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THE SHIPS AND SAILORS OF OLD SALEM
A
The Pariay, one of tlie last of the Salem fleet bound out from Boston to jNIanila twentv-five vears ago
THE SHIPS AND SAILORS
OF
OLD SALEM
THE RECORD OF A BRILLIANT ERA OF AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENT
BY
RALPH D. PAINE
Author of " Tlie Greater Ainerica," ' The Romance of an Old- Time Shipmaster" etc
NEW EDITION
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO A- C. McCLURG & CO. ■ 1912
t7f
Copyright, 1908, by , THE OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY
Copyright, 1912, "by A, C. McCLURG & CO., CHICAGO
All Rights Reserved
S. R. DONNELLKY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO '
tCI.A3l9964
"THE MERCHANTMEN"
'Beyond all outer charting We sailed where none have sailed. And saw the land-lights burning On islands none have hailed ; Our hair stood up for w^onder, But when the night was done, There danced the deep to windward Blue-empty 'neath the sun."
RuDYARD Kipling.
'We're outward bound this very day, Good-bye, fare you well, Good-bye, fare you well. We're outward bound this very day. Hurrah, my boys, we're outward bound."
{From a chantey sung while sheeting home topsails.)
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
THE Panama Canal has strongly revived interest in the American merchant marine. A nation, long indiffer- ent to the fact that it had lost its prestige on blue water, now discovers that after digging a ditch between two oceans at a cost of hundred of millions, there are almost no American ships to use it.
In other days, Yankee ships and sailors were able to win the commerce of the world against the competition of foreign flags because of native enterprise, brains, and seamanship. Nor is it impossible that such an era shall come again. It was not so much the lack of subsidies and the lower cost of foreign ships and crews that drove the American ensign from the high seas as the greater attraction which drew capital and energy to the tasks of building cities and railroads and opening to civilization the inland areas of the West.
If these records of maritime Salem hold any lessons for today, if they are worth while as something more than stir- ring tales of bygone generations, it is because those seafarers achieved success without counting the odds. They were enor- mously hampered by the policy of England which deliberately endeavored to crush Colonial shipping by means of number- less tonnage, customs, and neutrality regulations. It was a merciless jealousy that sought to confiscate every Yankee merchant vessel and ruin her owners.
There were the risks of the sea, of uncharted, unlighted coasts and reefs and islands, and a plague of ferocious pirates
vii
Preface
and lawless privateers who haunted the trade routes from the Spanish Main to Madagascar. The vessel lucky enough to escape all these perils might run afoul of another menace in the cruiser or customs officer of the King, and many and many an American merchantmen, hundreds of them, were seized in their own harbors and carried off before the eyes of their owners who could only stand by in speechless rage and sorrow at the loss of their labor and investment.
Notwithstanding all these grievous handicaps, American ships and sailors prospered and multiplied, nor did they stay at home and whine that they could not compete with the more favored merchant navies of England and the Continent. They took and held their commanding share of the world's trade because they had to have it. They wanted it earnestly enough to go out and get it.
Whenever the United States shall really desire to regain her proud place among the maritime nations, the minds of her captains of industry v/iil find a way to achieve it and her legislators will solve their share of the problem. And our people will cease paying over to English and German ship- owners enough money in freight and passage bills every year to defray the cost of building a Panama Canal.
From log books, sea journals and other manuscripts hitherto unpublished (most of them written during the years between the Revolution and the War of 1812), are herein gathered such narratives as those of the first American voyages to Japan, India, the Philippines, Guam, the Cape of Good Hope, Sumatra, Arabia and the South Seas. These and other records, as written by the seamen who made Salem the most famous port of the New World a century ago, are much more than local annals. They comprise a unique and brilliant chapter of American history and they speak for themselves.
viii
Preface
This era, vanished this closed chapter of American achieve- ment which reached its zenith a full century ago, belongs not alone to Salem, but also to the nation. East and west, north and south, runs the love of the stars and stripes, and the desire to do honor to those who have helped win for this flag prestige and respect among other peoples in other climes. The seamen of this old port were traders, it is true, but they lent to com- merce an epic quality, and because they steered so many brave ships to ports where no other American topsails had ever gleamed, they deserve to be remembered among those whose work left its imprint far beyond the limits of the town or coast they called home.
IX
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I A Port of Vanished Fleets. ... 3 II Philip English and his Era. (1680-1750.) . 21
III Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates.
(1670-1725.) 39
IV The Privateersmen of '76 . . . . 58 V Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman. (1776-
1782.) 78
VI Captain Luther Little's Own Story. (1771-
1799.) 98
VII The Journal of William Russell. (1776-
1783.) 117
VIII The Journal of William Russell (concluded).
(1779-1783.) 134
IX Richard Derby and his Son John. (1774-
1792.) 149
X Elias Hasket Derby and his Times. (1770-
1800.). . 173
XI Pioneers in Distant Seas. (1775-1817.) . 197 XII The Building of the Essex. (1799.) . . 228
XIII The First American Voyagers to Japan.
(1799-1801.) 250
XIV The First Yankee Ship at Guam. (1801.) . 270 XV Nathaniel Bowditch and his "Practical
Navigator." (1802.) 288
XVI The Voyages of Nathaniel Silsbee. (1792-
1800.) * . . .310
xi
Conlents
CHAPTER PAGE
XVII The Voyages of Richard Cleveland. (1791-
1820.) 329
XVIII The Privateers of 1812 . . . .353
XIX The Tragedy of the Friendship. (1831.) . 378 XX Early South Sea Voyages. (1832.) . . 406 XXI The Last Pirates of the Spanish Main.
(1832.) 431
XXII General Frederick Townsend Ward. (1859-
1862.) 451
XXIII The Ebbing of the Tide .... 482 Appendix ....... 499
XII
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Panay, one of the last of the Salem fleet bound out
from Boston to Manila twenty-five years ago Frontispiece
Custom House document with signature of Nathaniel
Hawthorne as surveyor ....
Page from the illustrated log of the Eolus A corner in the Marine Room of the Peabody Museum
-The Marine Room, Peabody Museum . Certificate of Membership in the Salem Marine Society Title page of the log of Capt. Nathaniel Hawthorne The Roger Williams house .....
The Philip English "Great House"
A bill of lading of the time of Philip English, dated 1716
The log of a Salem whaler ......
A page from Falconer's Marine Dictionary (18th Century) Agreement by which a Revolutionary privateer seaman sold his share of the booty in advance of his cruise . Proclamation posted in Salem during the Revolution call- ing for volunteers aboard Paul Jones' Ranger . Schooner Baltic ........
Derby Wharf, Salem, Mass., as it appears to-day . Captain Luther Little ......
-The East India Marine Society's hall, now the home of the Peabody Museum ......
"Page from the records of the East India Marine Society
^ The Salem Custom House, built in 1818
6 6 14 14 18 18 24 30 36 36 44
66
70
76
86
108
120 120 140
xni
Illustrations
Richard Derby .
" Leslie's Retreat "
The Grand Turk, first American ship to pass the Cape of
Good Hope ....
■ Nathaniel West ....
WilHam Gray .....
Elias Hasket Derby ....
The Ship Mount Vernon
Elias Hasket Derby mansion (1790-1816)
Prince House. Home of Richard Derby. Built about 1750 .
Joseph Peabody
Hon. Jacob Crowninshield
Benjamin Crowninshield
Ship Ulysses
Yacht Cleopatra's Barge
Log of the good ship Rubicon
The frigate Essex
Broadside ballad published in Salem after the news was received of the loss of the Essex
Page from the log of the Margaret
The good ship Franklin .....
View of Nagasaki before Japan was opened to commerce
Salem Harbor as it is to-day ....
The old-time sailors used to have their vessels painted on pitchers and punch bowls ....
Title page from the journal of the Lydia
Nathaniel Bowditch, author of " The Practical Navigator
Nathaniel Bowditch's chart of Salem harbor
Captain Benjamin Carpenter of the Hercules, 1792 - From the log of the Hercules ....
PAGE
152 158
176 180 188 188 192 194
194 200 204 208 212 212 214 230
248 252 252 260
274
284 284 294 304 306 308
XIV
Illustrations
Pages from the log of the ship Hercules, 1792
Captain Nathaniel Silsbee .
Captain Richard Cleveland
Captain James W. Cliever . 'The privateer America under full sail .
Captain Holten J. Breed
The privateer Grand Turk . . .
-An old broadside, relating the incidents of the battle of Qualah Battoo ....
The Glide ......
The Friendship ..... •Captain Driver .....
Letter to Captain Driver from the "Bounty" Colonists
Captain Thomas Fuller
The brig Mexican attacked by pirates, 1832
Frederick T. Ward .... -Captain John Bertram
Ship Sooloo .....
FACING PAGE
312 318 334 358 358 370 370
380 390 390 408 408 432 432 454 486 494
XV
THE SHIPS AND SAILORS OF OLD SALEM
^f^t ^f)ips! anb ^ailorg of 0lti ^alem
CHAPTER I
A PORT OF VANISHED FLEETS
A MERICAN ships and sailors have almost vanished from /-\ the seas that lie beyond their own coasts. The twen- tieth century has forgotten the era w'hen Yankee top- sails, like flying clouds, flecked every ocean, when tall spars forested every Atlantic port from Portland to Charleston, and when the American spirit of adventurous enterprise and rivalry was in its finest flower on the decks of our merchant squadrons. The last great chapter of the nation's life on blue water was written in the days of the matchless clippers which swept round the Horn to San Francisco or fled homeward from the Orient in the van of the tea fleets.
The Cape Horn clipper was able to survive the coming of the Age of Steam a few years longer than the Atlantic packet ships, such as the Dreadnought, but her glory departed with the Civil War and thereafter the story of the American merchant marine is one of swift and sorrowful decay. The boys of the Atlantic coast, whose fathers had followed the sea in legions, turned inland to find their careers, and the sterling qualities which had been bred in the bone by generations of salty ances- try now helped to conquer the western wilderness.
3
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
It is all in the past, this noble and thrilling history of Amer- ican achievement on the deep sea, and a country with thousands of miles of seacoast has turned its back toward the spray- swept scenes of its ancient greatness to seek the fulfillment of its destiny in peopling the prairie, reclaiming the desert and feeding its mills and factories with the resources of forest, mine and farm.
For more than two centuries, however, we Americans were a maritime race, in peace and war, and the most significant deeds and spectacular triumphs of our seafaring annals were wrought long before the era of the clipper ship. The fastest and most beautiful fabric ever driven by the winds, the sky- sail clipper was handled with a superb quality of seamanship which made the mariners of other nations doff their caps to the ruddy Yankee masters of the Sovereign of the Seas, the Flying Cloud, the Comet, the Westward Ho, or the Sivordfish. Her routes were well traveled, however, and her voyages hardly more eventful than those of the liner of to-day. Islands were charted, headlands lighted, and the instruments and science of navigation so far perfected as to make ocean pathfinding no longer a matter of blind reckoning and guesswork. Pirates and privateers had ceased to harry the merchantmen and to make every voyage a hazard of life and death from the Bahama Banks to the South Seas.
Through the vista of fifty years the Yankee clipper has a glamour of singularly picturesque romance, but it is often for- gotten that two hundred years of battling against desperate odds and seven generations of seafaring stock had been required to evolve her type and to breed the men who sailed her in the nineteenth century. It is to this much older race of American seamen and the stout ships they built and manned that we of to-day should be grateful for many of the finest pages in the history of our country's progress. The most adventurous age
4
A Port of Vanished Fleets
of our merchant mariners had reached its cHmax at the time of the War of 1812, and its glory was waning almost a hundred years ago. For the most part its records are buried in sea- stained log books and in the annals and traditions of certain ancient New England coastwise towns,* of which Salem was the most illustrious.
This port of Salem is chiefly known beyond New England as the scene of a wicked witchcraft delusion which caused the death of a score of poor innocents in 1692, and in later days as the birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is not so com- monly known that this old town of Salem, nestled in a bight of the Massachusetts coast, was once the most important seat of maritime enterprise in the New World. Nor when its popu- lation of a century ago is taken into consideration can any foreign port surpass for adventure, romance and daring the history of Salem during the era of its astonishing activity. Even as recently as 1854, when the fleets of Salem were fast dwindling, the London Daily News, in a belated eulogy of our American ships and sailors, was moved to compare the spirit of this port with that of Venice and the old Hanse towns and to say : " We owe a cordial admiration of the spirit of Ameri- can commerce in its adventurous aspects. To watch it is to witness some of the finest romance of our time."
* In 1810 Newburyport merchants owned forty-one ships, forty-nine brijn;s and fifty scliooners, and was the seat of extensive commerce with the East Indies and other ports of the Orient. Twenty-one deep-water sailingships for foreign trade were built on the Merrimac River in that one year. The fame of Newburyport as a shipbuilding and shipowning port was carried far into the last century and culminated in the building of the Atlantic packet Dread- nought, the fastest and most celebrated sailing ship that ever flew the American flag. She made a passage from New York to Queenstown in nine days and thirteen hours in 1860. Her famous commander, the late Captain Samuel Samuels, wrote of the Dreadnought :
" She was never passed in anything over a four-knot breeze. She was what might be termed a semi-clipper and possessed the merit of being able to bear driving as long as her sails and spars would stand. By the sailors she was called the ' Wild Boat of the Atlantic, ' while others called her ' The Flying Dutchman. ' ' '
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
Nathaniel Hawthorne was Surveyor in the Custom House of Salem in 1848-49, after the prestige of the port had been well-nigh lost. He was descended from a race of Salem ship- masters and he saw daily in the streets of his native town the survivors of the generations of incomparable seamen who had first carried the American flag to Hindoostan, Java, Sumatra, and Japan, who were first to trade with the Fiji Islands and with Madagascar, who had led the way to the west coast of Africa and to St. Petersburg, who had been pioneers in opening the commerce of South America and China to Yankee ships. They had "sailed where no other ships dared to go, they had anchored where no one else dreamed of looking for trade." They had fought pirates and the privateers of a dozen races around the world, stamping themselves as the Drakes and the Raleighs and Gilberts of American commercial daring.
In the Salem of his time, however, Hawthorne perceived little more than a melancholy process of decay, and a dusky background for romances of a century more remote. It would seem as if he found no compelling charm in the thickly clustered memories that linked the port with its former greatness on the sea. Some of the old shipmasters were in the Custom House service with him and he wrote of them as derelicts "who after being tost on every sea and standing sturdily against life's tempestuous blast had finally drifted into this quiet nook where with little to disturb them except the periodical terrors of a Presi- dential election, they one and all acquired a new lease of life."
They were simple, brave, elemental men, hiding no tortuous problems of conscience, very easy to analyze and catalogue, and perhaps not apt, for this reason, to make a strong appeal to the genius of the author of "The Scarlet Letter."
" They spent a good deal of time asleep in their accustomed corners," he also wrote of them, "with their chairs tilted back against the wall; awaking, however, once or twice in a forenoon
6
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To the Imptclor* of ihe Port of S<UeDi
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A Port of Vafiished Fleets
to bore one another with the several thousandth repetition of old sea stories and mouldy jokes that had grown to be pass- words and counter-signs among them."
One of the sea journals or logs of Captain Nathaniel Ha- thorne,* father of the author, possesses a literary interest in that its title page was lettered by the son when a lad of sixteen. With many an ornamental flourish the inscription runs:
Nathaniel Hathorne's
Book— 1820— Salem.
A Journal of a Passage from Bengali to America
In the Ship America of
Salem, 1798.
This is almost the only volume of salty flavored narrative to which Nathaniel Hawthorne may be said to have contributed, although he was moved to pay this tribute to his stout-hearted forebears :
"From father to son, for above a hundred years, they fol- lowed the sea; a gray-headed shipmaster in each generation retiring from the quarter-deck to the homestead, while a boy of fourteen took the hereditary place before the mast, confront- ing the salt spray and the gale which had blustered against his sire and grandsire."
Even to-day there survive old shipmasters and merchants of Salem who in their own boyhood heard from the lips of the actors their stories of shipwrecks on uncharted coasts; of cap- tivity among the Algerians and in the prisons of France, Eng-
* Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, chose to insert a "w" in the family name of Ilathorne borne by his father.
"The four years had lapsed quietly and quickly by, and Hawthorne, who now adopted the fanciful spelling of his name after his personal whim, was man grown.' ' (Nathaniel Hawthorne, by George E. Woodberry, in American Men of Letters Series.)
7
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
land and Spain; of hairbreadth escapes from pirates on the Spanish Main and along Sumatran shores; of ship's companies overwhelmed by South Sea cannibals when Salem barks were pioneers in the wake of Captain Cook ; of deadly actions fought alongside British men-of-war and private armed ships, and of steering across far-distant seas when "India was a new region and only Salem knew the way thither."
Such men as these were trained in a stern school to fight for their own. When the time came they were also ready to fight for their country. Salem sent to sea one hundred and fifty-eight privateers during the Revolution. They carried two thousand guns and were manned by more than six thousand men, a force equal in numbers to the population of the town. These vessels captured four hundred and forty-four prizes, or more than one-half the total number taken by all the Colonies during the war.
In the War of 1812 Salem manned and equipped forty priva- teers and her people paid for and built the frigate Essex which under the command of David Porter swept the Pacific clean of British commerce and met a glorious end in her battle with the Phoebe and Cherub off the harbor of Valparaiso. Nor among the sea fights of both wars are there to be found more thrilling ship actions than were fought by Salem privateersmen who were as ready to exchange broadsides or measure boarding pikes with a "king's ship" as to snap up a tempting merchant- man.
But even beyond these fighting merchant sailors lay a pre- vious century of such stress and hazard in ocean traffic as this age cannot imagine. One generation after another of honest shipmasters had been the prey of a great company of lawless rovers under many flags or no flag at all. The distinction between privateers and pirates was not clearly drawn in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the tiny American
8
A Port of Vanished Fleets
brigs and sloops which bravely fared to the West Indies and Europe were fair marks for the polyglot freebooters that laughed at England's feeble protection of her colonial trade.
The story of the struggles and heroisms of the western pioneers has been told over and over again. Every American schoolboy is acquainted with the story of the beginnings of the New England Colonies and of their union. But the work of the seafaring breed of Americans has been somewhat suffered to remain in the background. Their astonishing adventures were all in the day's work and were commonplace matters to their actors. The material for the plot of a modern novel of adven- ture may be found condensed into a three-line entry of many an ancient log-book.
High on the front of a massive stone building in Essex Street, Salem, is chiseled the inscription, "East India Marine Hall." Beneath this are the obsolete legends, "Asiatic Bank," and "Oriental Insurance Office." Built by the East India Marine Society eighty-four years ago, this structure is now the home of the Peabody Museum and a storehouse for the unique col- lections which Salem seafarers brought home from strange lands when their ships traded in every ocean. The East India Marine Society still exists. The handful of surviving members meet now and then and spin yarns of the vanished days when they were masters of stately square-riggers in the deep-water trade. All of them are gray and some of them quite feeble and every little while another of this company slips his cable for the last long voyage.
The sight-seeing visitor in Salem is fascinated by its quaint and picturesque streets, recalling as they do no fewer than three centuries of American life, and by its noble mansions set beneath the elms in an atmosphere of immemorial traditions. But the visitor is not likely to seek the story of Salem as it is written in the records left by the men who made it great. For
9
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
those heroic seafarers not only made history but they also wrote it while they lived it. The East India Marine Society was organized in 1799 "to assist the widows and children of deceased members; to collect such facts and observations as tended to the improvement and security of navigation, and to form a museum of natural and artificial curiosities, particu- larly such as are to be found beyond the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn."*
The by-laws provided that " any person shall be eligible as a member of this society who shall have actually navigated the seas near the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn, either as master or commander or as factor or supercargo in any vessel belonging to Salem."
From its foundation until the time when the collections of the Society were given in charge of the Peabody Academy of Science in 1867, three hundred and fifty masters and super- cargoes of Salem had qualified for membership as having sailed beyond Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope.
More than a century ago, therefore, these mariners of Salem began to write detailed journals of their voyages, to be deposited with this Society in order that their fellow shipmasters might glean from them such facts as might " tend to the improvement and security of navigation." Few seas were charted, and Salem ships were venturing along unknown shores. The
* (1799) "Oct. 22. It is proposed by the new marine society, called the East India Marine Society, to make a cabinet. This society has been lately thought of. Captain Gibant first mentioned the plan to me this summer and desired me to give him some plan of articles or a sketch. The first friends of the institution met and chose a committee to compare and digest articles from the sketches given to them. Last week was informed that in the preceding week the members met and signed the articles chosen by the committee.
