NO doubt most of my readers know very well what a wasp is and how nicely it can take care of itself. When I was a boy I found out more than once how long and sharp a sting it has, and I do not think many boys grow up without at some time waking up a wasp and wishing they had left it asleep.
The United States has had threeWaspsand oneHornetin its navy, and the British boys who came fooling in their way found that all of them could sting. I will tell you about the time one of ourWaspsmet the BritishFrolicand fought it in a great gale, when the ships were tossing about like chips on the ocean billows.
Not long after theConstitutionhad hergreat fight with theGuerriere, a little sloop-of-war named theWaspset sail from Philadelphia to see what she could find on the broad seas. This vessel, you should know, had three masts and square sails like a ship. But she was not much larger than one of the sloops we see on our rivers to-day, so it was right to call her a sloop. For captain she had a bold sailor named Jacob Jones.
The first thing theWaspfound at sea was a mighty gale of wind, that blew "great guns" for two days. The waves were so big and fierce that one of them carried away her bowsprit with two men on it. The next night, after the wind had gone down a little, lights shone out across the waves, and when daylight came Captain Jones saw over the heaving billows six large merchant ships. With them was a watch-dog in the shape of a fighting brig.
This brig was named theFrolic. It had been sent in charge of a fleet of fourteen merchantmen, but these had been scattered by the gale until only six were left. TheFrolicwas a good match for theWasp, and seemed to want a fight quite as badly, for it sailed for the American ship as fast as the howling wind wouldlet it. And you may be sure theWaspdid not fly away.
Captain Jones hoisted his country's flag like a man. He was not afraid to show his true colors. But theFroliccame up under the Spanish flag. When they got close together Captain Jones hailed,—
"What ship is that?"
The only answer of the British captain was to pull down the Spanish flag and run up his own standard, stamped with the red cross of St. George. And as the one flag went down and the other went up, theFrolicfired a broadside at theWasp. But just then the British ship rolled over on the side of a wave, and its balls went whistling upward through the air. The Yankee gunners were more wide-awake than that. They waited until their vessel rolled down on the side of a great billow, and then they fired, their solid shot going low, and tearing into theFrolic'ssides.
The fighting went that way all through the battle. The British gunners did not know their business and fired wild. The Yankees knew what they were about, and made every shot tell. They had sights on their guns and tookaim; the British had no sights and took no aim. That is why the Americans were victors in so many fights.
But I think there was not often a sea-fight like this. The battle took place off Cape Hatteras, which is famous for its storms. The wind whistled and howled; the waves rose into foaming crests and sank into dark hollows; the fighting craft rolled and pitched. As they rolled upward the guns pointed at the clouds. As they rolled downward the muzzles of the guns often dipped into the foam. Great masses of spray came flying over the bulwarks, sweeping the decks. The weather and the sailors both had their blood up, and both were fighting for all they were worth. It was a question which would win, the wind or the men.
As fast as the smoke rose the wind swept it away, so that the gunners had a clear view of the ships. The roar of the gale was half drowned by the thunder of the guns, and the whistle of the wind mingled with the scream of the balls, while the sailors shouted as they ran out their guns and cheered as the iron hail swept across the waves.
In such frantic haste did the British handle their guns, that they fired three shots to the Yankees' two. The latter did not fire till they saw something to fire at. As a result, most of British balls went whistling overhead, and pitching over theWaspinto the sea, while most of the Yankee balls swept the decks or bored into the timbers of theFrolic.
But you must not think that the shots of theFrolicwere all wasted, if they did go high. One of them hit the maintopmast of theWaspand cut it square off. Another hit the mizzen-topgallantmast and toppled it into the waves. In twenty minutes from the start "every brace and most of the rigging of theWaspwere shot away." TheWasphad done little harm above, but a great deal below.
TheFroliccould have run away now if she had wanted to. But her captain was not of the runaway kind. The fire of theWasphad covered his deck with blood, but he fought boldly on.
As they fought the two ships drifted together and soon their sides met with a crash. Then, as they were swept apart by the waves, two of theWasp'sguns were fired into thebow-ports of theFrolicand swept her gun-deck from end to end. Terrible was the slaughter done by that raking fire.
The next minute the bowsprit of theFroliccaught in the rigging of theWasp, and another torrent of balls was poured into the British ship. Then the Yankee sailors left their guns and sprang for the enemy's deck. The captain wanted them to keep firing, but he could not hold them back.
First of them all was a brawny Jerseyman named Jack Lang, who took his cutlass between his teeth and clambered like a cat along the bowsprit to the deck. Others followed, and when they reached the deck of theFrolicthey found Jack Lang standing alone and looking along the blood-stained deck with staring eyes.
