the rapid flashes of 
 guns, partly obstructed the vision, but in the occasional rifts a tall 
 mast with men in the rigging and with Old Glory still flying in the 
 breeze would be revealed. Above all rose the dreadful roar of the 
 tremendous cannonading, whose sharp impact upon the ear, giving the 
 peculiar sound of shotted guns, seemed to come from all quarters with 
 deafening rapidity, while the ships and their masts quivered like aspens 
 from the recoil of their murderous broadsides. 
 
 " A glance below on the deck of the Hartford revealed the men in 
 their diff^erent capacities, some loading and aiming the guns, some 
 bringing up ammunition and others carrying down the wounded ; but 
 all stimulated to their utmost exertions by the ever-vigilant officers. 
 Most of the men were stripped to the waist, many of them smeared 
 with the blood of shipmates whom they had carried below. Others, 
 although wounded, refused to go below and remained on deck fighting. 
 
 " What a pandemonium ! What a hell upon earth ! Shot, shell, grape, 
 shrapnel and canister. How they shriek ! How the men fight ! drag- 
 ging dead or wounded shipmates away so as not to encumber the guns. 
 Bloody and blackened with burned powder, the perspiration running 
 down their bodies revealing streaks of white skin, causes them to look 
 like fiends. The sight of their fallen shipmates arouses the brutish 
 thirst for vengeance and they load and fire with muttered imprecations 
 on the enemy. Their ofilicers walk among them with ' Steady, boys ! ', 
 ' Take your time ! ', 'Be sure of your aim ! ', * Let each shot tell ! ' 
 
 " In the midst of all this uproar stand Drayton and his executive 
 officer, Kimberly, the latter smiling and twirling his goatee ; both as 
 cool as if ' 'twa a daily drill.' It was in reference to the heroism of 
 the crew that Brownell wrote : 
 
 "'But ah, the pluck of the crew! 
 "'Had you stood on that deck of ours 
 " ' You had seen isuhat men may do.' " 
 
 202 
 
i 
 
 BY EDiiJR sr./.\I(j.\ M.li.l 1) 
 
 A HISTORY OF AMERICAN PRIVATKKRS, 
 
 Unif(^nii with and furniiiiii vol. IV of Maolay's History of the l'. 
 S. Xavy. 8v(>. ^^i) paiL^cs. 37 specially prf|>ari-(| maps, diaKrnin^ ami 
 
 illustrations, ijuk-x. puhlishod iR<>S — $3. 
 
 It stands alone as a romarkable story of American daring, enter- 
 prise and consummate pluck and nautical skill. 
 
 I'xtract froni ciiaptir on " .\n l",scap'' l-'roni .Mill I'risoji " ( I^^^•? ""''' . 
 pp. 160-161 : "On lo.ipinij over the lu'dj^c ho [Lieut. Joshua I' 
 U. S. N.] found hiiufelf in the supcrh private ^roiuids of Lorcl Kd^c- 
 combe. Wandering about in search of the servants' house, he wa'^ dis 
 covered by the gartkner, who was nnich incensed by the intrusion. 
 Barney pacified him by explainint:: that he had injured his U-k an<I wan 
 seeking the shortest way to Plymouth. Giving the gardener a tip, 
 Barney was conducted to a private gate opening on the river and hail- 
 ing a butcher who was going by in a small wherry with two v!irrn 
 to market, our adventurer got aboard. By this means Harney a 
 the necessity of crossing the river by the public ferry, and also that of 
 pas'^ing by ^lill Prison and a chance of meeting the guard. 
 
 ■■ Immediately on receiving the report of the privateer's commander. 
 Admiral Digby caused an inquiry to be made in all the prisons ami 
 places of confinement in or near Plymouth, and at the tune liarncy 
 was sliding down the rope over the privateer's stern to get into a lx>at. 
 his escape from Mill Prison was discovered; and at the inoinetit he 
 passed through Lord Edgecombe's private gate to the riverside, the 
 tramp of the soldiers — all of whom were familiar with Barney— was 
 heard, passing the very hedge he had just vaulted over, on tlu-ir way 
 to take him back to prison. 
 