"Nov. 7. Captain Carnes has presented his curiosities to the new-formed East India Marine Society and they are providing a museum and cabinet. . . . Rooms were obtained for their meetings and a place for the deposit of books, charts, etc., and in July of the following year glass cases were pro- vided to arrange therein the specimens that had been accumulated." (Diary of Rev. William Bentley.)
10
A Port of Vanished Fleets
journal of one of these pioneer voyages was a valuable aid to the next shipmaster who went that way. These journals were often expanded from the ship's logs, and written after the cap- tains came home. The habit of carefully noting all incidents of trade, discovery, and dealings with primitive races taught these seamen to make their logs something more than routine ac- counts of wind and weather. Thus, year after year and genera- tion after generation, there was accumulating a library of adventurous first-hand narrative, written in stout manuscript volumes.
It was discovered that a pen and ink drawing of the landfall of some almost unknown island would help the next captain passing that coast to identify its headlands. Therefore many of these quarter-deck chroniclers developed an astonishing aptitude for sketching coast line, mountains and bays. Some of them even made pictures in water color of the ships they saw or spoke, and their logs were illustrated descriptions of voyages to the South Seas or Mauritius or China. In this manner the tradition was cherished that a shipmaster of Salem owed it to his fellow mariners and townspeople to bring home not only all the knowledge he could gather but also every kind of curious trophy to add to the collections of the East India Marine Society. And as the commerce over seas began to diminish in the nine- teenth century, this tradition laid fast hold upon many Salem men and women whose fathers had been shipmasters. They took pride in gathering together all the old log books they could find in cobwebby attics and battered seachests and in increasing this unique library of blue water.
Older than the East India Marine Society is the Salem Marine Society, which was founded in 1766 by eighteen ship- masters, and which still maintains its organization in its own building. Its Act of Incorporation, dated 1772, stated that "whereas a considerable number of persons who are or have
11
The Shifs and Sailors of Old Salem
been Masters of ships or other vessels, have for several years past associated themselves in the town of Salem; and the principal end of said Society being to improve the knowledge of this coast, by the several members, upon their arrival from sea communicating their observations, inwards and outwards, of the variation of the needle, soundings, courses and distances, and all other remarkable things about it, in writing, to be lodged with the Society, for the making of the navigation more safe; and also to relieve one another and their families in poverty or other adverse accidents of life, which they are more particu- larly liable to," etc.
Most of these records, together with those belonging to the East India Marine Society and many others rescued from oblivion, have been assembled and given in care of the Essex Institute of Salem as the choicest treasure of its notable his- torical library. It has come to pass that a thousand of these logs and sea-journals are stored in one room of the Essex Insti- tute, comprising many more than this number of voyages made between 1750 and 1890, a period of a century and a half, which included the most brilliant era of American sea life. Privateer, sealer, whaler, and merchantman, there they rest, row after row of canvas-covered books, filled with the day's work of as fine a race of seamen as ever sailed; from the log of the tiny schooner Hopewell on a voyage to the West Indies amid perils of swarming pirates and privateers a generation before the Revolution, down to the log of the white-winged Mindoro of the Manila fleet which squared away her yards for the last time only fifteen years ago.
There is no other collection of Americana which can so vividly recall a vanished epoch and make it live again as these hun- dreds upon hundreds of ancient log books. They are com- plete, final, embracing as they do the rise, the high-tide and the ebb of the commerce of Salem, the whole story of those
12
A Port of Vanished Fleets
vikings of deep-water enterprise who dazzled the maritime world. These journals reflect in intimate and sharply focused detail that little world which Harriet Martineau discerned when she visited Salem seventy-five years ago and related:
"Salem, Mass., is a remarkable place. This 'city of peace' will be better known hereafter for it's commerce than for it's witch tragedy. It has a population of fourteen thousand and more wealth in proportion to its population than perhaps any tow^n in the world. Its commerce is speculative but vast and successful. It is a frequent circumstance that a ship goes out without a cargo for a voyage around the world. In such a case the captain puts his elder children to school, takes his wife and younger children and starts for some semi-barbarous place where he procures some odd kind of cargo which he ex- changes with advantage for another somewhere else; and so goes trafficking around the world, bringing home a freight of the highest value.
" These enterprising merchants of Salem are hoping to appro- priate a large share of the whale fishery and their ships are penetrating the northern ice. They speak of Fayal and the Azores as if they were close at hand. The fruits of the Medi- terranean are on every table. They have a large acquaintance at Cairo. They know Napoleon's grave at St. Helena, and have wild tales to tell of Mozambique and Madagascar, and stores of ivory to show from there. They speak of the power of the king of Muscat, and are sensible of the riches of the southeast coast of Arabia. Anybody will give you anecdotes from Canton and descriptions of the Society and Sandwich Islands. They often slip up the western coast of their two continents, bringing furs from the back regions of their own wide land, glance up at the Andes on their return; double Cape Horn, touch at the ports of Brazil and Guiana, look about them in the West Indies, feeling almost at home there,
13
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
and land some fair morning in Salem and walk home as if they had done nothing remarkable."
Within sight of this Essex Institute is the imposing building of the Peabody Academy of Science and Marine Museum, already mentioned. Here the loyal sons of Salem, aided by the generous endowment of George Peabody, the banker and philanthropist, have created a notable memorial to the sea- born genius of the old town. One hall is filled with models and paintings of the stout ships which made Salem rich and famous. These models were built and rigged with the most painstaking accuracy of detail, most of them the work of mari- ners of the olden time, and many of them made on shipboard during long voyages. Scores of the paintings of ships were made when they were afloat, their cannon and checkered ports telling of the dangers which merchantmen dared in those times; their hulls and rigging wearing a quaint and archaic aspect.
Beneath them are displayed the tools of the seaman's trade long ere steam made of him a paint-swabber and mechanic. Here are the ancient quadrants, "half -circles," and hand log lines, timed with sandglasses, with which our forefathers found their way around the world. Beside them repose the " colt " and the "cat-o '-nine-tails" with which those tough tars were flogged by their skippers and mates. Cutlasses such as were wielded in sea fights with Spanish, French and English, boarding axes and naval tomahawks, are flanked by carved whales- teeth, whose intricate designs of ships, cupids and mermaids whiled away the dogwatches under the Southern Cross. Over yonder is a notched limb of a sea-washed tree on which a sailor tallied the days and weeks of five months' solitary wait- ing on a desert island where he had been cast by shipwreck.
Portraits of famous shipping merchants and masters gaze at portraits of Sultans of Zanzibar, Indian Rajahs and hong merchants of Canton whose names were household words in
14
A corner in the jNIarine Room of the Poaliody Muscnun. sliowing portraits cf the sliip- masters and merchants of Salem
The Marine Room, Peabody Museum, showing the ships of Salem during a period of one hundred and fifty years
A Port oj Vanished Fleets
the Salem of long ago. In other spacious halls of this museum are unique displays of the tools, weapons, garments and adorn- ments of primitive races, gathered generations before their coun- tries and islands were ransacked by the tourist and the ethnolo- gist. They portray the native arts and habits of life before they were corrupted by European influences. Some of the tribes which fashioned these things have become extinct, but their vanquished handiwork is preserved in these collections made with devoted loyalty by the old shipmasters who were proud of their home town and of their Marine Society. From the Fiji and Gilbert and Hawaiian Islands, from Samoa, Arabia, India, China, Africa and Japan, and every other for- eign shore where ships could go, these trophies were brought home to lay the foundation of collections which to-day are visited by scientists from abroad in order to study many rare objects which can be no longer obtained.*
The catalogue of ports from which the deep-laden argosies rolled home to Salem is astonishing in its scope. From 1810 to 1830, for example, Salem ships flew the American flag in these ports:
Sumatra, Malaga, Naples, Liverpool, St. Domingo, Baracoa, Cadiz, Cayenne, Gottenburg, La Guayra, Havana, Canton, Smyrna, Matanzas, Valencia, Turk's Island, Pernambuco, Rio Janeiro, Messina, St. Pierre's, Point Petre, Cronstadt, Arch- angel, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Surinam, St. Petersburg, Calcutta, Porto Rico, Palermo, Algeciras, Constantinople, Cumana, Kiel, Angostura, Jacquemel, Gustavia, Malta, Exuma, Buenos Ayres, Christiana, Stralsund, Guadaloupe, Nevis, Riga, Madras, St. Vincent's, Pillau, Amsterdam, Maranham, Para, Leghorn,
* A costly new hall has been recently added to the Museum to contain the Japanese and Chinese collections. This building was the gift of Dr. Charles G. Weld of Boston. Its Japanese floor contains the most complete and valuable ethnological collections, portraying the life of the Japanese people of the feudal age, that exists to-day. Japanese scientists and students have visited Salem
15
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
Manila, Samarang, Java, Mocha, South Sea Islands, Africa, Padang, Cape de Verde, Zanzibar and Madagascar.
In these days of huge ships and cavernous holds in which freight is stowed to the amount of thousands of tons, we are apt to think that those early mariners carried on their com- merce over seas in a small way. But the records of old Salem contain scores of entries for the early years of the last century in which the duties paid on cargoes of pepper, sugar, indigo, and other Oriental wares swelled the custom receipts from twenty-five thousand to sixty thousand dollars. In ten years, from 1800 to 1810, when the maritime prosperity of the port was at flood-tide, the foreign entries numbered more than one thousand and the total amount of duties more than seven million dollars. And from the beginning of the nineteenth century until the ships of Salem vanished from blue water, a period of seventy years, roughly speaking, more than twenty million dollars poured into the Custom House as duties on foreign cargoes.
Old men now living remember when the old warehouses along the wharves were full of "hemp from Luzon; pepper from Sumatra; coffee from Arabia; palm oil from the west coast of Africa; cotton from Bombay; duck and iron from the Baltic; tallow from Madagascar; salt from Cadiz; wine from Portugal and the Madeiras; figs, raisins and almonds from the Mediterranean; teas and silks from China; sugar, rum and molasses from the West Indies; ivory and gum-copal from Zan- zibar; rubber, hides and wool from South America; whale oil from the Arctic and Antarctic, and sperm from the South Seas."
in order to examine many objects of this unique collection which are no longer to be found in their own country. Professor Edward S. Morse, director of the Museum, and curator of the Japanese pottery section of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, has sifted and arranged these collections with singular patience, expert knowledge, and brilliantly successful results. The South Sea collections are also unequaled in many important particulars, especially in the field of weapons and ornaments from the Fiji and Marquesas Islands.
16
A Port of Vanished Fleets
In 1812 one hundred and twenty-six Salem ships were in the deep-water trade, and of these fifty-eight were East Indiamen. Twenty years later this noble fleet numbered one hundred and eleven. They had been pioneers in opening new routes of commerce, but the vessels of the larger ports were flocking in their wake. Boston, with the development of railway trans- portation, New York with the opening of the Erie Canal, Philadelphia and Baltimore with their more advantageous sit- uations for building up a commerce with the great and growing hinterland of the young United States, were creating their ocean commerce at the expense of old Salem. Bigger ships were building and deeper harbors were needed and Salem shipowners dispatched their vessels from Boston instead of the home port. Then came the Age of Steam on the sea, and the era of the sailing vessel was foredoomed.
The Custom House which looks down at crumbling Derby Wharf where the stately East Indiamen once lay three deep, awakes from its drowsy idleness to record the entries of a few lumber-laden schooners from Nova Scotia. Built in 1819, when the tide of Salem commerce had already begun to ebb, its classic and pillared bulk recalls the comment of its famous officer, Nathaniel Hawthorne: "It was intended to accommo- date an hoped for increase in the commercial prosperity of the place, hopes destined never to be realized, and was built a world too large for any necessary purpose."
Yet in the records left by these vanished generations of sea- men; in the aspect of the stately mansions built from the for- tunes won by their ships; in the atmosphere of the old wharves and streets, there has been preserved, as if caught in amber, the finished story of one of the most romantic and high-hearted periods of American achievement.
Salem was a small city during her maritime career, number- ing hardly more than ten thousand souls at a time when her
17
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
trade had made her famous in every port of the world. Her achievements were the work of an exceedingly bold and vigor- ous population in whom the pioneering instinct was fostered and guided by a few merchants of rare sagacity, daring and imagination. It must not be forgotten that from the early part of the seventeenth century to the latter year of the eighteenth century when this seafaring genius reached its highest develop- ment, the men of Salem had been trained and bred to wrest a livelihood from salt water. During this period of one hundred and fifty years before the Revolution the sea was the highway of the Colonists whose settlements fringed the rugged coast line of New England. At their backs lay a hostile wilderness and a great part of the population toiled at fishing, trading and ship- building.
Roger Conant, who, in 1626, founded the settlement later called Salem, had left his fellow Pilgrims at Plymouth because he would not agree to "separate" from the Church of England. Pushing along the coast to Nantasket, where Captain Miles Standish had built an outpost, Roger Conant was asked by the Dorchester Company of England to take charge of a newly established fishing station on Cape Ann. This enterprise was unsuccessful and Conant aspired to better his fortunes by founding a colony or plantation on the shore of the sheltered harbor of the Naumkeag Peninsula. This was the beginning of the town of Salem, so named by the first governor, John Endicott, who ousted Roger Conant in 1629, when this property of the Dorchester Company passed by purchase into the hands of the New England Company.
The first settlers who had fought famine, pestilence and red men were not consulted in the transaction but were transferred along with the land. They had established a refuge for those oppressed for conscience's sake, and Roger Conant, brave, resolute and patient, had fought the good fight with them.
18
Certificate of Membership in the Salem Marine Society, used in 1790, showing wharves and liarbor
^j^^amiBixE 5
^ hlTMJfi
Title page of the log of Captain Nathaniel Hathorne, father of Nathaniel Hawthorne. This lettering at the top of the page was done by the author when a boy
A Port of Vanished Fleets
But although they held meetings and protested against being treated as "slaves," they could make no opposition to the iron- handed zealot and aristocrat, John Endicott, who came to rule over them. Eighty settlers perished of hunger and disease during Governor Endicott 's first winter among them, and when Winthrop, Saltonstall, Dudley and Johnson brought over a thousand people in seventeen ships in the year of 1629, they passed by afflicted Salem and made their settlements at Boston, Charlestown and Watertown.
"The homes, labors and successes of the first colonists of Salem would be unworthy of our attention were they associated with the lives of ordinary settlers in a new country. But small though the beginnings were these men were beginning to store up and to train the energy which was afterward to expand with tremendous force in the opening of the whole world to commerce and civilization, and in the establishment of the best things in American life."* They were the picked men of England, yoemanry for the most part, seeking to better their condition, interested in the great problems of religion and government. Dwelling along the harbor front, or on the banks of small rivers near at hand, they at once busied themselves cutting down trees and hewing planks to fashion pinnaces and shallops for traversing these waterways. Fish was a staple diet and the chief commodity of trade, and often averted famine while the scanty crops were being wrested from the first clearings. Thus these early sixteenth century men of Salem were more at home upon the water than upon the less friendly land, and it was inevitable that they should build larger craft for coastwise voyaging as fast as other settlements sprang into being to the north and south of them.
No more than ten years after the arrival of John Endicott,
* History of Essex County
19
The Ships and Sailors oj Old Salem
shipbuilding was a thriving industry of Salem, and her seamen had begun to talk of sending their ventures as far away as the West Indies. In 1640 the West Indiaman Desire brought home cotton, tobacco and negroes from the Bahamas and salt from Tortugas. This ship Desire was a credit to her builders, for after opening the trade with the West Indies she made a passage to England in the amazingly brief time of twenty-three days, which would have been considered rapid sailing for a packet ship two hundred years later. In 1664 a local historian was able to record that " in this town are some very rich mer- chants." These merchants, most of them shipmasters as well, were destined to build up for their seaport a peculiar fame by reason of their genius for discovering new markets for their trading ventures and staking their lives and fortunes on the chance of finding rich cargoes where no other American ships had dreamed of venturing.
20
CHAPTER II
PHILIP ENGLISH AND HIS ERA (1680—1750)
IN the decade from 1685 to 1695 the infant commerce of Salem was fighting for its life. This period was called "the dark time when ye merchants looked for ye vessells with fear and trembling." Besides the common dangers of the sea, they had to contend with savage Indians who attacked the fishing fleet, with the heavy restrictions imposed by the Royal Acts of Trade, with the witchcraft delusion which turned every man's hand against his neighbor, and with French privateers which so ravaged the ventures of the Salem traders to the West Indies that the shipping annals of the time are thickly strewn with such incidents as these:
(1690) — "The ketch Fellowship, Captain Robert Glanville, via the Vineyard for Berwick on the Tweed, was taken by two French privateers and carried to Dunkirk."
(1695) — "The ship Essex of Salem, Captain John Beal, from Bilboa in Spain, had a battle at sea and loses John Samson, boatswain. This man and Thomas Roads, the gunner, had previously contracted that whoever of the two survived the other he should have all the property of the deceased."
Soon after this the tables were turned by the Salem Packet which captured a French ship off the Banks of Newfoundland. In the same year the ketch Exchange, Captain Thomas Mars- ton, was taken by a French ship off Block Island. She was ransomed for two hundred and fifty pounds and brought into
21
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
Salem. "The son of the owner was carried to Placentia as a hostage for the payment of the ransom."
The ancient records of the First Church of Salem contain this quaint entry under date of July 25, 1677:
" The Lord having given a Comission to the Indians to take no less than 13 of the Fishing Ketches of Salem and Captivate the men (though divers of them cleared themselves and came home) it struck a great consternation into all the people here. The Pastor moved on the Lord's Day, and the whole people readily consented, to keep the Lecture Day following as a fast day; which was accordingly done and the work carried on by the Pastor, Mr. Hale, Mr. Chevers, and Mr. Gerrish, the higher ministers helping in prayer. The Lord was pleased to send in some of the Ketches on the Fast day which was looked on as a gracious smile of Providence. Also there had been 19 wounded men sent into Salem a little while before; also, a ketch with 40 men sent out from Salem as a man-of- war to recover the rest of the Ketches. The Lord give them Good Success."
In those very early and troublous times the Barbary pirates or Corsairs had begun to vex the New England skippers who boldly crossed the Atlantic in vessels that were much smaller than a modern canal boat or brick barge. These "Sallee rovers" hovered from the Mediterranean to the chops of the English Channel. Many a luckless seaman of Salem was held prisoner in the cities of Algiers while his friends at home endeav- ored to gather funds for his ransom. It was stated in 1661 that "for a long time previous the commerce of Massachusetts was much annoyed by Barbary Corsairs and that many of its seamen were held in bondage. One Captain Cakebrcad or Breadcake had two guns to cruise in search of Turkish pirates." In 1700 Benjamin Alford of Boston and William Bowditch of Salem related that "their friend Robert Carver of the latter
Philip English and His Era
port was taken nine years before, a captive into Sally; that contributions had been made for his redemption; that the money was in the hands of a person here; that if they had the disposal of it, they could release Carver."
The end of the seventeenth century found the wilderness settlement of Salem rapidly expanding into a seaport whose commercial interests were faring to distant oceans. The town had grown along the water's edge beside which its merchants were beginning to build their spacious and gabled mansions. Their countinghouses overlooked the harbor, and their spy- glasses were alert to sweep the distant sea line for the home- coming of their ventures to Virginia, the West Indies and Europe Their vessels were forty and sixty tons burden, mere cockle- shells for deep-water voyaging, but they risked storm and capture while they pushed farther and farther away from Salem as the prospect of profitable trade lured them on.
The sailmaker, the rigger, the ship chandler, and the ship- wright had begun to populate the harbor front, and among them swarmed the rough and headlong seamen from Heaven knew where, who shocked the godly Puritans of the older regime. Jack ashore was a bull in a china shop then as now, and history has recorded the lamentable but deserved fate of "one Henry Bull and companions in a vessel in our harbor who derided the Church of Christ and were afterward cast away among savage Indians by whom they were slain."
Now there came into prominence the first of a long line of illustrious shipping merchants of Salem, Philip English, who makes a commanding figure in the seafaring history of his time. A native of the Isle of Jersey, he came to Salem before 1670. He made voyages in his own vessels, commanded the ketch*
*The ketch of the eighteenth century was two-masted with square sails on her foremast, and a fore-and-aft sail on the mainmast, which was shorter than the foremast. The schooner rig was not used until 1720 and is said to have been originated by Captain Andrew Robinson of Gloucester.