Only four living men were to be seen, and three of these were wounded. One was the quartermaster at the wheel and the others were officers. Not another man stood on his feet, but the deck was strewn with the dead, whose bodies rolled about at every heave of the waves.
When the men came running aft the three officers flung down their swords to show that they had surrendered, and one of them coveredhis face with his hands. It hurt him to give up the good ship. Lieutenant Biddle, of theWasp, had to haul down the British flag.
Never had there been more terrible slaughter. Of the 110 men on theFrolicthere were not twenty alive and unhurt, while on theWasponly five were dead and five wounded. The hull of theFrolicwas full of holes and its masts were so cut away that in a few minutes they both fell.
Thus ended one of the most famous of American sea-fights. It was another lesson that helped to stop the English from singing
"Britannia rules the waves."
But the littleWaspand her gallant crew did not get the good of their famous victory. While they were busy repairing damages a sail appeared above the far horizon. It came on, growing larger and larger, and soon it was seen to be a big man-of-war.
The game was up with theWaspand her prize, for the new ship was thePoictiers, a great seventy-four ship-of-the-line. She snapped up theWaspand theFrolicand carriedthem off to the British isle of Bermuda, where the victors found themselves prisoners.
A few words will finish the story of theWasp. She was taken into the British navy; but she did not have to fight for her foes, for she went down at sea without doing anything. So she was saved from the disgrace of fighting against her country.
Captain Jones and his men were soon exchanged, and Congress voted them a reward of $25,000 for their gallant fight, while the brave captain was given the command of the frigateMacedonian, which had been captured from the British. It was Captain Stephen Decatur, the hero of Tripoli, that captured her, in the good shipUnited States.
Would you like to hear about the otherWasps? There were two more of them, you know. They were good ships, but ill luck came to them all. The firstWaspdid her work in the Revolution, and had to be burned at Philadelphia to keep her from the British when they took that city. The second one, as I have just told you, was lost at sea, and so was the third. You may see that bad luck came to them all.
The thirdWaspwas, like the second, asloop-of-war, but she was a large and heavy one. And though in the end she was lost at sea and followed the otherWaspto the bottom, she did not do so without sending some British messengers there in advance.
I will tell you the story of thisWasp, and how she used her sting, but it must be done in few words.
She was built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and sailed on May 1, 1814, her captain being Johnston Blakeley; her crew a set of young countrymen who were so unused to the sea that most of them were seasick for a week. Their average age was only twenty-three years, so they were little more than boys. Yet the most of them could hit a deer with a rifle, and they soon showed they could hit aReindeerwith a cannon. For near the end of June they came across a British brig named theReindeer, and in less than twenty minutes had battered her in so lively a fashion that her flag came down and she was a prize.
The crew of theReindeerwere trained seamen, but they did not know how to shoot. The Americans were Yankee farmer-lads, yet they shot like veteran gunners. I am sure you willthink so when I tell you that the British could hardly hit theWaspat all, though she was less than sixty yards away. But the Yankees hit theReindeerso often that she was cut to pieces and her masts ready to fall. In fact, after she was captured, she could not be taken into port, but had to be set on fire and blown to pieces.
But I must say a good word for the gallant captain of theReindeer. First, a musket ball hit him and went through the calves of both legs, but he kept on his feet. Then a grape-shot—an iron ball two inches thick—went through both his thighs. The brave seaman fell, but he rose to his feet again, drew his sword, and called his men to board theWasp. He was trying to climb on board when a musket ball went through his head. "O God!" he cried, and fell dead.
This fight was in the English Channel, where Blakeley was doing what John Paul Jones had done years before. Two months after the sinking of theReindeertheWasphad another fight. This time there were three British vessels, theAvon, theCastilian, and theTartarus, all of them brig-sloops like theReindeer. These vessels were scattered, chasinga privateer, and about nine o'clock at night theWaspcame up with theAvonalone. They hailed each other as ships do when they meet at sea. Then, when sure they were enemies, they began firing, as ships do also in time of war. For forty minutes the fight kept up, and then theAvonhad enough. She was riddled as theReindeerhad been. But theWaspdid not take possession; for before a boat could be sent on board, the two comrades of theAvoncame in sight.
TheWasp, after her battle with theAvon, could not fight two more, so she sailed away and left them to attend to their consort. They could not save her. TheWasphad stung too deeply for that. The water poured in faster than the men of all three ships could pump it out, and at one o'clock in the morning down plunged theAvon'sbow in the water, up went her stern in the air, and with a mighty surge she sank to rise no more. But the gallantWasphad ended her work. She took some more prizes, but the sea, to whose depths she had sent theReindeerandAvon, took her also. She was seen in October, and that was the last that human eyes ever saw of her.