 ' That night Barney gained the house of the venerable clergyman 
 that he had left only the morning before. The same eveningC" ' 
 Richardson and Dr.' Hindman arrived at this house also, haviuK ■^-■^ 
 released from the privateer after the guard from Mill Prison liad in- 
 spected them. While these futigives were seated at supper, laujjhing 
 and joking over their hapless adventures, the bell of the town orirr 
 was heard under the windows and the reward of five guineas for the 
 apprehension of 'Joshua Barney, a rebel deserter from Mill Prison.' 
 [was proclaimed. For a moment ," etc. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF THE OLD NAVY, 
 
 From the journals and private papers of Captain lulward Trench- 
 ard. U. S. N.. and Rear-.\dmiral Stephen Decatur Trcnchard. U. 
 S. N.. 8vo. 372 pages, index. $2.50. 
 
 It gives fascinating " inside " glimpses of our navy from 1800 to 
 1883. 
 Extract from chapter "On The West Coast of Africa." pp. iJ^-20: 
 'The musician^ of the high seas in those days [1820! dul not occupy 
 
 T4 ^^ 
 
 1 
 
BY EDGAR STANTON MACLAY 
 
 the important position they hold in firstclass cruisers to-day, and the 
 few lone and lorn manipulators of wood and brass in the Cyanc, in all 
 probability, would have made a poor showing in the highly cultivated 
 musical ear of the modern Jack Tar. In fact, musicians at that time 
 were regarded with condescending contempt by the hardy sailors as 
 being, perhaps, good enough to tickle the ear with their tingling notes 
 or to twitch a few muscles of the limbs into a jigging mood in fair 
 weather ; but when it came to real work, and an enemy was to be 
 fought, they were fit only to be stowed away in a cable tier. But how- 
 ever that may be, the Jack Tar of that day had not the high musical 
 mind of his descendants of to-day and he undoubtedly tolerated the 
 tingling brass and the wheezy wood with his usual, good-natured in- ' 
 difference. 
 
 " The natives on the coast, however, were immensely impressed with i 
 the Cyane's band. To hear it was one of the events on the Westt 
 African coast; and its fame extended even to the islands of the seas> 
 as the following incident will show: On May 19/1820, the Cyane put 
 into Port Praya. after a cruise in search of slavers. The fame off 
 her band had preceded her for scarcely had she dropped anchor when a i 
 messenger came aboard with the announcement that ' His Excellency, . 
 the Governor-General, solicits the pleasure of Captain Trenchard'sj 
 company, with that of all the officers of the Cyane, to tea this evenings 
 and would be highly gratified with having a few tunes from Captaini 
 Trenchard's band, which he solicits m.ay be permitted to come on shores 
 with their musical instruments, as the evening will be rendered delight 
 ful and pleasant by a full moon.' This enchanting invitation to 'tea*'' 
 and a 'full moon' was sent through, one Hodges, an English-speaking' 
 person on the island — and the above is as near a literal interpretation 
 as can be given. 
 
 " Captain Trenchard complied with the request and attended the Gov- 
 ernor. After a decent amount of time had been allowed the American 
 officers for the contemplation of the tea and the full moon, the natives 
 were treated to, what to them were, the awe-inspiring sounds from the 
 Cyane's band. With forethought bred by experience, the band-master 
 labelled in advance the tunes that he was about to' render so that the 
 audience would have no difficulty in knowing what melody they were 
 'feasting' upon. So impressed were the natives by this revelation of 
 sound that the Governor, on the following Sunday, when the moon had 
 again recovered her position in the heaven after her fullness, invited 
 Captain Trenchard and Lieutenant Mervine ' and any of the officers 
 that can be spared from the ship ' to dinner — and, of course the band 
 had to be exhibited again." 
 
 NAVY BLUE COMPANY 
 Greenlawn, N. Y. 
 
