Chapter 9

checkerboard bannerBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHThe following Biographical sketch; with a few of the incidents of my life, are committed to paper, for the gratification, and amusement of my beloved Grand-children. Considering the advanced age of the writer, on the brink of 75, it must be expected, there will be imperfections, of various kinds—the old mans trembling hand is conspicuous at first sight—but even that, may interest, when the reader reflect, that the hand which pen’d these lines, is now mouldering in Dust.Inthe year 1802, I was in Yarmouth, a sea port, in the East of England; and by one of those casual events of life, was favoured with an interview with an aged Gentleman, a Port admiral, by the name of Isaac Cobb—lea[r]ning, that I was an American, and my name Cobb, he expressed a desire to know the names of my ancestors, as far back as I could recolect; I could only give him, to my great Gr.Father Jonathan Cobb—he then told me, that it was clear to him, that my ancestor originated from Harwich in England, that he had been at the seat, where he was born, many times,—thatSilvanus Cobb, had 4 sons. viz Jonathan, Eleazer, Silvanus, & Benjamin, that the two first named embarked for America in the May Flower[1]that Silvanus followed them some 2 or 3 years after; & that Benjamin remained with his Father untill he died, & then followed his Brothers to America.He then produced a very lengthy Biography of several generations, & read many particulars of the Cobb families, and among them—that Jonathan, son of Silvanus, setled upon Cape Cod—Eleazer, somewhat further westward—& Silvanus, some distance north of Boston—and that I was, no doubt, a decendant from Jonathan.The old gentlemen ordered his secretary, to make a copy, of such parts of the biography, as related to my ancestry, but circomstances obliged me leave, before I received it.So much for Admiral Cobb.AncestryI remember, perfectly well, when I had five Grand Parents alive, 4 on my Fathers side, & one, on my Mothers—viz. my Great G’d Father & g’d Mother Cobb—my Grand Father & g’d Mother Cobb, & my G’d Mother Freeman, my Mothers Mother, I cannot trace my ancestry beyond myGreat g’d Father Cobb—there were three, of his family, which I perfecty remember—viz. Jonathan, Eleazer, & Benjamin—the female part, I have no knowledge of—my G’d Fathers family consisted of 10 children, 6 sons, & 4 daughters, viz Elijah, Scottow, Isaac, John, Seth, Elkanah, Mary, Sally, Hannah, Betsey—my Grandmother Freemans name was Mary, she was Sister to Revd.Nathl.Stone the first ordained Minister in this Town, then Harwich—she married Barnabus Freeman, of eastham, he was a sea Captain, & died at about 40 years of age—my mother, was their only child, & was only 12 years old when her Father died—at 17 she marreid my Father, Scottow Cobb, their family consisted of 6 children, viz. Huldah, Barna, Elijah, Reliance, Judith, & Sally—three, have already paid the debt of nature; & the united ages of the three alive, is 224 years.My Father persued a seafaring life for subsistance; was Master of a Brig, & died on his passage from Cadiz to Quebec, in the 33dyear of his age—leaving my Mother with 6 infant children, the oldest but 10 years of age, and the youngest, born after Father left home, the last time,—For the support of this helpless flock; was a small cape cod farm, a small house & barn, and one cow—I haveheard my Mother say, that she never received 100$ for my Fathers effects—Under such circomstances; it was not posible to keep the family together—to support & educate them, with the means in her power, was out of the question—some of us, must leave the perternal dwelling & seek subsistance among strangers—my Bror., being the Elder, was tried first, but wou’d not stay, & came home crying—I was then, in my 6thyear, & altho” too young to earn my living, a place was offered me, & I left my dear mother for that subsistance among strangers which she could not procure for me.I continued from my Mother, except at times visiting her, untill in my 13th.year, when by an imprudent attempt, to lift beyond my strength, I broke a vessell in my stomack, which entirely disenabled me; and I was sent home to my Mother, incapable of labour of any kind.I remained with her; under the care of a skilfull Docter, about a year, when he advised me, to be sent to sea, as the best method to regain my health.Seeks a VoyageAccordingly, in the fall of 1783, I was fitted out for Boston, to look for a voyage—My whole wardrobe, was packed in a gin case, for a trunk; a tow bedsack, filled with rye straw, & a pair of,home-made, blankets, for sleeping appuratis, with two bushels of corn, to pay my passage to Boston—and acquipted thus, I left the family circle, with buoyant sperits and in full confidence that I should work myself thro” life, with honour & credit—I embarked, at Skaket, in a small Schooner of only 25 Tons, called theCreture; & after going into Provinctown, & laying there during a gale of wind, we reached Boston, in about three days.At the time, I am speaking of, there were more men, than could readily find employ, & frequently, the best of seamen, were distitute of voyages—several of our neighbouring young men, had been to Boston, that fall, previous to my leaving home, & had returned without giting employ, they told my Mother, that I would only spend the two bushels of corn, & return to her without giting a voyage—but their predictions were set at naught; for the first time I went down the long wharf, & stood gazeing at a new vessell, wondering, & admiring her monstrous size, her great cables & anchors &c—a gentleman stept from her deck & thus accosted me! My lad, do you want a voyage—. Yes Sir—will you go with me in this vessell—where are you bound Sir—to Siranam—I am told Sir, that all flesh die, that go there—well my boy, to prove, that you have not been toldthe truth, I have been there 13 voyages, & you see I’m alive yet—well Sir, I should like to go, what wages will you allow me—do you know how to cook—not much Sir, but I can soon learn—well my boy, if you think so, I presume you will, I like your candour & will take you, & give you the customary wages of a boy; half of Seamens wages $3.50 prmonth, but you must go immediately on board, & git dinner for the men at work—& thus I commenced my duty as cook & cabin Boy.When the men broke off work, at night, they all went away; the Capt.then asked me, where my bed & cloaths were—I told him, on board the creture, in town dock—well, you must go & git them, & I’ll keep ship untill you return, you must sleep on board to night—who else will sleep on board—nobody, there is no one belongs to the vessell, except you & myself—not liking the idea of sleeping on board alone, I took the liberty of asking him, where his mate was—he said, he had not got one yet—I told him, Igessed, I knew a good man, that would like to go—who is he—I said, My Uncle, who came up, in the creture to look for a voyage—has he ever been mate—Yes Sir, & prise mastre too, in the war—well, you go after your things, & if you see your Uncle, ask him to come down & see me, in the morning when I got onboard the creture, my Uncle was there, and by way of a reprimand, asked, where I had been all day—why Uncle, said I, I have shipped myself, & I beleive I have got a voyage for you also.Voyage to SurinamTo make a short story, my Uncle went down in the morning, & shipped & went the voyage.—I then wrote to my Mother, that I had got a voyage for myself & Uncle, & if those young men would come to Boston before I sailed, I would ship them off, rather than have them stay at home Idle, & upon expense all winter.The vessell was soon loaded, & we went to sea—my inexperienc, & being very sea-sick, for a while, rendered my situation very unpleasant, but I soon surmounted those deficulties; & began to injoy my new mode of life; after the opperation of David Jones’s medecine (sea-sickness) I felt my health improved, & by the time we arrived in Surinam, I felt quite well, and I found I was able to give pritty good satisfaction in my line of duty.My perticular attention to the officers, procured me some presents, by wh I was enabled to purchase a Barrel of molasses, & some fruit, for an adventure back to Boston.Nothing meterial took place, during the remainder of the voyage, worth noting; we returned to Boston in the spring of 1784, discharged ourcargo, mollases, was paid our wages & seperated, each to home. My wages amouted to 21$, & by the sale of my bbl of Molases, & some my fruit, I was enabled to git myself a new suit of sailors cloaths, from the Slopshop, & carried home, & put into my Mothers hands, 20 silver Dollars—probably, the largest sum of money she had possesd.since she had been a widow—& that, from her poor little sick Boy—her tears flowed freely, upon the occasion, but they were tears of gratitude to our heavenly Father, for his mercies to her child, in permitting his return home, in the injoyment of so much better health, than he left it—my own feelings, upon the occasion, can be better imagined than discribed.I tarried at home but a short time, before I returned to Boston, in persuit of employ; & spent the summer, with a Capt.Lombard, in the coasting business. In the fall I shipped, as a common sailor, & made several voyages to the W. Idies—returning from a voyage, in Decr.1786, I was informed that my Brother, had fallen from mast-head, in the Delaware Bay, had Broken both his legs, one thigh, & put out of joint, one shoulder—and was then, in the Pensalvinia hospital, with one leg amputated.The Season was then so far advanced, that thenavigation, was about closing with Ice, consequently, I was compelled to relinquish my visit, to my unfortunate Brother, untill the spring opened the navigation.Prehaps you will ask! why, G’d Father did not go on by land—but, my dear G. children, the mode of traveling then, was quite different from now, we had no railroads, no, steam conveyance, and scarcly, a carriage—even the mail, was carried upon horses—a stage coach was not known—Brotherly LoveI consequently, engaged a birth, for the spring, with my uncle John Cobb, in the employ of BenjaCobb & Sons, of Boston, in the Philadelphia trade, went home, & attended School, about 2 months, when I was call’d upon, to go on to Boston by land to join the vessell. I accordingly started, in company with 3 others, for the same object, & walked to Boston. We there joined the vessell, loaded her, & saild for Philadelphia—on our arrival, I procured a permit, as soon as posible, & visited my poor Brother in the hospital—affectionate Brothers & Sisters, can better imagine, our feelings at meeting, than I can discribe it—suffice it to say, he was not well anough, to leave the hospital then, but t’was thought he wou’d be, by our next trip—our trips, only took up about a month, & accordingthe next time, he came on with us to Boston, & I sent him home to our Mother.I continued in the employ of B. C. & Sons, about a year, when they premoted me to the office of mate—and in that capacity I served them, under many different captains, between 6 & 7 years, untill I felt myself qualifid.to command a vessel, & seeing no disposition on their part to indulge me, I left the employ; went to Baltimore, & made two voyages to Europe, in the capacity of 1st.mate of a ship—after which, I returned to Boston; and got the command of a Brig, in the employ of Edwd.& Willm.Reynolds—Captured by the FrenchAfter making several voyages, to Virginia, & one to the West Idies; in April 1793, I went to the cape, & got married; I was then in my 25th.year—. I continued in the employ of the Messrs.Reynolds’s; principally in the virginia trade, about two years longer, when they concluded to send me, on a voyage to Europe—their object was, to cadiz; but at that time, the algerines were at war with America; & it was reported, that their crusiers were outside of the streights of Gibaralter—in consequence, it was recommended that I should clear my vessell for Curruna, a northern port in spain, and there essertain, whether it would be safe, to proceed to Cadiz—I was however, sparedthe trouble of enquirry, by falling in, with a French Frigate, who capturd, & sent me to France. x x x x & here commences my first trouble & anxiety, as a ship Master—having under my charge, a valuable vessell & cargo, inexperienced in business—carried into a foreign port, unacquainted with the language, no American consel, or merchant to advise with—and my reputation, as a ship master, depending upon the measures I persued &c &c.The time, that I arrived in France, was during the french Revolution, and in thebloodyreign of Robertspeire—all was arnachy & confusion—the galliotine, in continual opperation, & their streets & publick squars, drenched with human blood—I minuted down, 1000 persons, that I saw beheaded, by thatinfernalmachine; and probably saw, as many more, that I did not note down, men, women, preists & laymen, of all ages—and finally, before I left the country; I saw Robertspeirs head taken off, by the same Machine—But, to return to my induvidual, and embarised affairs—all my papers, relative to my ship & voyage, had been taken from me, on board the Frigate, at sea; I concluded they were put in possession of the prise Master, who brought me in, but he, was not to be found; neither could I find any clue to my papers,and without them, I could not prove, any demand for redress upon the government, for their violation of our neutrality—it was true, my vessel was there; but her cargo, Flour & Rice, was taken out, & was daily made into bread, soups, &c &c, for the half starved, populace—and without papers, I could not, even substanciate my claim to an empty ship—they meerly condecended, to send me to a Hotell, to board; & those of my ships crew, that were sent in with me, were also, provided for.In this very unpleasant perdicerment I remained about six weeks—I had, however, in that time, written to the american charge des affairs at Paris, & received an answer, but it contained nothing definite, he regreted my situation, & that of my countrymen generally, in France, & that it was owing to the disorganized state of affairs in the country; and that, I must exercise patiance, & the government wd.do what was right in time.In about six weeks, as before observed, I was called upon, at my lodgings, by an officer, of the tribunal of commerce, bringing, a copy of the judgment, of said tribunal, upon my vessel and cargo, & a linguister to explain it to me.Thus, had they tried me, & passed sentance without my hearing, or even knowing that I wason trial—but, in that way, all business was managed in France at that time.The decision of the tribunal, was, however, so favourable, that it gave a spring to my feelings, & a sensation that gave new life.A Promise to PayThey declared, my vessell & cargo, to be new-trial property; & that, as the cargo was atmydisposition, I should be paid for it, by the government, at the prices that might be fixed upon, by myself & the agent of the government, and an adequate endemnification, for my capture, detention, expenditures &c &cI was then waited upon, to the agent of marine, to sell my cargo; when it is presumed, there was not a pound, of the flour, or rice in existance—and after battleing, in words, three days in succession, we fixed the prices, as follows, viz—Flour $16.50, & Rice $5.50—this, was a good begining, being over 200 prcent on the invoice.but a long altercation now insue’d, relative to the payment—money, was out of the question, for if they had it, to pay, there was a law against bringing it away from the country—goods, also, were out of the question, as well as bills on England or America—finally, I agreed to take, government Bills of exchange, on Hamburg, payable 60 days after date, and was promised, by theAgent; that I should have my bills, in 12 or 14 days—I waited patiently a month, but no bills came; & finding that no confidence could be placed in their promises, & feeling doubtfull, as to obtaing any thing for my Cargo; I thought it advisable to send my vessell home, under charge of the mate—consequently, I ballased her, & sent her away; writing to my owners, that I was determd.to persevere, untill I obtained satisfaction.My mind being releived, from seing my vessell laying Idle, & at great expense; I came to the determination of going to head quarters, Paris—but many deficulties were to be surmounted, in order to attain this object—1st.the road was dangerous to travail; the adherents of royalty, were reduced to mere scurmaging parties, that committed their depradations under cover of the night, in solitary places, upon travellers, & the peaceble inhabitants—and as all horses were taken into requisition by the government, except those that conveyd.the national dispatches; there was no other mode of travelling; and it was conterary to law, for them to take a passengers—but my mind was fixed upon going, as the only chance of ever accomplishing my business with the French government. I therefore called upon the Minister of Marine, & got an official copy, of my demands on the government,and had them recorded (a precautionary measure) as I had lea[r]ned, that loseing a mans papers, was one of their methods of procrastination, to keep far off a settlement.After this, I procured an interpreter, & waited uponJean Con. St.Andre, a man, holding high offices under the Government, & reported to be, favourably disposed to Americans—to him I made known my situation—the treatment I had received, the praplexity I was in—& the necessity of going to Paris—& praying him, not only to grant me a pasport, but to grant a special permitt, to one of the Coureirs, to carry me there—after a long demur, with himself, & repeatedly feeling of his neck, to see how it would bear the knife; he returned a favourable reply—viz. that I must call upon him the next day, when he would make the necessary arrangments &cOn to ParisAccordingly, in two days, I was underway for Paris, in one of the national coureirs with government dispatches, the Master of which, did not speak one word of English, & myself, but a few words of French, of course, we were notverysociable—we were furnished, each with a pair of pistals, with a blunderbus, loaded, in front, our carraige, was musquet shot proof, except in front; drove, by a postilion outside with from 5, to 9horses, according to the road, which at best, was very indifferent.And thus we drove on, Jehu like, without stoping, except to exchange horses, & mail; taking occasionally, as we run, a mouthfull of bread, and washing it down, with some low prised, red Burgendy wine—as to sleep, I did not git one wink during the journey, of 684 miles. Butla maitre de les despach, would sleep, during the day, pitching about the carriage, for the roads were very rough, to my very great anoyance—but, during the night, his anxiety kepthimawake, through fear, altho” we had a guard, of, from 12 to 24, mouted horsmen each night, from sunset, to sunrise, to preceed, & follow—and as a demonstration, that the precaution was necessary, on the 2dmorning, after leaving Brewst, just before our gaurds left us, we witnessed a scene, that filled us with horrow.