THE United States navy had itsHornetas well as itsWasps. And they were well named, for they were all able to sting. The captain of theHornetwas a noble seaman named James Lawrence, who had been a midshipman in the war with Tripoli. In the War of 1812 he was captain in succession of theVixen, theWasp, theArgus, and theHornet.
TheHornetwas a sloop-of-war. I have told you what that means. She had three masts, and carried square sails like a ship, but she was called a sloop on account of her size. She had eighteen short guns and two long ones. The short guns threw thirty-two pound and the long ones twelve pound balls.
Of course you have not forgotten the fight of theConstitutionwith theJava. When theConstitutionwent south to Brazil at that time theHornetwent with her, but they soon parted.
In one of the harbors of Brazil Captain Lawrence saw a British ship as big as theHornet. He waited outside for her, but she would not come out. He had found a coward of a captain, and he locked him up in that harbor for two months.
Then he got tired and left. Soon after he came across thePeacock, a British man-of-war brig. ThePeacockwas as large as theHornetand its captain was as full of fight as Captain Lawrence. He was the kind of man that our bold Lawrence was hunting for. When two men feel that way, a fight is usually not far off. That was the way now. Soon the guns were booming and the balls were flying.
But the fight was over before the men had time to warm up. The first guns were fired at 5.25 in the afternoon, and at 5.39 the British flag came down; so the battle lasted just fourteen minutes. Not many victories have been won so quickly as that.
But theHornetacted in a very lively fashionwhile it lasted. Do you know how a hornet behaves when a mischievous boy throws a stone at its nest? Well, that is the way ourHornetdid. Only one ball from thePeacockstruck her, and hardly any of her men were hurt. But thePeacockwas bored as full of holes as a pepper-box, and the water poured in faster than all hands could pump it out. In a very short time the unluckyPeacockfilled and sank. So Captain Lawrence had only the honor of his victory; old ocean had swallowed up his prize.
But if Captain Lawrence got no prize money, he won great fame. He was looked on as another Hull or Decatur, and Congress made him captain of the frigateChesapeake. That was in one way a bad thing for the gallant Lawrence, for it cost him his life. In another way it was a good thing, for it made him one of the most famous of American seamen.
I have told you the story of several victories of American ships. I must now tell you the story of one defeat. But I think you will say it was a defeat as glorious as a victory. For eight months the little navy of the young Republic had sailed on seas where British shipswere nearly as thick as apples in an orchard. In that time it had not lost a ship, and had won more victories than England had done in twenty years. Now it was to meet with its first defeat.
When Captain Lawrence took command of theChesapeake, that ship lay in the harbor of Boston. Outside this harbor was the British frigateShannon, blockading the port.
Now you must know that the American people had grown very proud of their success on the sea. They had got to think that any little vessel could whip an English man-of-war. So the Bostonians grew eager for theChesapeaketo meet theShannon. They were sure it would be brought in as a prize, and they wanted to hurrah over it.
Poor Lawrence was as eager as the people. He was just the man they wanted. TheChesapeakehad no crew, but he set himself to work, and in two weeks he filled her up with such men as he could find.
It was a mixed team he got together, the sweepings of the streets. There were some good men among them, but more poor ones. And they were all new men to the ship and tothe captain. They had not been trained to work together, and it was madness to fight a first-class British ship with such a crew. Some, in fact, were mutineers and gave him trouble before he got out of the harbor.
But theShannonwas a crack ship with a crack crew. Captain Broke had commanded her for seven years and had a splendidly trained set of men. He had copied from the Americans and put sights on his guns, had taught his men to fire at floating marks in the sea, and had trained his topmen to use their muskets in the same careful way. So when Captain Lawrence sailed on June 1, 1813, he sailed to defeat and death.
Captain Broke sent a challenge to theChesapeaketo come out and fight him ship to ship. But Lawrence did not wait for his challenge. He was too eager for that, and set sail with a crew who did not know their work, and most of whom had never seen their officers before.
What could be expected of such mad courage as that? It is one thing to be a brave man; it is another to be a wise one. Of course you will say that Captain Lawrence was brave; but no one can say he was wise. Poor fellow, hewas simply throwing away his ship and his life.
It was in the morning of June 1 that theChesapeakeleft the wharves of Boston. It was 5.50 in the afternoon that she met theShannonand the battle began.
Both ships fired as fast as they could load, but the men of theShannonwere much better hands at their work, and their balls tore the American ship in a terrible manner. A musket-ball struck Lawrence in the leg, but he would not go below. The rigging of theChesapeakewas badly cut, the men at the wheel were shot, and in ten minutes the two ships drifted together.