23
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
Speedivell in 1676, and ten years later had so swiftly advanced his fortunes that he built him a mansion house on Essex Street, a solid, square-sided structure with many projecting porches and with upper stories overhanging the street. It stood for a hundred and fifty years, long known as "English's Great House," and linked the nineteenth century with the very early chapters of American history. In 1692, Philip English was perhaps the richest man of the New England Colonies, owning twenty-one vessels which traded with Bilboa, Barbados, St. Christopher's, the Isle of Jersey and the ports of France. He owned a wharf and warehouses, and fourteen buildings in the town.
One of his bills of lading, dated 1707, shows the pious imprint of his generation and the kind of commerce in which he was engaged. It reads in part:
" Shipped by the Grace of God, in good order and well con- ditioned, by Sam '11 Browne, Phillip English, Capt. Wm. Bow- ditch, Wm. Pickering, and Sam '11 Wakefield, in and upon the Good sloop called the Mayflower whereof is master under God for this present voyage Jno. Swasey, and now riding at anchor in the harbor of Salem, and by God's Grace bound for Virginia or Merriland. To say, twenty hogshats of Salt. ... In witness whereof the Master or Purser of the said Sloop has affirmed to Two Bills of Lading . . . and so God send the Good Sloop to her desired port in Safety. Amen."
Another merchant of Philip English's time wrote in 1700 of the foreign commerce of Salem:
"Dry Merchantable codfish for the Markets of Spain and Portugal and the Straits. Refuse fish, lumber, horses and provisions for the West Indies. Returns made directly hence to England are sugar, molasses, cotton, wool and logwood for which we depend on the West Indies. Our own produce, a considerable quantity of whale and fish oil, whalebone, furs,
24
<0 -3
Philip English and His Era
deer, elk and bear skins are annually sent to England. We have much Shipping here and freights are low."
To Virginia the clumsy, little sloops and ketches of Philip English carried " Molasses, Rum, Salt, Cider, Mackerel, Wooden Bowls, Platters, Pails, Kegs, Muscavado Sugar, and Codfish and brought back to Salem Wheat, Pork, Tobacco, Furs, Hides, old Pewter, Old Iron, Brass, Copper, Indian Corn and English Goods." The craft which crossed the Atlantic and made the West Indies in safety to pile up wealth for Philip English were no larger than those sloops and schooners which ply up and down the Hudson River to-day. Their masters made their way without sextant or "Practical Navigator," and as an old writer has described in a somewhat exaggerated vein:
" Their skippers kept their reckoning with chalk on a shingle, which they stowed away in the binnacle; and by way of observa- tion they held up a hand to the sun. Wlien they got him over four fingers they knew they were straight for Hole-in-the-Wall; three fingers gave them their course to the Double-headed Shop Key and two carried them down to Barbados."
The witchcraft frenzy invaded even the stately home of Philip English, the greatest shipowner of early Salem. His wife, a proud and aristocratic lady, was "cried against," examined and committed to prison in Salem. It is said that she was con- sidered haughty and overbearing in her manner toward the poor, and that her husband's staunch adherence to the Church of England had something to do with her plight. At any rate, Mary English was arrested in her bedchamber and refused to rise, wherefore "guards were placed around the house and in the morning she attended the devotions of her family, kissed her children with great composure, proposed her plan for their education, took leave of them and then told the officer she was ready to die." Alas, poor woman, she had reason to be "per- suaded that accusation was equal to condemnation." She lay
25
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
in prison six weeks where "her firmness was memorable. But being visited by a fond husband, her husband was also accused and confined in prison." The intercession of friends and the plea that the prison was overcrowded caused their removal to Arnold's jail in Boston until the time of trial. It brings to mind certain episodes of the French Reign of Terror to learn that they were taken to Boston on the same day with Giles Corey, George Jacobs, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, and Bridget Bishop, all of whom perished except Philip and Mary English. Both would have been executed had they not escaped death by flight from the Boston jail and seeking refuge in New York.
In his diary, under date of May 21, 1793, Rev. William Bentley, of Salem, pastor of the East Church from 1783 to 1819, wrote of the witchcraft persecution of this notable shipping merchant and his wife:
"May 21st, 1793. Substance of Madam Susannah Har- thome's account of her grandfather English, etc. Mr. English was a Jersey man, came young to America and lived with Mr. W. Hollingsworth, whose only child he married. He owned above twenty sail of vessels. His wife had the best education of her times. Wrote with great ease, and has left a specimen of her needlework in her infancy or youth. She had already owned her Covenant and was baptised with her children and now intended to be received at the Communion on the next Lord's Day. On Saturday night she was cried out upon. The Officers, High Sheriff, and Deputy with attendants came at eleven at night. When the servant came up Mr. English imagined it was upon business, not having had the least notice of the suspicions respecting his wife. They were to bed together in the western chamber of their new house raised in 1690, and had a large family of servants.
" The Officers came in soon after the servant who so alarmed Mr. English that with diflSculty he found his cloathes which
26
Philip English and His Era
he could not put on without help. The Officers came into the chamber, following the servant, and opening the curtains read the Mittimus. She was then ordered to rise but absolutely refused. Her husband continued walking the chamber all night, but the Officers contented themselves with a guard upon the House till morning. In the morning they required of her to rise, but she refused to rise before her usual hour. After breakfast with her husband and children, and seeing all the servants, of whom there were twenty in the House, she con- cluded to go with the officers and she was conducted to the Cat and Wheel, a public house east of the present Centre Meeting House on the opposite side of the way. Six weeks she was confined in the front chamber, in which she received the visits of her husband three times a day and as the floor was single she kept a journal of the examinations held below which she con- stantly sent to Boston.
" After six weeks her husband was accused, and their friends obtained that they should be sent on to Boston till their Trial should come on. In Arnold's custody they had bail and liberty of the town, only lodging in the Gaol. The Rev. Moody and Williard of Boston visited them and invited them to the public worship on the day before they were to return to Salem for Trial. Their text was that they that are persecuted in one city, let them flee to another. After Meeting the Ministers visited them at the Gaol, and asked them whether they took notice of the discourse, and told them their danger and urged them to escape since so many had suffered. Mr. English replied, 'God will not permit them to touch me.' Mrs. English said: 'Do you not think the sufferers innocent?' He (Moody) said 'Yes.' She then added, 'Why may we not suffer also?' The Ministers then told him if he would not carry his wife away they would.
" The gentlemen of the town took care to provide at midnight
27
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
a conveyance, encouraged by the Governor, Gaoler, etc., and Mr. and Mrs. English with their eldest child and daughter, were conveyed away, and the Governor gave letters to Governor Fletcher of New York who came out and received them, accom- panied by twenty private gentlemen, and carried them to his house.
"They remained twelve months in the city. While there they heard of the wants of the poor in Salem and sent a vessel of corn for their relief, a bushel for each child. Great advan- tages were proposed to detain them at New York, but the attachment of the wife to Salem was not lost by all her sufferings, and she urged a return. They were received with joy upon their return and the Town had a thanksgiving on the occasion. Noyes, the prosecutor, dined with him on that day in his own house."
That a man of such solid station should have so narrowly escaped death in the witchcraft fury indicates that no class was spared. While his sturdy seamen were fiddling and drink- ing in the taverns of the Salem water-front, or making sail to the roaring chorus of old-time chanties, their employer, a prince of commerce for his time, was dreading a miserable death for him- self and that high-spirited dame, his wife, on Gallows Hill, at the hands of the stern-faced young sheriff of Salem.
Philip English returned to Salem after the frenzy had passed and rounded out a shipping career of fifty years, living until 1736, His instructions to one of his captains may help to pic- ture the American commerce of two centuries ago. In 1722 he wrote to "Mr. John Tauzel":
"Sir, you being appointed Master of my sloop Sarah, now Riding in ye Harbor of Salem, and Ready to Saile, my Order is to you that you take ye first opportunity of wind and Weather to Saile and make ye best of yr. way for Barbadoes or Leew'd
28
Philip English and His Era
Island, and there Enter and Clear yr vessel and Deliver yr Cargo according to Orders and Bill of Lading and Make Saile of my twelve Hogsh'd of fish to my best advantage, and make Returne in yr Vessel or any other for Salem in such Goods as you shall see best, and if you see Cause to take a freight to any port or hire her I lieve it with your Best Conduct, Managem't or Care for my best advantage. So please God to give you a prosperous voyage, I remain yr Friend and Owner.
"Philip English."
England had become already jealous of the flourishing maritime commerce of the Colonies and was devising one re- strictive Act of Parliament after another to hamper what was viewed as a dangerous rivalry. In 1668, Sir Joshua Child, once chairman of the East India Company, delivered himself of this choleric and short-sighted opinion:
"Of all the American plantations His Majesty has none so apt for the building of ships as New England, nor none com- parably so qualified for the breeding of seamen, not only by reason of the natural industry of the people, but principally by reason of their cod and mackerel fisheries, and in my opinion there is nothing more prejudicial and in prospect more danger- ous to any mother kingdom than the increase of shipping in her colonies, plantations or provinces."
This selfish view-point sought not only to prevent American shipowners from conducting a direct trade with Europe but tried also to cripple the prosperous commerce between the Colonies and the West Indies. The narrow-minded politicians who sacrificed both the Colonies and the Mother country could not kill American shipping even by the most ingenious restric- tive acts, and the hardy merchants of New England violated or evaded these unjust edicts after the manner indicated in the following letter of instructions given to Captain Richard
29
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
Derby of Salem, for a voyage to the West Indies as master and part owner of the schooner Volante in 1741 :
"If you should go among the French endeavour to get salt at St. Martins, but if you should fall so low as Statia, and any Frenchman should make you a good Offer with good security, or by making your Vessel a Dutch bottom, or by any other means practicable in order to your getting among ye French- men, embrace it. Among whom if you should ever arrive, be sure to give strict orders amongst your men not to sell the least trifle unto them on any terms, lest they should make your Vessel liable to a seizure. Also secure a permit so as for you to trade there next voyage, which you may undoubtedly do through your factor or by a little greasing some others. Also make a proper Protest at any port you stop at."
This means that if needs be, Captain Derby is to procure a Dutch registry and make the Volante a Dutch vessel for the time being, and thus not subject to the British Navigation Acts. It was easy to buy such registries for temporary use and to masquerade under English, French, Spanish or Dutch colors, if a " little greasing " was applied to the customs oflScers in the West Indies.
On the margin of Captain Derby's sailing orders is scrawled the following memorandum :
"Capt. Derby: If you trade at Barbadoes buy me a negroe boy about siventeen years old, which if you do, advise Mr. Clarke of yt so he may not send one.
(Signed) Benj. Gerrish, Jr."
Such voyages as these were risky ventures for the eighteenth century insurance companies, whose courage is to be admired for daring to underwrite these vessels at all. For a voyage of the Lydia from Salem to Madeira in 1761, the premium rate was 11 per cent., and in the following year 14 per cent, was
30
Philip English and His Era
demanded for a voyage to Jamaica. The Three Sisters, bound to Santo Domingo, was compelled to pay 23 per cent, premium, and 14 per cent, for the return voyage. The lowest rate re- corded for this era was 8 per cent, on the schooner Friendship of Salem to Quebec in 1760. For a Madeira voyage from Salem to-day the insurance rate would be If per cent, as compared with 11 per cent, then; to Jamaica 1| per cent, instead of 14 per cent, in the days when the underwriters had to risk confiscation, violation of the British Navigation Acts, and capture by privateers, or pirates, in addition to the usual dangers of the deep.
Among the biographical sketches in the records of the Salem Marine Society is that of Captain Michael Driver. It is a concise yet crowded narrative and may serve to show why insur- ance rates were high. "In the year 1759, he commanded the schooner Three Brothers, bound to the West Indies," runs the account. " He was taken by a privateer under English colors, called the King of Russia, commanded by Captain James Inclicto, of nine guns, and sent into Antigua. Her cargo was value at £550. Finding no redress he came home. He sailed again in the schooner Betsey for Guadaloupe; while on his passage was taken by a French frigate and sent into above port. He ransomed the vessel for four thousand livres and left three hostages and sailed for home November, 1761, and took com- mand of schooner Mary, under a flag of truce, to go and pay the ransom and bring home the hostages.
" He was again captured, contrary to the laws of nations, by the English privateer Revenge, James McDonald, master, sent to New Providence, Bahama. He made protest before the authorities and was set at liberty with vessel and cargo. He pursued his voyage to Cape Francois, redeemed the hostages, and Sept. 6, 1762, was ready to return, but Monsieur Blanch, commanding a French frigate, seized the vessel, took out
31
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
hostages and crew and put them on board the frigate bound to St. Jago, Cuba. He was detained till December, and vessel returned. Worn out and foodless he was obliged to go to Jamaica for repairs. On his arrival home his case was repre- sented to the Colonial Government and transmitted to Gov- ernor Shirley at New Providence, but no redress was made."
Many of these small vessels with crews of four to six men were lost by shipwreck and now and then one can read between the lines of some scanty chronicle of disaster astonishing ro- mances of maritime suffering and adventure. For example in 1677, " a vessel arrived at Salem which took Captain Ephriam How of New Haven, the survivor of his crew, from a desolate island where eight months he suffered exceedingly from cold and hunger."
In the seventeenth century Cape Cod was as remote as and even more inaccessible than Europe. A bark of thirty tons burden, Anthony Dike master, was wrecked near the end of the Cape and three of the crew were frozen to death. The two survivors "got some fire and lived there by such food as they had saved for seven weeks until an Indian found them. Dike was of the number who perished."
Robinson Crusoe could have mastered difficulties no more courageously than the seamen of the ketch Providence, wrecked on a voyage to the West Indies. " Six of her crew were drowned, but the Master, mate and a sailor, who was badly wounded, reached an island half a mile off where they found another of the company. They remained there eight days, living on salt fish and cakes made from a barrel of flour washed ashore. They found a piece of touch wood after four days which the mate had in his chest and a piece of flint with which, having a small knife they struck a fire. They framed a boat with a tarred mainsail and some hoops and then fastened pieces of board to them. With a boat so constructed they sailed ten
32
Philip English and His Era
leagues to Anquila and St. Martins where they were kindly received."
There was also Captain Jones of the brig Adventure which foundered at sea while coming home from Trinidad. All hands were lost except the skipper, who got astride a wooden or "Quaker" gun which had broken adrift from the harmless battery with which he had hoped to intimidate pirates. " He fought off the sharks with his feet" and clung to his buoyant ordnance until he was picked up and carried into Havana.
In 1759 young Samuel Gardner of Salem, just graduated from Harvard College, made a voyage to Gibraltar with Captain Richard Derby. The lad's diary* contains some interesting references to the warlike hazards of a routine trading voyage, besides revealing, in an attractive way, the ingenuous nature of this nineteen-year-old youngster of the eighteenth century. His daily entries read in part:
1759. Oct. 19— Sailed from Salem. Very sick.
20 — I prodigious sick, no comfort at all.
21 — I remain very sick, the first Sabbath I have spent from Church this long time. Little Sleep this Night.
24 — A little better contented, but a Sailor's life is a poor life.
31 — Fair pleasant weather, if it was always so, a sea life would be tolerable.
. . . Nov. 11 — This makes the fourth Sunday I have been out. Read Dr. Beveridge's "Serious Thoughts."
12 — Saw a sail standing to S.W. I am quartered at the aftermost gun and its opposite with Captain Clifford. We fired a shot at her and she hoisted Dutch colors.
13 — I have entertained myself with a Romance, viz., "The History of the Parish Girl."
14 — Quite pleasant. Here we may behold the Works of God in the Mighty Deep. Happy he who beholds aright. * Historical Collections of the Essex Institute.
33
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
15 — Between 2 and 3 this morning we saw two sail which chased us, the ship fired 3 shots at us which we returned. They came up with us by reason of a breeze which she took before we did. She proved to be the ship Cornwall from Bristol.
21 — Bishop Beveridge employed my time.
23 — ^We now begin to approach to land. May we have a good sight of it. At eight o'clock two Teriffa (Barbary) boats came out after us, they fired at us which we returned as merrily. They were glad to get away as well as they could. We stood after one, but it is almost impossible to come up with the piratical dogs.
28 — Gibralter — Went on shore. Saw the soldiers in the Garrison exercise. They had a cruel fellow for an officer for he whipt them barbarously. . . . After dinner we went out and saw the poor soldiers lickt again.
. . . Dec. 10 — Benj. Moses, a Jew, was on board. I had some discourse with him about his religion . . . Poor creature, he errs greatly. I endeavored to set him right, but he said for a conclusion that his Father and Grandfather were Jews and if they were gone to Hell he would go there, too, by choice, which I exposed as a great piece of Folly and Stupidity. In the morning we heard a firing and looked out in the Gut and there was a snow attacked by 3 of the piratical Tereffa boats. Two cutters in the Government service soon got under sail, 3 men-of-war that lay in the Roads manned their barges and sent them out as did a Privateer. We could now perceive her (the snow) to have struck, but they soon retook her. She had only four swivels and 6 or 8 men . . . They got some prisoners (of the pirates) but how many I cannot learn, which it is to be hoped will meet with their just reward which I think would be nothing short of hanging. . , . Just at dusk came on board of us two Gentlemen, one of which is an Officer on board a man-of-war, the other belongs to the Granada in
34
Philip English and His Era
the King's Service. The former (our people say) was in the skirmish in some of the barges. He could have given us a relation of it, but we, not knowing of it, prevented what would have been very agreeable to me. . . . It is now between 9 and 10 o'clock at night which is the latest I have set up since I left Salem."
This Samuel Gardner was a typical Salem boy of his time, well brought up, sent to college, and eager to go to sea and experience adventures such as his elders had described. Of a kindred spirit in the very human quality of the documents he left for us was Francis Boardman, a seaman, who rose to a con- siderable position as a Salem merchant. His ancient log books contain between their battered and discolored canvas covers the records of his voyages between 1767 and 1774. Among the earliest are the logs of the ship Vaughan in which Francis Boardman sailed as mate. He kept the log and having a bent for scribbling on whatever blank paper his quill could find, he filled the fly-leaves of these sea journals with more interesting material than the routine entries of wind, weather and ship's daily business. Scrawled on one ragged leaf in what appears to be the preliminary draft of a letter :
" Dear Polly — thes lines comes with My Love to you. Hop- ing thes will find you in as good Health as they Leave me at this Time, Blessed be God for so Great a Massey (mercy)."
Young Francis Boardman was equipped with epistolary ammunition for all weathers and conditions, it would seem, for in another log of a hundred and fifty years ago, he carefully wrote on a leaf opposite his personal expense account : " Madam :
"Your Late Behavour towards me, you are sensible cannot have escaped my Ear. I must own you was once the person of whom I could Not have formed such an Opinion. For my part, at present I freely forgive you and only blame myself for
35
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
putting so much confidence in a person so undeserving. I have now conquered my pashun so much (though I must confess at first it was with great difficulty), that I never think of you, nor I believe never shall without despising the Name of a person who dared to use me in so ungrateful a manner. I shall now conclude myself, though badley used, not your Enemy."
It may be fairly suspected that Francis Boardman owned a copy of some early "Complete Letter Writer," for on another page he begins but does not finish. " A Letter from One Sister to Another to Enquire of Health." Also he takes pains several times to draft these dutiful but far from newsy lines :
"Honored Father and Mother — Thes lines comes with my Deuty to you. Hoping They will find you in as good Health as they Leave me at this Time. Blessed be God for so Great a Massey — Honored Father and Mother."
In a log labeled " From London Toward Cadiz, Spain, in the good ship Vaughan, Benj. Davis, Master, 1767," Francis Board- man became mightily busy with his quill and the season being spring, he began to scrawl poetry between the leaves which were covered with such dry entries as "Modt. Gales and fair weather. Set the jibb. Bent topmast stay sail." One of these pages of verse begins in this fashion :
"One Morning, one Morning in May,. The fields were adorning with Costlay Array. I Chanced for To hear as I walked By a Grove A Shepyard Laymenting for the Loss of his Love."
But the most moving and ambitious relic of the poetic taste of this long vanished Yankee seaman is a ballad preserved in the same log of the Vaughan. Its spelling is as filled with fresh sur- prises as its sentiment is profoundly tragic. It runs as follows:
1 "In Gosport* of Late there a Damsil Did Dwell, for Wit and for Beuty Did she maney Exsel.
* Gosport Navy Yard, England.