—the remains, of a Coreir, laying in the road, the Master, the Postilion, & 5 horses laying dead, & mangled by it, & the mail mutalated & scatered in all directions. We were informed, afterwards, that the Coureir, was without an gaurd, that the evening previous; there was an alarm in the visinity, that had called out, all their fources to supress, consequently, at the last stage, there was none to supply; & it was death by law,for national despatches to stop, therefore, the Master proceeded, without a guard, and met the fate, as discribed.The next night, at about sun-setting we came to a stage, where we expected to receive our guard, & there was none for us, however, the next stage, was only five miles, & not considered very dangerous; we therefore proceeded on, atho” not without great anxiety; & preparation of our fire arms, in case of an attact.A Word of EnglishIn the very neat village of Alan[‘c]on, in Normondy, I had the first, & only, word of English, sporken to me, during the journey, we stopped to exchange horses & mail, when theMaitre, as usual, was called to an account for having a passenger, & a foreigner too, in the Coureir; and while he was making his justification, shewing pasports &c; a man in a tattered uniform, came up to the door of the Carraige, & reaching out his hand, said in quite good english; for the love of God, my dear Sir, do permitt me to shake hands, with one, who comes from that country, where, thegreat, and beloved Washington resides—he only had time to say, ‘that he went to America with, la Fayettee, and had the honour of having served under thebest man God ever made, even the great Washington.Nothing interesting took place untill we reached Paris. It was at 4[o:]Clock, of a beautifull June morning, that the Carriage stopped before the gate of Hotel de Boston, & the bell rung, having been just 74 hours from the gates of Brest—during which time, I had not lost myself in sleep, taken nothing warm upon my stomack, nor used water, upon either hands or face—thus covered with dust, & exhausted with fateague; I was received by the Porter, conveyed to a chamber, providd.with washing apparatus, where I soon freed myself from dust, applied clean linnen, and enscons’d myself in an excellent Bed, saying to myself,soul take thine ease in sleep—but, it appeared, that sleep had departed from me, I laid untill the clock struck 10, without being able to obtain a doze, & then rose, & attended, thro” the day, to finding out a train of my business, through the American Consul &c, retired to Bed again at 9[o:]Clock, heard the Clock strike 12, and knew nothing after, untill 11[o:]Clk the next day; when awoke, feeling like myself again; although I slept very sound the next night, for 9 hours without awaking.Hope DeferredAfter essertaining where to apply, my first object of attention was, to scearch for my Accounts,sent on from Brest—the result was, they denied, at all the offices, ever having received them, or heard of such a Brig, as the Jane, nor of her comander, Capt.Cobb—well, “as I before observed, I prepared for this event, before I left Brewst; by procuring a copy of my Accounts &c &c, accordingly I laid an official set before them, and thus introducing theJane, & her commander—I was told, to call the next day, & they would let me know, when my Bills wou’d be ready. I therefore, was obliged to exercise patiance & wait; but when I called the next day, my papers were not to be found in the office—no one had put them away, no one could tell any thing about them—and finally, after a long French jabber, it was concluded, that they must have been left upon the counter, brushed off, & burned, among the lose papers.This was too much, for my already perplexed, agitated, mind. I knew of no way, but to write back to Brest, for another set—& they, probably, woud.meet the same fate, as the two preseeding ones had. I was now fully conveinced, that the whole was designed, for the purpose of procrastination & putting off pay day as long as possible—but it was a severe trial for me, in my inexperienced state. Iconsulted with our consul; & with our Minister at the court of France, but the only satisfaction was; git another set of papers, & we will guard against another loss—While seting, with writing meterials before me in my chamber, in the act of writing for another set of papers—a French gentleman, who occopied the next room, & who spoke good English, passed my door; I asked him in, & related to him my greivances—after he had thought for a few moments; he advised me, to endevour to obtain an interveiw with Roberspeire, & make known to him my greivances; assuring me that he was partial to Americans, & had no doubt, but he would give me such advice as would be servicable to me—But, I asked, will he, the leader of this nation, condesend to listen to a private induvidual, & interpose, in meely, a commercial transaction—yes, if the business is managed right, I am confident he will. But, how shall I obtain an interveiw—simply by writing him a billet yourself, in the republican stile, an American cetizen, to citizen Roberspeire, & send it by a servant of the Hotel, requesting an interview upon business.Interview with RobespierreAfter duly considering upon the subject, I wrote the following, & sent it by servant.An American citizen, captured by a French Frigate on the high seas, requests, a personal interveiw; & to lay his greivances before citizens Roberspeire.Very respectfullyE. CobbIn about an hour, I received the following note, in his own hand writing.I will grant Citizen Cobb an interveiw to morrow at 10 A M.RoberspeireThis, gave a spring to my feelings, and banished that depression which had held me in chains, for some days previous. I was puntual to the time—sent my name up, & was admitted into the presence of the great man. He pointed me to a seat without speaking; there was one man, only, in the Hall, an enterpreter, who told me that, Citizen Roberspeire whished me, to commince my relation, at the time of my capture, and to tell the whole, up to this time—I accordingly proceeded; and, thro” the interpreter, related my Capture & treatment, up to that time—upon my closing the detail; with a waive of Roberspeires hand, the interpreter left the hall, and he, R—e, began conversing with me, in very good English, questioning me, upon some perticcular points, of the former conversation; butmore perticurly, about the loss of my papers, since I arrived in Paris—finally, he told me to call at an office, in Rue St.Honorie, called the office of the 2ddepartment, &demandmy papers, I told him, that I had been there repeatedly, & that I was forbid to enter the office again, upon my telling him that, he exclaimed.Sacra coquin—go, said he, to that office, & tell cetizen F. T., that you came from R—e, and if he does not produce your papers, & finish your businessimmediately, he will hear from me again, in a way not so pleasing to him. Observing at the same time, that he regreted thathis nameshould be made use of, in a mercantile transaction, but that my case, absolutely demanded it.I tendered my greatfull thanks for his services, & left him; after receiving his injunctions, to call & let him know how I succeeded—I went direct to the aforesd.office; and, by the previledge of making use of Roberspeirs name, I was kindly recd.an opology made, for former abuses, and my business compleated the next day—but as my exchanges were drawn, payable sixty days after date, & the tribunal had decred, demurage &c, untill I received my Bills, I refused to receive them in Paris, as my pay wou’d then stop, but insisted on their being sent to the agent in Brest agreable tocontract—my object was, not to receive them untill 12 or 15 days before they were due, consequently I remained in Paris about 3 weeks after my bills were sent to Brest. and during that time, the great man, who had so assentially befreinded me, was beheaded by the Galliotine.Various Pleasant TownsThis event, very meterially changed the aspect of affairs in France; my exchanges, which before, I could have readily sold at par value, now, would not bring 50cts.on the dollar—this induced me, to go on to Hamburg with them myself & know the result; and having a desire to see more of the country, & could travell, principally, at the expence of the nation, having full time, before my bills wou’d become due—I took my seat in the accomodation stage for Burdeaux, visited that City, tarried 5 days, again started, visited Nantes, Loreong,[2]& various pleasant towns in La Vanda,[3]& arrived at Brest, 20 days before my bills were due.The agent of Merine, expressed a little disapprobation at my not calling before for my Bills, having had them about 20 days—but I setled with him, quite amicably; and found a small vessell, bound direct for Hamburg, in her, I secured apassage, & embarked 3 days after. We had a long passage, but I arrived the next day after my bills became due.Welcome AdviceAnd here, I will relate, one of those casual events, which frequently take place, to the benifit of man—the vessell in which I took passage, stopped at Gluxstad, a town on the river Elbe, about 30 miles below Hamburg; the Captain & myself went on shore, & engaged a carraige to take us up to the City; but night overtaking us before we reached it, the gates were shut & we could not enter (the gates were always shut at sunsetting, & upon no occasion, were opened untill sun-rise) consequently, we turned back, about a mile, to the Danish city of Altony, where put up for the night, at a famous Hotel, & there I found a number of american ship Masters merchants &c; at the supper table, various questions were asked me, by which they learned that I was from France, that I came as a passenger; but I discovered that curiosity waswide awaketo know my business—I, however, thought proper, to keep that to myself; having my fears, relative to my Bills—after riseing from the supper table, a gentleman came to me, & asked me into his room; being seated; he introduced himself as follows.—I am Sir, an american, from New York, my name is Loyle, I noticed the curiosityof our countrymen, at the supper table, to know your business; & Sir, I was pleased to notice your prudent reservation, upon the subject—I do not ask you; but conjecture what it is, and if it is, as I think; I can be of service to you, by way of advice, probably.—my conjecture is, that you have French government Bills on their agent in Hamburg; if so, I advise you, to let no man know it, but go & present your demands, in person; otherwise, they will be protested; for their agent De çhapeaurouge, has already been prosecuted, for paying French claims, I think, therefore, if you conveince him, that no one but yourself, is privy to the transaction, that he may pay them. I tended to Mr.Loyle my thanks, for his information & left him, and the next morning, I entered the city, and by enquiry soon found the office of the said agent, & presented my Bill—he cast his eye upon it, without speaking, then gave me a very scrutenizing look, & said, how came you in possession of this draft—I received, Sir, from M. V. la Fontaine, Minister of Marine at Brest—did you receive it in person, or thro” other hands—I received it myself—has it been in your possession ever since—it has—who are your freinds in this city—I have none, nor even a corispondent, nor ever was in the city before, &, Sir, your office, is thefirst, & only building I ever entered in Hamburg,—where did lodge last night—I now told him, that I came a passenger from Brewst, that the vessell stopped at Gluxstaad, that I landed & hired a carriage to bring me to Hamburg, that we were too late to enter the city last night, that the driver landed me in Altona, at Lants’s Hotel, where I lodged & Breakfasted this morn”, that I came alone into the city, & by enquiry had found his office—He then observed, it is an unusual mode of negociating bills, it is generally done thro” some resident merchant, especially by a stranger, like yourself—I told him, that in so simple a transaction, as that of presenting a draft for acceptance, I felt myself competant to the task, and thereby save paying a commission—well, ‘said he you have acted discreetly, took a pen & wrote accepted, across the face of the Bill—He then said; your money is ready for you; but this draft, must not go out of my hands again; for if it does, it never will be paid by me.This embarrassed me extreemly; what could I do, with 40,000 crowns in silver, in my situation, an entire stranger, in a strange City.After a moments reflection, I said to him, will you, Sir, give me your due bill, & allow me to receipt the draft—certainly, said he, I will; and accordingly,it was done. This, I knew, was exchanging the obligation, of a great & powerfull nation, for that of a private induvidual; but I thought, that circomstances justified the Act.I then asked him, if he would name to me, a house of entertainment, frequented by Americans, & he ordered a servant to conduct me to Lilbons Hotel—and thus closed the important interveiw with De’ chapeaurouge; & I found hisdue Bill, as good as Cash.The Ways of ProvidenceThus, how fortunate the circomstance of my interveiw with Mr.Loyle—but for his kind information & advice, I shou’d, no doubt, have put my draft, into the hands of the American Consul for collection; the consequence would have been, a protest; and another tour to France, to seek redress. And all this saved, by the Gates being shut before I reached them. How often, my dear Grand Children, do we repine and murmer, when disappointment, affliction, and trouble come upon us; & even distrust the goodness of our Heavenly Father; when we, very frequently, afterwards, realize that it was for our good.It was somewhat so with me, I felt, very much put out, at the gates being shut, & chided the driver for his dilatoryness, when he knew the city gates closed at sun-sett—but this very circomstance,was the means, of freeing my mind from a burden, which had weighed it down for months,—it was the means of a happy, and prosperous termination of my labourous voyage—for nothing now remained to be done, but to remitt the funds to T. Dickerson & Sons, London; & to take passage for Boston myself, & give an account of my stewardship to my employers. And all this, I could do, with bouyant sperits, having made them an excellent voyage.I was not long in closing my business in Hamburg, & took passage for Boston in the ship Warren, Capt.Hodgkins, where we safely arrived after a passage of 54 days.My arrival, gave great relief to my owners, for, from the accounts they had from France, they doubted the validity of my Bills on Hamburg, & expected I wou’d have to return to France.—The fortunate close of this tedious voyage, and my return; being the first instance of the kind, under the then state of things in France, produced, no small, excitement among the merchants of Boston, who had property in France; and applications was continually made to me, for all the whys & wherefores, relative to the fortunate result of my business; and the consequence was, it added greatly to my fame, as a ship master.Another Voyage to FranceAnother voyage was immediately planed, by my owners for France, & I was only allowed a very few days, to visit my family,—although, our first child (now Aunt Sampson) was but 24 hours old when I left home—when I return’d, could say,my par. But short, endeed, was the time allotted me, for injoying the objects of my affection, I must leave them; and persue the road marked out, for obtaining that subsistance for myself & family, which nature required, and reason dictated.After staying at home 4 days only, I returned to Boston, fitted out my vessel, & sailed for Alexandria, & there purchased a cargo of Flour & sail’d for France—on my arrival in Harvre de grace; I found that government purchased all the flour that came to market Consequently, I sold my cargo to the governments agent, at 20 crows prbbl, under a promis, that I sho’d have my pay, in 40 days after delivery.But I found, to my sorrow, that no confidence could be placed in their pledges; & that I was again subjected, to a tedious altercation with the agent & his government. After dancing attendance upon them about 2½ months, my vessell, at the same time, laying Idle & at a great expence, I again concluded to send her home, under chargeof the mate, & stay myself, & fight it out. Accordingly, I dispatchdthe Brig, & went on to Paris, prepared for the seige & expecting a long one.In about two months more, I received, about one third of my demand, in Ingots of silver, & made a trip over to London, & deposited their amount with, Bird, Savage, & Bird; subject to my owners order—I then returned to France, and renewed my claim for the remainder.And after about three months more of attendance, upon the government of France, I received the ballance due me; about 40,000 Crowns—here, probably, you will conclude that my anxiety terminated. But, on the conterary, it was, if posible, increased.I had attained the object of 10 months contention with the french government—I had on hand, a fine voyage for my employers—but the great deficulty now was; how I should git the property out of France. There was a special law, against exportingspeciefrom the country,—exchanges were not to be obtained, in which my confidence coul’d be placed; my vessell gone, so that, investing in goods, was out of the question,—and 40,000 crowns in my sleeping chamber, brought there publickly, at noon day.Thus situated, you may judge, whether mymind could be at ease—however, after having taken the necessary precautionary measures against robery, or theft; I went to work, & purchasdall theforeign GoldI could find; in order to git the value, into a smaller bulk, for the purpose of smuggling it out of France.Brings Back GoldAfter about two months; by my agents, in Paris & Roen, & my own, in Harvre de grace, I succeeded in converting my 40.000 crowns, into less than 3000 peices of gold, prinsapally, Spanis doubloons—this had been done, in as secret a manner, as posible.—I then, went to a village, about 3 miles, & ordered 2 leather belts made, of a sufficient size to hold 8 or 9 hundred peices, and after puting each peice, into a wrapper of silk paper, I stowed my belts, & stiched it, in such a manner, that there could be no motion of the peices—the two belts contained 1700 peices—the remainder, I made up into wads, of about 50 peices each, inveloped in paper, & cloth.I then engage my passage for Boston, in the ship Caroline, CaptCutter, and after two or three days, the ship hauled out of the bason, and stopped opposite the custom house, and within Six rods of my Lodgings; having free exces to the ship, at all times, I soon decided, in my mind, how to dispose of my money, not, contained in the two belts;and in a short time, it was safely & secretly stowed away on board the ship. On the morning of the day, on which the ship was to sail, I made interest with the ships Steward, to put one of the Belts round his waist, by the promis of a guinia, & wear it, untill we were clear from the peir head, the other belt, I secured to my own person,—and thus curcomstanced I had to submitt to the scearch of 8 french officers at the head of whom, was an old experi-d.Scearcher, who strongly suspected that there was money on board.—But notwithstanding all, I got off clear with my money, and after a passage of 35 days, I had the satisfaction of delivering it to my owners in Boston.On my return home, I found that my pertner, in lifes voyage, had run me in debt, for a cape Cod farm; and as the place was distitute of a suitable building, for the accommodation of our little family, it was thought advisable to proceed to errect one, the following season; I consequently, felt myself under the necesity of declining business, in the sea-faring line, and attend to that of a more domestic nature, for a while—I remained at home, from August 1798—untill Sept.1799—and, as the events of this year, are something remarkable, I will name a few of them.This year 1799, the beloved Washington, theFather of our Country died,—this year, our first son was born—this year I took possession of the farm, built my house, and the family moved into it on new years day 1800.In Octor.1799 I took charge of the Brig Mary, went to Savannah, in Georgia, from that to Lisbon, from thence to London, to Rotterdam, Copenhagen, St.Petersburg, and back to Boston—and performed the voyage, in 8 months & 4 days—Commands the MonsoonAfter remaining at home, a shot time, I received a letter, offering me the charge of a new ship called the Monsoon, I accordingly repaired to Boston & took charge of her—she was owned by the following company; Messr.Hayden & Baxter, Mr.Joshua Hall, & Jacob Tidd, they put on board a valuable Cargo, & ordered me to find a Market for it in some part of the north of Europe, but as I had, in the cargo, a quantity of American Rum, they recomended that I shou’d touch into Ireland, upon the supposition that if I cou’d obtain permission to land it that it would command a high price.I accordingly made the best of my way for Cork, and after a passage of 26 days arrivd.at the Cove of Cork, this was meerly a harbour, & a village of a few thousand inhabitants—I landed &proceeded for the City, which was about 12 miles above; called upon the House of Jno.