Men on each side now rushed to board the enemy's ship, and there was a hand-to-hand fight at the bulwarks of the two ships. At this moment Captain Lawrence was shot through the body and fell with a mortal wound. He was carried below.
As he lay in great pain he noticed that the firing had almost ceased. Calling a surgeon's mate to him, he said, "Tell the men to fire faster, and not give up the ship; the colors shall wave while I live."
Unfortunately, these words were spoken in the moment of defeat. Captain Broke, followed by a number of his men, had sprung to the deck of theChesapeake, and a desperate struggle began. The Americans fought stubbornly, but the fire from the trained men in theShannon'stops and the rush of British on board soon gave Broke and his men the victory. The daring Broke fell with a cut that laid open his skull, but in a few moments the Americans were driven below.
TheChesapeakewas taken in just fifteen minutes, one minute more than theHornethad taken to capture thePeacock.
The British hauled down the American flag, and then hoisted it again with a white flag to show their victory. But the sailor who did the work, by mistake got the white flag under the Stars and Stripes.
When the gunners in theShannonsaw the Yankee flag flying they fired again, and this time killed and wounded a number of their own men, one of them being an officer.
"Don't Give up the Ship!""Don't Give up the Ship!"
The gallant Lawrence neverknewthat his ship was lost. He lived until theShannonreached Halifax with her prize, but he becamedelirious, and kept repeating over and over again his last order—"Don't give up the ship!"
With these words he died. With these words his memory has become immortal. "Don't give up the ship!" is the motto of the American navy, and will not be forgotten while our great Republic survives. So Captain Lawrence gained greater renown in defeat than most men have won in victory.
The capture of theChesapeakewas a piece of wonderful good fortune for the British, to judge by the way they boasted of it. As Captain Pearson had been made a knight for losing theSerapis, so Captain Broke was made a baronet for taking theChesapeake. A "baronet," you must know, is a higher title than a "knight," though they both use the handle of "Sir" to their names.
The work of theShannonproved—so the British historians said—that, "if the odds were anything like equal, a British frigate could always whip an American, and in a hand-to-hand conflict such would invariably be the case."
Such things are easy to say, when one does not care about telling the truth. Suppose wegive now what a French historian, who believed in telling the truth, said of this fight,—
"Captain Broke had commanded theShannonfor nearly seven years; Captain Lawrence had commanded theChesapeakefor but a few days. TheShannonhad cruised for eighteen months on the coast of America; theChesapeakewas newly out of harbor. TheShannonhad a crew long accustomed to habits of strict obedience; theChesapeakewas manned by men who had just been engaged in mutiny. The Americans were wrong to accuse fortune on this occasion. Fortune was not fickle, she was merely logical."
That is about the same as to say that theChesapeakewas given away to the enemy. After that there were no more ships sent out of port unfit to fight, merely to please the people. It was a lesson the people needed.
The body of the brave Lawrence was laid on the quarter-deck of theChesapeakewrapped in an American flag. It was then placed in a coffin and taken ashore, where it was met by a regiment of British troops and a band that played the "Death March in Saul." The sword of the dead hero lay on his coffin. In the end hisbody was buried in the cemetery of Trinity Church, New York. A monument stands to-day over his grave, and on it are the words:
"Neither the fury of battle, the anguish of a mortal wound, nor the horrors of approaching death could subdue his gallant spirit. His dying words were
'Don't give up the ship!'"
IN the year 1813, when war was going on between England and the United States, the whole northern part of this country was a vast forest. An ocean of trees stretched away from the seaside in Maine for a thousand miles to the west, and ended in the broad prairies of the Mississippi region.
The chief inhabitants of this grand forest were the moose and the deer, the wolf and the panther, the wild turkey and the partridge, the red Indian and the white hunter and trapper. It was a very different country from what we see to-day, for now its trees are replaced by busy towns and fertile fields.
But in one way there has been no change. North of the forest lands spread the GreatLakes, the splendid inland seas of our northern border; and these were then what they are now, vast plains of water where all the ships of all the nations might sail.
Along the shores of these mighty lakes fighting was going on; at Detroit on the west; at Niagara on the east. Soon war-vessels began to be built and set afloat on the waters of the lakes. And these vessels after a time came together in fierce conflict. I have now to tell the story of a famous battle between these lake men-of-war. There was then in our navy a young man named Oliver Hazard Perry. He was full of the spirit of fight, but, while others were winning victories on the high seas, he was given nothing better to do than to command a fleet of gunboats at Newport, Rhode Island.