36
r
-J-.T^ C\ \Vcr>^ by ilic GrJC? of COP in gooil O.J r 31' ■ "
(wlicrcof \, MjH
' for 7;,-;f.,.o, ,j~~^— '^
ifcjBcIAnra{;cjcciiftf.m-(1. In wi-ncfs^-e'Cr-f !hf M.()erorriirft» iffVtfff -t.«t,irl, iffirmtd (0 /i"^ •' f ill- <-f I,.K!(ng,all t>f it Is 1 I TntL tie one ol wl ich ««>t) l«ili Keiiig acciial BiheO, the *lier n (lam! voi J • And (S C„kI (:nJ tLc gVx,dV ,V,.^ij*" j] :)||> her d«- ^ m faficy, Abiw. Daccd in /,//, ,« , .* ''^/i ^ 0 ^t^v/// f/ C //-/Z
A bill of lading uf the tunc of I'lniij) En-li->li, dated JWG
tflVi^. ,.vu
,./; ii^'-ZJi ,3/ .f
.i,.Al t/ia>.(c.„) on„ •Ktt^. /,!!• ,'"<' '. "' ,v'" ' ■ •' ^ ''* :' ■
, .■ ■ .1 !HiSiffi»ui ■''' /ft'' . I. '■ '/
A.f miiriff. Jilt nZ/uf^ hit I ■ .■ ! ' ■'
The lu<^ of a Salem wlialer. showiiij^ how he rect)itle(l the nnniher of whales he took
Philip English and His Era
2 A Young man he Corted hir to be his Dear And By his Trade was a Ship Carpentir.
3 he ses "My Dear Molly if you will agrea And Will then Conseent for to Marey me
4 Your Love it will Eas me of Sorro and Care If you will But Marey a ship Carpentir."
5 With blushes mor Charming then Roses in June,
She ans'red (") Sweet William for to Wed I am to young.
6 Young Men thay are fickle and so Very Vain, If a Maid she is Kind thay will quickly Disdane.
7 the Most Beutyfullyst Woman that ever was Born, When a man has insnared hir, hir Beuty he scorns. (")
8 (He) (") O, My Dear Molly, what Makes you Say so? Thi Beuty is the Haven to wich I will go.
9 If you Will consent for the Church for to Stear there I will Cast anchor and stay with my Dear.
10 I ne're Shall be Cloyedd with the Charms of thy Love, this Love is as True as the tru Turtle Dove.
11 All that I do Crave is to marey my Dear
And arter we are maried no Dangers we will fear. (")
12 (She) "The Life of a Virgen, Sweet William, I Prize for marrying Brings Trouble and sorro Like-wise. (")
13 But all was in Vane tho His Sute she did Denie, yet he did Purswade hir for Love to Comeply.
14 And by his Cunneng hir Hart Did Betray and with Too lude Desire he led hir Astray.
15 This Past on a while and at Length you will hear, the King wanted Sailors and to Sea he must Stear.
16 This Greved the fare Damsil allmost to the Hart To think of Hir True Love so soon she must Part.
17 She ses (") my Dear Will as you go to sea Remember the Vows that you made unto me. (")
18 With the Kindest Expresens he to hir Did Say (") I will marey my Molly air I go away.
19 That means tomorrow to me you will Come.
then we will be maried and our Love Carried on. (")
20 With the Kindest Embraces they Parted that Nite She went for to meet him next Morning by Lite.
21 he ses (") my Dear Charmer, you must go with me Before we are married a friend for to see. ( ")
22 he Led hir thru Groves and Valleys so deep That this fare Damsil Began for to Weep.
37
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
23 She ses (") My Dear William, you Lead me Astray on Purpos my innocent Life to be BeTray. (")
24 (He) (") Those are true Words and none can you save, (") for all this hole Nite I have Been digging your grave."
25 A Spade Standing By and a Grave thare she See, (She) (") O, Must this Grave Be a Bride Bed to Me? (")
In 1774; we find Francis Boardman as captain of the sloop Adventure, evidently making his first voyage as master. He was bound for the West Indies, and while off the port of St. Pierre in Martinique he penned these gloomy remarks in his log :
" This Morning I Drempt that 2 of my upper teeth and one Lower Dropt out and another Next the Lower one wore away as thin as a wafer and Sundry other fritful Dreams. What will be the Event of it I can't tell."
Other superstitions seem to have vexed his mind, for in the same log he wrote as follows :
"this Blot I found the 17th. I can't tell but Something Very bad is going to Hapen to me this Voyage. I am afeard but God onley Noes What may hapen on board the Sloop Adven- ture— the first Voyage of being Master."
Sailing " From Guardalopa Toward Boston," Captain Francis Boardman made this final entry in his log:
"The End of this Voyage for wich I am Very thankfuU on Acct. of a Grate Deal of Truble by a bad mate, his name is William Robson of Salem, he was Drunk most Part of the Voyage."
CHAPTER III
SOME EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PIRATES
(1670-1725)
THE pirates of the Spanish Main and the southern coasts of this country have enjoyed ahnost a monopoly of popular interest in fact and fiction. As early as 1632, however, the New England coast was plagued by pirates and the doughty merchant seamen of Salem and other ports were sallying forth to fight them for a hundred years on end.
In 1670 the General Court published in Boston, " by beat of drum," a proclamation against a ship at the Isle of Shoals suspected of being a pirate, and three years later another oflBcial broadside was hurled against "piracy and mutiny." The report of an expedition sent out from Boston in 1689, in the sloop Mary, against notorious pirates named Thomas Hawkins and Thomas Pound, has all the dramatic elements and properties of a tale of pure adventure. It relates that " being off of Wood's Hole, we were informed there was a Pirate at Tarpolin Cove, and soon after we espyed a Sloop on head of us which we sup- posed to be the Sloop wherein sd. Pound and his Company were. We made what Sayle we could and soon came near up with her, spread our King's Jack and fired a shot athwart her fore- foot, upon which a red filag was put out on the head of the sd. Sloop's mast. Our Capn. ordered another shot to be fired athwart her forefoot, but they not striking, we came up with them. Our Capn. commanded us to fire at them which we accordingly did and called to them to strike to the King of England.
39
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
" Pound, standing on the Quarter deck with his naked Sword flourishing in his hand, said; 'Come on Board you Doggs, I will strike you presently,' or words to that purpose, his men standing by him upon the deck with guns in their hands, and he taking up his Gun, they discharged a Volley at us and we at them again, and so continued firing one at the other for some space of time.
"In which engagement our Capn. Samuel Pease was wounded in the Arme, in the side and in the thigh; but at length bringing them under our power, wee made Sayle towards Roade Island and on Saturday the fifth of sd. October gut our wounded men on shore and procured Surgeons to dress them. Our said Captaine lost much blood by his wounds and was brought very low, but on friday after, being the eleventh day of the said October, being brought on board the vessell intending to come away to Boston, was taken with bleeding afresh, so that we were forced to carry him on Shore again to Road Island, and was followed with bleeding at his Wounds, and fell into fitts, but remained alive until Saturday morning the twelfth of Octbr. aforesaid when he departed this Life."
This admirably brief narrative shows that Thomas Pounds, strutting his quarter deck under his red "fflagg" and flourishing his naked sword and crying "Come on, you doggs," was a proper figure of a seventeenth century pirate, and that poor Captain Pease of the sloop Mary was a gallant seaman who won his victory after being wounded unto death. Pirates received short shift and this crew was probably hanged in Boston as were scores of their fellows in that era.
Puritan wives and sweethearts waited months and years for missing ships which never again dropped anchor in the land- locked harbor of Salem, and perhaps if any tidings ever came it was no more than this:
"May 21 (1697)— The ketch Margaret of Salem, Captain
40
Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates
Peter Henderson was chased ashore near Funshal, Madeira, by pirates and lost. Of what became of the officers and crew the account says nothing."
In July of 1703, the brigantine Charles, Capt. Daniel Plow- man, was fitted out at Boston as a privateer to cruise against the French and Spanish with whom Great Britain was at war. When the vessel had been a few days at sea, Captain Plowman was taken very ill. Thereupon the crew locked him in the cabin and left him to die while they conspired to run off with the brigantine and turn pirates. The luckless master con- veniently died, his body was tossed overboard and one John Quelch assumed the command. The crew seem to have agreed that he was the man for their purpose and they unan- imously invited him to " sail on a private cruise to the coast of Brazil." In those waters they plundered several Portuguese ships, and having collected sufficient booty or becoming home- sick, they determined to seek their native land. With striking boldness Quelch navigated the brigantine back to Marblehead and primed his men with a story of the voyage which should cover up their career as pirates.
Suspicion was turned against them, however, the vessel was searched, and much plunder revealed. The pirates tried to escape along shore, but most of them, Quelch included, were captured at Gloucester, the Isle of Shoals, and Marblehead.
One of the old Salem records has preserved the following information concerning the fate of these rascals:
(1704) — "Major Stephen Sewall, Captain John Turner and 40 volunteers embark in a shallop and Fort Pinnace after Sun Set to go in Search of some Pirates who sailed from Gloucester in the morning. Major Sewall brought into Salem a Galley, Captain Thomas Lowrimore, on board of which he had cap- tured some pirates and some of their Gold at the Isle of Shoals Major Sewall carries the Pirates to Boston under a strong
41
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
guard. Captain Quelch and five of his crew are hung. About 13 of the ship's company remain under sentence of death and several more are cleared."
Tradition records that a Salem poet of that time was moved to write of the foregoing episode:
"Ye pirates who against God's laws did fight, Have all been taken which is very right. Some of them were old and others young And on the flats of Boston they were hung."
There is a vivacious and entertaining flavor in the following chronicle and comment:
"May 1, 1718, several of the ship HopewelVs crew can testify that near Hispaniola they met with pirates who robbed and abused their crew and compelled their mate, James Logun of Charlestown to go with them, as they had no artist; having lost several of their company in an engagement. As to what sort of an artist these gentlemen rovers were deficient in, whether dancing, swimming or writing master, or a master of the mechan- ical arts, we have no authority for stating."
The ofiicial account of the foregoing misfortune is to be found among the notarial records of Essex county and reads as follows :
" Depositions of Richard Manning, John Crowell, and Aaron Crowell, all of Salem, and belonging to the crew of Captain Thomas Ellis, commander of the ship Hopewell, bound from Island of Barbadoes to Saltatuda. Missing of that Island and falling to Leeward we shaped our course for some of the Bahama Islands in hopes to get salt there, but nigh ye Island of Hispan- iola we unhappily met with a pirate, being a sloop of between thirty and forty men, one Capt. Charles, commander, his sir- name we could not learn. They took us, boarded us and abused several of us shamefully, and took what small matters we had,
42
Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates
even our very cloathes and particularly beat and abused our Mate, whose name was James Logun of Charlestowne, and him they forcibly carried away with them and threatened his life if he would not go, which they were ye more in earnest for insomuch as they had no artist on board, as we understood, having a little before that time had an Engagem't. with a ship of force which had killed several of them as we were Informed by some of them. Ye said James Logun was very unwilling to go with them and informed some of us that he knew not whether he had best to dye or go with them, these Deponents knowing of him to be an Ingenious sober man. To ye truth of all we have hereunto sett our hand having fresh Remembrance thereof, being but ye fifth day of March last past, when we were taken. Salem, May 1, 1718."
In the following year Captain John Shattuck entered his protest at Salem against capture by pirates. He sailed from Jamaica for New England and in sight of Long Island (West Indies) was captured by a "Pyrat" of 12 guns and 120 men, under the command of Captain Charles Vain, who took him to Crooked Island (Bahamas), plundered him of various articles, stripped the brig, abused some of his men and finally let him go. "Coming, however, on a winter coast, his vessel stripped of needed sails, he was blown off to the West Indies and did not arrive in Salem until the next spring."
In 1724 two notorious sea rogues, Nutt and Phillip, were cruising off Cape Ann, their topsails in sight of Salem harbor mouth. They took a sloop commanded by one Andrew Har- radine of Salem and thereby caught a Tartar. Harradine and his crew rose upon their captors, killed both Nutt and Phillip and their oflBcers, put the pirate crew under hatches, and sailed the vessel to Boston where the pirates were turned over to the authorities to be fitted with hempen kerchiefs.
43
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
On the first of May, 1725, a Salem brigantine commanded by Captain Dove sailed into her home harbor having on board one Philip Ashton, a lad from Marblehead who had been given up as dead for almost three years. He had been captured by pirates, and after escaping from them lived alone for a year and more on a desert island off the coast of Honduras. Philip Ashton vi^rote a journal of his adventures which was first pub- lished many years ago. His story is perhaps the most enter- taining narrative of eighteenth century piracy that has come down to present times. Little is known of the career of this lad of Marblehead before or after his adventures and misfortunes in the company of pirates. It is recorded that when he hurried to his home from the ship which had fetched him into Salem harbor there was great rejoicing. On the following Sunday Rev. John Barnard preached a sermon concerning the miracu- lous escape of Philip Ashton. His text was taken from the third chapter of Daniel, seventeenth verse: "If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thy hands, O King."
It is also known that at about the same time that Philip Ash- ton was captured by pirates his cousin, Nicholas Merritt, met with a like misfortune at sea. He made his escape after several months of captivity and returned to his home a year later when there was another thanksgiving for a wanderer returned.
What the early shipmasters of Salem and nearby ports had to fear in the eighteenth century may be more clearly com- prehended if a part of the journal of Philip Ashton is presented as he is said to have written it upon his return home. It begins as follows:
"On Friday, the 15th of June, 1722, after being out some time in a schooner with four men and a boy, off Cape Sable, I stood in for Port Rossaway, designing to lie there all Sunday. Having
44
:x-
^^
,. I r
A page from Falconer's Marine Dictionary (18th Century)
Figure 4: a snow, (5) a ketch. (6) a l)rif; or hrigantine, (71 a Inlander, (8) a xebec. (Hi a schooner, (10) a galliot, (11) a dogger, (12 anil 18) two gallies. one under sail, the other rowing, d-li a sloop
Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates
arrived about four in the afternoon, we saw, among other vessels which had reached the port before us, a brigantine supposed to be inward bound from the West Indies. After remaining three or four hours at anchor, a boat from the brigantine came alongside, with four hands, who leapt on deck, and suddenly drawing out pistols, and brandishing cutlasses, demanded the surrender both of ourselves and our vessel. All remonstrance was vain; nor indeed, had we known who they were before boarding us could we have made any effectual resistance, being only five men and a boy, and were thus under the necessity of submitting at discretion. We were not single in misfortune, as thirteen or fourteen fishing vessels were in like manner surprised the same evening.
" When carried on board the brigantine, I found myself in the hands of Ned Low, an infamous pirate, whose vessel had two great guns, four swivels, and about forty-two men. I was strongly urged to sign the articles of agreement among the pirates and to join their number, which I steadily refused and suffered much bad usage in consequence. At length being conducted, along with five of the prisoners, to the quarterdeck, Low came up to us with pistols in his hand, and loudly de- manded: 'Are any of you married men.'''
" This unexpected question, added to the sight of the pistols, struck us all speechless; we were alarmed lest there was some secret meaning in his words, and that he would proceed to extremities, therefore none could reply. In a violent passion he cocked a pistol, and clapping it to my head, cried out : ' You dog, why don't you answer?' swearing vehemently at the same time that he would shoot me through the head. I was suffi- ciently terrified by his threats and fierceness, but rather than lose my life in so trifling a matter, I ventured to pronounce, as loud as I durst speak, that I was not married. Hereupon he seemed to be somewhat pacified, and turned away.
45
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
" It appeared that Low was resolved to take no married men whatever, which often seemed surprising to me until I had been a considerable time with him. But his own wife had died lately before he became a pirate; and he had a young child at Boston, for whom he entertained such tenderness, on every lucid interval from drinking and revelling, that on mentioning it, I have seen him sit down and weep plentifully. Thus I con- cluded that his reason for taking only single men, was probably that they might have no ties, such as wives and children, to divert them from his service, and render them desirous of returning home.
"The pirates finding force of no avail in compelling us to join them, began to use persuasion instead of it. They tried to flatter me into compliance, by setting before me the share I should have in their spoils, and the riches which I should become master of; and all the time eagerly importuned me to drink along with them. But I still continued to resist their proposals, whereupon Low, with equal fury as before, threatened to shoot me through the head, and though I earnestly entreated my release, he and his people wrote my name, and that of my companions, in their books.
" On the 19th of June, the pirates changed the privateer, as they called their vessel, and went into a new schooner belonging to Marblehead, which they had captured. They then put all the prisoners whom they designed sending home on board of the brigantine, and sent her to Boston, which induced me to make another unsuccessful attempt for liberty; but though I fell on my knees to Low, he refused to let me go; thus I saw the brigantine depart, with the whole captives, excepting myself and seven more.
"A very short time before she departed, I had nearly effected my escape; for a dog belonging to Low being accidentally left on shore, he ordered some hands into a boat to bring it off.
46
Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates
Thereupon two young men, captives, both belonging to Marble- head, readily leapt into the boat, and I considering that if I could once get on shore, means might be found of effecting my escape, endeavored to go along with them. But the quarter- master, called Russell, catching hold of my shoulder, drew me back. As the young men did not return he thought I was privy to their plot, and, with the most outrageous oaths, snapped his pistol, on my denying all knowledge of it. The pistol miss- ing fire, however, only served to enrage him the more; he snapped it three times again, and as often it missed fire; on which he held it overboard, and then it went off. Russell on this drew his cutlass, and was about to attack me in the utmost fury, when I leapt down into the hold and saved myself.
" Off St. Michael's the pirates took a large Portuguese pink, laden with wheat, coming out of the road; and being a good sailor, and carrying fourteen guns, transferred their company into her. It afterwards became necessary to careen her, whence they made three islands called Triangles lying about forty leagues to the eastward of Surinam.
" In heaving down the pink. Low had ordered so many men to the shrouds and yards that the ports, by her heeling, got under water, and the sea rushing in, she overset; he and the doctor were then in the cabin, and as soon as he observed the water gushing in, he leaped out of the stern port while the doctor attempted to follow him. But the violence of the sea repulsed the latter, and he was forced back into the cabin. Low, however, contrived to thrust his arm into the port, and dragging him out, saved his life. Meanwhile, the vessel com- pletely overset. Her keel turned out of the water; but as the hull filled she sunk in the depth of about six fathoms.
" The yardarms striking the ground, forced the masts some- what above the water; as the ship overset, the people, got from the shrouds and yards, upon the hull, and as the hull went
47
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
down, they again resorted to the rigging, rising a httle out of the sea.
" Being an indifferent swimmer, I was reduced to great ex- tremity; for along with other light lads, I had been sent up to the main-top-gallant yard; and the people of a boat who were now occupied in preserving the men refusing to take me in, I was compelled to attempt reaching the buoy. This I luckily accomplished, and as it was large secured myself there until the boat approached. I once more requested the people to take me in, but they still refused, as the boat was full. I was uncertain whether they designed leaving me to perish in this situation; however, the boat being deeply laden made way very slowly, and one of my comrades, captured at the same time with myself, calling to me to forsake the buoy and swim toward her, I assented, and reaching the boat, he drew me on board. Two men, John Bell, and Zana Gourdon, were lost in the pink.
"Though the schooner in company was very near at hand, her people were employed mending their sails under an awning and knew nothing of the accident until the boat full of men got alongside.
" The pirates having thus lost their principal vessel, and the greatest part of their provisions and water, were reduced to great extremities for want of the latter. They were unable to get a supply at the Triangles, nor on account of calms and currents, could they make the island of Tobago. Thus they were forced to stand for Grenada, which they reached after being on short allowance for sixteen days together.
" Grenada was a French settlement, and Low, on arriving, after having sent all his men below, except a sufficient number to maneuver the vessel, said he was from Barbadoes; that he had lost the water on board, and was obliged to put in here for a supply.
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Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates
"The people entertained no suspicion of his being a pirate, but afterward supposing him a smuggler, thought it a good opportunity to make a prize of his vessel. Next day, there- fore, they equipped a large sloop of seventy tons and four guns with about thirty hands, as sufficient for the capture, and came alongside w^hile Low was quite unsuspicious of their design. But this being evidently betrayed by their number and actions, he quickly called ninety men on deck, and, having eight guns mounted, the French sloop became an easy prey.
" Provided with these two vessels, the pirates cruised about in the West Indies, taking seven or eight prizes, and at length arrived at the island of Santa Cruz, where they captured two more. While lying there Low thought he stood in need of a medicine chest, and, in order to procure one sent four French- men in a vessel he had taken to St. Thomas's, about twelve leagues distant, with money to purchase it; promising them liberty, and the return of all their vessels for the service. But he declared at the same time if it proved otherwise, he would kill the rest of the men, and burn the vessels. In little more than twenty-four hours, the Frenchmen returned with the object of their mission, and Low punctually performed his promise by restoring the vessels.