& Isaac Carrel & Co. to whoom I had a letter of introduction—they received me very politely, but doubted my obtaining permission to land the rum, even if I was willing to pay foreign duty. They, however, went with me to the custom house, to consult with the collector, who, I found was in favour of landing it; but dare not give permission, without consulting his superiors in office, and said he wou’d attend to it & essertain in a few days.I returned on board my ship in the evening, & found her in possession of 3 custom house officers, seized, ship and Carg, with the Kings seal upon her hatches—when I enquired the cause, I found it was for having on board sperits, not of the growth & manufactory of the British plantations—I called upon the deputy collector who ordered the Seizure of the ship—& he appeared so pleasant upon the subject that I felt quite a releif. I consequntly return’d to the city, & called again upon the Collector,In IrelandHe told me, I would have to applyin person, to the Admirallity of Dublin relative to the Seizure of the ship—& he at the same time he wou’d write them relative to landing the sperits. I consequntly, post’d of for the City of Dublin a journeyof about 200 miles, & arrived there without accident; much amused in traveling thro” the hart of Ireland, and observing the Irish people, in their symplicity of manners, and to appearance, almost, in a state of nature I called upon the board of Admirallity and after a lengthy investigation, & I employed council, twas found, that the ship & cargo, was forfeited to the crown, and was ordered fourthwith, to be advertid& sold at publick Auction—. It was (however) intimated to me (in private) this was intended as ashem, & that I wou’d have liberty, to buy ship & Cargo at my own price—& so it proved; for when I returned to Cork, I found the ship advertised, to be sold in 3 days, I appeard at the time & place, ship & cargo, with all appertunances, were set up together, to be sold for Cash down, some one, freindly to me, bid 2/6—I then bid 5s/. and the whole was struck off to me—and thus, I was again in possession of ship and Cargo,Finding no prospect of obtaining permission to land the rum, I concluded to proceed elswhere for a Market for my Cargo, and was advised to try the Island of Geurnsey—& therefore applied to the custom House, to clear the ship, which was readily complied with; the collector, observed to me when about taking leave, Capt.Cobb, I mustconfess, I think your usage has been something rough here; and I shou’d not blame you, if you was to help yourself a little, in the way of smuggling.—no Sir said I, but wou’d you not be one of the first to make a prize of me therefor—oh said he, I shou’d have to do my duty—well Sir, said I, when youCatch’emyouHab’emGod blesse you said he, & thus we parted, and the next morn” I sail’d; matters were, however, so arrainged, that between the cove of Cork, & the Scilly Islands, that I hove overboard Eight hogheads of N. E. rum, and a pilot boat sheer’d along side, and hove on board a small bag, which I found contained 264 English guineas—and although I saw them pick up, & hoist on board the 8 hhds of rum,I was satisfied.A Hurried DepartureI then proceeded for my Port of distination, Geurnsey, an Island in the channel of England, which had always been a free port, & a resort for Smugglars.—I anchord in the roads about the suns setting, & having a letter of introduction, from a friend in Cork, to a merchant there; altho” the hour was an improper one,the dusk of Eve”, to deliver a letter of introduction I took my boat & went on shore, being an entire stranger, I had to make enquiries—but finally, in about an hour, I found the Genm.to whom the letter was addressed,—herecd.me with politeness, and read the letter—I apologised for calling upon him, at so unseasonable an hour; he promptly replied, it is fortunate for you, that you have thus done.—I am now Sir compelled to act a part, which not only appearsuncivil, but almost to an insult. Viz, that you return immediately on board your ship, and leave this port. He then, in a few words, told me that, the British parlement, had recently, passed revenue laws, that affected that Island; & that, two English cutters, had that day arrived, to inforce the laws; & that I shou’d certainly have trouble, with my cargo, if I was not off, before sun rise, the next morning.—I accordingly bid the gentleman good bye, repaird to my boat, which was waiting for me at the wharf, went on board the ship, & immediately got underway and at sun rise, the next morn, I was out of sight of the Island of Geurnsay up channell, on my way for the City of Hamburg.Thus ended my deficulties of that voyage—I arrived safe in Hamburg, found a good Market for my cargo, loaded my ship, & returned to Boston, having made a good voyage to all concern’d.My employers were so well pleased with the trade, I had opened in Hamburg; that they planned another voyage immediately, and thot.they you’d hardly afford me time to visit my family at the cape. However, by promis’s of a short stay, I came to Brewster; saw my family, and returned to Boston to fit out the ship, for another Voyage in which, it was concluded, that it wou’d be for the Interest of the Voyage, that on my arrival in H—gI should land my Cargo, load the ship with a return cargo, & send her home by my Mate, & remain in Hamburg myself thro” the Winter, to sell the cargo then landed, and prepare another for the ship, on her return to me in the spring.—under the foregoing arrangement, I saild for Hamburg a 2dtime; arrived their after a common passage, landed my Cargo, loaded the ship, with Russia & Germain goods, and sent her for Boston, under the commandof my mate, David Nickerson.She sailed, the last of September, and by the middle of Novr, we were compleatly bound in fetters ofFrost, and, in that high Lattitude, we had only about 7. hours day light in 24. but there was no lack ofamusements, to please the eye, tast, or mind, & I injoyed myself very well, untill the last of Decr.when I received a letter, which came overland, by way of Holland, from one of my employers, in which it was stated in a, Postcrip,Your wife has been very Sick, but, I beleive, sheis better. This unwellcome intiligence; the uncouth manner, in which it was conveyed to me; and the great uncertainty of hearing any thing more, untill the ship returned to me; put my mind into a perplexing state of anxiety, which bid defiance to all injoyment of life.Anxiety and IllnessWithin a few days, as I entered the coffee room, of the Hotel, one morning, the servant said to me; there is an american Newspaper, which arrived last evening, by way of London,—I took up the paper, and first thing that attracted my notice, was myBrothers death—Thus the mind, already bowed down with anxiety; was obliged to receive thisheartrendingaddition to its already overcharged burden, but, our heavenly Father, lays no more upon his children, than, He knows, they can bear.—for in addition to my afflixtions then, I was attacted with thebrainfever, and with such severity, that for 8 days, I was unconcious of either pleasure, or pain.—but I was, finally, permitted to recover, with the loss, only, of my full head of black hair; but I got over that deficutyprittywell, by substituting a Wig, and have been obliged to wear one ever since, to keep my head warm.—but notwithstanding all, I was supported thro” the winter, my business, by the help of merchants, Brokers &c, went on well; and when the ship arrived;about the 20thof May, I was ready prepared for her; and the news she brot.me, from my family, was a cordial to my lasserated feelings.As soon, as the Cargo which the ship brot.out, cou’d be sold; the arrangements made, during the winter, were such, that we were soon ready for returning to Boston,—I reach’d home in Augt., having been absent somthing over 14 months, found Mrs C. very feeble, but convallessent.I made one more voyage to Hamburg, in the Monsoon, & when I return’d she was sold; which gave me an oppertunity of spending a few weeks at home, with my beloved family.But, it was not long, before I received a letter from Mr.J. Tidd, who was one of my former owners in the Monsoon, requesting me to come to Boston fourthwith, as there was a new Brig for sale, which he had an idea of purchasing, and wished for my opinion &c &c.—I accordingly went to Boston, & the Brig, Sally & Mary, was purchased, and another Hamburg voyage was plann’d fourthwith.ShipShipTen Brothers.Mr.Tidd, had put on board a valuable cargo; on his own account & risk, and ordered me for Hamburg; and I accordingly proceeded for the river Elbe; it being in the summer season, I took the more direct passage; of north about, so called,viz. between the Okney & Shetland Islands, into the North sea, at the S E part of which, the river Elbe comminces; Hamburg is 110 miles above—I had heretofore, always obtained a Pilot, before I reach’d the entrance of the river—but now, none appeared, and I saw, at anchor, in the mouth of the river, one large ship, & 2 or 3 smaller vessells—it struck me, at once, that the Elbe, was blockaded, but I had no alternative but to proceed on & know, I accordingly, run on, untill within about a mile of the largest ship, when I came to an anchor.—she immediately sent her boat on board, for me & my papers,—I found the commander, ahaughty,crabbed, selfwilled, Scotchman.The BlockadeHe insisted upon it, that I knew of the blockade; and that I intended a breach of it; of course, I was a good prize, & he shou’d send me to England, very well! I had to submitt to his superior force; and I was accordingly ordere’d for Yarmouth in England.On my arrival there, my papers were sent to London, to the Kings advocate for adjudication; but they were returnd.in 6 days, & I was pronounced clear, to proceed to any port that was not blockaddand I put to sea the next morning.As I cou’d not go to Hamburg, I concluded, that Copenhagen, would be, the nextbestmarketfor my Cargo, and I accordingly, steered my course for that port.—On my arrival there, I was advised, by a freindly, Danish Merchant, to proceed toLubec, one of the,Hans Towns, of Germany, about 100 miles South of Copenhagen, on the great Belt, so called, from which place, an inland canal, communicated with Hamburg, where my Cargo cou’d readily be sent, in defiance of the Blockade; and as my Cargo, was perticularly selected for the Hamburg Market, this was a very important object with me.I consequently proceeded for Lubec where I arrived in about 48 hours., and was told; that I displayed the first American flag; ever wafted over their City.—on approaching the Town, an entire stranger, I recolected, that, on my last voyage to Hamburg—a Mr.Smidth, of the Firm, of Smidth & Plessing, of Lubec, had made a shipment of 100 peices of Duck by me, which I had sold, & made returns to them.I was now glad to enquire them out, and avail myself of their services in selling my cargo, & purchaseing another on my return &c &c.—I very readily found them; and received from them all those kind attentions, to me, and my business; so greatfull to a Stranger. A great part of my cargo, went thro” the canel to Hamburg, and also, muchof my return cargo, came in the same way,—but I found a good Market; got quick dispatch, and returned to Boston with an excellent voyage.After discharging my cargo, in Boston, I visited my dear family, at the cape; where I found an aditional pledge of affection, in a little black-eye’d daughter, which we call’d Mary P, then 69 days old—it being in the night, & no light in the house, I hawl’d her out of Bed, and held her up to the window to look at her by moonlight.Orders in CouncilI was not permitted to remain, but a short time, in the enjoyment of the family circle; before I receiv’d a letter, saying, that another voyage was planned, & I must come forward. I accordingly, went on to Boston, & found they had began loading the Brig, for a voyage to Malaga.—the loading was soon compleated, and all necessary preperations made; and I saild for the Medeterenaen., on the 15th.of Decr.1807, & arrived at Malaga, Jany11th.1808. On my arrival, I was informed that thecelebrated British orders in councilwent into fource,there; the 10th.Int, the day before I arrived.—those orders, forbid american vessells, taken a return cargo from any ports in Europe, under the penalty of being a prize, in any English port.—in consequence of this, we knew, thatwines, & fruit, wou’d rapidly advance inprice, in America; which made a return cargo, very desirable.TheAmerican Consul, with whoom I advised, thought, if I got quick dispatch there wou’d be but little risk in my taking a return cargo; that he wou’d obligate himself, to dispatch me in 10 days with a full cargo of wine & fruit—and I finally concluded to take the risk.Detained at GibraltarI accordingly proceeded in discharging my cargo, & in receiving on board wine & fruit in return, & in 8 days was ready to sail—in order to succeed in escaping an investigation, & probably, a capture, by the English, I thotto wait for a strong easterly wind, and to improve the night, to make a run through theGut of Gibraltar, where lay the greatest danger of capture, or detention,—I accordingly waited the first Easterly wind & left Melaga, calculating to reach the rock of Gibralter, about Dark, the same Eve”, which I did, but unfortunally as I approach’d it, the wind died away, & by time I had pass’d it, it was nearly calm—knowing that if it remained so thro the night, that daylight would expose me to Fort & their cruizers, & that I should surely be exposed to examination, & detention, I thought it advisable, to proceed to Anchorage with what wind I had—and I immediately haw[l]ed into the Bay, for the neutrialground, but the wind being a head, I had to make a tack under the Spanish shore, & while standing over for the rock, was boarded by the boat of an English Fregate, under the command of a midshipman, who took charge of me, under pretence that I was bound into Algaziras—after we had come to anchor, altho 12oClock at night, he insisted upon taken me on board the Frigate with my papers—well I was conducted on board & before an officer, who questioned me, I told him the truth, that I was from Malago, bound to Boston, that I had come in there to evail myself of a clearence from a British port, & a convoy thro the gut—well ‘said he, a convoy will sail, the day after to morrow, & ordered the officer to carry me on board my vessell again immediately. I went on shore the next morn” & calld.upon the American consel, to whom, I made know my true situation—he told me, he thought there was but little chance for me, as I was compleatly under theOrders in Council.—I left the consul & in the street, fell in with an old acquaintan[ce], to him also, I told my greivance—he advised me, as a last resort, & as my situation was not generally known, to endevour to effect a clerance by bribery; & he gave other advice & information upon that subject.I accordingly went on board, got my papers, puta couple of ounces of spanish gold into my pocket, & went on shore & directly to the office, on the Key; I found only thePrincipallin the office—I told him, I commanded an American vessell was from Malaga, bound to Boston, and had put in there, to obtain a clearance, & a convoy thro the Gut—well ‘said he, as you say, you have a cargo on board, there are some serious questions to ask, previous to your obtaining a clearance.—I know, I know Sir, but do not be too perticular, give me a clearance, & at the same time, I laid on the counter before him,two ounce peices of gold—well’ but said he, if I give you a clearance you have another office to git signed at, well ‘said I, if you will give it, there will be more deficulty—& as I spoke a gentleman came into the office, to whom the first observed—this Captain was about going up to your office with his clearance, will you be so kind as to save him the trouble by signing it here, oh yes, said he cheerfully, accordinly, in a few minuits my clearance was compleated, the fees of both offices paid, & I was in the street, making a streight wake towards the American consuls—when I entered his office, he, with a long face said, I am glad to see you, but greatly regret your situation—I took my clearance from my pocket, & held it before his eyes—Good Godsaid he, howdid you git that—said I—ask me no questions, & I will tell you no lies—Escapes from the ConvoyThe Signal Gun was fired, at sun-rise, the next morn” for the convoy to weigh, & I was one of this first to move—for I was full of fear, that some incident mightyetsubject me to thefatalinvestigation, I was therefore desirous to git out of their reach; a large English merchant ship, showing a teir of guns, streched over for the Barbary coast, & I followed her, under easy sail;our convoy, a gun Brig, was not then under-way and in watching her motion, I discovered a boat after us, full of men, roughing,[4]& sailing—I immediately felt jelious,they are after me, I ordered sail immediately put on, & in a very short time, the boatgive up& put back for Gibranter—I then felt antious fearing the convoy might have orders to bring me back; but I heard nothing more, parted from the convoy off capeTrafelgar, & proceeded home.I have mention’d a boat that was after me—sometime after I arrived home, I fell in with a CaptMills, whom I left in Malaga, in a Brig belonging to Boston, & persueing the plan I had done, he saild from Malaga the day after me, wastaken into Gibrater the night before I left—seeing me underweigh, without reflection, he observed there is Cobb, why is he allowed to go—the boat was immediately dispatch’d after me—but, by my vigilence in making sail, in season, & being favoued with a good stiff breeze I was enable’d to keep clear of them.—I was favoured with a good passage, and arrived safe in Boston, a subject of the most intent speculation; how it was managed to clear out, acargo of Spanish goods, from Gibralter, under theBritish orders in Council.—But, I had made a good voyage for all concerned, & return’d to my family.I remained but a short time with my family, when I received a letter from MessrBixby, Vallintine & co, requesting that I would go on to New York, & take charge of a Ship, belonging to them, called the Wm.Tell, for a voyage to Europe—accordingly, I went to Boston, and after receiving instructions from my Owners, I took the stage for N. York and took charge of Ship, & fitted her, with all posible dispatch for sea—I then proceeded to Alexandria in Virginia, where I loaded the ship with Flour, and went for Cadiz, in Spain, where I sold my Cargo, Ballasted the ship with stones, and returned to Norfolk in Virginia—where Ifound letters from my Owners with provisions, from Boston, for another voyage, and orders to go up to Alexandria & load—but, as a part of my crew wished their discharge and others were to be shipped to supply their places, a few days detention was unavoidable—Mr. Madison’s EmbargoWhile this process was in opperation, a most violentstormcame on, & as I had discharg’d the most of the crew, I was on board the Ship, assisting in secureing the ship to the Wharf, when Mr.Fisk, the Merchant with whoom I advised, came down the wharf & told me, that he had just received adispatchfrom Mr.Randolph, in Congress, saying to him,what you do, must be done quicklyfor the embargo will be upon you, on Sunday at 10 A M.—it was now Fryday P. M, & a violent storm, well,” said Mr.F, what can we do Cobb, why said I, if we can hold the ship to the wharf, while it blows so hard, I shall be glad—We can, however, see, where we can git the cargo, & if it is fair to morrow much may be done—In fact much must be accomplish’d in order to effect our objectviz. to cheat the Embargo. We had about 100 Tons of stone Ballast on board, which must be landed, upward of 3000 bbls of Flour, to take in and stow away, provisions, wood & water to take on board, a crew to ship, to clear at the custom H.and, to git the ship to sea, before the embargo gits possession—and all this must be done, between Saturday morn” at day light, & sunday morn at 10[o:]Clock, in the month of Decr.—We found, upon enquiry, that, we cou’d have our supply of Flour from a block of stores, direct along side of the Ship, & by giving ⅜thof a dollar extra, we had liberty, if stopped by the embargo, to return it—Saturday morning, was fine weather I had given instructions to the mates, to have purchases up, at each hatchway, the ship having three—to discharge ballast, at the main hatchway, & to receive Flour forward, & abaft, with two gangs of Stevidore in the hold—at about Sunrise, I went up tolazy corner, so call’d, & pressed every Negro into my service, that came upon the stand, & sent them on board the ship, untill I thought there were as many, as could work.I then visited the Sailors boarding houses, where I shipped my crew, paid the advane to their landlords, & took their obligations to see each sailor on board, at sun-rise the next morning.—It had now got to be about 12oClock & the ship must be cleared at the Custom house at, or before, one—I accordingly prepared a Manifest & went to the Custom house to clear the Ship—Mr.Taylor, thecollector, knowing my situation, with the ship;saidwhy Cobb, what is the use of clearing the ship, you cannot git away, the embargo will be here at 10 to morrow morning, & even if you git your ship below, I shall have boats out that will stop you, before you can git 3 leagus to sea. Said I, “MrTaylor, will you be so kind as to clear my Ship—Oh yes’ said he, I cannot refuse, (untill the embargo arrives; & accordingly the ship was cleared & I returned on board, & found all things going on well.