Decatur at Tripoli.Decatur at Tripoli.
The surprise was complete. There was noresistance. Few of the Moors had weapons, and they fled from the Americans like frightened sheep. On all sides the splashing of water could be heard as they leaped overboard. In a few minutes they were all gone and Decatur and his men were masters of the ship.
They would have given much to be able to take the noble frigate out of the harbor. But that could not be done, and every minute made their danger greater. All they could do was to set her on fire and retreat with all speed.
Not a moment was lost. Quick-burning material was brought from theIntrepid, put in good places, and set on fire. So rapidly did the flames spread that the men who were lighting fires on the lower decks had scarcely time to escape from the fast-spreading conflagration.
Flames poured from the port-holes, and sparks fell on the deck of the smaller vessel. If it should touch the powder that was stored amidships, death would come to them all. With nervous haste they cut the ropes, and theIntrepidwas pushed off. Then the sweeps were thrust out and the little craft rowed away.
"Now, lads, give them three good cheers," cried Decatur.
Up sprang the jack-tars, and three ringing cheers were given, sounding above the roar of the flames and of the cannon that were now playing on the little vessel from the batteries and gunboats. Then to their sweeps went the tars again, and drove their vessel every minute farther away.
As they went they saw the flames catch the rigging and run up the masts of the doomed frigate. Then great bursts of flame shot out from the open hatchways. The loaded guns went off one after another, some of them firing into the town. It was a lurid and striking spectacle, such as is seldom seen.
Bainbridge and his fellow-officers saw the flames from their prison window and hailed them with lusty cheers. The officers of theSirensaw them also, and sent their boats into the harbor to aid the fugitives, if necessary. But it was not necessary. Not a man had been hurt. In an hour after the flames were seen, Decatur and his daring crew came in triumph out of the bay of Tripoli.
Never had been known a more perfect and successful naval exploit. All Europe talked of it with admiration when the news was received.Lord Nelson, the greatest of England's sailors, said, "It was the boldest and most daring act of the ages." When the tidings reached the United States, Decatur, young as he was, was rewarded by Congress with the title of captain.
We are not yet done with theIntrepid, in which Decatur played so brilliant a part. She was tried again in work of the same kind, but with a more tragic end.
A room was built in her and filled with powder, shot, and shells. Combustibles of various kinds were piled around it, so that it could not fail to go off, if set on fire. Then, one dark night, the fire-ship was sent into the harbor of Tripoli, with a picked crew under another gallant young officer, Lieutenant Richard Somers.
They were told to take it into the midst of the Moorish squadron, set itonfire and escape in their boats. It was expected to blow up and rend to atoms the war vessels of Tripoli.
But the forts and ships began to fire on it, and before it reached its goal a frightful disaster occurred. Suddenly a great jet of fire was seen to shoot up into the sky. Then camea roar like that of a volcano. The distant spectators saw the mast of theIntrepid, with blazing sail, flung like a rocket into the air. Bombs flew in all directions. Then all grew dark and still.
In some way the magazine had been exploded, perhaps by a shot from the enemy. Nothing was ever seen again of Somers and his men. It was the great tragedy of the war. They had all perished in that fearful explosion.
Now let us turn back to the story of Decatur, of whom we have some more famous work to tell.
In August, 1804, the American fleet entered the harbor of Tripoli and made a daring attack on the fleet, the batteries, and the city of the Bashaw. In addition to the war vessels of the fleet, there were six gunboats and two bomb vessels, all pouring shot and shell into the city which had so long defied them.
The batteries on shore returned the fire, and the gunboats of the Bashaw advanced to the attack. On these the fleet now turned its fire, sweeping their decks with grape and canister shot. Decatur, with three gunboats, advancedon the eastern division of the Moorish gunboats, nine in all.
Decatur, you will see, was outnumbered three to one, but he did not stop for odds like that. He dashed boldly in, laid his vessel alongside the nearest gunboat of the enemy, poured in a volley, and gave the order to board. In an instant the Americans were over the bulwarks and on the foe.