"Having sailed for the Spanish- American settlements, the pirates descried two large ships about half way between Cartha- gena and Portobello, which proved to be the Mermaid, an English man-of-war, and a Guineaman. They approached in chase until discovering the man-of-war's great range of teeth, when they immediately put about and made the best of their way off. The man-of-war then commenced the pursuit and gained upon them apace, and I confess that my terrors were now equal to any that I had previously suffered; for I con- cluded that we should certainly be taken, and that I should not less be hanged for company's sake; so true are the words of
49
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
Solomon: 'A companion of fools shall be destroyed.' But the two pirate vessels finding themselves outsailed, separated, and Farriugton Spriggs, who commanded the schooner in which I was stood in for the shore. The Mermaid observing the sloop with Low himself to be the larger of the two, crowded all sail, and continued gaining still more, indeed until her shot flew over; but one of the sloop's crew showed Low a shoal, which he could pass, and in the pursuit the man-of-war grounded. Thus the pirates escaped hanging on this occasion.
" Spriggs and one of his chosen companions dreading the con- sequences of being captured and brought to justice, laid their pistols beside them in the interval, and pledging a mutual oath in a bumper of liquor, swore if they saw no possibility of escape, to set foot to foot and blow out each other's brains. But stand- ing toward the shore, they made Pickeroon Bay, and escaped the danger.
"Next we repaired to a small island called Utilla, about seven or eight leagues to leeward of the island of Roatan, in the Bay of Honduras, where the bottom of the schooner was cleaned. There were now twenty-two persons on board, and eight of us engaged in a plot to overpower our masters, and make our escape. Spriggs proposed sailing for New England, in quest of provisions and to increase his company; and we intended on approaching the coast, when the rest had indulged freely in liquor and fallen sound asleep, to secure them under the hatches, and then deliver ourselves up to government.
"Although our plot was carried on with all possible privacy, Spriggs had somehow or other got intelligence of it ; and having fallen in with Low on the voyage, went on board his ship to make a furious declaration against us. But Low made little account of his information, otherwise it might have been fatal to most of our number. Spriggs, however, returned raging to the schooner, exclaiming that four of us should go forward to
50
Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates
be shot, and to me in particular he said: 'You dog Ashton, you deserve to be hanged up at the yardarm for designing to cut us off.' I repHed that I had no intention of injuring any man on board ; but I should be glad if they would allow me to go away quietly. At length this flame was quenched, and, through the goodness of God, I escaped destruction.
" Roatan harbor, as all about the Bay of Honduras, is full of small islands, which pass under the general name of Keys; and having got in here, Low, with some of his chief men, landed on a small island, which they called Port Royal Key. There they erected huts, and continued carousing, drinking, and firing, while the different vessels, of which they now had posses- sion, were repairing.
" On Saturday, the 9th of March, 1723, the cooper, with six hands, in the long-boat, was going ashore for water; and coming alongside of the schooner, I requested to be of the party. Seeing him hesitate, I urged that I had never hitherto been ashore, and thought it hard to be so closely confined when every one besides had the liberty of landing as there was occa- sion. Low had before told me, on requesting to be sent away in some of the captured vessels which he dismissed that I should go home when he did, and swore that I should never previously set my foot on land. But now I considered if I could possibly once get on terra firma, though in ever such bad circum- stances, I should account it a happy deliverance and resolved never to embark again.
"The cooper at length took me into the long-boat, while Low and his chief people were on a different island from Roatan, where the watering place lay; my only clothing was an Osna- burgh frock and trowsers, a milled cap, but neither shirt, shoes, stockings, nor anything else.
" When we first landed I was very active in assisting to get the casks out of the boat, and in rolling them to the watering place.
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The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
Then taking a hearty draught of water I strolled along the beach, picking up stones and shells; but on reaching the dis- tance of a musket-shot from the party I began to withdraw toward the skirts of the woods. In answer to a question by the cooper of whither I was going I replied, 'for cocoanuts,' as some cocoa trees were just before me; and as soon as I was out of sight of my companions I took to my heels, running as fast as the thickness of the bushes and my naked feet would admit. Notwithstanding I had got a considerable way into the woods, I was still so near as to hear the voices of the party if they spoke loud, and I lay close in a thicket where I knew they could not find me.
"After my comrades had filled their caslcs and were about to depart, the cooper called on me to accompany them; however, I lay snug in the thicket, and gave him no answer, though his words were plain enough. At length, after hallooing loudly, I could hear them say to one another: 'The dog is lost in the woods, and cannot find the way out again '; then they hallooed once more, and cried ' He has run away and won't come to us '; and the cooper observed that had he known my intention he would not have brought me ashore. Satisfied of their inability to find me among the trees and bushes, the cooper at last, to show his kindness, exclaimed: 'If you do not come away presently, I shall go off and leave you alone.' Nothing, how- ever, could induce me to discover myself; and my comrades seeing it vain to wait any longer, put off without me.
"Thus I was left on a desolate island, destitute of all help, and remote from the track of navigators; but compared with the state and society I had quitted, I considered the wilderness hospitable, and the solitude interesting.
"When I thought the whole was gone, I emerged from my thicket, and came down to a small run of water, about a mile from the place where our casks were filled, and there sat down
52
Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates
to observe the proceedings of the pirates. To my great joy in five days their vessels sailed, and I saw the schooner part from them to shape a different course.
"I then began to reflect on myself and my present condition; I was on an island which I had no means of leaving; I knew of no human being within many miles; my clothing was scanty, and it was impossible to procure a supply. I was altogether destitute of provision, nor could tell how my life was to be supported. This melancholy prospect drew a copious flood of tears from my eyes; but as it had pleased God to grant my wishes in being liberated from those whose occupation was devising mischief against their neighbors, I resolved to account every hardship light. Yet I^ow would never suffer his men to work on the Sabbath, which was more devoted to play; and I have even seen some of them sit down to read in a good book.
"In order to ascertain how I was to live in time to come, I began to range over the island, which proved ten or eleven leagues long, and lay in about sixteen degrees north latitude. But I soon found that my only companions would be the beasts of the earth, and fowls of the air; for there were no indications of any habitations on the island, though every now and then I found some shreds of earthen ware scattered in a lime walk, said by some to be the remains of Indians formerly dwelling here.
"The island was well watered, full of high hills and deep valleys. Numerous fruit trees, such as figs, vines, and cocoa- nuts are found in the latter; and I found a kind larger than an orange, oval-shaped of a brownish color without, and red within. Though many of these had fallen under the trees, I could not venture to take them until I saw the wild hogs feeding with safety, and then I found them very delicious fruit.
"Stores of provisions abounded here, though I could avail myself of nothing but the fruit; for I had no knife or iron
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The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
implement, either to cut up a tortoise on turning it, or weapons wherewith to kill animals; nor had I any means of making a fire to cook my capture, even if I were successful.
" To this place then was I confined during nine months, with- out seeing a human being. One day after another was lingered out, I know not how, void of occupation or amusement, except collecting food, rambling from hill to hill, and from island to island, and gazing on sky and water. Although my mind was occupied by many regrets, I had the reflection that I was law- fully employed when taken, so that I had no hand in bringing misery on myself; I was also comforted to think that I had the approbation and consent of my parents in going to sea, and trusted that it would please God, in his own time and manner, to provide for my return to my father's house. There- fore, I resolved to submit patiently to my misfortune.
"Sometime in November, 1723, I descried a small canoe approaching with a single man; but the sight excited little emotion. I kept my seat on the beach, thinking I could not expect a friend, and knowing that I had no enemy to fear, nor was I capable of resisting one. As the man approached, he betrayed many signs of surprise; he called me to him, and I told him he might safely venture ashore, for I was alone, and almost expiring. Coming close up, he knew not what to make of me; my garb and countenance seemed so singular, that he looked wild with astonishment. He started back a little, and surveyed me more thoroughly; but, recovering himself again, came forward, and, taking me by the hand, expressed his satisfaction at seeing me.
" This stranger proved to be a native of North Britain; he was well advanced in years, of a grave and venerable aspect, and of a reserved temper. His name I never knew, he did not disclose it, and I had not inquired during the period of our acquaintance. But he informed me he had lived twenty-two
54
Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates
years with the Spaniards who now threatened to bum him, though I know not for what crime; therefore he had fled hither as a sanctuary, bringing his dog, gun, and ammunition, as also a small quantity of pork, along with him. He designed spending the remainder of his days on the island, where he could support himself by hunting.
"I experienced much kindness from the stranger; he was always ready to perform any civil offices, and assist me in whatever he could, though he spoke little; and he gave me a share of his pork.
" On the third day after his arrival, he said he would make an excursion in his canoe among the neighboring islands, for the purpose of killing wild hogs and deer, and wished me to accom- pany him. Though my spirits were somewhat recruited by his society, the benefit of the fire, which I now enjoyed, and dressed provisions, my weakness and the soreness of my feet, precluded me; therefore he set out alone, saying he would return in a few hours. The sky was serene, and there was no prospect of any danger during a short excursion, seeing he had come nearly twelve leagues in safety in his canoe. But, when he had been absent about an hour, a violent gust of wind and rain arose, in which he probably perished, as I never heard of him more.
" Thus, after having the pleasure of a companion almost three days, I was as unexpectedly reduced to my former lonely state, as I had been relieved from it. Yet through the goodness of God, I was myself preserved from having been unable to accompany him; and I was left in better circumstances than those in which he had found me, for now I had about five pounds of pork, a knife, a bottle of gunpowder, tobacco, tongs and flint, by which means my life could be rendered more comfortable. I was enabled to have fire, extremely requisite at this time, being the rainy months of winter. I could cut up
55
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
a tortoise, and have a delicate broiled meal. Thus, by the help of the fire, and dressed provisions, through the blessings of God, I began to receive strength, though the soreness of my feet remained. But I had, besides, the advantage of being able now and then to catch a dish of cray fish, which, when roasted, proved good eating. To accomplish this I made up a small bundle of old broken sticks, nearly resembling pitch-pine, or candle-wood, and having lighted one end, waded with it in my hand, up to the waist in water. The cray fish, attracted by the light, would crawl to my feet and lie directly under it, when, by means of a forked stick, I could toss them ashore.
" Between two and three months after the time of losing my companion, I found a small canoe, while ranging along the shore. The sight of it revived my regret for his loss, for I judged that it had been his canoe; and, from being washed up here, a certain proof of his having been lost in the tempest. But on examining it more closely, I satisfied myself that it was one which I had never seen before
Three months after he lost his companion Philip Ashton found a small canoe which had drifted on the island beach. In this fragile craft he made his way to another island where he found a company of buccaneers who chased him through the woods with a volley of musketry. Re-embarking in his canoe he headed for the western end of this island and later reached Roatan where he lived alone for seven months longer. Here he was discovered and hospitably cared for by a number of Englishmen who had fled from the Bay of Honduras in fear of an attack by Spaniards. These refugees had planted crop and were living in what seemed to Philip Ashton as rare com- fort. "Yet after all," he said of them, "they were bad society, and as to their common conversation there was but little difi'er- ence between them and pirates."
56
Some Early Eighteenth Century Pirates
At length this colony of outlaws was attacked and disbanded by a ship's company of pirates headed by Spriggs who had thrown off his allegiance to Low and set up in the business of piracy for himself with a ship of twenty-four guns and a sloop of twelve.
As lit on evaded their clutches and with one Symonds, who had also fled from the attack of Spriggs, made his way from one island to another until he was fortunate enough to find a fleet of English merchant vessels under convoy of the Diamond man-of-war bound for Jamaica. They touched at one of these islands near the Bay of Honduras to fill their water casks and it was there that Ashton found the Salem brigantine com- manded by Captain Dove.
The journal says in conclusion: "Captain Dove not only treated me with great civility and engaged to give me a passage home but took me into pay, having lost a seaman whose place he wanted me to supply.
"We sailed along with the Diamond, which was bound for Jamaica, in the latter end of March, 1725, and kept company until the first of April. By the providence of Heaven we passed safely through the Gulf of Florida, and reached Salem Harbor on the first of May, two years, ten months and fifteen days after I was first taken by pirates; and two years, and two months, after making my escape from them on Roatan island. That same evening I went to my father's house, where I was received as one risen from the dead."
57
CHAPTER IV
THE PRIVATEERSMEN OF '76
PRIVATEERING has ceased to be a factor in civilized warfare. The swift commerce destroyer as an arm of the naval service has taken the place of the private armed ship which roamed the seas for its own profit as well for its country's cause. To-day the United States has a navy prepared both to defend its own merchant vessels, what few there are, and to menace the trade of a hostile nation on the high seas.
When the War of the Revolution began, however, Britannia ruled the seas, and the naval force of the Colonies was pitifully feeble. In 1776 there were only thirty-one Continental cruisers of all classes in commission and this list was steadily diminished by the ill-fortunes of war until in 1782 only seven ships flew the American flag, which had been all but swept from the ocean. During the war these ships captured one hundred and ninety-six of the enemy's craft.
On the other hand, there were already one hundred and thirty-six privateers at sea by the end of the year 1776, and their number increased until in 1781 there were four hundred and forty-nine of these private commerce destroyers in com- mission. This force took no fewer than eight hundred British vessels and made prisoners of twelve thousand British seamen during the war. The privateersmen dealt British maritime prestige the deadliest blow in history. It had been an undreamt of danger that the American Colonies should humble that flag which "had waved over every sea and triumphed over every
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The Privatcersmen of '76
rival," until even the English and Irish Channels were not safe for British ships to traverse. The preface of the Sailor's Vade-Mecum, edition of 1744, contained the following lofty doctrine which all good Englishmen believed, and which was destined to be shattered by a contemptible handful of seafaring rebels :
" That the Monarchs of Great Britain have a peculiar and Sovereign Authority upon the Ocean, is a Right so Ancient and Undeniable that it never was publicly disputed, but by Hugo Grotius in his Mare Liberum, published in the Year 1636, in Favour of the Dutch Fishery upon our Coasts ; which Book was fully Controverted by Mr. Selden's Mare Clausum, wherein he proves this Sovereignty from the Laws of God and of Nature, besides an uninterrupted Fruition of it for so many Ages past as that its Beginning cannot be traced out."
When the War of 1812 was threatening. The London States- man paid this unwilling tribute to the prowess of these Yankee privatcersmen of the Revolution :
"Every one must recollect what they did in the latter part of the American War. The books at Lloyds will recount it, and the rate of assurances at that time will clearly prove what their diminutive strength was able to effect in the face of our navy, and that when nearly one hundred pennants were flying on their coast. Were we able to prevent their going in and out, or stop them from taking our trade and our store-ships, even in size of our own garrisons? Besides, were they not in the English and Irish Channels picking up our homeward bound trade, sending their prizes into French and Spanish ports to the great terror and annoyance of our merchants and shipowners?
"These are facts which can be traced to a period when America was in her infancy, without ships, without money, and at a time when our navy was not much less in strength than at present."
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The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
At the beginning of the Revolution, Salem was sending its boys to fill the forecastles of the vessels built in its own yards and commanded by its own shipmasters. Hard by were the towns of Beverly and Marblehead whose townsmen also won their hardy livelihood on the fishing banks and along distant and perilous trading routes. When British squadrons and cruisers began to drive them ashore to starve in idleness, these splendid seamen turned their vessels into privateers and rushed them to sea like flights of hawks. It was a matter of months only before they had made a jest of the boastful lines which had long adorned the columns of the Naval Chronicle of London:
"The sea and waves are Britain's broad domain And not a sail but by permission spreads."
This race of seafarers had been drilled to handle cannon and muskets. Every merchantman that sailed for Europe or the West Indies carried her battery of six pounders, and hundreds of Salem men and boys could tell you stories of running fights and escapes from French and Spanish freebooters and swarming pirates. Commerce on the high seas was not a peaceful .pur- suit. The merchantman was equipped to become a privateer by shipping a few more guns and signing on a stronger company. The conditions of the times which had made these seamen able to fight as shrewdly as they traded may be perceived from the following extracts from the "Seaman's Vade-Mecum," as they appear in the rare editions published both in 1744 and 1780: "Shewing how to prepare a Merchant Ship for a close fight by disposing their Bulk-heads, Leaves, Coamings, Look-holes, etc."
"If the Bulkhead of the Great Cabbin be well fortified it may be of singular Use; for though the Enemy may force the Steerage, yet when they unexpectedly meet with another Barri- cade and from thence a warm Reception by the Small Arms, they will be thrown into great Confusion, and a Cannon ready
60
The Privateersmen of '76
loaded with Case-shot will do great Execution; but if this should not altogether answer the Purpose, it will oblige the Enemy to pay the dearer for their Conquest. For the Steerage may hold out the longer, and the Men will be the bolder in defending it, knowing that they have a place to retire into, and when there they may Capitulate for Good Quarter at the last Extremity. . . ."
". . . It has been objected that Scuttles (especially that out of the Forecastle) are Encouragements for Cowardice; that having no such Convenience, the Men are more resolute, be- cause they must fight, die or be taken. Now if they must fight or die, it is highly unreasonable and as cruel to have Men to be cut to Pieces when they are able to defend their Posts no longer, and in this Case the Fate of the Hero and the Coward is alike; and if it is to fight or be taken, the Gallant will hold out to the last while the Coward (if the danger runs high), sur- renders as soon as Quarter is offered; and now if there be a Scuttle, the Menace of the Enemy will make the less Impression on their Minds, and they will stand out the longer, when they know they can retire from the Fury of the Enemy in case they force their Quarters. In short, it will be as great a blemish in the Commander's Politics to leave Cowards without a Scuttle as it will be Ingratitude to have Gallant Men to be cut to
Pieces."
"How to Make a Sally
"Having (by a vigorous defence) repulsed the Enemy from your Bulkheads, and cutting up your Deck, it may be necessary to make a Sally to compleat your Victory; but by the Way, the young Master must use great caution before he Sally out, lest he be drawn into some Strategem to his Ruin; there- fore for a Ship of but few hands it is not a Mark of Cowardice to keep the Close-Quarters so long as the Enemy is on board; and if his Men retire out of your Ship, fire into him through
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The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
your Look-holes and Ports till he calls for Quarter. And if it should ever come to that, you must proceed Warily (unless you out Number him in Men) and send but a few of your Hands into his Ship while the others are ready with all their Small- arms and Cannon charged; and if they submit patiently dis- arm and put them down below, where there is no Powder or Weapons; but plunder not, lest your men quarrel about Trifles or be too intent in searching for Money, and thereby give the Enemy an opportunity to destroy you; and if you take the Prize (when you come into an harbor) let everything be equally shared among the Men, the Master only reserving to himself the Affections of his Men by his Generosity which with the Honour of the Victory to a brave Mind is equivalent to all the rest. . . ."
"It is presumed that the Sally will be most Advantageous if made out of the Round-house, because having cleared the Poop, you will have no Enemy at your back; wherefore let all but two or more, according to your Number, step up into the Round-house, bringing with them all or most of the Musquets and Pistols there, leaving only the Blunderbusses. Let all the Small Arms in the Quarters be charged, and the Cannon that flank the Decks and out of the Bulk-heads, traversing those in the Round-house, pointing towards the mizzen-mast to gaul the Enemy in case of a retreat. All things being thus prepared, let a Powder-chest be sprung upon the Poop, and four Hand Granadoes tost out of the Ports, filled with Flower and fuzees of a long duration, then let the Door be opened, and in the Confusion make your Sally at once, half advancing forward and the other facing about to clear the Poop; when this is done, let them have an eye to the Chains. At the Round-house Door let two men be left to stand by the Port-cullis, each having a brace of Pistols to secure a Retreat; let then those in the Forecastle never shoot right aft, after the Sally is made, unless
62
The Privateersmen of '76
parallel with the Main Deck. The rest must be left to Judg- ment,"
Try to imagine, if you please, advice of such tenor as this compiled for the use of the captains of the transatlantic liners or cargo "tramps" of to-day, and you will be able to compre- hend in some slight measure how vast has been the change in the conditions of the business of the sea, and what hazards our American forefathers faced to win their bread on quarterdeck and in forecastle. Nor were such desperate engagements as are outlined in this ancient "Seaman's Vade-Mecum " at all infrequent. "Round-houses" and "great cabbins" were de- fended with "musquets," "javalins," "Half-pikes" and cut- lasses, and " hand-granadoes " in many a hand-to-hand conflict with sea raiders before the crew of the bluff-blowed, high- popped Yankee West Indiaman had to " beat off the boarders " or make a dashing "Sally" or "capitulate for Good Quarter at the last Extremity."