—finally—to shorten the Story—at 9 that evning, we had on board 3050 Barrels of Flour, our long boat on board in the chocks, water, wood, & provision on board & stowed, a pilot engage, & all in readiness for Sea.A Feat of LoadingThe tide wou’d serve at 8[o:]Clock on sunday morn, & we could not go before, & at 10 the embargo was expected—well, “the morn” arrived, the sailors were brot.on board by their Landlords, the pilot came on board, & at 8oClock we started with a fair wind, down a crooked nerrow river, but the wind dying, our progress was Slow, & when we entered Hampton roads, it had got to be after 11o.Clock, and nealy calm—feeling anxious, I kept a sharp look out a stern, & with my glass, I saw about 12, a boat comeing down, under the full opperation of sails & oars—well,’ said I, to themate, I fear, we are gone—but very soon I saw, to appearance, a fresh breeze coming off from the South shore, I saw that the boat, had already taken it—I then ordered all the light sails set, ready to receive the breeze.—when it reached us, the boat was so near, that with my glass I trace the features of the men—but in 10 munuites after I took it the boat give up the chace & turn’d back, and I went to sea without further molestation.—By the pilot, I wrote my Owners, informing them of my running away from the Embargo, & then proceeded on for Cadiz, & carraied to that port the first news of the Embargo.Flour was selling, on my arrival at $16.00 but in consequence of the Embargo, & the war then rageing in that vicinity, the flour holders had a meeting, & agreed to raise the price of Flour to $20.00.—& finally, altho” I waited some time I obtained that price for my Cargo.—Soon after my arrival, I recd.a letter, by a vessell under Sweedish colours, adviseing me to bring home money, providing there was liberty to export it; & finding, upon enquiry, that was the case, I immediately took out a license from the custom house, to export $72,000, having funds here, of last voyage,—but before I got ready to sail I heard of the repeal of the orders in Council, &allso, of theMilan&Berlindecrees, & beleiving this would have a favourable effect, to America, in our Exchanges, & finding I cou’d buy British government Bills, at a great discount, I concluded to give up my Licinse, & remitt my money to England,—(I mention this circomstance to shew, how fortunate it was—as I was captured, on my return, if the Monney had been on board, we shou’d have lost it.—The day before I sailed I dine’d in a large party, at the american consul, & it being mention’d that I was to sail the next day, I was congratulated, by a British officer, upon the safety of our Flagg.—well” I thot.the same, when at the same time, theWarbetween England & America was then rageing.Spoken off the Grand BanksI sail’d from Cadiz, the 5th.day of July 1812 bound for Boston, & I never felt myself saffer, on account of enemies on the high seas,—I had just entered upon the eastern edge of the grand Bank—at day light, of the morn” of the 17thI went on deck; we had a light breeze of wind from the north, with all sails sett, that would draw, in casting my Eye to windward, I saw a sail, to appearance, bearing down directly for us—not having spoken any thing, I told the mate, to back the maim yard & would speak her, we accordingly did; & at sunrise I ordered the Insign hoisted, at theMizen peak; no sooner were our colours up, than his went up in the smoke of a gun, I saw that she was a Schooner, under English colours, & that she was armed; but did not alarm me, I continud.to lay by, she run down acrosst.my stern, with the usual hail, of, where from, where bound, how long out, &c &c—& he concluded from my replys that I did not know that war existed; he said to me, very mildly, I will thank you to continue laying by, & I will send my boat on board—Seeing she was a cutter Schooner with 10 brass Guns, I, of course, acquiesed, & her boat came on board, with two petty officers, rowed byonlytwo men—One of the officers requested me to go on board the cutter with my papers; well” I asked the 2 officers below, while I shifted myself and got my papers; while I was in my statroom, one of them, says to me, Capt, ‘what cargo did you carry to Cadiz? Flour,’ you got a good price, I presume Yes,’ said I—got Cash on board I suppose? No, said I, I remitted my money, to England,’ well,” said he, You’ve a fine ship here! Yes, toloble—what,” said he do you think she’s worth—this question, roused my curiocity, I step’d to the door of the Stateroom, & looking the man in the face, said to him, have you an Idea of buying, or taking the ship, Oh, said he, Captain, you’l excuse our inquisitiveness,it was without meaning.—When I was ready, one of the officers went in the boat with me, & the other, remained on board the ship—I was received on board the cutter, & conducted into the cabin, to the Capt.,—he received my papers, & looking them over, ask’d, if I had not a Clearance from Cadiz; I told him I had, but, I did not [know] it wou’d be required, & I had not brot.it, well,” said he, I must have it; if you’l send your boat Sir, I will go & look it up, I think its in my writing desk,—well,” said he, send for your desk, I told him I was unwilling to do that, as it contained papers of consequence to me, & by accident it might be droped overboad—oh said he, I’ll make good all damages, youmustsend for it. well,” I wrote a line to the mate, to send my. W. Desk, it was brought into the cutters cabin, & having my keys in my pocket, I open’d it, & soon found the paper required,—my writing standing upon the Table open, & the officers standing round, they began looking at papers, among them, was a small bundle of letters directed to the Commissary Genl.on theQuebec Station, they open’d it, & broke the seal of one of the letters—; upon which I look’d at the Capt., & observ’d, that this was treatment which I had not anticipated, from the British flagg; the Capt observ’d, you must submitt,we will explain ourselves bye. & bye about this time, the word came from the decks,a Strange sail in sight, & the Capt, drop’d the paper from hands, & run on deck.—I set still & look’d at the officers, overhawling, & deranging my papers in my writing desk.—after a while the Capt came down below; & said to me, Captain; you have expressed some surprise at our investigation, at which, I am not at all supprised, for I find, you are ignorant of a fact, which will justify, our proceedings with you,We are at War with America—now Sir, said I I beleive you are disposed totantalize, for I do not beleive it.—Well,” Sir, said he, we will not alticate upon this subject; & he step’d to a desk took out a newspaper, & pointed me to the declaration of War, & danced on deck again, to look at the Strange sail.—the paper that he handed me, was an American paper, only 12 days old—after reading the declaration of war, I look’d it over for other news, untill the Capt came down.—He then said to me, well Sir, what think ye now—I told him, I was satisfied, as towar, but, I shou’d like to know now, whetherIwas to behung, ordrounded.On Board the CutterHe smilling said, “well,” I beleive nither,by me.—I will now, said he, explain to you the reasons, for our conduct toward you; I am said he—from Halifax, bound to England with dispatchesfor Govt., I cannot take you, not having men to man you, if I had found money on board I shou’d have taken it out, & have put one man on board, that might not be call’d piricy & have let you have taken your chance—but as it is you can take charge of your ship, & do the best you can—the sail coming down, is an American Frigate, & if I can keep out the reach of her guns, I do not fear her heals, & the sooner you go on board the better—as soon, as you please, said I—& I crow[d]ed some of my papers into my Desk, & tied some up in a hankerchief, & thus went into the boat & was set on board my own ship again.—When I got on my Ships deck, the Frigate was so near that she cou’d easyly have sent a shot over me, & coming down will all sail set, & an American Insign at her Mizin peak.—altho I was confidant, she was an English Frigate; still, being compleatly within the reach of her guns, & my ships sails all taken, I had only to lay still & take it.The FrigateThe Frigate was down, in a few minuits & the boats was manned, & came on board, under the command of an officer, in an american uniform.—the usual questions, of, where from, where bound, how long out &c &c, were ask’d, & ansered; when he thus interogated me, are you not in fear of being taken, No Sir, said I, for I think I amalreadytaken, what’. said he, by one of your own Frigates; no,’ said I, that is not an american Frigate, nither Sir, areyouintitled to wear that Button. Well,” said he, you are about right.—that is His Britianic majistys Frigate, the Jason, & to her, you are a prize.—now, said he, what have you on board for Cargo; sand Ballast, said I,what, did [you] cary to Cadiz, Flour, did it sell yes, it Brought $20.00 prBarrel.—Oh, you’ve Cash on board said he, No, said I, I remitted the proceeds of my cargo to London, & I have my thirds of exchange, to satisfy you.—well,” said he, you have a fine ship here; what will you give for her, & we give you, a clear passport into Boston.—after a little reflection, I name’d $5000.00 well,” said he,give us the money; Oh, I thank you said I, if it was on board, you wou’d take it without asking me.—I will give you a draft on London.—no, said he,the cash, or weburnthe ship.—well said I, you’l not burn me, in her I hope,—oh, no, you may give orders for your men to pick up their duds, & we will carry them on board the Frigate.—You will remain on board & select yourself a servant, from your crew, the ship is too good toBurn.—I accordingly selected my Nephew, E. C. Crosby, to remain with me, my mates & crew, were all carraied on board the Frigate,—After a while, the pinnace was sentwith special orders for me to come on board the Frigate.—well,” I went on Board, was received at the Ganway, by a Leutt., & conducted into the Cabin, to the captain, he, with his officers, were then sitting at the dinner table, I was place’d in a chair by his side, & offered a glass of wine; after which; he, the capt., said to me! what D—d rascal put your papers in that situation, for they were sent to him, as I took them from the cutter, open letters &c,—why”, Sir said I; that D—d rascal, as you are pleas’d to call him, was Leutenant Jones, commanding his Majesties cutter the Alphea; why,” said he, he’s broke the Kings Seal, I’ll have the fellow hung,” well Sir, said I, you can do as you please, with your own subjects.—he then said [to] me,” I am satisfied, on examination of your papers, that you have not money on board, as a return cargo, but I shall now ask you a question, which it will be, for your Interest, to answercandidly, well Sir, I shall judge better, when I hear the question,! have you money on board, on your own private account; without hesitation, I answer’d Yes, how much said he, about $2000, … it is safe, We, as yet, respect private property, when it does not exceed $3000.; more than that; we think is smugled.—The King’s Sealfinally, he observed; your officers & men, nowon board here, shall fare, as we do, & we are 6 on 4. well, Sir, we have abundant provisions on board the prise, if you’l permit, I’l send some by the boat that returns with me; certainly said he, & it shall be kept for them exclusively, while they are on board this ship,—I have put a prise master & crew on board your ship, & ordered her for St.Johns; & I shall visit that coast, in 8 or 10 days, & will then, send up your officers & crew, I will now send you on board, I have charged the prise master, not to intefere with,” but, to conform to, your regulations, in your Cabin, &c &c.A Prisoner of WarI return’d on board, & we made sail for St.Johns as ordered;—I found the prise Master a very pleasant man, & all things went on pleasantly; but by adverse winds, we were 6 days before we arrived at St.Johns.—it was evening when we arrived; the next morn” I was taken on shore, & conducted before the Port Admiral, Sir John Thomas Duckworth; after he had made enquiries, relative to my voyage, capture &c &c; he told me, that I had the liberty of the town, provided, I choose to take up my residence on shore, or, I had the liberty of remaining on board the ship—but could not have excess, to the ship, & shore both.—I finally told him, that I wou’d like to remain on board the ship, untill my officers & men were sentin, after which, I wou’d like to come on shore.—Accordingly, I returned to the ship, where, I was allowed the same use of my cabin, & provisions, as formally, in 4 days, my officers & crew, were sent in, & on board the ship, we were again altogether, & as we had remaining of our sea stock, a shoat, of about 60 lb, I ordered it dressed, & a good dinner provided for, all hands, of which I pertook; & the next day, took up my residence on shore, at, prisiners Hall, so called, where there were about 20, Masters & supecargoes, prisinners, like myself.—I found, that there were 27 American vessells, in port, as prises, the Port Admiral, had given liberty to the Supergaroes, & Gentlemen passengers to leave; & git home, at there own expence; and provided, they went away altogether, he would give them a protection, against capture by the English—as I had two Brothers, on board my ship, Josiah, & E. C. Crosby, the Idea struck me, that it wasposible, that I might git liberty, to send the latter, a meer boy, home by the same chance, for they had already purchas’d a small vessell, & was then fitting her out.—I accordingly drafted a request, to Sir John, stating, in as feeling a manner, as I was capable, the inconsolibility of their Parents &c &c, and waited upon the old Gentleman with it, in person; He looked it over attentively;looked up at me, & said Yes, Yes, Mr Cobb, send him home to his parents, & I wish I cou’d say the same to you all I accordingly, made preparations for sending the boy home.—I wrote to my family by him, and also, stitched 20 peices of Spanish Gold, into a plaid, which he put into his neck hankerchief, & their wore it, night & day, untill he got home, took it from his neck, & gave it to his Aunt.—6 days, after this vessell had saild; we were greeted, at a very early hour in the morn”, with the sound, “an american,cartile[5]Flaggflying in the harbour,—We were soon, into the Town, & learned, that a ship had arrived, during the previous night, under the command of an american officer, with a cartile flag; that the officer had then gone, to report himself, to the port Admiral,—we, fourthwith repaired to a noted Coffee house, where the American officer soon arrived.An Exchange of PrisonersAltho” we were all strangers, he cordially took us by the hand, as americans, and told us, that he was 2dLeut,” of the American Frigage C—s[6]Capt.Porter that ship, in the harbour; was the British Sloop of War Elert, prize to the C—s, and that, through the impertunity of the British Capt., she had been sent in, by Capt.Porter, with her officers & crew, all on board, to be exchanged, for the same number of Americans.—But, said the officer, I have cause to fear, that I may be a prisiner with you, for, said he, I left the old Admiral, in a violent rage, at Capt.Porters proceedings, of making a cartile, on the high seas. the officer told him, he had no terms to make, his orders, from Capt.Porter, was, to lay there 24 hours, & if the terms were not complied with, to proceed on to America, with the Prise & her Crew, or, be yourprisinner, said he, as I’m in your power, however, in a few minuits, a note was received from the old Admiral, saying, that upon a re-perusual of Capt.Porters dispatches, he found that thehonor, of the British officer was pledg’d, for the fulfilling of the contract, & as he knew his government, always redeem’d the pledges of their officers; he wou’d receive the officers & crew of Ellert, he wou’d give in exchange, every American prissiner in port (& there were 2 to 1) & that we must be off in 24 hours.Now, commenced a Scene of confusion, and bussle; the Crew of the cartile was soon landed,and the Americans as speedily took possession, & the next morn”, at about the suns rising, we weighed the anchors of theEllert, left the harbour of St.Johns, and made sail for New York, with 246 Americans on board.—We came on, without falling in, with any floating object, untill we were in the Longitude of the South shoal of Nantucket when saw a topsail Schooner, running off S. Easterly, upon which we fired, & brought her two; she hoisted Sweedish colours, & lay bye, untill we boarded her; We found she was from Boston, bound for the West Idies, and gave us the pleasing account of the American Frigate, theConstitution, having captured the, British Frigate theGarreire,This intilligence was communicated to theEllert, by the boarding officer, and in quick time, her yards were manned & three cheers were given, which might have been heard miles.—two days after, we arrived in New York, and dispersed to our several places of residence.—I took passage with my two mates, & Josiah Crosby, in a Schooner forBass River, we reached the river about the suns setting, & being but about 6 miles from my family, I could not feel willing to sleep without seeing them—consequently myself, & my 1st.mate,Mr.Berryeach hired a Saddle horse, & started for Brewster, and I reachd.my dwelling, & gave aknock, at your G. Mothers, sleeping room window,the same I now occopy, about 12[o:]Clock. x x x x it may perhaps amuse my dear G. Childen, if I turn back to the time of my arrival, a prisoner, at St.Johns, a circomstance then took place, connected with my knocking at the window, as abovePetition to the Port AdmiralI learned, on my arrival in St.Johns, that the Port Admiral, Sir J. T. Duckworth, had given liberty, to the American Supercargoes & passenger, to purchase a vessel, & git home at their own expence, & he wou’d give them a protection from British Cruseirs; & as I had on board, two Brothers, Josiah & E. C. Crosby, thelatter, quite a lad; the Idea struck me, thatposibly, by application, I might obtain liberty to send the boy home, by this conveyance; for they had already purchased a small vessell & were then fitting her for sea—I accordingly drafted a petition; applying pritty strongly to the old Gentlemans feelings, in behalf of the disconsolate Parents &c &c, and presented it myself—after perusing the petition; the old Gen” rested his head in his hand, for a few moments, and looked up very kindly in my face, saying Yes, Yes, Mr.Cobb,send him home to his Parents& I wish I felt at liberty to send every American in port home.—This, wou’d give me an oppertunity of informing my Family of my capture,of sending some money, spared me by the captors; and grattifiing my relatives by sending home their beloved son.I accordinly fixed him away; making a plaid for his neckhankercheif, with 24 Dubloons in Gold amounting to $384 dollars, which thedear childput round his neck, in my room, in St.Johns & did not take it off, untill in my house, in the presencs of his Aunt; and after having delivered my letters &c—This happened, at about 8[o:]Clock on the same evening I arrived at Bass revir—well’, at 12[o:]Clock, as before stated I knowked at the Winder.It appears she had been reperusing my Lengthy letter, Amegining & revolving in mind all the horrows of my situation in an English prisin,after she had been in bed, & had not been asleep, when I know’d at the Window.Who is there! said she—it is I, said I—well’, what do you want; to come in; for what said she; before I cou’d answer, I heard my daughter D., who was in bed with her say,why, Mar it is Par, this was aneogh, the doors flew open, and the greetings of affection & consanguinity multiplied upon me rapidly.End of the VoyageThus, in a moment was I transported to thegreatest earthly bliss, man can injoy, viz to the injoyment of the happy family circil.To fall of 1812—checkerboard designTheforegoing was written by Gen Elijah Cobb during the Year 1843, with the intention of completing, but the state of his health prevented.He remained at home from 1812 to 1815 or 1816, when he made several voyages to Europe in the Ship ‘Paragon’ built for him, and considered at the time one of the finest ships of her day.In 1818 & 1819 he made two voyages to Africa in the Ship “Ten Brothers,” taking with him on the first voyage, his son Freeman.The second voyage, there was much sickness of a contagious character, and the ship on her return was sunk at the end of the wharf to prevent contagion in the city of Boston.[7]He left the sea in 1820, and after that time remained in Brewster, Mass. filling the various civil offices of Town Clerk, Treasurer, Inspector General,Representative and Senator, and Justice of Peace & Quoram, also the military rank of Brigadier General.He was a strong supporter of the Universalist church of the town, in whose doctrines he took much interest.He was tall & straight of fine figure his face very pleasant to look upon. He loved children and was loved by them. Distinguished for his sterling integrity as well as talent loved and respected by all who knew him, he died at the age of eighty. “May our end be like his.”His body & that of his wife lie in the new cemetery, Brewster.E. W. C.[8]Brewster June 19, 1857