Perry became very tired of this. He wanted to be where fighting was going on, and he kept worrying the Navy Department for some active work. So at last he was ordered to go to the lakes, with the best men he had, and get ready to fight the British there. Perry received the order on February 17, 1813, and before night he and fifty of his men were ontheir way west in sleighs; for the ground was covered deep with snow.
The sleighing was good, but the roads were bad and long; and it took him and his men two weeks to reach Sackett's Harbor, at the north end of Lake Ontario. From that place he went to Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, where the fine City of Erie now stands. Then only the seed of a city was planted there, in a small village, and the forest came down to the lake.
Captain Perry did not go to sleep when he got to the water-side. He was not one of the sleepy sort. He wanted vessels and he wanted them quickly. The British had warships on the lake, and Perry did not intend to let them have it all to themselves.
When he got to Erie he found Captain Dobbins, an old shipbuilder, hard at work. In the woods around were splendid trees, white and black oak and chestnut, for planking, and pine for the decks. The axe was busy at these giants of the forest; and so fast did the men work, that a tree which was waving in the forest when the sun rose might be cut down and hewn into ship-timber before the sun set. In that way Perry's fleet grew like magic outof the forest. While the ships were building, cannon and stores were brought from Pittsburgh by way of the Allegheny River and its branches. And Perry went to Niagara River, where he helped capture a fine brig, called theCaledonia, from the British.
Captain Dobbins built two more brigs, one of which Perry named theNiagara. The other he calledLawrence, after Captain Lawrence, the story of whose life and death you have just read.
Have any of you ever heard the story of the man who built a wagon in his barn and then found it too wide to go out through the door? Perry was in the same trouble. His new ships were too big to get out into the lake. There was a bar at the mouth of the river with only four feet of water on it. That was not deep enough to float his new vessels. And he was in a hurry to get these in deep water; for he knew the British fleet would soon be down to try to destroy them.
How would you work to get a six-foot vessel over a four-foot sand bar? Well, that doesn't matter; all we care for is the way Captain Perry did it. He took two big scows andput one on each side of theLawrence. Then he filled them with water till the waves washed over their decks. When they had sunk so far they were tied fast to the brig and the water was pumped out of them. As the water went out they rose and lifted theLawrencebetween them until there were several feet of water below her keel. Now the brig was hauled on the bar until she touched the bottom; then she was lifted again in the same way. This second time took her out to deep water. Next, theNiagarawas lifted over the bar in the same manner.
The next day the British, who had been taking things very easily, came sailing down to destroy Perry's ships. But they opened their eyes wide when they saw them afloat on the lake. They had lost their chance by wasting their time.
Perry picked up men for his vessels wherever he could get them. The most of those to be had were landsmen. But he had his fifty good men from Newport and a hundred were sent him from the coast. Some of these had been on theConstitutionin her great fight with theGuerriere.
Oliver H. Perry.Oliver H. Perry.
Early in August all was ready, and he set sail. Early in September he was in Put-in Bay, at the west end of Lake Erie, and here the British came looking for him and his ships.
Perry was now the commodore of a fleet of nine vessels,—the brigsLawrence,NiagaraandCaledonia, five schooners, and one sloop. Captain Barclay, the British commander, had only six vessels, but some of them were larger than Perry's. They were the shipsDetroitandQueen Charlotte, a large brig, two schooners, and a sloop. Such were the fleets with which the great battle of Lake Erie was fought.
I know you are getting tired of all this description, and want to get on to the fighting. You don't like to be kept sailing in quiet waters when there is a fine storm ahead. Very well, we will go on. But one has to get his bricks ready before he can build his house.
Well, then, on the 10th of September, 1813, it being a fine summer day, with the sun shining brightly, Perry and his men sailed out from Put-in Bay and came in sight of the British fleet over the waters of the lake.
What Captain Perry now did was fine. He hoisted a great blue flag, and when it unrolledin the wind the men saw on it, in white letters, the dying words of Captain Lawrence, "Don't give up the ship!" Was not that a grand signal to give? It must have put great spirit into the men, and made them feel that they would die like the gallant Lawrence before they would give up their ships. The men on both fleets were eager to fight, but the wind kept very light, and they came together slowly. It was near noon before they got near enough for their long guns to work. Then the British began to send balls skipping over the water, and soon after the Americans answered back.
Now came the roar of battle, the flash of guns, the cloud of smoke that settled down and half hid everything. The Americans came on in a long line, head on for the British, who awaited their approach. Perry's flagship, theLawrence, was near the head of the line. It soon plunged into the very thick of the fight, with only two little schooners to help it. The wind may have been too light for the rest of the fleet to come up. We do not know just what kept them back, but at any rate, they didn't come up, and theLawrencewas left to fight alone.