The contest was short and sharp. The captain of the Tripolitans fell dead. Most of his officers were wounded. The men, overcome by the fierce attack, soon threw down their arms and begged for quarter. Decatur secured them below decks and started for the next gunboat.
On his way he was hailed from one of his own boats, which had been commanded by his brother James. The men told him that his brother had captured one of the gunboats of the enemy, but, on going on board after her flag had fallen, he had been shot dead by the treacherous commander. The murderer had then driven the Americans back and carried his boat out of the fight.
On hearing this sad news, Decatur was filled with grief and rage. Bent on revenge, heturned his boat's prow and swiftly sped towards the craft of the assassin. The instant the two boats came together the furious Decatur sprang upon the deck of the enemy. At his back came Lieutenant McDonough and nine sturdy sailors. Nearly forty of the Moors faced them, at their head a man of gigantic size, his face half covered with a thick black beard, a scarlet cap on his head, the true type of a pirate captain.
Sure that this was his brother's murderer, Decatur rushed fiercely at the giant Moor. The latter thrust at him with a heavy boarding pike. Decatur parried the blow, and made a fierce stroke at the weapon, hoping to cut off its point.
He failed in this and his cutlass broke off at the hilt, leaving him with empty hands. With a lusty yell the Moor thrust again. Decatur bent aside, so that he received only a slight wound. Then he seized the weapon, wrested it from the hands of the Moor, and thrust fiercely at him.
In an instant more the two enemies had clinched in a wrestle for life and death, and fell struggling to the deck. While they laythere, one of the Tripolitan officers raised hisscimitarand aimed a deadly blow at the head of Decatur.
It seemed now as if nothing could save the struggling American. Only one of his men was near by. This was a sailor named Reuben James, who had been wounded in both arms. But he was a man of noble heart. He could not lift a hand to save his captain, but his head was free, and with a sublime devotion he thrust it in the way of the descending weapon.
Down it came with a terrible blow on his head, and he fell bleeding to the deck, but before the Tripolitan could lift his weapon again to strike Decatur, a pistol shot laid him low.
Decatur was left to fight it out with the giant Moor. With one hand the huge wrestler held him tightly and with the other he drew a dagger from his belt. The fatal moment had arrived. Decatur caught the Moor's wrist just as the blow was about to fall, and at the same instant pressed against his side a small pistol he had drawn from his pocket.
A touch of the trigger, a sharp report, and the body of the giant relaxed. The bullet had pierced him through and he fell back dead.Flinging off the heavy weight, Decatur rose to his feet.
Meanwhile his few men had been fiercely fighting the Tripolitan crew. Greatly as they outnumbered the Americans, the Moors had been driven back. They lost heart on seeing their leader fall and threw down their arms.
Another gunboat was captured and then the battle ended. The attack on Tripoli had proved a failure and the fleet drew off.
I know you will ask what became of brave Reuben James, who offered his life for his captain. Was he killed? No, I am glad to say he was not. He had an ugly cut, but he was soon well again.
One day Decatur asked him what reward he should give him for saving his life. The worthy sailor did not know what to say. He scratched his head and looked puzzled.
"Ask him for double pay, Rube," suggested one of his shipmates.
"A pocket full of dollars and shore leave," whispered another.
"No," said the modest tar. "Just let somebody else hand out the hammocks to the men when they are piped down. That's something I don't like."
Decatur consented; and afterwards, when the crew was piped down to stow hammocks, Reuben walked among them as free and independent as a millionaire.
That is all we have here to say about the Tripolitan war. The next year a treaty of peace was signed, and Captain Bainbridge and the men of thePhiladelphiawere set free from their prison cells.
In 1812, when war broke out with England, the gallant Decatur was given the command of the frigateUnited States, and with it he captured the British frigateMacedonian, after a hard fight.
Poor Decatur was shot dead in a duel in 1820 by a hot-headed officer whom he had offended. It was a sad end to a brilliant career, for the American Navy never had a more gallant commander.