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

The following Biographical sketch; with a few of the incidents of my life, are committed to paper, for the gratification, and amusement of my beloved Grand-children. Considering the advanced age of the writer, on the brink of 75, it must be expected, there will be imperfections, of various kinds—the old mans trembling hand is conspicuous at first sight—but even that, may interest, when the reader reflect, that the hand which pen’d these lines, is now mouldering in Dust.

Inthe year 1802, I was in Yarmouth, a sea port, in the East of England; and by one of those casual events of life, was favoured with an interview with an aged Gentleman, a Port admiral, by the name of Isaac Cobb—lea[r]ning, that I was an American, and my name Cobb, he expressed a desire to know the names of my ancestors, as far back as I could recolect; I could only give him, to my great Gr.Father Jonathan Cobb—he then told me, that it was clear to him, that my ancestor originated from Harwich in England, that he had been at the seat, where he was born, many times,—thatSilvanus Cobb, had 4 sons. viz Jonathan, Eleazer, Silvanus, & Benjamin, that the two first named embarked for America in the May Flower[1]that Silvanus followed them some 2 or 3 years after; & that Benjamin remained with his Father untill he died, & then followed his Brothers to America.

He then produced a very lengthy Biography of several generations, & read many particulars of the Cobb families, and among them—that Jonathan, son of Silvanus, setled upon Cape Cod—Eleazer, somewhat further westward—& Silvanus, some distance north of Boston—and that I was, no doubt, a decendant from Jonathan.

The old gentlemen ordered his secretary, to make a copy, of such parts of the biography, as related to my ancestry, but circomstances obliged me leave, before I received it.

So much for Admiral Cobb.

Ancestry

I remember, perfectly well, when I had five Grand Parents alive, 4 on my Fathers side, & one, on my Mothers—viz. my Great G’d Father & g’d Mother Cobb—my Grand Father & g’d Mother Cobb, & my G’d Mother Freeman, my Mothers Mother, I cannot trace my ancestry beyond myGreat g’d Father Cobb—there were three, of his family, which I perfecty remember—viz. Jonathan, Eleazer, & Benjamin—the female part, I have no knowledge of—my G’d Fathers family consisted of 10 children, 6 sons, & 4 daughters, viz Elijah, Scottow, Isaac, John, Seth, Elkanah, Mary, Sally, Hannah, Betsey—my Grandmother Freemans name was Mary, she was Sister to Revd.Nathl.Stone the first ordained Minister in this Town, then Harwich—she married Barnabus Freeman, of eastham, he was a sea Captain, & died at about 40 years of age—my mother, was their only child, & was only 12 years old when her Father died—at 17 she marreid my Father, Scottow Cobb, their family consisted of 6 children, viz. Huldah, Barna, Elijah, Reliance, Judith, & Sally—three, have already paid the debt of nature; & the united ages of the three alive, is 224 years.

My Father persued a seafaring life for subsistance; was Master of a Brig, & died on his passage from Cadiz to Quebec, in the 33dyear of his age—leaving my Mother with 6 infant children, the oldest but 10 years of age, and the youngest, born after Father left home, the last time,—For the support of this helpless flock; was a small cape cod farm, a small house & barn, and one cow—I haveheard my Mother say, that she never received 100$ for my Fathers effects—

Under such circomstances; it was not posible to keep the family together—to support & educate them, with the means in her power, was out of the question—some of us, must leave the perternal dwelling & seek subsistance among strangers—my Bror., being the Elder, was tried first, but wou’d not stay, & came home crying—I was then, in my 6thyear, & altho” too young to earn my living, a place was offered me, & I left my dear mother for that subsistance among strangers which she could not procure for me.

I continued from my Mother, except at times visiting her, untill in my 13th.year, when by an imprudent attempt, to lift beyond my strength, I broke a vessell in my stomack, which entirely disenabled me; and I was sent home to my Mother, incapable of labour of any kind.

I remained with her; under the care of a skilfull Docter, about a year, when he advised me, to be sent to sea, as the best method to regain my health.

Seeks a Voyage

Accordingly, in the fall of 1783, I was fitted out for Boston, to look for a voyage—My whole wardrobe, was packed in a gin case, for a trunk; a tow bedsack, filled with rye straw, & a pair of,home-made, blankets, for sleeping appuratis, with two bushels of corn, to pay my passage to Boston—and acquipted thus, I left the family circle, with buoyant sperits and in full confidence that I should work myself thro” life, with honour & credit—I embarked, at Skaket, in a small Schooner of only 25 Tons, called theCreture; & after going into Provinctown, & laying there during a gale of wind, we reached Boston, in about three days.

At the time, I am speaking of, there were more men, than could readily find employ, & frequently, the best of seamen, were distitute of voyages—several of our neighbouring young men, had been to Boston, that fall, previous to my leaving home, & had returned without giting employ, they told my Mother, that I would only spend the two bushels of corn, & return to her without giting a voyage—but their predictions were set at naught; for the first time I went down the long wharf, & stood gazeing at a new vessell, wondering, & admiring her monstrous size, her great cables & anchors &c—a gentleman stept from her deck & thus accosted me! My lad, do you want a voyage—. Yes Sir—will you go with me in this vessell—where are you bound Sir—to Siranam—I am told Sir, that all flesh die, that go there—well my boy, to prove, that you have not been toldthe truth, I have been there 13 voyages, & you see I’m alive yet—well Sir, I should like to go, what wages will you allow me—do you know how to cook—not much Sir, but I can soon learn—well my boy, if you think so, I presume you will, I like your candour & will take you, & give you the customary wages of a boy; half of Seamens wages $3.50 prmonth, but you must go immediately on board, & git dinner for the men at work—& thus I commenced my duty as cook & cabin Boy.

When the men broke off work, at night, they all went away; the Capt.then asked me, where my bed & cloaths were—I told him, on board the creture, in town dock—well, you must go & git them, & I’ll keep ship untill you return, you must sleep on board to night—who else will sleep on board—nobody, there is no one belongs to the vessell, except you & myself—not liking the idea of sleeping on board alone, I took the liberty of asking him, where his mate was—he said, he had not got one yet—I told him, Igessed, I knew a good man, that would like to go—who is he—I said, My Uncle, who came up, in the creture to look for a voyage—has he ever been mate—Yes Sir, & prise mastre too, in the war—well, you go after your things, & if you see your Uncle, ask him to come down & see me, in the morning when I got onboard the creture, my Uncle was there, and by way of a reprimand, asked, where I had been all day—why Uncle, said I, I have shipped myself, & I beleive I have got a voyage for you also.

Voyage to Surinam

To make a short story, my Uncle went down in the morning, & shipped & went the voyage.—I then wrote to my Mother, that I had got a voyage for myself & Uncle, & if those young men would come to Boston before I sailed, I would ship them off, rather than have them stay at home Idle, & upon expense all winter.

The vessell was soon loaded, & we went to sea—my inexperienc, & being very sea-sick, for a while, rendered my situation very unpleasant, but I soon surmounted those deficulties; & began to injoy my new mode of life; after the opperation of David Jones’s medecine (sea-sickness) I felt my health improved, & by the time we arrived in Surinam, I felt quite well, and I found I was able to give pritty good satisfaction in my line of duty.

My perticular attention to the officers, procured me some presents, by wh I was enabled to purchase a Barrel of molasses, & some fruit, for an adventure back to Boston.

Nothing meterial took place, during the remainder of the voyage, worth noting; we returned to Boston in the spring of 1784, discharged ourcargo, mollases, was paid our wages & seperated, each to home. My wages amouted to 21$, & by the sale of my bbl of Molases, & some my fruit, I was enabled to git myself a new suit of sailors cloaths, from the Slopshop, & carried home, & put into my Mothers hands, 20 silver Dollars—probably, the largest sum of money she had possesd.since she had been a widow—& that, from her poor little sick Boy—her tears flowed freely, upon the occasion, but they were tears of gratitude to our heavenly Father, for his mercies to her child, in permitting his return home, in the injoyment of so much better health, than he left it—my own feelings, upon the occasion, can be better imagined than discribed.

I tarried at home but a short time, before I returned to Boston, in persuit of employ; & spent the summer, with a Capt.Lombard, in the coasting business. In the fall I shipped, as a common sailor, & made several voyages to the W. Idies—returning from a voyage, in Decr.1786, I was informed that my Brother, had fallen from mast-head, in the Delaware Bay, had Broken both his legs, one thigh, & put out of joint, one shoulder—and was then, in the Pensalvinia hospital, with one leg amputated.

The Season was then so far advanced, that thenavigation, was about closing with Ice, consequently, I was compelled to relinquish my visit, to my unfortunate Brother, untill the spring opened the navigation.

Prehaps you will ask! why, G’d Father did not go on by land—but, my dear G. children, the mode of traveling then, was quite different from now, we had no railroads, no, steam conveyance, and scarcly, a carriage—even the mail, was carried upon horses—a stage coach was not known—

Brotherly Love

I consequently, engaged a birth, for the spring, with my uncle John Cobb, in the employ of BenjaCobb & Sons, of Boston, in the Philadelphia trade, went home, & attended School, about 2 months, when I was call’d upon, to go on to Boston by land to join the vessell. I accordingly started, in company with 3 others, for the same object, & walked to Boston. We there joined the vessell, loaded her, & saild for Philadelphia—on our arrival, I procured a permit, as soon as posible, & visited my poor Brother in the hospital—affectionate Brothers & Sisters, can better imagine, our feelings at meeting, than I can discribe it—suffice it to say, he was not well anough, to leave the hospital then, but t’was thought he wou’d be, by our next trip—our trips, only took up about a month, & accordingthe next time, he came on with us to Boston, & I sent him home to our Mother.

I continued in the employ of B. C. & Sons, about a year, when they premoted me to the office of mate—and in that capacity I served them, under many different captains, between 6 & 7 years, untill I felt myself qualifid.to command a vessel, & seeing no disposition on their part to indulge me, I left the employ; went to Baltimore, & made two voyages to Europe, in the capacity of 1st.mate of a ship—after which, I returned to Boston; and got the command of a Brig, in the employ of Edwd.& Willm.Reynolds—

Captured by the French

After making several voyages, to Virginia, & one to the West Idies; in April 1793, I went to the cape, & got married; I was then in my 25th.year—. I continued in the employ of the Messrs.Reynolds’s; principally in the virginia trade, about two years longer, when they concluded to send me, on a voyage to Europe—their object was, to cadiz; but at that time, the algerines were at war with America; & it was reported, that their crusiers were outside of the streights of Gibaralter—in consequence, it was recommended that I should clear my vessell for Curruna, a northern port in spain, and there essertain, whether it would be safe, to proceed to Cadiz—I was however, sparedthe trouble of enquirry, by falling in, with a French Frigate, who capturd, & sent me to France. x x x x & here commences my first trouble & anxiety, as a ship Master—having under my charge, a valuable vessell & cargo, inexperienced in business—carried into a foreign port, unacquainted with the language, no American consel, or merchant to advise with—and my reputation, as a ship master, depending upon the measures I persued &c &c.

The time, that I arrived in France, was during the french Revolution, and in thebloodyreign of Robertspeire—all was arnachy & confusion—the galliotine, in continual opperation, & their streets & publick squars, drenched with human blood—I minuted down, 1000 persons, that I saw beheaded, by thatinfernalmachine; and probably saw, as many more, that I did not note down, men, women, preists & laymen, of all ages—and finally, before I left the country; I saw Robertspeirs head taken off, by the same Machine—But, to return to my induvidual, and embarised affairs—all my papers, relative to my ship & voyage, had been taken from me, on board the Frigate, at sea; I concluded they were put in possession of the prise Master, who brought me in, but he, was not to be found; neither could I find any clue to my papers,and without them, I could not prove, any demand for redress upon the government, for their violation of our neutrality—it was true, my vessel was there; but her cargo, Flour & Rice, was taken out, & was daily made into bread, soups, &c &c, for the half starved, populace—and without papers, I could not, even substanciate my claim to an empty ship—they meerly condecended, to send me to a Hotell, to board; & those of my ships crew, that were sent in with me, were also, provided for.

In this very unpleasant perdicerment I remained about six weeks—I had, however, in that time, written to the american charge des affairs at Paris, & received an answer, but it contained nothing definite, he regreted my situation, & that of my countrymen generally, in France, & that it was owing to the disorganized state of affairs in the country; and that, I must exercise patiance, & the government wd.do what was right in time.

In about six weeks, as before observed, I was called upon, at my lodgings, by an officer, of the tribunal of commerce, bringing, a copy of the judgment, of said tribunal, upon my vessel and cargo, & a linguister to explain it to me.

Thus, had they tried me, & passed sentance without my hearing, or even knowing that I wason trial—but, in that way, all business was managed in France at that time.

The decision of the tribunal, was, however, so favourable, that it gave a spring to my feelings, & a sensation that gave new life.

A Promise to Pay

They declared, my vessell & cargo, to be new-trial property; & that, as the cargo was atmydisposition, I should be paid for it, by the government, at the prices that might be fixed upon, by myself & the agent of the government, and an adequate endemnification, for my capture, detention, expenditures &c &c

I was then waited upon, to the agent of marine, to sell my cargo; when it is presumed, there was not a pound, of the flour, or rice in existance—and after battleing, in words, three days in succession, we fixed the prices, as follows, viz—Flour $16.50, & Rice $5.50—this, was a good begining, being over 200 prcent on the invoice.

but a long altercation now insue’d, relative to the payment—money, was out of the question, for if they had it, to pay, there was a law against bringing it away from the country—goods, also, were out of the question, as well as bills on England or America—finally, I agreed to take, government Bills of exchange, on Hamburg, payable 60 days after date, and was promised, by theAgent; that I should have my bills, in 12 or 14 days—I waited patiently a month, but no bills came; & finding that no confidence could be placed in their promises, & feeling doubtfull, as to obtaing any thing for my Cargo; I thought it advisable to send my vessell home, under charge of the mate—consequently, I ballased her, & sent her away; writing to my owners, that I was determd.to persevere, untill I obtained satisfaction.

My mind being releived, from seing my vessell laying Idle, & at great expense; I came to the determination of going to head quarters, Paris—but many deficulties were to be surmounted, in order to attain this object—1st.the road was dangerous to travail; the adherents of royalty, were reduced to mere scurmaging parties, that committed their depradations under cover of the night, in solitary places, upon travellers, & the peaceble inhabitants—and as all horses were taken into requisition by the government, except those that conveyd.the national dispatches; there was no other mode of travelling; and it was conterary to law, for them to take a passengers—but my mind was fixed upon going, as the only chance of ever accomplishing my business with the French government. I therefore called upon the Minister of Marine, & got an official copy, of my demands on the government,and had them recorded (a precautionary measure) as I had lea[r]ned, that loseing a mans papers, was one of their methods of procrastination, to keep far off a settlement.

After this, I procured an interpreter, & waited uponJean Con. St.Andre, a man, holding high offices under the Government, & reported to be, favourably disposed to Americans—to him I made known my situation—the treatment I had received, the praplexity I was in—& the necessity of going to Paris—& praying him, not only to grant me a pasport, but to grant a special permitt, to one of the Coureirs, to carry me there—after a long demur, with himself, & repeatedly feeling of his neck, to see how it would bear the knife; he returned a favourable reply—viz. that I must call upon him the next day, when he would make the necessary arrangments &c

On to Paris

Accordingly, in two days, I was underway for Paris, in one of the national coureirs with government dispatches, the Master of which, did not speak one word of English, & myself, but a few words of French, of course, we were notverysociable—we were furnished, each with a pair of pistals, with a blunderbus, loaded, in front, our carraige, was musquet shot proof, except in front; drove, by a postilion outside with from 5, to 9horses, according to the road, which at best, was very indifferent.

And thus we drove on, Jehu like, without stoping, except to exchange horses, & mail; taking occasionally, as we run, a mouthfull of bread, and washing it down, with some low prised, red Burgendy wine—as to sleep, I did not git one wink during the journey, of 684 miles. Butla maitre de les despach, would sleep, during the day, pitching about the carriage, for the roads were very rough, to my very great anoyance—but, during the night, his anxiety kepthimawake, through fear, altho” we had a guard, of, from 12 to 24, mouted horsmen each night, from sunset, to sunrise, to preceed, & follow—and as a demonstration, that the precaution was necessary, on the 2dmorning, after leaving Brewst, just before our gaurds left us, we witnessed a scene, that filled us with horrow.—the remains, of a Coreir, laying in the road, the Master, the Postilion, & 5 horses laying dead, & mangled by it, & the mail mutalated & scatered in all directions. We were informed, afterwards, that the Coureir, was without an gaurd, that the evening previous; there was an alarm in the visinity, that had called out, all their fources to supress, consequently, at the last stage, there was none to supply; & it was death by law,for national despatches to stop, therefore, the Master proceeded, without a guard, and met the fate, as discribed.

The next night, at about sun-setting we came to a stage, where we expected to receive our guard, & there was none for us, however, the next stage, was only five miles, & not considered very dangerous; we therefore proceeded on, atho” not without great anxiety; & preparation of our fire arms, in case of an attact.

A Word of English

In the very neat village of Alan[‘c]on, in Normondy, I had the first, & only, word of English, sporken to me, during the journey, we stopped to exchange horses & mail, when theMaitre, as usual, was called to an account for having a passenger, & a foreigner too, in the Coureir; and while he was making his justification, shewing pasports &c; a man in a tattered uniform, came up to the door of the Carraige, & reaching out his hand, said in quite good english; for the love of God, my dear Sir, do permitt me to shake hands, with one, who comes from that country, where, thegreat, and beloved Washington resides—he only had time to say, ‘that he went to America with, la Fayettee, and had the honour of having served under thebest man God ever made, even the great Washington.