 204 
 
nr Eiui.i R SI .1 \ I ()\ M ,/(,/ J ) 
 
 ADVENTURES OF REAR ADMIRAL 
 I'Voiii the (liiiry .iikI i)rivatr neon 
 said: " Don't oIk-ct, men. 
 poor (li'vils nil- dy- 
 iJin.". jSS i)aij;i-s, 
 
 I'HIMP, U. S. N., 
 
 s of ilu- Inic- Kf.ir Admiral who 
 
 those 
 in.U I " 
 
 l.xlrael 
 Annapolis." 
 instruetors 
 
 from eliapter " At 
 p. 5S: • One of the 
 at Annapolis durin;^ 
 jaek's novitiate was a .ureatly be- 
 loved man whose only fanll — so 
 the middies declared — was that 
 of stannnering when unusnally 
 exicited or nervous. One beau- 
 tiful spring morning, when the 
 middies were drilling in in- 
 fantry tacties under the care of 
 this ofHcer. the youngsters were 
 marching toward the seawall and 
 were within a few feet of it. 
 when their commander en- 
 deavored to give the order 
 
 " The middies heard the hiss- 
 ing and spluttering noises be- 
 hind them and knew perfectly 
 well what the instructor was try- 
 ing to say bnt, in that spirit of 
 mischief so natural with boys, 
 they marched right over the sea- 
 wall and had waded into a con- 
 siderable depth of water before 
 the instructor finally gave vent 
 to the word ' Halt! '" 
 
 MIDSIIII'MAN rillLII'. 
 
 I MOSES BROWN, CAPTAIN, U. S. N., 
 
 Captain Rrown rendered conspicuous, though forgotten, service on 
 the ocean in the Revolution and the war against France ij mo, 
 10 illustrations, index. 220 pages, $1.50. 
 
 Extract from the chapter "A Prisoner of War." pp. Q3-Q5 : '" Three 
 days after her capture of the George, the career of the privateer ((»".-»i- 
 eral Ariiold] was cut short, she being captured (June i, 1770) by the 
 50-gun ship Exf^crimcnt, Captain Sir James Wallace. It is relate<i that 
 when Captain Brown gained the deck of the Hxpcrimcnt. Sir James 
 asked him if he was th<' 'Captain of that rebel ship.* Brown replied: 
 
 205 
 
BY EDGAR STANTON MACLAY 
 
 'I was very lately; you are now/ and offered to surrender his sword. 
 Captain Wallace refused to receive it, saying : ' I never take a sword 
 from a brave man.' 
 
 " Sir James continued to extend every courtesy to his prisoner, treat- 
 ing him more as a guest. Taking Captain Brown into his private cabin, 
 
 where he met other officers of 
 the ship, a general 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 skipper to 
 accept but he swallowed his wine 
 without remark. Sir James now 
 called on Brown for a return 
 toast — thinking, from Brown's 
 silence that he had acquiesced in 
 the sentiment 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 warship, Captain Brown 
 gave as a toast : ' His Ex- 
 cellency, General George Wash- 
 ington, the Commander-in-chief 
 of the American forces.' 
 
 " 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 m}^ own ship by proposing the name 
 of that arch rebel?' 'No,' replied Captain Brown. 'If there was 
 any insult it was 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 al- 
 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 honor- 
 able man he was, he suppressed his anger and drank to that ' arch 
 rebel ' Washington." 
 
 MOSES BROWN. 
 
 NAVY BLUE COMPANY 
 
 Greenlawn, N. Y. 
 
 206 
 
nr EDc;./ /< sr./ \ rox m .n. i .n 
 
 JOURNAL OF WILLIAM MACLAY, Edited by Edgar Stanton BfacUy, 
 
 William Maclay, with Robert Morris, rtpri->cMlc«l Pennsylvania in 
 tlu' tirst United States Senate, 17S9-1791. 8vo, 452 pa^cs, in<Icx, 
 
 Maclay's successful fight against the introduction of monarchial 
 forms in the "new" Government won for him the title of 
 "Father of the Democratic party." A "canopied throne" and 
 the title of " His Elective Majesty " for the President would 
 have been given had it not been for the sturdy opposition made 
 by Senator Maclay. His journal is the only connected record of 
 the first United States Senate. 
 Extract from pp. 7374: "Dined this day (June 11. xy^)] with Mr. 
 
 Morris [Senator from Pennsylvania]. Mr. I'itzsinmions and Mr. 
 