WHEN did our country win its greatest fame upon the sea? I think, when you have read the story of the War of 1812, you will say it was in that war. It is true, we did not do very well on land in that war, but the glory we lost on the shore we made up on the sea.
You should know that in 1812 England was the greatest sea-power in the world. For years she had been fighting with Napoleon, and every fleet he set afloat was badly whipped by British ships. Is it any wonder that the people of that little island were proud of their fleets? Is it any wonder they proudly sang—
"Britannia needs no bulwarks,No towers along the steep;Her march is o'er the mountain waves,Her home is on the deep."
They grew so vain of their lordship of the sea that they needed a lesson, and they were to get one from the Yankee tars. As soon as war began between England and the United States in 1812, a flock of British war-hawks came flying bravely across the seas, thinking they would soon gobble up the Yankee sparrows. But long before the war was over, they quit singing their proud song of "Britannia rules the waves," and found that what they thought was a Yankee sparrow was the American eagle.
There were too many great things done on the ocean in this war for me to name them all, so I will have to tell only the most famous. And first of all I must give you the story of the noble oldConstitution, or, as she came to be called,Old Ironsides.
TheConstitutionwas a noble ship of the old kind. That royal old craft is still afloat, after more than a hundred years of service, and after all her companions have long since sunk in the waves or rotted away. She was built to fight the French in 1798. She was Commodore Preble's flagship in the war with the Moorish pirates. And she won undying fame in theWar of 1812. So the story of theConstitutioncomes first in our list of the naval conquerors of that war.
I fancy, if any of you had been living at that time, you would have wanted to fight the British as badly as the Americans then did. For the British had for years been taking sailors from American ships and making them serve in their own men-of-war. Then, too, they had often insulted our officers upon the seas, and acted in a very insolent and overbearing way whenever they had the opportunity. This made the Americans very angry and was the main cause of the war.
I must tell you some things that took place before the war. In 1811 a British frigate named theGuerrierewas busy at this kind of work, sailing up and down our coast and carrying off American sailors on pretence that they were British. Just remember the name of the "Guerriere." You will soon learn how theConstitutionpaid her for this shabby work.
I have also a story to tell about theConstitutionin 1811. She had to cross the Atlantic in that year, and stopped on some business in the harbor of Portsmouth, an English seaport.
One night a British officer came on board and said there was an American deserter on his ship, theHavana, and that the Americans could have him if they sent for him.
Captain Hull, of theConstitution, was then in London, so Lieutenant Morris, who had charge of the ship, sent for the man; but when his messenger came, he was told that the man said he was a British subject, and therefore he should not be given up. They were very sorry, and all that, but they had to take the man's word for it. Morris thought this very shabby treatment but he soon had his revenge. For that very night a British sailor came on board theConstitution, who said he was a deserter from theHavana.
"Of what nation are you?" he was asked.
"I'm an American, sor," said the man, with a strong Irish accent.
Lieutenant Morris sent word to theHavanathat a deserter from his ship was on theConstitution. But when an officer from theHavanacame to get the deserter, Morris politely told him that the man said he was an American, and therefore he could not give him up. He was very sorry, he said, but really the manought to know to what country he belonged. You may be interested to learn that Lieutenant Morris was the man who had been first to board thePhiladelphiain the harbor of Tripoli.
This was paying John Bull in his own coin. The officers in the harbor were very angry when they received this answer. Next, they tried to play a trick on the Americans. Two of their warships came up and anchored in the way of theConstitution. But Lieutenant Morris got up anchor and slipped away to a new berth. Then the two frigates sailed up and anchored in his way again. That was the way matters stood when Captain Hull came on board in the evening.
When the captain was told what had taken place, he saw that the British were trying to make trouble about the Irish deserter. But he was not the man to be caught by any trick. He loaded his guns and cleared the ship for action. Then he pulled up his anchor, slipped round the British frigates, and put to sea.
He had not gone far before the two frigates started after him. They came on under full sail, but one of them was slow and fell far behind, so that the other came up alone.