Nothing interesting took place untill we reached Paris. It was at 4[o:]Clock, of a beautifull June morning, that the Carriage stopped before the gate of Hotel de Boston, & the bell rung, having been just 74 hours from the gates of Brest—during which time, I had not lost myself in sleep, taken nothing warm upon my stomack, nor used water, upon either hands or face—thus covered with dust, & exhausted with fateague; I was received by the Porter, conveyed to a chamber, providd.with washing apparatus, where I soon freed myself from dust, applied clean linnen, and enscons’d myself in an excellent Bed, saying to myself,soul take thine ease in sleep—but, it appeared, that sleep had departed from me, I laid untill the clock struck 10, without being able to obtain a doze, & then rose, & attended, thro” the day, to finding out a train of my business, through the American Consul &c, retired to Bed again at 9[o:]Clock, heard the Clock strike 12, and knew nothing after, untill 11[o:]Clk the next day; when awoke, feeling like myself again; although I slept very sound the next night, for 9 hours without awaking.

Hope Deferred

After essertaining where to apply, my first object of attention was, to scearch for my Accounts,sent on from Brest—the result was, they denied, at all the offices, ever having received them, or heard of such a Brig, as the Jane, nor of her comander, Capt.Cobb—well, “as I before observed, I prepared for this event, before I left Brewst; by procuring a copy of my Accounts &c &c, accordingly I laid an official set before them, and thus introducing theJane, & her commander—I was told, to call the next day, & they would let me know, when my Bills wou’d be ready. I therefore, was obliged to exercise patiance & wait; but when I called the next day, my papers were not to be found in the office—no one had put them away, no one could tell any thing about them—and finally, after a long French jabber, it was concluded, that they must have been left upon the counter, brushed off, & burned, among the lose papers.

This was too much, for my already perplexed, agitated, mind. I knew of no way, but to write back to Brest, for another set—& they, probably, woud.meet the same fate, as the two preseeding ones had. I was now fully conveinced, that the whole was designed, for the purpose of procrastination & putting off pay day as long as possible—but it was a severe trial for me, in my inexperienced state. Iconsulted with our consul; & with our Minister at the court of France, but the only satisfaction was; git another set of papers, & we will guard against another loss—

While seting, with writing meterials before me in my chamber, in the act of writing for another set of papers—a French gentleman, who occopied the next room, & who spoke good English, passed my door; I asked him in, & related to him my greivances—after he had thought for a few moments; he advised me, to endevour to obtain an interveiw with Roberspeire, & make known to him my greivances; assuring me that he was partial to Americans, & had no doubt, but he would give me such advice as would be servicable to me—But, I asked, will he, the leader of this nation, condesend to listen to a private induvidual, & interpose, in meely, a commercial transaction—yes, if the business is managed right, I am confident he will. But, how shall I obtain an interveiw—simply by writing him a billet yourself, in the republican stile, an American cetizen, to citizen Roberspeire, & send it by a servant of the Hotel, requesting an interview upon business.

Interview with Robespierre

After duly considering upon the subject, I wrote the following, & sent it by servant.

An American citizen, captured by a French Frigate on the high seas, requests, a personal interveiw; & to lay his greivances before citizens Roberspeire.Very respectfullyE. Cobb

An American citizen, captured by a French Frigate on the high seas, requests, a personal interveiw; & to lay his greivances before citizens Roberspeire.

Very respectfullyE. Cobb

In about an hour, I received the following note, in his own hand writing.

I will grant Citizen Cobb an interveiw to morrow at 10 A M.Roberspeire

I will grant Citizen Cobb an interveiw to morrow at 10 A M.

Roberspeire

This, gave a spring to my feelings, and banished that depression which had held me in chains, for some days previous. I was puntual to the time—sent my name up, & was admitted into the presence of the great man. He pointed me to a seat without speaking; there was one man, only, in the Hall, an enterpreter, who told me that, Citizen Roberspeire whished me, to commince my relation, at the time of my capture, and to tell the whole, up to this time—I accordingly proceeded; and, thro” the interpreter, related my Capture & treatment, up to that time—upon my closing the detail; with a waive of Roberspeires hand, the interpreter left the hall, and he, R—e, began conversing with me, in very good English, questioning me, upon some perticcular points, of the former conversation; butmore perticurly, about the loss of my papers, since I arrived in Paris—finally, he told me to call at an office, in Rue St.Honorie, called the office of the 2ddepartment, &demandmy papers, I told him, that I had been there repeatedly, & that I was forbid to enter the office again, upon my telling him that, he exclaimed.Sacra coquin—go, said he, to that office, & tell cetizen F. T., that you came from R—e, and if he does not produce your papers, & finish your businessimmediately, he will hear from me again, in a way not so pleasing to him. Observing at the same time, that he regreted thathis nameshould be made use of, in a mercantile transaction, but that my case, absolutely demanded it.

I tendered my greatfull thanks for his services, & left him; after receiving his injunctions, to call & let him know how I succeeded—I went direct to the aforesd.office; and, by the previledge of making use of Roberspeirs name, I was kindly recd.an opology made, for former abuses, and my business compleated the next day—but as my exchanges were drawn, payable sixty days after date, & the tribunal had decred, demurage &c, untill I received my Bills, I refused to receive them in Paris, as my pay wou’d then stop, but insisted on their being sent to the agent in Brest agreable tocontract—my object was, not to receive them untill 12 or 15 days before they were due, consequently I remained in Paris about 3 weeks after my bills were sent to Brest. and during that time, the great man, who had so assentially befreinded me, was beheaded by the Galliotine.

Various Pleasant Towns

This event, very meterially changed the aspect of affairs in France; my exchanges, which before, I could have readily sold at par value, now, would not bring 50cts.on the dollar—this induced me, to go on to Hamburg with them myself & know the result; and having a desire to see more of the country, & could travell, principally, at the expence of the nation, having full time, before my bills wou’d become due—I took my seat in the accomodation stage for Burdeaux, visited that City, tarried 5 days, again started, visited Nantes, Loreong,[2]& various pleasant towns in La Vanda,[3]& arrived at Brest, 20 days before my bills were due.

The agent of Merine, expressed a little disapprobation at my not calling before for my Bills, having had them about 20 days—but I setled with him, quite amicably; and found a small vessell, bound direct for Hamburg, in her, I secured apassage, & embarked 3 days after. We had a long passage, but I arrived the next day after my bills became due.

Welcome Advice

And here, I will relate, one of those casual events, which frequently take place, to the benifit of man—the vessell in which I took passage, stopped at Gluxstad, a town on the river Elbe, about 30 miles below Hamburg; the Captain & myself went on shore, & engaged a carraige to take us up to the City; but night overtaking us before we reached it, the gates were shut & we could not enter (the gates were always shut at sunsetting, & upon no occasion, were opened untill sun-rise) consequently, we turned back, about a mile, to the Danish city of Altony, where put up for the night, at a famous Hotel, & there I found a number of american ship Masters merchants &c; at the supper table, various questions were asked me, by which they learned that I was from France, that I came as a passenger; but I discovered that curiosity waswide awaketo know my business—I, however, thought proper, to keep that to myself; having my fears, relative to my Bills—after riseing from the supper table, a gentleman came to me, & asked me into his room; being seated; he introduced himself as follows.—I am Sir, an american, from New York, my name is Loyle, I noticed the curiosityof our countrymen, at the supper table, to know your business; & Sir, I was pleased to notice your prudent reservation, upon the subject—I do not ask you; but conjecture what it is, and if it is, as I think; I can be of service to you, by way of advice, probably.—my conjecture is, that you have French government Bills on their agent in Hamburg; if so, I advise you, to let no man know it, but go & present your demands, in person; otherwise, they will be protested; for their agent De çhapeaurouge, has already been prosecuted, for paying French claims, I think, therefore, if you conveince him, that no one but yourself, is privy to the transaction, that he may pay them. I tended to Mr.Loyle my thanks, for his information & left him, and the next morning, I entered the city, and by enquiry soon found the office of the said agent, & presented my Bill—he cast his eye upon it, without speaking, then gave me a very scrutenizing look, & said, how came you in possession of this draft—I received, Sir, from M. V. la Fontaine, Minister of Marine at Brest—did you receive it in person, or thro” other hands—I received it myself—has it been in your possession ever since—it has—who are your freinds in this city—I have none, nor even a corispondent, nor ever was in the city before, &, Sir, your office, is thefirst, & only building I ever entered in Hamburg,—where did lodge last night—I now told him, that I came a passenger from Brewst, that the vessell stopped at Gluxstaad, that I landed & hired a carriage to bring me to Hamburg, that we were too late to enter the city last night, that the driver landed me in Altona, at Lants’s Hotel, where I lodged & Breakfasted this morn”, that I came alone into the city, & by enquiry had found his office—He then observed, it is an unusual mode of negociating bills, it is generally done thro” some resident merchant, especially by a stranger, like yourself—I told him, that in so simple a transaction, as that of presenting a draft for acceptance, I felt myself competant to the task, and thereby save paying a commission—well, ‘said he you have acted discreetly, took a pen & wrote accepted, across the face of the Bill—He then said; your money is ready for you; but this draft, must not go out of my hands again; for if it does, it never will be paid by me.

This embarrassed me extreemly; what could I do, with 40,000 crowns in silver, in my situation, an entire stranger, in a strange City.

After a moments reflection, I said to him, will you, Sir, give me your due bill, & allow me to receipt the draft—certainly, said he, I will; and accordingly,it was done. This, I knew, was exchanging the obligation, of a great & powerfull nation, for that of a private induvidual; but I thought, that circomstances justified the Act.

I then asked him, if he would name to me, a house of entertainment, frequented by Americans, & he ordered a servant to conduct me to Lilbons Hotel—and thus closed the important interveiw with De’ chapeaurouge; & I found hisdue Bill, as good as Cash.

The Ways of Providence

Thus, how fortunate the circomstance of my interveiw with Mr.Loyle—but for his kind information & advice, I shou’d, no doubt, have put my draft, into the hands of the American Consul for collection; the consequence would have been, a protest; and another tour to France, to seek redress. And all this saved, by the Gates being shut before I reached them. How often, my dear Grand Children, do we repine and murmer, when disappointment, affliction, and trouble come upon us; & even distrust the goodness of our Heavenly Father; when we, very frequently, afterwards, realize that it was for our good.

It was somewhat so with me, I felt, very much put out, at the gates being shut, & chided the driver for his dilatoryness, when he knew the city gates closed at sun-sett—but this very circomstance,was the means, of freeing my mind from a burden, which had weighed it down for months,—it was the means of a happy, and prosperous termination of my labourous voyage—for nothing now remained to be done, but to remitt the funds to T. Dickerson & Sons, London; & to take passage for Boston myself, & give an account of my stewardship to my employers. And all this, I could do, with bouyant sperits, having made them an excellent voyage.

I was not long in closing my business in Hamburg, & took passage for Boston in the ship Warren, Capt.Hodgkins, where we safely arrived after a passage of 54 days.

My arrival, gave great relief to my owners, for, from the accounts they had from France, they doubted the validity of my Bills on Hamburg, & expected I wou’d have to return to France.—

The fortunate close of this tedious voyage, and my return; being the first instance of the kind, under the then state of things in France, produced, no small, excitement among the merchants of Boston, who had property in France; and applications was continually made to me, for all the whys & wherefores, relative to the fortunate result of my business; and the consequence was, it added greatly to my fame, as a ship master.

Another Voyage to France

Another voyage was immediately planed, by my owners for France, & I was only allowed a very few days, to visit my family,—although, our first child (now Aunt Sampson) was but 24 hours old when I left home—when I return’d, could say,my par. But short, endeed, was the time allotted me, for injoying the objects of my affection, I must leave them; and persue the road marked out, for obtaining that subsistance for myself & family, which nature required, and reason dictated.

After staying at home 4 days only, I returned to Boston, fitted out my vessel, & sailed for Alexandria, & there purchased a cargo of Flour & sail’d for France—on my arrival in Harvre de grace; I found that government purchased all the flour that came to market Consequently, I sold my cargo to the governments agent, at 20 crows prbbl, under a promis, that I sho’d have my pay, in 40 days after delivery.

But I found, to my sorrow, that no confidence could be placed in their pledges; & that I was again subjected, to a tedious altercation with the agent & his government. After dancing attendance upon them about 2½ months, my vessell, at the same time, laying Idle & at a great expence, I again concluded to send her home, under chargeof the mate, & stay myself, & fight it out. Accordingly, I dispatchdthe Brig, & went on to Paris, prepared for the seige & expecting a long one.

In about two months more, I received, about one third of my demand, in Ingots of silver, & made a trip over to London, & deposited their amount with, Bird, Savage, & Bird; subject to my owners order—I then returned to France, and renewed my claim for the remainder.

And after about three months more of attendance, upon the government of France, I received the ballance due me; about 40,000 Crowns—here, probably, you will conclude that my anxiety terminated. But, on the conterary, it was, if posible, increased.

I had attained the object of 10 months contention with the french government—I had on hand, a fine voyage for my employers—but the great deficulty now was; how I should git the property out of France. There was a special law, against exportingspeciefrom the country,—exchanges were not to be obtained, in which my confidence coul’d be placed; my vessell gone, so that, investing in goods, was out of the question,—and 40,000 crowns in my sleeping chamber, brought there publickly, at noon day.

Thus situated, you may judge, whether mymind could be at ease—however, after having taken the necessary precautionary measures against robery, or theft; I went to work, & purchasdall theforeign GoldI could find; in order to git the value, into a smaller bulk, for the purpose of smuggling it out of France.

Brings Back Gold

After about two months; by my agents, in Paris & Roen, & my own, in Harvre de grace, I succeeded in converting my 40.000 crowns, into less than 3000 peices of gold, prinsapally, Spanis doubloons—this had been done, in as secret a manner, as posible.—I then, went to a village, about 3 miles, & ordered 2 leather belts made, of a sufficient size to hold 8 or 9 hundred peices, and after puting each peice, into a wrapper of silk paper, I stowed my belts, & stiched it, in such a manner, that there could be no motion of the peices—the two belts contained 1700 peices—the remainder, I made up into wads, of about 50 peices each, inveloped in paper, & cloth.

I then engage my passage for Boston, in the ship Caroline, CaptCutter, and after two or three days, the ship hauled out of the bason, and stopped opposite the custom house, and within Six rods of my Lodgings; having free exces to the ship, at all times, I soon decided, in my mind, how to dispose of my money, not, contained in the two belts;and in a short time, it was safely & secretly stowed away on board the ship. On the morning of the day, on which the ship was to sail, I made interest with the ships Steward, to put one of the Belts round his waist, by the promis of a guinia, & wear it, untill we were clear from the peir head, the other belt, I secured to my own person,—and thus curcomstanced I had to submitt to the scearch of 8 french officers at the head of whom, was an old experi-d.Scearcher, who strongly suspected that there was money on board.—But notwithstanding all, I got off clear with my money, and after a passage of 35 days, I had the satisfaction of delivering it to my owners in Boston.

On my return home, I found that my pertner, in lifes voyage, had run me in debt, for a cape Cod farm; and as the place was distitute of a suitable building, for the accommodation of our little family, it was thought advisable to proceed to errect one, the following season; I consequently, felt myself under the necesity of declining business, in the sea-faring line, and attend to that of a more domestic nature, for a while—I remained at home, from August 1798—untill Sept.1799—and, as the events of this year, are something remarkable, I will name a few of them.

This year 1799, the beloved Washington, theFather of our Country died,—this year, our first son was born—this year I took possession of the farm, built my house, and the family moved into it on new years day 1800.

In Octor.1799 I took charge of the Brig Mary, went to Savannah, in Georgia, from that to Lisbon, from thence to London, to Rotterdam, Copenhagen, St.Petersburg, and back to Boston—and performed the voyage, in 8 months & 4 days—

Commands the Monsoon

After remaining at home, a shot time, I received a letter, offering me the charge of a new ship called the Monsoon, I accordingly repaired to Boston & took charge of her—she was owned by the following company; Messr.Hayden & Baxter, Mr.Joshua Hall, & Jacob Tidd, they put on board a valuable Cargo, & ordered me to find a Market for it in some part of the north of Europe, but as I had, in the cargo, a quantity of American Rum, they recomended that I shou’d touch into Ireland, upon the supposition that if I cou’d obtain permission to land it that it would command a high price.

I accordingly made the best of my way for Cork, and after a passage of 26 days arrivd.at the Cove of Cork, this was meerly a harbour, & a village of a few thousand inhabitants—I landed &proceeded for the City, which was about 12 miles above; called upon the House of Jno.& Isaac Carrel & Co. to whoom I had a letter of introduction—they received me very politely, but doubted my obtaining permission to land the rum, even if I was willing to pay foreign duty. They, however, went with me to the custom house, to consult with the collector, who, I found was in favour of landing it; but dare not give permission, without consulting his superiors in office, and said he wou’d attend to it & essertain in a few days.

I returned on board my ship in the evening, & found her in possession of 3 custom house officers, seized, ship and Carg, with the Kings seal upon her hatches—when I enquired the cause, I found it was for having on board sperits, not of the growth & manufactory of the British plantations—I called upon the deputy collector who ordered the Seizure of the ship—& he appeared so pleasant upon the subject that I felt quite a releif. I consequntly return’d to the city, & called again upon the Collector,

In Ireland

He told me, I would have to applyin person, to the Admirallity of Dublin relative to the Seizure of the ship—& he at the same time he wou’d write them relative to landing the sperits. I consequntly, post’d of for the City of Dublin a journeyof about 200 miles, & arrived there without accident; much amused in traveling thro” the hart of Ireland, and observing the Irish people, in their symplicity of manners, and to appearance, almost, in a state of nature I called upon the board of Admirallity and after a lengthy investigation, & I employed council, twas found, that the ship & cargo, was forfeited to the crown, and was ordered fourthwith, to be advertid& sold at publick Auction—. It was (however) intimated to me (in private) this was intended as ashem, & that I wou’d have liberty, to buy ship & Cargo at my own price—& so it proved; for when I returned to Cork, I found the ship advertised, to be sold in 3 days, I appeard at the time & place, ship & cargo, with all appertunances, were set up together, to be sold for Cash down, some one, freindly to me, bid 2/6—I then bid 5s/. and the whole was struck off to me—and thus, I was again in possession of ship and Cargo,

Finding no prospect of obtaining permission to land the rum, I concluded to proceed elswhere for a Market for my Cargo, and was advised to try the Island of Geurnsey—& therefore applied to the custom House, to clear the ship, which was readily complied with; the collector, observed to me when about taking leave, Capt.Cobb, I mustconfess, I think your usage has been something rough here; and I shou’d not blame you, if you was to help yourself a little, in the way of smuggling.—no Sir said I, but wou’d you not be one of the first to make a prize of me therefor—oh said he, I shou’d have to do my duty—well Sir, said I, when youCatch’emyouHab’emGod blesse you said he, & thus we parted, and the next morn” I sail’d; matters were, however, so arrainged, that between the cove of Cork, & the Scilly Islands, that I hove overboard Eight hogheads of N. E. rum, and a pilot boat sheer’d along side, and hove on board a small bag, which I found contained 264 English guineas—and although I saw them pick up, & hoist on board the 8 hhds of rum,I was satisfied.