Of such, then, were the privateersmen who flocked down the wharves and among the tavern "rendezvous" of Salem as soon as the owners of the waiting vessels had obtained their com- missions from the Continental Congress, and issued the call for volunteers. Mingled with the hardy seamen who had learned their trade in Salem vessels were the sons of wealthy shipping merchants of the best blood of the town and county who embarked as "gentlemen volunteers," eager for glory and plunder, and a chance to avenge the wrongs they and their kinfolk had suffered under British trade laws and at the hands of British press gangs.
The foregoing extracts from the "Seaman's Vade-Mecum" show how singularly fixed the language of the sea has remained through the greater part of two centuries. With a few slight differences, the terms in use then are commonly employed to-day. It is therefore probable that if you could have been on old
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The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
Derby Wharf in the year of 1776, the talk of the busy, sun- browned men and boys around you would have sounded by no means archaic. The wharf still stretches a long arm into the harbor and its tumbling warehouses, timbered with great hewn beams, were standing during the Revolution. Then they were filled with cannon, small arms, rigging and ships' stores as fast as they could be hauled hither. Fancy needs only to picture this land-locked harbor alive with square-rigged vessels, tall sloops and topsail schooners, their sides checkered with gun-ports, to bring to life the Salem of the privateersman of one hundred and forty years ago.
Shipmasters had no sooner signaled their homecoming with deep freights of logwood, molasses or sugar than they received orders to discharge with all speed and clear their decks for mounting batteries and slinging the hammocks of a hundred waiting privateersmen. The guns and men once aboard, the crews were drilling night and day while they waited the chance to slip to sea. Their armament included carronades, "Long Toms" and "long six" or "long nine" pounders, sufficient muskets, blunderbusses, pistols, cutlasses, tomahawks, boarding pikes, hand grenades, round shot, grape, canister, and double- headed shot.
When larger vessels were not available tiny sloops with twenty or thirty men and boys mounted one or two old guns and put to sea to " capture a Britisher " and very likely be taken themselves by the first English ship of war that sighted them. The prize money was counted before it was caught, and seamen made a business of selling their shares in advance, preferring the bird in the bush, as shown by the following bill of sale :
"Beverly, ye 7th, 1776. "Know all men by these presents, that I the subscriber, in consideration of the sum of sixteen dollars to me in hand paid
64
The Privateersmen of '76
by Mr. John Waters, in part for -^ share of all the Prizes that may be taken during the cruize of the Privateer Sloop called the Revenge, whereof Benjamin Dean is commissioned Com- mander, and for the further consideration of twenty-four dollars more to be paid at the end of the whole cruize of the said Sloop ; and these certify that I the subscriber have sold, bargained and conveyed unto the said John Waters, or his order, the one half share of my whole share of all the prizes that may be taken during the whole cruize of said Sloop. Witness my hand,
"P. H. Brockhorn."
An endorsement on the back of the document records that Mr. Waters received the sum of twenty pounds for "parte of the within agreement," which return reaped him a handsome profit on the speculation. Many similar agreements are pre- served to indicate that Salem merchants plunged heavily on the risks of privateering by buying seamens' shares for cash. The articles of agreement under which these Salem privateers of the Revolution made their warlike cruises belong with a vanished age of sea life. These documents were, in the main, similar to the following :
"Articles of Agreement
" Concluded at Salem this Seventh day of May, 1781, between the owners of the Privateer Ship Rover, commanded by James Barr, now fixing in this port for a cruise of four months against the Enemies of the United States of America, on the first part and the officers and seamen belonging to said Ship Rover on the other part as follows, viz.:
"Article 1st. The owners agree to fix with all expedition said Ship for sea, and cause her to be mounted with Twenty Guns, four Pounders, with a sufficiency of ammunition of all kinds and good provisions for one Hundred men for four months' cruise, also to procure an apparatus for amputating,
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The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
and such a Box of medicine as shall be thought necessary by the Surgeon.
"Article 2nd. The Officers and Seamen Shall be entitled to one half of all the prizes captured by Said Ship after the cost of condemning, etc., is deducted from the whole.
" Article 3rd. The Officers and Seamen agree that they will to the utmost of their abilities discharge the duty of Officers and Seamen, according to their respective Stations on board Said Ship, her boats and Prizes, by her taken, and the Officers and Seamen further agree that if any Officer or Private shall in time of any engagement with any Vessell abandon his Post on board said Ship or any of her boats or Prizes by her taken, or disobey the commands of the Captain or any Superior Officer, that said Officer or Seaman, if adjudged guilty by three Officers, the Captain being one, shall forfeit all right to any Prize or Prizes by her taken.
"Article 4th. The Officers and Seamen further agree that if any Officer shall in time of any engagement or at any other time behave unworthy of the Station that he holds on board said Ship, it shall be in the power of three officers, the captain being one, to displace said Officer, and appoint any one they may see fit in his place. That if any Officer belonging to said Ship shall behave in an unbecoming character of an officer and gentleman, he shall be dismissed and forfeit his share of the cruise.
"Article 5th. The owners, officers and Seamen agree that if any one shall first discover a sail which shall prove to be a Prize, he shall be entitled to Five hundred Dollars.
"Article 6th. Any one who shall first board any Vessell in time of an engagement, which shall prove a Prize, Shall be entitled to one thousand Dollars and the best firelock on board said Vessell, officers' prizes being excepted.
"Article 7th. If any officer or Seaman shall at the time of
66
/
r-
-^/— ^.^.,//.^ y^'^
j/l^ y^ " fzr/
Ai,freement hy wliicli a Revolutionary privateer seaman sold his share of the bootv in advance of his cruise
The Privateersmen of '76
an Engagement loose a leg or an arm he shall be entitled to Four Thousand Dollars ; if any officer or Seaman shall loose an Eye in time of an Engagement, he shall receive the Sum of Two thousand Dollars ; if any officer shall loose a joint he shall be entitled to one thousand Dollars, the same to be paid from the whole amount of prizes taken by said Ship.
"Article 8th. That no Prize master or man, that shall be put on board any Prize whatever and arrive at any port what- ever. Shall be entitled to his share or shares, except he remain to discharge the Prize, or he or they are discharged by the agent of said Ship, except the Privateer is arrived before the Prize.
"Article 9th. That for the Preservation of Good order on board said Ship, no man to quit or go out of her, on board of any other Vessell without having obtained leave from the com- manding officer on board.
"Article 10th. That if any person Shall count to his own use any part of the Prize or Prizes or be found pilfering any money or goods, and be convicted thereof, he shall forfeit his Share of Prize money to the Ship and Company.
" That if any person shall be found a Ringleader of a meeting or cause any disturbance on board, refuse to obey the command of the Captain, or any officer or behave with Cowardice, or get drunk in time of action, he shall forfeit his or their Share of or Shares to the rest of the Ship's Company."
So immensely popular was the privateering service among the men and youth of Salem and nearby ports that the naval vessels of the regular service were hard put to enlist their crews. When the fifes and drums sounded through the narrow streets with a strapping privateersman in the van as a recruiting officer, he had no trouble in collecting a crowd ready to listen to his persuasive arguments whose burden was prize money and glory. More than once a ship's company a hundred strong
G7
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
was enrolled and ready to go on board by sunset of the day the call for volunteers was made. Trembling mothers and weeping wives could not hold back these sailors of theirs, and as for the sweethearts they could only sit at home and hope that Seth or Jack would come home a hero with his pockets lined with gold instead of finding his fate in a burial at sea, or behind the walls of a British prison.
It was customary for the owners of the privateer to pay the cost of the "rendezvous," which assembling of the ship's com- pany before sailing was held in the "Blue Anchor," or some other sailors' tavern down by the busy harbor. That the "rendezvous" was not a scene of sadness and that the priva- teersmen were wont to put to sea with no dust in their throats may be gathered from the following tavern bill of 1781:
Db.
Captain George Williams, Agent Privateer Brig Sturdy Beggar to Jonathan Archer, Jr.
To Rendezvous Bill as follows: 1781 Aug. 8-12 to 11 Bowls punch at 3-1 Bowl tod. at 1-3 1.14.3
14 to 8 bowls punch 1 bowl chery tod. at 1-9 1. 5.9
20 to 6 bowls punch 8 Bowls Chery tod. 2 Grog 1.14.6 22 to 7 bowls puncli 7 bowls Chery tod. 1.13.3
30 to 14 Bowls punch 8 bowls Chery tod. and 2^
Grog 2.19.1
Sept. 4 to 7 Bowls punch 10 bowls chery 3 Grog 2.13.9
6 to 10 bowls punch 1 bowl chery tod. 2 grog 1.14.3
10 to 4 J bowls punch 1 . 2.6
There were stout heads as well as stout hearts in New Eng- land during those gallant days and it is safe to say that the crew of the Sturdy Beggar was little the worse for wear after the farewell rounds of puncli, grog and "chery tod." at the ren- dezvous ruled by mine host, Jonathan Archer. It was to be charged against privateering that it drew away from the naval service the best class of recruits.
68
The Privateersmen of '76
An eye witness, Ebenezer Fox of Roxbury, wrote this account of the putting an armed State ship into commission in 1780:
" The coast was Hned with British cruisers which had almost annihilated our commerce. The State of Massachusetts judged it expedient to build a gun vessel, rated as a twenty-gun ship, named Protector,* commanded by Captain John Foster Williams, to be fitted as soon as possible and sent to sea. A rendezvous was established for recruits at the head of Hancock's Wharf (Boston) where the National flag, then bearing thirteen stars and stripes, was hoisted.
" All means were resorted to which ingenuity could devise to induce men to enlist. A recruiting officer bearing a flag and attended by a band of martial music paraded the streets, to excite a thirst for glory and a spirit of military ambition. The recruiting officer possessed the qualifications requisite to make the service alluring, especially to the young. He was a jovial, good-natured fellow, of ready wit and much broad humor. Crowds followed in his wake, and he occasionally stopped at the corners to harangue the multitude in order to excite their patriotism. When he espied any large boys among the idle crowd crowded around him he would attract their attention by singing in a comical manner:
"'All you that have bad Masters, And cannot get your due, Come, come, my brave boys And join our ship's crew. '
"Shouting and huzzaing would follow and some join the ranks. My excitable feelings were aroused. I repaired to the rendezvous, signed the ship's papers, mounted a cockade and was, in my own estimation, already half a sailor.
"The recruiting business went on slowly, however; but at
* See Captain Luther Little's story of the Protector's fight with the Admiral Duff. Chapter VI, Page 109.
69
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
length upward of 300 men were carried, dragged and driven on board ; of all ages, kinds and descriptions ; in all the various stages of intoxication from that of sober tipsiness to beastly drunkenness; with the uproar and clamor that may be more easily imagined than described. Such a motley group has never been seen since Falstaff's ragged regiment paraded the streets of Coventry."
When Captain John Paul Jones, however, was fitting out the Ranger in Portsmouth harbor in the spring of 1777, many a Salem lad forsook privateering to follow the fortunes of this dashing commander in the service of their country. On Salem tavern doors and in front of the town hall was posted the fol- lowing " broadside," adorned with a wood cut of a full-rigged fighting ship. It was a call that appealed to the spirit of the place, and it echoes with thrilling effect, even as one reads it a hundred and forty years after its proclamation:
" Great Encouragement For Seamen "All Gentlemen Seamen and able-bodied Landsmen who have a Mind to distinguish themselves in the Glorious Cause of their Country and make their Fortunes, an opportunity now offers on board the Ship Ranger of Twenty Guns (for France) now laying in Portsmouth in the State of New Hamp- shire, Commanded by John Paul Jones, Esq.: let them repair to the Ship's Rendezvous In Portsmouth, or at the Sign of Commodore Manley in Salem, where they will be kindly entertained, and receive the greatest Encouragement. The Ship Ranger In the Opinion of every Person who has seen her is looked upon to be one of the best Cruizers in America. She will be always able to fight her Guns under a most excellent Cover; and no Vessel yet built was ever calculated for sailing faster.
70
EN COURAGEME N-33
O R
SEAMEN.
t,L GEN . LtMEN SEAME .V irid sHc-bodied L ANDS^IEAL who h ..x a Miod U) diftinguifli tlicmlclvcsJa-thc-GXrOiiTo U& CAU;-Jf of their CXr :TRy, juxi'riialce chcir Fortunes, »a, Op- ■f '^- jxjHuuity rrow oftry Co i-i-rd list a/ijp RAN G.gJ<Jj_pf;J'we«t7**"' Gunj»_{for Fr^v; = ;.jio\«.-lay«^ ir, ijoitiwo^ iji, lu ihe state ot New.4Jam»^ ' dbyJOHr- I'AUL JONV£''E('Qi !c-. ihcra re;. air r>rffic~'S5ip":^ KctJcz^ •»du: in Po«T«Mou rw, or at the Sign of C.jrfSmoiip* l*f ,nl' y, i.t Salph, where they will be feind- !y eDtertain«d, and receive the greatcll Eucoura^root.-- i he Ship kASGE», in the Opinion of
every Perfon who his fcen her is lookec upon t^hr r^i ot the be!} Cruizcrs i;i Ams«:ca. She
will be always able to Fight her Gutii n; l^f ajinoft .cx^ei' ,t Cover ; .ai;J no VclTci yet builc was ever calculated lor tiding tiC.cr, ai; i inaVj!i.i} gu.<i A cathex.
Any GsNTiMiEN Volcsteiri whc hive ?- -^i'd to .Ic . Seafon of tiic Year, may, b\' entering en bo^;-] the above Gifilirj' they can f)o'Ti':Iy cxpcdt, and f.T a Kriher Eticoui portunity bein^ cnibui-C i to I'.A^rd each one .>.gre»b!r to
Ship K
pieafinc
:h every r.rrt Op-
1^^ -jflTrearonj^ie i iavr;:.ng Expcoces will W iliowed, and th; Advancc-Mo;iev be paid cu ^^ 'thcit Avptara -.ci oq Board. '
n*"'"- ■ In C a N P R E S 3, AU«CH 29, 1777,
R t fi ^ L . fi n .
THAT t.'ie M,,:;-.E CoMu;TTEi,be autliifcd ro advance to every »ble Seaman, ^»t „""'*,'"'" ''"■ Co---T>NfNTAi SfrviI,' any Sum not Oiceediug FORTY DOL- LAR b, ;v>d to every ordinary Seamiii otJ-Landfman, any Sum not excctdir." TWEhf- FY DOLLARS, to be deduced frjin|thc.r future Priie-Money.
By Order of Con c *. is «,
[ [i o H N - Hancock:, Piu^ot-
ihe Houli U:c the Eilf-Ti
l
I'ruclaiiiutiuii posted in Salciu during tlic Kevululiuii calliiio lur vuluuteers aboard Paul Jones' Ranger
The Privateersmen of '76
"x\ny Gentlemen Volunteers who have a Mind to take an agreable Voyage in this pleasant Season of the Year may, by entering on board the above Ship Ranger meet with every Civihty they can possibly expect, and for a further Encourage- ment depend on the first Opportunity being embraced to reward each one Agreable to his Merit. All reasonable Travelling Expences will be allowed, and the Advance Money be paid on their Appearance on Board.
"In Congress, March 29, 1777. " Resolved,
"That the Marine Committee be authorized to advance to every able Seaman that enters into the Continental Service, any Sum not exceeding Forty Dollars, and to every ordinary Seaman or Landsman any Sum not exceeding Twenty Dol- lars, to be deducted from their future Prize Money.
"By Order of Congress,
"John Hancock, President."
It was of this cruise that Yankee seamen the world over were singing in later years the song of "Paul Jones and the Ranger," which describes her escape from a British battleship and four consorts :
" 'Tis of the gallant Yankee ship
That flew the Stripes and Stars,
And the whistling wind from the west nor west
Blew through her pitch pine spars.
With her starboard tacks aboard, my boys.
She hung upon the gale.
On an autumn night we raised the light
On the old Head of Kinsale.
'Up spake our noble captain then, As a shot ahead of us past; 'Haul snug your flowing courses. Lay your topsail to the mast.'
71
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
Those Englishmen gave three loud hurrahs From the deck of their covered ark, And we answered back by a solid broadside From the decks of our patriot bark.
'Out booms, out booms,' our skipper cried,
'Out booms and give her sheet,'
And the swiftest keel that ever was launched
Shot ahead of the British fleet.
And amidst a thundering shower of shot.
With stern sails hoisted away,
Down the North Channel Paul Jones did steer
Just at the break of day."
The privateersmen were as ready to fight, if needs be, as were these seamen that chose to sail with Paul Jones in the Continental service. All British merchantmen carried guns and heavy crews to man them, and while many of them thought it wisdom to strike their colors to a heavily armed privateer without a show of resistance, the "packet ships" and Indiamen were capable of desperate actions. The American privateers ran the gauntlet also of the king's ships which swarmed in our waters, and they met and engaged both these and British priva- teers as formidable as themselves. The notable sea fights of this kind are sometimes best told in the words of the men who fought them. Captain David Ropes, of an old Salem seafaring family, was killed in a privateer action which was described in the following letter written by his lieutenant, later Captain William Gray. Their vessel was the private armed ship Jack of Salem, carrying twelve guns and sixty men.
"Salem, June 12, 1782.
"On the 28th of May, cruising near Halifax, saw a brig
standing in for the land; at 7 P.M. discovered her to have a
copper bottom, sixteen guns and full of men; at half-past nine
o'clock she came alongside when a close action commenced.
72
The Privateersmen of '76
"It was our misfortune to have our worthy commander, Captain Ropes, mortally wounded at the first broadside. I was slightly wounded at the same time in my right hand and head, but not so as to disable me from duty. The action was maintained on both sides close, severe, and without intermission for upwards of two hours, in which time we had seven killed, several wounded and several abandoned their quarters. Our rigging was so destroyed that not having command of our yards, the Jack fell with her larboard bow foul of the brig's starboard quarter, when the enemy made an attempt to board us, but they were repulsed by a very small number compared with them. We were engaged in this position about a quarter of an hour, in which time I received a wound by a bayonet fixed on a musket which was hove with such force, as entering my thigh close to the bone, entered the carriage of a bow gun where I was fastened, and it was out of my power to get clear until assisted by one of the prize masters.
"We then fell round and came without broadsides to each other, when we resumed the action with powder and balls; but our match rope, excepting some which was unfit for use, being all expended, and being to leeward, we bore away making a running fight. The brig being far superior to us in number of men, was able to get soon repaired, and completely ready to renew the action. She had constantly kept up a chasing fire, for we had not been out of reach of her musketry. She was close alongside of us again, with fifty picked men for boarding.
"I therefore called Mr. Glover and the rest together and found we had but ten men on deck. I had been repeatedly desired to strike, but I mentioned the suffering of the prison ship, and made use of every other argument in my power for continuing the engagement. All the foreigners, however, deserted their quarters at every opportunity. At 2 o'clock P.M. I had the inexpressible mortification to deliver up the vessel.
73
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
" I was told, on enquiry, that we were taken by the Observer, a sloop of war belonging to the navy, commanded by Captain Grymes. She was formerly the Amsterdam, and owned in Boston; that she was calculated for sixteen guns, but then had but twelve on board; that the Blonde frigate, being cast away on Seal Island, the captain, officers, and men had been taken off by Captain Adams, in a sloop belonging to Salem, and Captain Stoddart in a schooner belonging to Boston, and by them landed on the main. Most of the officers and men having reached Halifax were by the Governor sent on board the brig in order to come out and convoy in the captain of a frigate who was, with some of his men, coming to Halifax in a shallop, and that the afternoon before the action, he and some others were taken on board the brig, which increased his number to one hundred and seventy-five men.
"Captain Ropes died at 4 o'clock P.M. on the day we were taken, after making his will with the greatest calmness and composure."
The Nova Scotia Gazette of June 4, 1782, contained this letter as a sequel of an incident mentioned by Lieutenant Gray in the foregoing account of the action :
"To the Printer, Sir: In justice to humanity, I and all my officers and Ship's company of His Majesty's late Ship Blonde by the commanders of the American Private Ships of War, the Lively and the Scammel (Captains Adams and Stoddart), have the pleasure to inform the Public that they not only readily received us on board their Vessels and carried us to Cape Race, but cheerfully Supplied us with Provisions till we landed at Yarmouth, when on my releasing all my Prisoners, sixty-four in number, and giving them a Passport to secure them from our Cruisers in Boston Bay, they generously gave me the Same
74
The Privateersmen of '76
to prevent our being made Prisoners or plundered by any of their Privateers we might chance to meet on our Passage to HaHfax.