"If that fellow wants to fight he can have his chance," said Captain Hull, and he bade his men to make ready.
Up came the Englishman, but when he saw the ports open, the guns ready to bark at him across the waves, and everything in shape for a good fight, he had a sudden change of mind. Round he turned like a scared dog, and ran back as fast as he had come. That was a clear case of tit for tat, and tat had it. No doubt, the Englishman knew that he was in the wrong, for English seamen are not afraid to fight.
Home from Plymouth came theConstitutionand got herself put in shape for the war that was soon to come. It had not long begun before she was off to sea; and now she had a remarkable adventure with theGuerriereand some other British ships. In fact, she made a wonderful escape from a whole squadron of war vessels. She left the Chesapeake on July 12, 1812, and for five days sailed up the coast. The winds were light and progress was very slow. Then, on the 17th, the lookout aloft saw four warships sailing along close in to the Jersey coast.
Two hours afterward another was seen. This proved to be the frigateGuerriere, and it was soon found that the others were British ships also. One of them was a great ship-of-the-line. It would have been madness to think of fighting such a force as this, more than six times as strong as theConstitution, and there was nothing to do but to run away.
Then began the most famous race in American naval history. There was hardly abreathof wind, the sails hung flapping to the masts; so Captain Hull got out his boats and sent them ahead with a line to tow the ship. When the British saw this they did the same, and by putting all their boats to two ships they got ahead faster.
I cannot tell the whole story of this race, but it lasted for nearly three days, from Friday afternoon till Monday morning. Now there was a light breeze and now a dead calm. Now they pulled the ships by boats and now by kedging. That is, an anchor was carried out a long way ahead and let sink, and then the men pulled on the line until the ship was brought up over it. Then the anchor would be drawn up and carried and dropped ahead again.
For two long days and nights the chase kept up, during which theConstitutionwas kept, by weary labor, just out of gunshot ahead. At four o'clock Sunday morning the British ships had got on both sides of theConstitution, and it looked as if she was in a tight corner. But Captain Hull now turned and steered out to sea, across the bows of theEolus, and soon had them astern again.
The same old game went on until four o'clock in the afternoon, when they saw signs of a coming squall. Captain Hull knew how to deal with an American squall, but the Englishmen did not. He kept his men towing until he saw the sea ruffled by the wind about a mile away. Then he called the boats in and in a moment let fall all his sails.
Looking at the British, he saw them hard at work furling their sails. They had let all their boats go adrift. But Captain Hull had not furled a sail, and the minute a vapor hid his ship from the enemy all his sails were spread to the winds and away went the Yankee ship in rapid flight. He had taught his foes a lesson in American seamanship.
When the squall cleared away the Britishships were far astern. But the wind fell again and all that night the chase kept up. Captain Hull threw water on his sails and made every rag of canvas draw. When daylight came only the top sails of the enemy could be seen. At eight o'clock they gave up the chase and turned on their heels. Thus ended that wonderful three days chase, one of the most remarkable in naval history.
And now we come to the greatest story in the history of the "Old Ironsides." In less than a month after theGuerrierehad helped to chase her off the Jersey coast, she gave that proud ship a lesson which the British nation did not soon forget. Here is the story of that famous fight, by which Captain Hull won high fame:
In the early morning of August 19, while the old ship was bowling along easily off the New England coast, a cheery cry of "Sail-ho!" came from the lookout at the mast-head.
Soon a large vessel was seen from the deck. On went the Yankee ship with flying flag and bellying sails. The strange ship waited as if ready for a fight. When theConstitutiondrew near, the stranger hoisted the British flag and began to fire her great guns.
It was theGuerriere. When he saw the Stars and Stripes, Captain Dacres said to his men:
"That is a Yankee frigate. She will be ours in forty-five minutes. If you take her in fifteen, I promise you four months pay."
It is never best to be too sure, as Captain Dacres was to find.
TheGuerrierekept on firing at a distance, but Captain Hull continued to take in sail and get his ship in fighting trim, without firing a gun. After a time Lieutenant Morris came up and said to him:
"The British have killed two of our men. Shall we return their fire?"