 Chniier [Representatives from Pennsylvania] all the company, except 
 
 Mrs. Morris. Mrs. Morris talked a great deal :ifi<r 'liiii!' r S'"- d"! 
 
 it gracefully enough, this being 
 
 a gayer pb.cc and she being here 
 
 considered as at least the second 
 
 female character at court. As 
 
 to taste, etiquette etc., she is 
 
 certainly tirst. I thought she 
 
 discovered a predeliction for 
 
 New York but perhaps she was 
 
 only doing it justice, while my 
 
 extreme aversion, like a jealous 
 
 sentinel, is for giving no quarter. 
 
 I. however, happened to mention 
 
 that they were ill supplied witl. 
 
 the article of cream. Mrs. 
 
 Morris had much to say on this 
 
 subject; declared they had done 
 
 all they could and even sent to 
 
 the country all about, but that 
 
 they could not be supplied. She 
 
 told many anecdotes on this sub- 
 ject; particularly how. two days 
 
 ago. she dined' at the Presi- 
 dent's. A large, fine-looking 
 
 trille was brought to table and 
 
 appeared exceedingly well in- 
 deed. She was helped by the 
 
 President but on taking some 
 
 of it, she had to pass her handkerchief 10 her moutli and nd herself of 
 
 the morsel ; on which she whispered the President. The cream of which 
 
 it is made had been unusually stale and rancid ; on which the General 
 
 changed his plate immediately. * But," she added with a titter. * \\r< 
 
 Wasiiington ate a whole heap of it.''* 
 
 2<")7 
 
 WU.LLX.M .M.\CI..\Y. 
 
BY EDGAR STANTON MACLAY. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA STATE 
 
 MONUMENT TO 
 
 SAMUEL MACLAY. 
 
 DIARY OF SAMUEL MACLAY, Edited 
 by Edgar Stanton Maclay, 
 
 Being an account of the first official 
 survey of the West Branch of the 
 Susquehanna, the Sinnemahoning 
 and Allegheny rivers in 1790. 8vo, 
 63 pages. $2. 
 
 Samuel Maclay, a brother of 
 U. S. Senator William Maclay, 
 was United States Senator from 
 Pennsyvania from 1803 to 1809. 
 He was a Congressman from 
 Pennsylvania i795-'96, Speaker 
 of the Pennsylvania State Sen- 
 ate 1801-1803 and presided at 
 the impeachment trial of Judge 
 Addison. On Oct. 16, 1908, the 
 State of Pennsylvania dedicated 
 a monument to his memory at 
 Lewisburg, Pa. 
 
 When selecting holiday or birthday gifts, remember the standard 
 works on the Navy ! By interesting landfolk in the deeds of our sailors 
 and warships, you render the Navy a distinct service. 
 
 NAVY BLUE COMPANY 
 Greenlawn, N. Y. 
 
 20s 
 
BY KDCriR sr./\'I'()\ M./c/./y 
 
 MACLAYS OF LURGAN, 
 
 A coniplclc rcci'id of the clcsccndaiiis nf (harlrs and John Maclay, 
 who cniiijjrated from Belfast, Ireland, in I7.V} and settled in I*, im 
 sylvania. -4to, 80 pages, $5. 
 
 This work has been pronounced a model of genealogical rencarch 
 and presentation. It should be in every public library and 
 historical collection. For more than a century descendants of 
 John and Charles Maclay have been prominent in the history 
 of Pennsylvania and other states. 
 
 Extract from p. 14: "I |l'. S. Senator William .Maclay] received 
 a ticket from the President of the United States | Washington), to use 
 his box this evening [May 11. 1789] at the theater, hein^j the first of 
 his appearance at the play-house since his enterinj; on his otVice. Went. 
 The President. Governor of the State, ln)reiji;n Ministers. Senators 
 from Xew Hampshire. Connecticut. Pcmisylvania. Maryland and South 
 Carolina, and some ladies in the same box. I am old and notices or 
 attemions are lost on me. I could have wished some of my dear 
 ciiildren in my place. They are young and would have enjoyed it. 
 Long might one of them live to boast of their having been seated in 
 the same box with the first character in the world. The play was 
 ' The Scliool for Scandal.' I never liked it. Indeed. I think it an in- 
 decent representation before ladies of character and virtue, l-arce, 
 * The Old Soldier.' The house was greatly crowded and I thought the 
 players acted well: but I wish we had seen the 'Conscious Lovers' or 
 some one that inculcated more prudential manners." 
 