Never had a vessel been in a worse plight than was theLawrencefor the next two hours. She was half surrounded by the three large British vessels, theDetroit, theQueen Charlotte, and the brigHunter, all pouring in their fire at once, while she had to fight them all. On theLawrenceand the two schooners there were only seven long guns against thirty-six which were pelting Perry's flagship from the British fleet.
This was great odds. But overhead there floated the words, "Don't give up the ship"; so the brave Perry pushed on till he was close to theDetroit, and worked away, for life or death, with all his guns, long and short.
Oh, what a dreadful time there was on Perry's flagship during those sad two hours. The great guns roared, the thick smoke rose, the balls tore through her sides, sending splinters flying like sharp arrows to right and left. Men fell like leaves blown down by a gale. Blood splashed on the living and flowed over the dead. The surgeon's mates were kept busy carrying the wounded below, where the surgeon dressed their wounds.
Captain Perry's little brother, a boy of onlythirteen years, was on the ship, and stood beside him as brave as himself. Two bullets went through the boy's hat; then a splinter cut through his clothes; still he did not flinch. Soon after, he was knocked down and the captain grew pale with fear. But up jumped the boy again. It was only a flying hammock that had struck him. That little fellow was a true sailor boy, and had in him plenty of Yankee grit.
I would not, if I could, tell you all the horrors of those two hours. It is not pleasant reading. The cannon balls even came through the vessel's sides among the wounded, and killed some of them where they lay. At the end of the fight theLawrencewas a mere wreck. Her bowsprit and masts were nearly all cut away, and out of more than a hundred men only fourteen were unhurt. There was not a gun left that could be worked.
Most men in such a case would have pulled down their flag. But Oliver Perry had the spirit of Paul Jones, and he did not forget the words on his flag—"Don't give up the ship."
During those dread two hours theNiagara, under Lieutenant Elliott, had kept out of thefight. Now it came sailing up before a freshening breeze.
As soon as Perry saw this fresh ship he made up his mind what to do. He had a boat lowered with four men in it. His little brother leaped in after them. Then he stepped aboard with the flag bearing Lawrence's motto on his shoulder, and was rowed away to theNiagara. As soon as the British saw this little boat on the water, with Perry standing upright, wrapped in the flag he had fought for so bravely, they turned all their guns and fired at it. Cannon and musket balls tore the water round it. It looked as if nothing would save those devoted men from death.
"Sit down!" cried Perry's men. "We will stop rowing if you don't sit down."
So Perry sat down, and when a ball came crashing through the side of the boat he took off his coat and plugged up the hole.
Providence favored him and his men. They reached theNiagarawithout being hurt. The British had fired in vain. Perry sprang on board and ordered the men to raise the flag.
"How goes the day?" asked Lieutenant Elliott.
"Bad enough," said Perry. "Why are the gunboats so far back?"
"I will bring them up," said Elliott.
"Do so," said Perry.
Elliott jumped into the boat which Perry had just left, and rowed away. Up to the mast-head went the great blue banner with the motto, "Don't give up the ship." Signals were given for all the vessels to close in on the enemy, and theNiagarabore down under full sail.
TheLawrencewas out of the fight. Rent and torn, with only a handful of her crew on their feet, and not a gun that could be fired, her day was done. Her flag was pulled down by the few men left to save themselves. The British had no time to take possession, for theNiagarawas on them, fresh for the fray, like a new horse in the race.
Right through the British fleet this new ship went. Three of their ships were on one side of her and two on the other, and all only a few yards away. As she went her guns spoke out, sweeping their decks and tearing through their timbers.
TheLawrencehad already done her shareof work on these vessels, and this new pounding was more than they could stand. The other American vessels also were pouring their shot into the foe. Flesh and blood could not bear this. Men were falling like grass before the scythe. A man sprang up on the rail of theDetroitand waved a white flag to show that they had surrendered. The great fight was over. The British had given up.
Perry announced his victory in words that have become historic: "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
This famous despatch was written with a pencil on the back of an old letter, with his hat for a table. It was sent to General Harrison, who commanded an army nearby. Harrison at once led his cheering soldiers against the enemy, and gave them one of the worst defeats of the war.
When the news of the victory spread over the country the people were wild with joy. Congress thanked Perry and voted gold medals to him and Elliott, and honors or rewards to all the officers and men. But over the whole country it was thought that Elliott had earned disgrace instead of a gold medal by keeping solong out of the fight. He said he had only obeyed orders, but people thought that was a time to break orders.
Perry was made a full captain by Congress. This was then the highest rank in the navy. But he took no more part in the war. Six years later he was sent with a squadron to South America, and there he took the yellow fever and died. Thus passed away one of the most brilliant and most famous officers of the American navy.