"Not yet," said Captain Hull. "Wait a while."
He waited until the ships were almost touching, and then he roared out:
"Now, boys; pour it into them!"
Then came a roaring broadside that went splintering through the British hull, doing more damage than all theGuerriere'sfire.
Now the battle was on in earnest. The two ships lay side by side, and for fifteen minutes the roar of cannon and the rattle of musketryfilled the air, while cannon balls tore their way through solid timber and human flesh.
Down came the mizzen-mast of theGuerriere, cut through by a big iron shot.
"Hurrah, boys!" cried Hull, swinging his hat like a schoolboy; "we've made a brig of her."
The mast dragged by its ropes and brought the ship round, so that the next broadside from theConstitutionraked her from stem to stern.
The bowsprit of theGuerrierecaught fast in the rigging of theConstitution, and the sailors on both ships tried to board. But soon the winds pulled theConstitutionclear, and as she forged ahead, down with a crash came the other masts of the British ship. They had been cut into splinters by the Yankee guns. A few minutes before she had been a stately three-masted frigate; now she was a helpless hulk. Not half an hour had passed since theConstitutionfired her first shot, and already theGuerrierewas a wreck, while the Yankee ship rode the waters as proudly as ever.
Off in triumph went the "Old Ironsides," and hasty repairs to her rigging were made. Thenshe came up with loaded guns. TheGuerrierelay rolling like a log in the water, without a flag in sight. Not only her masts were gone, but her hull was like a sieve. It had more than thirty cannon-ball holes below the water-line.
There was no need to fire again. Lieutenant Read went off in a boat.
"Have you surrendered?" he asked Captain Dacres, who was looking, with a very long face, over the rail.
"It would not be prudent to continue the engagement any longer," said Dacres, in gloomy tones.
"Do you mean that you have struck your flag?"
"Not precisely. But I do not know that it will be worth while to fight any more."
"If you cannot make up your mind I will go back and we will do something to help you."
"I don't see that I can keep up the fight," said the dejected British captain. "I have hardly any men left and my ship is ready to sink."
"What I want to know is," cried Lieutenant Read, "whether you are a prisoner of war oran enemy. And I must know without further parley."
"If I could fight longer I would," said Captain Dacres. Then with faltering words he continued, "but-I-must-surrender."
"Then accept from me Captain Hull's compliments. He wishes to know if you need the aid of a surgeon or surgeon's mate."
"Have you not business enough on your own ship for all your doctors?" asked Dacres.
"Oh, no!" said Read. "We have only seven men wounded, and their wounds are all dressed."
Captain Dacres was obliged to enter Read's boat and be rowed to theConstitution. He had been wounded, and could not climb very well, so Captain Hull helped him to the deck.
"Give me your hand, Dacres," he said, "I know you are hurt."
Captain Dacres offered his sword, but the American captain would not take it.
"No, no," he said, "I will not take a sword from one who knows so well how to use it. But I'll trouble you for that hat."
What did he mean by that, you ask? Well, the two captains had met some time before thewar, and Dacres had offered to bet a hat that theGuerrierewould whip theConstitution. Hull accepted the bet, and he had won.
All day and night the boats were kept busy in carrying the prisoners, well and hurt, to theConstitution. When daylight came again it was reported that theGuerrierewas filling with water and ready to sink.
She could not be saved, so she was set on fire. Rapidly the flames spread until they reached her magazine. Then came a fearful explosion, and a black cloud of smoke hung over the place where the ship had floated. When it moved away only some floating planks were to be seen. The proudGuerrierewould never trouble Yankee sailors again.
"OLD IRONSIDESwas a noble old ship, and a noble old ship was she." Come, I know you have not heard enough about this grand old ship, so let us go on with her story. And the first thing to tell is how she served another British ship as she had served theGuerriere.
Four months after Captain Hull's great victory, theConstitutionwas in another sea and had another captain. She had sailed south and was now off the coast of Brazil. And William Bainbridge had succeeded Isaac Hull in command.