 A YOUTHFUL MAN-O'-WARSMAN. 
 
 This is the only connected narrative of ;in enlisted .\merican 
 sailor who served all through the War of iXij, umo. _'oi pages, 
 16 illustrations, index, $1.50. 
 
 Send some of the standard books on our Navy, v.ith ynur compli- 
 ments, to the school or public library of your native town. Educate the 
 
 public as to what our Xavy has done! 
 
 XA\'Y BLUE COMPANY 
 Greexlawn, N. Y. 
 
 209 
 
THE STORY OF A HISTORY. 
 
 We have often been asked : " How came Edgar Stanton Maclay, 
 a landman, to write so authoritatively on the navy ? '' The question 
 is natural and in spite of Mr. Maclay's protest against having " my 
 obituary published before I am dead," we will answer it as well as 
 we can. 
 
 Although a landman, Mr. Ma- 
 clay has traveled more exten- 
 sively on the ocean than many 
 professional sailors besides being 
 an expert in aquatic arts. His 
 father, the late Rev. Robert 
 Samuel Maclay. D. D., was sent : 
 out from the Baltimore Confer- 
 ence of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in 1847 as one of the first 
 missionaries of that denomina- 
 tion to China. The historian's 
 mother was Henrietta Caroline 
 Sperry, of Bristol, Connecticut. 
 
 Edgar Stanton Maclay, the 
 youngest of eight children, was 
 l)orn in Foochow, China, April 
 18, 1863. When five years old he 
 came to America with his mother 
 where he remained fi^ve years 
 and in 1873 went with the family 
 to Yokohama, Japan, remaining 
 there until 1880. It was there 
 that our historian received his 
 lirst inspiration for writing his 
 History of the United States 
 Navy. His only playmates, dur- 
 ing the seven years he lived in 
 the Island Empire, were English, 
 French and German boys ; and 
 many were the wordy battles 
 waged between them over the 
 relative merits of their respective countries. Yokohama, at that time, 
 was one of the principal stations for men-of-war of nations maintain- 
 ing a naval force in the Orient. Being an expert boatman, young 
 Maclay spent many of his leisure hours in his boat on the broad waters 
 of Yokohama Bay, visiting and inspecting American, European and 
 Japanese warships. 
 
 Naturally the presence of these belligerent craft provoked discussions 
 between young Maclay and his European playmates. Maclay, while 
 sturdily upholding the American end of these " verbal actions," often 
 found himself at great disadvantage because there was no history of the 
 
 210 
 
 REV. R. S. MACLAY, D. D. 
 
THE s j'OR y or .1 Ills ion > 
 
 I'liitt'd Stall's \a\v. at that tinu-. from vvhifh to rc|>Irnish hi* «.f'M*W of 
 \V(ir(l>' ainimimtion, while his aiilai^oiiists (particularly thr i > 
 
 tiri'd broadsides ^^\ naval history 
 at him from luiropean historical 
 arsenals. Possibly the most 
 x'ffoctive discharges came from 
 jamev' History of the hritish 
 Xa\\, writlen l)y one \vhi» was 
 especially bitter toward Aimri 
 cans. Young Maclay keenly fell 
 his disad\;;ntage and he deter- 
 jiiined that his first mission on 
 getting out of college ( for 
 which his mother all this time 
 had been, personally, preparing 
 him ) would be to write a his- 
 tory of tile United States Navy 
 
 In i8<So >oung Maclay came to 
 the L'nited States and in the fol- 
 lowing year entered the classical 
 course in Syracuse Universitx. 
 X. v., being graduated in 1SS5 
 with the degree of A. W. Com- 
 pleting his ct)urse two months 
 ahead of his class, Maclay went 
 to Europe to gather original 
 material for his naval history. 
 Being sui)plicd only with modest 
 funds by an elder brother. Ma- 
 clay took steerage passage, which 
 he always declared was a most 
 valuable experience as it placed 
 him on terms of intimacy with 
 the sailors and gave him a practical insight into modern seamanship 
 which has manifested itself so remarkably in all his nautical wnlmiis. 
 In his persistency in getting original material. Maclay cro>v-td the 
 Atlantic four times, three of the voyages being in the steerag' 
 