ANY of you who have read much of American history must have often met with the names of Porter and Farragut. There are no greater names in our naval history. There was Captain David Porter and his two gallant sons, all men of fame. And the still more famous Admiral Farragut began his career under the brave old captain of the War of 1812.
I am going now to tell you about David Porter and the littleEssex, a ship whose name the British did not like to hear. And I have spoken of Farragut from the fact that he began his naval career under Captain Porter.
Captain Porter was born in 1780, before the Revolution had ended. His father was a sea-captain;and when the boy was sixteen years old, he stood by his father's side on the schoonerElizaand helped to fight off a British press-gang which wanted to rob it of some of its sailors. The press-gang was a company of men who seized men wherever they found them, and dragged them into the British navy, where they were compelled to serve as sailors or marines. It was a cruel and unjust way of getting men, and the Americans resisted it wherever they could. In this particular fight several men were killed and wounded, and the press-gang thought it best to let theElizaalone.
When the lad was seventeen he was twice seized by press-men and taken to serve in the British navy, but both times he escaped. Then he joined the American navy as a midshipman.
Young Porter soon showed what was in him. In the naval war with France he was put on a French prize that was full of prisoners who wanted to seize the ship. For three days Porter helped to watch them, and in all that time he did not take a minute's sleep.
Afterward, in a pilot-boat, with fifteen men the boy hero attacked a French privateer with forty men and a barge with thirty men. Porter,with his brave fifteen, boarded the privateer and fought like a hero. After more than half its crew were killed and wounded the privateer surrendered. In this hard fight not one of Porter's men was hurt.
That was only one of the things which young Porter did. When the war with the pirates of Tripoli began, he was there, and again did some daring deeds. He was on thePhiladelphiawhen that good ship ran aground and was taken by the Moors, and he was held a prisoner till the end of the war. Here you have an outline of the early history of David Porter.
When the War of 1812 broke out, he was made captain of theEssex. TheEssexwas a little frigate that had been built in the Revolution. It was not fit to fight with the larger British frigates, but with David Porter on its quarter-deck it was sure to make its mark.
On theEssexwith him was a fine little midshipman, only eleven years old, who had been brought up in the Porter family. His name was David G. Farragut. I shall have a good story of him to tell you later on, for he grew up to be one of the bravest and greatest men in the American navy.
On July 2, 1812, only two weeks after war was declared, Porter was off to sea in theEssex, on the hunt for prizes and glory. He got some prizes, but it was more than a month before he had a chance for glory. Then he came in sight of a British man-of-war, a sight that pleased him very much.
Up came theEssex, pretending to be a merchant ship and with the British flag flying. That is one of the tricks which naval officers play. They think it right to cheat an enemy. The stranger came bowling down under full sail and fired a gun as a hint for the supposed merchantman to stop. So theEssexbacked her sails and hove to until the stranger had passed her stern.
Porter was now where he had wanted to get. He had the advantage of the wind—what sailors call the "weather-gage." So down came the British flag and up went the Stars and Stripes: and the ports were thrown open, showing the iron mouths of the guns, ready to bark.
When the English sailors saw this they cheered loudly and ran to their guns. They fired in their usual hasty fashion, making muchnoise but doing no harm. Porter waited till he was ready to do good work, and then fired a broadside that fairly staggered the British ship.
The Englishman had not bargained for such a salute as this, and now tried to run away. But theEssexhad the wind, and in eight minutes was alongside. And in those eight minutes her guns were busy as guns could be. Then down came the British flag. That was the shortest fight in the war.
The prize was found to be the corvetteAlert. A corvette is a little ship with not many guns. She was not nearly strong enough for theEssex, and gave up when only three of her men were wounded. But she had been shot so full of holes that she already had seven feet of water in her hold and was in danger of sinking. It kept the men of theEssexbusy enough to pump her out and stop up the holes, so that she should not go to the bottom. Captain Porter did not want to lose his prize. He came near losing it, and his ship too, in another way, as I have soon to tell.
You must remember that he had taken other prizes and sent them home with some of hismen. So he had a large number of prisoners, some of them soldiers taken from one of his prizes. There were many more British on board than there were Americans, and some of them formed a plot to capture the ship. They might have done it, too, but for the little midshipman, David Farragut.
This little chap was lying in his hammock, when he saw an Englishman come along with a pistol in his hand. This was the leader in the plot who was looking around to see if all was ready for his men to break out on the Americans.
He came up to the hammock where the boy lay and looked in at him. The bright young fellow then had his eyes tight shut and seemed to be fast asleep. After looking a minute the man went away. The instant he was out of sight up jumped the lad and ran to the captain's cabin. You may be sure he did not take many words to tell what he had seen.