It was almost the last day of the year. Chilly weather, no doubt, in Boston from which she had sailed; but mid-summer warmth in those southern waters. It certainly felt warmenough to the men on deck, who were "spoiling for a fight," when the lookout aloft announced two sails.
The sailors who had been lounging about the deck sprang up and looked eagerly across the waves, as the cheerful "Sail-ho!" reached their ears. Soon they saw that one of the vessels was coming their way as fast as her sails could carry her. The other had sailed away on the other tack.
The vessel that was coming was theJava, a fine British frigate. As she drew near she showed signals. That is, she spread out a number of small flags, each of which had some meaning, and by which British ships could talk with each other. Captain Bainbridge could not answer these, for he did not know what they meant. So he showed American signals, which the captain of theJavacould not understand any better.
Then, as they came nearer, they hoisted their national flags, and both sides saw that they were enemies and that a fight was on hand.
Captain Bainbridge was not like Captain Hull. He did not wait till the ships were side by side, but began firing when theJavawashalf a mile away. That was only wasting powder and balls, but they kept on firing until they were close at hand, and then the shots began to tell.
A brave old fellow was the captain of theConstitution. A musket ball struck him in the thigh as he was pacing the deck. He stopped his pacing, but would not go below. Then a copper bolt went deep into his leg. But he had it cut out and the leg tied up, and he still kept on deck. He wanted to see the fight.
Hot and fierce came the cannon balls, hurtling through sails and rigging, rending through thick timbers, and sending splinters flying right and left. Men fell dead and blood ran in streams, but still came the heralds of death.
We must tell the same story of this fight as of the fight with theGuerriere. The British did not know how to aim their guns and the Americans did. The British had no sights on their cannon and the Americans had. That was why, all through the war, the British lost so heavily and the Americans so little. The British shot went wild and the American balls flew straight to their mark.
You know what must come from that. After while, off went theJava'sbowsprit, as if it had been chopped off with a great knife. Five minutes later her foremast was cut in two and came tumbling down. Then the main topmast crashed down from above. Last of all, her mizzen-mast was cut short off by the plunging shot, and fell over the side. The well-aimed American balls had cut through her great spars, as you might cut through a willow stick, and she was dismantled as theGuerrierehad been.
The loud "hurrahs" of the Yankee sailors proved enough to call the dead to life. At any rate, a wounded man, whom everyone thought dead, opened his eyes and asked what they were cheering about.
"The enemy has struck," he was told.
The dying tar lifted himself on one arm, and waved the other round his head, and gave three feeble cheers. With the last one he fell back dead.
But theJava'sflag was not down for good. As theConstitutioncame up with all masts standing and sails set, the British flag was raised to the stump of the mizzen-mast. Whenhe saw this, Bainbridge wore his ship to give her another broadside, and then down came her flag for good. She had received all the battering she could stand. In fact, theConstitutionhad lost only 34 men, killed and wounded, while the Java had lost 150 men. TheConstitutionwas sound and whole; theJavahad only her mainmast left and was full of yawning rents.Old Ironsideshad a new feather in her cap.
Like theGuerriere, theJavawas hurt past help. It was impossible to take her home; so on the last day of 1812, the torch was put to her ragged timbers and the flames took hold. Quickly they made their way through the ruined ship. About three o'clock in the afternoon they reached her magazine, and with a mighty roar the wreck of the British ship was torn into fragments. To the bottom went the hull. Only the broken masts and a few shattered timbers remained afloat.
Such is war: a thing of ruin and desolation. Of that gallant ship, which two days before had been proudly afloat, only some smoke-stained fragments were left to tell that she had ever been on the seas, and death and wounds had come to many of her men.
After her fight with theJavatheConstitutionhad a long, weary rest. You will remember theBon Homme Richard, a rotten old hulk not fit for fighting, though she made a very good show when the time for fighting came. TheConstitutionwas much like her; so rotten in her timbers that she had to be brought home and rebuilt.