A Hurried Departure

I then proceeded for my Port of distination, Geurnsey, an Island in the channel of England, which had always been a free port, & a resort for Smugglars.—I anchord in the roads about the suns setting, & having a letter of introduction, from a friend in Cork, to a merchant there; altho” the hour was an improper one,the dusk of Eve”, to deliver a letter of introduction I took my boat & went on shore, being an entire stranger, I had to make enquiries—but finally, in about an hour, I found the Genm.to whom the letter was addressed,—herecd.me with politeness, and read the letter—I apologised for calling upon him, at so unseasonable an hour; he promptly replied, it is fortunate for you, that you have thus done.—I am now Sir compelled to act a part, which not only appearsuncivil, but almost to an insult. Viz, that you return immediately on board your ship, and leave this port. He then, in a few words, told me that, the British parlement, had recently, passed revenue laws, that affected that Island; & that, two English cutters, had that day arrived, to inforce the laws; & that I shou’d certainly have trouble, with my cargo, if I was not off, before sun rise, the next morning.—I accordingly bid the gentleman good bye, repaird to my boat, which was waiting for me at the wharf, went on board the ship, & immediately got underway and at sun rise, the next morn, I was out of sight of the Island of Geurnsay up channell, on my way for the City of Hamburg.

Thus ended my deficulties of that voyage—I arrived safe in Hamburg, found a good Market for my cargo, loaded my ship, & returned to Boston, having made a good voyage to all concern’d.

My employers were so well pleased with the trade, I had opened in Hamburg; that they planned another voyage immediately, and thot.they you’d hardly afford me time to visit my family at the cape. However, by promis’s of a short stay, I came to Brewster; saw my family, and returned to Boston to fit out the ship, for another Voyage in which, it was concluded, that it wou’d be for the Interest of the Voyage, that on my arrival in H—gI should land my Cargo, load the ship with a return cargo, & send her home by my Mate, & remain in Hamburg myself thro” the Winter, to sell the cargo then landed, and prepare another for the ship, on her return to me in the spring.—under the foregoing arrangement, I saild for Hamburg a 2dtime; arrived their after a common passage, landed my Cargo, loaded the ship, with Russia & Germain goods, and sent her for Boston, under the commandof my mate, David Nickerson.

She sailed, the last of September, and by the middle of Novr, we were compleatly bound in fetters ofFrost, and, in that high Lattitude, we had only about 7. hours day light in 24. but there was no lack ofamusements, to please the eye, tast, or mind, & I injoyed myself very well, untill the last of Decr.when I received a letter, which came overland, by way of Holland, from one of my employers, in which it was stated in a, Postcrip,Your wife has been very Sick, but, I beleive, sheis better. This unwellcome intiligence; the uncouth manner, in which it was conveyed to me; and the great uncertainty of hearing any thing more, untill the ship returned to me; put my mind into a perplexing state of anxiety, which bid defiance to all injoyment of life.

Anxiety and Illness

Within a few days, as I entered the coffee room, of the Hotel, one morning, the servant said to me; there is an american Newspaper, which arrived last evening, by way of London,—I took up the paper, and first thing that attracted my notice, was myBrothers death—Thus the mind, already bowed down with anxiety; was obliged to receive thisheartrendingaddition to its already overcharged burden, but, our heavenly Father, lays no more upon his children, than, He knows, they can bear.—for in addition to my afflixtions then, I was attacted with thebrainfever, and with such severity, that for 8 days, I was unconcious of either pleasure, or pain.—but I was, finally, permitted to recover, with the loss, only, of my full head of black hair; but I got over that deficutyprittywell, by substituting a Wig, and have been obliged to wear one ever since, to keep my head warm.—but notwithstanding all, I was supported thro” the winter, my business, by the help of merchants, Brokers &c, went on well; and when the ship arrived;about the 20thof May, I was ready prepared for her; and the news she brot.me, from my family, was a cordial to my lasserated feelings.

As soon, as the Cargo which the ship brot.out, cou’d be sold; the arrangements made, during the winter, were such, that we were soon ready for returning to Boston,—I reach’d home in Augt., having been absent somthing over 14 months, found Mrs C. very feeble, but convallessent.

I made one more voyage to Hamburg, in the Monsoon, & when I return’d she was sold; which gave me an oppertunity of spending a few weeks at home, with my beloved family.

But, it was not long, before I received a letter from Mr.J. Tidd, who was one of my former owners in the Monsoon, requesting me to come to Boston fourthwith, as there was a new Brig for sale, which he had an idea of purchasing, and wished for my opinion &c &c.—I accordingly went to Boston, & the Brig, Sally & Mary, was purchased, and another Hamburg voyage was plann’d fourthwith.

ShipShipTen Brothers.

ShipTen Brothers.

Mr.Tidd, had put on board a valuable cargo; on his own account & risk, and ordered me for Hamburg; and I accordingly proceeded for the river Elbe; it being in the summer season, I took the more direct passage; of north about, so called,viz. between the Okney & Shetland Islands, into the North sea, at the S E part of which, the river Elbe comminces; Hamburg is 110 miles above—I had heretofore, always obtained a Pilot, before I reach’d the entrance of the river—but now, none appeared, and I saw, at anchor, in the mouth of the river, one large ship, & 2 or 3 smaller vessells—it struck me, at once, that the Elbe, was blockaded, but I had no alternative but to proceed on & know, I accordingly, run on, untill within about a mile of the largest ship, when I came to an anchor.—she immediately sent her boat on board, for me & my papers,—I found the commander, ahaughty,crabbed, selfwilled, Scotchman.

The Blockade

He insisted upon it, that I knew of the blockade; and that I intended a breach of it; of course, I was a good prize, & he shou’d send me to England, very well! I had to submitt to his superior force; and I was accordingly ordere’d for Yarmouth in England.

On my arrival there, my papers were sent to London, to the Kings advocate for adjudication; but they were returnd.in 6 days, & I was pronounced clear, to proceed to any port that was not blockaddand I put to sea the next morning.

As I cou’d not go to Hamburg, I concluded, that Copenhagen, would be, the nextbestmarketfor my Cargo, and I accordingly, steered my course for that port.—On my arrival there, I was advised, by a freindly, Danish Merchant, to proceed toLubec, one of the,Hans Towns, of Germany, about 100 miles South of Copenhagen, on the great Belt, so called, from which place, an inland canal, communicated with Hamburg, where my Cargo cou’d readily be sent, in defiance of the Blockade; and as my Cargo, was perticularly selected for the Hamburg Market, this was a very important object with me.

I consequently proceeded for Lubec where I arrived in about 48 hours., and was told; that I displayed the first American flag; ever wafted over their City.—on approaching the Town, an entire stranger, I recolected, that, on my last voyage to Hamburg—a Mr.Smidth, of the Firm, of Smidth & Plessing, of Lubec, had made a shipment of 100 peices of Duck by me, which I had sold, & made returns to them.

I was now glad to enquire them out, and avail myself of their services in selling my cargo, & purchaseing another on my return &c &c.—I very readily found them; and received from them all those kind attentions, to me, and my business; so greatfull to a Stranger. A great part of my cargo, went thro” the canel to Hamburg, and also, muchof my return cargo, came in the same way,—but I found a good Market; got quick dispatch, and returned to Boston with an excellent voyage.

After discharging my cargo, in Boston, I visited my dear family, at the cape; where I found an aditional pledge of affection, in a little black-eye’d daughter, which we call’d Mary P, then 69 days old—it being in the night, & no light in the house, I hawl’d her out of Bed, and held her up to the window to look at her by moonlight.

Orders in Council

I was not permitted to remain, but a short time, in the enjoyment of the family circle; before I receiv’d a letter, saying, that another voyage was planned, & I must come forward. I accordingly, went on to Boston, & found they had began loading the Brig, for a voyage to Malaga.—the loading was soon compleated, and all necessary preperations made; and I saild for the Medeterenaen., on the 15th.of Decr.1807, & arrived at Malaga, Jany11th.1808. On my arrival, I was informed that thecelebrated British orders in councilwent into fource,there; the 10th.Int, the day before I arrived.—those orders, forbid american vessells, taken a return cargo from any ports in Europe, under the penalty of being a prize, in any English port.—in consequence of this, we knew, thatwines, & fruit, wou’d rapidly advance inprice, in America; which made a return cargo, very desirable.

TheAmerican Consul, with whoom I advised, thought, if I got quick dispatch there wou’d be but little risk in my taking a return cargo; that he wou’d obligate himself, to dispatch me in 10 days with a full cargo of wine & fruit—and I finally concluded to take the risk.

Detained at Gibraltar

I accordingly proceeded in discharging my cargo, & in receiving on board wine & fruit in return, & in 8 days was ready to sail—in order to succeed in escaping an investigation, & probably, a capture, by the English, I thotto wait for a strong easterly wind, and to improve the night, to make a run through theGut of Gibraltar, where lay the greatest danger of capture, or detention,—I accordingly waited the first Easterly wind & left Melaga, calculating to reach the rock of Gibralter, about Dark, the same Eve”, which I did, but unfortunally as I approach’d it, the wind died away, & by time I had pass’d it, it was nearly calm—knowing that if it remained so thro the night, that daylight would expose me to Fort & their cruizers, & that I should surely be exposed to examination, & detention, I thought it advisable, to proceed to Anchorage with what wind I had—and I immediately haw[l]ed into the Bay, for the neutrialground, but the wind being a head, I had to make a tack under the Spanish shore, & while standing over for the rock, was boarded by the boat of an English Fregate, under the command of a midshipman, who took charge of me, under pretence that I was bound into Algaziras—after we had come to anchor, altho 12oClock at night, he insisted upon taken me on board the Frigate with my papers—well I was conducted on board & before an officer, who questioned me, I told him the truth, that I was from Malago, bound to Boston, that I had come in there to evail myself of a clearence from a British port, & a convoy thro the gut—well ‘said he, a convoy will sail, the day after to morrow, & ordered the officer to carry me on board my vessell again immediately. I went on shore the next morn” & calld.upon the American consel, to whom, I made know my true situation—he told me, he thought there was but little chance for me, as I was compleatly under theOrders in Council.—I left the consul & in the street, fell in with an old acquaintan[ce], to him also, I told my greivance—he advised me, as a last resort, & as my situation was not generally known, to endevour to effect a clerance by bribery; & he gave other advice & information upon that subject.

I accordingly went on board, got my papers, puta couple of ounces of spanish gold into my pocket, & went on shore & directly to the office, on the Key; I found only thePrincipallin the office—I told him, I commanded an American vessell was from Malaga, bound to Boston, and had put in there, to obtain a clearance, & a convoy thro the Gut—well ‘said he, as you say, you have a cargo on board, there are some serious questions to ask, previous to your obtaining a clearance.—I know, I know Sir, but do not be too perticular, give me a clearance, & at the same time, I laid on the counter before him,two ounce peices of gold—well’ but said he, if I give you a clearance you have another office to git signed at, well ‘said I, if you will give it, there will be more deficulty—& as I spoke a gentleman came into the office, to whom the first observed—this Captain was about going up to your office with his clearance, will you be so kind as to save him the trouble by signing it here, oh yes, said he cheerfully, accordinly, in a few minuits my clearance was compleated, the fees of both offices paid, & I was in the street, making a streight wake towards the American consuls—when I entered his office, he, with a long face said, I am glad to see you, but greatly regret your situation—I took my clearance from my pocket, & held it before his eyes—Good Godsaid he, howdid you git that—said I—ask me no questions, & I will tell you no lies—

Escapes from the Convoy

The Signal Gun was fired, at sun-rise, the next morn” for the convoy to weigh, & I was one of this first to move—for I was full of fear, that some incident mightyetsubject me to thefatalinvestigation, I was therefore desirous to git out of their reach; a large English merchant ship, showing a teir of guns, streched over for the Barbary coast, & I followed her, under easy sail;our convoy, a gun Brig, was not then under-way and in watching her motion, I discovered a boat after us, full of men, roughing,[4]& sailing—I immediately felt jelious,they are after me, I ordered sail immediately put on, & in a very short time, the boatgive up& put back for Gibranter—I then felt antious fearing the convoy might have orders to bring me back; but I heard nothing more, parted from the convoy off capeTrafelgar, & proceeded home.

I have mention’d a boat that was after me—sometime after I arrived home, I fell in with a CaptMills, whom I left in Malaga, in a Brig belonging to Boston, & persueing the plan I had done, he saild from Malaga the day after me, wastaken into Gibrater the night before I left—seeing me underweigh, without reflection, he observed there is Cobb, why is he allowed to go—the boat was immediately dispatch’d after me—but, by my vigilence in making sail, in season, & being favoued with a good stiff breeze I was enable’d to keep clear of them.—

I was favoured with a good passage, and arrived safe in Boston, a subject of the most intent speculation; how it was managed to clear out, acargo of Spanish goods, from Gibralter, under theBritish orders in Council.—But, I had made a good voyage for all concerned, & return’d to my family.

I remained but a short time with my family, when I received a letter from MessrBixby, Vallintine & co, requesting that I would go on to New York, & take charge of a Ship, belonging to them, called the Wm.Tell, for a voyage to Europe—accordingly, I went to Boston, and after receiving instructions from my Owners, I took the stage for N. York and took charge of Ship, & fitted her, with all posible dispatch for sea—I then proceeded to Alexandria in Virginia, where I loaded the ship with Flour, and went for Cadiz, in Spain, where I sold my Cargo, Ballasted the ship with stones, and returned to Norfolk in Virginia—where Ifound letters from my Owners with provisions, from Boston, for another voyage, and orders to go up to Alexandria & load—but, as a part of my crew wished their discharge and others were to be shipped to supply their places, a few days detention was unavoidable—

Mr. Madison’s Embargo

While this process was in opperation, a most violentstormcame on, & as I had discharg’d the most of the crew, I was on board the Ship, assisting in secureing the ship to the Wharf, when Mr.Fisk, the Merchant with whoom I advised, came down the wharf & told me, that he had just received adispatchfrom Mr.Randolph, in Congress, saying to him,what you do, must be done quicklyfor the embargo will be upon you, on Sunday at 10 A M.—it was now Fryday P. M, & a violent storm, well,” said Mr.F, what can we do Cobb, why said I, if we can hold the ship to the wharf, while it blows so hard, I shall be glad—We can, however, see, where we can git the cargo, & if it is fair to morrow much may be done—In fact much must be accomplish’d in order to effect our objectviz. to cheat the Embargo. We had about 100 Tons of stone Ballast on board, which must be landed, upward of 3000 bbls of Flour, to take in and stow away, provisions, wood & water to take on board, a crew to ship, to clear at the custom H.and, to git the ship to sea, before the embargo gits possession—and all this must be done, between Saturday morn” at day light, & sunday morn at 10[o:]Clock, in the month of Decr.—We found, upon enquiry, that, we cou’d have our supply of Flour from a block of stores, direct along side of the Ship, & by giving ⅜thof a dollar extra, we had liberty, if stopped by the embargo, to return it—

Saturday morning, was fine weather I had given instructions to the mates, to have purchases up, at each hatchway, the ship having three—to discharge ballast, at the main hatchway, & to receive Flour forward, & abaft, with two gangs of Stevidore in the hold—at about Sunrise, I went up tolazy corner, so call’d, & pressed every Negro into my service, that came upon the stand, & sent them on board the ship, untill I thought there were as many, as could work.

I then visited the Sailors boarding houses, where I shipped my crew, paid the advane to their landlords, & took their obligations to see each sailor on board, at sun-rise the next morning.—It had now got to be about 12oClock & the ship must be cleared at the Custom house at, or before, one—I accordingly prepared a Manifest & went to the Custom house to clear the Ship—Mr.Taylor, thecollector, knowing my situation, with the ship;saidwhy Cobb, what is the use of clearing the ship, you cannot git away, the embargo will be here at 10 to morrow morning, & even if you git your ship below, I shall have boats out that will stop you, before you can git 3 leagus to sea. Said I, “MrTaylor, will you be so kind as to clear my Ship—Oh yes’ said he, I cannot refuse, (untill the embargo arrives; & accordingly the ship was cleared & I returned on board, & found all things going on well.—finally—to shorten the Story—at 9 that evning, we had on board 3050 Barrels of Flour, our long boat on board in the chocks, water, wood, & provision on board & stowed, a pilot engage, & all in readiness for Sea.

A Feat of Loading

The tide wou’d serve at 8[o:]Clock on sunday morn, & we could not go before, & at 10 the embargo was expected—well, “the morn” arrived, the sailors were brot.on board by their Landlords, the pilot came on board, & at 8oClock we started with a fair wind, down a crooked nerrow river, but the wind dying, our progress was Slow, & when we entered Hampton roads, it had got to be after 11o.Clock, and nealy calm—feeling anxious, I kept a sharp look out a stern, & with my glass, I saw about 12, a boat comeing down, under the full opperation of sails & oars—well,’ said I, to themate, I fear, we are gone—but very soon I saw, to appearance, a fresh breeze coming off from the South shore, I saw that the boat, had already taken it—I then ordered all the light sails set, ready to receive the breeze.—when it reached us, the boat was so near, that with my glass I trace the features of the men—but in 10 munuites after I took it the boat give up the chace & turn’d back, and I went to sea without further molestation.—

By the pilot, I wrote my Owners, informing them of my running away from the Embargo, & then proceeded on for Cadiz, & carraied to that port the first news of the Embargo.