Captain Porter knew there was no time to be lost. He sprang out of bed in haste and ran to the deck. Here he gave a loud yell of "Fire! Fire!"
In a minute the men came tumbling up frombelow like so many rats. They had been trained what to do in case of a night-fire and every man ran to his place. Captain Porter had even built fires that sent up volumes of smoke, so as to make them quick to act and to steady their nerves.
While the cry of fire roused the Americans, it scared the conspirators, and before they could get back their wits the sailors were on them. It did not take long to lock them up again. In that way Porter and Farragut saved their ship.
The time was coming in which he would lose his ship, but the way he lost it brought him new fame. I must tell you how this came about. When theConstitutionand theHornet, as I have told you in another story, were in the waters of Brazil, theEssexwas sent to join them. You know what was done there, how theConstitutionwhipped and sunk theJava, and theHornetdid the same for thePeacock.
There was no such luck for theEssex, and after his fellow-ships had gone north Captain Porter went cruising on his own account. In the Pacific Ocean were dozens of British whalersand other ships. Here was a fine field for prizes. So he set sail, went round the stormy Cape Horn in a hurricane, and was soon in the great ocean of the west.
I shall not tell you the whole story of this cruise. TheEssexhere was like a hawk among a flock of partridges. She took prize after prize, until she had about a dozen valuable ships.
When the news of what Porter was doing reached England, there was a sort of panic. Something must be done with this fellow or he would clear the Pacific of British trade. So a number of frigates were sent in the hunt for him. They were to get him in any way they could.
After a long cruise on the broad Pacific, theEssexreached the port of Valparaiso, on the coast of Chile, in South America. She had with her one of her prizes, theEssex Junior. Here Porter heard that a British frigate, thePhoebe, was looking for him. That pleased him. He wanted to come across a British war-vessel, so he concluded to wait for her. He was anxious for something more lively than chasing whaling ships.
He was not there long before thePhoebecame, and with her a small warship, theCherub.
When thePhoebecame in sight of theEssexit sailed close up. Its captain had been told that half the American crew were ashore, and very likely full of Spanish wine. But when he got near he saw the Yankee sailors at their guns and ready to fight. When he saw this he changed his mind. He jumped on a gun and said:—
"Captain Hillyar's compliments to Captain Porter, and hopes he is well."
"Very well, I thank you," said Porter. "But I hope you will not come too near for fear some accident might take place which would be disagreeable to you."
"I had no intention of coming on board," said Captain Hillyar, when he saw the look of things on the deck of theEssex. "I am sorry I came so near you."
"Well, you have no business where you are," said Porter. "If you touch a rope yarn of this ship, I shall board instantly."
With that thePhoebewore round and went off. It was a neutral port and there was agood excuse for not fighting, but it was well for Porter that he was ready.
A few days later he heard that some other British ships were coming from Valparaiso and he concluded to put to sea. He didn't want to fight a whole fleet. But the wind treated him badly. As he sailed out a squall struck theEssexand knocked her maintopmast into the sea. Porter now ran into a small bay near at hand and dropped anchor close to the shore.
Here was the chance for thePhoebeand theCherub. They could stand off and hammer theEssexwhere she could not fire back. They had over thirty long guns while theEssexhad only six, and only three of these could be used. The rest of her guns were short ones that would not send a ball far enough to reach the British ships.
TheEssexwas in a trap. The British began to pour solid iron into her at the rate of nearly ten pounds to her one. For two hours this was kept up. There was frightful slaughter on theEssex. Her men were falling like dead leaves, but Porter would not yield.
After this went on for some time there came a change in the wind, and theEssexspreadwhat sail she had and tried to get nearer. But thePhoebewould not wait for her, but sailed away and kept pumping balls into her.
Soon the wind changed again. Now all hope was gone. The American crew was being murdered and could not get near the British. Porter tried to run his ship ashore, intending to fight to the last and then blow her up.
But the treacherous wind shifted again and he could not even reach the shore. Dead and wounded men lay everywhere. Flames were rising in the hold. Water was pouring into shot holes. The good ship had fought her last and it was madness to go on. So at 6.20 o'clock, two and a half hours after the fight began, her flag came down and the battle was over.
The story of the cruise of theEssexand her great struggle against odds was written for us by her young midshipman—David Farragut. President Roosevelt, in his Naval History of the War of 1812, says the following true words about Captain Porter's brave fight:
"As an exhibition of dogged courage it has never been surpassed since the time when the Dutch Captain Keasoon, after fighting twolong days, blew up his disabled ship, devoting himself and all his crew to death, rather than surrender to the hereditary foes of his race." Porter was the man to do the same thing, but he felt he had no right to send all his men to death.