Then she went a-sailing again, under Captain Charles Stewart, as good an officer as Hull and Bainbridge; but it was more than two years after her last battle before she had another chance to show what sort of a fighter she was.
It is a curious fact that some of the hardest fights of this war with England took place after the war was at an end. The treaty of peace was signed on Christmas eve, 1814, but the great battle at New Orleans was fought two weeks afterward. There were no ocean cable then to send word to the armies that all their killing was no longer needed, since there was nothing to fight about.
It was worse still for the ships at sea. Nobody then had ever dreamed of a telegraph without wires to send word out over the wasteof waters, or even of a telegraph with wires. Thus it was that the last battle of the oldConstitutionwas fought nearly two months after the war was over.
The good old ship was then on the other side of the ocean, and was sailing along near the island of Madeira, which lies off the coast of Africa. For a year she had done nothing except to take a few small prizes, and her stalwart crew were tired of that sort of work. They wanted a real, big fight, with plenty of glory.
One evening Captain Stewart heard some of the officers talking about their bad luck, and wishing they could only meet with a fellow of their own size. They were tired of fishing for minnows when there were whales to be caught.
"I can tell you this, gentlemen," said the captain, "you will soon get what you want. Before the sun rises and sets again you will have a good old-fashioned fight, and it will not be with a single ship, either."
I do not know what the officers said after the captain turned away. Very likely some of them wondered how he came to be a prophet and could tell what was going to take place.I doubt very much whether they believed what he had said.
At any rate, about one o'clock the next day, February 20, 1815, when the ship was gliding along before a light breeze, a sail was seen far away in front. An hour later a second sail was made out, close by the first. And when theConstitutiongot nearer it was seen that they were both ships-of-war. It began to look as if Captain Stewart was a good prophet, after all.
It turned out that the first of these was the small British frigateCyane. The second was the sloop-of-warLevant. Neither was a match by itself for theConstitution, but both together they thought themselves a very good match.
It was five o'clock before the Yankee ship came up within gunshot. The two British ships had closed together so as to help one another, and now they all stripped off their extra sails, as a man takes off his coat and vest for a fight.
Six o'clock passed before the battle began. Then for fifteen minutes the three ships hurled their iron balls as fast as the men could load and fire. By that time the smoke was so thick that they had to stop firing to find out wherethe two fighting ships were. TheConstitutionnow found herself opposite theLevantand poured a broadside into her hull. Then she sailed backward—a queer thing to do, but Captain Stewart knew how to move his ship stern foremost—and poured her iron hail into theCyane. Next she pushed ahead again and pounded theLevanttill that lively little craft turned and ran. It had enough of theConstitution'siron dumplings to last a while.
This was great sailing and great firing, but Captain Stewart was one of those seamen who know howtohandle a ship, and his men knew how to handle their guns. There were never better seamen than those of theOld Ironsides.
TheLevantwas now out of the way, and there was only theCyaneto attend to. Captain Stewart attended to her so well that, just forty minutes after the fight began, her flag came down.
Where, now, was theLevant? She had run out of the fight; but she had a brave captain who did not like to desert his friend, so he turned back and came gallantly up again.
It was a noble act, but a foolish one. This the British captain found out when he cameonce more under the American guns. They were much too hot for him, and once more he tried to run away. He did not succeed this time. Captain Stewart was too much in love with him to let him go, and sent such warm love-letters after him that his flag came gliding down, as his comrade's had done.
Captain Stewart had shown himself a true prophet. He had met, fought with, and won two ships of the enemy. No doubt after that his officers were sure they had a prophet for a captain.
That evening, when the two British captains were in the cabin of theConstitution, a midshipman came down and asked Captain Stewart if the men could not have their grog.
"Why, didn't they have it?" asked the captain. "It was time for it before the battle began."
"It was mixed for them, sir," said the midshipman, "but our old men said they didn't want any 'Dutch courage,' so they emptied the grog-tub into the lee scuppers."
The Englishmen stared when they heard this. It is very likely their men had not fought without a double dose of grog.