 He spent more than a year in England, {''ranee. Holland and '": 
 many and was fortunate in unearthing much vrduable M«ti' i' :> 
 
 on American maritime history. In the I-Vench Marine •• I 
 
 archives and in tlie Biblii'thcquc Witimialc in Paris he «'; >-• 
 
 original official reports of the Erench commanders concerned in our 
 war against Erance, 1708-1800. wh.ich threw a nood of linht on what, 
 down to that time, had been an almost unknow^i chapter in our nation.ii 
 histor}-. In the British Museum Library and in the Ailmiralty OlVicc 
 in London, where he spent more than six months. Maclay unearthed 
 many new facts bearing on his theme. Me expresses most satisfaction. 
 
 211 
 
 El)t;\k ST.XNIUN .\{ACI..\V. 
 
THE STORY OF A HISTORY 
 
 however, over the documents he secured from Sir Provo WaUis in 
 1886, then the venerable senior admiral of the royal navy, who served 
 as first lieutenant in the English frigate Shannon which captured the 
 American frigate Chesapeake, June i, 1813, off Boston harbor. It was 
 this meeting with Sir Provo that Maclay regarded as " spanning a 
 century in historical research." Sir Provo died on February 13, 1892, 
 at the age of a little more than one hundred years. 
 
 From Sir Provo, Mr. Maclay obtained proof that settled the thereto- 
 fore mooted question as to whether or not Captain James Lawrence 
 gave expression to the words " Don't give up the ship " — Sir Provo 
 saying to Mr. Maclay " We heard that when they were carrying Cap- 
 tain Lawrence below, mortally wounded, he uttered the words ' Don't 
 give up the ship.' " 
 
 Mr. Maclay also obtained from Sir Provo documents showing that 
 Captain Broke's official report of the Chesapeake-Shannon action was 
 an absolute forger}^ — Broke commanding the latter ship on that occa- 
 sion. This point was of value in view of the charge that many of the 
 official reports of British commanders in the naval war of 1812, as 
 given to the public, were garbled and misleading. This charge became 
 more serious when, in response to Maclay's request to see the original 
 papers, the Admiralty wrote to him : " their Lordships express to you 
 their regrets at not being able to comply with this request, as the regu- 
 lations in force preclude all public inspection of admiralty records after 
 the year 1800." 
 
 Returning to America in July, 1886, Maclay in two years completed 
 his History of the Navy, then in two volumes, 1775-1866. For four 
 years after that the manuscript went the rounds of nearly every leading 
 publishing house in New York City. Not one would accept it. Some 
 said " We do not see that the market calls for a history of the navy " 
 and yet, at that time no complete narrative of our navy's career was in 
 existence — Coopers work, which came down only to the Mexican war, 
 long since having been out of print. " The fact of the matter," said 
 Maclay, " was that it was rather too presumptuous for an unknown 
 author, scarce twenty-six years old, to undertake such a pretentious 
 work — and the publishers, very properly looking at it from a strictly 
 business viewpoint, may have been right. Anyway, the manuscript 
 was knocked about in an old satchel for six years, and more than once 
 I was tempted to burn it up." 
 
 Determined to emerge from the class of " unknowns," Maclay applied 
 himself diligently to other historical works. He wrote a History of 
 the Maclays of Lurgan (published 1888) which has been pronounced 
 a model of genealogical record. He traced his clan back to the Battle 
 of Bealach nam Broig, 1272, in the Scottish Highlands, and gave a 
 complete account of each of the several hundred descendants of Charles 
 and John Maclay who came to America from Ireland in 1734. The 
 
 212 
 
iiiE s'ro R r or ./ // 1 s i <} r y 
 
 voiinn liistcirian iluii pulilislud (iS<)()) thr Jniirnal of Willinni M:i' ' 
 ( r. S. SmatiM fnin I'l nnsylvaiiia. I7S«)-I7<)I) which pr«»vci| to l»c 
 i)\ tlu' inn-^t important aiMilions to Aiiu'ricati history in tn • • 
 as it i;a\c ihc onl\ i-oiuu-ctrd narrative <if the doiiiK'' "f tl'- i" ■ 
 Congress in Uio lirst two yrars of its cxistoncc. 
 