"For the relief and comfort they so kindly affoarded us in our common Sufferings and Distress, we must arduantly hope that if any of their Privateers should happen to fall into the hands of our Ships of War, that they will treat them with the utmost lenity, and give them every endulgance in their Power and not look upon them (Promiscuously) in the Light of Ameri- can Prisoners, Captain Adams especially, to whom I am in- debted more particularly obliged, as will be seen by his letters herewith published. My warmest thanks are also due to Cap- tain Tuck of the Blonde'' s Prize Ship Lion (Letter of Marque of Beverly) and to all his officers and men for their generous and indefatigable endeavors to keep the Ship from Sinking (night and day at the Pumps) till all but one got off her and by the blessing of God saved our Lives.
" You will please to publish this in your next Paper, . . . which will oblige your humble Servant,
"Edward Thornbrough, "Commander of H. M. late Ship Blonde.*^
A very human side of warfare is shown in this correspondence, coupled with the brutal inconsistency of war, for after their rescue the officers and men of the Blonde, who felt such sincere friendship and gratitude toward the crews of two Yankee privateers, had helped to spread death and destruction aboard the luckless Jack.
The log books of the Revolutionary privateersmen out of Salem are so many fragments of history, as it was written day by day, and flavored with the strong and vivid personalities of the men who sailed and fought and sweated and swore without thought of romance in their adventurous calling. There is the
75
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
log of the privateer schooner Scorpion, for example, during a cruise made in 1778. Her master has so far sailed a bootless voyage when he penned this quaint entry:
" This Book was Maid in the Lattd. of 24 : 30 North and in the Longtd. of 54 : 00 West at the Saim time having Contryary Winds for Several Days which Makes me fret a 'most Wicked. Daly I praye there Maye be Change such as I Want. This Book I Maid to Keep the Accounts of my Voyage but God Knoes beste When that Will be, for I am at this Time very Empasente* but I hope there soon be a Change to Ease my trobled Mind. Which is my Earneste Desire and of my people. ************* (illegible) is this day taken with the palsy, but I hope will soon gete beter. On this Day I was Chaced by two Ships of War which I tuck to be Enemies, but comeing in thick Weather I have Lost Site of them and so conclude myself Escapt which is a small Good Fortune in the Midste of my Discourage- mentes."
A note of Homeric mirth echoes from the past of a hundred and forty years ago in the " Journal of a Cruising Voyage in the Letter of Marque Schooner Success, commanded by Captain Philip Thrash, Commencing 4th Oct. 1778." Captain Thrash, a lusty and formidable name by the way, filled one page after another of his log with rather humdrum routine entries; how he took in and made sail and gave chase and drilled his crew at the guns, etc. At length the reader comes to the following remarks. They stand without other comment or explanation, and leave one with a desire to know more:
"At 1-2 past 8 discovered a Sail ahead, tacked ship. At 9 tacked ship and past just to Leeward of the sail which appeared to be a damn'd Comical Boat, by G — d."
What was it about this strange sail overhauled in midocean
* (impatient) 76
L
"frrllnyni mmz'^''^ '
I I
Tlie Privateersmen of '76
by Captain Philip Thrash that should have so stirred his rude sense of humor? Why did she strike him as so "damn'd Comical"? They met and went their way and the "Comical" craft dropped hull down and vanished in a waste of blue water and so passed forever from our ken. But I for one would give much to know why she aroused a burst of gusty laughter along the low rail of the letter-of-marque schooner Success.
77
CHAPTER V
JONATHAN HARADEN, PRIVATEERSMAN
(1776-1782)
THE United States navy, with its wealth of splendid tradition, has few more commanding figures than Captain Jonathan Haraden, the foremost fighting privateersman of Salem during the Revolution, and one of the ablest men that fought in that w^ar, afloat or ashore. His deeds are well-nigh forgotten by his countrymen, yet he captured one thousand cannon in British ships and counted his prizes by the score.
Jonathan Haraden was born in Gloucester, but as a boy was employed by George Cabot of Salem and made his home there for the remainder of his life. He followed the sea from his early youth, and had risen to a command in the merchant service when the Revolution began. The Massachusetts Colony placed two small vessels in commission as State vessels of war, and aboard one of these, the Tyrannicide, Jonathan Haraden was appointed lieutenant. On her first cruise, very early in the war, she fought a king's cutter from Halifax for New York. The British craft carried a much heavier crew than the Tyrannicide, but the Yankee seamen took her after a brisk engagement in which their gunnery was notably destructive.
Soon after this, Haraden was promoted to the command of this audacious sloop of the formidable name, but he desired greater freedom of action, A Salem merchant ship, the General Pickering, of 180 tons, was fitting out as a letter of marque, and
78
Jonathan Haraden, Privateer sman
Haraden was offered the command. With a cargo of sugar, fourteen six-pounders and forty-five men and boys he sailed for Bilboa in the spring of 1780. This port of Spain was a popular rendezvous for American privateers, where they were close to the British trade routes. During the voyage across, before his crew had been hammered into shape, Haraden was attacked by a British cutter of twenty guns, but managed to beat her off and proceeded on his way after a two hours' running fight.
He was a man of superb coolness and audacity and he showed these qualities to advantage while tacking into the Bay of Biscay. At nightfall he sighted a British privateer, the Golden Eagle, considerably larger than the Pickering, and carrying at least eight more guns. Instead of crowding on sail and shifting his course to avoid her, he set after her in the darkness and steered alongside. Before the enemy could decide whether to fight or run away Haraden was roaring through his speaking trumpet :
"What ship is this? An American frigate, Sir. Strike, or I'll sink you with a broadside."
The British privateer skipper was bewildered by this startling summons and surrendered without firing a shot. A prize- master was put on board and at daylight both vessels laid their course for Bilboa. As they drew near the harbor, a sail was sighted making out from the land. All strange sails were under suspicion in that era of sea life, and Captain Haraden made ready to clear his ship for action even before the English cap- tain, taken out of the prize, cheerfully carried him word that he knew the stranger to be the Achilles, a powerful and success- ful privateer hailing from London, carrying more than forty guns and at least a hundred and fifty men. The description might have been that of a formidable sloop of war rather than a privateer, and the British skipper was at no pains to hide his satisfaction at the plight of the Yankee with her fourteen six- pounders and her handful of men.
79
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
At the sight of an enemy thrice his fighting strength, Captain Haraden told the EngUsh captain:
"Be that as it may, and you seem sure of your information, I shan't run away from her."
The wind so held that the Achilles first bore down upon the prize of the Pickering and was able to recapture and put a prize crew aboard before Captain Haraden could fetch with gunshot. With a British lieutenant from the Achilles in com- mand, the prize was ordered to follow her captor. It was evident to the waiting Americans aboard the Pickering that the Achilles intended forcing an engagement, but night was falling and the English privateer bore off as if purposing to convoy her prize beyond harm's way and postpone pursuit until morning.
The hostile ships had been sighted from Bilboa harbor where the Achilles was well known, and the word swiftly passed through the city that the bold American was holding pluckily to her landfall as if preparing for an attempt to recapture her prize. The wind had died during the late afternoon and by sunset thousands of Spaniards and seamen from the vessels in the harbor had swarmed to crowd the headlands and the water's edge where they could see the towering Achilles and her smaller foe "like ships upon a painted ocean." An eye witness, Robert Cowan, said that "the General Pickering in comparison to her antagonist looked like a long boat by the side of a ship."
Because of lack of wind and the maneuvers of the Achilles, Captain Haraden thought there was no danger of an attack during the night, and he turned in to sleep without more ado, after ordering the officer of the watch to have him called if the Achilles drew nearer. His serene composure had its bracing effect upon the spirits of the men. At dawn the captain was awakened from a sound slumber by the news that the Achilles was bearing down upon them with her crew at quarters. " He
80
Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman
calmly rose, went on deck as if it had been some ordinary occa- sion," and ordered his ship made ready for action.
We know that he was a man of commanding appearance and an unruffled demeanor; the kind of fighting sailor who liked to have things done handsomely and with due regard for the effect of such matters upon his seamen.
Several of his crew had been transferred to the prize, and were now prisoners to the Achilles. The forty-five defenders being reduced to thirty-odd, Captain Haraden, in an eloquent and persuasive address to the sixty prisoners he had captured in the Golden Eagle, offered large rewards to volunteers who would enlist with the crew of the Pickering. A boatswain and ten men, whose ties of loyalty to the British flag must have been tenuous in the extreme, stepped forward and were assigned to stations with the American crew. Her strength was thus increased to forty-seven men and boys. The captain then made a final tour of the decks, assuring his men that although the Achilles appeared to be superior in force, " he had no doubt they would beat her if they were firm and steady, and did not throw away their fire." One of his orders to the men with small arms was : " Take particular aim at their white boot tops. "
The kind of sea fighting that won imperishable prestige for American seamen belongs with a vanished era of history. As the gun crews of the General Pickering clustered behind their open ports, they saw to it that water tubs were in place, matches lighted, the crowbars, handspikes and "spung staves" and "rope spunges" placed in order by the guns. Then as they made ready to deliver the first broadside, the orders ran down the crowded low-beamed deck:
"Cast, off the tackles and breechings."
"Seize the breechings."
"Unstop the touch-hole."
"Ram home wad and cartridge."
81
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
"Shot the gun-wad."
"Run out the gun."
"Lay down handspikes and crows."
"Point your gun."
"Fire."
The Yankee crew could hear the huzzas of the EngHsh gunners as the Achilles sought to gain the advantage of position. Cap- tain Haraden had so placed his ship between the land and a line of shoals, that in closing with him the Achilles must receive a raking broadside fire. He knew that if it came to boarding, his little band must be overwhelmed by weight of numbers and he showed superb seamanship in choosing and maintaining a long range engagement.
The Pickering was still deep laden with sugar, and this, together with her small size, made her a difficult target to hull, while the Achilles towered above water like a small frigate. The Americans fired low, while the English broadsides flew high across the decks of the Pickering. This rain of fire killed the British volunteer boatswain aboard the Pickering and wounded eight of the crew early in the fight. Captain Haraden was exposed to these showers of case and round shot, but one of his crew reported that "all the time he was as calm and steady as amid a shower of snowflakes."
Meanwhile a multitude of spectators, estimated to number at least a hundred thousand, had assembled on shore. The city of Bilboa had turned out en masse to enjoy the rare spectacle of a dashing sea duel fought in the blue amphitheater of the harbor mouth. They crowded into fishing boats, pinnaces, cutters and row boats until from within a short distance of the smoke-shrouded Pickering the gay flotilla stretched to the shore so closely packed that an onlooker described it as a solid bridge of boats, across which a man might have made his way by leaping from one gunwale to another.
82
Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman
Captain Haraden was on the defensive. The stake for which he fought was to gain entrance to the port of Bilboa with his cargo and retake his prize, nor did he need to capture the Achilles to win a most signal victory. For two hours the two privateers were at it hammer and tongs, the British ship unable to outmaneuver the Yankee and the latter holding her vantage ground. At length the commander of the Achilles was forced to decide that he must either run away or be sunk where he was. He had been hulled through and through and his rigging was so cut up that it was with steadily increasing difficulty that he was able to avoid a raking from every broadside of his indomi- table foe. It is related that he decided to run immediately after a flight of crowbars, with which the guns of the Pickering had been crammed to the muzzles, made hash of his decks and drove his gunners from their stations.
Captain Haraden made sail in chase. He offered his gunners a cash reward if they should be able to carry away a spar and disable the Achilles so that he might draw up alongside the enemy and renew the engagement. His fighting blood was at boiling heat and he no longer thought of making for Bilboa and thanking his lucky stars that he had gotten clear of so ugly a foe. But the Achilles was light, while her mainsail "was large as a ship of the line," and after a chase of three hours, the General Pickering had been distanced. Captain Haraden sorrowfully put about for Bilboa, and took some small satisfaction in his disappointment by overhauling and retaking the Golden Eagle, the prize which had been the original bone of contention.
The prize had been in sight of the action, during which the captured American prizemaster, master John Carnes, enjoyed an interesting conversation with the British prizemaster from the Achilles who had been placed in charge of the vessel.
Mr. Carnes informed his captor of the fighting strength of
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
the General Pickering. The British prizemaster rubbed his eyes when he saw the httle Yankee vessel engage the Achilles and roundly swore that Carnes had lied to him. The latter stuck to his guns, however, and added by way of confirmation :
"If you knew Captain Jonathan Haraden as well as I do, you would not be surprised at this. It is just what I expected, and I think it not impossible, notwithstanding the disparity of force, that the Achilles will at least be beaten off, and I shall have the command of this prize again before night."
The Spanish populace welcomed Captain Haraden ashore as if he had been the hero of a bull fight. He was carried through the streets at the head of a triumphant procession and later compelled to face veritable broadsides of dinners and public receptions. His battle with the Achilles had been rarely spec- tacular and theatrical, and at sight of one of his elaborately embroidered waistcoats to-day, displayed in the Essex Institute, one fancies that he may have had the fondness for doing fine things in a fine way which made Nelson pin his medals on his coat before he went into action at Trafalgar.
In a narrative compiled from the stories of those who knew and sailed with this fine figure of a privateersman we are told that "in his person he was tall and comely; his countenance was placid, and his manners and deportment mild. His discipline on board ship was excellent, especially in time of action. Yet in the common concerns of life he was easy almost to a fault. So great was the confidence he inspired that if he but looked at a sail through his glass, and then told the helms- man to steer for her, the observation went round, ' If she is an enemy, she is ours.' His great characteristic was the most consummate self-possession on all occasions and in midst of perils, in which if any man equalled, none ever excelled him. His ofiicers and men insisted he was more calm and cool amid the din of battle than at any other time; and the more deadly
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the strife, the more imminent the peril, the more terrific the scene, the more perfect his self-command and serene intrepidity. In a word he was a hero."
Large and resonant words of tribute these, written in the long ago, and yet they are no fulsome eulogy of Jonathan Haraden of Salem.
During another voyage from Salem to France as a letter of marque, the Pickering discovered, one morning at daylight, a great English ship of the line looming within cannon shot. The enemy bore down in chase, but did not open fire, expecting to capture the Yankee cockleshell without having to injure her. He was fast overhauling the quarry, and Captain Haraden manned his sweeps. The wind was light and although one ball fired from a bowchaser sheared off three of his sweeps, or heavy oars, he succeeded in rowing away from his pursuer and made his escape. It was not a fight, but the incident goes to show how small by modern standards was the ship in which Jonathan Haraden made his dauntless way, when he could succeed in rowing her out of danger of certain capture.
In his early voyages in the Pickering she was commissioned as a letter of marque, carrying cargoes across the Atlantic, and fetching home provisions and munitions needed in the Colonies, but ready to fight "at the drop of the hat." She was later equipped with a slightly heavier armament and commissioned as a full-fledged privateer. With his sixteen guns Captain Haraden fought and took in one action no less than three British ships carrying a total number of forty-two guns. He made the briefest possible mention in his log of a victory which in its way was as remarkable as the triumph of the Constitution over the Cyane and the Levant in the second war with England.
It was while cruising as a privateer that the Pickering came in sight of three armed vessels sailing in company from Halifax to New York. This little squadron comprised a brig of four-
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The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
teen guns, a ship of sixteen guns and a sloop of twelve guns. They presented a formidable array of force, the ship alone appearing to be a match for the Pickering in guns and men as they exchanged signals with each other, formed a line and made ready for action. "Great as was the confidence of the officers and crew in the bravery and judgment of Captain Hara- den, they evinced, by their looks, that they thought on this occasion he was going to hazard too much; upon which he told them he had no doubt whatever that if they would do their duty, he would quickly capture the three vessels, and this he did with great ease by going alongside of each of them, one after another."
This unique feat in the history of privateering actions was largely due to Captain Haraden's seamanship in that he was able so to handle the Pickering that he fought three successive single ship actions instead of permitting the enemy to concen- trate or combine their attack.
Somewhat similar to these tactics was the manner in which he took two privateer sloops while he was cruising off Bermuda. They were uncommonly fast and agile vessels and they annoyed the Yankee skipper by retaking several of his prizes before he could send them free of this molestation. The sloops had no mind to risk an action with Haraden whose vessel they had recognized. So after nightfall he sent down his fore topgallant yard and mast, otherwise disguised the Pickering, and vanished from that part of the seas. A day later he put about and jogged back after the two privateers, putting out drags astern to check his speed. The Pickering appeared to be a plodding merchant- man lumbering along a West India course.
As soon as he was sighted by his pestiferous and deluded foes, they set out in chase of him as easy booty. Letting the first sloop come with easy range, Jonathan Haraden stripped the Pickering of the painted canvas screens that had covered
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Jonathan Ilaraden, Privateersman
her gun ports, let go a murderous broadside and captured the sloop almost as soon as it takes to tell it. Then showing English colors above the Stars and Stripes aboard the Pickering, as if she had been captured, he went after the consort and look her as neatly as he had gathered the other.
Captain Haraden knew how to play the gentleman in this bloody game of war on the ocean. An attractive light is thrown upon his character by an incident which happened during a cruise in the Pickering. He fell in with a humble Yankee trading schooner which had been to the West Indies with lumber and was jogging home with the beggarly proceeds of the voyage. Her skipper signaled Captain Haraden, put out a boat and went aboard the privateer to tell a tale of woe. A little while before he had been overhauled by a British letter of marque schooner which had robbed him of his quadrant, compass and provisions, stripped his craft of much of her rig- gings, and with a curse and a kick from her captain, left him to drift and starve.
Captain Haraden was very indignant at such wanton and impolite conduct and at once sent his men aboard the schooner to re-rig her, provisioned her cabin and forecastle, loaned the skipper instruments with which to work his passage home and sent him on his way rejoicing. Then having inquired the course of the plundering letter of marque when last seen, he made sail to look for her. He was lucky enough to fall in and capture the offender next day. Captain Haraden dressed him- self in his best and, to add dignity to the occasion, summoned the erring British skipper to his cabin and there roundly rebuked and denounced him for his piratical conduct toward a worthless little lumber schooner. He gave his own crew permission to make reprisals, which probably means that they helped them- selves to whatever pleased their fancy and kicked and cuffed the offending seamen the length of their deck. Captain Hara-
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den then allowed the letter of marque to resume her voyage. " He would not, even under these circumstances, sink or destroy a ship worthless as a prize and thus ruin a brother sailor."
Off the Capes of the Delaware, Captain Haraden once cap- tured an English brig of war, although the odds were against him, by "the mere terror of his name." He afterward told friends ashore how this extraordinary affair occurred. There was a boy on the Pickering, one of the captain's most ardent adorers, a young hero worshiper, who believed the Pickering capable of taking anything short of a line-of-battle ship. He had been put aboard a prize off the Capes, which prize had been captured, while making port, by the British brig-of-war. The lad was transferred to the brig with his comrades of the prize crew, and was delighted a little later to see the Pickering standing toward them. Being asked why he sang and danced with joy, the boy explained with the most implicit assurance:
"That is my master in that ship, and I shall soon be with him."
"Your master," cried, the British bos'n, "and who in the devil is he.''"
" Why, Captain Haraden. You can't tell me you never heard of him? He takes everything he goes alongside of, and he will soon have you."
This unseemly jubilation on an enemy's deck was reported to the captain of the brig. He summoned the boy aft, and was told the same story with even more emphasis. Presently the Pickering ran close down, and approached the brig to leeward. There was a strong wind and the listed deck of the brig lay exposed to the fire of the privateer. Captain Haraden shouted through his trumpet:
"Haul down your colors, or I will fire into you."
The captain of the brig-of-war had wasted precious moments, and his vessel was so situated at that moment that her guns could
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Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman
not be worked to leeward because of the seas that swept along her ports. After a futile fire from deck swivels and small arms, she surrendered and next day was anchored off Philadelphia.
One or two more stories and we must needs have done with the exploits of Jonathan Haraden. One of them admirably illustrates the sublime assurance of the man and in an extreme degree that dramatic quality which adorned his deeds. During one of his last voyages in the Pickering he attacked a heavily armed "king's mail packet," bound to England from the West Indies. These packets were of the largest type of merchant vessels of that day, usually carrying from fifteen to twenty guns, and complements of from sixty to eighty men. Such a ship was expected to fight hard and was more than a match for most privateers.
The king's packet was a foe to test Captain Haraden 's mettle and he found her a tough antagonist. They fought four full hours, "or four glasses," as the log records it, after which Captain Haraden found that he must haul out of the action and repair damages to rigging and hull. He discovered also, that he had used all the powder on board except one charge. It would have been a creditable conclusion of the matter if he had called the action a drawn battle and gone on his way.