We have not finished our story yet. Like a lady's letter, it has a postscript. On March 10, the three ships were in a harbor of the Cape de Verde Islands, and Captain Stewart was sending his prisoners ashore, when three large British men-of-war were seen sailing into the harbor.
Stewart was nearly caught in a trap. Any one of these large frigates was more than a match for theConstitution, and here were three in a bunch. But, by good luck, there was a heavy fog that hid everything but the highest sails; so there was a chance of escape.
Captain Stewart was not the man to be trapped while a chance was left. He was what we call a "wide-awake." There was a small chance left. He cut his cable, made a signal to the prize vessels to do the same, and in ten minutes after the first British vessel had been seen, the American ship and its prizes were gliding swiftly away.
On came the British ships against a stiff breeze, up the west side of the bay. Out slipped the Yankee ships along the east side. Captain Stewart set no sails higher than his top sails,and these were hidden by the fog, so the British lookouts saw nothing. They did not dream of the fine birds that were flying away.
Only when Stewart got his ship past the outer point of the harbor did he spread his upper sails to the breeze, and the British lookouts saw with surprise a cloud of canvas suddenly bursting out upon the air.
Now began a close chase. TheConstitutionand her prizes had only about a mile the start. As quick as the British ships could turn they were on their track. But those were not the days of the great guns that can send huge balls six or seven miles through the air. A mile then was a long shot for the largest guns, and the Yankee cruisers had made a fair start.
But before they had gone far Captain Stewart saw that theCyanewas in danger of being taken, and signaled for her to tack and take another course. She did so and sailed safely away. For three hours the three big frigates hotly chased theConstitutionandLevant, but let theCyanego.
Captain Stewart now saw that theLevantwas in the same danger, and he sent her a signal to tack as theCyanehad done. TheLevanttacked and sailed out of the line of the chase.
What was the surprise of the Yankee captain and his men when they saw all three of the big British ships turn on their heels and set sail after the little sloop-of-war, letting theConstitutionsail away. It was like three great dogs turning to chase a rabbit and letting a deer run free.
The three huge monsters chased the littleLevantback into the island port, and there for fifteen minutes they fired broadsides at her. The prisoners whom Captain Stewart had landed did the same from a battery on shore. And yet not a shot struck her hull; they were all wasted in the air.
At length Lieutenant Bullard, who was master of the prize, hauled down his flag. He thought he had seen enough fun, and they might hurt somebody afterwhile if they kept on firing. But what was the chagrin of the British captains to find that all they had done was to take back one of their own vessels, while the American frigate had gone free.
TheConstitutionand theCyanegot safely to the American shores, where their officerslearned that the war had ceased more than three months before. But the country was proud of their good service, and Congress gave medals of honor to Stewart and his officers.
That was the last warlike service of the gallantOld Ironsides, the most famous ship of the American Navy. Years passed by and her timbers rotted away, as they had done once before. Some of the wise heads in the Navy Department, men without a grain of sentiment, decided that she was no longer of any use and should be broken up for old timber.
But if they had no love for the good old ship, there were those who had; and a poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes, came to the rescue. This is the poem by which he saved the ship:
THE OLD IRONSIDES.
Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!Long has it waved on high,And many an eye has danced to seeThat banner in the sky;Beneath it rung the battle shout,And burst the cannon's roar;The meteor of the ocean airShall sweep the clouds no more!Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,Where knelt the vanquished foe,When winds were hurrying o'er the floodAnd waves were white below,No more shall feel the victor's treadOr know the conquered knee;The harpies of the shore shall pluckThe eagle of the sea!O! better that her shattered hulkShould sink beneath the wave;Her thunders shook the mighty deep,And there should be her grave;Nail to the mast her holy flag,Set every threadbare sail,And give her to the god of storms,The lightning and the gale.
There was no talk of destroying theOld Ironsidesafter that. The man that did it would have won eternal disgrace. She still floats, and no doubt she will float, as long as two of her glorious old timbers hang together.