 Two articles writtru liy Marlay and piihlished in the Century M.'iKa- 
 zine in the fall of i.S()o attracted fnrther attention to the yoiniK his- 
 torian and it was then that several of tin- publivlu-rs who liad f' ' ! 
 his manuscript on the history of the navy, re dpeiied negotiation- ,,.;.» 
 him. otYerinii fifty per cent moir than the regular royalties. These 
 offers were declined and in iS<)3 the lonj^-discarded History of the 
 Xavy was accepted hy 1 >. AppUttm X- Company and was puhhsiu'<I in 
 the followinc!: year in two volumes. It hecame an iniiMe«liatc siiccf s 
 A secontl edition was hrou.uht out in iS<>S and ni the same year ip 
 peared Maclay's Reminiscences of the Old Nav>, puhlishcd hy (J. P. 
 Putnam's Sons, in ih.e following; year I). Appleton & Company pul>- 
 lislied Maclay's History of American Privateers, uniform witli his 
 History of the Navy. 
 In 1901 appeared 
 the third edition of 
 Maclay's naval history 
 with the addition of 
 \'ol. Ill covering the 
 Spanish-A m e r i c a n 
 War and in 190J a 
 second edition of Vol. 
 HI was issued. In 
 1903 Maclay published 
 his " Life and Ad- 
 ventures of Jack 
 Philip. Rear-Admiral. 
 C. S. N.," and in 
 t h e following year 
 ■■ Moses Brown, Cap- 
 tain, U. S. N." 
 
 Not the least im- 
 portant of Mr. Ma- 
 clay's achievements, 
 is his recent dis- 
 covery of several sea 
 tights in the Revolu- 
 tion which had es- 
 caped, for more than 
 a centurv. all official 
 
 or t\)rma"l historical record. Through the courtesy of Prof. Alexander 
 Anderson of the University of Edinhurgh, Scotland, and of Dr. Hew 
 
 213 
 
 or.I) IIKM) LICIITMOUSE. WUKKK .MK. 
 MAC LAV WKOTK MTCll OF HIS HISTORY 
 
THE STORY OF A HISTORY 
 
 Morrison of the Edinburgh library archives, Mr. Maclay discovered 
 documents showing that hitherto unrecorded American armed craft 
 
 had, within two weeks, in March, 
 1/79, attacked four of the 
 enemy's vessels in the Irish Sea. 
 In was in 1895 that Mr. Ma- 
 clay resigned from the editorial 
 staff of the New York Tribune 
 and retired into a lonely light- 
 house on the shores of Long 
 Island Sound (as lighthouse 
 keeper) in order to concentrate 
 his literary energy on his fa- 
 vorite theme. Here, surrounded 
 by his family, he remained five 
 years. In September, 1900, he 
 secured a transfer to a clerkship 
 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 
 order to study more intimately 
 the men and ships of the navy. 
 
 On December 23, 1893, ^Ir. 
 Maclay married and has four 
 sons, each of whom, he declares, 
 will serve in the navy. '* As the 
 personnel of the navy is now con- 
 stituted," he said, " with the 
 chance of enlisted men for pro- 
 motion to the commissioned 
 rank, I cannot think of any pro- 
 fession or mercantile pursuit 
 that offers a more attractive 
 future to the average American 
 youth of refinement, education 
 and good family. Even if the young man does not make it his life 
 work, a four years' enlistment in our navy is a most ualnablc supple- 
 mental education for the high school or college graduate." 
 
 THE PUBLISHERS. 
 Greenlawn, N. Y., August, 1910. 
 
 MR. MACLAY'S FOUR SONS, WHO 
 
 ARE " PREPARING " FOR 
 
 THE NAVY. 
 
 y 
 
 NAVY BLUE COMPANY 
 
 Greenlawn, N. Y. 
 
 RD-94 
 
 214 
 

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