Flour was selling, on my arrival at $16.00 but in consequence of the Embargo, & the war then rageing in that vicinity, the flour holders had a meeting, & agreed to raise the price of Flour to $20.00.—& finally, altho” I waited some time I obtained that price for my Cargo.—

Soon after my arrival, I recd.a letter, by a vessell under Sweedish colours, adviseing me to bring home money, providing there was liberty to export it; & finding, upon enquiry, that was the case, I immediately took out a license from the custom house, to export $72,000, having funds here, of last voyage,—but before I got ready to sail I heard of the repeal of the orders in Council, &allso, of theMilan&Berlindecrees, & beleiving this would have a favourable effect, to America, in our Exchanges, & finding I cou’d buy British government Bills, at a great discount, I concluded to give up my Licinse, & remitt my money to England,—(I mention this circomstance to shew, how fortunate it was—as I was captured, on my return, if the Monney had been on board, we shou’d have lost it.—The day before I sailed I dine’d in a large party, at the american consul, & it being mention’d that I was to sail the next day, I was congratulated, by a British officer, upon the safety of our Flagg.—well” I thot.the same, when at the same time, theWarbetween England & America was then rageing.

Spoken off the Grand Banks

I sail’d from Cadiz, the 5th.day of July 1812 bound for Boston, & I never felt myself saffer, on account of enemies on the high seas,—I had just entered upon the eastern edge of the grand Bank—at day light, of the morn” of the 17thI went on deck; we had a light breeze of wind from the north, with all sails sett, that would draw, in casting my Eye to windward, I saw a sail, to appearance, bearing down directly for us—not having spoken any thing, I told the mate, to back the maim yard & would speak her, we accordingly did; & at sunrise I ordered the Insign hoisted, at theMizen peak; no sooner were our colours up, than his went up in the smoke of a gun, I saw that she was a Schooner, under English colours, & that she was armed; but did not alarm me, I continud.to lay by, she run down acrosst.my stern, with the usual hail, of, where from, where bound, how long out, &c &c—& he concluded from my replys that I did not know that war existed; he said to me, very mildly, I will thank you to continue laying by, & I will send my boat on board—Seeing she was a cutter Schooner with 10 brass Guns, I, of course, acquiesed, & her boat came on board, with two petty officers, rowed byonlytwo men—One of the officers requested me to go on board the cutter with my papers; well” I asked the 2 officers below, while I shifted myself and got my papers; while I was in my statroom, one of them, says to me, Capt, ‘what cargo did you carry to Cadiz? Flour,’ you got a good price, I presume Yes,’ said I—got Cash on board I suppose? No, said I, I remitted my money, to England,’ well,” said he, You’ve a fine ship here! Yes, toloble—what,” said he do you think she’s worth—this question, roused my curiocity, I step’d to the door of the Stateroom, & looking the man in the face, said to him, have you an Idea of buying, or taking the ship, Oh, said he, Captain, you’l excuse our inquisitiveness,it was without meaning.—When I was ready, one of the officers went in the boat with me, & the other, remained on board the ship—I was received on board the cutter, & conducted into the cabin, to the Capt.,—he received my papers, & looking them over, ask’d, if I had not a Clearance from Cadiz; I told him I had, but, I did not [know] it wou’d be required, & I had not brot.it, well,” said he, I must have it; if you’l send your boat Sir, I will go & look it up, I think its in my writing desk,—well,” said he, send for your desk, I told him I was unwilling to do that, as it contained papers of consequence to me, & by accident it might be droped overboad—oh said he, I’ll make good all damages, youmustsend for it. well,” I wrote a line to the mate, to send my. W. Desk, it was brought into the cutters cabin, & having my keys in my pocket, I open’d it, & soon found the paper required,—my writing standing upon the Table open, & the officers standing round, they began looking at papers, among them, was a small bundle of letters directed to the Commissary Genl.on theQuebec Station, they open’d it, & broke the seal of one of the letters—; upon which I look’d at the Capt., & observ’d, that this was treatment which I had not anticipated, from the British flagg; the Capt observ’d, you must submitt,we will explain ourselves bye. & bye about this time, the word came from the decks,a Strange sail in sight, & the Capt, drop’d the paper from hands, & run on deck.—I set still & look’d at the officers, overhawling, & deranging my papers in my writing desk.—after a while the Capt came down below; & said to me, Captain; you have expressed some surprise at our investigation, at which, I am not at all supprised, for I find, you are ignorant of a fact, which will justify, our proceedings with you,We are at War with America—now Sir, said I I beleive you are disposed totantalize, for I do not beleive it.—Well,” Sir, said he, we will not alticate upon this subject; & he step’d to a desk took out a newspaper, & pointed me to the declaration of War, & danced on deck again, to look at the Strange sail.—the paper that he handed me, was an American paper, only 12 days old—after reading the declaration of war, I look’d it over for other news, untill the Capt came down.—He then said to me, well Sir, what think ye now—I told him, I was satisfied, as towar, but, I shou’d like to know now, whetherIwas to behung, ordrounded.

He smilling said, “well,” I beleive nither,by me.—I will now, said he, explain to you the reasons, for our conduct toward you; I am said he—from Halifax, bound to England with dispatchesfor Govt., I cannot take you, not having men to man you, if I had found money on board I shou’d have taken it out, & have put one man on board, that might not be call’d piricy & have let you have taken your chance—but as it is you can take charge of your ship, & do the best you can—the sail coming down, is an American Frigate, & if I can keep out the reach of her guns, I do not fear her heals, & the sooner you go on board the better—as soon, as you please, said I—& I crow[d]ed some of my papers into my Desk, & tied some up in a hankerchief, & thus went into the boat & was set on board my own ship again.—When I got on my Ships deck, the Frigate was so near that she cou’d easyly have sent a shot over me, & coming down will all sail set, & an American Insign at her Mizin peak.—altho I was confidant, she was an English Frigate; still, being compleatly within the reach of her guns, & my ships sails all taken, I had only to lay still & take it.

The Frigate

The Frigate was down, in a few minuits & the boats was manned, & came on board, under the command of an officer, in an american uniform.—the usual questions, of, where from, where bound, how long out &c &c, were ask’d, & ansered; when he thus interogated me, are you not in fear of being taken, No Sir, said I, for I think I amalreadytaken, what’. said he, by one of your own Frigates; no,’ said I, that is not an american Frigate, nither Sir, areyouintitled to wear that Button. Well,” said he, you are about right.—that is His Britianic majistys Frigate, the Jason, & to her, you are a prize.—now, said he, what have you on board for Cargo; sand Ballast, said I,what, did [you] cary to Cadiz, Flour, did it sell yes, it Brought $20.00 prBarrel.—Oh, you’ve Cash on board said he, No, said I, I remitted the proceeds of my cargo to London, & I have my thirds of exchange, to satisfy you.—well,” said he, you have a fine ship here; what will you give for her, & we give you, a clear passport into Boston.—after a little reflection, I name’d $5000.00 well,” said he,give us the money; Oh, I thank you said I, if it was on board, you wou’d take it without asking me.—I will give you a draft on London.—no, said he,the cash, or weburnthe ship.—well said I, you’l not burn me, in her I hope,—oh, no, you may give orders for your men to pick up their duds, & we will carry them on board the Frigate.—You will remain on board & select yourself a servant, from your crew, the ship is too good toBurn.—I accordingly selected my Nephew, E. C. Crosby, to remain with me, my mates & crew, were all carraied on board the Frigate,—After a while, the pinnace was sentwith special orders for me to come on board the Frigate.—well,” I went on Board, was received at the Ganway, by a Leutt., & conducted into the Cabin, to the captain, he, with his officers, were then sitting at the dinner table, I was place’d in a chair by his side, & offered a glass of wine; after which; he, the capt., said to me! what D—d rascal put your papers in that situation, for they were sent to him, as I took them from the cutter, open letters &c,—why”, Sir said I; that D—d rascal, as you are pleas’d to call him, was Leutenant Jones, commanding his Majesties cutter the Alphea; why,” said he, he’s broke the Kings Seal, I’ll have the fellow hung,” well Sir, said I, you can do as you please, with your own subjects.—he then said [to] me,” I am satisfied, on examination of your papers, that you have not money on board, as a return cargo, but I shall now ask you a question, which it will be, for your Interest, to answercandidly, well Sir, I shall judge better, when I hear the question,! have you money on board, on your own private account; without hesitation, I answer’d Yes, how much said he, about $2000, … it is safe, We, as yet, respect private property, when it does not exceed $3000.; more than that; we think is smugled.—

finally, he observed; your officers & men, nowon board here, shall fare, as we do, & we are 6 on 4. well, Sir, we have abundant provisions on board the prise, if you’l permit, I’l send some by the boat that returns with me; certainly said he, & it shall be kept for them exclusively, while they are on board this ship,—I have put a prise master & crew on board your ship, & ordered her for St.Johns; & I shall visit that coast, in 8 or 10 days, & will then, send up your officers & crew, I will now send you on board, I have charged the prise master, not to intefere with,” but, to conform to, your regulations, in your Cabin, &c &c.

I return’d on board, & we made sail for St.Johns as ordered;—I found the prise Master a very pleasant man, & all things went on pleasantly; but by adverse winds, we were 6 days before we arrived at St.Johns.—it was evening when we arrived; the next morn” I was taken on shore, & conducted before the Port Admiral, Sir John Thomas Duckworth; after he had made enquiries, relative to my voyage, capture &c &c; he told me, that I had the liberty of the town, provided, I choose to take up my residence on shore, or, I had the liberty of remaining on board the ship—but could not have excess, to the ship, & shore both.—I finally told him, that I wou’d like to remain on board the ship, untill my officers & men were sentin, after which, I wou’d like to come on shore.—Accordingly, I returned to the ship, where, I was allowed the same use of my cabin, & provisions, as formally, in 4 days, my officers & crew, were sent in, & on board the ship, we were again altogether, & as we had remaining of our sea stock, a shoat, of about 60 lb, I ordered it dressed, & a good dinner provided for, all hands, of which I pertook; & the next day, took up my residence on shore, at, prisiners Hall, so called, where there were about 20, Masters & supecargoes, prisinners, like myself.—I found, that there were 27 American vessells, in port, as prises, the Port Admiral, had given liberty to the Supergaroes, & Gentlemen passengers to leave; & git home, at there own expence; and provided, they went away altogether, he would give them a protection, against capture by the English—as I had two Brothers, on board my ship, Josiah, & E. C. Crosby, the Idea struck me, that it wasposible, that I might git liberty, to send the latter, a meer boy, home by the same chance, for they had already purchas’d a small vessell, & was then fitting her out.—I accordingly drafted a request, to Sir John, stating, in as feeling a manner, as I was capable, the inconsolibility of their Parents &c &c, and waited upon the old Gentleman with it, in person; He looked it over attentively;looked up at me, & said Yes, Yes, Mr Cobb, send him home to his parents, & I wish I cou’d say the same to you all I accordingly, made preparations for sending the boy home.—I wrote to my family by him, and also, stitched 20 peices of Spanish Gold, into a plaid, which he put into his neck hankerchief, & their wore it, night & day, untill he got home, took it from his neck, & gave it to his Aunt.—6 days, after this vessell had saild; we were greeted, at a very early hour in the morn”, with the sound, “an american,cartile[5]Flaggflying in the harbour,—We were soon, into the Town, & learned, that a ship had arrived, during the previous night, under the command of an american officer, with a cartile flag; that the officer had then gone, to report himself, to the port Admiral,—we, fourthwith repaired to a noted Coffee house, where the American officer soon arrived.

An Exchange of Prisoners

Altho” we were all strangers, he cordially took us by the hand, as americans, and told us, that he was 2dLeut,” of the American Frigage C—s[6]Capt.Porter that ship, in the harbour; was the British Sloop of War Elert, prize to the C—s, and that, through the impertunity of the British Capt., she had been sent in, by Capt.Porter, with her officers & crew, all on board, to be exchanged, for the same number of Americans.—But, said the officer, I have cause to fear, that I may be a prisiner with you, for, said he, I left the old Admiral, in a violent rage, at Capt.Porters proceedings, of making a cartile, on the high seas. the officer told him, he had no terms to make, his orders, from Capt.Porter, was, to lay there 24 hours, & if the terms were not complied with, to proceed on to America, with the Prise & her Crew, or, be yourprisinner, said he, as I’m in your power, however, in a few minuits, a note was received from the old Admiral, saying, that upon a re-perusual of Capt.Porters dispatches, he found that thehonor, of the British officer was pledg’d, for the fulfilling of the contract, & as he knew his government, always redeem’d the pledges of their officers; he wou’d receive the officers & crew of Ellert, he wou’d give in exchange, every American prissiner in port (& there were 2 to 1) & that we must be off in 24 hours.

Now, commenced a Scene of confusion, and bussle; the Crew of the cartile was soon landed,and the Americans as speedily took possession, & the next morn”, at about the suns rising, we weighed the anchors of theEllert, left the harbour of St.Johns, and made sail for New York, with 246 Americans on board.—We came on, without falling in, with any floating object, untill we were in the Longitude of the South shoal of Nantucket when saw a topsail Schooner, running off S. Easterly, upon which we fired, & brought her two; she hoisted Sweedish colours, & lay bye, untill we boarded her; We found she was from Boston, bound for the West Idies, and gave us the pleasing account of the American Frigate, theConstitution, having captured the, British Frigate theGarreire,

This intilligence was communicated to theEllert, by the boarding officer, and in quick time, her yards were manned & three cheers were given, which might have been heard miles.—two days after, we arrived in New York, and dispersed to our several places of residence.—I took passage with my two mates, & Josiah Crosby, in a Schooner forBass River, we reached the river about the suns setting, & being but about 6 miles from my family, I could not feel willing to sleep without seeing them—consequently myself, & my 1st.mate,Mr.Berryeach hired a Saddle horse, & started for Brewster, and I reachd.my dwelling, & gave aknock, at your G. Mothers, sleeping room window,the same I now occopy, about 12[o:]Clock. x x x x it may perhaps amuse my dear G. Childen, if I turn back to the time of my arrival, a prisoner, at St.Johns, a circomstance then took place, connected with my knocking at the window, as above

Petition to the Port Admiral

I learned, on my arrival in St.Johns, that the Port Admiral, Sir J. T. Duckworth, had given liberty, to the American Supercargoes & passenger, to purchase a vessel, & git home at their own expence, & he wou’d give them a protection from British Cruseirs; & as I had on board, two Brothers, Josiah & E. C. Crosby, thelatter, quite a lad; the Idea struck me, thatposibly, by application, I might obtain liberty to send the boy home, by this conveyance; for they had already purchased a small vessell & were then fitting her for sea—I accordingly drafted a petition; applying pritty strongly to the old Gentlemans feelings, in behalf of the disconsolate Parents &c &c, and presented it myself—after perusing the petition; the old Gen” rested his head in his hand, for a few moments, and looked up very kindly in my face, saying Yes, Yes, Mr.Cobb,send him home to his Parents& I wish I felt at liberty to send every American in port home.—This, wou’d give me an oppertunity of informing my Family of my capture,of sending some money, spared me by the captors; and grattifiing my relatives by sending home their beloved son.

I accordinly fixed him away; making a plaid for his neckhankercheif, with 24 Dubloons in Gold amounting to $384 dollars, which thedear childput round his neck, in my room, in St.Johns & did not take it off, untill in my house, in the presencs of his Aunt; and after having delivered my letters &c—This happened, at about 8[o:]Clock on the same evening I arrived at Bass revir—well’, at 12[o:]Clock, as before stated I knowked at the Winder.

It appears she had been reperusing my Lengthy letter, Amegining & revolving in mind all the horrows of my situation in an English prisin,after she had been in bed, & had not been asleep, when I know’d at the Window.

Who is there! said she—it is I, said I—well’, what do you want; to come in; for what said she; before I cou’d answer, I heard my daughter D., who was in bed with her say,why, Mar it is Par, this was aneogh, the doors flew open, and the greetings of affection & consanguinity multiplied upon me rapidly.

End of the Voyage

Thus, in a moment was I transported to thegreatest earthly bliss, man can injoy, viz to the injoyment of the happy family circil.

To fall of 1812—

checkerboard design

Theforegoing was written by Gen Elijah Cobb during the Year 1843, with the intention of completing, but the state of his health prevented.

He remained at home from 1812 to 1815 or 1816, when he made several voyages to Europe in the Ship ‘Paragon’ built for him, and considered at the time one of the finest ships of her day.

In 1818 & 1819 he made two voyages to Africa in the Ship “Ten Brothers,” taking with him on the first voyage, his son Freeman.

The second voyage, there was much sickness of a contagious character, and the ship on her return was sunk at the end of the wharf to prevent contagion in the city of Boston.[7]

He left the sea in 1820, and after that time remained in Brewster, Mass. filling the various civil offices of Town Clerk, Treasurer, Inspector General,Representative and Senator, and Justice of Peace & Quoram, also the military rank of Brigadier General.

He was a strong supporter of the Universalist church of the town, in whose doctrines he took much interest.

He was tall & straight of fine figure his face very pleasant to look upon. He loved children and was loved by them. Distinguished for his sterling integrity as well as talent loved and respected by all who knew him, he died at the age of eighty. “May our end be like his.”

His body & that of his wife lie in the new cemetery, Brewster.

E. W. C.[8]

Brewster June 19, 1857

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