It was in his mind, however, to try an immensely audacious plan which could succeed only by means of the most cold- blooded courage on his part. Ramming home his last charge of powder and double shotting the gun, he again ranged along- side his plucky enemy, who was terribly cut up, but still uncon- quered, and hailed her:
"I will give you five minutes to haul down your colors. If they are not down at the end of that time, I will fire into and sink you, so help me God."
It was a test of mind, not of armament. The British com- mander was a brave man who had fought his ship like a hero.
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But the sight of this infernally indomitable figure on the quarter- deck of the shot-rent Pickering, the thought of being exposed to another broadside at pistol range, the aspect of the blood- stained, half -naked privateersmen grouped at their guns with matches lighted, was too much for him. Captain Haraden stood, watch in hand, calling off the minutes so that his voice could be heard aboard the packet :
"One—"
"Two—"
"Three."
But he had not said " Four," when the British colors fluttered down from the yard and the packet ship was his.
Wlien a boat from the Pickering went alongside the prize, the crew " found the blood running from her scuppers, while the deck appeared more like the floor of a slaughter house than the deck of a ship. On the quarterdeck, in an armchair, sat an old gentleman, the Governor of the island from which the packet came. During the whole action he had loaded and fired a heavy blunderbuss, and in the course of the battle had received a ball in his cheek, which, in consequence of the loss of teeth, had passed out through the other cheek without giving a mortal wound."
A truly splendid "old gentleman" and a hero of the first water !
In the latter part of the war Captain Haraden commanded the Julius Cwsar, and a letter written by an American in Mar- tinique in 1782 to a friend in Salem is evidence that his activities had not diminished:
" Captain Jonathan Haraden, in the letter of marque ship, Julius Coesar, forty men and fourteen guns, off Bermuda, in sight of two English brigs, one of twenty and the other of sixteen guns, took a schooner which was a prize to one of them, but they both declined to attack him. On the 5th ult., he fell in with two British vessels, being a ship of eighteen guns and a brig of six-
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Jonathan Haraderi, Privateersman
teen, both of which he fought five hours and got clear of them. The enemy's ship was much shattered and so was the Ccesar, but the latter s men were unharmed. Captain Haraden was subsequently presented with a silver plate by the owners of his ship, as commemorative of his bravery and skill. Before he reached Martinico he had a severe battle with another English vessel which he carried thither with him as a prize."
Captain Haraden, the man who took a thousand cannon from the British on the high seas, died in Salem in 1803 in his fifty- ninth year. His descendants treasure the massive pieces of plate given him by the owners of the Pickering and the Julius Ccesar, as memorials of one who achieved far more to win the independence of his nation than many a landsman whose military records won him the recognition of his government and a conspicuous place in history.
While the important ports of Boston, New York, and others to the southward were blockaded by squadrons of British war vessels, the Salem privateers managed to slip to sea and spread destruction. It happened on a day of March, in 1781, that two bold English privateers were cruising off Cape Cod, menacing the coastwise trading sloops and schooners bound in and out of Salem and nearby ports. The news was carried ashore by incoming vessels which had been compelled to run for it, and through the streets and along the wharves of Salem went the call for volunteers. The ships Brutus and Neptune were lying in the stream and with astonishing expedition they were armed and made ready for sea as privateers.
One of the enemy's vessels was taken and brought into Salem only two days after the alarm had been given. Tradition relates that while the two Salem privateers were sailing home in com- pany with their prize, the Brutus was hailed by an English sloop which had been loitering the coast on mischief bent. Tlie Yankee skippers seeking to get their prize into port without
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The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
risk of losing her in battle, had hoisted English colors. Dusk had deepened into darkness when from the quarterdeck of the British sloop sounded the husky challenge:
" Ship ahoy. What ship is that?"
"The English armed ship Terror," answered the Salem cap- tain.
"Where are you bound?"
"Just inside the Cape for safety."
"Safety from what?" asked the guileless Englishman.
"A whole fleet of damned Yankee privateers."
"Where are they?"
"They bear from the pitch of the Cape, about sou 'east by East, four leagues distant."
"Aye, aye, we'll look out for them and steer clear," returned John Bull, and thereupon with a free wind he stood out to sea leaving the Brutus to lay her course without more trouble.
Not all the Salem privateers were successful. In fairness to the foe it should be recorded that one in three, or fifty-four in a total of one hundred and fifty-eight privateers and letter of marque ships were lost by capture during the war. Many of these, however, were scarcely more than decked rowboats armed with one gun and a few muskets. But of the four hun- dred and forty-five prizes taken by Salem ships, nine-tenths of them reached American ports in safety.
There was a lad who had been captured in a Salem privateer, and forced to enlist in the English navy. He was not of that heroic mold which preferred death to surrender and the hard- ships of prison life appear to have frightened him into changing his colors. He wrote home to Salem in 1781 :
"Honoured Father and Mother:
" I send you these few lines to let you know that I am in good health on board the Hyeane Frigate which I was taken by and
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Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman
I hope I shall be at home in a few months' time. When I was taken by the Hyeane I was carried to England, where I left the ship and went on board a brig going to New York. There I was prest out of her into the Phoenix, forty-eight gun ship. I remained in her four months and was then taken on board the Hyeane again, where I am still kept. We are lying in Carlisle Bay in Barbadoes. W^e are now going on an expedition, but will soon be back again when the captain says he will let me come home."
Alas, the boy who had weakened when it came to the test of his loyalty was not so well pleased with his choice when peace came. In August, 1783, we find him writing to his mother:
"I cannot think of returning home till the people of New England are more reconciled, for I hear they are so inveterate against all who have ever been in the English navy that I can't tell but their rage may extend to hang me as they do others."
Another letter of that time, while it does not deal wholly with privateering, views the war from the interesting standpoint of a Loyalist or Tory of Salem who was writing to friends of like sympathies who had also taken refuge in England. It is to be inferred from his somewhat caustic comments about certain nouveaux riche families of the town that the fortunes of privateer- ing had suddenly prospered some, while it had beggared the estate of others.
"Bristol, England, February 10, 1780. "Perhaps it may amuse you to be made acquainted with a few particulars of our own country and town, that may not have come to your knowledge. . . . It is a melancholy truth that while some are wallowing in undeserved wealth that plunder and Rapine has thrown into their hands, the wisest and most peacable, and most deserving, such as you and I know, are now suffering for want, accompanied by many indignities that a
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licencious and lawless people can pour forth upon them. Those who a few years ago were the meaner people are now by a Strange Revolution become almost the only men in Power, riches and influences ; those who on the contrary were leaders in the highest line of life are very glad at this time to be unknown and unno- ticed, to escape insult and plunder and the wretched condition of all who are not Violent Adopters of Republican Principles. The Cabots of Beverly, who you know had but five years ago a very moderate share of property are now said to be by far the most wealthy in New England. . . . Nathan Goodale by an agency concern in Privateers and buying up Shares, counts almost as many pounds as most of his neighbors."
What may be called the day's work of the Revolutionary privateers is compactly outlined in the following series of reports from Salem annals. In an unfinished manuscript deal- ing with privateering the late James Kimball of Salem made this note:
" June 26, 1857. This day saw John W. Osgood, son of John Osgood, who stated that during the war of the Revolution his father was first Lieutenant of the Brig Fame commanded by Samuel Hobbs of Salem, from whence they sailed. When three days out they fell in with a British man-of-war which gave chase to the Privateer which outsailed the man-of-war, who, finding that she was getting away from him, fired a round shot which came on board and killed Captain Hobbs, which was the only injury sustained during the chase.
" Upon the death of Captain Hobbs the crew mutinied, saying the captain was dead, and the cruise was up, refused further duty and insisted upon returning to Salem. Lieutenant Osgood now becoming the captain, persisted in continuing the Cruise, yet with so small a number as remained on his side, found great difiiculty in working the Ship. The mutineers stood in fear,
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Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman
but part of the officers stood by Captain Osgood. No one feeling willing to appear at their head, they one day Sent him a Round Robin requiring the return of the Privateer. Captain Osgood still persisted in continuing the cruise.
"When an English Vessell hove in sight he told them that there was a Prize, that they had only to take her and he would soon find others. One of the Crew, to the leader to whom they all looked, replied that he would return to his duty. All the rest followed him, sail was made and they soon came up with the Prize. She proved to be a man-of-war in disguise, with drags out. As soon as this was discovered the Privateer at- tempted to escape, but she could not and was captured and carried to Halifax."
Selecting other typical incidents almost at random as they were condensed in newspaper records, these seem to be worthy of notice:
"June 31, 1778. Much interest is made here for the release of Resolved Smith from his captivity. On his way from the West Indies to North Carolina he was taken, and confined on board the prison ship Judith at New York. Describing his situation, he said that he and other sufferers were shut in indiscriminately with the sick, dead and dying. 'I am now closing the eyes of the last two out of five healthy men that came about three weeks ago with me on board this ship.
"July, 1779. The Brig Wild Cat, Captain Daniel Ropes, seventy-five men, fourteen guns, is reported as having taken a schooner belonging to the British navy. The next day, how- ever, he was captured by a frigate and for his activity against the enemy was confined in irons at Halifax. On hearing of his severe treatment, our General Court ordered that an English officer of equal rank be put in close confinement until Captain Ropes is liberated and exchanged."
"Feb. 13, 1781. Ship Pilgrim, Captain Robinson, reported
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The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
that on Christmas Day he had a battle with a Spanish Frigate and forced her to retire, and on January 5th engaged a privateer of thirty-three men, twenty-two guns, for three hours and took her. He had nine men killed and two wounded while his opponent had her captain and four more killed and thirteen wounded."
"March 13, 1781. It is reported that the Brig Montgomery, Captain John Carnes, had engaged a large British cutter, lost his lieutenant and had five wounded. From another account we learn that after a hard fight he succeeded in beating his opponent off."
" It is reported on the 19th of the same month that the ship Franklin, Captain John Turner, had taken a ship after a fight of forty minutes, having had one killed and one wounded. The prize had two killed and eight wounded."
"August 26, 1781. The ship Marquis de Lafayette, seventy- five men and sixteen guns, reported as having attacked a brig of thirty-two guns, upwards of two hours, but was obliged to draw off, much damaged, with eight killed and fourteen wounded and leaving the enemy with seventeen killed besides others wounded."
Privateering was destined to have a powerful influence upon the seafaring fortunes of Salem. Elias Hasket Derby, for example, the first great American shipping merchant and the wealthiest man in the Colonies, found his trading activities ruined by the Revolution. He swung his masterly energy and large resources into equipping privateers. It was his standing offer that after as many shares as possible had been subscribed for in financing any Salem privateer, he would take up the remainder, if more funds were needed. It is claimed that Mr» Derby was interested in sending to sea more than one-half of the one hundred and fifty-eight privateers which hailed from Salem during the Revolution. After the first two years of war
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Jonathan Haraden, Privateersman
he discerned the importance of speed, and that many of the small privateers of his town had been lost or captured because they were unfit for their business. He established his own shipyards, studied naval architecture, and began to build a class of vessels vastly superior in size, model and speed to any pre- viously launched in the Colonies. They were designed to be able to meet a British sloop of war on even terms.
These ships took a large number of prizes, but Elias Hasket Derby gradually converted them from privateers to letters of marque, so that they could carry cargoes to distant ports and at the same time defend themselves against the largest class of British privateers. At the beginning of the war he owned seven sloops and schooners. When peace came he had four ships of from three hundred to three hundred and fifty tons, which were very imposing merchant vessels for that time- It was with these ships, created by the needs of war, that the commerce of Salem began to reach out for ports on the other side of the world. They were the vanguard of the great fleet which through the two generations to follow were to carry the Stars and Stripes around the Seven Seas. Ready to man them was the bold company of privateersmen, schooled in a life of the most hazardous adventure, braced to face all risks in the peaceful war for trade where none of their countrymen had ever dared to seek trade before. While they had been dealing shrewd blows for their country's cause in war, they had been also in preparation for the dawning age of Salem supremacy on the seas in the rivalries of commerce, pioneers in a brilliant and romantic era which was destined to win unique fame for their port.
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CHAPTER VI
CAPTAIN LUTHER LITTLE 's OWN STORY
(1771-1799)
CAPTAIN LUTHER LITTLE made no great figure in the history of his times, but he left in his own words the story of his Hfe at sea which ancient manuscript con- tributes a full length portrait of the kind of men who lived in the coastwise towns of New England in the eighteenth century. He was not of Salem birth, but he commanded a letter of marque ship out of Salem during the Revolution, which makes it fitting that the manuscript of his narrative should have come into the hands of his grandson, Philip Little, of Salem. This old time seaman's memoir, as he dictates it in his old age, reflects and makes alive again the day's work of many a stout-hearted ship's company of forgotten xAinerican heroes.
Born in Marshfield, Massachusetts, in 1756, Luther Little was a sturdy man grown at the beginning of the Revolution and had already spent five years at sea. At the age of fifteen he forsook his father's farm and shipped on board a coasting sloop plying between Maine and the South Carolina ports. On one of these voyages he was taken ill with a fever and was left ashore in a settlement on the Pimlico River, North Carolina. The planter's family who cared for the lad through his long and helpless illness were big-hearted and cheery folk, and his description of a "reaping bee," as enjoyed a hundred and forty years ago, is quaintly diverting.
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Captain Luther Little's Own Storij
"When the evening amusements began our host performed on the vioHn and the young people commenced dancing. I was brought down stairs by one of the daughters and placed on a chair in one corner of the room to witness their sports. They got so merry in the dance that I was unheeded, and they whirled so hard against me as to knock me from my chair. One of the young women caught me in her arms, and carried me to the chamber and laid me on the mat. They held their frolic until midnight and eight or ten of the girls tarried till morning. My mat lay in one corner of the garret, and they were to occupy another on the opposite side. When they came upstairs they commenced performing a jumping match after making prepara- tions for the same by taking off some of their clothes. They performed with much agility, when one of the stranger girls observing me in one comer of the garret exclaimed with much surprise: 'Who is that?' The answer was : 'It's only a young man belonging to the North that is here sick, and won't live three days. Never mind him.' "
His sloop having returned, this sixteen-year-old sailor sur- prised his kind host by gaining sufficient strength to go on board and soon after set sail for Martinique in the West Indies. The Revolutionary Committee of North Carolina had ordered the captain to fetch back a supply of powder and shot. He took aboard this cargo after driving overboard and threatening to blow out the brains of an English lieutenant who had it in mind to make a prize of the sloop while she lay at Martinique.
It was out of the frying pan into the fire, for when the vessel reached the Carolina coast, "the news of our unexpected arrival had been noised abroad," relates Luther Little, "and the King's tender lay within a few miles of the bar in wait for us. Twelve pilot boats from Ocrakoke came off to us and informed us that the tender was coming out to take us. We loaded the pilot boats with powder, and the balls, which were in kegs, we
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hove overboard. By this time the tender made her appearance and ordered us all on board, made a prize of the sloop and ordered her for Norfolk where lay the English fleet. When our pilot and his crew went to take their boat I mingled with them and walked quietly on board without being observed, and set hard at rowing with one of the oars. The captain and the rest of the crew were made prisoners."
The pilot boat landed young Little at Ocrakoke, where he found that the other pilots who had taken the powder ashore had stolen ten casks of it, scurvy patriots that they were. So the stout-hearted lad of sixteen borrowed an old musket and stood guard all night over the powder kegs. " The next morn- ing," he tells us, "the pilots finding they could plunder no more of the powder, agreed to carry it up the Pimlico River to the several County Committees for whom it was destined." Luther Little went with them and saw to it that the powder reached its owners.
One Colonel Simpson offered him a small schooner laden with com to be delivered down the Pongo River. She had a crew of slaves which the boy skipper loftily rejected and took his little schooner single-handed downstream, making port after a two days' voyage. While at anchor there came a hurri- cane which had a most surprising eft'ect on his fortunes. "I shut myself down in the cabin," said he, "and in the course of the night found the vessel adrift. Not daring to go on deck I waited the result and soon felt the vessel strike. After thumping a while she keeled to one side and remained still. At daylight next morning I ventured on deck and found myself safe on terra firma, in the woods, one half mile from the water, the tide having left me safe among the trees."
Making his way on foot to the home of the consignee, he reported his arrival, explained the situation and wrote his employer that he had delivered his cargo safe, and that he
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Captain Luther Little's Own Story
would find his schooner half a mile in the woods anchored safely among the trees.
The marooned seaman had not to wait long for another berth. On the same day of his escape he saw a sloop beating out of the river and hailed her skipper. A foremast hand was wanted and Little shipped aboard for the West Indies. During the passage they were chased by an English frigate, and ran in under the guns of the Dutch fort at St. Eustacia. Cargo and vessel were sold, and Luther Little transferred himself to another sloop bound for Rhode Island.
"Arriving safe after a passage of eleven days," he ^^Tites, " I took my pack and travelled to Little Compton where I had an uncle. Here I stayed one week, and then marched home on foot, the distance of seventy miles, without one cent in my pocket. I had been absent eleven months."
A few months later Luther Little shipped on board a letter of marque brig bound to Cadiz. Off Cape Finnesterre a storm piled the vessel on the rocks where she went to pieces. Little was washed over the bows, but caught a trailing rope and hauled himself aboard with a broken leg. While he was in this plight the brig broke in two, and somehow, with the help of his fellow seamen, he was conveyed ashore to a Spanish coast fortification. Thence they were taken by boat to Bellisle. The infant Uncle Sam was not wholly neglectful of his subjects, even though he was in the death-grip of a Revolution, for to the inn at Bellisle there came " a coach with four white horses and Mr. John Baptiste, an officer in the employ of the United States government, to enquire if there were any from off that wreck who needed assistance and wished to go to the hospital."
Luther Little lay in a hospital at Lisbon from autumn into spring where, he relates: "I was treated with great kindness and attention and although in my midnight dreams the spirits of a kind mother and beloved sisters would often hover around
101
The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem
my pillow, still on waking, the thought that I had escaped an early death was ever present to the mind, and I felt that although far from home and friends, I had every reason to be thankful."
The canny youngster had a shoe with a hollow heel, which hiding place he had prepared before leaving home, and in which he had tucked eight gold dollars with this sagacious reflection :
"Previous to this I had been left among strangers perfectly destitute without money either to assist myself, or to remunerate them for kindness received. I was now leaving home again, the future was covered with a veil which a wise Providence had never permitted human knowledge to rend. I knew not with what this voyage might be fraught — evil or good. I therefore resolved if possible to have something laid up as the old adage expresses, 'for a wet day.'"
When Luther was discharged from the Spanish hospital eleven other luckless American seamen who had been cast on their beam ends were set adrift with him. The shoe with the hollow heel held the only cash in the party who undertook an overland journey of three hundred miles to the nearest seaport whence they might expect to find passage home. While spend- ing the night at a port called St. Ubes there came ashore the captain and lieutenant of an English privateer. These were very courteous foemen, for the captain told how he had been made prisoner by a Yankee crew, carried into Salem, and treated so exceedingly well that he was very grateful. There- upon he ordered his lieutenant to go off to the privateer and fetch a dozen of pickled neats' tongues which he gave the stranded pilgrims to put in their packs. He also turned over to them a Portuguese pilot to escort them through the desolate and hostile country in which their journey lay. With the Portuguese, the neats' tongues, and wine in leather bottles, paid for from the hollow heel, the American tars trudged along,
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Captain Luther Little's Own Story
sleeping on the ground and in shepherds' sheds until they reached the boundary between Spain and Portugal.
"The Spanish and English were at war," relates Luther IJttle, "and the stable in which we slept was surrounded by Spaniards who swore we were English and they would take us prisoners. In vain the landlord of the nearby tavern expostu- lated with them, saying we were Americans in distress traveling to Faro. They still persisted in forcing the door. The pilot told them that we were desperate men armed to the teeth and at length they disappeared."
They were among a set of accomplished thieves, for next day they bought some mackerel and stowed it in their packs from which it was artfully stolen by the very lad who had sold it to them. The pilot cheered them with tales of highway robbery and murder as they fared on, indicating with eloquent gestures sundry stones which marked the burial places of slain travelers. They were once attacked by a gang of brigands who stole their mule and slender store of baggage, but the seamen rallied with such headlong energy that the robbers took to the bushes.
Reaching the port of Faro, they found a good-hearted mate of a Portuguese brig who gave them a ham, four dozen biscuit and a part of a cheese. The French Consul also befriended them, and supplied a boat to take them to a port called lammont. Although the ingenuous Luther Little explains their next adven- ture as pacific, it is not unfair